Featured Image Credit: Jam Press
Topics: Travel, Los Angeles, News
Niamh Shackleton
A passenger was left understandably unimpressed after boarding his flight to learn that someone else had been given the seat he booked three months ago.
The Colombian lawyer was enraged to discover there was no room for him on the plane.
He was then embroiled in a heated row with cabin crew for nearly an hour. The guy, who has since been identified as Juan Manuel, was attempting to travel to Los Angeles, US, from the Colombian capital Bogotá when flight attendants told him his seat was unavailable.
In a video filmed by another passenger that's been shared online, Manuel told staff of Avianca, Colombia’s largest airline: “Don't be disrespectful, is my money worthless? Don't give me bad options, I need to get there. I'm a lawyer, you should respect me.
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“I paid for it, they deducted it from my card, you haven’t given me anything, it wasn’t a favour!”
He added: “It seems disrespectful to me that you would sell something you don't have. And film what you want, I hope I become famous.”
As the passenger was refusing to leave the plane, flight attendants threatened to call the police.
Manuel replied: “Good, I hope the prosecutor’s office comes because I want to file a report. You can’t be playing with people’s plans.”
In the end, the man decided to leave the plane out of consideration for the other passengers, and was greeted with applause from other passengers when he left.
The person who filmed the clip said the police didn’t arrive and the man left the aircraft of his own free will.
In Colombia, the Civil Aviation Authority regulates the selling of flight tickets. However, Colombian Aeronautical Regulations (RAC) state that the airline should offer the affected passenger an option to reach their final destination on the same date and route.
If an agreement is not reached with the customer, the airline must compensate them with a minimum of 30 percent of the ticket’s value.
But according to Mail Online, Manuel was provided with a food voucher for 26,000 Colombian pesos (a little over $6) and an $80 flight voucher.
The airline is also said to have got him on a flight to Miami and then made a connection to Chicago.
After a five-hour wait in Chicago, he was finally flown to Los Angeles and arrived around 10pm local time.
UNILAD has contacted Avianca for a comment.