how do we expect oyinbo people to respect us when for our own country sef we no dey respect ourselves.
see what a whole king, presumably educated, does to his subjects:

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-125856.0.html

I have never gotten bad treatment from the BA and I have always had to travel with my Nigerian passport. Infact, I have never gotten bad treatment from any other airline. Most all my experience has been really good and I have used my Nigerian passport all the time. So I seriously ask people to check their case for it being a "Nigerian" issue and not a person to person deal.

i have made up my mind after last year that ill rather fly emirates,maroc and the rest because they offer better services even air france offers better services than ba in spite of their exorbitant ticket fare.

Elgaxton:

I hear u guys, But I'll surely bookmark this your statements against you.

Time to help your brother, una dey dia dey cry black do this and that rolleyes msssschew

dude,i dont know where u live,but im telling u if a group of nigerians protest,trust me even the whites will join the protest and nigerians will be the first to cross the road to the other side.

@Taylor 08
I live in London and so I have always (except one time) flown to Nigeria with either British Airways or Virgin as they are the only direct flights to Lagos.

I have also witnessed several deportations and each time as I have mentioned before, there is always drama.

My view still stands.

Next time Mr.Omotade will not interfere with police duties/deportation order.

I would also like to hear from the deportee

They must have a better record seeing that I've never heard of complaints from Nigerians that have used them

The three major airlines to Nigeria that people have bitched about to me include

British Airways
IBERIA
Oh I also heard Lufthansa is pretty terrible. Not that Im surprised.

and a few Virgin Alantic and KLMs.

If it were up to EloSela, Rosa Parks would have stayed at the back of the bus.

IPMB:

As if American airlines have a better record of respecting Nigerians than European ones

How did you get bad treatment cause you are a Nigerian?? Why do you make it a NATIONALITY issue and not a person to person issue??

texazzpete:

@poster
Gimme a break. I flew British Airways 2 weeks ago, and i'm as Nigerian as you are. In fact, i even took ill on the flight and they made sure they had someone constantly helping me. At least 80% of the flight crew stopped over to ask me how i was doing during the flight.

Try not to turn everything into a 'nigerian' thing. As far as i know, you don't have the mandate to speak for or represent all Nigerians.

you see dis is typical of humans, just because it didnt happen to you doesnt mean it doesnt happen to a dozen other ppl. I for one have heard cases of acquaintances/friends who have experienced one form of abuse at the hands of british airways operatives or the other. I was nt surprised at the post because it is common knowledge, or has anyone never heard of incidents where nigerian passengers are meant to stay in flight cabins while the whole place is disinfected?(dis one was on emirates)

look there is a lot of things gone wrong in the attitude of foreign airlines to nigerians . but a lot is brushed under the carpet. Please posters try and be objective when you analyse issues on threads and remove that mindset that because i never went through the same ordeal that means it doesnt occur, it is totally wrong

bros mubarraq take heart

buchio7:

you see this is typical of humans, just because it didnt happen to you doesnt mean it doesnt happen to a dozen other people. I for one have heard cases of acquaintances/friends who have experienced one form of abuse at the hands of british airways operatives or the other. I was nt surprised at the post because it is common knowledge, or has anyone never heard of incidents where nigerian passengers are meant to stay in flight cabins while the whole place is disinfected?(this one was on emirates)

look there is a lot of things gone wrong in the attitude of foreign airlines to nigerians . but a lot is brushed under the carpet. Please posters try and be objective when you analyse issues on threads and remove that mindset that because i never went through the same ordeal that means it doesnt occur, it is totally wrong

bros mubarraq take heart

No The problem is your approach. For you to say it is Nigerian thing, it has to apply to a large majority of Nigerians. In this case, it happened to this person but this person has yet to explain why the same was not applied to all other Nigerian's possibly on the same flight. Worse, We see the same thing happen to even people like naomi Campbell, but she is not a Nigerian. So Is this really a NIGERIAN thing or something that happens occassionally but the poster is trying to claim is about Nigeria??

just cause u r nt aware of incidents such as mubarraqs does not negate the fact that alot of ppl have also gone through the same / similar circumstance. dont patronise me with that "it happens occassionally" line because it is more than an "occassional" thing.

buchio7:

just cause you're nt aware of incidents such as mubarraqs does not negate the fact that alot of people have also gone through the same / similar circumstance. don't patronise me with that "it happens occassionally" line because it is more than an "occassional" thing.

