Passenger accuses Turkish Airlines employee of slapping him

Worker appears to hit customer’s phone out of his hand

The incident occurred at Islamabad airport

A passenger has accused a Turkish Airlines employee of slapping him after an altercation at the check-in desk.

Video recorded by the traveller shows a worker appearing to slap the phone he’s filming on out of his hands, reports samaa.tv.

The incident occurred on 17 October at around 5am after a heated exchange between the passenger and a staff member at Islamabad Airport in Pakistan.  

It was sparked by the employee giving the passenger’s passport and ticket back to someone else by mistake, according to the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA).

The PCAA tweeted about the event after the video went viral on social media.

“A video was shared on social media wherein a passenger alleged that he was slapped by staff at the airport. Civil Aviation Authority has made a preliminary check along with scrutiny of the CCTV footage,” it said.

“It has been found that the staff at check in counter of a foreign airline handed over passport and ID card of the pax to another passenger.  

“Immediately, the other pax was located and documents retrieved. There was exchange of hot words between the pax and the airline staff.”

While the PCAA claims there was no evidence of the alleged attack, it said an investigation into what occurred is ongoing.

“No evidence of passenger being slapped by airline staff has been found. The airline staff member has been stopped from performing duty at the airline check in counter till completion of the inquiry,” it tweeted.

When asked which airline had been involved the PCAA replied: “Turkish Airline”.

The Independent has contacted Turkish Airlines and Islamabad Airport for comment.