One would think that after the Dana air crash, and the attendant noise made by the ministry of aviation, all other airlines would have improved on their safety culture, to help forestall reoccurrence. That may not be the case as the ministry of aviation may be able to bark, but I am not sure about the bite. Also, one would expect the airlines to improve on their customer relations, but that also is far from what we see. In fact, they get worse every day. They reschedule and cancel flights at will, with the simple excuse of “due to operational reasons” and without any consideration for the passenger. After all, would you rather fly, but not get to your destination? This argument will stand if there is consistency in the application of this reason.
I had booked for a flight to Benin (AJ 191), for November 30, 2013 to attend a friend’s wedding. The flight was for 8 a.m. However, I got a text on the evening of Friday that the flight had been rescheduled to 9 a.m. due to operational reasons. I did not bother as this would not change my plan so much. I was still leaving the house by 6 am or earlier, in order to get to the airport before 7 am as that was a “sanitation Saturday” in Lagos. I got to the airport, waited and happily went to board when the flight was called just about 9am. Every regular flyer must be tired of the delays from all the airline operators. We finished boarding, and after some attempts to shut the door, it was announced that the door could not be shut properly. Some people were called to check it, I guess their engineers. After a while, they shut the door and said it was a malfunctioning sensor that was the cause of the problem. With a sigh of relief, we took off.
No sooner had I shut my eyes for a short nap, than the pilot announced something like the door did not shut properly and we were losing pressure. He then announced that we were returning to Lagos. By this time, we had spent about ten to fifteen minutes in the air. We landed Lagos safely. It was announced that another flight would be arranged by 12.40 p.m. Even if the flight landed by 12,40p.m. , We would have taken time to board and take off. This means that ETA in Benin would be around 2p.m. I decided I was not going anymore, since I would miss the wedding. A lot of other people had similar issues. A woman was taking her daughter for the wedding to be the little bride. She said she had come the previous day and was told her name was not in the system despite providing proof of payment. She was put on the Saturday flight as they claimed the one of Friday was fully booked by the time she got there. I later learnt from my friend (the groom) that his little bride was missing in the event and an emergency arrangement had to be made. Also, a young man and his fiancée were going to see her relatives and he had just that day as he was returning to his base in Jos the next day. Consequently, he had to reschedule. There was an elderly woman that was flying for the first time and I wonder what would have been going through her mind. The list goes on and on.
Those of us that were no longer traveling asked for a refund and we were told to go to their head office to apply. When we made some noise about how unreasonable that was as we were about twenty, the supposed manager was called and the situation explained. Her response was that she was having breakfast. At that point, we couldn’t take it anymore. We said we were going to be paid cash there and then or there will be no further ticket sales. Thanks to the strength in our numbers, they realized that there was trouble and decided to pay.
Now why did operational reason, safety or whatever not stop them from flying that aircraft knowing it had issues? Were they willing to gamble with our lives, rather than lose that revenue? I have since believed that this”operational reason” nonsense usually comes up when they want to merge flights or take advantage of passengers somehow. Otherwise, why would anybody want to fly an airline with such an issue? Aircraft cabins are pressurized for passengers’ comfort, and flying above about 12,500 ft without pressurized cabin exposes one to health issues including but not limited to: Hypoxia, Altitude sickness, decompression sickness and Barotraumas. Some of which can lead to thrombosis or stroke. So, cabins are pressurized to help your body function as if it were fairly close to sea level which is or close to the level of your normal dwelling. Looking at this drama so far, I have assumed gradual loss of cabin pressure. If the differential is high enough, with the door not properly sealed, you can have an explosive decompression as the door can be blown out. This can turn all loose objects into missiles, which increases the complexity of the possible outcomes. I just hope things like these are looked at more seriously going forward. The overhauling of the aviation sector must be holistic and not just fixing of airports.
Also, why did we have to make noise and threaten to disrupt their business before we were paid? I would have expected them to be embarrassed by the situation and try to pacify us as quickly as possible, without attracting attention. Did the manager or whoever it was that they called have to display such disregard for us by dismissing us with a wave of the hand and that insensitive statement of “I am having breakfast”? Do they realize that to a large extent, serving the public requires some personal sacrifice? I wonder the type of training these guys undergo.
However, in all of these, I have last minute praise for the pilot, for having the courage to go back to Lagos which was still closer. One could have argued that since he had one landing to do, he could have as well gone to land in Benin. I hope he doesn’t get into trouble for doing the right thing?
Finally, as I write this in the comfort of my home, Thanking God for my life, I seriously wonder what the Aviation ministry is doing about safety and protection of the right of passengers. Cases like these abound and I hope we have not seriously taken issues like these as acts of God that nothing can be done about?
December 14, 2013
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