Vascular surgeon Hussain Kahlani, who was appointed to speak on behalf of a group of Saudis that were supposed to take flight SV103 to Riyadh on April 15 after it was canceled due to the volcanic ash, accused the carrier of disregarding orders from Riyadh to provide accommodation.
Instead, he claims, Saudia representatives at Heathrow Airport told him and other passengers that it was not the airline’s responsibility to cover expenses incurred due to the natural disaster.
“At witnessing other passengers’ agony in trying to find accommodation at hotels, I contacted the same hotel I was in and was lucky to find a room,” said Kahlani.
Abdullah Al-Hussaini, Saudia’s director of European operations, denied the charges, saying that 45 out of the 170 passengers of flight SV102 were provided accommodation in accordance with orders from Riyadh.
Al-Hussaini said the 45 passengers who were assisted “were already checked in and had been issued boarding passes,” and that everyone had been given airline vouchers for food and lodging that were redeemable at Saudia’s offices in Riyadh.
Kahlani confirmed he was given one of these forms, but only after a company representative balked at the price of the hotel he was staying in. Then, he said, when he went to Saudia’s offices in Riyadh’s Morouj District after his return, a company representative informed him that he would not be reimbursed because the expenses were incurred in British pounds.
“This was the exact opposite of what the director of the Saudi Arabian Airlines office in Europe had promised,” said Kahlani.
Arab News tried to contact a company representative at the Saudia office in Morouj, but there was no answer.
Kahlani confirmed that the Saudi Embassy in London had sent representatives to help stranded Saudi passengers and that the problems were caused by intransigence on the part of Saudia.
“The embassy officials requested that we choose one person to speak with Saudi Arabian Airlines officials, so I was chosen,” said Kahlani.
Saudia spokesman Ahmad Madani pointed out that the international aviation regulations do not require airlines to provide accommodation in the event of cancellations caused by natural disasters.
“The size of the losses to Saudia (due to the volcanic ash event) is still not clear,” he said. “The gesture by other airlines (to provide accommodation) is according to the costs they are willing to adsorb.”
Still, Saudia ignored a direct order from Prince Sultan to bear the expenses of housing stranded Saudis after cancellation of their flights.
While he was stuck in London, Kahlani said he noticed that another carrier from the Gulf region was providing accommodation to its passengers without any questions or issues. When he told that airline’s representative his problems, the representative acted surprised.
The official actually told me, “We are following your country’s gesture,” said Kahlani.