Air Deccan offloaded Zuleyka Rivera at Goa airport after a disagreement over excess baggage.
PANAJI: She came, she saw, she was grounded. Miss Universe Zuleyka Rivera and her entourage got stranded in Goa on Saturday after they were refused on board the Air Deccan flight to Bangalore. Reason: there was a disagreement over excess baggage. They left for Mumbai late on Sunday afternoon.
Zuleyka was here for two days as part of her multi-city tour to create AIDS awareness in India.
Sources told DNA that FTV(Fashion television), which sponsored the visit, reportedly paid for the excess baggage --- after a discount was given --- facilitating Miss Universe's return to Mumbai from where she is expected to go to Indonesia. However, her visit to Bangalore to create AIDS awareness was cancelled following the differences between FTV and Air Deccan. Incidentally, why FTV needed to use a budget airline to carry Miss Universe and her entourage has become a talking point.
Zuleyka had breezed through her visit that included a visit to old Goa, meeting with AIDS-afflicted children and a fashion show on Baga beach that had her walking the ramp along with 13 other international models. However, on Saturday evening, she found herself and her 27-member entourage that included her bodyguards, the models and New York-based designer Sanjana Jon (whose summer collection was exhibited at the show) being offloaded after Air Deccan refused to take on the extra 40 pieces of luggage unless Rs 60,000 was paid.
FTV's Chief Operating Officer Bharat Sheth reportedly wanted a waiver on the excess baggage. But Air Deccan staff said they could only give a discount of Rs 15,000. FTV was reportedly adamant about the waiver and offered that Air Deccan could carry the FTV logo indicating it was the official handler of Miss Universe's Goa tour.
Air Deccan stood its ground on the payment, leading to the 27-member party being offloaded. An irate Sanjana Jon was quoted as saying, "We have been sitting at the airport for a few hours and the Air Deccan flight took off without us.
The problem was that they had included another modelling team's luggage with ours and wanted us to pay Rs 60,000 as excess baggage. When they realised their mistake, they just off-loaded the entire crew even though we requested them to put at least the key people (Miss Universe and her bodyguards) on the plane." But sources said that Miss Universe's entourage had arrived four hours late to Goa after a similar problem at Bangalore airport.
Zuleyka had gone to Kochi and was coming to Goa via Bangalore.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}