Unruly flight passenger harasses airhostess

Ehab Atta, Staff Reporter

An Arab-American, 31, refused to obey safety and seating instructions on a flight coming from the US and sat in a business class seat. When the chief stewardess respectfully asked him to return to his seat in the economy class, he insulted and harassed her.

The victim, 35, testified before Dubai Public Prosecution that while she was on duty on board an Emirates flight coming from the US, a steward informed her he noticed the defendant changed his seat from economy to business class without permission. She headed to the defendant and told him she would like to talk to him and explained the Emirates Airline’s rules. The defendant, however, ignored her on the pretext that he did not have time and insulted her before he returned to the business class seat. She followed him and talked to him politely and respectfully but he did not listen and put on his earphones.

The chief stewardess then informed the captain of the plane, who warned the defendant that he should return to his seat in the economy class; otherwise, the flight security would be called but he did not care. In the meantime, the defendant’s father came twice and apologised to the chief stewardess, asking her not to report the incident to the security. Later, the defendant called the chief stewardess but she did not reply as she was busy with the passengers. He followed her and insulted her but she went to the upper floor. He followed her again, grabbed her by the arm, snatched her identification card and destroyed it before threatening her he would have her fired from the job.

In another case, a telecommunications company salesman was slapped with fraud charges over seizing 395 SIM cards and 126 mobile phones from the company he worked for.

He took advantage of his job position and applied for SIM cards via official documents belonging to others. 

The investigation revealed  the defendant accessed the company’s system and accepted applications for SIM cards and mobile phones through ineligible documents.  This incurred Dhs1.687 million losses to the company.