'Harry Potter' Star Slams Airline After Being Denied a Seat on Flight: 'Worst Airline in North America' The actor was reportedly refused boarding after his flight was oversold.
By Emily Rella
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Airlines have had no shortage (other than pilot and staffing shortages, ba dum tss!) of trouble this summer, from mass delays and cancelations to less-than-stellar airport operations.
And while thousands of complaints have been made across social media calling out airlines and airports for their poor service, most usually go unnoticed — that is, of course, unless you were part of one of the most popular movie franchises in recent history.
Matthew Lewis, who played Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter film series, is making headlines after he couldn't board a recent flight.
Lewis documented the incident to CTV News where he claimed that he approached his gate at Orlando International Airport in Florida only to have his ticket ripped up.
"Literally tearing my ticket up. No explanation other than 'full flight,'" he told the Canadian outlet. "We as a society should not be okay with normalizing the profiteering of overbooking and kicking people off flights."
He also said that he was told that in order to speak to a customer service representative, he would have to do so in Toronto at the airline's HQ.
Lewis took to Twitter to express his dismay, calling the airline the "worst in North America" which prompted a response from the Air Canada account.
Hi Matthew, we regret hearing this. Please send us a DM with further details of the issue, we'll see if we can help from here. https://t.co/Y5350m96oC /Max
— Air Canada (@AirCanada) August 26, 2022
Air Canada told CTV the incident was under review. Entrepreneur reached out to the airline for further comment.
In June, Air Canada President Michael Rousseau released a statement to passengers explaining that flight schedules would be being slashed to avoid overcrowding on flights and other travel issues ahead of the post-pandemic travel surge.
"To bring about the level of operational stability we need, with reluctance, we are now making meaningful reductions to our schedule in July and August in order to reduce passenger volumes and flows to a level we believe the air transport system can accommodate," he penned on June 29.
Air Canada was down over 28% in a one-year period as of Tuesday morning.
