Reuters, 11.25.03, 5:40 PM ET MONTREAL (Reuters) - Pleased with workers who scored top marks on customer service, Air Canada recently picked 100 at random to give them a bonus -- a C$5 ($3.78) hamburger coupon that expires in five weeks. Employees winning the award were sent a personal letter containing the coupon, redeemable until Dec. 31 at the Harvey's hamburger chain, Second Cup coffee shops or other restaurant outlet owned by Cara Operations Ltd., which provides food service for the insolvent airline. Air Canada said the awards came at no cost to the carrier, mainly because the coupons will soon expire. Earlier this month, Cara warned its own investors that Air Canada, the dominant airline in Canada and world No. 11, may cancel its catering contract. Some Air Canada in-flight service employees were forced to forgo a bonus earlier this year when the airline won court protection from its creditors and squeezed some C$1.1 billion of concessions from its unions. The burger bonus comes as two groups bidding to control Montreal- based Air Canada through equity infusions have offered its chief executive and top restructuring manager multimillion-dollar stock or cash bonuses to remain with the airline through its bankruptcy protection proceedings. ($1=$1.31 Canadian) Copyright 2003, Reuters News Service --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.542 / Virus Database: 336 - Release Date: 18/11/2003