IYA NGBALI: see as you dey happy becos man dey indirectly toast u 4 NL,you never see man b4 for your village?

No I never see man before.Now pack well.

FlyinNaija: This is a regular occurrence with this airline. They have abysmal customer service. Nigerians also don't help matters with their Sidon-look mentality. I have been on numerous flights with this airline and am always amazed by the amount of abuse the Nigerian flying public will take without complaining.
I will bet my lunch money that this was caused by the flight being delayed until the airport was closed. Some airports like Enugu, Benin and Owerri do not have runway lights and therefore have to close by 6:30pm. So it is a common for passengers to these destinations to frequently get stranded at the airport due to sheer incompetence and negligence of officials of this company. The few passengers who refuse to take it sitting down quite often have to resort to "hijacks", and I have personally witnessed quite a few.
I'm surprised this airline hasn't had a major accident considering their attitude towards operations.

Exactly!Their delays can run into hours!Sometimes they just don't care to apologize,until customers are already on board the aircraft.Besides their fares is the most expensive!

deor03: Airforce guys just arrived after about 40 mins

calm down Jack Bauer is on his way
YES OH, we r on top of d situation as am talking to you nigeria police force and our men of state security service is there and the situation is under control.

dt02:
Did u do synonyms n anthonyms in skul....

The word is antonyms not anthonyms.

LOL.
Arik did same thing to me Wednesday morning. I arrived on time for a 9am flight to Abuja, waited and watched on the queue as they kept attending to touts and queue-jumpers. Until it got to my turn, they then informed me that the flight was full and I had to wait for the next one for 11am. All my 'raking' yielded no result. I eventually got to Abuja at 1pm, one hour after the meeting I was slated to attend had ended.

Roland17: T.o all of the Over-Sabi Enm3glish professors we have in the house trying to correct the op on his choice of vocabulary, many barely passed English in school, while some are still unable to gain admission into any tertiary institution because of the demon called English, I hope you all have the courage to watch the video attached to my post...

Abeg make una no teach me nonsense for here joor.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4AA6EuZe-k&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dh4AA6EuZe-k

There is nothing wrong that I can see with the post. The beauty of the English language is in the power of expression. That's why we have similies, idioms, synonyms and a whole host of tools.

For goodness sake I can be held hostage by my 3 month old baby and there's nothing wrong with that if I feel the circumstance and context warrants the use of such a 'heavy' word. Its my feeling afterall.

Reference:

There is nothing wrong that I can see with the post. The beauty of the English language is in the power of expression. That's why we have similies, idioms, synonyms and a whole host of tools.

For goodness sake I can be held hostage by my 3 month old baby and there's nothing wrong with that if I feel the circumstance and context warrants the use of such a 'heavy' word. Its my feeling afterall.

I think you made a solid point here.

lynpetra: Some persons need to download dictionary on their phones so effective communication can be made easy.

abi...

Reference:

There is nothing wrong that I can see with the post. The beauty of the English language is in the power of expression. That's why we have similies, idioms, synonyms and a whole host of tools.

For goodness sake I can be held hostage by my 3 month old baby and there's nothing wrong with that if I feel the circumstance and context warrants the use of such a 'heavy' word. Its my feeling afterall.

some ppl think english is not dynamic, so they tend to ignor the aspect u dish out anglo with creativity. Thou, one his critics like the one above me jst gave in.

unmask: it is called contextual usage.... Basic English.... Do refer to brighter grammar for more details

Professor, when I say "the key is missing", the key could be refered to as the key used in opening a lock/door or the key as in an idea depending on the context in which its being used. English is not my thing, just common sense here, when u see a thread that says "on going hostage situation aboard arik flight", please do enlighten me, what is the contextual meaning of that statement? (I bet u didn't know the topic thread has been changed). Situations also changes meaning of words, the meaning a word will have in a particular situation is different from the meaning it would have in another. A bus driver parked wrongly, so a police office comes to him and says, give me bribe else this bus is not leaving, are the passengers in the bus being held hostage? Do mr. OP wants to disembark from the aircraft and the supposed hostage takers refuse him? I have failed woefully to see the contextual meaning on the thread title then, please do show me. The original thread topic simply spread fear and gives false meaning.

oyb: op is probably just lucky he is not among the protesting passengers

no be arik?

na today?

they probably took money from passengers with no plane available.

these are nigerians standing up for their rights

useless arik air

it happened to my sister and i. Took our cash and when we went to board,the pilot said the plane was full and took off right in front of us. Na so our money enter voicemail.

Reference:

There is nothing wrong that I can see with the post. The beauty of the English language is in the power of expression. That's why we have similies, idioms, synonyms and a whole host of tools.

For goodness sake I can be held hostage by my 3 month old baby and there's nothing wrong with that if I feel the circumstance and context warrants the use of such a 'heavy' word. Its my feeling afterall.

