Biman suspends official as passenger misses flight

Biman Bangladesh Airlines today suspended one of its officials and withdrew another at Sylhet Osmani International Airport after a London-bound passenger missed her flight due to excess luggage on July 28.

A three-member committee headed by Monirul Islam, general manager of Biman's Customer Service, was formed to investigate the incident, sources at Biman confirmed to The Daily Star today.

The suspended official is Moklesur Rahman, a junior ground service officer, and the withdrawn official is Kawsar Ali Mandal, a ground service supervisor. Both were stationed at the Sylhet airport, a top Biman official, wishing to remain anonymous, told this correspondent.

"One staff member was suspended and another was withdrawn due to  'unprofessional behaviour'," said Tahera Khondoker, deputy general manager of Biman's Public Relations in a press release today.

According to the press release, Jamila Chowdhury, a passenger of Biman's Sylhet-London route on July 28, requested to issue her boarding pass without paying for carrying an additional 41kg luggage. Later, she missed her flight due to delay in taking decision regarding the excess luggage.

However, after noticing the incident, Biman's Sylhet station manager rescheduled Jamila's ticket as per her choice for the next available flight, said the Biman press release.

Earlier, a video footage of the incident recorded by the passenger went viral on various social media platforms.

"In order to clear the confusion caused by the video footage and considering the professionalism of the staff members, Biman officials paid a courtesy call at the passenger's residence on Thursday," the press release also added.

The Daily Star was unable to contact the passenger for her statement on this issue.