[b]Coming to the crux of the matter, I planned a trip from PH to Abuja on Thursday 05 with an expectation to be back next day after concluding my business in the FCT. I had already booked a flight for about 12pm on Thursday and thought maybe it will be better to drive rather than fly, since I am becoming more uncomfortable with local flights (and especially as elections are around the corner). But of course cancelling the flight at this time could be a long story. So I thought I should just “gather liver” for the the trip to and fro. Thus a made a second booking for my return on Friday 06 by for about 17:00hrs.

Going to Abuja was not much of an ordeal for me so I cannot say much on it. But this was not the case for other passengers that I learnt were scheduled to fly earlier at about 9am. As it turned out, they did not fly as expected. Both their flight and ours were combined and took off from PH at about 12:40pm.

…to be continued…..[/b]

[b]“Phew!, Thank God for safe journey”, I gasped. Some light turbulence upon decent to NAIA, Abuja. Water served with cup cake in flight at 33,000ft above sea level. Perfectly normal local flight. Perfect to me (even though I had some reservations) but I guess not to others who may have been pissed off before the flight ( I recall an argument over a simple issue by a passenger refusing to show his ID card before board, having shown it at check in, etc). I guess he was for the 9:00am flight and was showing a bit aggression due to his flight delay, his only means of registering his dissatisfaction, which I would later learn that no one really cares about.

So I was done with the stress of my business in Abuja and arrived the airport somewhat very early and sweaty all over (to my pants). I arrived by 2pm so I could check in quickly (possibly secure the front row seat in economy) and relax before my flight by 5pm. As considered normal, the airport was small, people everywhere, ticketing office hot, no chairs to sit on, PA system not audible (meanwhile the lady making announcement was speaking “phonee” ). I obtained my ticket and checked in. So finally some chairs I could rest my tired asss on in the checked-in passengers lodge. I sat down and thoughts ran through my mind.

How will the return flight be? Hope it will be smooth like the first one? Ok once I reach, first thing is to work on my laptop that is giving issues, probably check the RAM if ok. I thought or many other tasks i needed to do once in PH but honestly I never thought that what happened would happen even before the flight.

So the long wait for the Flight at 5pm started……….[/b]

Mods if una like make una put am for front page for the whole world to see or not. But this country must change for the better.

[b]I will try to be a short as possible as there is so much to tell.

16:45 – No call for my flight to PH. Some other flights have been delayed by 1-3hrs and the “phonee” lady told us so with any reason for the delays. I thought to myself “I dey get phobia for local flights, now flying at night come dey join the matter. Anyway shaa even if I reach PH like 7pm when its dark, as long as the flight is safe, no wahala with the delay”. Waited some more and grabbed some drink, water and meat pie sold at exorbitant rates to quell my scorching hunger before I die.

17:05 or so – “Phonee” lady said our flight has been delayed to 18:30, of course without a reason. “Ah, thanks to God” I retorted in my mind. “PH here is come”.

18:15 – Some talks amongst passengers that Our beloved president is the cause of the delay. He travelled to PH and Bayelsa for campaign and they had to delay some flights “for the passage of number one citizen of Niaja”

18:45 to 21:20 – President never still return finish? Besides “phonee” lady has said nothing more about my flight. Patience turned to endurance and endurance turned to long suffering. No one was telling us anything. Am I sure I will still fly back to PH today? What is wrong with the planes. Hope wahala no go dey when we finally enter and fly o (God forbid bad thing). Many smiling faces have started to rumple. Most if not all other delayed flights have gone except for Arik to PH and Lagos. Aero Contractors delayed flight is scheduled to load anytime. Agitations here and there. Minor arguments and counter arguments amongst passengers with occasional burst of laughter (typical Nigerians). I am now angry with myself and Arik and the whole scenario playing out. Why did I not just dash them the money for the first flight and drive down to Abuja. By now I should have been back to PH and in bed. I felt like eating someone.

…….show down about to start….[/b]

[b]Enters “soooolidarity foreverrrrr”
21:20 to 22:15 – Aggrieved Passengers “gingerred” by a vocal lady decide to storm the office of Arik manager, calling for more passengers to follow in order to make an effective entrance. I thank God I did not go because I may have still been Abuja by now settling with police probably. From the stories I heard and the boiling anger in my chest, I would have given that manager the beating of his life upon first encounter, not minding who was there.

As I heard, when he was approached by the passengers, he had this “I don’t care” kind of decorum about him, still facing his computer as people voiced their complains. He was reported to say if we are not happy about anything, we should make a complaint to NCAA. No heartfelt apology. I don’t even remember anyone saying he explained why the flight was delayed. What impetus?? A particular passenger I remembered vividly because of this and more encounters to come wanted to lead a “revolution” as it were. He initially was planning to even cause commotion on the boarding of Aero contractors flight but was calmed down as that was a different contractor. Everyone was boiling at this point. But shortly, the “phonee” lady informed us that there were two Arik flights from Lagos to land at 21:55 and 22:10. Was it because we went on rampage? Or they actually planned this before now. I learnt that if not for the fact that there were security guys around him, he would have been lynched.

