Irish father and daughter back in Europe after being stranded in Ghana

An Irish woman and her father who were left stranded in Ghana at the weekend after their airline refused to let them board their flight home have arrived back in Europe.

Michaella Itaire and her father Michael Itaire were booked to fly to Brussels via Morocco with Royal Air Maroc on Saturday from the Kotoka International Airport in Ghana's capital city Accra.

The pair, who are both Irish citizens, had spent a two week holiday over Christmas in Ghana visiting family.

Mr Itaire, who is half-Ghanaian, was due to fly onwards to Dublin while his 23-year-old daughter would remain in Brussels where she is studying a Masters degree.

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Ms Itaire graduated from Waterford Institute of Technology last year with a degree in legal studies and international trade and is a member of Young Fine Gael. She was scheduled to take an exam in Brussels on Monday.

However, when the pair arrived at Kotoka international airport in the early hours of Saturday morning, Ms Itaire said they were told they had too much luggage and would not be able to travel.

They were eventually allowed through security after leaving one bag behind and rushed to the gate. However, upon arrival they say they were told all their bags had been taken off the aircraft and that they would not be allowed travel.

"It was the same woman at the gate ," Ms Itaire told The Irish Times on Saturday. "I showed her my ticket but she turned her back on me and ignored us. She would not allow me to board and would not speak to me or reply when I asked why. I was so humiliated I wanted to cry.

“I was subjected to verbal discrimination based on being an Irish foreigner. Even when people came to my defence for this ill treatment I felt terrible. I tried not to cry, especially in front of her.”

Once the flight had taken off, the father and daughter made their way to the Royal Air Maroc office outside the airport building where they requested to be put on the next flight but say they were told the cost of transferring their tickets to a new flight was $400 (€328). Ms Itaire said they were unable to transfer fee.

After refusing to leave the Royal Air Maroc office until they were put on another flight for free, the head of the airline for Ghanaian operations met with the father and daughter.

Eventually, after a few more hours of negotiations, the Itaires secured passage without paying on a flight leaving for Brussels via Casablanca the following day. They spent the night in the airport and boarded their flight without any problems on Sunday morning.

Ms Itaire made it back to Brussels in time for her exam while her father asked a family member in Ireland to transfer money into his account so he could book a new flight back to Dublin.

“I was so stressed out, I’m pretty sure I failed the exam. I hadn’t slept properly in two days, we hadn’t eaten properly. I was honestly falling asleep during the exam.”

A spokeswoman for Royal Air Maroc contacted the Irish Times to say it was investigating the incident with staff both in Brussels and Accra.

The spokeswoman clarified that passengers travelling with Royal Air Maroc are entitled to put two piece of luggage of 23kg each in the hold and may carry one piece of hand luggage of 10kg.

“When Mr and Ms Itaire presented themselves for check in at Brussels Airport, they were advised that the flight was full and were invited to place their hand luggage in the hold, along with other passengers,” said the spokeswoman. She said on the return flight they “standard baggage policy was applied” and that the Itaires were permitted two pieces of luggage in the hold and one piece of hand luggage.

However, the spokeswoman added that the Itaires had not been denied boarding because of excess baggage issues.

“We would also highlight that for security reasons our flights close for boarding 15 minutes before departure when all passengers must be seated and ready for take-off. All passengers are therefore requested to arrive at the gate, ready to board, a minimum of 15 minutes before the scheduled time of departure, as specified on their boarding passes. Mr and Ms Itaire did not present themselves for boarding on time.”

The spokeswoman said the family had not yet made a formal complaint to the airline and encouraged them to contact the Royal Air Maroc customer services team.

Ms Itaire says her father is planning to sue the airline for their treatment in Kotoka airport. “We wanted a proper apology; if we got that we would have been happy and wouldn’t need to sue. I would at least know the next time I got to an airport I wouldn’t feel anxious about flying. This experience scared me and I told my dad if we don’t do something about it I’m not going to feel safe to fly, This is a national airline that treated us this way.”