Saudi court orders compensation for Eritrean passenger prevented from boarding a flight
March 08, 2022
Okaz/Saudi Gazette
RIYADH — A Saudi court did justice to an Eritrean resident passenger by obliging an airline to pay him SR11,000 as compensation for the damage caused to him due to the airline’s refusal to board him on a flight to Spain and then to Mexico.
The Appeals Court has upheld the verdict issued by the Jeddah Administrative Court. Walid Mahmoud, the Eritrean national, who confirmed receipt of the amount of compensation, thanked the Saudi judiciary, stating that the verdict reposed his faith in the judiciary that everyone is equal in front of the law of the land.
According to the judgment, a copy of which was obtained by Okaz/Saudi Gazette, Walid had stated in the lawsuit that his flight was scheduled to depart from Jeddah to Madrid airport and then to Cancun airport in Mexico, the final destination. But the airline prevented him from boarding the flight on the pretext that he did not have a transit visa to Spain.
There is no prerequisite of transit visa for landing in Spain, he pointed out while quoting the guidelines published in the website of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the website of the airline that completed the booking procedures for him.
In the lawsuit, the plaintiff also noted that he had a valid Japanese visa under which there is no need for the issuance of a transit visa, and the denial of travel incurred him financial losses.