Falcon
02-10-2008, 03:47 AM
In case anyone (including me) still had fanciful thoughts that in 2008 things would be different:
To most of the passengers on the Ryanair Flight from Sardinia to London, the five black men sitting quietly in the economy cabin were nothing more sinister than fellow passengers.
But to the psychology professor seated near them, they could only be terrorists. For one thing, they were sitting apart – when they had been together in the departure lounge – which could only be suspicious. Worse, one of the group acted as if he was blind but was reading newspapers and magazines. Or at least, that’s what it looked like to him. After he went to the pilot saying the aircraft was in danger, Captain Sam Dunlop had the men removed from the aircraft.
The five members of Caribbean Steel International were awarded £1,116 each in damages yesterday after a judge found that they had been removed unreasonably. Far from being terrorists, they were returning from a music festival in Sardinia.
The court heard that the musicians were not sitting next to each other because the flight was full. The band’s drummer, Michael Toussaint, was indeed blind and one of the other band members had been reading the football scores to him from a newspaper while they waited for take-off.
Captain Dunlop decided to remove the men, the only black people on the flight, after two families and a stewardess said that they would not fly with them on board.
Ryanair had also lied about the incident to the press. Peter Sherrard, the airline’s head of communications, had told newspapers that “airport security were informed and decided to remove the group”, and that “no request was made to our pilot to allow this group to reboard”. This was “false and misleading”, the judge said.
A spokesman for Ryanair said last night that it would appeal against the decision.
So I'll vote with my wallet on this one. Europe via any other way.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article3315495.ece
To most of the passengers on the Ryanair Flight from Sardinia to London, the five black men sitting quietly in the economy cabin were nothing more sinister than fellow passengers.
But to the psychology professor seated near them, they could only be terrorists. For one thing, they were sitting apart – when they had been together in the departure lounge – which could only be suspicious. Worse, one of the group acted as if he was blind but was reading newspapers and magazines. Or at least, that’s what it looked like to him. After he went to the pilot saying the aircraft was in danger, Captain Sam Dunlop had the men removed from the aircraft.
The five members of Caribbean Steel International were awarded £1,116 each in damages yesterday after a judge found that they had been removed unreasonably. Far from being terrorists, they were returning from a music festival in Sardinia.
The court heard that the musicians were not sitting next to each other because the flight was full. The band’s drummer, Michael Toussaint, was indeed blind and one of the other band members had been reading the football scores to him from a newspaper while they waited for take-off.
Captain Dunlop decided to remove the men, the only black people on the flight, after two families and a stewardess said that they would not fly with them on board.
Ryanair had also lied about the incident to the press. Peter Sherrard, the airline’s head of communications, had told newspapers that “airport security were informed and decided to remove the group”, and that “no request was made to our pilot to allow this group to reboard”. This was “false and misleading”, the judge said.
A spokesman for Ryanair said last night that it would appeal against the decision.
So I'll vote with my wallet on this one. Europe via any other way.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article3315495.ece