Charter jet passengers hit up for cash mid-flight to continue flight

Charter jet passengers hit up for cash mid-flight

London (CNN) -- Passengers aboard two chartered jetliners from India to Britain were hit up for about $200 each, in cash, to continue their trip this week in what one flier compared to a hostage situation.

The charter company, Austria-based Comtel Air, and the Spanish company that owns the planes pointed fingers at each other over the situation Thursday. But Lal Dadrah, a passenger on one of the flights who recorded the crew passing the hat, called the situation "a complete, utter sham."

Comtel Air passengers on a Tuesday flight from to Birmingham, England, from the Indian city of Amritsar were hit up for 130 pounds -- about $200 each -- during a layover in Vienna. They were allowed off the aircraft to take the money from teller machines, a process that took about seven hours. There were varying accounts of what the money was to pay for, ranging from fuel to fees.

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"I could not believe what I was witnessing," Dadrah told British network ITN. "It was as if we'd been held hostage against our wills, with the 24,000 pounds we all eventually had to pay being the ransom."

http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/17/travel/britain-passengers-cash/index.html

flying from one coast to another in the US would be like that.

Didn't see that coming.

:sarcasm: