Airline is blamed in exam row.SEVEN Bahrainis studying at university in India demonstrated yesterday in front of the Qatar Airways Qatar Airways (Arabic: القطرية) is an airline based in Doha, Qatar. It operates a hub and spoke network based in Doha, linking 81 international destinations. headquarters in Manama, claiming some had missed exams because their flight left early and without them. The students claim they were at Bahrain International Airport Bahrain International Airport (IATA: BAH, ICAO: OBBI) (Arabic: مطار البحرين الدولي; transliterated: Matar al-Bahrayn ad-Dowaly) is an airport located on Al at 5:20pm, 85 minutes before the plane was to depart at 6.45pm on Wednesday, but that it left early. They were on their way back to Pune University, near Mumbai and say two of them missed exams yesterday as a result of missing the flight. The students bought new tickets from Kuwait Airways Kuwait Airways (Arabic: الخطوط الجوية الكويتية) is the national airline of Kuwait, based in Kuwait City and wholly owned by the Kuwaiti Government. and were leaving at 7pm last night. However, a Qatar Airways official rejected their claims, saying the students only showed up half-an-hour before the plane was due to take off. He said that 197 passengers made it in time for the flight, but the students missed it. Tickets clearly state that passengers must be at the check-in two hours before departure, said the official. "The students have tried to emotionally blackmail blackmail, in law, exaction of money from another by threat of exposure of criminal action or of disreputable conduct. The term was originally used for the tribute levied until the 18th cent. us and it is regretful re·gret·ful adj. Full of regret; sorrowful or sorry. re·gret  ful·ly adv.re·gret that despite their own mistake, they demonstrated in front of our building," he said. But the official said the airline would look into their case and was awaiting a written report from the airport. Student leader Hisham Mohammed Hassan, 27, said that they had evidence they were in the airport at 5.20pm, since they used their ATM cards An ATM card (also known as a bank card, client card, or cash card) is an ISO 7810 card issued by a bank, credit union or building society. Its primary uses are: "Five minutes afterwards af·ter·ward also af·ter·wards adv. At a later time; subsequently. afterwards or afterward Adverb later [Old English æfterweard] Adv. 1. , we went through the x-ray and then went looking around the screens to see which was the Qatar Airways counter, but it was not there," he said. "We asked around and after a while discovered that it flew earlier than it should, so the counters were already closed." He said that this had made them angry, particularly as two of them were due to sit exams yesterday. "The two are now in despair, knowing that if the university won't help them and they will have to repeat the year, losing more money than their parents can afford." Mr Hassan said that the Qatar Airways at first told them each to pay BD35 to change the ticket dates for another flight, but after the demonstration officials promised to look into their case. alaali@gdn.com.bh Copyright 2009 Gulf Daily News Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company |
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