A Turkish Airlines passenger identified as Renee Ezra is decrying racial profiling and mistreatment at the Airlines.
The passenger who is in custody in Turkey, boarded the airline on Tuesday from Nairobi to Cambodia via Turkey and Bangok, with all connecting flights being provided by Turkish Airlines.
However, upon landing in Bangok, all hell broke loose as attendants Bangok Airlines, the connecting flight he was to board, demanded that she provides Ksh200,000 in cash as prove.
“They asked for the visa to Cambodia, told them it was on arrival! They checked and confirmed it! Having found literally nothing to hold against checking me in, after over ten minutes, that’s when all hell broke loose! They said they needed to see 2000 USD CASH for them to allow me to board the flight! ” she narrates on Twitter.
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After a lengthy conversation trying to convince the officials, they seemed not to bulge and inch hence she was forced to withdraw USD 500 from her account. She had an additional Ksh132,000, which hoped would be enough to convince the officials.
Brought them the 500 USD with an additional 132,000 KES that was to be exchanged at a bureau in Cambodia! That’s literally almost 2000 USD CASH!
The KES couldn’t be exchanged inside the Thai airport sadly! So they didn’t acknowledge it! pic.twitter.com/vpDBqAWmqU— Renee (@ReneeEzra) October 10, 2019
Despite being shown bank statements and online status of the accounts, the officials were adamant and determined to block her flights.
Renee called the Cambodian immigration department, who acknowledged that bank statements were enough, but the officials remained unmoved even as Renee missed her flight.
“They seemed unnerved even after the phone call! Now, the part that hurt most was that there were soo many people being checked in without having to show cash! To make matters worse, there was a black man facing same problem,” she adds.
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At this juncture, the Turkish Airlines refused to help him and his fate seemed sealed. Tired and wasted, she decided to demand a flight home, but this would not come without more frustrations after “two hours of negotiations between Turkish Airlines and Bangok Airways”.
“They asked for the passport citing they needed my details! Details they already had in their systems! And even went ahead and took photocopies of it against my will! I was only informed as the flight was boarding that they’ll put me on that flight,: she laments.
As if that is not enough, the carrier refused to hand over her documents back, until she reached Nairobi.
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“They wouldn’t let me have my travel documents till I got back to Nairobi! Escorted by one of their staff” she adds.
While on flight, the air hostesses were rude as they refused to serve he on grounds that they didn’t have to serve her while serving the other passengers.
“Landed in Turkey this Morning ,escorted to the transfer desks by staff carrying my documents! It’s been over 2 hours now, no word from them! To make matters worse, near me is a group of ONLY ALL BLACK PEOPLE in the same situation! All Black! So it’ a pattern! It’s a norm,” she says.
She says she has been held for over 12 hours without food or communication.
Here’s her narration:-
My next couple of tweets are about the horrible ordeal that I went through @bangkok_airways in Thailand at the Bangkok airport and @TurkishAirlines the international flight I booked with from Nairobi to Cambodia!
Kindly bare with me! It’s a long Read! I’m infuriated!— Renee (@ReneeEzra) October 10, 2019
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