"Below is the story of what happenned on 27th of March. Judge for yourself. It a shame to treat us like that. I know some people feel Nigerian have brought this upon themselves but believe me no customer deserves this. The person could be your Brother, Son, Father, neighboor, Cousin, Husband"


This is a call to boycott British Airways Flights until an Appology is given to the Nigerians that were offloaded From this flight.
Please read on!!!

On the 27th of March 2008 at about 12:30pm, I boarded the British Airways flight BA75 and I went straight to seat 53C.
On getting to my seat, there were noises from an individual being forcibly restrained but who was not visible because some police officers and some plain clothes people held him down. The noise continued for more than 20 minutes and I was concerned because the individual was screaming in agony and shouting in pidgin English "I go die" meaning, I will die. I pleaded with the officers not to kill him and my exact words were "please don't kill him". The British Airways staff said that the officers were doing their jobs and that nothing was going to happen. The noise became louder and other passengers started getting concerned and were complaining especially about their safety. The situation continued for another 15 minutes after I got on.
Eventually, a member of the cabin crew announced that the passenger was going to be removed and the passenger was removed from the plane and we all thought that was the end of the situation. Five minutes later, two members of the cabin crew arrived with about 4 police officers and told me to get off the plane. I asked what the matter was and they said that I was not going to travel with the airline because the cabin crew thought I had been disruptive by questioning the noise being caused by the person that was removed. I pleaded with them that I was going for my brother's wedding and that I had all his stuff with me. I was dragged out of the plane as if I was resisting arrest. As we got to the corridor that linked the plane with the terminal building, I was slammed against the wall and made to sit on the floor. I was still pleading with them telling them that they had completely misunderstood me and that I was only complaining about the situation regarding the disturbances caused by the deportee they were trying to restrain and subdue. I was on the floor for about 20 to 25 minutes. Another passenger was brought to the corridor as well and he was also pleading with the officers.
I was later put in the back of the police van at about 1:50pm and I was locked up there for about an hour or more still handcuffed. I was formally arrested approximately 2:30pm and my rights were read to me. Before the arrest in the van, I managed to reach for my pocket and brought out my mobile phone. I made some phone calls to my wife, sister and a friend while the low battery sign was on because I was all alone and still handcuffed.

I was later driven to the police station where I was formally checked in. I was in police custody for almost 8 hours and later released on bail after the interview with the duty solicitor and the detectives. I had £473.00 on me which was seized as well as £90.00 sent to my mother in-law from my sister in-law and £1,050.00 given to me by my cousin who is a doctor for the upkeep of his parents in Nigeria. All the money together was £1,613.00. I was told that I would appear in a magistrate court to prove the money was not meant for crime or proceeds of crime. The officer told me that they will like to see traceability and that I needed my payslips and bank account detailing my payments and withdrawals as well as my cousin's payments and withdrawals.

I was released but without the money. I made my way to terminal 4 and arrived there at about 12:30am but the British Airways kiosks were closed. I was directed to the staff room and told them that I wanted to rebook my trip to Lagos. A lady told me to give her my ticket and she stated that British Airways has banned me from travelling with them indefinitely and that only the managers can use their discretions because I was a 'disruptive passenger'. I requested for my 2 piece luggage and she told me that the section will be opened later at about 5:30am and I will be escorted in to collect them. I slept on the chair and waited till about 5:30am and attempted to rebook my ticket but was told that British Airways refused to take me. I decided to go and pick up my stuff and I was told that my luggage were missing. I was handed a form with reference number LONBA90924. At this point, I became totally stranded because I could not leave without my luggage because it contained my brother's wedding suit, shirts and accessories.

I was on the phone with my wife and she wanted to book an alternative flight that departs at 10:15am so that I could make it for the wedding. This was not possible because British Airways refused to disclose where my luggages were and did not remove my luggage from the flight when they called the police to arrest me.

On Monday 31st of March, I appeared at the Magistrate court but was told that a decision was made about the £1,613.00 that was seized from me. The police had been granted a further 90 days to hold on to the money pending their investigation. I was given the officer's details . He requested 12 months bank statements and 6 months payslip to prove that the £473.00 that belongs to me was not proceeds of crime and also requested that the £1,050.00 that was given to me by my cousin for his parents should also be traced to my cousin's 12 months bank statement and 6 months payslip. DC Webster has promised to write me detailing these requests.

Still on Monday 31st of March 4 days after I was taken off the plane, I made extra efforts to find out the whereabouts of my 2 piece luggage (LONBA90924), because they have not been sent to my address as promised by calling the lost baggage section at 13:44hrs and spoke to a man called Neil who said that, it is difficult for them to trace my bags and that there is a strong possibility that they might be in Lagos. He suggested that I should call back in 24 hours.

Eventually, one week and one day later, my bags were brought to me at home. One was badly damaged and the other was intact. British Airways delibrately made sure I missed the wedding because if they were kicking me off their flight, they would have removed my bags from the flight. They were all there when the police officers made me to sit on the floor and heard me pleading to allow me fly for my brother's wedding. I could have made either KLM or Virgin Nigeria the following Friday morning.

