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Morocco’s national carrier Royal Air Maroc (RAM) has been accused of discriminating against a Liberian official on social media.
In a video that went viral in the last two days, the minister appeared complaining about the delay of a flight connecting Casablanca to Monrovia. The latter claims that RAM booked hotel rooms for American passengers and left its African clients sleep on the airport’s floor.
Liberia's Minister Eugene Fahngon engaging Air Maroc officials for discriminating.
— Facts About Africa (@OnlyAfricaFacts) 19 août 2018
A 9am scheduled flight was cancelled and rescheduled for 9pm the next day. U.S passengers were given hotel rooms whilst Liberians and other Africans were left to sleep on the floor at the terminal pic.twitter.com/JCcf9syjjQ
Responding to accusations, RAM explained on Monday, 20th of August, that these «are just fake news». It also reported that the video in question refers to passengers carried by Royal Air Maroc’s AT-567 flight, connecting Casablanca to Monrovia on August 10th, 2018.
«Flight AT-567 was canceled because of some technical issues. About sixty passengers who had to fly to the Liberian capital were told that they would take a different flight on August the 11th», said the company in a press release sent today to Yabiladi.
RAM explains that ten passengers, including Liberian-American nationals (who did not need a visa) were transferred to a couple of hotels in Casablanca. «However, fifty others who held Liberian citizenships could not leave the international zone, which is the airport, because they did not have a visa [but the company] took care of them», said the same communiqué.
Accused on social media
However, during the weekend, Liberians did not appreciate what happened to their minister while in Morocco. On Twitter, the identity of the official was revealed, who was Eugene Fahngon, Liberia’s minister of Public Affairs.
Nous rappelons à nos passagers en transit qu’un visa est nécessaire pour que certaines nationalités puissent sortir de l’aéroport et avoir accès aux hôtels
— RAM Assistance (@RAM_Assistance) 18 août 2018
Nous vous remercions pour votre compréhension.
«If this complaint comes before Liberian courts, Royal Air Maroc will end up paying tens of thousands of dollars instead of paying hundreds of dollars for hotel rooms», said the minister to a RAM’s senior official.
voila comment @RAM_Maroc se comporte avec ses clients après leur avoir annoncé qu’ils ne peuvent pas embarquer à cause d’un surbooking!! pic.twitter.com/UWypnjbinN
— mouna ben (@mounabenazzou) 18 août 2018
Contacted by Telquel, a RAM official said yesterday that the video published on August the 19th was shot «two months ago», which seems like a clumsy attempt to spark controversy.
For the record, and according to Moroccan laws, airline companies have to take care of their passengers when flights are delayed or canceled.
