Outrage over boarding charges, plus $240 for wheechair user

[geovalin]

Pech Sotheary

A government minister has threatened legal action, and disability groups are up in arms, after a small Cambodian airline forced a disabled passenger to pay $240 on top of her ticket price for help getting on and off an aircraft.

Bassaka Air has admitted demanding the extra cash from Sudanese wheelchair user Rahma El Siddig Gasm Elbari Mustafa when she turned up at Siem Riep to board a flight to Phnom Penh on September 19.

If the government discovers the company had taken advantage of a disabled person intentionally, the head of the government’s Disability Action Council Vong Sauth said, it would take legal measures that could result in fines or other punishment for the airline.

read more: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/outrage-over-boarding-charges

[Bpuumike]

It's unfortunate the airline couldn't have been more flexible as I believe the ground handling charges are minimal, if any.

Most airlines require wheelchair assistance to be booked when the original reservation is made and this is often printed on the boarding card.

[spidermike007]

Abominable. What can one even say? Does the term predatory gouging come to mind?

[4evermaat]

It's unfortunate the airline couldn't have been more flexible as I believe the ground handling charges are minimal, if any.

Most airlines require wheelchair assistance to be booked when the original reservation is made and this is often printed on the boarding card.

Say the airline charged a $10 fee for wheelchair assistance. What is the other $210 for?

[geovalin]

Bassaka puts the blame on CAMS

Mon, 28 September 2015

Pech Sotheary

The government has asked the company that manages airports in Cambodia to explain why, according to airline Bassaka Air, it demanded $240 from the carrier for helping a disabled passenger board one of its aircraft.

Bassaka Air, which found itself at the centre of a media storm last week after it asked Sudanese wheelchair user Rahma El Siddig Gasm Elbari Mustafa to pay the extra cash, has since blamed Cambodia Airport Management Service Company (CAMS), owned by France’s Vinci Group and Malaysia’s Muhibbah Airport Services (Labuan) Ltd, for the debacle.

The airline wrote to the government’s Disablity Action Council (DAC) on Thursday, denying it had acted in a discriminatory way and saying it had no choice but to ask Mustafa for the extra money because it was asked to pay the sum by CAMS.

read more: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/bassaka-puts-blame-cams