I will not want to believe that the authorities involved in the situation deliberately or cleverly punished me unnecessarily out of frustration for not being able to restrain or subdue a deportee or that I as a fee paying passenger was accused of affray with violence when I was voicing my concerns about the disturbances caused by the deportees. I never mentioned any abusive or swear words neither was I physically threatening anyone. My luggage mysteriously was lost and I have been banned on all British Airways flights without a chance to say my part of the story to redeem myself. 135 passengers were asked to leave the flight because they expressed displeasure regarding the disturbances caused by the deportees and the officers trying to restrain him. My ticket was even refused to be endorsed by BA to enable me to fly with another airline. I need full compensation of my loss and also a letter of apology from British Airways.
Regards

Ayodeji Omotade

How many of these threads do we need here please

Thats to show you how pissed Nigerians are.

How many Nigerians?? the same ones pissed over and over?

The message needs to hit home. If that was someone close to you, you will find it upsetting.

This thing reminds of me an observation we made when I headed a voluntary organisation.

We helped quite a lot of refugees from various parts of the world and sometimes, we organised campaigns and demonstrations to support the points that we wanted to press home. We held vigils to prevent people being snatched and deported etc.

One thing we noted at the time was that the Africans hardly ever came out to support and of the rallies and demonstrations except when they were in dire straits. As soon as they felt they were not at risk of deportation, they could not care one jot about other people who may be in such situations until they find the Home Office is seeking them again. Fortunately, there were always other good natured people who will always stand up to try and ensure that others did not suffer if it's avoidable

Cant you pursue a litigation against them? Jamco45

cgift:

Cant you pursue a litigation against them? Jamco45

I believe Ayodele Omotade is in the process of seeking compensation and an apology and lawyers might be involved. He is not taking it lightly.

Blatant:

This thing reminds of me an observation we made when I headed a voluntary organisation.

We helped quite a lot of refugees from various parts of the world and sometimes, we organised campaigns and demonstrations to support the points that we wanted to press home. We held vigils to prevent people being snatched and deported etc.

One thing we noted at the time was that the Africans hardly ever came out to support and of the rallies and demonstrations except when they were in dire straits. As soon as they felt they were not at risk of deportation, they could not care one jot about other people who may be in such situations until they find the Home Office is seeking them again. Fortunately, there were always other good natured people who will always stand up to try and ensure that others did not suffer if it's avoidable

Well said

Blatant:

This thing reminds of me an observation we made when I headed a voluntary organisation.

We helped quite a lot of refugees from various parts of the world and sometimes, we organised campaigns and demonstrations to support the points that we wanted to press home. We held vigils to prevent people being snatched and deported etc.

One thing we noted at the time was that the Africans hardly ever came out to support and of the rallies and demonstrations except when they were in dire straits. As soon as they felt they were not at risk of deportation, they could not care one jot about other people who may be in such situations until they find the Home Office is seeking them again. Fortunately, there were always other good natured people who will always stand up to try and ensure that others did not suffer if it's avoidable

got it in one,im glad you v experienced that personally,i made that observation in the travel section in a thread.i reckon for people not to push us around more needs to be done about nigerians especially and black ppl who believe that as long as its not happening to them,they dont give two, when nigeria does anything good they r the first to show they r nigerians,and i personally think 20 posts on this issue is still not too much

Jamco45:

I believe Ayodele Omotade is in the process of seeking compensation and an apology and lawyers might be involved. He is not taking it lightly.
Well said

the nigerian bar association is also pursuing a litigation against b.a

@Poster, if it was someone close to me and I am sure the person is on the right, I would definitely not make it a race issue but instead as a customer go after the big corp and get all I can from them. I notice that is more effective way of going after these corporations that running around screaming RACISM at every bend I can. That also seems to be the way it works here as well.

@Kobo, i understand where your coming from by stating that this is more of a customer service issue than race issue. However just a question though, do you believe if the person who raised concern was english they would have been treated in such a manner? I mean, he did pay for the service so its not like he was begging for a lift or anything like that and flights to and from Nigeria via BA can be quite costly. The truth is it didn't necessarily have to be a race issue in terms of black and white, but in terms of they are Nigerians or Africans. I have witnessed snide comments by Airport staff in Heathrow concerning african passengers so while i get where you are coming from about avoiding calling the race card at every turn you also have to admit such issues prevail to say the least, simply put it is there. While i wholeheartedly agree we should not play the race card at every turn, i probably am misunderstanding you but you seem to strongly believe such does not exist in the world. They probably wouldn't have done it to an american because they know they won't get off so lightly. If you look at foreign companies, they come into the country from a so called "civilised" culture and immediately exploit the Nigerian situation and actually join the culture of corruption, acting in the most uncivilised of manners. We all know this happens, a couple of examples is Shell and the Mobile phone company that was "blacklisted" for bribing members of the house and there are many more. We can't be genuinely respected until we learn to respect ourselves. Then the whole thing about the Nigerian government crying foul won't stink of hypocrisy.
What i do find funny is from a different perspective. I just find it funny that a country in which the rights of the citizens are tossed to the wind and trampled upon on a daily basis is screaming human rights violation. Did NBA go after that woman who was pulled over in Lagos by a state governor's envoy and beaten up in front of her kids? What about every time people have to give police 20 naira at "check points" or that fact that the average citizen is scared of the police and won't trust them with their 5 naira orange? Or what about when police use whips in public as a means of crowd control? You have to admit is is funny and a tad hypocritical.
If it was even our neighbour Ghana perhaps, but Nigeria? LOL. I am in no way condoning what was done to this person and it is just sad the way he was treated and i do hope he can get a good lawyer and get compensation he as far as we can tell rightly deserves.

