Captain Fantastic: Drunken UK Rajahs brought down to earth View(s): The high-flying Rajahs who made it big in Europe post-1983 selling mobile telephones and buying influence got their just desserts when their boorish behavior came to an abrupt halt onboard SriLankan Airlines Flight 503 to London on the October 29 (last Wednesday). The Rajahs from the UK, all 31 of them, and all of Lankan origin except for the kiddos, were on a holiday to the Four Seasons hotel in the Maldives. The cheapest room at the Four Seasons is more than US$ 1,600 (Rs. 208,000) a night. The bunch of them all arrived in Sri Lanka and proceeded to the Maldives on a SriLankan Airlines flight. Also on the same flight and at the Four Seasons was former Sri Lankan cricket captain and national selections committee chairman, Sanath Jayasuriya, MP and the national carrier’s Marketing Manager G.P. Jayaseelan. They were all having a good time, mainly at the bar. The holiday turned sour when the party started making their way back ‘home’ in Britain. The ‘party’ had arrived at the Bandaranaike International Airport from Male and turned the Business Class Lounge into a fish market with their loud talk. The elders were boozing as if there was no tomorrow and the kids were running around screaming as if their parents owned the darn airport. Then it was time to board the flight to London on Flight UL 503 at 1300 hours. The aircraft was an Airbus leased from Cathay Pacific and it could accommodate the 31 passengers in the business class. The usual SriLankan Airbus doesn’t have that many seats in the Business Class. The boorish behaviour continued unabated; by now the cabin crew headed by Chief Purser GihanWickramaratne onboard the airline getting concerned at the way some of the passengers were misbehaving. Whereupon, the Captain of the Airbus showed up and quickly sized up the situation. He was going nowhere with this bunch of sozzled rowdies. He ordered them off the plane saying, and quite rightly so, that he was not going to endanger the other passengers nor disturb their comfort with their presence on board. The Rajahs who own not only a mobile telephone company but also are into the airline ticketing business might have thought they owned the airline as well. One cannot blame them for thinking that way. They had access to the top echelons of the airline. Money talks, after all — in some quarters. They were on their Lyca mobile phones calling London; calling SriLankan Airlines hot-shots, MPs (who were dropping names of VVIPs). The Captain was asked to ‘take off’, mind you by senior executive officers of the airline, but he was firm in his decision. No way was he going to risk the flight. Passengers onboard the flight were informed of the delay over the PA system. “There are some passengers who are drunk,” said the steward. The Rajahs came to realise that money can’t buy everybody. They had been brought down to earth and grounded. Like lame tigers, with tails between their legs all 31 had to disembark, collect their baggage and go find a suitable place to stay until they got themselves on another flight. UL Flight 503 left for London at 1520 hours — more than two hours late due to this incident — and just made it at Heathrow before ‘curfew’ time in London (flights cannot get into London after 9 p.m.) Hats off to Capt. S. Senthoorselvan who refused to budge in the face of immense pressure — not so much from the passengers as from high officials of the national airline. Tailpiece to the story is that these folks are tipped to get the GSA (General Sales Agency) for the national airline in Britain. What with a senior official from the airline about to join them after November 25 as their CEO.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 08:33:01 +0000
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