In 2011 I reported an airline asking passengers to pay for the fuel before they would take them. Report here. So imagine my surprise when the Daily Mail reports that Air France did the exact same thing recently. (In the end the call for cash was not needed, I might add).
The flight was scheduled to travel to Beirut when fighting broke out near the airport and the pilot diverted. His first choice was Amman for the diversion, but had insufficient fuel. So he chose Damascus!
The incident appears to have been related to sanctions placed on the regime in Syria by the west, preventing the pilot from using his company credit card when his plane landed in Damascus.
It seems, from the article that the call for cash was not needed in the end, and the plane eventually left for Cyprus after a two hour wait.
Would you have given AF your cash?
haha – not a chance.
If we weren’t getting off the ground in Damascus. Heck YES! There was a report that the regime shelled a bread line the other day. I think an AF jet wouldv’e made for a great accidental target.
I would have let them charge it on my Bank of Iran credit which comes with 5x points on Syrian gas purchases and hostage ransom payments.
I wouldn’t give them cash but I sure as heck would have let them gain me some credit card points!