U have a valid point and I see it, " I am being held hostage by a 3 months old baby" that's an hyperbole if am not mistaken, and everyone can see that its a statement that should not be taken literally, but when u say "I am being held hostage aboard a flight" for Christ sake am I the only insane person here.

lynpetra: Some persons need to download dictionary on their phones so effective communication can be made easy.

Unfortunately, you got me cracking

I'm so amazed by how the OP refused to give us the most vital information in this discussion which is "what is the grievance of those angry passengers with Arik". This makes this post so useless.

vitality22:
Unfortunately, you got me cracking

Good to know you are delighted!All na Englishes.

vitality22:
Unfortunately, you got me cracking

Good to know you are delighted!All na Englishes.

deor03: Situation remains thesame. The plane still not allowed to take off by these passengers

What are you? Cargo? Or pilot? Am sorry 2 say dis but ur word ar disgustin & annoyin. Ur fellow pssngrs ar protestin poor treatment by Arik, n u're condemin dem? Ewu awusa!!! Arik is 1 of d most cstmr unfriendly airline in d whole world. Dey keep u 4 no reason 4 hours b4 dey take off, & dey dnt even appologise. I was once kept from a 2pm flite till 6pm, no appologies nutiin. Instead of u 2 join d protest u here talkin crap. Its clear dis I ur 1st time on an air plane.

jack bauer jus called to inform me dat he is on hos way to d airport..dat he had contacted ctu to send more fieldmarshals..dat u sud get down and lie low d d main time....dat d president wil not give in to deir demands.. ;Djack bauer jus called to inform me dat he is on hos way to d airport..dat he had contacted ctu to send more fieldmarshals..dat u sud get down and lie low d d main time....dat d president wil not give in to deir demands..

Biggoozz: I'm so amazed by how the OP refused to give us the most vital information in this discussion which is "what is the grievance of those angry passengers with Arik". This makes this post so useless.

OP may be home and dry by now and probably has forgotten completely about the thread he started. It's called amateur journalism.

oluwacjay:

What are you? Cargo? Or pilot? Am sorry 2 say dis but ur word ar disgustin & annoyin. Ur fellow pssngrs ar protestin poor treatment by Arik, n u're condemin dem? Ewu awusa!!! Arik is 1 of d most cstmr unfriendly airline in d whole world. Dey keep u 4 no reason 4 hours b4 dey take off, & dey dnt even appologise. I was once kept from a 2pm flite till 6pm, no appologies nutiin. Instead of u 2 join d protest u here talkin crap. Its clear dis I ur 1st time on an air plane.

Why speak to OP in such a harsh manner? Did you read his original post at all? The passengers who protested did not belong to OP's flight but another Arik flight but they were preventing OP's plane from taking off. Please read through a post well before uttering abusive comments!

Yawns !!! Just woke up

Summary of the Situation

I was due to fly out of Abuja on Arik air billed to take off 7pm enroute Lagos. The flight was delayed by some 30 mins ( no big deal here) and we managed to fully get on board around 8.15pm.

However, on my way into the aircraft, I noticed a group of guys close to "another" ARIK aircraft packed about 30 meters away from ours. This was not an unusual scene as they loooked like guys , checking their luggage to be loaded in the belly of the aircraft before boarding( which is also normal here ).

We got on board, the doors closed, the Captain ( Very young guy, should be in his 20. I am extremely proud of being a Nigerian and flown by such a young dude) did all his drills, the cabin crew said all their safety stories and ofcourse, the next thing you expect is to taxi.

After about 10 mins, the Young Captain, switched off ( better put reduced the power of the Engine) and told us that some passangers on an earlier ARIK flight to Calabar are right in front of out aircraft, preventing him from taking off.

He said for safety and security reasons, the doors will remain closed until Airport security guys come to our aid. We waited for about another 30 mins + before 3 armed Airforce Soldiers came and appealled to the passangers. Obviously the passangers refused to buldge and the soldiers left them, watching them from a distance.

After about 2 hours, the Captain came out of his cabin, and addressed us all , that situation has not changed and airport security guys were sympathetic with thes passangers ( Calabarians ). He insisted that that for our safety, he would have preffered to keep the door shut, however due to tha agitation due to discomfort being experienced by passangers that, he was gonna call for the stairs and allow passangers that want to leave, to do so.

Ofcourse, the stairs came, doors were flung Open, and some of us ( trying out their negotiation skills) went to appeal to the Calabarians. Their responce was that, the tarmac was their Tahrir Square and nothing was gonna make them move except Arik responds to their plight.

This went on until about 1.30am, until one Mr Okon, the vice chairman of Arik came to do , what ARIK should have done 6 hours earlier. That is take these Calabar bound passangers to a resting place and fly them out to Calabar this morning. Please note that the Calabarians, also did not allow Port Harcourt bound plane to leave as well

ARIK
They are the new definition of useless. Customer care = 0 , Crisis Managemenr = 0 , Empathy for their customer = 0 , Brand Image = 0.

