The inhuman and raw deal meted out to a Dhaka-bound passenger of the Biman from London can only be considered outrageous. Happily, a parliamentary standing committee has taken note of this and sought an explanation as to why British expatriate Shahana Akhtar of Bangladesh origin could not procure two more Biman tickets for her children to see the dead body of their father in Sylhet when the flight had 80 unoccupied seats.
Reports say, Shahana, in deep mourning over her husband's death in Sylhet, had wanted to buy three tickets-one for herself and two for her two children. But the Biman authorities in London told her that only one ticket could be arranged for her. But on boarding the plane, she, to her utter surprise, found that the Biman flight from London had 80 empty seats.
It is certain that there was none in London to buy 80 tickets at higher prices in the way cinema tickets are sold in black-market in Dhaka!
Once, a senior journalist along with his wife went to enjoy a popular foreign movie at a hall. He saw to his astonishment black marketers selling tickets at exorbitant prices. The journalist changed his tactics and called one black marketer and took two tickets at promised prices three times higher than the original. Then he called the seller in a hush-hush voice and asked him to lend his ear to his (journalist's) lips. Then the witty newsman introduced himself as a man from the Special Branch of police. On hearing this, the black-marketer simply disappeared from him at a lightning speed never to come back to get even the real price. Shahana was not as courageous as the newsman was! Her two children, now in far-away London, were deprived of seeing the face of their deceased father for the last time.
The parliamentary standing committee on the Civil Aviation Ministry deplored the incident and sought an explanation in its next meeting on the inhuman act. The Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister, present in the meeting, admitted that he also heard such frequent incidents taking place in Biman and assured the committee of taking action after conducting a probe. But the minister, even after being aware of such incidents, did not announce publicly what action he took in addressing these.
Sadly, inquiries so far made in the Biman affairs in the past hardly helped in any way to improve services or reduce huge losses the national flag-carrier is incurring. Who will pay for the 80 empty seats? Surely, it is the poor tax-payers.
It is learnt that of the 29 international routes at least nine are now incurring losses. The remaining 10 also incur losses from time to time. Seven routes are making profits. Over the last four years, Biman incurred a loss of Tk 12,640 million. But it is now a big question when Biman will fly efficiently and timely with a humane face as other airlines do everywhere.
The latest incident in Biman has occurred at a time when other airlines are vying for more passengers. Emirates and Heathrow Airport have jointly launched a new strategic partnership to bring increased satisfaction to clients through their customer loyalty programmes -- Emirates Skywards and Heathrow Rewards. Emirates Skywards members who join Heathrow Rewards via www.emirates.com will receive 1,000 Heathrow Rewards bonus points immediately. They can now convert their Skywards Miles to Heathrow Rewards points to spend on Instant Rewards at hundreds of stores throughout Heathrow Airport.
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Letting the national flag carrier down
Rahman Jahangir | Published: May 22, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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