A Somali passenger accused Ethiopian Airlines of mishandling her flight due to overbooking, leaving her stranded for 24 hours at Addis Ababa airport. The incident, involving confiscation of personal belongings and lack of accommodation, has sparked outrage within the Somali community and led to calls for a boycott.
A recent incident involving a Somali passenger and Ethiopian Airlines has sparked significant outrage within the Somali community. Aisha, the passenger in question, accused the airline of mishandling her flight due to overbooking, which left her and her husband stranded for 24 hours at Addis Ababa airport.
Aisha, who booked her tickets in March and had assigned seats, was informed at the boarding gate that her tickets were on standby. “I already had my seats reserved on all my flights,” she told CNN’s Larry Madowo. “We only found out at the gate that our tickets were on standby despite checking in our luggage without issue.”
On July 19, Aisha and her husband were removed from an overbooked flight to Nairobi. According to Aisha, a minister boarded the plane last minute, causing their removal. Ethiopian Airlines denied VIP influence on seating arrangements, stating that the passengers attempted to board despite being told the flight was full.
Following their removal, security forces demanded the couple delete all video recordings and confiscated their passports. “They took our phones and deleted all videos,” Aisha said. “We were stranded for 24 hours without accommodation, no apologies, and no clear communication.”
The airline asserted that the video does not reflect the actual sequence of events and claimed the affected passengers were accommodated on the next available flight. However, Aisha disputed this, saying they were left without help. “We were told to come back at 6 a.m. to see if we could fly,” she said. “I felt terrified and powerless.”
A viral video, captured by CNN correspondent Larry Madowo, drew significant attention online, showing Aisha arguing with flight attendants. The video has been viewed 8.2 million times.
On Friday, Madowo tweeted, “RECEIPTS: Ethiopian Airlines called me a liar, so I tracked down the passenger in my viral video who was offloaded for a minister. ET (Ethiopian Airlines) called police on Aisha and her husband, forced them to delete their videos, and left them stranded in Addis for 24 hours. They’ve received no apology.”
Adam Aw Hirsi, a Somali scholar and former minister, condemned the airline and called for legal action, criticizing both the airline and the business class passengers who did not support Aisha.
In response to the backlash, Ethiopian Airlines issued a statement via X (formerly Twitter), explaining that the removal was due to overbooking. They claimed the three individuals were on standby economy class and arrived just before departure. One passenger complied with the request to disembark while security escorted the remaining two.
This incident adds to the airline’s recent controversies. The Eritrean Civil Aviation Authority recently suspended all Ethiopian Airlines flights to Asmara, citing “systematic mistreatment” of Eritrean passengers, including theft of luggage, damage, extreme delays, and uncompensated loss of property. Despite repeated attempts to address these issues, no satisfactory resolution was reached with the airline.
