Mumbai: On Thursday, March 16, a city-based senior lawyer expressed his resentment over the treatment meted out to him and his wife on a Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong. He alleged that they were humiliated and deplaned and that their passports were taken away as well.
Senior lawyer Divyakant Mehta taking to Twitter voiced that he and his wife were scheduled to fly to Hong Kong on March 14 however they were deplaned for carrying a Federal Aviation Administration approved portable oxygen concentrator for his ailing wife.
Elaborating on the incident he said, "My wife and I were publicly humiliated, harassed and threatened by the ground staff and eventually offloaded from the plane. Reason - we had a FAA approved Philips Portable Oxygen Concentrator in our hand luggage as my wife is suffering from a lung condition of Pulmonary Fibrosis."
He said that the couple was initially denied boarding, subsequently, when they received ground clearance and boarded the aircraft, the crew told them they cannot charge the portable battery since they'd not paid additional charges.
"Our luggage was offloaded, passports taken from us and we were treated as criminals," he said and added, "We always carry the warranty card, medical records and 2 spare batteries which we showed to the airline staff in this instance."
He further said that the couple has accessed services of 47 different airlines throughout the world and travelled long-haul flights to America with the device and had never faced any issue as such.
"Ground Staff and crew of CX 660 did not even have the courtesy to offer 2 distressed senior citizen business class passengers a glass of water after 5 hours of drama at the gate and on the flight. I wonder how they would treat an economy class passenger under similar circumstances," the geriatric lawyer argued.
The airline has not responded to his claims yet. The story will be updated when they respond.
