Chaos at Bahrain airport as scores bumped off flights

Scores of passengers have been bumped off Gulf Air flights out of Bahrain over the last few days, leading to widespread disruption and accusations that the airline has been excessively overbooking during the busy holiday season.
The disruption began at the end of last week and continued on Sunday with passengers heading for the Indian subcontinent, UK and Europe facing continued delays, Bahrain’s Gulf Daily News reported on Monday.
The newspaper said Gulf Air was shuffling passengers on to alternative flights, laying on extra flights to some high-traffic destinations and even bringing in bigger aircraft in an effort to limit the problem.
However, the airline admitted it would be a few days before the situation was back to normal.
Al Fanar Travel general manager Suhaib Kidwai blamed Gulf Air for the chaos, claiming the airline had allowed excessive booking without checking to see how many people would actually be flying.
However, the airline has dismissed accusations, claiming that passengers being bumped off flights was not unusual.
"A glitch in the immigration computer systems at the King Fahad Causeway on Saturday had contributed significantly to the problem", Adnan Malek, Gulf Air’s acting head of corporate communications said, quoted Gulf Daily News.
17/12/07 James Bennett/ArabianBusiness.com, United Arab Emirates

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Categories: Airports Dec 2007, Foreign Dec 2007