Press Release Author = Multicultural Business Council
Industry = Small Business
Press Release Summary = Although many people are known to pray before a flight, prayer by a Hasidic Jew resulted in his removal from a recent Air Canada Jazz flight from Montreal to New York.
Press Release Body = ROCHESTER HILLS, MI (September 8, 2006) - Although many people are known to pray before a flight, prayer by a Hasidic Jew resulted in his removal from a recent Air Canada Jazz flight from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to Newark, New Jersey, USA.
According to press reports, the man was reading from a prayer book and rocking back and forth in his seat. A flight attendant approached the man to tell him that his prayer was bothering other passengers. The man did not speak either English or French so he did not understand them. The plane aborted its takeoff and returned to the terminal where the man was removed from the plane. Air Canada Jazz allowed him to take another flight 90 minutes later.
A passenger seated nearby, Yves Faguy, said that the man\'s action didn\'t seem to bother anyone prior to the man being approached by the flight attendant who announced out loud the man was not a Muslim but would have to leave anyways.
The actions of the airline were a direct insult to the Muslim community, Middle-Easterners, and Jews. In her explanation of the situation, airline spokeswoman, Manon Stewart, further exasperated the situation by saying, "the crew had to act in the interest of the majority of passengers," indicating the airline was justified in removing the praying passenger.
According to Stewart the removal was a safety issue as the crew could not verify the passenger understood the safety regulations. His removal allowed for the airlines to secure a translator to communicate the safety regulations. Others point out that airlines do not normally verify that individuals understand the safety instructions, which are typically available in illustrated form for the hearing impaired or for those that may not be proficient in the language used by flight attendants.
"Organizations need to be proactive relative to providing cultural training to their employees," said Rick Weaver, Chief Operations Officer for Multicultural Business Council an organization based in Detroit, Michigan, providing empowerment programs to connect cultures. "Culturally trained employees know how to better relate to other employees and customers based on cultural norms. Therefore they are better equipped to handle delicate situations resulting from culture-based misunderstanding."
Many businesses fail to provide cultural training because of the time and financial investment required. However current training methods allow organizations to provide excellent training at minimal cost without a major disruption in employee schedules. The total cost to an organization is much less than the loss experienced by an organization that receives cultural backlash for insensitive customer treatment.
Stewart reports that Air Canada Jazz will be adding a cultural awareness module to their flight attendant training program to enhance awareness in the future.
"Once employees understand regional, religious, generational, and other cultures they are better equipped to work harmoniously with other employees and customers making cultural training an outstanding value," added Weaver.
Multicultural Business Council is on the web at www.mbcglobal.org. Air Canada is on the web at www.aircanada.ca.
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