Saudi Airlines is not paying for 13 stranded passengers



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AFP file image Saudi Arabian state plane The company is not paying the Bin Crew hotel expenses and employees were quarantined at a hotel in Dhaka on April 15 to cover other expenses, including hotel expenses.The company did not support the distressed employees.

Officials from the Dhaka office of Saudi Airlines told Prothom Alo that they are under no obligation to bear the cost of these contract workers. However, Saudi Airlines authorities signed a new agreement with those employees last March. This has exacerbated the crisis. The question is, who will take responsibility for these 13 cabin crew?

Due to the coronavirus, Saudi Airlines has suspended flights on several routes, including Dhaka, for about a month. However, a special flight with 322 passengers arrived in Dhaka from Jeddah on April 15. Although their pilots and co-pilots left on the return flight, 13 Bangladeshi women have remained at the Monsoon Inn Hotel in Uttara, the capital, saying they would keep the cabin crew in quarantine. Previously, when the Saudi Airlines crew arrived in Dhaka, they had to stay in a five-star hotel. However, according to the rules, the quarantined condition must be considered as service. The cost of the hotel and food was supposed to be paid by the Saudi Airlines authorities, but the crew is paying the cost themselves. Every day a crew has to pay only 3,500 rupees for the hotel rent.

A source told Prothom Alo that on March 30, Saudi Airlines sent a letter to several Jeddah-affiliated crews attached to the Dhaka office. The crew of 13 women trapped in Dhaka also received the letter. Under the new agreement, the crew’s employment office will be in Jeddah. That is why the Saudi Airlines authorities will organize all your accommodation and meals every time you come to Dhaka. There is no chance of being hastily fired as a contract worker. The source claimed that no letter was issued to fire the stranded crew. And because of that, there have been allegations that Saudi Airlines authorities are inhumanely treating 13 crew members of Bangladeshi women in violation of international standards.

When asked about this, Tanzina Alam Chowdhury, manager (cabin crew) of the Dhaka office of Saudi Airlines, told Alo on his mobile phone Sunday that 13 cabin crew had voluntarily come to Dhaka with a ‘suspended order ‘. The 13 crew members are all contractual. They arrived in Dhaka on a voluntary flight. They did not want to stay in the Hajj camp in Quarantine. They wanted to stay at the Monsoon Inn Hotel themselves. So arrangements have been made to stay at this hotel. The rent for each room is fifteen hundred rupees. Saudi Arabia will not benefit from the suspension.
Meanwhile, authorities at the Monsoon Inn Hotel have confirmed at first glance that each crew is spending just one day or renting a hotel for 3,500 rupees.

Drawing attention to the matter, the Deputy Marshal of the Bangladesh Civil Authority (BCA), Mohammad Mofidur Rahman, said that Saudi Airlines has suspended 13 cabin crew members. Although they came on a special flight to Bangladesh, they did not have a permit. They were sent back to Saudi Arabia that night. Later, he was sent to the hotel on condition that he was under house quarantine. The Department of Health has been notified of the quarantine. But a letter will be sent to Saudi Airlines authorities on behalf of Bebichak for sending it on a special flight without permission. He said that all responsibilities should be assumed by the Saudi Airlines authorities during the quarantine in Dhaka.

It is known that at 8:20 pm on April 15, a special Saudi Airlines SV 3708 flight arrived in Dhaka from Jeddah with 322 passengers, including 13 crew members. Of these passengers, more than two hundred were Bangladeshis incarcerated in Saudi Arabia. 100 people were stranded in Saudi Arabia while performing Umrah. The 13 cabin crew on the special flight have been working for Saudi Airlines for several years as Bangladeshi. As a general rule, the Saudi Airlines cabin crew can stay at the designated hotel (five-star hotel) of Saudi Airlines when they arrive at their station of origin (country of origin). But after landing at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Saudi Airlines authorities took 13 crew members to the Monsoon Inn Hotel in Uttara. Thereafter, for four days, the hotel authorities have to pay a daily bill of 3,500 rupees to each crew. Since March 30, the crew has been working under the Saudi Airlines Jeddah office.

Sources said 13 crew members at the Monsoon Hotel were at risk. Although the food was shipped from their homes, they were not allowed to bring it inside the hotel.

Hotel Monsoon Inn Manager N. Aryan told Prothom Alo that 13 crew members arrived at Monsoon Inn on April 15 at around 1 a.m. Although the hotel has been closed since March 25 due to a coronavirus outbreak, Tanzina Alam Chowdhury, an officer (manager, cabin crew) from Saudi Airlines’ Dhaka office, was engaged. After receiving a letter about it, the administration and the local police station were contacted and 13 people were allowed to stay at the hotel with permission.

Sachin Mallick, assistant commissioner of the Uttara Police Zone, said Saudi Airlines authorities had quarantined 13 crew members at the Monsoon Inn Hotel. They have been informed that the airline will bear all their expenses.



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