Originally Posted by
San Gottardo
4. Having spoken to someone who had a business partner on the flight it *seems* that in Damascus pax and crew were asked to raise money to pay for the fuel. I personally find that completely unbelievable (smells like an urban legend to me), but can someone confirm? Whilst AF no longer serves Damascus, surely there are procedures in place that kick in when the airline must pay for things like fuel or passenger services at deviation airports that are not part of its network. Don't know, Captain has a credit card or Air France has a line with the airport and fuel suppliers? Maybe someone can clarify
Given the situation on the ground in Syria, it really wouldn't surprise me.
Air France probably does not have a procedure in place for a plane arriving at a point it no longer serves. Depending on who the airport operator is, or the fuel supplier, then it is likely/possible that in Damascus these are entities with which Air France has no dealings with at all. (By this I mean that Air France may not do business with these companies at ANY airport, and therefore there is no current contract or relationship between them that could be used to grease the wheels of this unexpected transaction). Or it could just be that they merely wanted payment up front, which the Air France crew were not able to meet.
It does strike one as rather strange that a reputable company that should be good for the money is treated like that. Such stories typically only surface about carriers that are in trouble and where those expected to supply fuel can rightly worry that they would never subsequently see payment.
It could be true! It will be interesting to see if any more details become known. You say "pax and crew were asked to raise payment". Did they? There must be further details from this source of yours.