CantTurnRight

Seems that yesterday two very local music celebs were asked on a South African domestic BA Comair flight to move from Club to Traveler, to accommodate another Club passenger whose seat was broken. The problem seems to be that the passengers who were asked to move are black, and the broken-seat-passenger is white. They're claiming racism and racial preference for a white passenger.

I imagine the only reasonable explanation is that the aggrieved passengers who were asked to move must have been on an op-up, otherwise this looks very bad for BA Comair.

The third biggest political party in South Africa weighed-in like this:The EFF condemns the British Airways for a clearly racist ill-treatment they gave to Black Motion DJs. On their way from Cape Town, Black Motion was offloaded from a Johannesburg flight upon refusing to give up business class seats to a white customer. The flight attendants approached the Black Motion DJs who were the only blacks in the Business Class to give up their seats to a white lady who complained that her seat was broken. To accommodate her, they went for the only black Business Class passengers instructing them to move to the economy class. Upon the protest by Black Motion, the captain asked the police to offload them because he is not comfortable to fly angry blacks, fearing they will cause 9/11. Nothing demonstrates black hate that this very statement by the captain because the anger of a white customer is given a new comfortable seat, whereas the anger of blacks is offloaded as it poses 9/11 terrorist risk. We call on British Airways to institute an independent investigation into this situation, headed by an independent body or senior counsel. The Captain, together with the crew must be placed under immediate suspension and face the full might of the law. Failure to do this ACSA must suspend all BA flights in our country. British Airways can go fly in its colonial and ever racist Britain. Whomsoever is white and not willing to treat black people with dignity and respect must simply leave our country. In all restaurants, hotels, transportations, schools etc. black people are always treated as second-class citizens whilst all the best services are preferred to white people.It's also being reported that Comair isn't giving any comment to media about this.

BA has tweeted: "We are working with our franchise partner Comair to understand that happened. We will not tolerate discrimination on any of our flights, so we take these allegations very seriously. We have apologized to our customers and immediately rebooked them onto another flight."

The possibility exists for local political action to be taken against BA Plc, not just Comair, and in South Africa that could mean anything from disruptive protests to criminal charges being laid - but this is just speculation for now.

V10

Why move two passengers when only one passenger needs to move to a non-broken seat?

DYKWIA

Were the music celebs black? It's not at all clear from the report...

Globaliser

Ah, a credible source.

Looking at the crew complements on Comair flights, let alone experience of how they work, it's hard to believe that racism would have played any part in this decision. And if I may be forgiven for being a bit OMNI for just a second, one might be more likely to find racism in, ahem, other big airlines in the country.

Flame3601

Another day in the "rainbow nation" , the place where everything and anything is racist. Glad to see the EFF are chipping in their 2c again . In all honestly I think this is being blown way out of proportion by the EFF and those involved.

Ironic as I bet the crew were majorty black as well from vast previous experience.

simons1

According to SA reports the musicians were booked in business. When asked to move they were told they were on a lower fare than the lady being given one of their seats.

It is then reported that the Captain asked that they were offloaded for being aggressive and because they wanted to avoid a 9-11. They were apparently escorted off by Police although SAPS denies this.

mec72

"The third biggest political party in South Africa" - LOL

brobin

I wouldn't feel comfortable sitting next to a guy who's name is "Murdah."

kb9522

No better way to fuel your revolution than with hyperbole, leaping assumptions, and just flat out making things up.

If you think racial tensions are bad in the US... take a trip to South Africa right now.

Worcester

Thats interesting? Why is that? Do you have a phobia of the letter M or something? There is a great psychologist I know who can help with that sort of thing. PM me if you want her details.

Flame3601

I may be wrong , however I believe he was being sarcastic and making a side joke about Murdah , sounding like murder.

Takiteasy

Gosh! Are you sure it’s not you who needs said shrink?

holloway1000

Below is from the independent.

A spokesperson for Comair told The Independent: “The situation arose as two damaged business class seats were not removed from the check-in system, as should have happened. As a result two customers were checked-in and allocated seats in which they could not fly.
​These customers were both silver card frequent flyer members, who are prioritised as a matter of global policy. In considering who could be asked to downgrade, the airport staff then identified non-frequent flyers travelling on discounted business class fares. This is common airline practice on rare occasions when downgrades occur. It was on this basis that two other customers in business class were approached

Flame3601

Yeah fair enough , annoying but typical of them to run home crying racism....

Gig103

We also don't know the whole picture. The musicians were not BAEC Elite, but were they really the two least expensive rev tickets? If there were three or four people in the same fare bucket, how did the local crew break a tie and choose those two?

Also, based on my experience w/ the US3, I had always thought prioritization was when processing IDB. These passengers had already boarded. They were better off being disembarked and flying later anyway in Club, but I say that not knowing their schedules, but rather knowing that I wouldn't fly Traveller for a long haul.