REPORT BY Sola Salako - a Consumer Rights Activist
ARIK Air is in the news again! For zero customer service culture! This time, it's a back log of passenger luggages for 3 flights between Lagos- London from Friday December 2 - Monday December 5.
I went to the MMIA to sort some business and walked into a chaos of angry, frustrated and agitated consumers who had disrupted the normal ARIK Check-in counter to prevent them from boarding the Monday flight to London because their luggage was yet to arrive Lagos since Friday night.
When I listened to the various tales of woe from mothers with babies and toddlers who had no change of supplies to take care of their children; to transit passengers who couldn't leave for Cameroon, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan etc, my Consumer Protection antenna switched on and I stepped in to try to help resolve the impasse.
According to the affected passengers:
1. Arik Air flew a small plane to London which could not take all its passengers and their luggage. They shared a leaflet ( I am yet to see a copy) explaining the space challenges to passengers that only one piece of luggage would be air lifted per passenger but reassured then their luggage would be on the next flight to Lagos. That was on Friday night. Oh! Arik Air still accepted excess luggage in spite of its space challenges.
2. Some passengers claimed Arik Air insisted on checking their hand luggage with baby food and supplies, medication, etc.
3. Arriving Lagos on Saturday morning, they discovered that Arik Air lifted only 50 pieces of luggage and not the one piece per passenger they were told! They were told to return Sunday morning to pick their luggage. No arrangements were made for providing temporary personal supplies or baby food, medications for affected passengers neither did Arik Air make provisions for accommodation for transit passengers who had nowhere to stay in Lagos.
4. On Sunday morning, not only did their luggage not arrive, there was NO customer service desk to assist the passengers in resolving their individual inconveniences occasioned by Arik Air's incompetence! Wedding gowns were stuck in transit. One passenger, Ms Onafeko claimed an Arik Air staff even threatened to hit a passenger with a rod when the passengers' frustration boiled over!
5. On Monday morning, the now very angry passengers arrived Arik Air Check-in counter and got unruly. They prevented Arik Air from checking in passengers for the Lagos-London flight until their luggage arrived! That was the chaos I met.
6. In trying to resolve the issue, Arik Air's lack of empathy and redress structures aggravated the passengers' frustrations. They had also been insincere with the actual position of the back log as they were still flying the smaller plane thus backlog for 3 flights had piled up as at Monday. When we requested for the logistics plan to clear the backlog, Arik Air could not provide one! Their only concern was to board the Monday flight!
7. In trying to appease the passengers to allow them board the flight, Arik wrote an undertaking assuring them that their luggage will arrive Tuesday morning unfailingly or they will compensate each passenger whose luggage does not arrive N50,000. The letter however made NO reference to the passenger's rights to compensation for the 3 days inconvenience nor offered any assistance for passengers with infants or those in transit! Many had been sleeping in the Airport terminal since Saturday! Others were paying for hotels or squatting just to wait for their luggage.
8. When I insisted that Arik Air must accept responsibility for the displacement the passengers were experiencing and acknowledge that on the letter of undertaking, the Regional Manager, one Mr Rasheed threatened to sue me for interfering in his business since I was not his passenger!
9. After 3 hours of tempers flaring, Arik Air trying to shirk its international obligations to its passengers under the circumstance, the FAAN Operations and Terminal managers intervened and got Arik Air's commitment that an empty plane was on ground in London to airlift all outstanding baggages.
I appealed to the passengers to accept the edited letter now acknowledging that their rights were actionable irrespective of the conditional N50k compensation if their luggage did not arrive Tuesday as promised and the Lagos-London flight was finally able to board....4 hours behind schedule!
10. I was able to get the DG CPC involved and she directed the Lagos office coordinator to be at the airport this morning to ensure the consumers' rights are protected. I will also be there to follow through with our lawyers...just in case anyone wants to violate the law!
I should also commend the Protocol Officer of the Police Force at MMIA, a lawyer, who did excellent mediation to help resolve the crisis and ensure peace at the terminal.
I will update you on what transpires this morning though I already received a call from one of the passengers who claimed an Arik Air staff called her last night to say they should not come at 6.am anymore but wait till 4pm! (Methinks it is to prevent them from disrupting the Check-in counter for the second day running! That means contrary to all Arik Air's assurances yesterday, the luggage may still not have been airlifted?) I hope not!
Planning to fly Arik Air soon? Caveat Emptor!
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