Man sues KQ for missing flight

A lawyer has filed a lawsuit against Kenya Airways (KQ) for allegedly causing him embarrassment and humiliation while on a trip to Tanzania.

Peter Bore, who is based in Nakuru, moved to the Milimani Law Courts on Tuesday after he failed to get an apology from the national carrier.

In a demand letter dated April 22, Mr Bore accused the airline of gross negligence despite being the holder of valid tickets for two KQ flights.

In his suit, the lawyer avers that on the morning of April 16, at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), he was attended to by a KQ agent who checked him into Precision Air flight No.PW722, which was scheduled to depart Nairobi for Kilimanjaro Airport at 8am.

Bore says he was issued with a boarding pass for a return flight aboard Precision Air Flight No.PW725, which was scheduled to depart Kilimanjaro Airport for Nairobi at 6.30pm.

He states that he turned up at Kilimanjaro Airport and boarded the aircraft after being cleared by the relevant officials only for two Precision Air employees, who had airport security staff in tow, to forcibly bundle him out of the plane.

Bore claims the airline staff said he did not have a valid ticket for the flight because his name was missing from the passenger manifest. His efforts to get Kenya Airways to intervene and resolve the matter, he adds, were unsuccessful after he failed to get any assistance from KQ employees.

Flight PW725 subsequently departed Kilimanjaro International Airport, leaving him stranded on the runway.

He further states that the airline security officers manhandled him and dragged him into one of the rooms used by Tanzanian Immigration officers where he was detained for two hours.

His efforts to get a solution from KQ, he said, failed, forcing him to spend the night in Kilimanjaro against his wishes.