A trip to Athens

[b]Athena – Day 1 – 30 June 2003[/b]

Emirates Airlines is not a company I would recommend, in fact if you have a choice in the matter, I would strongly advise you to fly with another airline.

Although the aircraft arrived early in Bahrain, it left late. When I finally boarded I found an old woman sitting in my seat! There was no where else to sit. Of course I reserved that particular seat when I bought my ticket – I normally travel light and sit at the front in an isle seat so that I can get out of the airplane as soon as possible – calling the flight attendant didn’t resolve the problem. They in turn called a ground-staff who looked at me and said “well what can I do for you? Do you want me to remove the women from your seat?”

I was flabbergasted. I was being blackmailed. To understand why I regard this a blackmail you have to understand that although the Arabs generally relegate women to third-class citizenship, when it comes to situations like this, they put them in very high regard. Had he removed the woman from my seat, he would have split a family because there was another woman sitting next to her that I assume was her daughter, and putting a woman next to a “strange man” is a no-no.