Achilleus Chud-Uchegbu
4 November 2009
column
I have often wondered what we mean when we relax in our arm-chairs and criticize Nigeria for failing to work. Honestly, I am pained that we always find it very easy to lay the blame for our collective failures on someone else while refusing to admit that our own actions and inactions, contribute greatly to our failures.
I would not have bothered to focus on the airlines flying our airspace so as not to distract the seeming peace that reigns therein. But after numerous experiences with sloppy handling of issues at our airline offices, I think I now have to voice it out. Not simply because it happened to me but because I was forced to feel the pain countless voiceless Nigerians feel when our airlines mess them up.
As an Aviation correspondent, I was inundated with complaints, from passengers, about lost luggage, forgotten luggage and cancelled flights. For most of these passengers, the pain of having a scheduled flight cancelled came from the fact that no one ever bothered to inform them that flights would be cancelled. And when they are cancelled, no reasons are adduced.
Passengers are only told to come for refund. They are made to think that catching a flight is same as waiting for a bus at Oshodi or Ikeja roundabout. All I saw at our airports then were passengers going home disappointed about cancelled flights. Most often however, they go thanking God that the flight was cancelled and argue that no one knew what would have happened had the flight operated.
In the same manner, I saw, as Judiciary correspondent, some cases brought before the Federal High court in Lagos about lost luggage, cancelled flights leading to failure to make business trips and obviously, loss of business. Sadly, I never saw any of such cases reach judgment. Till date, most of such cases are still in court.
What this has done however is to guarantee our airlines some level of legal cover for sloppiness. Because of this, passengers whose flights are cancelled without explanation or apology, stand aloof wondering what next to do. But I think that somehow, airlines must be made to pay. I am wondering if there is any legal remedy for such disappointments and embarrassing moments at the airports.
Recently, I had a good dose of what these airlines do to Nigerians. A Nigerian (identity not necessary) had booked and paid for a return ticket to Abuja hoping to leave the federal capital city on November 1 aboard Dana. The computer generated ticket this Nigerian was issued for the return trip was marked November 1. The flight was scheduled for 9.45am. On the fateful Sunday, this citizen boarded a taxi from Abuja to the airport forcing the driver to race the best he could so as not to miss the flight.
Right on time at the airport, this Nigerian citizen who had made it a habit to patronize Dana got to the counter to be confronted with the notice that the next flight to Lagos was scheduled for 1.05pm. Confused, this Nigerian made enquiries at the Dana counter only to be told by an uncouth attendant at the counter that the 9.45am flight had been cancelled.
Bemused, this citizen asked why. "They cancelled it," said the young man. "The only flight we have is the 1.05pm," he added. Bewildered, this Nigerian looked lost as the young man explained that everybody was informed about the cancellation. "If I was informed why would I be at the airport at this time," the citizen queried a young man who obviously knew nothing about customer relations. As our fellow citizen protested, the ticketing guy informed that the only option was to board the 1.05pm flight but that would be after paying an additional N1,800 for not being available when the flight left for Lagos.
If that made him feel like a king, the customer was already red with anger. But the surprise was on the way. His supervisor appeared from the rear. She intervened. She scanned through the customer's ticket to confirm the customer was duly booked on the 9.45am flight out of Abuja. But a check on her computer manifest shocked even onlookers.
The customer's name was not on the computer manifest for passengers out of Abuja for the 9.45am flight. She scanned further but the customer's name was nowhere to be found on the list of passengers travelling on Dana that fateful day. But the customer had a ticket duly issued at Dana Air office in Ikeja Lagos just last Friday. More check. After some scanning through, the customer's name was located on the list of passengers travelling out of Abuja on the 9.45am flight on October 30. No one among Dana Air staff could explain what happened.
So, while the customer had a ticket to travel on November 1, Dana Air computers listed the customer as travelling on October 30. Magic! Then the blame game started. The airport manager for Dana blamed the mistake on the "Lagos end". He said such a mistake could only have come from Lagos as he apologized. But the vexed customer could only but ask for a refund.
Then the bombshell. First, the supervisor at the ticketing counter said a refund is not possible because "today is Sunday and the accountant is not around. It is like he has gone to church." Before you could say Haba! The airport manager offered a different view. "We can not talk of refund here,' he said, "because you were not even booked to travel today.
If your name is on the list of those booked for the 9.45am flight, we could discuss that but, it will be on the condition that you showed that we did not contact you last night that our 9.45am flight has been cancelled." As the customer became helpless and thought of an option, the Dana airport manager offered one: "The only thing we can do is to get you on the 1.05pm flight."
No one argued that the ticket the customer was holding was not issued by Dana. But they all shied away from accepting that the booking was sloppy. Though they claimed to have informed all those booked to travel on the flight about the cancellation, I observed more than five other 9.45am passengers biting their fingers over the disappointment.
They seemed hopeless and helpless. All they got was an offer by Dana Air staff to fly the 1.05pm flight to Lagos. To the Dana Staff, wasting time from 9am till 1.05pm at the airport meant nothing. The 1.05pm flight eventually left Abuja at about 1.30pm. No apologies and no explanations. As I watched what happened at the airport, I wondered if Jacky Hathiramani and his board know how Dana is perceived because of what his workers do.
In business, what matters at the end of the day is the balance sheet. If Dana Air's balance sheet is in the negative at the end of the year, Jacky should know that they simply created a business manned by the wrong persons.
But what that experience did to me was to bring to life again an experience I had trying to fly out of Lagos on Afrijet. As I bought the Afrijet ticket that fateful Sunday afternoon, a lot of my friends came around and warned that I would be disappointed. I was deaf to their warning. I bought the ticket and proceeded to wait at the departures. The wait was endless.
I became worried that the boarding time had elapsed and no boarding call had been made. I inquired from passengers if anyone had heard a boarding call for Afrijet. None heard it. So, I returned to the ticketing counter to ask. There, the lady that sold a ticket to me told me that the flight had been cancelled. Why? I asked. She was lost. No explanation. She was dumb. "Why did you not announce that your flight had been cancelled?" I asked again. "They will announce it," she said.
Imagine! A scheduled flight had been cancelled, passengers were waiting at the departures and no one deemed it necessary to announce the cancellation. I was angry. But my anger would take me nowhere. The lady only told me that "they are preparing to announce it." This was almost 30 minutes after the take off time had elapsed. The experience left me with a trauma. Somehow, I no longer look the way of that airline.
Somehow, I maintain the argument that this behaviour has persisted because passengers have demonstrated that they lack the patience to put up legal challenges to them. When an airline management forces you to lose business meetings or contract signing events, all you get is a sloppy 'we are sorry' from the corporate affairs manager and that of course, is if you complain to him.
But I think that we are gradually approaching that point where airlines would be made to pay for negligent conduct leading to loss of business opportunities. Flight cancellation is not novel in Nigeria. But where it happens, it is the duty of the airline to dutifully call to inform booked passengers.
Waiting for the passengers to drive down to the airport to be confronted with the news of cancellation from a less than qualified customer attendant, is simply put, a step into a crash.
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