Sky Blue:

@Kobo, i understand where your coming from by stating that this is more of a customer service issue than race issue. However just a question though, do you believe if the person who raised concern was English they would have been treated in such a manner? I mean, he did pay for the service so its not like he was begging for a lift or anything like that and flight to Nigeria via BA can be quite costly.

Yes, the very same week this happened, Naomi campbell was also bundled off a BA flight and banned for life @Skyblue. So, the answer again is Yes. I am going to guess there are others out there who may have had the same fate but since they did not make it to the media cause their story was not tantalizing enough, we may never get there own story.

The truth is it didn't necessarily have to be a race issue in terms of black and white, but in terms of they are Nigerians or Africans. I have witnessed snide comments by Airport staff in Heathrow concerning African passengers so while i get where you are coming from about avoiding calling the race card at every turn you also have to admit such issues prevail to say the least, simply put it is there. They probably wouldn't have done it to an American because they know they won't get off so lightly.

I have also witnessed comments by Airport staff who are Africans or islanders concerning their Caucasian fliers. I have witnessed snide comments made by Africans from all works of life concerning their Caucasian, Latino and even Asian counterparts and much more. And these happen in companies, government institutions and the likes. Even right in Nigeria, I have caught police men making snide comments about other races as well. They do it to Americans as well and they do not go around claiming it is racism but more customer service issues which actually have been more successful in curbing such issues than these wolf “racism” cries actually can.

If you look at foreign companies, they come into the country from a so called "civilized" culture and immediately exploit the Nigerian situation and actually join the culture of corruption. We all know this happens, a couple of examples is Shell and the Mobile phone company that was "blacklisted" for bribing members of the house and there are many more. We can't be genuinely respected until we learn to respect ourselves. Then the whole ,thing about the Nigerian government crying foul won't stink of hypocrisy.
What i do find funny is from a different perspective. I just find it funny that a country in which the rights of the citizens are tossed to the wind and trampled upon on a daily basis is screaming human rights violation. Did NBA go after that woman who was pulled over in Lagos by a state governors envoy and beaten up in front of her kids? What about every time people have to give police 20 naira at "check points" or that fact that the average citizen is scared of the police and won't trust them with their 5 naira orange? You have to admit is is funny and a tad hypocritical.

That is precisely why I see this as hugely hypocritical as well. NBA watches on a daily basis as the rights of Nigerians are violated on a daily basis in that country but jumps to announce it is in support of this man and taking his case why?? Cause there is money in it?? Cause of the publicity I mean what exactly makes this man’s case more pressing than the millions of human rights violation cases within that country??

I was just on a trip and was introduced to an Italian oil dealer who spends most of his time in Nigeria cause of his business. The man was quick to point out to me that he has had to bribe his way around to actually keep his business going and he has even bribed top officials on a regular basis to make sure of this. Now, the problem is the man is a foreigner and to him, he would rather have it a different way but due to the culture of corruption, there seems no other way for him who comes from a so called “civilized” world, to do business in a place like Nigeria than to actually join the people and what they would rather have instead. Do I blame the man?? No, I don’t cause like the saying goes, when you are in rome, you do as the romans do. Do we always want to do as the romans do?? Ofcourse not. Should we then blame the stranger for doing what seems to be accepted way of doing business with the romans No. Would it have been better that they did not join the romans but did things the way we feel is the better way Ofcourse but can we actually impose what we do not practise on them??

If it was even our neighbour Ghana perhaps, but Nigeria? LOL. I am in no way condoning what was done to this person and it is just sad the way he was treated and i do hope he can get a good lawyer and get compensation he as far as we can tell rightly deserves.

I think before we continue to harp on what was done to this person, we need to sift this case through the right filters as well. Just cause we have heard some BA staff make snide remarks about Africans does not mean we can then conclude that this situation was of the same.

1) 1000’s of people are deported each day, on commercial flights, across the world. This man happened to have interfered in a situation where, if he was in America, he would have had to face Federal charges. I am not quite sure what the laws over in Britain really are but you do not interfere in official duties of law enforcement agents and then scream racism when you get slammed.

2) Upon reading the man’s statement, I still am left wondering why he felt it was his place to interfere. There are no statements on if the officers were manhandling this deportee but reports continue to state that the deportee was screaming and the man felt it his place to question the officers on this.

