Lagos — Nigerian passengers flying Ethiopian Airline have said that they have been experiencing difficulty reclaiming their luggage on arrival and in some cases the luggage get missing.
They attributed this to what they call poor administration of luggage and insincerity of the airline workers.
Dr Shuaibu Mohammed who arrived Abuja airport on board Ethiopian airline flight from Jedda in Saudi Arabia through Addis-Ababa at the weekend, said 48 hours after he returned to the country, his luggage and those of five other passengers on board the same aircraft could not be traced.
"We returned to the country through Abuja airport on Saturday, August 4 around 12.45 in the afternoon. I was the third passenger to check into the flight at Jedda. We were three in our group. We had a total of five pieces of luggage that were all within the stipulated 20 kilograms requirement. The passengers on board that plane were less than 100 even though it has a capacity of over 200 passengers. The issue of excess luggage could not be there.
Salamatu Bello who said she routed her luggage containing her books and shoes from India to Nigeria through her travel agents, HINDUSTAN Cargo Limited since June said she is yet to receive it despite persistent calls and electronic communications.
"I sent the luggage through HINDUSTAN Cargo Limited with AWB number 071-21314565. It was scheduled to arrive Abuja, Nigeria in June 2012, but I am yet to receive my luggage. The luggage contains school books and some shoes which I need urgently to continue my studies. I am highly distressed to the whereabouts of my luggage," one of her complain letters to the travel agents read in part.
The management of the Ethiopian didn't officially react to our correspondent's enquiry when contacted. However, a top management staff told our correspondent onconditions of anonymity that the passengers should complain to Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and not the press.
"The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has a customer complaints bureau department which deals with baggage issues and other service issues in the industry."
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I have travelled the Ethiopian on many occasions. As a big carrier with thousands of flights a year it is so normal to run into luggage issues at times. All airlines cannot avoid such occasional mishaps. When such happened at one time with my colleague's luggage flying Ethiopian the cusotmer service support to locate and retrieve the lost item was beyond wonderful. They were quick, cuorteous and profusely apologetic. To call them they were insincere is NOT fair, if not disingenuous. This is one airline which, in my humble opinion, should be the pride of all Africa. I do hope that and do believe that the lost luggage were retrieved.