Mr Daniel Ochieng Orwenjo has sued a German airline, Lufthansa, over what he termed as customer harassment while aboard their plane on 3 July 2018.
According to Orwenjo, who lives with a disability, his walking stick was taken away from him while travelling from Halle airport in Germany to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
This incidence made him immobile throughout the flight.
“As a result of the serious failure of the airline to attend to my personal needs, I sat in the aircraft for over 10 hours without going to the washroom for the combined duration of the trip,” Mr Orwenjo
Even after telling the airline officers of the importance of his walking stick, the complainant claims that they still went ahead to take it from him noting that it was “too big and that it looked like a weapon.” He argued that on his several trips abroad with other airlines, he had never been denied entry with his walking stick.
In further explanations, Orwenjo alleges that even after the plane landed at JKIA and he requested to have his walking stick back, he was told that it was forgotten in Germany.
He was instead given a metallic rod to use as the stick was being brought from Germany which to him was very slippery, and it fell him several times.
On being contacted, the airline management, however, refuted claims that they did not attend to Orwenjo's needs for the 10 hours trip.
“We deny that Mr Orwenjo was unable to attend to personal needs or left stationary for over 10 hours as alleged,” Lufthansa German Airline says in a replying affidavit quoted by Nation.