The passengers, totaling sixteen (16), couldn’t embark on the scheduled flight from Accra to Amsterdam onSaturday, January 6, 2018.

 [contextly_sidebar id=”8PjPQOfHyUd9OnvZ1QEC6E9PBGmSi0YP”]Citi News’ Caleb Kudah earlier reported that the stranded passengers were given GH¢50 as compensation upon their failure to join the flight.

But the Country Manager for AirFrance KLM, Dick Van Nieuwenhuyzen has explained to Citi Business News that the said amount is to cater for the transportation of the affected passengers, back home.

“All passengers have been informed that they will get tonight, a denied boarding compensation of 600 Euros irrespective of the preferred airspace…they got 50 cedis transport allowance,” he explained.

Reacting to concerns of possibly averting the occurrence in the first place, Mr. Nieuwenhuyzen described as a normal practice to overbook so as not to fly empty aircrafts.

“What is normal practice and not specific to KLM is that airlines are always overbooking their flights because there are ‘no-show passengers’. For example we have had thirty-five passengers booked but not showing up so what normally is being done is to overbook the flight otherwise you will leave with empty seats. And most of these things if they go correctly, then you could accept all passengers but once in a while, you get more passengers than seats available and that is a normal practice in the airline industry,” he stated.

Stranded passengers lament meager compensation

The frustrated passengers some of whom had deadlines to meet expressed their frustration to Citi News.

One of them exclaimed, “They overbooked the flight so we are stuck here. We’ve been standing here close to three hours. They said their online system went down. All of a sudden they were doing only online people. They had closed the boarding gate before telling us.”

Another who was leaving Ghana for school in London said she will certainly not be able to make it to her lectures on Monday.

“Some people have to go back to school the following day and nobody is telling us anything.  If I leave on Sunday, I will get there on Monday so I can’t make it for class obviously,” she added.

Flight rescheduled to Sunday

Meanwhile KLM has told Citi Business News it has rescheduled the flight for passengers who were denied on Saturday night due to the overbooking of its Accra –Amsterdam flight, to 6pm on Sunday, January 7, 2018.

According to the Country Manager, thirteen (13) of the affected passengers left for their homes while the accommodation for the remaining three (3) was taken care of by the company.

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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana

The post KLM ‘settles’ stranded passengers with €600 each appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Airline operators allegedly overbooked the flight, leaving the passengers, including children as young as one, frustrated.

The passengers were reportedly each given GhC50 by the Airline as compensation.

Citi News’ Caleb Kudah was at the airport and spoke to some of the passengers who were supposed to be on the flight headed to London.

[contextly_sidebar id=”4Xxk32ke8WhN0U0bMjQMRG4PkCzGLtic”]“They overbooked the flight so we are stuck here. We’ve been standing here close to three hours. They said their online system went down. All of a sudden they were doing only online people. They had closed the boarding gate before telling us,” a frustrated passenger lamented.

Another who was leaving Ghana for school in London said she will certainly not be able to make it to her lectures on Monday.

“Some people have to go back to school the following day and nobody is telling us anything.  If I leave on Sunday, I will get there on Monday so I can’t make it for class obviously,” she added.

A brother of one of the passengers from Kumasi in the Ashanti Region told Caleb Kudah that he was at the airport to see his sibling off but admitted that they would have to return on Sunday for the flight.

“I’m from Kumasi and I’m here because of my brother.  The flight has been overbooked and full. So we are just here, we were given only GHc50. This is so bad,” he added.

When contacted, a staff of KLM office at the Kotoka International Airport confirmed to Citi News that they overbooked the flight.

Stranded AWA passengers threaten to sue over delayed flight
A similar incident occurred in Tamale in the Northern Region in December 2017 where passengers of Ghana’s only surviving domestic air service provider, Africa World Airlines (AWA) were left stranded in Tamale because their flight was cancelled.

Some of the passengers have since threatened to sue the company as they lamented that the issue negatively affected their schedules.

TAP Air Portugal apologizes for ‘abuse’ of Ghanaian passengers
The management of TAP Air Portugal, also apologized to some Ghanaian passengers who were allegedly abused and assaulted by staff of the company at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra in December 2017.

The company said it had commenced investigations with the Ghana Airports Company into the matter.

Three passengers of the company reported a case of assault after some confusion over the boarding of their flight on 23rd December.

They said they were physically and verbally assaulted by a security officer when they arrived at the Kotoka Airport on Saturday to travel on the scheduled flight to Sao Tome and Principe.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post KLM compensates stranded passengers with GHc50 each appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.