Published on : Tuesday, December 18, 2018
On December 12 Seth Allen was travelling from Reading and boarded a flight from Gatwick to Marrakech on British Airways and was criticized by an airport worker.
A staff member shouted over Allen when he was waiting in the queue to board the aircraft. He was told that it was business line and general boarding was the other way. He taken aback and said responded patiently but the staff insisted that he was in the wrong place and kept on repeating that the general boarding was on the other side and Allen was in the wrong queue.
After all this Allen still remained in the queue and progressed through the gate but still the man approached him asking that he was ‘that guy, then’ speaking to another white passenger in front of him.
Allen stated that he was inferring as if he wasn’t there on his own right and he was further singled out as he was the only black man in a queue dominated by white passengers.
Allen took to twitter after feeling disgusted by the casual racism he faced. He wrote that they talk about British values, yet today he experienced a painful reminder that racism is alive and well in Britain.
Allen mentioned that he was dressed smartly and was carrying his laptop bag and was not wearing a hoodie or scruffy clothes.
He went on saying that it was a clear example of racism although the worker was trying to give an impression that he was just doing his job.
The worker shouted right infront of the queue emphasizing that he was in the wrong place due to his skin colour. The staff felt empowered to carry on with such behavior which reflected a sad example of his mind.
Investigations are on regarding the staff member employment, whether he worked for the airline or the airport.
However, British Airways commented that such matters are taken extremely seriously and this will be urgently investigated with the airport.The airliners was in touch with the customer and assured him that they were doing the bset to identify the individual.
A Gatwick spokesman was appalled to hear this report of Mr Allen’s recent experience travelling through Gatwick Airport.He apologised to him on behalf of the airport community and said that they were investigating the matter fully in conjunction with the airline that Mr Allen was travelling with.
He added that Gatwick does not tolerate such behavior from anyone working at the airport and these attitude does not reflect their true values. The airport and airline will make sure that necessary measures were taken to address such behavior with the member of the staff involved.
Tags: Gatwick Airport