If it is more than occassional, then I suggest you at least provide us data or something to show it is a Nigerian thing and not a BA vs the people thing. Look, you are trying to agree that the BA has issues with NIgerian passengers. I am saying on the very plane that the poster claims he was on, the poster never mentions anything about other Nigerians on the same plane or not on the same plane. The Poster never mentions how he or she arrived at this being a BA vs NIGERIANs case. I have been on BA myself and I am a Nigerian and have travelled over and over with my Nigerian passport and I have at no time been disrespected by the BA or any of their crew. So again, I say you try do a better job in proving this is a BA vs Nigerians issue and not a BA vs the people issue. To claim it is a BA vs Nigerians case comes out to me as Naomi Campbells claim that what happened to her some days ago was a BA vs Blacks case. You don't just go around making these claims without solid proof.

i v met several nigerians who have similar experiences,the reasons they dont report or take it up is because the excitment of getting home and being surrounded by family and friends makes people decide not to push it also most nigerians and by extension black people at least in uk that i have met dont trust authority as they will always rather back each other up so they feel like whats the use

I have also met severaL americans who have had similar experiences and you do not see them screaming it is an American issue either. Infact, you practically here of Airline people issues on a daily basis here, and no one is busy screaming these airlines are racist. I am sure if you pick all countries of the world, you will find people with similar complaints. Heck even Americans get bundled off planes here in america and you do not see them crying racism or their Nationality as the issue when that happens. So AGAIN, how do you prove it is a BA vs Nigerians issue and not just another BA vs the people issue.


HOLD THE FREAK UP!!!!! What Happened to the Original Thread I was posting on ?? This does not seem to be the same one I was responding to yesterday, LMAO!!!

SeanT21 (f)
Kannapolis,NC
Posts: 190

Offline

  Re: British Airways-- Treats Nigerians Like Animals
« #13 on: Yesterday at 10:26:36 PM » 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I understand your pain. They were just plain foolish

They wont try that in the US. In America is called freedom of speech. All you were doing was excercising your freedom of speech. I guess they don't have that in England.
Damn ENGLISHMEN, forgive them they don't know what they were doing. 

By your claim here, I am going to guess you have barely actually been to an american airport to board a plane before. I am not sure if you were in America when even an old woman in wheel chair was considered potential threat to other passengers and told could not board plane. LMAO!!! especially of recent. Go to google or even YouTube to get yourself educated on what actually happens in America to Amercans when they go to board planes in America. Please try to be HONEST, it is the best policy

How did you get bad treatment cause you are a Nigerian?? Why do you make it a NATIONALITY issue and not a person to person issue??

the same way Arab or Arab-looking people would be searched/questioned when travelling to most western countries, in some cases it has gone from 'treating people on an individual level' to nationality! its obvious especially in aviation

SeanT21:

at kobojunkie

this topic was about Nigerians vs the British airlines. When in the US have you seen a airline being racist out to the passenger base on color or ethnicity. even illegal immigrants who jump the border dint have this problem. All the Americans care about is the safety of the airline since 9/11. GO FIGURE!!
At Topic

Then again--- i guess its because many Nigerians try to jump the border into the UK.

