Forceful removal of three Ghanaians being investigated – TAP Portugal
The budget airline, TAP Portugal is embroiled in allegations of forceful removal of three Ghanaian passengers at a boarding gate at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra.
According to social media posts making the rounds, the three Ghanaians, not named, who have checked in and were waiting to board the Lisbon bound flight Saturday December 23, 2017 were asked by airline staff to reschedule to Sunday December 24, because the airline was overbooked. The passengers reportedly refused and they were forcefully removed from the gate. Efforts to get more information and clarification on the matter were unsuccessful. However, TAP Portugal replied to a query on Twitter for more information saying simply, “The situation is being investigated.”
Hello, Emmanuel. The situation is being investigated. Thank you for your concern.
— TAP Air Portugal (@tapairportugal) December 24, 2017
The information being circulated on social media has already drawn the ire of some Ghanaians because it contains racist tones that suggest that the Ghanaians were removed to make way for some Caucasians.
It is not clear what exactly happened, but with the story of the United Airlines case where an Asian-American passenger on board was forcefully dragged out and removed from the airline after he had boarded still fresh in the minds of the public, TAP Portugal is in for a hard time.
There are rules governing removal of passengers from airlines when they are overbooked, but it is not known yet if the rules, which include making announcements for passengers to willingly get off were followed. Airlines in some jurisdictions are required to make payment offers to passengers willing to give up their seats in such circumstances.
TAP Portugal isn’t one of the favourite airlines for many Ghanaians, but most use it because it is cheap.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi
Copyright ©2017 by Creative Imaginations Publicity
All rights reserved. This news item, or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in reviews.