3) If you have ever entered public transportation here in the US, there is a reason why people on the buses, trains and even planes do not make much noise but go straight to their sits and sit quietly. Even kids on a school bus know that if they cause commotion, the bus driver has a right to order them off the bus, so yes, this could have easily happened here in the United states. I do remember being on a bus once and one of the passengers was busy causing commotion in the back on the trip. The bus driver ordered all off the bus, called in to have a special bus in to transport that particular passenger back to the station and we did not move until a report was filed and the passenger was hauled back to station. And I was about one of the only “black” people on that bus.


So, forgive me if I still do not see why this issue is being made a Nigerian deal or a race issue. I feel he has a better chance making it a customer service issue, if he has a chance at all, than making it another bloated RACIST cry. There have been so many of those and they have practically lead no where, but down, in my opinion. Companies have been forced to change their policies cause of customer service complaints than have been caused by RACE complaints.

I do not want to get into too many details but if you search and probe, you'll find out that there have been several flights where white Brits have been involved in interfering with deportation of people on their flights and they have protested. Such deportees have always been known to be taken off the flight for the flight to continue.

Without stating too many things, you can contact the Nantional Anti-Deportation Campaigns to find out about the various instances of these.

There has never been a case where a white person protesting about forceful deportation on his/her flight has been treated with so much derision and contempt in the UK. I do not claim to know about America

Blatant:

I do not want to get into too many details but if you search and probe, you'll find out that there have been several flights where white Brits have been involved in interfering with deportation of people on their flights and they have protested. Such deportees have always been known to be taken off the flight for the flight to continue.


Without stating too many things, you can contact the Nantional Anti-Deportation Campaigns to find out about the various instances of these.

There has never been a case where a white person protesting about forceful deportation on his/her flight has been treated with so much derision and contempt in the UK. I do not claim to know about America

You would do well to show me at least some examples of this,

I pointed you in the direction of the National Anti Deportation Campaigns

http://www.ncadc.org.uk/campaigns/images.htm

@Kobo, you still didn't answer my question though. If it was an english person that acted in thesame way do you genuinely believe he/she would have been treated in such a way? How did this man actually get in the way by voicing a concern after hearin "i go die oh". So you would have just ignored such calls as a norm?

Skyblue, I KNOW that many white British people have done similar things in the past. I dont have details to hand but if kobo requests from NCADC, he'll be given the information on this.
We used to work in collaboration with NCADC but I have deleted most of the materials I had with respect to such things

Sky Blue:

@Kobo, you still didn't answer my question though. If it was an english person that acted in thesame way do you genuinely believe he/she would have been treated in such a way? How did this man actually get in the way by voicing a concern after hearin "i go die oh". So you would have just ignored such calls as a norm?

I did answer your question,  Yes, the very same week this happened, Naomi campbell was also bundled off a BA flight and banned for life @Skyblue. So, the answer again is Yes. I am going to guess there are others out there who may have had the same fate but since they did not make it to the media cause their story was not tantalizing enough, we may never get there own story. The man happens to be a british citizen, from what I have gathered and since I have read of white americans being bundled off planes ( there was a recent case of the lady dying) for one reason or another, I do not see why an english man is too big to be bundled off.

See,  we are reacting from hearing one side of the story as if we have heard it all. From what I have read, the man not only voiced an opinion, he placed himself into a sort of saviour position for the man being deported and that is the much I know of the case and understand that many are reacting to. If I heard the man screaming and looked back to see if he was being manhandled, my first instincts would have been to ask the Flight attendant what was going on. To get a better idea of what was really happening before deciding to go "save" the man or not. In this case, we have no indications that this man actually got an understanding of why the man was actually screaming and reacted without getting more information.

Here is a similar situation and I ask what would you do in this case. If you were sitting in a plane and there was a child sitting next to it's mother, but screaming it's head off. Would you assume the mother is at fault and go try to rescue the child?? If you had a complaint to make about the noise, do you think it is best for you and for everyone on the plane for you to go confront the mother or simply make a complaint to the flight attendant who can better fill you in on any information you need to know of the situation or better still is better able to approach the mother being that she is supervisor on that flight

Blatant:

I pointed you in the direction of the National Anti Deportation Campaigns

http://www.ncadc.org.uk/campaigns/images.htm

Don't worry, I am going to personally call the organization up tommorow to verify that the condone this. But when it comes to you saying that it happens but you are unable to give me a particular case to support this, I would not expect to get that information from the organization as I would believe it would not be in their interest to tell me of cases were they had to break the law to make a pointl.

@Kobo, why was Naomi Cambell banned? Was it not for assaulting staff yet again? Do you think it is an appropriate comparison? If Naomi Cambell was banned for this do you know how much publicity would have ensued? BA's CEO would have been begging for forgiveness.
Also from what i gathered from the article the man enquired what was going on, he did not go and physically interfere or rain abuses did he? As i said earlier, i completely understand and agree about not crying racism of any kind at any chance, but the whole Naomi Cambell thing simply doesn't fly as a valid comparison here. You have someone with a known temper and history of such banned for slapping staff and someone to the best of our knowledge enquiring about screams in the plane, so how are they so linked?