Any way shaa, those that were at the manager’s office would tell more of their encounter.

22:15 to 22:45 – Some persons were taking pictures and making videos of the commotion that has ensued in the waiting lounge. Boarding announcement was by “phonee” lady for Arik flights to PH and Lagos, of course no apologies or reasons for flight delay received. Angry passengers are now passing through the gate to enter the plane. One monkey (in typical naija accent) wanted to start checking our ticket at the gate, but he was quickly put down by the angry passengers.

I love naija people shaa. Anger was turned to jokes as we cracked jokes in the bus which conveyed us to the plane. The “aluta guy” as I choose to call him, who is more or less like our leader made a call back to his family to say “we are boarding now”. Some on close to him reminded him that we have only boarded the bus o and not the plane so he does not pass the wrong information to his family because at this time no one was sure of anything any longer. Maybe we may not board the plane at the end.

Part one has ended. A more interesting part two encounter in the plane to commence………[/b]

if na toefl exam u go write dx writeup na complete failure...try make ur writeups simple hit the point@op too long.

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amii131:
if na toefl exam u go write dx writeup na complete failure...try make ur writeups simple hit the point@op too long.

My dear, this is nairaland not toefl or GRE. I intend to tell my full story. i could as well write three sentences but the entire context will not be understood. If you can't read all, wait till i write the summary.

Thanks

worry359:
Why do we allways here the horror story of one dissatisfied passenger.
Why do we never hear from the thousands that use the airline and are satisfied?

Most people must be content because they stay in buisness!

I guess they are still in business because "there is almost nothing that can be done about the precarious situation of the services of our ailines". And this is what i am driving at. Nigeria much change.

My people see feedback from a colleague about same flight. Its definitely not a good one at all!: "It was the same flight that took us to Abuja after it eventually arrived from Abuja a little past 1.00am. We landed in Abuja almost 2.30am. Our flight was originally 1845hrs!
I can equally make a narrative of what transpired at the Port Harcourt end that night, but I’d rather leave it for now."

.

zik4ever:
My people see feedback from a colleague about same flight. Its definitely not a good one at all!: "It was the same flight that took us to Abuja after it eventually arrived from Abuja a little past 1.00am. We landed in Abuja almost 2.30am. Our flight was originally 1845hrs!
I can equally make a narrative of what transpired at the Port Harcourt end that night, but I’d rather leave it for now."

My brother so you were on the retrun flight back to Abuja. My thought when i heard your flight announcement after alighting the plane was that there will be another round of "gbege" before you guys take off. I will like to know your own experience as well.

The problem is that each time president travels from Abuja its like the entire Nigerian Airspace is shut down and that is why the manager has the effrontery to encourage you guys to write NCAA.

otokx:
The problem is that each time president travels from Abuja its like the entire Nigerian Airspace is shut down and that is why the manager has the effrontery to encourage you guys to write NCAA.

Was this really the case? i remember the pilot telling us that it was due to the fact that they could not get fuel on time for the plane while in Lagos.

[b]Show down in plane……..
So the cabin crew went to inform their lead person who also looked at the luggage and insisted that according to flight regulations blab la bla…. So the “aluta guy” in trying to secure the attention of this young lady to tell her that the luggard would remain in the plane tapped her on the shoulder. Na so wahala burst.

The lead cabin crew (this young, not so pretty thing of a lady) flared up. Shoooo. This made everyone flare up at the same time with verbal abuses, promises and body demonstrations like a major fight is about to begin. And the girl (lead cabin crew) insisted that the “aluta guy” apologized to her else the flight will not take off. This was just impossible. Strong arguments and possible persuasions to the cabin crew and pilot yielded no fruits for another 30min. Finally the pilot announced that due to present issues going on, the flight has been cancelled and all passengers should come down.

I just laughed within me.” I manage enter plane and you say make I come down? Na mopol you go take remove my corpse from here after I do some major damages” was what came into my mind. I was ready to sleep in that plane till day break.

A second announcement by the pilot was made, insisting on the first. Some less livered (about 8 to 10) people started coming down. I said in my mind “sabo! People that don’t know their rights”. The least this airline should do if they want to cancel this flight is to book a hotel for all of us with meals paid for and reschedule our flight. None of these were even thought of, not to even talk of promised by this wonderful airline. After some more arguments without the “aluta guy” apologizing to no bagger, we got the announcement that we will be taking off shortly. This was about midnight.

The plane took off shortly and we landed in PH at about 1am. I must confess the flight itself was very smooth, defying the fears of most superstitious people that the earlier arguments in the plane could be a sign of bad thing to happen.

I came down. Once I reached the area where is was to pick my luggage, I heard another announcement by the port Harcourt “phone lady” that all passengers going to Abuja with Arik should start boarding. I thought to myself “another gbege in the making”. Which way Nigeria? How long will this continue?
[/b]

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Any update on Arik Air or any of our local airlines these days at all? Planning a trip from Port Harcourt to Abuja and not ready for delays!

5pm flight turns into midnight flight this is terrible.

Indeed very unacceptable!

