By Hassan Salman
By Hassan Salman
Moroccans all over the world, particularly in the United States and Canada, have suffered terribly when traveling with Royal Air Maroc (RAM). Their suffering, as most of them have expressed on Facebook, is exemplified in the Moroccan national airline’s chronic lateness, frequent cancelation, lost bags, bad service, and above all a sharp rise in prices. All of these factors and many others contribute to the fact that most Moroccans residing in the U.S. and Canada prefer to deal with other airlines to avoid RAM’s nuisance and hardships.
The month of July marks other examples of RAM’s poor service. An important flight from JFK to Casablanca a few days prior Eid al-Fitr was canceled, causing passengers to stay in the airport for almost 48 hours. A similar incident took place in Casablanca few days later, when passengers were forced to unwillingly stay in the airport for long hours. These two events, combined with what immigrants have been experiencing with RAM since its birth, have fueled the push for a massive boycott of the airline.
Facebook users launched two petitions: the first one asks U.S. and Canadian airlines to take over RAM, hoping for better services and affordable prices. This petition has been supported by almost 10,000 people so far in about 6 weeks, and is growing quickly. Equally important, the second petition encourages people to boycott Ram. The latter petition has almost 2,000 supporters in less than 2 weeks.
In the same vein, Moroccans in Canada are leading a major boycott protest on August 8 in front of the office of RAM at 75 Sherbrooke, Montreal. They are willing to say NO to Ram, hoping for a change that allows them to travel to their country with no hardships. This, according to these immigrants, will happen only if another airline accepts the JFK-Casablanca route, which has been monopolized by RAM for over four decades.
Moroccan immigrants today seem very serious to try different methods to stop RAM and find another airline that responds to their needs. RAM has always ignored these needs and never taken them into account.
We are witnessing the makings of a cold war between a very active party and another passive one. Who is going to win? Time will tell.
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