Former National President, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Chief Ernest Elochukwu has narrated his ordeal in Qatar Airways flight from London United Kingdom to the Rivers State capital, Port Harcourt.
Elochukwu who is also the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Nestello Gateways Group told Maritime Bits in an exclusive chat that he and 11 other passengers were not accorded their rights as bona fide passengers of the airline.
He stated that they were not only shabbily treated by the management and staff of the airline but were also subjected to untold suffering and hardship.
Apparently miffed by the development, Elochukwu who is known for his stickler for standard operating procedures (SOP) in his business over the years told Maritime Bits that he has already lodged a complaint to Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) Headquarters, Lagos.
His words: “We were 12 passengers that were involved in this incident. In line with the report we made to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the itinerary on our tickets was Port Harcourt, Doha, London and the return is London, Doha, Port Harcourt. However, we were surprised that on getting to Doha on our return journey, we were now routed to Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos. We believe that it was not a big deal if they can send somebody to the closest airport if there is any need for that. So we agreed and we arrived in Lagos about 9.00 hours or so.
The management and staff of Qatar Airline told us that they were going to take us to the local airport where we have to wait for the flight that is scheduled to take off around 18.30 hours to Port Harcourt. With this schedule, it means that we are expected to be at Lagos airport for 9 hours plus because we are not even sure when they are going to take off. So we now asked them in line with the convention elsewhere that when flights are delayed that passengers are to be kept where they would get some convenience like hotel or lounge for that long wait. But they declined and told us that they did not get approval from their head office in Doha, Qatar to do so. From that moment they told us they did not get any approval, they started tossing us up and down”.
Continuing, Elochukwu whose administration took ANLCA to a greater height including the first ever official visit to the Presidential Villa, Aso Rock, Abuja where members of the association were received by the then President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo said: “Our contention is that aviation is of international standard and we are meant to understand that Qatar Airways is a five-star airline and so why would they not be adopting international standards? We are supposed to go to Port Harcourt, Rivers State. This is due to the fact that it is what is written black and white on our itinerary and the tickets that were issued to us by Qatar Airways. Therefore, Qatar Airways taking us from Doha and bringing us to Lagos instead of Port Harcourt and not making arrangements for our comfort and convenience in Lagos is the bone of contention. We strongly believe Qatar Airways is giving us this poor treatment because we are carrying the Nigerian international passports. It is doing so because we are Nigerians. This is very unbecoming and subhuman. That is why we have resolved to see this matter to the end. It is the only way to stop this poor and shabby treatment to Nigerians. That is why we will continue to protest and take this matter to a logical conclusion”.
According to him, the matter has been formally reported to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and it has promised that it will look into it and we hope that it is not the Nigerian way of looking into a matter. This is because many things assume different meanings in Nigeria. Whenever you are told we are looking into it, you don’t know whether the matter has been swept under the carpet or not. But we hope that someone should take action and not necessarily because of ourselves but because we are meant to understand that this has been the standard treatment being meted out to passengers to the extent that some people had slept for three days waiting for this connecting flight to Port Harcourt.
He averred that the government agency stated that it was not from it but the internal arrangement between Qatar Airways and British Airways.
“However, we want to make it abundantly clear that the internal arrangement between Qatar Airways and British Airways is not our headache. As passengers, we demand and we deserve a minimum comfort. We are asking for a waiting lounge or hotel where we will go and freshen up because some of us started this journey early yesterday from London. So we needed to freshen up and wait for nine hours again and yet we are being told that it is not possible. British Airways took us from London to Doha based on its arrangement with Qatar Airways. The argument by Qatar that it is not to be blamed does not hold any water because whatever led British Airways to airlift us from London to Doha was an internal arrangement between the two airlines. It is Qatar Airways that brought us from Doha to Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, whereas our itinerary is Doha to Port Harcourt. So giving us the impression that it was British Airways does not hold water”, he added.
Collaborating Elochukwu’s statement, another passenger on the same flight, Mr. Kingsley Ude noted that it was not the first time he was having the same experience with Qatar Airways.
His words: This is not my first time. I think I had a similar experience sometimes ago. We had a delayed flight that was going to affect my connecting flight to Doha and instantaneously it offered hotel accommodation over there at Manchester, United Kingdom. However, I observe that oftentimes they tend to make arrangements if it is somewhere outside or in Doha but coming down here in Nigeria, they just tend to want to allow people go away and go through whatever stress. They feel it is just something that you should sort on your own. Nevertheless, it is still unethical to actually keep people to wait for nine and a half hours without any arrangements for their comfort and convenience just because it is Nigeria or Nigerians that are involved”.
According to another passenger who was in the same flight, Winston Anyaoku, it is wrong and improper to treat Nigerians in a shabby manner whenever airlines have delayed flights. It is like we have different rules for airline passengers in other countries especially in the developed world and those in the developing world, particularly Nigeria. It is unacceptable and we should not allow it to stand as a country.
Anyaoku pointed out that it is the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) that supposed to handle it under its Consumer Protection Directorate.
To avoid these kinds of incidence, he called on the Federal Government to have a good standard operating procedure that every operator or carrier whether local or foreign should strictly adhere to.
He maintained that this was the only way that passengers would not be made to suffer unnecessarily in their own country.
