South African Express was on Friday battling to explain the circumstances surrounding a double booking that led to a passenger being led off a plane to make way for a prominent African National Congress (ANC) official.
Beeld newspaper reported that a passenger, Sharmalee Maistry, was seated and the craft’s door had closed, when she was told to leave the plane and retrieve her luggage from the hold as her seat had been double-booked.
It has emerged that ANC head of the presidency Smuts Ngonyama held the same ticket, 6A.
Responding to questions, the company issued a statement saying that Maistry was denied boarding on South African Express flight SA 1340 between Durban and Port Elizabeth because the flight was overbooked.
Apologising for the inconvenience, it said that overbooking is commonly practised in the industry to compensate for the high percentage of no-shows and to avoid seat spoilage.
In a later statement, issued after it was pointed out that the passenger had already boarded, the airline said its practice is to accommodate the first person to check in.
However, it could not explain why Maistry, who was already seated on the plane while Ngonyama reportedly waited in a vehicle on the runway, was asked to leave.
The company said it is concerned that the matter has been politicised.
Ngonyama told Beeld that he had booked his seat on the internet and when told that it had been taken by a woman who arrived at the airport before him, he asked that this be rectified. He did not abuse his position, and felt that he was not wrong, he told the newspaper. — Sapa