However, one fundamental right we passengers expect is to be treated as simple human beings with respect from the staff. KUWAIT AIRWAYS FAILS IN THIS REGARD 100%. DO NOT FLY THIS AIRLINE AT ANY COST. Especially if you have a 5 month old baby with feeding disorder and if you are dark skinned and do not look caucasian or Arab and look more like an immigrant labourer.

We had gone through a lot of advanced booking and talking to Kuwait airways agents on ground and on phone 4 months ahead of time to guarantee us a bassinet seat for our Kuwait- NYC flight (KU116) on the 23rd of June 2010. We were guaranteed that and provided side by side seats for me and my wife so that we could take care of our baby constantly as his feeding disorder erupts without notice. It was important for both of us to be together for that reason.

As we boarded our seats, in comes another Kuwaiti couple with a baby, who could only speak Arabic, with a stroller (which you are supposed to surrender at gate). A small altercation broke out with the in-flight staff as it seemed the guy hadn’t requested for a bassinet seat ahead of time and expected us to give up our seats. So the ‘big guy’ from Kuwait airways was called in (apparently from the grounds staff with executive powers exceeding that of the pilot). After some talk in Arabic, I was asked to give up my seat to let the Arab guy’s hijab-clad wife sit with her baby next to my wife’s seat. We wanted to ask that the little boy seating next to my wife (there were 3 seats in a row) to be reseated so that both of us couples could get what we needed. On the contrary, we were actually ordered. No use of ‘excuse me’, ‘please’ and no explanation of the situation (surely we would have helped any couple as we understand the difficult nature of travel with a baby). At the apparent rudeness, when we protested saying it wasn’t ‘fair’, the big guy erupted in a fit of anger and told us ‘not fair? you want to see fair? then please step out of the aircraft right now, I am getting you two out of the aircraft’. As he kept insisting that we leave the aircraft because we apparently were rude to the big guy, the entire flight crew stayed quiet as did the passengers without any effort to mediate the situation. It was one humiliating scene lacking in any civility (you would imagine that the decades of petrodollars would have taught them manners).

We would have walked out of the plane and spoken to pilot on our way out had it not been for our 5 month baby who would be facing an uncertain future in the not-so-hospitable Kuwait airport. So after doing some damage control, I relented (still without being given any explanation as to why our confirmed seating had to be rearranged and with no use of ‘sorry’, ‘excuse the inconvenience’, ‘please try to understand’ and ‘thank you’).

Long story short – as a mark of protest, I asked my wife to to sit next to me in a regular seat without a bassinet seat and we ‘graciously’ let the Arab husband (whose hijab clad wife needed the bassinet seat) sit next to her wife. It was important for us to give the Kuwiati guy a ‘teaching moment’ although it probably didn’t work as we didn’t get a thank you for that. For the rest of the entire 13 hours, we refused absolutely any service from KUWAIT AIRWAYS for being humiliated and treated to such sub-human standards. We refused all meals and publicly declared to the staff that we wouldn’t be taking any service from them. Our passenger next to us, was naturally very concerned and he was kindly checking up on us. It was hard, but when it comes to issues of principles and morals, it’s not that hard to go without food for half a day (nothing compared to Mandelian or Gandhian standards).

To all this reading this- if you want to be treated as a simple human being with the respect and civility any human being deserves, then KUWAIT AIRWAYS IS NOT THE AIRLINES FOR YOU. For that big guy, if he’s reading this, I know his face and his designation very well and I want him to know that this is only the beginning. By God, if I see him in person outside Kuwait, I will bring him hell until he learns to apologize for his behaviour. We are taking up the matter with the Kuwait Ministry of Tourism and there will be a relentless barrage of blogging and media writing to bring this issue out. Ordinary passengers must know the truth about KUWAIT AIRWAYS hospitality and KUWAITI hospitality in general.

Returning was not much better All planes were late. Re-fuelling took 3 hours at BKK. Hostesses treated us all like real cattle. The seats are made for children and not full-sized, the TV screens still didn’t work. No alcohol at all, suitcase broken although not sure where this happened.

You have to laugh.