I know this topic when I first posted and still comes in my email as BA treating Nigerians as dogs, my issue is Is this really a BA treating NIGERIANS as dogs or BA occassionally treating people as dogs, something most all airlines, bus companies and what not do at some point. Americans are worried about safety does not mean americans are being racist about it and honestly, sounds exactly like what BA is done in this case and many to me as well. BA flies from America as well and I as a nigerian who has flown BA have never had that problem. So how come someone is now making it a BA hates Nigerians issue when I as a Nigerian have flown BA and never had that problem? I keep asking the same thing and I am yet to get substantial data to support the claim that BA is racist in anyway.

@ D-Reloaded
I doubt if elosela knows about the Rosa Park story! Please break it down, if she can't comprehend this (Omotade's plight) then Rosa Park's case is a no no for her.

There is nothing wrong in speaking up, remember the case of the deportee that from Spain that died. If i find myself in Omotade's position, i'll speak up over and over again.

PS: Maybe elosela works for BA, Met Police or she's on BENEFIT!!!!

Dis Guy:

the same way Arab or Arab-looking people would be searched/questioned when travelling to most western countries, in some cases it has gone from 'treating people on an individual level' to nationality! its obvious especially in aviation

Just cause we all know the OBVIOUS reason for the searching of people of Arab nationality, does not mean the same is applied to people from other countries. Last I checked, Nigeria is not in the middle East of of middle Eastern connection. So again, what stops a ghaniana, an australian, a canadian, a mexican, an argentinian from coming up with such claims as that of the poster. I mean if you say it is open field then should we also accept that BA is against people of ALL NATIONALITIES then??

Worst of all is sabina airlines, i mean belgium connection, u are treated like a slave, white goes down before black so as to be sure if any false immigrant wana run away or pretend

Upon all the passion that has been unleashed in this thread no one has yet come up with a solid reason as to why Mr. Omotade felt it was necessary to interfere with police duties. Was he the only one on the plane that heard the man's cries?

Lets break it down:

He heard someone crying "I go die!"


'I go die' and not 'I don die!'. Anyone who understands pidgin would know that the latter meant that the person in question was probably under undue physical pressure and pain from the people trying to deport them. Does Mr.Omotade mention anything about the state of the deportee? Was the person really dying? Was he being sat upon by several policeman? He doesn't and I am sure if that had been the case Mr.Omotade would have used that to strengthen his beef against BA and the Police.

However 'I don die' was not said. Mr. Omotade clearly states that the person cried 'I go die'. What did he think that meant? To me that means that the person was desperately trying to tell the police that if he was sent back to Nigeria he would 'die'. What did Mr Omotade think he could achieve by speaking up to the Police in that scenario. They would cancel the deportation and let the man go free to stay in the UK so he would not die again?

I agree that Deportees should not be allowed on commercial flights. but then again I do understand that most are quite graceful when being deported while some are not, as it was in the case of this individual.

Ama Sumani, the Ghanaian lady (RIP) that was dying from cancer was deported gracefully, she even made friends with the immigration officials. It is important to remember that deportees are not criminals in the regular sense and so why shouldn't they be allowed on commercial flights?

Whose to say whether certain individuals are going to take being deported in such an undignified manner? So much so that they should be deported like the common criminal that is being transferred between international prisons?

I have witnessed a deportation on BA where the lady cried throughout the whole flight, saying that when she got to Nigeria she would be killed. This lady was in a wheelchair and she cried that there was no one to look after her in Nigeria and that she would surely die. These desperate cries went on and on until someone told her to shut up and to stop embarrassing Nigeria. I suspect that the guys on Mr.Omotade's flight probably felt the same when they heard, 'I go die!'

The UK is the least racist out of all the European countries and so trying to compare the way they exercise the deportation orders to other countries such as Amsterdam and Spain is totally irrelevant. The British Police are well known for watching their back when it comes to sensitive issues like this and so if there really was not a legitimate cause to arrest Mr.Omotade then they certainly would not have done so in front of nearly 200 witnesses.

"We take any threats against our crew or passengers very seriously and this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated."

