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Missing ashtray grounds Jazz Air flight
Smoking may be banned on airplanes, but a missing ashtray grounded a Jazz Air flight for nine hours last week (www.thechronicleherald.ca) More...
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i hate when people post links that require membership in yet another group, or even worse, that require fees. they should post a synopsis of the story instead
my apologies... when I posted the link it was open... I didn't even know there was a registration available!
Here is the text
Missing ashtray grounds Jazz Air flight
Miscommunication blamed for nine-hour delay
===========================================
By JOANN ALBERSTAT Business Reporter
Fri, Mar 4 - 4:54 AM
Smoking may be banned on airplanes, but a missing ashtray grounded
a Jazz Air flight for nine hours last week.
The Feb. 23 flight from Fredericton to Toronto was postponed after
the crew noticed during pre-flight checks that the receptacle in
the wall outside the lavatory door was missing.
A spokeswoman for the Halifax-based carrier said Thursday the plane
couldn't take off without such a bin.
"A self-contained ashtray has to be available as a safe method of
disposing of a lit object, should there be need," Manon Stuart,
corporate communications manager, said in an interview.
"Because the piece of equipment is a regulatory requirement ... we
could not operate a passenger flight without replacing that
aircraft part."
Flight AC 8957 was scheduled to leave Fredericton at 2:50 p.m.
There were 39 passengers booked on the 50-seat CRJ aircraft.
Jazz could have cancelled the flight, but instead, arrangements
were made to have the piece flown in from Halifax that afternoon.
But that plan didnt work out because of what Stuart called
"miscommunication internally."
Instead, the empty plane was flown from Fredericton to Halifax,
where maintenance staff installed a new ashtray.
The aircraft then travelled back to Fredericton, where the
flight departed at 11:45 p.m.
Stuart said the nine-hour delay was "unacceptable" and Jazz is
sorry that passengers were inconvenienced.
"It's not the level of service that we want to provide to our
customers," the spokeswoman said.
"It was a number of factors that contributed to the delay.
Miscommunication was one of them, so we certainly have reviewed
internally our processes with all of those that were concerned,
just to make sure that this doesnt happen again."
When asked if a passenger may have removed the ashtray door,
Stuart said: "We assume that the part went missing while operating
the previous flight into Fredericton. It was there at the origin
of that flight."
Some passengers were able to get on an earlier evening flight to
Toronto, she said. Passengers also had the option of rebooking
their ticket without penalty.
Most passengers were on the plane when it finally left. Those who
missed connections had their hotel rooms paid for.
Stuart said ashtrays are still built on planes for safety reasons,
even though passengers can't use them unless there is an emergency.
And a coffee cup or galley sink is no substitute.
Jazz operates more than 800 flights a day on behalf of Air Canada
and ashtrays don't go missing very often, she said.
Officials with Transport Canada, which oversees Canadian aviation
regulations, couldn't be reached for comment.
Here is the text
Missing ashtray grounds Jazz Air flight
Miscommunication blamed for nine-hour delay
===========================================
By JOANN ALBERSTAT Business Reporter
Fri, Mar 4 - 4:54 AM
Smoking may be banned on airplanes, but a missing ashtray grounded
a Jazz Air flight for nine hours last week.
The Feb. 23 flight from Fredericton to Toronto was postponed after
the crew noticed during pre-flight checks that the receptacle in
the wall outside the lavatory door was missing.
A spokeswoman for the Halifax-based carrier said Thursday the plane
couldn't take off without such a bin.
"A self-contained ashtray has to be available as a safe method of
disposing of a lit object, should there be need," Manon Stuart,
corporate communications manager, said in an interview.
"Because the piece of equipment is a regulatory requirement ... we
could not operate a passenger flight without replacing that
aircraft part."
Flight AC 8957 was scheduled to leave Fredericton at 2:50 p.m.
There were 39 passengers booked on the 50-seat CRJ aircraft.
Jazz could have cancelled the flight, but instead, arrangements
were made to have the piece flown in from Halifax that afternoon.
But that plan didnt work out because of what Stuart called
"miscommunication internally."
Instead, the empty plane was flown from Fredericton to Halifax,
where maintenance staff installed a new ashtray.
The aircraft then travelled back to Fredericton, where the
flight departed at 11:45 p.m.
Stuart said the nine-hour delay was "unacceptable" and Jazz is
sorry that passengers were inconvenienced.
"It's not the level of service that we want to provide to our
customers," the spokeswoman said.
"It was a number of factors that contributed to the delay.
Miscommunication was one of them, so we certainly have reviewed
internally our processes with all of those that were concerned,
just to make sure that this doesnt happen again."
When asked if a passenger may have removed the ashtray door,
Stuart said: "We assume that the part went missing while operating
the previous flight into Fredericton. It was there at the origin
of that flight."
Some passengers were able to get on an earlier evening flight to
Toronto, she said. Passengers also had the option of rebooking
their ticket without penalty.
Most passengers were on the plane when it finally left. Those who
missed connections had their hotel rooms paid for.
Stuart said ashtrays are still built on planes for safety reasons,
even though passengers can't use them unless there is an emergency.
And a coffee cup or galley sink is no substitute.
Jazz operates more than 800 flights a day on behalf of Air Canada
and ashtrays don't go missing very often, she said.
Officials with Transport Canada, which oversees Canadian aviation
regulations, couldn't be reached for comment.
Thanks, appreciated, i was on an international flight that ran into the same situation, from france to the usa, i had seen a portable certified self sealing ashtray for purse while in Paris, and had purchased it for my mom, it was in my carry on. since it held CE cert, they accepted it as a legal substitute, since none were available locally. the ashtray must be oxygem depriving, to guarantee embers are put out.
It makes sense to me that there needs to be a safe place to put something that is on fire. Sure its funny that you can't smoke but you need an ashtray, but most non-aviation conscious people don't really get that it isn't really about smoking.
