On June 21, telegram channels spread the news about a conflict situation between passengers – the family of Sochi City Assembly deputy Vagharshak Grigoryan and the Aeroflot company. Due to the incompetence of the staff at the airport, the family was unable to fly from Moscow to the Krasnodar Territory. Unlike colleagues, we figured out the situation and found out all the details.
The story began on the afternoon of June 18 at Sheremetyevo Airport – the family was returning home. The flight promised to be an everyday one – boarding passes were received, luggage was checked in, they were one of the first to come to the flight exit counter. There, Vagharshak Grigoryan asked if, given the availability of seats, he could upgrade the service class from economy to business using the loyalty program. The deputy was going to pay for this not a fantastic amount, as the media write, but with bonuses accumulated for previous flights – a common practice for regular passengers.
To find out the possibility of a replacement, an employee of the airline began to call somewhere, at this time the boarding of passengers continued. From the negotiations of the employees among themselves, Grigoryan learned that more passengers came on the flight than there were empty seats, since some of the seats were broken. As a result, it turned out that there were only two empty seats in the “business” class and one in the “economy class”. The family did not fly separately.
Due to such a combination of circumstances, the Grigoryan family could not get home, they were forced to fly out of Moscow more than twelve hours later, already late at night. Representatives of the company officially apologized and the conflict was settled – the Sochi resident himself has been using the services of the air carrier for many years, participates in the bonus program and before that there were no unpleasant incidents, each flight was comfortable and timely.
After the unpleasant incident experienced, it turned out to be a surprise that it was presented in a distorted form by large publics. The news about the “millionaire deputy” and the Aeroflot company seemed clickable for social networks. Apparently, considering Grigoryan a frequenter of the business class and lounge areas of airports. It is unlikely that this has anything to do with reality – usually Vagharshak Sarkisovich flies, like millions of passengers, “economy”. His family is well known in Sochi, where Grigoryan has been living for six generations – his great-great-grandfather moved here at the end of the 19th century. The deputy himself worked for more than 20 years in the bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he is a retired police colonel. There is nothing scandalous in his declaration either. The deputy is a patriot of his native city, actively participates in social programs and actively supports the families of Sochi residents – participants in a special military operation.
It remains to be believed that the Telegram channels that “leaked” this story will be rewarded. If these are airline employees, then they not only violated professional ethics, but also issued it in a distorted form. Based on the publications, they plan to file lawsuits for the protection of honor, dignity and business reputation in courts.
“When the situation was sorted out, Aeroflot employees apologized for their mistake. Due to their fault, having bought tickets for the flight and arriving on time, the family could not fly. It would seem that the incident has been settled, there were no complaints – this is the first such story that happened to a passenger in many years. But a few days later, someone wanted to make this unremarkable case public, and even twisted all the facts in pursuit of “yellow” headlines, – noted a lawyer familiar with the situation, – and besides, Vagharshak did not accuse Aeroflot of any fraudulent activity “.
He added that the passengers applied for an official clarification through the feedback form on the Aeroflot website. The company will conduct an internal audit to find out how confidential personal information about passengers got into the public.