Dear Sir or Madam,
I would like to log a complaint about an incident that cost me suspension of my ticket without any refund and disembarking in a foreign country which does not grant me a visa for entrance and the threat of getting deported back to my homeland where it has been declared as a danger zone due to ongoing violence. In addition to the moral and psychological effect for being poorly treated by Qatar airways assigned staff who had racist tendencies while addressing me. They also seemed highly incompatible and were unable to give clear information and did not have enough knowledge of the aviation standards, rules & regulations.
I was on flight 421 departing from Beirut (BEY) to Tbilisi (TBS) on the 31st of January 2013.
The first issue I wish to complain about is the delay which took away an hour of transit at Doha airport for me, where I was supposed to get rest from a 4 hour flight and was very close to missing my next flight. The plane arrived in Doha 6:55 am and the departure of the next connection flight is 7:55. Passengers were not allowed even 10 minutes of rest in the airport and had to wait for the shuttle bus on foot for around 10-15 minutes.
The second issue I wish to complain about is ambiguity and misleading information about the flight route. I had no idea the plane was to stop in Baku-Azerbaijan, it was neither on the flight schedule nor on the ticket.
The third thing I wish to complain about is the incident which took place in the flight from Doha to Tbilisi connecting through Baku.
I was accused of having smoked in the lavatory by your cabin crew. A supervisor came up to me and asked me to sign a piece of paper confessing the incident. I refused to sign anything till I knew what is at stake. I asked her to check the implications of this issue as it is my right to know if I am accused of breaking a certain rule there should be standard penalty set, which she had no idea about. The least of my civil humanitarian rights is to be able to know what is at stake if I break a rule and not get surprised with a penalty that I never anticipated. At a certain point I was under the impression that we agreed that she would check and let me know. As I was waiting in the plane I fell asleep, I got woken up by a man named Yashar who is your representative in Azerbaijan airport; he did not respect the fact that I was asleep and startled me trying to wake me up. The representative asked me for my passport, took it and disappeared. As you know very well a passport is the property of the country that issues it and no one is to get hold of it or confiscate it unless a government official following rules. I started looking for the man who ran off with my passport he came back, I asked for my passport and was very disturbed about how he confiscated it based on nothing and all over a sudden I am being forced to leave the plane enter a country I do not know all by myself , stay in transit for 10 hours till the next plane to Tbilisi and lost my ticket value to Tbilisi, had to buy new tickets for me and my travel companion who was nice enough to stay with me and lost his ticket just for being a gentleman all based on suspicion of having smoked on board.
I believe my basic human rights were greatly violated up to this point (even serial killers know whether they could be facing a death penalty or a life sentence) and I did ask the supervisor to let me know about the possible penalties and she never did. I was treated as If I was 100% guilty criminal. Additionally, what does my nationality have to do with anything? This is the first question the supervisor asked me when she came to speak to me and I felt a great offense, I honestly believe that the captain's decision was not only based on rules & regulations it was also taken with a racist approach, otherwise, why would I be asked about my nationality. I have read several articles saying that Qatar airways are notorious in this domain. Furthermore, I wonder why your crew was so ambiguous and mysterious; they did not have clear signs written anywhere on the ticket or the website or somewhere in the plane that someone would be disembarked if they were suspected of having smoked.
So because of your inhumane and poorly informed staff I was caused great discomfort and offense. I lost days of my short holiday to Georgia and was late to get back to my job. I was almost going to get deported to my homeland suffering from escalating violence. I had to pay a lot of money in order to buy new tickets for flying to Tbilisi with my travel companion and flying back home after the trip was over. I was personally hurt as a human being and as a woman having to face such an outrageous experience alone.
I do not see the reason behind which all this happened, I have repeatedly seen it and heard of it on Qatar airways and other airlines when passengers broke rules they had to pay a penalty or got verbally warned. Why did the captain choose to be so aggressive towards me?
Regards,
S.A. M