I had one of those once in a
life time experiences on Monday 3 February 2014. If it was possible for one to see two hours
in the future, I might have avoided the insane traffic jam that bedeviled Lagos
on this day and returned home and stayed with my wife after the children had
gone to school. But duty calls. I dropped the children off to school and
headed straight to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport to board a scheduled
Asky flight from Lagos Nigeria to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso via Lome, Togo.
When I got to the airport
and finally located the obscure Asky check-in counter near Ethiopian Airlines
Check-in counter, I and other passengers on the flight were asked to wait as it
is not yet time for boarding even as the flight time was approaching. After
standing and getting really frustrated, tired, sweaty and restive, they asked
us to proceed to check in.
When I turned in my ticket
and passport as demanded, they asked of my destination and I informed
them. They opened their system and
informed me that I was only booked for Lome in their system. When I told them to check well as my ticket
clearly stated that I was to travel to Lome and from Lome to Ouagadougou on the
same day, the lady at the counter then informed me that in that case I needed
to go upstairs to Asky office to sort out the problem. One other passenger had the same problem as
me.
Upstairs at Asky office, we
met a graceful lady who listened to our report and bade us sit down so she would
try to sort the problem out. She punched
her computer and attempted to make us guilty of failing to perfect our
arrangement as they do not have our names on the flight from Lome to
Ouagadougou today. However, when we
reminded her that we have confirmed tickets from Lagos to Lome and Lome to
Ouagadougou, she now promised to consult higher headquarters to provide us with
whatever ‘protection’ is possible. The
term protection here means providing us with hotel accommodation since we could
not make our trip as a result of their own failing. This was necessary as a colleague traveling
with me who does not reside in Lagos had left his hotel accommodation and our
programme would be greatly impaired by not traveling as scheduled.
After several hours of
having no result and suspecting that the ground staff is looking for ways to
wear us down until we leave in frustration, I did what I needed to do. I raised my voice and demanded immediate
action in rescheduling our flight and providing us with what relief that is
possible.
At this juncture, they
decided to put us on Ethiopian Airlines.
We had been informed that we would fly to Addis Ababa and then connect a
flight to Ouagadougou. We had thought
this would happen the same day so we considered and thought it is the best we
can get in the circumstance.
When they completed the
documents and we got to Ethiopian Airlines to check in, we were given two
boarding passes. One that goes from
Lagos to Addis Ababa and another that goes from Addis Ababa to Ouagadougou. However, the Addis Ababa to Ouagadougou
flight was to be the next day. They
completed a form on our behalf that would enable us get hotel accommodation in
Addis Ababa.
The fact that we would not
reach Ouagadougou today removed some of our excitement because we really needed
to reach Ouagadougou today to ensure that our programme runs well.
Our pleasant surprises
started at home in Lagos Nigeria. When
we proceeded to departure area, we discovered that everything had changed. We now had very sane immigration procedure
and several immigration departure procedure desks that ensured that people had
a great instead of a hard time going through the immigration processing as was
the case in the recent past. Except for
the work-in- progress signs you would see around, the area looked a lot like
Atlanta Airport immigration procedure.
For this I commend the great
strides of the Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah.
It is interesting that so much could be achieved in remodeling and
retrofitting Nigerian airports within a short period of time of less than four
years. I have in the last 8 years used
several airports across the world especially West Africa many times a
year. Our airports before Stella Oduah
became Aviation Minister were nothing more than old Luxury Bus Stations. It is heartwarming to see and enjoy so much
transformation that has taken place in all the Nigerian airports since she
became Aviation Minister.
Nigerians who travel
frequently in West Africa has often expressed shame when they travel in comfort
through Lome, Cotonou, Accra, Abidjan airports only to roast from heat, trip
over cables, wet floors caused by water leakages and endure poor quality sound
from public address system in Nigerian airports including Nnamdi Azikiwe
International Airport in the nation’s capital city of Abuja. Before Stella Oduah, we endured terribly
smelly and discoloured toilet seats with cakes of urine and faeces that
transmit disease by merely looking at it.
For the continuing
improvements at Nigerian airports, I sincerely commend the Honourable Minister
of Aviation, Stella Oduah and wish her more grease to her elbows.
While basking in the new
look Murtala Muhammed International Airport, I was excited to know that we were
flying a Boeing 777 to Addis Ababa instead of the tiny bombardier equipment
used by Asky in its West African regional flights. I am familiar with the Ethiopian Airlines and
I know that they serve great meals and drinks.
The Boeing 777 is a huge aircraft.
They are usually known for comfortable takeoff and landing that are
usually seamless. The comfort of the
Ethiopian Airline equipment and the meals helped douse the worries of flying almost
five hours away from Nigeria before flying back five hours to get to
Ouagadougou the next day.
A more pleasant surprise was
our landing and arrival at Addis Ababa International Airport. I could not notice the difference between
when the aircraft was flying in the air and when it landed and taxied on the
tarmac in Addis Ababa. It was like
gently laying a day old baby on the bed.
As we walked through the exit from the aircraft to the arrival halls,
everywhere is air-conditioned. No
heat. Everything was functioning in the
airport. The Addis Ababa International
Airport is big and gorgeous. Carved
pillars, chandeliers and cool decorations with national artefacts and carvings
and sculptures made the arrival more inviting.
Those of us in transit with
hotel accommodation forms were processed specially and we were allocated the
two of the best hotels in Addis Ababa.
My colleague and I were sent to Hilton Addis Ababa which is just like
Hilton Abuja Nigeria while some others were sent to Ethiopian Hotel. I am writing this article out of Hilton Addis
Ababa.
The weather here is very
pleasant. The temperature is said to be
24 degrees Celsius when it is hottest.
Addis Ababa Ethiopia is a
land of beauty. Beautiful streets, great
network of roads and overhead bridges, gorgeous international airport in and
out, beautiful ladies, handsome men, most looking very gentle, calm, warm and
of peaceful disposition. You could feel the peace from a distance. As we drove to and from the hotel, I noticed
that there were not a lot of street lights yet, there were no hold ups. Vehicles were few and people waited for
others at some of the intersections and there were many overhead bridges to ensure
that people do not get caught up in traffic jams.
Though Asky has been
embroiled in too many cancellations recently – this is the second time in less
than one month I have had to suffer cancellations in their hands. Their
treatment of passengers involved in cancelled flights is far better than what
anybody can get from Arik Air. Arik Air
Schedules get cancelled without information being passed to customers. You can arrive the airport and check in and
only to discover that your 7:30am flight for which you left your house at 5am
has been rescheduled to 4pm and may get cancelled ultimately that day and you
would not be informed until the very last minute. Then even if you have an Arik Air boarding
pass and the flight is cancelled, all you would get is the last minute
information that the flight has been cancelled.
You can go home and come back the next day. No courtesy and no protection of any sort for
the passenger who has wasted his or her day.
I strongly believe that the
airlines can do better than they are doing right now. They just need to consider the needs of the
customers also. With the growth of the
industry, more and more airlines are bound to come on board. The competition is good for the traveler. Any airline that does not improve on customer
service may face losses and likely business failure.
Thank you Asky for assuaging
my worries by giving me an executive tour of the great land of Ethiopia which
is not in my business radar at present but a land I had wished to walk on. Though it is for only a few hours, it was
worth more than that to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment