Air Canada resolves author's dilemma

[This is the text of a Véhicule Press release sent out today.]

Over the past several weeks, Calgary-based author Jaspreet Singh encountered difficulties when checking in to Air Canada flights at Canadian airports. Mistaken for someone else with a similar name he has been intensely questioned and informed his name appeared on a no-fly list. Rather than experience the demeaning process once again, Singh cancelled two book events in Toronto, June 14 and 15.

Jaspreet Singh and his publisher were extremely concerned by the situation, especially because the author was in the middle of promotional tours for his recently-published novel, Chef, In a story that appeared in the Calgary Herald (June 17), a spokesperson for Transport Canada stated that Jaspreet Singh was not on Canada’s no-fly list. In a conversation Jaspreet Singh had today with Laura Logan, Director of Security for Air Canada, the author was told that he was not on the domestic or American no-fly lists, however, that there is another person with his name on the airline’s “internal” no-fly list, and that the airline would take steps so that this problem does not occur again.

Jaspreet Singh is the author of the short story collection, Seventeen Tomatoes: Tales from Kashmir and the recently-published novel, Chef.