Fifteen Nairobi MCAs were arrested on Monday night following a misunderstanding with Fly540 management at the JKIA.
The MCAs were on their way to Mombasa for an investors' meeting when they disagreed with the airline over a delay by one of their colleagues.
Ziwani MCA Millicent Mugadi
was late for the flight that was to leave at around 7pm.
A source said the boarding process had been completed though the plane had a mechanical fault that was being handled.
As one of the propellers was being fixed,
Mugadi arrived and made her way to the customer care area to inquire about the flight. She was asked to wait for a response.
According to the source, the pilot complained because it was against policy for Mugadi to board at that time.
The source also revealed that the pilot said the mechanical hitch was the only reason Mugadi caught up with them.
In the MCA's defense, the others complained and told the pilot to alight. When he did, they followed,
complaining of harassment.
An MCA who sought anonymity said:
"We requested to them to allow Mugadi into the plane but the staff started insulting us."
'MCAs were insulted'
Speaking to The Star,
Mugadi claimed harassment and lack of professionalism by the airline's staff as she tried explaining her lateness.
She said she was "really shocked" by how the customer care attendants handled the matter.
"I arrived late and went to customer care to inquire about the flight. While waiting for a response, the other MCAs came to check up on me since they knew I was unwell," she said.
Mugadi said the attendants insulted her colleagues, used vulgar Dholuo words and referred to them as dogs.
"At some point, the customer care personnel want
to get physical with the MCAs. They attempted top fight them."
Mudagi said though she was unwell, she tried to mediate since the MCAs were angry after being insulted.
"I had told the woman it would be okay If I could not board the flight, since I had a pending Kenya Airways ticket, but she insisted that I wait for a response."
Mugadi said the ward representatives were angered because they were heading to "a very important" meeting with foreigners who wanted to invest in their wards.
She asked the airline's customer care workers to "learn how to handle people".
The pilot later returned to the aircraft and left, following orders from his managers, so the other passengers would not be delayed.
After the plane took off, the MCAs were arrested for a few hours and later released.
They rescheduled their flight to Thursday and reached Mombasa at about 4pm.