ICANN Ombudsman upset about service from “the little guy” at Air Canada.
ICANN Ombudsman Frank Fowlie is giving a whole new meaning to “sticking it to the man”. The “little man”, that is. At the same time, he has learned what it’s like to be on the losing end of a complaint.
Here’s the story.
Fowlie was frustrated with the service he received from Air Canada after he did not get his meal choice in Executive Class last year on a flight from Paris to Montreal. He said he complained to the flight attendant and was then ignored for 35-45 minutes with no snacks until the correct meal was served. The flight attendant says that he informed Fowlie it would take thirty minutes to cook the meal and that he provided wine and bread to Fowlie during the wait. But apparently Fowlie became agitated and started ringing his call button.
What happened next is in to dispute, because Fowlie’s version of events differ from the entire flight crew of Air Canada.
The flight attendant claims that Fowlie cursed and shouted at him. The flight attendant informed Fowlie that if he didn’t calm down, he’d have to be moved to a different area of the aircraft. Fowlie took this to mean he’d be downgraded to coach.
After the flight attendant told his supervisor about the incident, the supervisor asked Fowlie to step into the galley to talk about it. The supervisor claims:
Dr. Fowlie was physically imposing through his tone of voice, his body language and the use of his finger in her face. She also states that Dr. Fowlie referred to the flight attendant as “the little man” or “the little nothing”.
Fowlie says his reference to the flight attendant as “the little man” was just a descriptive term of his appearance. Hey, this might be fair. After all, the Ottawa Citizen reports that the attendant is just 160 pounds. As you can tell from Fowlie’s picture, he’s weighs a bit more than the attendant.
The supervisor then reported the incident to the captain, who issued a citation to Fowlie.
Once Fowlie arrived at his layover, he allegedly acted aggressively toward the ground manager. The crew for his next flight was told what happened, and the captain denied Fowlie access to the flight because he was a “risk of further disruption.”
The ground manager was concerned enough that she called airport security. Fowlie had to wait until the next day to be allowed to continue on his trip. That’s quite amazing for someone who has a Doctorate of Conflict Resolution and a Master of Arts in Conflict Analysis and Management. Perhaps a Masters of Anger Management is in order.
Fowlie filed a complaint with Canadian Transportation Agency, which denied his claim. I suppose Fowlie now knows what it’s like to be on the losing side of a complaint. After all, he’s quite skilled at ignoring the key points that are presented in cases filed with his office.
According to the Ottawa Citizen article, Fowlie is a SuperElite member of Air Canada’s frequent-flyer program and regularly logs 240,000 km a year in his work as ombudsman for the ICANN.
Your ICANN fees at work, folks.
Obviously I don’t know the facts of the case, but when someone is abusive and the airline simply asks them to take a later flight, doesn’t that suggest that the airline thinks they’ll be in better shape at that later time?
Which leads to the question: what is the condition called in which someone is abusive, but with a good night’s sleep is not that way anymore?
Hint: what do you get free in free class?
Sounds to me like he was, um, tired.
Sounds like a jerk, if I was air canada I would have charged him twice as much for taking up two seats lol
“That’s quite amazing for someone who has a Doctorate of Conflict Resolution”
Now I don’t care who you are, that there is just funny!
“If this is how they treat one of their best customers, how do they treat a casual flyer?”
Rude is rude, regardless of position in society or seat on a plane. Flying first class does not give you the right to have your head up your… oh never mind.
Want to bet that he talks down to supermarket checkers too?
Re; Antony’s comments in post #1. The British press for years have used the euphemism “tired and emotional” when describing such outbursts because you can’t say the other words in print without risk of being sued…
Seems to me that the flight crew needs to be trained on how to deal with emotionally agitated passengers and learn how to defuse the situation like this before it escalates to the point that they have to take such drastic actions.
That’s why I like to fly with SuperLuxuryJets.com where they won’t toss their loyal passengers out of the plain and they know the value of a good domain.
(just a domain of mine 🙂 )
Anyone can have a bad day, or even a tense moment, under stress. Unfortunately, aboard an aircraft, nobody can step outside for a deep breath.
@ John Berryhill – it sounds like a really bad day. But the day after you should wake up and realize you don’t want publicity for it, and not file a complaint.
I like how this guy operates.
@ John Berryhill and @ Andrew Allemann – I think I am with Andrew on this one. As well as saying that his behaviour on the flight was “abusive and offensive”, the decision suggests he tampered with his evidence after the event. In particular :
“The submission of a modified version of notes allegedly taken at the time of the incident but clearly changed to present Dr. Fowlie’s behaviour and state of mind in better light challenges the credibility of Dr. Fowlie’s version of events.”
I am a bit confused as to how the tribunal came to have two versions of his evidence. That aside, isn’t this finding of amending evidence quite serious for someone who acts as an ombudsman, or am I being a bit puritanical here?
Read the complaint, looks like it was a bad day.
Take that, Charlie Murphy.
Regardless if you had a bad day or not, someone who is an expert in conflict resolution, who gets paid over $200,000 for probably the best job in ICANN in regards to work-load, is unacceptable.
I make no excuses for this guy. Bad day or not, I am surprised he did not lose his job for this event. The saying “the customer is always right” does not apply at all in this case.
I do not think this guy should be making appeals and trying to “look good” in the eyes of the public. If he screwed up, he should own up to it and move on. No reason to make a bigger fool out of yourself.
Constantine
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Unfortunately, those of us who have dealt with Frank are not surprised. This is the way he deals with everyone he knows.
He is also a sacred cow at ICANN and will not get fired for anything he does.
You shouild look at Ron Jackson’s DNJurnal for his view on this and a lawsuit against VANOC