Indian American couple sent back to India by Aeroflot

January 18, 2018

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FILE PHOTO: An Aeroflot Boeing 777-300ER aircraft lands on a runway at Sheremetyevo International Airport outside Moscow, Russia, July 7, 2015. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo

An Indian American couple from Virgina was sent back to India while boarding an Aeroflot flight in Moscow, Russia bound for the U.S., according to the International Business Times.

According to a WUSA report, Shahana Islam, 26, and Marc Fernandes, 27, were attempting to board a U.S.-bound Aeroflot flight in Moscow, Russia, after a vacation with family and friends when they ended up back in New Delhi, India after an Aeroflot worker prohibited them from entering the plane which was headed back to the U.S.

A video posted on Facebook by Islam shows that her and Fernandes begged to be sent back to the U.S. after the airline employee claimed that “all citizens of the country that need visas in our country after 24 hours will be deported.”

The video has gained more than 27,000 views and shows the couple pleading to the Aeroflot worker, to allow them to be “deported to the U.S.”

The video further shows the Aeroflot worker, storming off after the couple continued to declare that they were American citizens however, he refused to believe them and referred to them as “Indian passengers.”

“This guy is discriminating against Indians and trying to ‘deport’ us all back to India. As a US citizen per International Air Transport Association (IATA) regulation, they need to send us to the US, not back to India. He literally looked at people and decided who needs to go back to India. Can I sue him and Aeroflot?” Islam wrote on Facebook.

According to its website, the IATA represents Aeroflot and 280 other airlines and disputes “unreasonable rules and charges, hold regulators and governments to account, and strive for sensible regulation.”

Aeroflot has confirmed that an internal investigation is underway as the airline strives towards providing “the highest standards of customer service, even in the midst of major travel disruptions due to weather, and we regret the tremendous inconvenience caused to passengers in this case,” according to a statement issued to WUSA.