Human Traffic Incident Thwarted on Aerolineas Argentinas Flight

In a recent statement, Aerolineas Argentinas said that during the boarding of flight 2260, operated by Austral, on December 23 operating between Buenos Aires and Asunción, a passenger informed the cabin crew to have seen a “strange” situation at the time of check-in between a woman and a man who were on the flight.

It was then that the main purser of the flight approached the woman, who was not speaking coherently and was also behaving erratically. Then she approached the man who was accompanying the female passenger and asked him who she was and what was the relationship between them. Both passengers gave different versions, according to reports.

The crew then decided to take the woman to the front of the cabin, where she was asked for her identification, which she did not have with her. According to one of the crew members, the woman was still refusing to speak and clearly upset, so the main purser together with the captain decided to call the company’s medical service and airport security personnel (Policía de Seguridad Aeroportuaria – PSA).

Finally, the passengers had to be disembarked, causing the flight to be rescheduled to depart at 12:55 p.m. as the crew was called in to initiate the legal process.

Five years ago, in April 2014, Aerolineas Argentinas signed a cooperation and assistance agreement with the Ministry of Justice, Aeropuertos Argentina 2000, Argentina’s main airport operator, and crew unions, in order to receive training to identify and report potential human trafficking cases onboard.

It is not the first time that Aerolineas Argentinas and Austral personnel detected cases of human trafficking onboard. In 2014, six female victims were detected onboard a flight between Buenos Aires and Punta del Este. Previously, other cases had been detected in Ushuaia and Rio Grande.

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Pablo Diaz

Since a little kid, Pablo set his passions in order: aviation, soccer, and everything else. He has traveled to various destinations throughout South America, Asia, and Europe.

Technology and systems expert, occasional spotter, not-so-dynamic midfielder, blogger, husband, father of three cats; he believes that Latin America's aviation industry past, present, and future offer a lot of stories to be told.

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