The 135 passengers that were ordered off the plane by the Pilot because of the riotous scenes that followed, were later booked on other flights after they had calmed down. Now if that had happened in any other European country or in The US I reckon that they could have easily have been locked up and charged. If you ask me they got off lightly. Causing a ruckus just before the plane is about to take off does not go down lightly in this post 9-11, terrorism age, whether you be black, white, pink or Nigerian!

I also find it hard to believe that BA would take off with Mr.Omotade's luggage when that is against rule no.1 in the airline industry. Post the Lockerbie disaster, it is unheard of.

I am well aware that my views are controversial but the comparison of Mr. Omotade's ordeal to that of Rosa Park's only serves to highlight the stupidity and ignorance of a couple of people in this thread. Just because somebody overreacted to the cries of a deportee on a flight it doesn't make it a national civil rights issue.

I have traveled on BA several times to Nigeria and I have always been treated fairly and with respect. I will admit that sometimes I have noticed some staff be a bit short with one or two other passengers but I wouldn't blame them. Sometimes some [/b]Nigerians just do not know how to behave and most times they end up disrespecting themselves before somebody else does.

[b]
But guess what? BA also travels to other black countries with planes full of black people, such as Ghana, The Gambia and many other Caribbean and African nations. Why do we only get reports of sub-standard service on the Nigerian route? Could it be that because some Nigerians realize that BA make a lot of money on the route they can throw their weight around on the plane? As they say, you treat others as you would like to be treated, a policy that is lost on some Nigerians.



[size=16pt]Instead of focusing your energy trying to boycott BA why don't you try a protest against the Nigerian aviation authority which considers Nigerian life cheaper than shit by not caring one way or the other, to make sure that all planes that operate within the country meet certain flight regulations and international standards.

Do you even know how many thousands of Nigerians have been killed in plane crashes over the past decade alone because of negligence? Do you remember the plane full of school children that crashed in late 2006? No? But you can quote Mr.Omotade's word for word when he obviously, in my view made a wrong call. . . [/size]

Until I come across evidence that suggests otherwise.


I suppose it is about picking the right battles. . .

Great job @EloSela ,

Thank you very much Kobojunkie!

It is nice to know that we indeed have some sensible clear-thinking Nigerians among us.

Some Nigerians always like to cry blue murder in another man's country over the slightest but in the meantime their butts are getting kicked left right and centre back home by those who have been elected to represent them.

Comparing Mr.Omotade's ordeal to Rosa Parks is laughable at best!

EloSela:

Thank you very much Kobojunkie!

It is nice to know that we indeed have some sensible clear-thinking Nigerians among us.

Some Nigerians always like to cry blue murder in another man's country over the slightest but in the meantime their butts are getting kicked left right and centre back home by those who have been elected to represent them.
Comparing Mr.Omotade's ordeal to Rosa Parks is laughable at best!

RIGHT ON!!!!  I was thinking of how many more Nigerians there seem to be, who are willing to cry foul in another man's country than are willing to actually demand to be treated like humans in their own country ,  funny stuff we do !!! LMAO!!

not comparing but you seem like the type to grovel for anything British. "if she had moved to the back of the bus the poor white people wouldnt have had to arrest her. all her fault"

Anyway that aside whether the fact that sometimes they are "well composed" doesnt change the fact that such people should NOT be allowed on commercial flights.

It's freaking stupid. Why the hell should people spend thousands of dollars just to travel while someone screams "Im gonna die" for 8 hrs. Who wants to hear that? and if Omotade didnt complain, someone else would have. If they cared at all for the wellbeing of a their PAYING customers they wouldnt allow such. Infact they would try to rectify the situation and apologize for having the passengers go thru that nonsense.

same way when someone is making noise in a movie theatre everyone would wanna tell the person/people to be quiet but eventually you'll get someone who'd have th "courage" to tell whoemever to SHUT THE HELL UP and STOP disturbing others. then the ushers come in amnd apologize and sometimes kick out the noisy party. It's done out of care fo the customers. They pay for the movie and they deserve to enjoy it in peace.