I flew with Arik yesterday. Flight was on schedule and they obviously have good aircraft but in-flight service was the worst of all the domestic airlines I have flown recently. Their attitude was more like "we no send you"!

zik4ever:
I flew with Arik yesterday. Flight was on schedule and they obviously have good aircraft but in-flight service was the worst of all the domestic airlines I have flown recently. Their attitude was more like "we no send you"!

if its not Flight delay its yeye flight attendants giving you a headache

See another one about Arik Air.
https://www.nairaland.com/2174454/arik-air-services-nothing-wtite#31222224

zik4ever:
Any update on Arik Air or any of our local airlines these days at all? Planning a trip from Port Harcourt to Abuja and not ready for delays!

Majority update so far with Arik have been unpleasant from fliers. I wonder when they will change. The exact same scenario has played out many number of times after my experience

chiteny:


Majority update so far with Arik have been unpleasant from fliers. I wonder when they will change. The exact same scenario has played out many number of times after my experience

My advice, dont use arik. If you have to, take your suitcase with you and be ready for awful customer service. You can use aero or dana or any other.

ARIKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dear friends. I am sure you all must be having a good day. I however am not. I am sooooo upset! Soooooo upset. Now just one word! ARIK! For the second time Arik has decided to frustrate me and it is so irritating. Oh what am I saying; well I guess considering the case, it is the second time. All other times that they make us sit at the airport for hours, I won't count. I am one of those people that would use a rugged bag for trips within Africa because of the notorious way that our airlines have been known to handle our bags! On this occasion, because I had planned to take it on the plane with me, I decided to take a new one I'd just bought myself as a birthday present as my one and only business travel bag. Little did I know that the launching would be cut short by Arik o! So I was taking a flight to Accra. Flight W3304 specifically A one hour flight. I tried as much as possible to travel really light in this case because of an experience I'd once had but then on the way to the airport, I remembered I had fluids. So sadly, I realized I'd have to check it in. I remember looking around the airport to see if by some miracle we would have some bag wrapper to protect my suitcase. Nothing! Not surprising! So I went to the counter to check in my bag and I asked the guy if he felt it would be wise to check it in. There were no valuables in my suitcase but I just had a really funny feeling about checking in my bag. Anyway after pondering so much, I did it! I decided to trust arik with my suitcase. We boarded the flight and I got to Ghana safely. For once the flight was early. Thank God.
But the most annoying bit are the pictures below. My suitcase was mishandled by whomever. The tyre was broken. Fine, I was like anyway, its Arik. But then you can now imagine my shock when I saw that the zipper was broken. HA! I opened it and saw that my perfume wasn't in the former place I'd kept it in the small zipper section. Hmmm mmm. So the bag was obviously opened. Then guess what! One of my purses was actually broken loose. The person must have thought there was money in it and was obviously in a hurry to open it. That was a brand new purse that I had not even used before! Of course there was nothing to take. Thankfully I was careful enough not to put in any valuables. Now remember I had said I'd had a bad experience previously. I still blame myself because I was careless. I was going to The Gambia and I'd checked in my camera. I got to my hotel room and my camera was gone! Lolll! Woo I checked funny places for that camera o. I'd spent no less than 350euros on it. And I remember specifically because at the time, it was my last. And you know what! I wasn't the only person who had complained about losing something on that trip! Now tell me what you make of this. You can just imagine how this just ruined my whole trip. When I buy things I put a lot of thought to it. Its bad enough that the customer service on arik is just nasty. But this! This is an obvious case of theft and not damaged goods/baggage! I did report it funny enough when I got to Accra. But you know what the man would tell me smile emoticon his name is Quay or something and he says he's sorry but they can't pay more than 100euros or 200euros for my suitcase. Thing is it’s not about the money. Its just the complete disregard that people tend to have for their customers. I have seen the way these people throw our bags at the airport not caring what is in it. I have sent emails to their customer care, no response. No phone number on the website to call and whoever updates the facebook page is obviously NOT doing a good job because I have sent a mail to that as well. And it has been waaaay over 24 hours. They now have some loyalty program called AFFINITY WINGS that they’ve been marketing to retain their customers. I am sure that if they enroll us today, by next year, those points would probably not exist anymore. Why would I want to use ARIK when I know that there is a huge possibility that they’d steal from me? Those of you that even use them for international flights. Woo! You have mind o! I am a strong believer that my own country has hope, but my dears do you want to say that ABSOLUTELY NO ONE has made this sort of complaint before? My camera was stolen over a year ago. Between that time and now, someone must have made a complaint.
This is just so upsetting! Why can't i feel safe in my own country or an airline from my own nation? How long will this continue to go on? Their flights are the most expensive within West Africa and this is what i get in return for patronage? For someone like me who uses no other airline within West Africa, we can be sure that they get no less than 8 flights per year from the average Nigerian. Who knows! And i hear the other airlines are good anyway.
Please, please and please, help me spread this. This is just so wrong!

That was an experience of a friend of mine btw

Terrible is all i can say. Maybe when angry customers burn down one of their planes, they may awake to evil they have been perpetuating all this while.