Spata ticket blunder draws stiff fines
Greece’s civil aviation authority (YPA) took punitive action yesterday against two airline companies after an Iraqi illegal immigrant with a ticket to Munich somehow got onto a different company’s flight from Athens to Crete. Quassem Zonait, 27, who has requested asylum in Greece, had a ticket for Olympic Airways flight 177 from Athens to Munich on Tuesday afternoon. Due to misunderstandings and negligence, according to an YPA statement, Zonait cleared passport and ticket check points and boarded Axon Airlines flight 464 for Iraklion. When Zonait asked when the plane was due in Munich, the pilots notified the police – who arrested him at Iraklion. YPA said severe fines were imposed on Axon and the Swissport ground handling services provider, while the companies were told to remove the personnel involved from all Greek airports.
