Show $2000: Kenyan Woman Refused on Flight to Phnom Penh from Bangkok
Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2019 12:54 am
Bangkok Airways is accused of racial profiling a Kenyan tour operator, by asking to see US$2000 cash to let her board an onward flight from Bangkok to Phnom Penh. She ONLY had about $1,270 in Kenyan currency in her purse, but that was not enough.
Kenyan tourist faces racial profiling in Cambodia trip
Sunday October 13 2019
RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
Tour firm operator Renee Ezra, at Nation Center on October 11, 2019, opens up about the inhumane treatment she was subjected to in Thailand. PHOTO | KANYIRI WAHITO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
In Summary
Upon landing back at JKIA Friday morning, she was handed back her passport and an envelope with a note stating that she had been denied entry into Bangkok by the immigration.
She has filed a case with the DCI, recorded statements with the Immigration Department, and will be visiting the Foreign Affairs ministry on Monday.
By PAULINE KAIRU
When Renee Ezra woke up on the morning of October 7 to the nudging impulse to travel, she easily chose Cambodia as her destination, due to its renowned low-budget tourism destinations, history and pristine coral beaches.
She therefore bought a return air ticket to Phnom Penh via Istanbul and Bangkok on TurkishAirlines.com.
She had her one-week itinerary all figured out: in the first two days, she would visit the Choeung Ek site of a former orchard, the mass graves of the victims of the Cambodian genocide and the night markets, then move on to Sihanoukville, another city, for some sun and sand, then finally to Siem Reap, a resort town and the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Angkor Wat, the “City of Temples”.
On Tuesday morning, she left the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport at 4.20am aboard a Turkish Airlines flight and settled into her seat for the roughly seven-hour flight to Istanbul, where she would connect to Bangkok.
The first two legs of her journey were uneventful. But as she checked in for the final leg, the 75-minute flight to the Phnom Penh International Airport, trouble struck. It was early Wednesday morning in Thailand.
CASH DEMAND
She says it started as a normal enquiry — one that any traveller would expect at any check-in counter at the airport. “Passport please?” an agent for Bangkok Airways called out.
A scan of her passport, itinerary and other documents, and a few keys pressed on a keyboard, behind the computer as the questions streamed in, and then the agent looked up, indecision plastered all over her face.
“At first she said they couldn’t find the flight that I was booked,” Ms Ezra, owner of tour firm The African Wanderlusts, told the Sunday Nation.
“She asked for the visa to Cambodia, and I told her it was to be issued on arrival. She checked and confirmed that bit.
A minute passed and she called her supervisor from the back office. They spoke in their language and then asked me to show $2,000 (Ksh207, 480) for them to allow me to board the flight.
“I was fazed, because I’ve been to Cambodia before — in 2016 — and was not asked to show any cash,” she said.
“I did not know that to be a requirement for entry into Cambodia and so I did not have the money in cash. When I told them as much they said they wouldn’t let me on to the onward flight unless I showed them my $2,000 or at least $1,700.”
EMBASSY SNUB
Unnerved, she showed them some Sh132,000 (about $1,270) she had in her purse.
“But they said they wanted to see US dollars. I logged on to my online banking apps and showed them to prove that I had enough money to be a tourist. They would have none of it. So I was forced to go to an ATM, where I could only withdraw $500 (about Sh50,000) due to transaction limits.
With that I asked one of the stewardesses to accompany me to the closest forex bureau to change the Kenyan money. But the bureau said they did not accept Kenyan currency.”
Now minutes had turned into hours. She had a three-hour layover to board the next fight so she used this to seek help from the Kenyan Embassy in Thailand.
“The lady at the Embassy who answered my distress call said, ‘It’s not in our place to assist in such matters,’ but I didn’t give up. I called the Cambodian immigration, who confirmed that there was no requirement for Kenyans to show $2,000.
The official on the phone said they didn’t need cash — the bank statements would do. Furthermore, I had all return tickets and a full itinerary showing it was just a week of holiday.”
PROFILING
That, however, did not solve the problem. “Moments later, the Turkish Airlines counters opened and a discussion started between the two airlines,” she recalled.
“What hurt most was the fact that there were so many people being checked in without having to show cash,” she claimed. “A black man was also facing the same predicament. We were being profiled!”
On Thursday, she was put on a flight back home. “I was escorted by their staff at the airports like I was a criminal. I was traumatised,” she said. On the plane, she said the hostesses did not serve her.
Upon landing back at JKIA Friday morning, she was handed back her passport and an envelope with a note stating that she had been denied entry into Bangkok by the immigration.
