Gulf Air flight passengers faced harassment at Kochi airport on April 4 during check in. The authorities said to have asked for additional tax in cash when they were about to check in to board Gulf Air flight GF 271 to Bahrain in the morning of the day. The purported tax amount was as high as Rs 2,000 and the staff were not willing to accept cards.
Majority of the passengers travelled without Indian currency, reportedly struggled in the face of such a hapless situation. Some of them were escorted outside to get cash from the lone ATM machine there. Those who were lucky got the cash and escaped the situation.
Gulf Air or the ticketing agencies had not informed the passengers about the additional tax causing huge embarrassment to the passengers.