Sheikh delays plane over seating
- Thread starter Reuters
- Start date
thanks Sweety!...I'm glad to be back...i really like the gang here...
Every aspect of this forum rocks....
I would hope the next Miss Arab World. But once you get that burqa flapping in the breeze,who knows.............Life is like a box of chocolates,you don't know what you are going to get,but chances are it will taste great.
The Daily Mail describes the story in greater detail.....
Arab princesses kicked off British Airways plane to jeers and whistles after refusing to sit next to male strangers
By RAY MASSEY
28th July 2007
Daily Mail
The delayed plane sat on a baking Italian runway for almost three hours
Qatar's Emir (similar to a king) Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani: related to the Princesses
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.
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."
dailymail.co.uk
Whew! That fellow looks mighty upset. Maybe the airline food didn't agree with him?;-)
On the subject of airline intimidation by religious fetishes and necessities - occurring in disturbance of other flight passengers.....
Yesterday there was a news blip on the six Imams who caused concern in an airline terminal in the mid east - loud praying, boarding and asking for special noticable items to gain attention of the passengers - who ultimately complained and had the six Imams removed from the flight.
The Imams of course (they learned the western concept of libel very quickly I take it)... immediately launched a lawsuit against the airline and specific passengers.
There are new laws being passed at the government level now to protect both airlines and passengers from backlash in reporting anyone they feel is a danger to the passengers of a flight by certain obvious behavior by this kind of group.
Of course they have a right to pray... of course they have a right to be seated anywhere they wish... once seated however they must remain there. None of their activities should give discomfort to any other passengers - even disruptive children are reported these days... Loud, boisterous behavior or drunks are disallowed from even boarding. There are all kinds of reasons to assure the people an in-flight comfortable experience.
Whatever did the Imams do on flights they took before 9/11? What about the flights they took to their conference before they hatched their little plan?
Behaved like all the other passengers I expect.
Libel is just another money raiser which is now being removed from their grasp.
Yesterday there was a news blip on the six Imams who caused concern in an airline terminal in the mid east - loud praying, boarding and asking for special noticable items to gain attention of the passengers - who ultimately complained and had the six Imams removed from the flight.
The Imams of course (they learned the western concept of libel very quickly I take it)... immediately launched a lawsuit against the airline and specific passengers.
There are new laws being passed at the government level now to protect both airlines and passengers from backlash in reporting anyone they feel is a danger to the passengers of a flight by certain obvious behavior by this kind of group.
Of course they have a right to pray... of course they have a right to be seated anywhere they wish... once seated however they must remain there. None of their activities should give discomfort to any other passengers - even disruptive children are reported these days... Loud, boisterous behavior or drunks are disallowed from even boarding. There are all kinds of reasons to assure the people an in-flight comfortable experience.
Whatever did the Imams do on flights they took before 9/11? What about the flights they took to their conference before they hatched their little plan?
Behaved like all the other passengers I expect.
Libel is just another money raiser which is now being removed from their grasp.
Colpy
Yeah imagine the temerity of these people....
In Canada we let Indian terrorists through the corruption and inefficiency of the the RCMP and CSIS kill 329 people...
Yeah Canada is way cooler.... no delays here....
Just climb aboard and die....
Yeah imagine the temerity of these people....
In Canada we let Indian terrorists through the corruption and inefficiency of the the RCMP and CSIS kill 329 people...
Yeah Canada is way cooler.... no delays here....
Just climb aboard and die....
Whoa!
That came out of left field!
BTW, I agree with the facts of your post.....it is absolutely incredible that we did not stop what happened on Air India.....through incompetence........and it is even more incredible we could not convict the guilty.
I will always believe the terrorists got to the judge.
Before the Air India bombing, how many other jetliners were blown up n the air? I'm sure at the time, the idea of someone blowing up an airliner full of people was pretty preposterous. Like hijacking an airplane full of people and flying it into a skyscraper, nobody wanted to believe it.
The only corruption I could see was our stupid court system that jailed a man for building a bomb and acquitting the men he built it for.