Precious Mensah (right)
Management of Atinka Media Village, organizers of the Di Asa competition, have accused Emirates Airlines of unfair treatment after Precious Mensah (PM), Winner of Di Asa Season 3 was denied by Emirates Airlines Ghana from travelling to Dubai with the other winners as part of their winning package, on safety grounds.
Managing Director of Atinka Media Village, Albert Kwabena Dwumfuor, made this known in a statement issued to DGN Online.
“When pushed further and asked why, they informed us PM could not board the plane due to safety reasons. When we enquired further, they said they were in consultation with their superiors at the Emirates Office at Mövenpick Hotel in Accra for further directives,” the statement noted.
It added that “we further asked them if the problem had to do with seating and if procuring additional seat could solve the problem, but the Emirates officials at the airport said there was no need for that (it must be emphasized that PM was present and witnessed all these engagements with the Emirates officials).”
It said “it must also be on record that the airline ticketing agent had been duly informed that the tickets were for plus- sized passengers (Di Asa Season 3 winners).”
The statement explained that “around 6:15 pm, still in the presence of PM, the Emirates officials came up with an option – per the official’s statement, the only option available then per consultations with the Airline Superiors back at the office, was to go by first class (Please bear in mind that the departure time was 6:50 pm).”
It added that at this point, we decided to adhere to the directives by offering our accumulated mileage to upgrade our Queen’s seat to first class. We offered to upgrade our Queen’s seat to first class with our accumulated mileage due to the timing of the information as AMV was ready to fly our Queen to Dubai at all cost.
Emirates Airline again denied us this offer saying we could not use our mileage at that time and still requested us to pay a top-up of almost $10,000 which is equivalent to GH¢ 57,000 at the last minute for the First Class, it added.
We saw this as an unfair treatment, unprofessional and discrimination against our Queen, particularly when the Airline Ticketing Agent had prior knowledge of who they had issued the tickets to, it lamented.
BY Melvin Tarlue