Aggrieved passengers booked on Dubai bound Emirates Airline EK784 on Saturday protested over the non-allocation of seats to them by the airline.
Over 42 passengers who had booked their economy tickets (not promo tickets) and collected boarding passes, were however not allocated seats following over-booking of passengers on the flight .
At the boarding gate (E55), economy passengers’ names were replaced with those of downgraded business class by the airline’s officials Omowurola Oni, J.K. Nwobi and Abosede Soyede while the aggrieved passengers were told to wait for the next flight.
Angered by the development, some of the passengers staged a showdown at the boarding gate, insisting that they be treated with respect.
Oni told the passengers that her primary concern was to make sure that all the business class passengers, who have agreed to be downgraded get a seat on the flight.
She said the flight was over booked and the problem emanated from Dubai, just as she told the aggrieved passengers to take their complaints to Dubai.
One of the Adeyemo’s (B.I.) who said he has was transiting Dubai for the United States and would miss his flight if the issue was not sorted out early, narrated how he boarded a bike from Mowe to the airport.
He said: “What kind of discrimination is this? I bought my ticket, checked in online and was allocated a seat.
“To ensure I do not get here late, my car had an accident on my way to the airport and I abandoned my family there, around Mowe, took a bike to this airport only for this woman to replace my name with another passenger who bought Business Class.
“Eventhough I checked in online and the rules I should be here 90 minutes to departure, I was here one hour and 15 minutes before take off.
“I won’t leave this place. You better go and call SSS or Police to arrest me. I know my rights and I must stand by it. Do you know what it means to fly a bike from Mowe to the airport?
“You want to give my seat to another person right before me. You are substituting my name right before me? You better arrest me now because I will cause problems here.”
Another woman, who already had two of her children onboard the flight but could not board because she insisted she must be on the business class she paid for, flared up when Oni refused to attend to her.
As she was yelling, another staff, approached her pleading with her to accept the economy seat so that she can go with her children or wait for the next flight.
“I cannot wait for the next flight. It is impossible, can you see my daughter running round this airport? How do you expect me to control her? Do you want to give me emotional problems? I don’t know how u will do it but I must go with this flight. You must put me on the flight.
“I have accepted the economy offer and yet I do not know what she is doing (pointing at Oni). I said okay , give me the downgraded ticket, yet, she’s busy attending to other people. I must go with that flight,” she yelled.
To Agbaje, who has a connecting flight to Iraq, the situation was quite unfortunate.
Although he is a Gold member of Emirates, Agbaje, said it was an obvious case of class disparity.
He said: “This is very unfortunate. I was to fly business class but because it was not available, I booked economy since I have a connecting flight from Dubai to Iraq.
“But getting here and seeing this kind of injustice is really painful. The worst part is that I did not come late. Why would they even over book their flight? Or don’t they know when to stop?
“I just hope they sort this thing out and connect me to my flight from Dubai, am really sick of this Emirates now.”
All effort by the aggrieved passengers to storm the tarmac and stop the aircraft from moving was stopped by airports staff, who came in to restore normalcy.
After about one hour of the protest and bitterness, Emirates as a palliative, took some of the passenger to its lounge while they waited for the evening flight.
One of the staff who also complained about the development told The Nation that they faced a similar challenged yesterday and about 10 passengers were not allocated seats.
“Ordinarily, the system is supposed to stop booking once the seats are full but in thiis situation, it did not.
“We have been having that challenge. It is entirely our fault. Yesterday, we had about 10 passengers with same problem.
“I just want to advice you that when next your agent is booking your flight, insist he gets a seat immediately. This is an in house advice.” Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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Human error, computer error. God will grant the airline the wisdom to resolve the matter amicably. Una take am easy o.
ReplyDeleteAggrieved passengers set-aside on urban center sure Emirates Airline on Sat protested over the non-allocation of airline seats to them by the airline.
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