A young family claim British Airways racially discriminated against them when staff refused to let them board despite going through check-in and security.
The Moyo family from Kent were allowed through Schipol Airport in Amsterdam without boarding passes which they believed would be issued at the gate.
But when they arrived, Kiran and Dignity Moyo, with their three-month old baby Noah, were not allowed to board the flight home to Gatwick last month.
They claim – along with a witness who filmed the incident – that a ‘white Englishman’ was allowed to travel without a boarding card while they were not.
BA gate staff even called the police, who escorted the Moyos away from the scene.
Kiran and Dignity Moyo with their three-month-old baby at the boarding gate at Amsterdam’s Schipol airport last month
Ms Moyo pleads with staff as she holds onto her baby after the young family were refused boarding
The ‘white Englishman’ (left) who the couple say was waved through without a boarding pass with no issues
Mrs Moyo, an NHS pharmacist, was taking a family holiday and they were on their way home from Schiphol to Gatwick on July 20.
It is understood flight delays at Schipol resulted in the Moyo family not getting boarding passes but airport management allowed them to go to the gate where it was expected they would be given passes by BA.
Fellow passenger Joshua Arthur documented what followed.
He wrote: ‘Due to flight delay, a couple and their three-month-old baby hadn’t checked in yet, which resulted in them not getting their boarding passes.
‘The same thing happened to an Englishman. The airport staff understood the situation and let them all through security anyway.
The ‘white Englishman’ (left) poses with Ms Moyo after he was issued with a boarding pass after going through security
‘However, at the boarding gate, the British Airways workers let the English man on the plane, but wouldn’t let the couple and their baby board – even though the airport staff had already let them through security without a boarding pass.
‘Us passengers filmed what happened at the boarding gate for evidence. When the British Airways workers found out they threatened us by saying that we weren’t allowed to board the plane, unless they saw us delete the video.’
The video shows the young couple complaining to staff while Mrs Moyo carries their baby in her arms.
Mrs Moyo shakes her head saying: ‘I just – this man has got a ticket, he hadn’t checked-in. I don’t understand why we are being…’
The father then interjects: ‘They are kind of displacing us, as if we are the criminals.’
He turns to the BA gate staff and says, ‘Listen, we are all human beings here.’
The mother then points to the other man who hadn’t checked-in saying: ‘Excuse me, this man hadn’t checked-in either.’
The father then says, ‘This is discrimination,’ as a police officer walks towards the young couple.
Another video shows an airport policeman saying to another passenger: ‘I am now asking you nicely to move.’ Before pushing the passenger backwards.
Joshua Arthur shared details of the Moyo’s ordeal on Instagram and BA have launched an investigation into the complaint
Mr Arthur believes they were barred because of their skin colour.
He said: ‘The only main difference between the young family and the white English man is, race and maternity. Other than that they are in the exact same position. It is therefore natural for me to think that the young family was racially discriminated.’
Mrs Moyo today revealed the ordeal was deeply humiliating to her.
She said: ‘This entire experience has left us mentally exhausted and quite frankly traumatised and humiliated. We were treated in such an inhumane, degrading and disrespectful way in front of a plane full of passengers waiting to board.
‘I pray to God he [The baby] won’t remember this level of discrimination.’
BA said they have launched an investigation into the incident.
Mr Moyo stands alongside the man who the couple single out during the video, saying he has been allowed on the flight and they have not
A BA spokesman said: ‘We are in direct contact with our customers regarding this issue. We’re taking this extremely seriously and are currently conducting a thorough investigation with the ground handling agents and Schiphol airport to fully understand what happened.’
A spokesman for the police at Schipol said they were aware of criticism of officers captured in the footage.
He said: ‘This video only shows a small part of the incident. What was not caught on camera is that this individual had received multiple verbal requests to stand further back. When he failed to comply…the [police] pushed him away.’