Are you in effect saying that the man only inquired from the flight attendants and for that got thrown off the plane

He enquired from the authorities, did you read different? Honestly

What authorities Look, we can assume all we want, You can not say because it happened to him and he happens to be a black man means it could never happen to a white man. That is jumping the gun without concluding facts. Look, like I said earlier, the man knowing that the man was not in danger and all took it on himself to interfere and he was also taken off the plane. Still not enough evidence to make it a race issue. We have seen some really bizarre cases such as this happen to even white people and so I still remain that there is not enough evidence to make this a race issue and I am not going to use WHAT IF's to try to justify a stance where there is not much real evidence to back up such.

you can read and watch the man's own side of the story from here http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/guest-articles/british-airways-removes-136-nigerians-from-f.html .

Like I mentioned earlier, we are reading one side of the story and so have limited information on the 360 of it all. I do not know the laws of the land or BA's policy, if any, that may have allowed the pilot to lead even more passenger's off the plane. So, I am sorry if I choose to stand on the side on this still. I don't believe however, this is a race issue but that it is customer service issue and this man will actually do better to handle it that way as that will actually work to better treatment of passengers in general than this race cry will.

I never said because it happened to a black man it would never happen to a white man did i? I remember using the word english not white. But to be honest you have to admit you are also dealing in speculation as well and you weren't there either. It is just that you seem to be so quick to believe that the Nigerian man was unruly and acting retarded or something of the sort and therefore he was in the wrong. You don't seem to be wanting to give any room to consider the fact that BA might have actually been in the wrong even though i never even said they were. Key word being might because we don't know.

Sky Blue:

I never said because it happened to a black man it would never happen to a white man did i? I remember using the word english not white. But to be honest you have to admit you are also dealing in speculation as well and you weren't there either. It is just that you seem to be so quick to believe that the Nigerian man was unruly and acting retarded or something of the sort and therefore he was in the wrong. You don't seem to be wanting to give any room to consider the fact that BA might have actually been in the wrong even though i never even said they were. Key word being might because we don't know.

hhhmmm, If the statement in bold is the case, why do I continue to harp on him making this a customer service issue instead of a Race /Nigerian issue?? What exactly do I gain by having him do that instead??

@ Kobo i quite appreciate your view and determination to be objective.

I don't know of America, i live in England the truth is that the form of discrimination being practised now is latent (hidden). The govt has tried by putting the laws in place so it can't be obvious anymore.

I am not saying this is a clear case of racism its difficult to prove (though i believe it is) but your direction of arguement that racial discrimination is little or non existant is so funny, i should move to America then.

I have seen the police questioned seriously by white folks and all they do is leave them, please i have been on night outs that drunk white folks do all sorts and the police even drop some of them at thome. I have seen the same scenerio from minorities not necessarily blacks and they are arrested. The arguement is not so clear cut so we use percentages, the number of times it happens to a minority is way more than the number of times it will happen to a caucasian so draw the conclusion, meaning it can happen to a caucasian.

Maybe because of our experiences our views are a bit unbiased, but hey thats what we have seen.

Your examples of buses and trains are so out of place, I have been in national express stations where people are refused to travel or in mega buses where someone was asked to come down and a replacement bus called for, but in all this cases the person had acted unruly, violently, threathened fellow passengers and might have had to be physically restrained, so he was considered a risk to himself and other passengers.

No one is asked to step down because he questioned a process, except BA can show that the guy acted violently or as you have been rightly shown if your unrelated case of Naomi Campbell assaulted a staff then the discrimination case holds.

away4real:

@ Kobo i quite appreciate your view and determination to be objective.

I don't know of America, i live in England the truth is that the form of discrimination being practised now is latent (hidden). The govt has tried by putting the laws in place so it can't be obvious anymore.

The line in bold happens to be what government can do when we demand respect instead of actually working hard to gain respect. And so if this case be addressed as a racial one without much evidence, this is what I fear BA will have to do as well. Does that then solve the problem which we claim exists in this case?? I think not.

I am not saying this is a clear case of racism its difficult to prove (though i believe it is) but your direction of arguement that racial discrimination is little or non existant is so funny, i should move to America then.

If only you could point me to the exact lines in my posts so far where I have made this statement. I appreciate your wanting to step out of the whole “all are racists” line to try to see things differently but just cause I choose to see it from a different angle means I am saying racism does not exist?? On the contrary, if you have read my posts on naira land, I am actually honest about it existing, and not just in the white community, but in the black community, even as much and in the asian community, the jewish one, and even the arab community and more I know of, the african community as well.

