Photo: flickr.com
Here’s something you don’t get to hear every day: passengers on a flight from LOT Polish Airlines were asked to chip in for repairs to the jet, so it could take off from Beijing.
According to the Metro, the plane was grounded in Beijing for a malfunctioning pump. The plane couldn’t take-off until a new one was put in, so everyone on the plane was asked for cash so they could raise the necessary amount to buy it.
Daniel Golebiowski was on that flight and he says he was just as shocked as the other passengers when cabin crew members came to ask them for cash. There were 249 people on that plane. In the end, some did chip in: $350 in American money was raised and the flight took off with a 10-hour delay.
“We are at the international airport. I cannot believe that transactions take place here in cash under the table with the mechanic standing next to the plane,” Golebiowski says.
As strange as this sounds, the airline has an explanation for it: apparently, the mechanic who performed the repairs wouldn’t take any other form of payment than cash. And cash was the last thing airline employees had on them, apparently.
So, because the mechanic wouldn’t accept a wire transfer, the pilot decided to “borrow” some money from some of the passengers on board. The entire sum was refunded to them when the aircraft landed in Warsaw, before they even got off the plane, an airline company says.
Still, “the representative of LOT should have both cash and credit card with him,” Adrian Kubicki, spokesperson for the same company, admits in an interview with Aerotime. “The company provides them with funds to solve similar situations. There are no circumstances that justify asking money from passengers.”
Daniel Golebiowski was on that flight and he says he was just as shocked as the other passengers when cabin crew members came to ask them for cash. There were 249 people on that plane. In the end, some did chip in: $350 in American money was raised and the flight took off with a 10-hour delay.
“We are at the international airport. I cannot believe that transactions take place here in cash under the table with the mechanic standing next to the plane,” Golebiowski says.
As strange as this sounds, the airline has an explanation for it: apparently, the mechanic who performed the repairs wouldn’t take any other form of payment than cash. And cash was the last thing airline employees had on them, apparently.
So, because the mechanic wouldn’t accept a wire transfer, the pilot decided to “borrow” some money from some of the passengers on board. The entire sum was refunded to them when the aircraft landed in Warsaw, before they even got off the plane, an airline company says.
Still, “the representative of LOT should have both cash and credit card with him,” Adrian Kubicki, spokesperson for the same company, admits in an interview with Aerotime. “The company provides them with funds to solve similar situations. There are no circumstances that justify asking money from passengers.”
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