London-bound passengers of Arik Air from Lagos aboard flight W3 0101, have criticised the appalling services received from the carrier during their trip on December 12, 2010.

Expressing displeasure at the manner in which the carrier handled the flight, the travelers disclosed that after being cleared by immigration officers at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) and boarded their aircraft, a letter informing them that the flight would be routed via Abuja was passed across without any prior notice.

“Several passengers, including myself, were most displeased at this diversion without prior notice as we had all expected based on our contract with Arik Air that we were flying direct to London Heathrow,” said Olabopo Philips, a passenger onboard the flight.

Ms Phillips disclosed that the flight which was scheduled to leave Lagos at 11:10am did not depart until 1pm, adding that the explanation given by the carrier was that the aircraft was being prepared.

“We boarded onto an aircraft in which the internal temperature was at least 40 degrees centigrade. It was considerably hotter on the plane than the outside. We were told that once the plane was fully boarded, the doors shut and the engine started, the air-conditioning would be put on.

“This was not to be. Needless to say, this terribly uncomfortable situation led to very loud complaints by a number of passengers. We were later to discover that the delay was due to protests from the cabin crew who were also unaware and it appeared, unwillingly to fly through Abuja,” she said.

On seeing that the situation was degenerating, with the passengers becoming restive, Ms Phillips disclosed that she appealed with the travelers to press home their grievances in a collective and constructive approach by registering their various complaints.

Making matters worse

All the travelers had to sign a drafted petition against the carrier before the flight proceeded to Abuja. On getting to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) at about 2:00pm, Ms Phillips said that they were told that the aircraft was to pick 22 passengers, but that only four persons got onboard; a situation which ignited another round of chaos.

“Whilst in Abuja, the head of the cabin crew asked how long it would take to refuel the plane. She was told 40 mintutes and this information was passed on to us,” she said, adding “Correctly assessing our mood due to the earlier experiences, she told the refuelling team to the hearing of the passengers that the conditions on the plane were unbearable and should refuelling exceed 40 minutes, her crew would disembark. In spite of this threat, the layover in Abuja took 2 hours and the flight did not depart Abuja till 4pm.”

Affirming the claims of Ms Phillips, another traveler aboard the flight who simply gave his name as Mr Idowu disclosed that they got to London, Heathrow at about 10:10pm.

“That journey was so annoying and it will interest you to know that we spent more than six hours extra on a trip that was meant to take about five to six hours,” he said.

No comment from Arik

Repeated efforts by our reporter to get the reaction of Arik Air on the development were not successful as the carrier’s media representative disclosed that the airline had no comment on the allegations.

“We have no comment on that,” said Adebanji Ola, media representative for Arik Air in a telephone conversation with NEXT.

“We boarded onto an aircraft in which the internal temperature was at least 40 degrees centigrade. It was considerably hotter on the plane than the outside. We were told that once the plane was fully boarded, the doors shut and the engine started, the air-conditioning would be put on.

Arik is going from bad to worse.
I so much concur with the above comment as myself and other passengers who returned to the UK on the 4th of December were subjected to similar treatment.

The reason we were given by the captain (who tried cracking a joke, albeit lame) was that the plane had been parked for a long time. So it'd take sometime for the systems in the aircraft to begin working again.

With the snow wahala in the UK, I can only imagine what the service would be like.

That's what happens when you have a profit centered business.

ARIK air was established with stolen funds and the curses of people are following them.

They better repent or see d enterprise crumbling.

Mbeki:

That's what happens when you have a profit centered business.

ARIK air was established with stolen funds and the curses of people are following them.

They better repent or see d enterprise crumbling.

what's the point of setting up a business if not to make profit?? - source of fund regardless.

I flew twice this year around april from London to Lagos on Arik i must confess that the trip was smooth and was only delayed by one hour.  Lately i have been hearing bad reports about this airline and i am guessing it will be safer for one to avoid arik until further notice - what a shame for Nigerian related business.

OMO IBO:

what's the point of setting up a business if not to make profit?? - source of fund regardless.

Don't get me wrong, as much as you need to reap the profit from your business; it's pertinent to be wary of killing the goose that lays the golden egg.
If Arik continues to mistreat her customers and owes het staff, at the long run, their will be no profit to reap from.

Mbeki:

That's what happens when you have a profit centered business.

ARIK air was established with stolen funds and the curses of people are following them.

They better repent or see d enterprise crumbling.

Hope these curses dont translate to plane crashes

TUFIAKWA.

As long as they only lose money for bad management thats fine with me.

I guess the local flight is even worse

The number 1 issue in any organization is leadership, when you have bad  and insensitive leaders, things are bound to crumble.

Take this for instance:

[b]Due to London Heathrow operating at 1/3 capacity today, airport arrival and departure slots have been restricted.
Arik has just now been given approval for one flight into London today, 20 December and will operate W3 102 to Lagos as per schedule.
Regrettably, Arik Air flights W3 105 and W3 106 between Abuja and London have had to be cancelled today.

As our flight tonight is full, only passengers that are already ticketed on tonight’s (20 December) W3 102 will be accepted on this flight. Please allow sufficient time to arrive at the airport.

The adverse weather and disruption is likely to continue for the rest of the week and affect all airlines operating into the UK. Arik is nevertheless trying everything possible to obtain additional slots, even at other London airports, and operate bigger capacity aircraft to help clear the backlog and return to normal operations.

We continue to monitor the situation. As soon as we receive more information from the airport authorities, we will update the website and local Arik offices. Please continue to check our website or call our call centre before travelling to the airport.[/b]


All these with No apologies to the customers from the management.

Arik airline is owned by Odili. . . so what do you expect?
A fool and his money are soon parted.
Fly at your own risk.

arik will not even to bother to fly people from nigeria to london cos they are not bound by EU law to refund passengers but they know they have to fly the naija bound passengers cos it will start getting expensive for them to put people in hotels in london.

arik look like they are going down the route of bellview - its a shame really cos the 30kg allowance was a life saver for me ealier this year. to be owing staff and treating customers badly is just disgraceful.

I wonder why those jobless Nigerians that attacked BA a few years ago are not marching to Abuja or setting up lynch-mob threads around Nigerian websites and messageboards to protest.

A case of double standards with black on black inhumane treatment huh?

fly arik all the tym, i think i have to start reconsidering my position.
not with the 40k i pay all the tym i reschedule my flight.

Seriously guys, it may be time to abandon Arik for more straightforward and transparent airlines. ALL Nigerian businesses (airlines included) are excellent when they start but with time, begin to mess up. It is downhill for them from then on.

With the number of times i fly the London-Lagos route, i have never and can never consider Arik or any other local airline (eg, during the days of Virgin Nigeria and Bellview). Virgin Atlantic is always first on my list, then BA, Lufthansa and then AirFrance.

Pls avoid d casket flying box(excpt on long trip) & join us lets persuade d FG to construct & repair our bad roads,