Departure of a Singapore-bound flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines was delayed yesterday by 37 minutes at Shahjalal International Airport due to a chaotic incident on the plane over seating in business class of a member of the higher judiciary who had an economy class ticket.
As a cabin crew requested him to take his assigned seat in the front row of the economy class, he gave his identity and allegedly insisted on sitting in the business class, said passengers and crew members of the flight.
He was going to Singapore on a personal medical trip.
Hearing the commotion, officials of Biman's traffic department rushed to the plane and requested him to take his seat in the economy class, but he allegedly got furious and shouted out that he would convene an impromptu mobile court on the plane and send the traffic officials and the captain of the plane to jail, said some of the passengers.
He also allegedly asked the traffic department officials to make a phone call to the Biman managing director and upgrade his ticket to business class. The officials said they were not high- up enough in the official hierarchy to make phone calls to the top boss of the airliner.
At one stage of the altercation, the cockpit crews and the traffic officials tried to arrange scheduled departure of the flight, but they failed as he allegedly ordered all not to leave the aircraft and not to close the door.
He also ordered the cabin crew to go tell the captain of the flight BG 084 that the member of the higher judiciary wants to see him.
As the captain delayed coming out of the cockpit, he allegedly threatened the captain with issuance of a contempt of court charge on his return from Singapore.
Hearing about the altercation, top Biman officials rushed to the scene and immediately upgraded the ticket to business class. Finally, the Boeing 737 left for Singapore at 8:02am, 37 minutes behind schedule.
"We've received a written complaint about the incident from the crew," a Biman top official told The Daily Star.
Wishing anonymity a top Biman official said that on a previous occasion, they had upgraded the ticket of the same person to business class on his trip to London as there was a request through proper channel. But this time there was no such request and they were not informed about his visit.
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