MANILA – Did airline carrier KLM show a pattern of racial discrimination when a KLM official stopped Arjean Marie Belco, 18, a member of Bukidnon’s Talaandig tribe, from boarding her onward flight at Kuala Lumpur on her way to Rio de Janeiro as a delegate to World Youth Day 2013 on July 20?
Pilgrims to the World Youth Day 2013 confess at the Quinta da Boa Vista park in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 23, 2013, during a visit to Rio by the Pope. VANDERLEI ALMEIDA/Agence France-Presse
GoodX.org, one of Belco’s sponsors for her trip to Brazil, expressed concern that the young woman may have been denied boarding on KLM due to “discrimination based on appearance, gender, ethnicity, nationality, age, or social status.”
Looking into this, InterAksyon.com found that KLM acted similarly in the past:
* In May 2012, a black top United Nations official from Senegal missed a high profile meeting in Brazil after he was denied boarding at at the departure gate of Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by KLM officials who cast doubts on the validity of his visa to Brazil, according to Business Daily Africa. However, they allowed his Austrian assistant to board the plane.
Bakari Kante, director of the Division of Environmental Law and Conventions at the Nairobi-based United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), accused the airline of unfair treatment and discrimination on grounds of race and religion. KLM officials refused to allow Kante to board although he had passed through all the airport security checks and had been cleared by Kenyan immigration officials.
* On June 2010, the Nigerian Tribune reported that a federal high court in Lagos summoned the general manager of Air France/KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Mr. Hepin Christian, to explain circumstances surrounding alleged instances of racial discrimination of some Nigerians by the airline.
Goodx.org believed that its travel scholar was “denied her right to travel” when a Mr. Shawa of KLM said she was “not ready to travel,” even after Belco presented a folder that contained full documentation supporting her trip to Brazil.
Belco was en route to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for World Youth Day, when stopped at Kuala Lumpur. The cost of her trip was covered by donations made to Goodxorg and its partner Cartwheel Foundation.org.
Filipino netizens were outraged when they learned of Belco’s ordeal.
Belco’s ordeal
The story broke after a letter of complaint from Goodxorg was posted on Facebook. According to the letter, a KLM employee identified as Mr. Shawa and his co-workers informed Belco of their decision not to process her check-in.
KLM officials interrogated Belco, casting suspicion on her circumstances. Asked why her passport was so new, she explained that being only 18 and on her first international trip, she obtained the passport specifically for this trip. Asked why she was flying through Malaysia even if there are direct flights from the Philippines, she explained that the ticket to fly to Rio via Kuala Lampur was approximately $1,000 cheaper than KLM’s flight from Manila. Required to disclose how much money she was carrying, she also produced a bank statement from Cartwheel Foundation showing sufficiency of funds.
She produced her folder of documents, which included her proof of enrollment with Pamulaan College and the University of Southeastern Philippines, as well as documents identifying her as a Cartwheel Foundation scholar and that she is being sponsored by GoodX and Cartwheel for the trip.
None of that was enough. Mr. Shawa also said that no calls would make him change his decision. The complaint reported that, “Later Mr. Shawa told us on the phone that there was nothing he could do and that we should ‘just buy another ticket.’ He was even laughing while listening to our side.”
“We believe this is unacceptable,” said Goodx.org, noting further that Filipinos do not require a transit visa in the Netherlands, where she would be waiting at the boarding area for five hours for her next flight, and Filipinos need no visa for Brazil for up to 90 days.
Social media reacts, KLM responds
Reactions in social media were sharp. Hundreds of angry and critical comments flooded KLM’s Facebook page, particularly its update on the resolution of the incident (unavailable as of posting time), with some commenters reporting KLM was actively censoring them.
When confronted on Twitter, which KLM cannot censor, about the supposed censorship, KLM customer service responded by tweeting, “Feedback is always welcome. However we do not wish for one subject to dominate our Facebook wall. We would like to emphasize that KLM values all of its passengers. We do not distinct between age, gender, race, religion or lifestyle.”
When asked via Twitter to comment on why Ms. Belco was denied boarding, the airline refused to answer, but continued responding to other queries and comments.
Many commenters were irate that KLM neither apologized nor commented on how they dealt with Mr. Shawa, the KLM official who kept Belco from boarding. Others focused on the inconvenience and expense to Belco caused by the airline. Many accused KLM of racism, with dozens of people including the #KLMracist hashtag in their tweets.
At about 4 p.m. of July 23, KLM posted an update to Belco’s situation on their Facebook page: “We appreciate your support for the GoodX project, and acknowledge your concerns about Arjean’s flight with us. We would like to emphasize that KLM values all of its passengers. We do not distinct between age, gender, race, religion or lifestyle. We accept passengers in possession of valid travel documents. It is up to the authorities of the destination country to determine what travel documents are needed and what rules apply to them.”
“We have been in touch with Goodxorg representatives regarding the situation, and have made all arrangements needed to bring this to a good end. We can confirm that Arjean has left Kuala Lumpur and is on her way to Brazil,” KLM said.
All’s well that ends well
Belco was finally allowed to board her flight bound for Amsterdam en route to Rio on the late evening of July 22 after her sponsor managed to rebook her connecting flight to Brazil.
When she arrived at the Galeão International Airport of Rio de Janeiro aboard KLM Flight No. KL 705 July 23, Belco was met by Philippine Ambassador to Brazil Eva G. Betita and her spouse, Mr. Mauricio P. Betita, Third Secretary and Vice Consul Carlyn A. Monastrial and Consular Assistant Joey A. Espolong along with Ms. Belco’s host family, Dr. Mário Fernando Petzhold and Mrs. Maria de Lourdes Magalhães Petzhold.
Dr. Petzhold is a professor at the University of Rio de Janeiro. His son, Mr. Luis Petzhold, co-founder of GoodX.org, tied up with Cartwheel Foundation in support of Belco’s travel scholarship to Brazil.
The World Youth Day activities began on July 22, when Pope Francis arrived in Rio, and will end on July 28. Of the 2.5 million people who are expected to participate all over the world, around 350 are Filipinos. According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, some of the Filipino pilgrims came from other places outside the Philippines, such as New York, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai. Like those who came from the Philippines, these pilgrims were also waving Philippine flags during the World Youth Day events.
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