Calgary police removed members of the Russian and Czech junior hockey teams from a flight bound for Frankfurt, Germany after passengers complained that the players were disruptive and refused to put out lit cigarettes, the Associated Press reports.
Police were call to the Calgary airport for a report of disruptive passengers. People on the Frankfurt flight refused to put on masks or extinguish cigarettes, mandatory actions on Air Canada flights. The teams were leaving Canada following the cancelation of the remainder of the World Juniors Championships that were being played in Red Deer and Edmonton.
The Czech team says that they were complying with orders of the flight crew regarding masking, and their team manager said they were only kicked off the flight because their grey sweatshirts were similar to the ones worn by disruptive Russian players. “And practically only for that reason, they threw us into the same bag as the Russians and told us that the entire Czech and Russian expedition could no longer board the plane,” Czech team manager Otakar Cerny told Czech media. “Air Canada representatives apologized to us and at their expense arranged a hotel and a flight to Frankfurt at the same time a day later. They also assured us that we would not fly the same flight as the Russian hockey players.”