Court clears BA passenger over screams complaint
Nigerian campaigners demand apology over treatment of man who complained about 'agonising' cries of deportee at Heathrow
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Rachel Williams
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 7 May 2009 15.04 BST
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British Airways planes at Heathrow. Photograph: Bruno Vincent/Getty Images

A Nigerian campaign group demanded an apology from British Airways today after the acquittal of an IT analyst who was arrested on a plane for complaining about the piercing screams of a man due to be forcibly deported to Lagos.

The entire economy-class cabin was ordered off the flight before it left Heathrow in March last year after passengers voiced concerns about a man who was shouting "I go die".

Staff feared there would be a riot, Brent magistrates court heard. About 135 travellers were offloaded, with half returning later to complete the journey and others taking subsequent flights.

Ayodeji Omotade was accused by the prosecution of being a "catalyst" for other complaints. Yesterday he was cleared of the charge of behaving in a threatening, abusive, insulting or disorderly manner towards crew, after waiting over a year for his case to be heard.

Prosecution witnesses told the court Omotade had behaved like a "raging bull", but the district judge, Deborah Wright, found he had made a "forcible but polite complaint".

Omotade told the court that the flight had been full of families, and children could be heard crying as the deportee – who was handcuffed and in leg restraints – let out "agonising" screams for up to 20 minutes.

"It was just animalistic screams, like someone in pain," he said.

Omotade said he intervened when he heard the man say "I go die", hoping to translate his pidgin English for the escorts from the security group G4S. He told them: "The man says you're killing him, please don't kill him."

He complained that he found the noise "traumatic" and, as a fare-paying passenger, expected better service.

The deportee was taken off the plane and police arrived and were told that the cabin crew had been threatened. They were pointed in the direction of Omotade, who was arrested and removed, the court heard.

The judge said the father of one had been upset about being taken off the flight because he was travelling to his brother's wedding and was carrying the rings and groom's suit, and had pleaded with officers to let him stay. But there was no evidence he had been threatening, abusive, insulting or disorderly towards BA staff.

Outside court, the 40-year-old said he felt he had been bullied by the airline because he had complained.

"They could have taken care of the deportee and allowed the situation to be calm long before we got on the flight, because the noise was horrific," he said. "But they simply did not have any regard for the people in economy. They pushed all of us into the plane to experience that."

The Respect Nigerians Coalition called for a boycott of BA until the airline apologised to Omotade and all those who had been removed from the flight, offered them compensation and "improved their service" on Nigerian flights.

In a statement, a BA spokesman said the airline had a "long and proud history" of serving Nigeria and its people.

"We are a culturally diverse airline flying to some 150 destinations globally and we reject any claims that we discriminate against one particular nationality," he said. "British Airways was named best international airline in Africa at the Africa Travel Awards 2008. We were recognised for our outstanding contribution to the development of tourism and the travel industry in west Africa and beyond."

The spokesman said that, like all airlines, BA had a legal obligation to carry deportees. Any call for an apology should be directed to the police and Crown Prosecution Service, not BA, he said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/may/07/british-airways-screams-complaint

And they wonder why they made such a big loss in the last financial year. I for one refuse to fly with this airline that treats its profit making customers like second class citizens.

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