“Two executives of BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion whose drunken rowdiness forced an Air Canada flight from Toronto to Beijing to be diverted to Vancouver are no longer with the company,” The Associated Press reports.
“George Campbell, 45, and Paul Alexander Wilson, 38, pleaded guilty to mischief last week and were ordered to pay almost $72,000 to Air Canada in restitution,” AP reports. “Another passenger said Campbell and Wilson were fighting with the flight attendants and it took the entire crew to subdue the men, who were eventually handcuffed to seats.”
AP reports, “After the jet diverted, the other passengers were put up in hotels overnight and the flight resumed the next day.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Happy Hour is over!
BTW: Everyone on that plane should sue RIM and the two former RIM employees for disrupting the flight plan and needlessly delaying their arrival in Beijing.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Lynn Weiler” and “Brawndo Drinker” for the heads up.]
Related article:
Happy Hour is over: Two employees of beleaguered BlackBerry-maker RIM fined for drunken disruption on plane – December 2, 2011
If I were an executive at RIM, I would probably start drinking heavily.
Maybe a Canadian can help here, but in the US, this would be considered termination for cause, and they would not be eligible for unemployment benefits.
I doubt $72K even begins to pay Air Canada’s expenses (jet fuel to divert, hotel rooms, personnel costs) let alone goodwill lost. I hope AC comes back on these guys for even more money as the total costs are established.
What kind of company has what kind of executives. What kind of executives make what kind of company.
the answer is shit. shit company, shit executives. shit products.
Can RIM survive the next quarter?
Starting to look like it won’t….
Must every story concerning RIM contain the word beleaguered? We get the picture…
Dan… you a newb, or just a little slow on the uptake?
For years, even after Apple started it’s brilliant ascent, news writers, analysts, pundits, competitors, etc would always include the word “beleaguered” in conjunction with the company’s name. And so your typical idiot was convinced Apple would not survive. When I tried to explain to people what was really going to happen, they would hoot, tell me to quit smoking crack, and that microsoft/dell/gateway/rimm, etc would rule the earth forever. That’s fine, now I smile every time MDN accurately calls one of those other guys beleaguered.
Why is this news MDN?
Buster… you a newb, or just a little slow on the uptake?
LMAO!!
1 for my Canadian Apple brother
Hahahahah…that was original
If I were an executive at RIM, and hadn’t already left, I would be spending half of each day looking for a new job.
And the other half drinking.
1
Then all day looking for a job.
The Air Canada Maple Leaf lounge (the ones on Canada, not LAX or other places) has an amazing self-serve bar. Step up and pour yourself a draft, a glass of wine, a shot of whisky, make yourself a bloody mary. It’s extraordinary. No-one checks your ID, pours for you, expects a tip, or cuts you off when you’ve had too much. Seriously.
I don’t think these idiots got blitzed just on what they served on the plane–the flight attendants would have cut them off. These guys were traveling bus. class and would have whiled away the time at the lounge, guzzling their self-serve drinks like the gluttons they probably are.
I’ve been dreading the day when someone gets tanked up at the lounge and disrupts a flight, ruining it for the rest of us. If that happens, I’ll have one more reason to hate RIM.
All this control in the lounges is an American regulatory plague, exacerbated by insurance companies.
I’ve been in the lounges of American carriers at overseas airports. They are as you describe. I never had an incident on the flights I was on.
As for whether these clowns got drunk at the airport or on the plane, reports were that the plane turned around north of Alaska. That’s at least 3 hours out of Toronto, probably more (I used to fly a Chicago – China non-stops for a former job) I think if they were that drunk on airport alcohol, they would have either been denied boarding or the plane would have diverted sooner. Just my 2¢.
Toronto to north of Alaska is somewhere between 5-7 hours (Toronto-Vancouver is about a 5-hour flight). If that report is true, then it was flight crew serving too much alcohol to them… though that doesn’t preclude possibilities that a) they loaded up in the last 20 minutes before boarding (so they didn’t appear boozed when they boarded), and b) that they got rowdy 3-4 hours in, and only after they were subdued the captain decided to divert.
The best part of this is these ass-clowns had to rent a car in Vancouver and drive–drive!!–all the way to Waterloo–4,837 km via the northern route–only to be fired upon arrival.
Must have been brutal driving with a stonking hangover.
If I knew my company was in trouble, and wanted to keep my job as long as possible, I certainly wouldn’t give it a reason to fire me.
That being said, if this is the typical judgement level exercised by execs at RIMM, it’s no wonder they’re in trouble.
The pressure on execs @RIM must be immense.
I wonder why they don’t do a quick breathalyzer test at the security-check.
Surely, it can’t get worse 😉
Chief Steward Barney Frank: “Thank you for flying Air Canada, this is your chief steward speaking. Welcome aboard our wonderful American made Boeing 747 long ranger. Our flight to Beijing, China will take approximately 13 hours and we have just reached our cruising altitude of 30,000 ft. The fasten seatbelt signs are off so you may wander around the cabin and….”
George Campbell: “Can I take a piss? I’m dying for the toilet”
Chief Steward: “In a moment sir, when I’ve finished making the public announcement to the passengers.”
George: “No, you don’t understand, I have to go NOW!”
Stewardess Meg Whitman: “Sir, you may unfasten your seatbelt and proceed to the toilets aft.”
George: “Who said anything about going to the toilet? I’m Canadian. I do it outside in the outhouse.” Proceeds to pull his pants down…
Stewardess Meg. “Sir, public displays of nudity are forbidden on this plane. We have an air marshal on board who will not hesitate to use armed force.”
Paul Wilson: “Hey, leave my buddy alone. He just wants to take a piss. When he wants to take a piss in the office in Waterloo, he just relieves himself where he stands. Do you know who we work for? RIMM!!!”
Stewardess Meg: “Sir, I’m a faux Canadian and I know who RIMM are. In fact I’m a recent iPhone switcher myself. I thought RIMM was going down the toilet.”
Paul: “Why you…you….faux Canadian traitor. Piece of shit! I’m going to rip your head off for this!! George unzip your pants now!!!”
Marshal: “Gentlemen, I’m afraid I’m going to have to take you into custody.”
Who knew asshole was spelled Ballmer’s left nut?
We did?
Does this pass for wit where you come from? Flag waving, xenophobia and gutter vocabulary. Hmmm…par for the course anyway.
ExtraordInarily lame.
You forgot to add that we all live in igloos and travel by dogsled… a**hole.
I’ve always made the claim that I make a lousy Canadian…I skate poorly and I don’t like Maple syrup. That being said, I love being a Canadian because I love the people and hockey and that people like Ballmer’s left nut are not Canadian.
I know some of the engineers working on QNX at the company, They are good hardworking people. Yes RIMM has management issues that is killing the company. Let us not paint everyone with the same brush shall we?
Give it a year… in hindsight their firing will be looked at as a blessing as the rest of the RIM employees face layoffs and dark days.
Two executives who no doubt thought that the Playbook was a good idea. To paraphrase the late SJ, were they inebriated? I guess we now know the answer.
I wonder if there is any instance of drunk Apple employee in flight… You know RIMM is in serious trouble when its drunk employee instance even made it to the news. If I am a RIMM shareholder, it’s time to cut RIMM lose…
my 2 cents…
Piss on em.
[quote]BTW: Everyone on that plane should sue RIM and the two former RIM employees for disrupting the flight plan and needlessly delaying their arrival in Beijing.[/quote]
Yah, let’s not encourage more lawsuits, eh MDN? The only thing these people lost was some time, nothing else. There may have been some special cases, such as family emergencies, but that doesn’t warrant everybody suing.