Stranded Arik Check-In Passengers Cries Out, Over 24 Hours Wait, Officials Disappeared

On August 3, 2014, more than 200 New York-bound passengers on Arik Air Flight W3 107 were stranded for over 12 hours at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

One of the passengers, Mr. Clifford Erondu, said the aircraft was scheduled to leave Lagos around 11.20pm, adding that boarding formalities had been concluded but the aircraft could not take off.

He said the airline’s officials were nowhere to be found for several hours, thereby making the passengers to speculate as to what could have gone amiss with the flight.

“They checked us in and we were waiting from Sunday. None of the staff told us anything,” he said. “However, on Monday, one of the staff members came to say that the aircraft meant to airlift us had no fuel. The official said aviation fuel was expensive,” Erondu said.

Mr Erondu’s experience characterises the experience of frequent travellers at Nigerian airports. Flight delays and cancellations have become almost the norm that passengers usually commend airlines when there flights keep to time. Federal lawmakers and several stakeholders have battled over the past two years to reverse this trend by introducing punitive measures for airlines that are guilty of this.

Talking tough

Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka, on Monday, said plans had been concluded to ensure that passengers were compensated for delayed and cancelled flights by airline operators in the country.

Speaking at the official inauguration of the Aviation Passengers Service (APS) Portal and Helpline Number, the minister said the portal was designed to enhance efficiency and provide first hand information on the operations of airlines and the activities of the aviation sector in the country.

He said airline operators will be closely monitored on delayed and cancelled flights through the portal; adding that the initiative was designed to enable the Ministry of Aviation and the airlines to make commitments that would enhance efficiency in the operations of the country’s aviation sector.

“It is not enough to say that flights are delayed; we will make sure that failure to take off after 15 minutes will be considered as delay and after one hour passengers will be entitled to some compensation,” he said. “We will force the airlines to compensate passengers after six hours delay, and if there is a delay for 12 hours, airlines will be compelled to provide passengers with accommodation for the night.’’

The minister said that the ministry had on its own made commitments to ensure that mails and applications from the airlines were treated within 24 hours.

Derisive reactions

Reacting to this development, passengers at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos, on Tuesday, dismissed the possibility of getting compensated for delays.

Chijioke Anumudu, whose Aero flight to Owerri was delayed for 50 minutes, burst out laughing when his opinion on the new development was sought. “I am aware that the House of Representatives tried to do some legislation around this last year but we didn’t hear the end of it,” he said. “Then, I laughed. Now, I am laughing. I don’t see airlines in Nigeria being that magnanimous. Customer service is an illusion in this country and we just have to live with it.”

Fortune Nwagboso was also unfortunate as her flight to Abuja was delayed for over an hour. The mother of two said she had spent over N1000 buying unplanned snacks and drinks for her two toddlers to assuage their restlessness.

“I would really love a situation where airline operators are compelled to pay compensation for such delays, but the sad reality is that this is another government policy that will never be enforced properly,” she said. “I don’t see that happening.”

Staff of some of the airlines and sources at regulatory agencies, who preferred to be unnamed, also dismissed the development, citing such reasons as periodic scarcity of aviation fuel and unstable weather as the primary reasons for flight delays.

For the records

A flight delay is when an airline flight takes off and/or lands later than its scheduled time. Most federal airports authorities around the globe consider a flight to be delayed when it is 15 minutes later than its scheduled time. A cancellation occurs when the airline does not operate the flight at all for a certain reason.

When flights are cancelled or delayed, passengers may be entitled to compensation due to rules obeyed by every flight company, usually Rule 240, or Rule 218 in certain locations. This rule usually specifies that passengers may be entitled to certain reimbursements, including a free room if the next flight is the day after the cancelled one, a choice of reimbursement, re-routing, phone calls, and refreshments.

For most Nigerians, like Mr Erondu, such rules are fine on paper. A lack of enthusiasm to enforce such laws by the authorities, and an accompanying apathy on the part of travellers, have combined to make flight delays something to be expected in Nigerian airports.