On May 26, Samir, a 27-year-old Frenchman, was regarding to fly to Tunis to attend the wedding of one of his friends. But not everything went as planned at Orly airport for the young man, who told his story to Parisian.
As he had not managed to check in online for his flight with Transavia, Samir went to the airport to finalize his check-in on site. However, following queuing in the wrong place without knowing it, the Parisian is redirected to another counter, while the check-in time for his flight is coming to an end.
“I arrive near the gentleman at 3:14 p.m., and he starts talking, talking. I ask him to register me, and then he looks at me and says ‘I’m not even asking you for your passport, it’s 3:16 p.m. recording is over. I can’t do anything,'” says Samir, who insists to the Transavia employee. And the latter ends up saying to him: “For people like you, nothing can be done”. Samir, shocked, asks him what he means by that, and the man repeats the same words to him: “You have understood very well what I’m talking regarding. For people like you, I can’t do anything”.
“I was on my ass because I thought it was a joke […] This is the first time that I have experienced subtle homophobia”, confides Samir to our French colleagues.
Deprived of a trip to Tunis, the young man then decided to denounce the behavior of the Transavia employee on social networks. And the company ends up contacting him by message, apologizing for the behavior of the member of his staff. In an official press release then sent to Le Parisien, Transavia denounced “unacceptable behavior, which in no way reflects the values or the commitments of the company”. “Transavia France does not tolerate any form of discrimination,” the statement said.
Samir, who following tough negotiations obtained new plane tickets, decided to file a complaint once morest the company in the hope of “changing things” and preventing this kind of situation from happening once more.