most of us naijas cannot understand that respect is earned not given as in dash.
let's look around us from our cities down to our villages, does our values suggest any respect for human dignity
meanwhile we sabi make gra gra when we reach where dem value humans and have working law enforcement institutions.
how many nigerians have been in planes at home where they are treated with complete disdain yet did we complain or call for boycott? recently there was some fighting on a naija plane because a passenger would not switch off his mobile before take-off. when u are on a plane heading for naija from abroad you will notice the general rowdiness compared to other routes and have to pinch yourself to not tell people to respect the public space in the plane. na so you go think sey u dey inside molue for lagos.
we need to get our act right at home first - charity can only start at home.
meanwhile the british immigration should seriously consider private planes for deporting people in groups as we work out our image from within.

I definitely agree tht Nigerians can be such a bloody handful on planes although my last trip home was thru Air France and everything was fine but hat doesnt change the fact that a random guy was arrested cos he was bothered by the cries of a deportee. Who the hell wouldnt be?
If BA didnt allow such crap in the first place, this wouldnt have happened

@D-Loaded

You are completely wrong about me. Maybe I am just able to exercise a bit more rationale than you are and that does not equate to groveling. Again bringing Rosa parks into this equation only highlights your own stupidity and ignorance on this issue.

So did this man actually speak up because the Deportee was making too much noise or because he really felt the man was dying?

What is the beef here? Nigerians being mistreated by BA or Deportees being allowed on commercial flights?

I really can't wait till the American flights start doing direct flights to Nigeria. One thing I do love about the Americans is that they do not take shit on their planes and I can bet you that there is going to be a load of fun and games when it comes to dealing with Nigerians on their flight.

I have been on a Delta airlines flight in mid-air when the Pilot has threatened to land at the nearest airport to have unruly passengers taken off and charged.

One of the comments to the story on NVS- by ILN TOO
-----------------------------------------------------

Villagers,

Before we start playing the race card, I think it is good for us to just look introspectively at ourselves and ask ourselves what is wrong. What happened to Ayo was clearly unacceptable and I will advise him to seek redress through the appropriate legal channels. From his account, Ayo seemed to have addressed the situation in a calm, dignified and mature manner. And we must commend him for that.

But I can tell you that the behaviour of many Nigerians on international flights leaves a lot to be desired and it is very difficult not to conclude that we deserve the sort of treatment we get from foreign airlines. I am saying this because of my personal experience on a flight to Abuja.

I was on a BA flight to Abuja from Heathrow last December on my trip to Nigeria for the Christmas holidays. And there was a cacophonous din in the cabin after passengers have boarded the aircraft. It was an unedifying spectacle: quite a number of passengers had boarded the aircraft with oversized hand baggage that would not just fit into the luggage rack and it was one hell of a job for the cabin crew who were desperately trying to sort out the mess to ensure that we left on time. There were serious altercations with a lot of passengers shouting and yelling and kicking and screaming without the least concern for other passengers including yours truly whose basic right to a comfortable and peaceful flight was being infringed on. It was absolutely embarrassing as many grown up people were behaving like ill-mannered children. And the cabin crew were very helpless; you’ve just got to pity them, I just couldn’t figure out what they would be thinking. But I would not expect them to suppose, going by that embarrassing spectacle, that Nigeria is bursting with cultured and civil citizens. And the noise continued throughout the pre-flight safety briefing. There was an attempt by the cabin crew to suppress the noise but that proved hopelessly futile and they just had to get on with it despite the noise.

I regularly take the BA flights from Heathrow to Seattle Tacoma and also from Heathrow to Munich but I have never experienced anything like the rowdy behaviour of the unruly and uncouth Nigerian passengers to Abuja. As a Nigerian that was always quick to leap into the defence of Nigeria and Nigerians, I can tell you that I was absolutely disappointed at the behaviour of my compatriots. I was later told that on Lagos flights, the situation is even worse.

