By Aisha Tamba
Fatima Maada Bio, the First Lady of Sierra Leone, has said Air France does not respect Africans.
In a long Facebook post coming on the heels of concerns against the airliner, the First Lady said Air France has no “sympathy for the African passengers travelling with children” or even those with disabilities.
She narrated: “Yesterday, we checked in to fly out from Paris to Guinea via Sierra Leone. After sitting in the flight for 2 hours, we were asked to move from that plane because it was faulty. Thank God we didn’t fly up air then had a situation.
Fast forward, we moved in to another plane, sat for another 2 hours and the pilot announced that we could not travel any longer because the crew has gone over their time.
They asked everyone to leave the plane with no other explanation. Women with children were left roaming the airport not knowing what to do.
People in wheelchairs crisscrossing to find a place to rest and there was no one from Air France to help them.
To make matters worse, no one was allowed to take back their suitcases. So if you had your medication in them, as far as Air France was concerned, you can die for all they care.
A crew of 12 people who did not travel or do anything, ground more than 150 passengers because they are Africans.
When will Air France understand that we are their biggest customers in terms of pricing?
Africans pay the highest to travel to Africa in an inferior planes all the time.
We are treated like criminals at all European airports especially France.
We are given the worst terminal to travel from like dogs.
Food only fit for prisoners
The First Lady also expressed disgust at the food served to Africans, describing it as cheap and bad.
“Even in the VIP lounges, the food they present to us is only fit for prisoners.
My advice to African heads of state is that, engage the management of Air France and demand better treatment for our people. We are not slaves any longer, so Air France should remove that mentality of superiority from their selfish self and know that no African country will go under France as slave.
Air France change your bad ways because we are watching,” she warned.
