Qatar Airways meted out poor therapy to a Nigerian passenger by detaining him for 18 hours, compelling him to signal a doc written in Arabic, and paying a hefty nice to safe his launch.
The Nigerian passenger’s travails with the airline had been revealed by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA)’s Director of Public Affairs and Client Safety, Michael Achimugu, in an announcement.
In keeping with Achimugu, a Qatar Airways crew member accused the Nigerian passenger of touching her buttocks whereas wheeling a passenger throughout boarding for a flight from Lagos to the US (US) by way of Doha.
Achimugu added that the feminine crew member reported the incident when the flight landed in Doha, resulting in the Nigerian’s arrest and detention.
“Through the interval, his spouse suffered psychological, bodily, and psychological trauma with none type of care. She puzzled how her husband might have dedicated such a despicable infraction provided that she was with him all through the boarding course of,” Achimugu mentioned.
He added that the authorities pressured the Nigerian passenger to pay a hefty nice and signal a doc written in Arabic to regain his freedom and proceed on his journey to the US.
Qatar Airways, nonetheless, refused to fly him to the US, prompting the Nigerian to purchase tickets on one other airline.
Achimugu additionally mentioned the NCAA invited the nation supervisor of Qatar Airways in Nigeria, however he despatched his subordinates to attend in his stead.
“Upon invitation by the NCAA, the airline’s nation supervisor, who has a penchant for evading conferences with the NCAA, solely despatched his subordinates to attend. Nevertheless, the NCAA made a willpower on that matter together with others.
“As has turn into typical of @qatarairways, they didn’t adjust to all determinations created from that assembly. They’ve additionally didn’t deal with subsequent complaints from different passengers escalated to them by the CAA, together with whole silence upon receipt of a letter of investigation (LOI) despatched to them by the NCAA,” Achimugu added.
He condemned the act, including that Nigeria is not going to tolerate infringement of client safety laws by worldwide airways.
“This isn’t a state of affairs that we’d settle for right here. It’s in opposition to the regulation for ANY airline not to reply to the NCAA. It’s in opposition to the regulation to offer false data to the NCAA.
“It’s in opposition to the regulation to fail to adjust to the provisions of Half 19 of the NCAA Laws 2023.”