I can therefore empathise with the BA cabin crew when they treat us with disdain. I honestly believe it will be too much to expect to be treated respectfully and courteously when we don’t accord the same respect and courtesy to others.

Despite all that happened on that flight, I believe that the cabin crew were a lot more courteous in their dealings with passengers than what I experienced in domestic Nigerian flights. My experience was that our domestic cabin crew were uncultured, arrogant and full of nasty surprises for passengers. No one is defending the attitude of BA but with all due respect to patriotic villagers, Nigeria cannot manage an indigenous carrier, a feat achieved by the likes of Kenya and Ethiopia.

The problem is that all the 'other airlines' treat nigerians with the same level of disdain. fundamentally, it is something wrong with us and not the airlines!!!
ILN TOO – calling on all villagers to exercise some level of self introspection.

EloSela:

@D-Loaded

You are completely wrong about me. Maybe I am just able to exercise a bit more rationale than you are and that does not equate to groveling.

I suggest you wake up from that nightmare you are having. First off MY personal "beef" has to do with deportees being on the flight. If it were some one of another nationality who happened to speak up in regards to it, I'd be saying the same damn thing.

Btw, It's not only from this thread I can sense your obsession with Britian all because you happened to be born there.

If you couldnt understand my reason for mentioning Rosa Parks that's your problem and perhaps you're the slowpoke here, not me. My bringing her up wasnt really even in reference to this situation but your whole attitude in general.

So please go and choke on some "beans and franks" Thanks

@D-Loaded

I see, you are one of those petty ones who like to carry grudges from thread to thread. Lighten up M'dear as this is after all, only a message board. No need to take it so seriously to the point where you are still remembering comments made in a thread that has long since died and gone.

BA is not the only commercial airline that transports Deportees back to their countries with paying customers on board. Deportees of other nationalities are (by most accounts) also transferred peacefully all the while maintaining their dignity and self respect.

Do Nigerians feel that Nigerian Deportees deserve unique treatment in that they should be transferred on different flights because they are more likely to make a scene when been sent home?

I can just see the threads on Nairaland now screaming racism and all sorts if that were the case. While Deportees of other nationalities would be deported like human beings with dignity on commercial flights and treated like fare paying passengers, Nigerians, on the other hand should be handcuffed and transfered like common criminals because of their tendency to loudly vocalize their objections at being deported.

As I said I fail to to see how one woman's courage to start the civil right's movement in America can be compared to another man speaking up because a Deportee was making too much noise on his flight.

http://www.guardian.co.tt/archives/2006-07-11/news13.html

Deportation exercise fails after misbehaving Nigerian prisoners taken off flight from Venezuela

BY CORDIELLE STREET

After being refused port of entry visas for approximately 15 illegal Africans, Government is left with no choice but to charter a flight directly to Nigeria for their deportation.

This comes in the wake of a failed deportation exercise in early June, when six Nigerian prisoners were taken off a commercial flight from Venezuela, bound for Nigeria via Spain, because of misconduct.

Chief Immigration Officer Herman Brown, in a phone interview yesterday, said T&T exhausted all its appeals to countries like France, England and Spain to accommodate the deportation.

He said after much lobbying, Spain agreed to be a transit country, but will no longer extend the offer after the “misbehaviour” of the six Nigerian deportees.

“They became a threat and a risk,” said Brown.

After leaving T&T, the Nigerian deportees, escorted by immigration and police officials, boarded a commercial flight, he said.

While on the plane, they began “misbehaving,” using abusive language and was promptly taken off of the flight by Venezuelan officials.

http://www.tntmirror.com/sunday/2006/jun18/story03.htm

An Immigration source said when the Nigerian High Commission was contacted to inform them that the deportees came back, an official replied: “Let them rot in jail.”