……airline urged to emulate Medview airline
Arik Air, despite the fine of N6 million for violating the Nigeria civil Aviation Regulations and a $150 as compensation to passengers for delayed baggage to be paid, seem not to be remorseful.
The Murtala Mohammed International Lagos was again chaotic today as Arik passengers on the London and U.S took were stranded.
The passengers including children, the elderly, sick, disabled, nursing mothers and pregnant women in a pensive mood surrounded the airline counter waiting to know why they were yet to board their flights.
Some of them said in the last 4 days they have been moving between their hotels and the airport hoping they would get information on when they would travel but to no avail.
Just last week a similar development took place at the same airport, where passengers who arrived from London could not get their luggage for over five days.
One of them said” we booked this flight to London since week and we were supposed to travel yesterday, when we got here, we met a lot of people also waiting for the same flight, our bags were checked in and given boarding passes after them the Arik staff disappeared from the counters. As I speak with you we have not set our eyes on them, nobody is telling us anything, it is so pathetic”.
“If the airline is having issues, let hem close down their operations and reassess their strategic for better service delivery, if they continue like this, I tell you no one would fly them again, added another passenger.
While another vowed never to patronize any nigerian carrier.when contacted on phone, the spokesman for the airline, Mr. Banji Ola said he was unaware of the situation and would get in touch with the operations personnel to get a proper briefing.
A senior official of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, said the airport manager was tired of the airline and that for them, it has become one week, one trouble as their security is having a hard time ensuring sanity in the departure hall.
She said the attitude of the airline toward its passengers is an embarrassment both to the industry and the country as a whole and urge the NCAA to stop the airline from selling tickets until the backlog of passengers currently stranded are flown out.
According to her, if any of their property is destroyed Arik would be help responsible and such passenger arrested.
” we will not tolerate unruly behaviour here, Arik must learn to play by the rules citing the way Medview airline handled it passengers over delay of their luggage over the weekend.
The airline in a statement regret the development, appealed to the passengers explaining the reasons for the delay.
It would be recalled that the Airline special flight dispatched to London on Saturday to airlift left over baggage returned without the affected baggage following the inability of Gatwick Airport authorities to screen them.
The airline expressed regret over the development, saying the Gatwick Airport had on arrival of the aircraft said it had no capacity to screen the baggage as only a handful of its workforce was on duty because of holiday.
“We thought by Sunday we would have resolved the left over baggage issue if not for Gatwick Airport authorities, the airline Chief Operating Officer (COO/AM).
The airline has since brought the delayed luggage.