I have seen the police questioned seriously by white folks and all they do is leave them, please i have been on night outs that drunk white folks do all sorts and the police even drop some of them at thome. I have seen the same scenerio from minorities not necessarily blacks and they are arrested. The arguement is not so clear cut so we use percentages, the number of times it happens to a minority is way more than the number of times it will happen to a caucasian so draw the conclusion, meaning it can happen to a caucasian.

Maybe because of our experiences our views are a bit unbiased, but hey thats what we have seen.

You claim to be unbiased, what if I tell you that I have seen white people question the police and found themselves in jail an hour later or even drunk white men waking up in jail the next day. How unbiased would you think your observation is at this point??

Your examples of buses and trains are so out of place, I have been in national express stations where people are refused to travel or in mega buses where someone was asked to come down and a replacement bus called for, but in all this cases the person had acted unruly, violently, threathened fellow passengers and might have had to be physically restrained, so he was considered a risk to himself and other passengers.

No one is asked to step down because he questioned a process, except BA can show that the guy acted violently or as you have been rightly shown if your unrelated case of Naomi Campbell assaulted a staff then the discrimination case holds.

Well… do you have proof for the statement in bold Cause I remember I did mention the case of the lady who was told to get off the plane here a while back and she eventually died and a lawsuit was filed by her family later on. I even remember a case of a woman in a wheel chair being detained back some years ago at the airport. I mean we can go on WHAT Ifs and imagine situations to help bolster our stance, fact remains that even as you have admitted yourself, there is not enough evidence to cry RACISM here and it will be actually against us to have this man do so as all BA will do is, like your government put in place laws that limit others but if you do not know it, Racism is not a crime and so BA can force it's employees to walk on shells for Nigerians but that will not solve anything in the long run.

@Kobo, but do you know he was unruly? You used Naomi Cambell again, and i said it was not an appropriate one, so what other situation similar to this has occured and an english person was treated as such? If what the passenger claimed is true without any report from BA or any source to the contrary, then what did he do that causes it to be a simple case of "bad customer service" ? Customer service makes me think of stuff like rude clerks or spitting in your food and such, not what was metted out to this guy if what he claims was true. I know this case is extreme, but if he was shot ,would you also have called it a simple case of "bad customer service" ? LOL. Someone paid for a flight, got on the plane and heard "i go die oh", enquired and was sympathetic and he was thrown off the plane and banned for life from the airline, handcuffed and treated like a criminal in an airport (imagine the humiliation), missed his brothers wedding and they mishandled his luggage upon that and it is simply just a throw away case of bad customer service? Really?
I am not shouting racism from the roof tops as i believe there might be more to the story but i am intrigued that the slightest thought of racism seems to annoy you as if racism is something that doesn't exist at all. Just intrigued

Sky Blue:

@Kobo, but do you know he was unruly? You used Naomi Cambell again, and i said it was not an appropriate one, so what other situation similar to this has occurred and an English person was treated as such?

You yourself do not know if he was unruly or not. All we have is what the man claimed happened. Naomi campbell is English and you asked of some other English person and I gave you one.  Regardless of what it is about, we know another black English person has been thrown off BA plane before and within the same period. Now, if you want to argue that the second is Racist and the first is not, you would have to supply evidence.

If what the passenger claimed is true without any report from BA or any source to the contrary, then what jdid he do that causes it to be more of a customer service issue? Cunstomer service makes me think of stuff like rude clerks or spitting in your food and msuch, not mwhat was metted out to this guy if what he claims was true. I know this case is extreme, but if he was shot ,would ,you also have called it a customer service issue? LOL. Someone paid for a flight, got on the plain and heard "i go die oh", enquired and was sympathetic and he was thrown off the plane and banned for life from the airline, ,handcuffed and treated like a criminal in an airport (imagine the humiliation), missed his brothers wedding and they mishandled his luggage upon that and it is simply just a throw away case of bad customer service? Really?

You are still doing exactly what I have been suggesting we not do in this case, passing rash judgment without considering what we actually know instead of injecting WHAT IFS into the case with no solid evidence for such. This case is not extreme at all, it is to me customer service UNLESS You can prove it is racially motivated and you yourself have stated that you have no particular evidence to support such. Naomi Campbell paid for a plane ticket as well and she got thrown off and banned for life as well. She was handcuffed and thrown off the plane as well. She even tried playing the race card and everyone told her to shut up cause we all have accepted that she was at fault in that case. I am not sure she is even going to file a case at all but in the case of this man, I will still say, he was treated in similar way Campbell was, sure, but so far what we have had is the one side of the case and not the other side. So I still see no reason why we as a people should jump to label this a racially motivated incident without solid proof that it is.

