Cousins ‘treated like terrorists’ by Nationwide staff

Two Gauteng professionals are fuming after they were allegedly humiliated and made to feel like criminals by Nationwide airline officials.
Keethan Kander, 22, a chemical engineer from Secunda, and his cousin, Suntoshin Naidu, 31, a Johannesburg financial accountant, claimed that the airline refused to allow them to board a flight to London three weeks ago.
Their plans to holiday with family in London were dashed when airline officials at OR Tambo Airport allegedly “treated us like terrorists, because we were single Indian males travelling together”.
“One of the airline officials told us that we would not be allowed to go through the check-in gates because we had new passports. We were ordered to step out of the queue,” said Naidu.
He said they were told that if they presented their old, expired passports to the airline, the problem would be resolved.
He said they were humiliated in view of other passengers.
They were later informed that they also needed a clearance certificate from the British High Commissioner.
“When we contacted the British High Commissioner’s office, we were told there was no need for a clearance certificate based on the particulars of our journey. But the airline official said they had the right to deny access to people who were going to the UK for the wrong reasons,” said Kander.
Naidu said one of their old passports had to couriered from Durban.
The following day, the requested documents were presented to the official, who gave them a cursory glance and issued them with boarding passes.
02/12/07 Subashni Naidoo/The Times, South Africa

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Categories: Airports Dec 2007, Foreign Dec 2007