A black and ethnic minority (BAME) couple with a three-month-old baby accused British Airways staff of "discrimination" when they were not allowed to board their flight and a white passenger was.
Kiran and Dignity Moyo, from Kent, were due to travel from Amsterdam Schiphol to London Gatwick with their baby Noah.
They had yet to check in due to flight delays but arrived at the departure gate where they understood their boarding passes would be issued, the Daily Mail reported.
But when they got to the gate they were turned away and unable to board their flight home.
The incident was filmed by witness Joshua Arthur and uploaded to Instagram. In the footage, Mr Moyo can be heard saying: “This is discrimination.”
Mr Arthur said that the Moyos as well as another male passenger had not checked in, but were told by airport staff that they could obtain a boarding pass at the gate. They were then allowed to pass through security.
However, at the gate, airport staff allowed the male passenger, who was white, to board but not the young family – even though none of them had checked in, Mr Arthur wrote in post next to his video.
“No one knows why they were turned away as they were in the exact same situation as the Englishman,” he wrote. “The BA gate staff repeatedly refused to answer that question when asked by both the couple and other passengers.”
He added that when “the pilot and cabin crew heard what happened they immediately tried to search for the couple and get them to board the plane. But unfortunately the airport police had already ushered them away.”
A second video shared by Mr Arthur on Instagram shows an altercation at the gate.
Ms Moyo told the Daily Mail that the family had to spend £800 on a hotel room for that night.
Chris Burnage, the male passenger who was allowed to board the flight, wrote in a comment underneath Mr Arthur’s Instagram post: “Without this young couple I would not have been able to get through security and to the gate. I proceeded through security quicker than them only because I had hand luggage.
“I told the gate staff about this young family when I arrived but they did issue me with a boarding pass. The couple and their baby appeared about 15 minutes later and were refused boarding passes without a reason ever being given.”
It’s unclear why the family were denied boarding.
A British Airways spokesperson said: “We are in direct contact with our customers regarding this issue. We’re taking this extremely seriously and are currently conducting a thorough investigation with the ground handling agents and Schiphol airport to fully understand what happened.”
In a statement to The Independent, the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee (airport police) said: “It has come to our attention that the conduct of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee captured in this footage has received criticism. The video, however, only shows a small part of the incident. What was not caught on camera is that this individual had received multiple verbal requests to stand further back and keep more distance from Marechaussee personnel.
“When he failed to comply with these repeated requests, the Marechaussee pushed him away. Taking into consideration the verbal requests expressed beforehand, this was a justified response. The reason why the family was not allowed to board the plane is something between BA and its passengers.”
