Editor’s Note: This post was first published on the FlyNaija blog chronicling the poor state of services on one of the nation’s premier carriers.
How is it that one of the most prestigious airlines in our great country Nigeria has maybe one of the worst services of all the airlines in the country?
I can’t say I have flown with majority of the local airlines we have in the country but I have used a few and I must say Arik Air is basically the most disappointing.
Yes, I said it. Arik Air. I get so upset when I see a post in the papers or online about poor services and no one wants to directly mention the party involved. Then why go through the stress of doing a review or even complaining if at the end of the day I am left to guess what giant of a company you may have been referring to?
READ: Chxta’s World: Appalling Customer Service From Arik (VIDEO)
Anyway, back to the issue at hand. I booked a flight from Lagos to Abuja which was to leave at 3:00PM on the 21stof March so you can imagine my shock when by 6:00PM the flight was just being called to board. Trust our local airlines to blame everything on poor weather conditions but none of the angry passengers who had been waiting endlessly for the flight to take off were buying that.
I sat as flight after flight was moved from 30 minutes, to an hour and then finally cancelled with little or no word of explanation. First it was Benin, then Port Harcourt then finally the flight to Warri which had been shifted several times was finally cancelled for the day.
Just think about all the meetings missed, money lost and all sorts of loss that the cancellation of the flight may have caused? Is it possible that there may have been problems with the weather? Sure. But where I sat, I heard a rumor I would like to share with you and then you can come up with your conclusions.
READ: How ‘Omojuwa Vs Arik’ May Help Change The Face Of Consumer Rights In Nigeria–By Ema Austin Femi
A young man who works with Federal Airports Authority Nigeria (FAAN), names withheld was having a conversation with a grumpy overweight man who sat a few inches away from me. With my batteries dead and no access to any sort of entertainment whatsoever, I busied myself with eavesdropping on their conversation.
Grumpy old man: Oga, you sure say this Abuja flight go still go like this?
FAAN Official: Ha! Of course sir. Them no dey cancel Abuja flight for anything. In fact, what I heard is that passengers on the 3:00PM Abuja flight are not a lot and the plane they were supposed to use to Abuja will be such a waste since it is a big plane so the Warri flight has been cancelled so Abuja passengers can use the smaller plane meant for Warri.
Crazy isn’t it? While I really can’t take this information as fact as it is hearsay, I do believe that an airline that will allow passengers fly on iron seats is capable of doing pretty much anything.
It is about time the government checked all these nuances in the airline industry. So much is going on and so little is being done to protect the right of the consumer. At the end of the day, passengers on the Abuja flight were just glad to be leaving Lagos knowing full well that no matter how much they complained about the poor services nothing would be done. Sad isn’t it?
The post ‘The Warri Flight Was Cancelled So Abuja Passengers Can Use Their Plane': Arik Air Is Now This Bad appeared first on Ekekeee.