Atinka Fight Emirates Airlines Over ‘Di Asa’ Trip

Atinka Media Village (AMV), Organizers of ‘Di Asa’ reality show says it is not entirely true that the size of Precious Mensah aka PM was the only reason why she missed out on her trip to Dubai.

The news making the rounds is that because of her size, PM was unable to join her first and second runners up—Gaza and Maafia on the trip which forms part of their prize package because she could not get a seat on Emirates, the airline transporting them.

When PM emerged winner of this year’s edition of the dance competition for plus-sized women organised by Atinka TV, part of her prize package was a sponsored trip to Dubai.

However, that was not to be the case as PM had missed out on the trip while her runners-up are having an amazing time in Dubai, a situation that the show organizers say PM was discriminated against by Emirates Air.

A statement signed by Executive Producer and Managing Director, Albert Kwamena Dwumfour in Accra yesterday and sighted by The New Publisher detailed aspects of unfairness on the part of the Airline Company.

According to the organizers, they were willing to go to any extent to get PM on the flight including upgrading her ticket to first-class after officials at Emirates revealed they could not complete the check-in because of safety reasons.

“Emirates Airline again denied us this offer saying we could not use our mileage at that time and still requested us to pay a top-up of almost $10,000 which is equivalent to GH¢ 57,000 at the last minute for the First Class.

“We saw this as an unfair treatment, unprofessional and discrimination against our Queen, particularly when the Airline Ticketing Agent had prior knowledge of who they had issued the tickets to,” part of the statement read.

The statement explained that “around 6:15 pm, still in the presence of PM, the Emirates officials came up with an option – per the official’s statement, the only option available then per consultations with the Airline Superiors back at the office, was to go by first class (when the time for departure time was 6:50 pm).

“We decided to adhere to the directives by offering our accumulated mileage to upgrade our Queen’s seat to first class. We offered to upgrade our Queen’s seat to first class with our accumulated mileage due to the timing of the information as AMV was ready to fly our Queen to Dubai at all cost. ”

The statement further called on the Gender, Children and Social Protection Ministry and other stakeholders to add their voices in helping to curb “stigmatization and discrimination against plus-sized persons especially in Ghana and across the world.”