A "fluently bilingual" Montreal couple, Michel (pictured) and Lynda Thibodeau, sued Air Canada for $700,000 after Michel was unable to order a soft drink in French. The incident was one of six times the couple claim they were denied service in French on Air Canada and Air Canada Jazz in 2009. Canadian law requires federal institutions, including Air Canada, which is now privatized, to provide services in both official languages. Mr. Thibodeau argued that it is his right to be served in his language of choice.Today, Federal Court Justice Marie-Josée Bédard granted the couple $6,000 each in total compensation for four occasions on which Air Canada allegedly failed to serve them in French, and ordered the airline to apologize. The Thibodeaus had been seeking $25,000 each for every incident, plus half a million dollars in punitive damages because, they claimed, Air Canada's employees were "arrogant." Forty-seven per cent of Air Canada's flight attendants and 59 per cent of its call-centre employees are bilingual. And 7-Up is pronounced "seven up" in both English and French.
In 2000, Mr. Thibodeau sued Air Canada when a flight attendant was unable to serve him in French on a flight between Ottawa and Montreal.
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