A pilot admitted at a Labour Tribunal yesterday that he had taken off with the luggage of five passengers who had not boarded.
Former Cathay Pacific cabin manager Aurora Saraza Camaclang, 45, is suing the airline for dismissing her unfairly on the grounds she did not report an incident in which five passengers had not boarded a flight from Dubai to Mumbai in September 1999.
The passengers missed the flight because they were injured and sent to hospital after a shuttle bus taking them from the terminal hit a pillar. But their baggage had already been put on the plane.
Cathay pilot Frank Predebon told the tribunal yesterday he believed Ms Camaclang had failed to perform her duty. 'When you have a hiccup in the cabin, [like] a fire in the toilet, you must come up and tell the captain,' he said.
He ordered Ms Camaclang to report the incident to the company, which led to her dismissal last April.
But Ms Camaclang argued she did not report to Mr Predebon immediately because she assumed he had been informed by other sources.