An Air Canada passenger who went viral with a story about vomit on a plane seat now wants others to post their experiences to hold airlines to account

• Earlier this month, two passengers were kicked off an Air Canada flight after complaining about vomit on a seat.
• Susan Benson saw the incident and posted about it on Facebook. It's since gone viral, teaching her a valuable lesson.

An Air Canada passenger's social media post about a vomit-covered seat became a viral news story earlier this month, and she is now speaking about the power of social media when it comes to holding airlines to account.

On August 26, Susan Benson was on board a flight that was about to take off from Las Vegas to Montreal when she witnessed two passengers being escorted off the plane after complaining that a seat had vomit on it.

Benson, 57, told Insider that after boarding the flight, the two passengers complained about the vomit to two crew members on the plane and were told that staff had tried to clean the seat, which meant it was still wet. After negotiating for blankets to sit on and more wipes to try to clean the area themselves, the passengers were then confronted by the pilot. According to Benson, the Air Canada pilot told them they were being rude to the flight attendants, and would either have to leave the plane voluntarily or be escorted off.

According to Benson, another passenger tried to intervene and tell the pilot the passengers were not being rude about their complaints, but security still escorted the two passengers off the flight.

Benson believed the two passengers were treated unfairly so she decided to share the details about what she witnessed in a Facebook post on August 29.

The post quickly gained traction, receiving 3,900 reactions and 6,500 shares. It also made national news headlines, including ones on Insider.

In a new interview with Insider, Benson reflected on what it was like for her to experience the power of the internet, and her story to go viral. She said she wants the encourage more people to post about their travel nightmares to hold airline companies accountable.

Benson said she did not expect her post to blow up

Benson told Insider her intentions behind her Facebook post were to tag the airline in the hopes that it would make them aware of what had happened.

She wrote in the post that she would like "as many people as possible to share" it — she later told Insider she thought that more shares might increase the probability of the airline seeing her complaint and responding.

Benson said she did not expect her post to receive as much online attention as it did. She thought the post would remain within her circle of family and friends, but it ended up receiving thousands of comments, many from people who said they were appalled by her story.

The 57-year-old said she has since taken part in over 25 media interviews about her post. She previously spoke with Insider's Jordan Parker Erb in an article that included a statement from Air Canada about the matter, saying they were reviewing the situation and had apologized directly to the two passengers involved.

Seeing how impactful her post became, Benson now wants others to speak up about travel incidents

Benson told Insider she's glad she spoke out on social media.

"I just feel like if I had come home and carried on with life, I would have chatted about it with my friends and family and that would have been it," she said, adding that because of the widespread news coverage, she even had a friend on the other side of the world in Australia who heard about the story.

"It was definitely in the news, so there's no way they could ignore it. And I feel like the only way I got there was through that post," she said.

There have been some disappointments for Benson, however. She told Insider she hoped her post would reach the two passengers who were affected so she could get in touch with them and find out more about how the airline handled the matter, but she has not heard from them as of yet.

She also said that even though Air Canada gave statements to news outlets saying they apologized directly to the passengers, she thinks they could have done more, like issue a public apology or reach out to her. She has yet to hear from an airline personnel directly.

Despite this, she still thinks people should continue to publicize their negative experiences with airlines.

"I feel like maybe if more people speak out, big corporations like that are held accountable," she said, adding, "Social media is a way to get stuff out there now."

She added that, looking back, she wishes she had recorded the incident: "Nowadays, people are videoing, people are paying attention, people are sharing things that are wrong, and it just makes them more accountable, I think, to how people behave in public."

Benson has joined the ranks of several other travelers who have raised the social media alarm on airline controversies. Other examples include a July TikTok showing passengers who were on a United Airlines flight complaining about being stuck onboard for 7 hours without food or water, and an incident in mid-August where a passenger documented being stuck on a Spirit Airlines plane for 7 hours.

Representatives for Air Canada did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider's Digital Culture team here.