Holly Robinson-Peete took to Twitter to share how Air Canada turned her sons away due to disbelief that the credit card used to purchase the tickets was theirs.
Holly and her husband booked her sons, one a minor, two tickets to fly on Air Canada. Once the boys made it to the counter, the employee decided that they would be screened for a “random” check and asked them to produce the credit card used to purchase the tickets.
Holly’s sons had identification and even asked the employee to speak with their mother, to whom the credit card belonged, on the phone but the employee refused.
Like any mother would, Holly took to Twitter to call the airline out and gave us all the details. Let’s just say that when a mother begins her sentence with “Excuse me…,” the forthcoming speech will not be nice.
Excuse me @AirCanada but you got some explaining to do! My sons have just been refused to get on the airplane and travel because they couldn’t produce our credit card that paid for the tickets😤 One of them is a minor and now they are stranded in the airport!!! 😡
— Holly Robinson Peete 💃🏾♍️ (@hollyrpeete) October 5, 2021
I have been traveling back-and-forth to Canada on your airline for 35 years and have never been asked to swipe the actual card that paid for the tickets. Why were these two refused??
— Holly Robinson Peete 💃🏾♍️ (@hollyrpeete) October 5, 2021
After Air Canada did not answer that poignant question, Holly began to spill all the tea on how her sons were treated.
The gate agent turned his back on them and refused to allow me to talk to him over the phone to try to explain that I paid for the tickets and I had the card. No more flights until first thing in the morning stuck at the airport. pic.twitter.com/XYQulwTmhA
— Holly Robinson Peete 💃🏾♍️ (@hollyrpeete) October 5, 2021
Holly made an important point. Those of us who remember life before the Sept. 11 incident back in 2001 also remember that people could accompany their loved ones to the gate at the airport. Although the actress was away working, there still needs to be accommodations for young people who are forced to go to the gate alone and are likely not the financiers of the trip.
… they had to stay at a hotel at our expense. 😩And now we wait to see if they let them on the flight this morning. 😰Because they still don’t have the credit card to pay for the ticket. This is a really bad policy and airlines shouldn’t strand minors in the airport…
— Holly Robinson Peete 💃🏾♍️ (@hollyrpeete) October 5, 2021
At the end of the ordeal, Holly said that her sons were forced to stay at an airport hotel at their parents’ expense. In the interim, the actress spoke to Air Canada’s customer service and their response left much to be desired.
… Agent turned his back to them and refused to talk to me on the phone. I could hear the way he was talking to them in the bg just so disrespectful….customer service told me “of course they would be flagged-two boys sitting in business class on a one way ticket” 😤
— Holly Robinson Peete 💃🏾♍️ (@hollyrpeete) October 5, 2021
Thankfully, a day later, everything worked out this time her sons were not “flagged” just because their Black parents have the coins to fly them out business class.
Thank you @TiffanyDCross and EVERYONE who expressed concern Boys now boarding the plane and THIS TIME did not have to show the credit card. They had 2 business class seats 🤔 they shouldn’t have had to deal with this -no one should 😩 whew my mama nerves are so bad @AirCanada. 😤 https://t.co/QdmZIkrbir pic.twitter.com/ExO9vC0h42
— Holly Robinson Peete 💃🏾♍️ (@hollyrpeete) October 5, 2021
Holly was right to stand up for her sons and although Air Canada did not publicly respond to her tweets, we can’t imagine two white boys having the same issue.