I am not shouting racism from the roof tops as i believe there might be more to the story but i am intrigued that the slightest thought of racism seems to annoy you as if racism is ,something that doesn't exist at all. Just intrigued

I am sorry but so far, you keep trying to read my mind and keep failing at it. I am not angered by racism at all. It does not annoy me at all. So you are wrong on that and the other. I just do not like it when people cry WOLF when there is little or no evidence to support their cry for WOLF. Is that hard to understand from my post on this so far?? I have been plain to state that

1) Racisms exists on all levels, even worse I have experienced of it has been in the black community

2) Racism is not just a black on white thing. I have seen blacks here who hate Chinese, Mexicans and even Indians and they make it known

3) Crying racism at every corner has robbed us of so much credibility, in my opinion, that I believe we need to use that cry as sparingly as we can and learn to focus more on using more effective ways to achieve objectives, not just for one group but for all groups

@Kobo, i better understood where you were coming from with you second to last post but you honestly need to stop using Naomi Cambell. Why on earth did everyone tell her to shut up? Because she assaulted staff. From what this guy has said even though it is one part of the story, did he assault anyone? How on earth does Naomi Cambell who has been in trouble a few times and even been to court about assaulting people compare with someone enquiring and then being thrown off? I really don't think it helps your arguement at all. Also, you might be guilty of what you accused me of (i.e trying to read your mind). Did i ever say it was a race issue? Really? When did i say such? I said i was intrigued because it seemed that you found the very thought that it might be a race issue simply impossible and you further explained yourself. I am not trying to read your mind but trying to understand what you are trying to say or where you are coming from afterall we are having what i hope is a civil discussion without any insults because i don't do that. I also said i agree about not playing the race card at every turn. The thing is that people perceive it as more than that, it is about citizenry. Whenever a british citizen is in trouble in another country you hear it on the news. A couple of english students died in a bus crash in South America and it was on the news. Were they the only ones that died? But because they were british citzens there was that feeling of a government that cared about them and more importantly a government that looks after the interest of its citizenry. There are many more examples of such and you know it. I raise this issue because you were talking about earning respect. So did these people earn respect by virtue of just being born british? The point i am trying to make is that western countries do not necessarily earn respect like the chinese and co have done but there is a feeling of, I am british and respect is demanded so they do demand respect don't they? I actually rather we worked and stopped focusing so much on others but worked to develop ourselves and make ourselves respectable as a nation, but don't speak as if western countries don't demand respect because they do.

[size=20pt]Cases of people thrown of flights, non blacks![/size]

UK News
4NI National News
13 May 2004
[size=18pt]Passengers removed from Flybe flight[/size]
A party of 30 business travellers were escorted off a plane before it took off from Glasgow to Belfast City last night.


Following allegations of serious disturbances and drunken antics on the aircraft shortly before take-off, police removed 30 passengers from the aircraft, a scheduled Flybe flight which was due to leave Glasgow at around 8.30pm on Wednesday bound for Belfast.

On top of the alleged rowdy behaviour, the captain had passengers removed after smelling alcohol in the main cabin.

Those thought to be involved remained in Glasgow, while the 17 passengers left aboard were flown to Belfast International Airport after a three-hour delay.

A statement from Flybe said: "The captain discerned a strong smell of alcohol in the passenger cabin, and in the interests of passenger safety and comfort, he off-loaded the aircraft.

"Given the subsequent late departure of the flight it was diverted to Belfast international where passengers were bussed to Belfast City Airport on arrival.

"Passenger safety is paramount in all of Flybe's operations and an investigation is under way to ascertain the full circumstances of this incident.

"The 17 passengers who travelled should contact customer services in Exeter to seek a refund."
http://www.4ni.co.uk/news.asp?id=29088

[size=18pt]
Praying passenger removed from flight[/size]
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24191236/

Orthodox Jewish man ignored flight crew instructions during religious ritual

updated 8:22 p.m. ET April 17, 2008

NEW YORK - A passenger who left his seat to pray in the back of a plane before it took off, ignoring flight attendants' orders to return, was removed by an airport security guard, a witness and the airline said.

The Orthodox Jewish man, who wore a full beard, a black hat and a long black coat, stood near the lavatories and began saying his prayers while the United Airlines jet was being boarded at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Wednesday night, fellow passenger Ori Brafman said.

When flight attendants urged the man, who was carrying a religious book, to take his seat, he ignored them, Brafman said. Two friends, who were seated, tried to tell the attendants that the man couldn't stop until his prayers were over in about 2 minutes, he said.
Story continues below ↓advertisement

"He doesn't respond to them, but his friends explain that once you start praying you can't stop," said Brafman, who was seated three rows away.

When the man finally stopped praying, he explained that he couldn't interrupt his religious ritual and wasn't trying to be rude. But the attendants summoned a guard to remove him, said Brafman, a writer who had been visiting New York to talk to publishers.

Also on this story
Discuss: What do you think about praying on the plane?

The plane, Flight 9 to San Francisco, took off without the man. It landed at its destination as scheduled, Brafman said by telephone from his home there.

Robin Urbanski, a spokeswoman for United Airlines, a subsidiary of UAL Corp. with headquarters in Chicago, confirmed the man was taken off the plane and put on another flight Thursday morning.

Urbanksi said flights cannot depart if all passengers are not in their seats, which risks a delay, and it is important that passengers listen to the instructions of the flight crew.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs area airports, and the Transportation Safety Administration, which handles airport security, said Thursday they weren't involved in the incident.

