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Airline offer to legislators raises questions in Germany
Oct 11, 2011, 10:54 GMT
Berlin - German legislators were under pressure Tuesday to clarify how many, if any, members of the German parliament took advantage of free flight upgrades offered by a German airline.
According to the Berliner Zeitung newspaper, all members of the German parliament received at the start of 2010 a letter signed from Joachim Hunold, the then head of Air Berlin, wishing them a good start to the year and a gold card that let its user get better seats, accumulate air miles more quickly and enjoy speedier check-in and boarding.
Transparency International, an anti-corruption pressure group, compared the offer to lobbying and said leaders of the parliament, or Bundestag, should reveal which members, if any, took advantage of the offer.
An Air Berlin spokeswoman told the newspaper that it was against airline policy to provide the names of people or groups of people who received bonuses.
The airline has come into question in recent weeks for an offer that let celebrities and their families travel with the airline for free.
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