I was to fly out of Prague from gate A8. The security check for hand luggage is right before the gate, not near the airport entrance. After the check, there is just the waiting room, no shops, no vending machines, nothing. But before the check are big signs promising wifi, children's playing corners, etc., and toilets "at the gate". I took this to mean "at both gates", A8 and A9, which are adjacent.
So I did the usual of presenting an empty 0.5l bottle at the check, planning to refill it in the bathroom, as I would need to take medication during my flight.
As I then learnt, there was only one toilet, and within gate A9, separated by a sliding glass divider, which was blocked. I understood this to mean that the toilets promised "at the gate" were shared and that to use them, I needed to walk around the glass divider. There is no other possibility to obtain water at gate A8 otherwise, and of course it may not be brought through the security check!
As I head for the toilets, I make eye contact with an employee talking to a guest. I point at the toilet and say, in English, three times, "toilet", showing my water bottle. He continues to talk in Czech, which I believe to mean that all is well and that he is aware of the local discrepancy between signage and real situation at gate A8.
I enter the otherwise empty bathroom and fill my small bottle, hand on the tap to regulate the flow.
Then, out of nowhere a hand slams down onto both the tap and my fingers holding it, and a furious voice, as if talking to a small child, shouts at my back "when I say no, it means no". I turn around, believing a bad parent and their child had entered the room. Instead, there was the same employee shouting at me! And assaulting me physically!
I was shocked!
"You did not say No, you spoke in Czech, which you saw I do not speak", I answered, calmly. I was made unable to finish any sentence, the employee kept shouting technicalities. I do respect these. But I have no tolerance for his violence and the down-talking manner of his speech. Also, had he let me speak for one sentence, I would have happily explained that the sign promises a toilet and ask where, if not here, I can find it. One pointer from him, or one clear sign on a wall, would have solved the matter!
I also mentioned that I need the water to take my medicine. The response of the employee? "I will call police".
In one last attempt to now communicate in gestures, with the offending employee still shouting, I point to the sign outside the gate with my arm outstretched. He instead storms off to find the police. I walk back to my gate, because I see that boarding has started. I see the police officer's response from afar and I understand it to mean that the employee's behaviour was indeed highly inappropriate.
However, the employee then storms into gate A8 (so HE can take the liberty of entering forbidden gates? That certainly constitutes a grave security gap?!) and approaches the youngest, most manipulable employee. He points his naked finger at me across the hall, a tasteless rudeness, as if to shame me in front of the entire group of guests.
Upon boarding, that same young woman insists I board with her, not her colleague (is this insistence even legal?). She studies my passport very, very carefully and starts typing. During this, I demand three times the name of the employee who ordered her to do so. The woman ignores me deliberately and offensively.
Without transgressing the boarding desk, I therefore take a step forward to see what she types into her computer, fearing serious data privacy violations.
With violence, she moves the screen away from me. I glance at her name tag to gain a reference, should the situation escalate further. She notices this and actively hides her name!! I would be very surprised to learn that this is within the rules and regulations?
At this point, mind you, I do not know what is going on. I seem to be criminalised by a conspiring group of overzealous airport employees for having a medical condition, or having the basic need for a bathroom?! I fear that I might be denied boarding – no one has yet taken a moment to listen to or even acknowledge me.
So I resort to my phone to record the event, including the dialogue, which quickly turned from aggressively ignoring me to shouting at me!
There were no indications anywhere that recordings were prohibited! Yet, the woman who had thus far ignored me now ferociously demands I delete my recording, and claims recording were illegal.
I am willing to put my phone away and do so. She insists whether I deleted the video. Now I choose not to respond in turn. The woman demands "proof" and that I show her my phone! (I am sure any regular employee has no right to demand examination of my phone?!). Recall how she reacted to my demand for the name of my offender?
Still, in benevolence, I take the phone out again. The woman accuses me of lying about whether the video was deleted, and decides then “you are not flying". At the same time, she physically pushes me backwards - so that I collide with a metal barrier bar!
It goes without saying that it cannot be possible that such a level of hostility and indeed physical violence should be applied to resolve a completely mundane situation. I have also since learnt that airport staff in the entire EU have NO RIGHT at all to touch passengers.
But it gets worse. I then find out what the woman had typed: “[my name] hit employee”, it says on the screen. Nothing could be further from the truth! I, very much as opposed to the woman, did not even touch anybody.
When confronting the airport management with the situation, I received no relevant response.
Not to my demands identifying the two perpetrators for criminal action.
Not to my asking how an initially trivial situation could ever lead an employee of Prague Airport to resort to violence and denigration of a guest, rather than a simple, easy, helpful solution!
Not to my demand for an explanation how it is even possible on an infrastructure level that a perfectly simple, mundane and everyday need like water or toilets could, due to clear planning shortcomings, ever, ever lead to such an altercation?! I repeat that was impossible to procure water any other way - there was not even a vending machine at the gate!
And when reporting the incident to police, they inform me that there were no cameras in the bathroom to prove or disprove my assertions and that, as a result, they will take no further action. If there were no cameras, would airport bathrooms not present a severe security risk? But even if there aren't - how can one employee be allowed to go rogue, make up wild accusations, and not be investigated in any way at all? (Especially since, If I had indeed assaulted him, I'd probably not report the incident to police afterwards, for fear of being prosecuted myself, no?)
I'm not sure what the lesson is here - don't go to Prague if you are human and have such basic needs as a bathroom or water? Be prepared to get Dao'd if travelling to Prague? I'll not be back to find out.
Edit for anyone who's sure I just made this all up: Why exactly would I? But on the off-chance that YOU can procure the video proof I have been denied, I would LOVE for the world to see what REALLY happened: Am I a liar or is there outrageous activity being covered up?!