[size=18pt]Unruly passenger removed from Houston flight[/size]
Friday, April 25, 2008 | 7:38 AM


HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A Continental flight from Houston had to make an unexpected stop because of an unruly passenger.

The express jet left Houston last night for Palm Springs. One of the 46 passengers is said to have been [b]verbally abusive [/b]with a flight attendant and other passengers. The plane landed in Midland and officials took the man off the flight.

The plane made it to Palm Springs around midnight after only a 30 minute delay.



4 comments
Post A Comment
1

hairyduck

4/25/08 8:13 AM EDT
He was probably pissed when he found he had to pay to use the toilet. And the toilet paper, by the sheet. You know there are all sorts of new fees, taxes, etc. Mark As Violation

2

ggmsmolly

4/25/08 2:52 PM EDT
My sister is a retired Continental Flight Attendant and that is one thing I learned early on, don't interfer with the flight crews job. They carry allot of clout. Mark As Violation

3

gigante

4/25/08 4:59 PM EDT
People are generally on their worst behavior when flying. Mark As Violation

4

geraldwjamesjr

4/26/08 1:13 AM EDT
If the man was creating a disturbance, I can see how they would be justified in removing him from the plane. But it didn't mention whether or not the man was arrested. I am curious to hear more. Mark As Violation

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6102884

[size=18pt]
Crying Child and Parents Removed From Flight[/size]
AirTran Ejected 3-Year-Old and Her Parents After Tantrum
Jan. 23, 2007



Every parent has dealt with a child having a tantrum and causing embarrassment at the worst times -- in a grocery store, in a restaurant, and at weddings.
crying family
Elly Kulesza, 3, and her parents, Julie and Gerald, were kicked off an AirTran Airways flight from Florida to their Worcester, Mass., home because Elly would not stop crying.
(ABC News)

For a Massachusetts mom and dad, however, their toddler's tantrum cost them their flight home.

On Jan. 14, 3-year-old Elly Kulesza and her parents, Julie and Gerald, were kicked off an AirTran Airways flight from Florida to their Worcester, Mass., home because Elly would not stop crying.

Elly, who had been a model passenger on the flight to Florida four days earlier, began to cry uncontrollably once she got on the plane, throwing a temper tantrum on the floor.

AirTran employees demanded that the Kuleszas calm down their child. When Elly didn't stop crying, the crew banned the Kuleszas from flying for 24 hours. Later, AirTran offered an apology to the family along with a refund on their tickets.
Related
Should Crying Kids Be Kicked Off Planes?

"As we have an obligation to the 112 other passengers onboard the flight to operate the flight on time," AirTran said in a statement, "we had to make an operational decision to ask the Kulesza party to deplane so the flight could depart."

Passengers Sympathetic, Unlike Crew, Parents Say

On "Good Morning America," the Kuleszas insisted that their toddler wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary.

"I don't know what happened. No one can tell when something like this is going to happen. She had a great morning, but then she got on the plane and she started to cry," Julie Kulesza said.

"She's like the typical 3-year-old. She has her moments, but overall she's a very, very good child."

The Kuleszas said that unlike the AirTran crew, the passengers on the flight were sympathetic to their situation.

"I jokingly turned around and asked the three gentlemen behind me, 'Aren't you glad you got these seats?" Julie said. "Another passenger offered up a lollipop to try and calm her down."

Despite AirTran's apology and offer of a complimentary flight, the Kuleszas don't plan to fly with the airline anytime soon.

"We'll pass on that," Gerald Kulesza said. "After that, I told them I'd never fly with them again."

I agree with Kobo in that Omotade's case was not a race issue but I also don't think he has grounds for a customer service issue. Had the guy minded his own beeswacks then he would made the wedding as planned. Granted, I wasn't on the flight but he was obviously put his foot in it by bigging himself up to the police/immigration officials when they were trying to do their job.

A year ago in Somerfield, I witnessed the police trying to detain a shoplifter and this young black guy tried to interfere under some misguided notion that he was doing his bit for the 'cause'. The poor sod ended up getting himself arrested along with the shoplifter. smh.

I feel that all these calls for Boycott without knowing the real facts is making us Nigerians look extremely foolish, like our image is not bad enough already. The latest joke is the NBA trying to sue BA. They are claiming that Omotade is a Nigerian citizen when he is British.

So now we have the NBA trying to sue a BRITISH company on behalf of a BRITISH citizen for an incident that took place on BRITISH soil. . .ridiculous!

@EloSela of course non blacks have also been thrown off planes. LOL. This is getting slightly futile. Non of us were there but you are so quick to assume he was "being a hero" as opposed to simply inquiring and he has witnesses apparently. I did not say this is a race issue but it just seems there is eagerness to believe the man acted in the wrong when there has been no contrary report to that. If we don't know then isn't it all just speculation and shouldn't we be simply asking for more information as opposed to saying it was just another unruly Nigerian? So are all Nigerians just simply unruly then because i don't think i am. If we don't know then ask for more info instead of just saying it was another "Nigerian passenger".