Travellers' Checks | Case of woman who woke up alone in Air Canada flight odd reminder of airline’s 1980s ad campaign

Back in the 1980s, advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather created an unusual campaign for Air Canada. One television commercial showed puzzled airport staff looking at a planeload of unclaim­ed suitcases on the baggage carousel while their owners continued to party on board the aircraft. Another showed a milkman delivering to the plane, presumably the next morning, and receiving a note requesting “217 extra pints please” for the sleeping passengers.

Both commercials ended with the unconvincing slogan, “Flights so good, you won’t want to get off”. In an odd reminder of this apparently long-forgotten campaign, passenger Tiffani O’Brien recently woke up alone and in the dark on an empty Air Canada Airbus A321, on which she had earlier made a 90-minute flight from Quebec City to Toronto. Having eventually opened a door and escaped with the help of ground staff, she is, of course, reportedly talking with lawyers.

Something similar happened to United Airlines passenger Tom Wagner in Houston, Texas, in 2013, but all he got by way of compensation was a bathroom amenity package, one night in a motel room and a US$250 airline voucher.

Staying well

Another former Hilton hotel has reopened as a “wellness” resort, this time in Bangkok. Closed in late 2016, the Swissotel Nai Lert Park started out as Thailand’s first Hilton hotel about 35 years ago, and was known for its sprawling tropical gardens and unusual modernist architecture.

At the time of its closure, there were reports the building would become a health centre, but at the end of last year it was announced it would reopen as the 293-room Mövenpick BDMS Wellness Resort Bangkok.

The hospitality side will be operated by Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts while an adjacent clinic will be run by private health care provider Bangkok Dusit Medical Services.