“It is ridiculous because I was in transit. I never passed through immigration, nor did I meet anyone from immigration."
https://www.nation.co.ke/news/Kenyan-to ... index.html
Kenyan tourist faces racial profiling in Cambodia trip
Sunday October 13 2019
RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
Tour firm operator Renee Ezra, at Nation Center on October 11, 2019, opens up about the inhumane treatment she was subjected to in Thailand. PHOTO | KANYIRI WAHITO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
In Summary
Upon landing back at JKIA Friday morning, she was handed back her passport and an envelope with a note stating that she had been denied entry into Bangkok by the immigration.
She has filed a case with the DCI, recorded statements with the Immigration Department, and will be visiting the Foreign Affairs ministry on Monday.
By PAULINE KAIRU
When Renee Ezra woke up on the morning of October 7 to the nudging impulse to travel, she easily chose Cambodia as her destination, due to its renowned low-budget tourism destinations, history and pristine coral beaches.
She therefore bought a return air ticket to Phnom Penh via Istanbul and Bangkok on TurkishAirlines.com.
She had her one-week itinerary all figured out: in the first two days, she would visit the Choeung Ek site of a former orchard, the mass graves of the victims of the Cambodian genocide and the night markets, then move on to Sihanoukville, another city, for some sun and sand, then finally to Siem Reap, a resort town and the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Angkor Wat, the “City of Temples”.
On Tuesday morning, she left the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport at 4.20am aboard a Turkish Airlines flight and settled into her seat for the roughly seven-hour flight to Istanbul, where she would connect to Bangkok.
The first two legs of her journey were uneventful. But as she checked in for the final leg, the 75-minute flight to the Phnom Penh International Airport, trouble struck. It was early Wednesday morning in Thailand.
CASH DEMAND
She says it started as a normal enquiry — one that any traveller would expect at any check-in counter at the airport. “Passport please?” an agent for Bangkok Airways called out.
A scan of her passport, itinerary and other documents, and a few keys pressed on a keyboard, behind the computer as the questions streamed in, and then the agent looked up, indecision plastered all over her face.
“At first she said they couldn’t find the flight that I was booked,” Ms Ezra, owner of tour firm The African Wanderlusts, told the Sunday Nation.
“She asked for the visa to Cambodia, and I told her it was to be issued on arrival. She checked and confirmed that bit.
A minute passed and she called her supervisor from the back office. They spoke in their language and then asked me to show $2,000 (Ksh207, 480) for them to allow me to board the flight.
“I was fazed, because I’ve been to Cambodia before — in 2016 — and was not asked to show any cash,” she said.
“I did not know that to be a requirement for entry into Cambodia and so I did not have the money in cash. When I told them as much they said they wouldn’t let me on to the onward flight unless I showed them my $2,000 or at least $1,700.”
EMBASSY SNUB
Unnerved, she showed them some Sh132,000 (about $1,270) she had in her purse.
“But they said they wanted to see US dollars. I logged on to my online banking apps and showed them to prove that I had enough money to be a tourist. They would have none of it. So I was forced to go to an ATM, where I could only withdraw $500 (about Sh50,000) due to transaction limits.
With that I asked one of the stewardesses to accompany me to the closest forex bureau to change the Kenyan money. But the bureau said they did not accept Kenyan currency.”
Now minutes had turned into hours. She had a three-hour layover to board the next fight so she used this to seek help from the Kenyan Embassy in Thailand.
“The lady at the Embassy who answered my distress call said, ‘It’s not in our place to assist in such matters,’ but I didn’t give up. I called the Cambodian immigration, who confirmed that there was no requirement for Kenyans to show $2,000.
The official on the phone said they didn’t need cash — the bank statements would do. Furthermore, I had all return tickets and a full itinerary showing it was just a week of holiday.”
PROFILING
That, however, did not solve the problem. “Moments later, the Turkish Airlines counters opened and a discussion started between the two airlines,” she recalled.
“What hurt most was the fact that there were so many people being checked in without having to show cash,” she claimed. “A black man was also facing the same predicament. We were being profiled!”
On Thursday, she was put on a flight back home. “I was escorted by their staff at the airports like I was a criminal. I was traumatised,” she said. On the plane, she said the hostesses did not serve her.
Upon landing back at JKIA Friday morning, she was handed back her passport and an envelope with a note stating that she had been denied entry into Bangkok by the immigration.
“It is ridiculous because I was in transit. I never passed through immigration, nor did I meet anyone from immigration."
https://www.nation.co.ke/news/Kenyan-to ... index.html
