More Airline Woes — not for me but for 117 BA Passengers

Arrogance or Ignorance?

Three Arab princesses were thrown off a packed British Airways flight after refusing to sit next to male passengers they didn’t know. The dispute - in which the three princesses from the ultra-conservative Qatar royal family demanded segregated seating - left the London-bound plane delayed on a baking Italian runway for nearly three hours.
Furious passengers whistled and clapped as the row intensified before the captain eventually ordered the women to be escorted off the plane.

The princesses, wearing traditional Arab dress, were returning from a day’s shopping in Milan. They arrived at the city’s Linate airport and boarded Heathrow-bound flight BA 563, which was due to take off at 4pm on Thursday. The women, all relatives of the oil-rich emir of Qatar, Bader Bin Khalifa Al Thani, were booked into business class in a party of eight which included the emir and an entourage of cooks, servants and other staff. [PLEASE NOTE THIS IS INCORRECT; HE IS NOT THE EMIR, BUT A RELATIVE]

After passengers had fastened their seat-belts and the plane had taxied on to the runway, two male passengers in the entourage got up to protest about where the women were sitting. According to the customs of Qatar and other Gulf states, women are not allowed to mix with men who are not relatives. Cabin crew tried to rearrange the seats but passengers travelling together refused to give up their allotted places. The captain tried to mediate but after more than two and a half hours of wrangling he ordered the bulk of their royal party off the plane. It is understood that five of the eight - including the princesses and the men who left their seats to protest - were removed.

Police and diplomats from the Qatar consulate in Milan were also called in before the plane eventually took off. The rest of the Qatar party left Milan later on an Alitalia flight. A BA spokesman said: “The people were offloaded because they failed to comply with safety instructions when the aircraft was taxiing. Two passengers stood up and refused to sit down.”

A spokesman at the Qatar embassy in Rome said: “This was a private matter and we have nothing to say.”

There is NOTHING in Islam that prevents a woman from SITTING next to a strange man in an airplane — unless one is following the idea that women should stay at home (aka behind a curtain) — in which case they shouldn’t be flying in the first place, should they? This is what I call confusing culture with religion. If your culture dictates this very strict gender segregation, then you need to book early to get seats together, buy up all the tickets in Business or First Class or get your own plane. To expect paying passengers to accomodate you — especially by throwing a hissy fit — is NOT reasonable.

I Hate Airlines

At this point — ALL OF THEM! In the past 3 weeks I have spent over $10,000 (USD) with 3 different airlines. Here is what it got me.

Doha to Newark: after lack of communication on the part of Qatar Airways, the flight was on time and I had a comfortable flight, except for the stop in Geneva which was never mentioned on the ticketing and required a taxing schlep through the airport in search of a business class lounge that never materialized.

Newark to Norfolk: Continental was delayed by 1 hour and little did I know that would be considered on time for Continental. The plane itself sounded like Styrofoam in flight; not to mention the fact that it was filthy and only served room temperature water. The flight attendant was missing most her teeth and difficult to understand.

Washington to Cancun (via Philadelphia): USAir plane was cleaner, flight attendant had her teeth, only the flight was delayed by 45 minutes. We had to purchase snacks (ON AN INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT of 3.5 hours!) and headphones to listen to the movie which was screened on one tiny screen.

Cancun to Washington (via Philly again): Same story different day. 1 hour delay and barely made connection in Philly which as luck would have it was on time.

Norfolk to Newark: Continental again and this time delayed for 5 hours before finally cancelled. No offer of putting me up in a hotel and working out the problem with Qatar Airways about the missed connection. Continental insisted that Newark airport was closed due to weather issues which relieves them of responsibility. When I paid to get wifi and contacted Newark airport I found that to e an outright lie. I took the schedule with the real time landings back to the women at Continental and showed them, at which point they gave me a refund. I went to a hotel and spent the night (my expense) only to start all over again today with USAIR.

Norfolk to LaGuardia: No other airline was flying to Newark as I had been redirected by Qatar Air on the telephone, so I booked on USAIR and arrived at LaGuardia. Qatar Airways had promised me that by the time I landed at noon they would have the ticket worked out and tell me where to go — Newark or JFK. This is where the nightmare began with Qatar Airways, which will be the subject of my next rant.

Next time, I might as well try Amish Air.