Soundarya Rajinikanth lashed out at Emirate Airlines for their irresponsible reply after she lost her valuables and husband Vishagan’s passport while waiting at the Emirates chauffeur lounge at Heathrow Airport for their courtesy car to arrive. She called the episode a traumatic experience. “How secure are passengers and their belongings at an international airport,” she asked as she made a statement on social media.
Soundarya and Vishagan were on a trip to London and at Heathrow, Vishagan found the bag with his passport missing. The bag also had US currency and other valuable items. The couple was then made to stay in a room in the airport until the emergency passport formalities were be cleared with the Indian High Commission.
Sources in the know say that after getting to know from the Indian High Commission that they are Rajini’s daughter and son-in-law, the issue was sorted out quickly and an emergency passport was issued to Vishagan. The couple had filed a complaint after the incident but the response, which Soundarya received irked her. She took to her social media handle to slam the airline.
“How secure are passengers and their belongings at an international airport? Our hand luggage got stolen on September 1, 2019 at Heathrow Airport’s Emirates chauffeur lounge as we waited for our car. We immediately filed a complaint with the local Heathrow patrol. We were asked to wait to hear back from the cops via email. The next day we received an email from them that the CCTV cameras in the emirates chauffeur lounge were faulty and didn’t record anything on the day of the theft. This is shocking and absolute irresponsibility from the airline and the airport we trust as international passengers. We lost valuables and my husband’s passport and this has been a traumatic experience.”
Questioning whether airports could not assure safety of belongings she added, “Authorities and airlines should be accountable. This shouldn’t have happened to us and certainly happen to anyone else.”
