Three Arab princesses caused a delay of over three hours on a British Airways plane when they refused to sit next to males who were not their relatives. They waited until everyone was seated and buckled in and then complained that they needed to change seats.
After much hullabaloo, the crew of the aircraft asked for volunteers to trade seats with them. The plane was packed and no one offered to inconvenience themselves for the princesses delicate sensibilities.
Eventually, the princesses were kicked of the plane and the other passengers jeered and cheered as they were escorted off the plane.
The dispute - in which the three princesses from the ultra-conservative Qatar royal family demanded segregated seating - left the London-bound plane delayed on a baking Italian runway for nearly three hours.
Furious passengers whistled and clapped as the row intensified before the captain eventually ordered the women to be escorted off the plane.
The princesses, wearing traditional Arab dress, were returning from a day’s shopping in Milan. They arrived at the city’s Linate airport and boarded Heathrow-bound flight BA 563, which was due to take off at 4pm on Thursday.
The women, all relatives of the oil-rich emir of Qatar, Bader Bin Khalifa Al Thani, were booked into business class in a party of eight which included the emir and an entourage of cooks, servants and other staff.
After passengers had fastened their seat-belts and the plane had taxied on to the runway, two male passengers in the entourage got up to protest about where the women were sitting.
According to the customs of Qatar and other Gulf states, women are not allowed to mix with men who are not relatives.
Cabin crew tried to rearrange the seats but passengers travelling together refused to give up their allotted places. The captain tried to mediate but after more than two and a half hours of wrangling he ordered the bulk of their royal party off the plane.
It is understood that five of the eight - including the princesses and the men who left their seats to protest - were removed.
Police and diplomats from the Qatar consulate in Milan were also called in before the plane eventually took off. The rest of the Qatar party left Milan later on an Alitalia flight.
A BA spokesman said: “The people were offloaded because they failed to comply with safety instructions when the aircraft was taxiing. Two passengers stood up and refused to sit down.”
A spokesman at the Qatar embassy in Rome said: “This was a private matter and we have nothing to say.” [source]
I just wonder why it took them three hours to get the prissy princesses off the plane. I also wonder why the Emir didn’t fly his entourage on the shopping trip in his own plane, or at least first class. Unless, of course, they wanted to make a point of demanding their Sharia law in a Western venue.
Predictably, in the comments section of the article muslims are complaining that the Westerners are racists. That is such a tired old argument. I believe it was the princesses and the Emir’s entourage that was being racist. You can be sure that if a Westerner was in their country they would be expected to respect their customs.
Pictured above: Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani a relative to the Princesses.
More at PC Free Zone, Kim Priestap