Atinka Media Village (AMV), has today issued a press release, addressing matters arising from the failed Dubai trip of Di Asa season 3 winner, Precious Mensah.
Organizers of the much talked about Di Asa Reality show used the medium to address and tell their side of happenings leading to the inability of Precious Mensah, PM, to get on board her flight to Dubai.
According to AMV, they acted in good faith with regard to the promises made to the Queens, thus a trip to Dubai.
They, in an attempt to make this happen, categorically made the ticketing agent aware of the nature of the plus-sized ladies in order to allow for all necessary requirements to be met for a smooth trip, including special seating.
On the day of departure, at about 5:30 pm, PM after going through the check-in process together with her other colleagues was informed by an Emirate official that she could not get on-board.
The official relayed that PM could not get on board the flight due to safety reasons and that they (the airline) was in touch with superiors at the Movenpick Hotel in Accra for further discussions.
AMV then suggested purchasing an extra seat for PM, if that would enable her to embark on the trip. Emirates officials said there was no need.
At about 6:15 pm, 35 minutes to departure, officials of Emirates returned saying, the only solution was for PM to fly first class to Dubai. AMV officials then quickly decided to put together their accumulated mileage to make this possible.
Emirates refused this option and requested the payment of an additional $10,000 – equivalent to about GH₵ 57,000 as payment for a last-minute first-class ticket purchased.
In the communique sighted, AMV says they found this treatment, “unfair, unprofessional and an act of discrimination against our Queen, particularly when the Airline Ticketing agent had prior knowledge of who they had issued the ticket for”.
All of these events took place in the presence of Precious Mensah.
When the time had finally run out, AMV was advised by the airline to contact the cooperate office in Movenpick the next day, as they had sent an email ahead, describing the situation.
PM was therefore lodged in a hotel to spend the night in the hopes that she could fly to Dubai the next day.
At 10:00 am the next morning, AMV together with PM, reported at the Emirates corporate office and as at 2:00 pm, the Airline still had no solution in sight, after PM was fitted in a dummy seat and all other else.
Precious was later asked to take the lead to the airport at 4:35 pm, whilst AMV officials waited back for feedback from the office in Dubai.
After she checked in, at about 5:45 pm, AMV received a call from the Emirates office in Accra, saying, superiors in Dubai had directed them to take $2000 as payment for two additional economy tickets and extension of seat belts. This was once again only a few minutes before departure. Another act AMV considers unfair since they had suggested this solution before but was rejected.
As at the time of releasing this press statement, AMV has decided to seek legal counsel and has withdrawn from making any additional payment to Emirates, since Emirates has not acted in good faith with them.
Concluding the communique they said, “The issue or challenge here is not about the money or additional commitment requested by Emirates Airline, but we realised that the unfair treatment meted out to our queen by the Emirates Airline did not necessitate any further engagements or commitments under the circumstance”.
AMV has assured PM they will do everything possible to ensure she receives everything stated in her price package, including but not limited to adequate compensation from Emirates Airline.
Precious on her end, is still very optimistic about the trip to Dubai.
We still follow as the story unfolds.
Read the communique below;