Aparently the Calabarians, were due to leave Abuja 12 noon. Their flight was officially delayed till 2PM. They did not leave until some minutes to 6PM. When they got the Calabar, the Airport had closed.
So the pilot brought them back to Abuja. Instead of Arik yo make solid arrangements house them, and pacify them; they decided to abandone them to their plight. This was the cause of the protest.
However,I must commend guys on our flight, because there was this "understanding" that, it could have been me. This was why our anger , not being able to fly, was directed at ARIK staff and NOT the Calabarians.



N.B

I have chosen to Ignore all references to my choice of words. As at the time the thread was created, Passengers were all locked up inside the plane and the Pilot in his wisdom called on the Airport Security to manage the Chaos. We locked in for close to 2 hours, not allowed to fly out and also not allowed to leave the plane.

^^^^^Thank you OP for your update. For a while i thought you had gone home and forgotten about the thread.
BTW from your report i think the Federal Ministry of Aviation and the regulatory agency should look critically into the activities of these airliners and compel them to conform to international best practices. Nigeria is headed towards joining the league of the world's top 20 economies by 2020, so we should not allow some lousy airline operators to derail us.

Thanks OP for finally clarifying.

OK, for now, I'm 15mins in the waiting at the Enugu airport, waiting for the same ARIK AIR. I have made every necessary arrangement for my plans back Lagos, just in case I find myself waiting for another 6hours. Thank God I have relations in this town.

I hope not to share a similar story like the OP's here in the hands of this same company...the waiting continues...

45mins delay, finally boarded.

Story carried by Punch Newspapers.

See link: http://www.punchng.com/business/business-economy/angry-passengers-block-abuja-airport-runway/

Below is a comment from another passenger on the flight

I was one of the passengers on the held up Lagos bound flight. To be honest I was more shocked about the lack of security at our Nation's Capital airport, than the idiots on the Tarmac. I don't want to be alarmist but if that's the level of security at our national airport its only a matter of time before we have a MAJOR incident. If I was a criminal or terrorist I'd be rubbing my hands together and waiting for my moment to strike (by the looks of things, they're open for criminal behaviour any given evening).



To illustrate a little, people (passengers and random onlookers on the airport grounds) were able to wonder around the airport from 8pm - 1am at night with total impunity.
One of the passengers on my flight went outside the airport TWICE, wasn't checked and just came back onto the plane. The so called airport security that arrived (1 hour into the incident), were more concerned about passengers taking pictures of them than dealing with the issue at hand. For all anyone knows this could have been an orchestrated distraction for something more sinister. 



Question: Would this be allowed to happen in any other functioning nation? Simply NO! If we benchmark this with other African countries (not even the West) this just simply wouldn't happen. We are apparently in conflict with the terrorist group Boko Haram at this point in time and we've witnessed the horrific incident in Nairobi only last week, if that doesn't heighten security then I really don't know what will.



FOR HEAVENS SAKE IF NOBODY IN THE COUNTRY HAS REVIEWED THE SECURITY AT OUR AIRPORTS (WHICH CLEARLY THEY HAVEN'T), THEN WAKE THE HEAL UP!!!



Regarding the Calabar passengers that were delayed: No matter their grievances they have no right to break both national and international civil aviation law. In any other
civilised country this would be a major security incident and they would have had the book thrown at them. Try this crap in the US, you'll be flung in jail for a long time, banned from flying or even worse. Try this in some other African countries you would have been literally kicked off the tarmac and then flung in jail or worse. And you know what? Rightfully so, even though you had a grievance with your airline and all that....



Arik: Simply irresponsible! One of the worse airlines in the world for sure. Clearly customer service is NOT in the company's handbook and not a word that their management or staff have come across. So let me help you out: 'Customer service' is the provision of service to customers BEFORE, DURING and after a PURCHASE.
According to Turban et al. (2002) "Customer service is a series of activities DESIGNED TO ENHANCE THE LEVEL OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation."

Arik is an embarrassment, what the heal does 'VIP' movement on your plane have to do with disrupting a scheduled flight? If your VIPs can't make it at the scheduled time, tell them politely to charter another flight. Your passengers were left to fend for themselves, while your staff just drove off, simply inexcusable. Your staff and manager did't even bother to secure them and the tarmac before leaving. Where were they supposed to go? What consideration was given to: their personal security, transport, accommodation, feeding, disruption to their journey - simply disgusting. BUT all this conversation should have been taking place in the safety of the Arik office with a SENIOR Arik manager.

So, when I believe I have seen all the rot in the sick Nigerian system, am proven
otherwise. I could go on but most importantly fix the security. And before I get people yabbing about patriotism. Patriotism doesn't demand you to be foolish. It is about love and devotion to your country and it’s DEFENCE. So most importantly FIX the security issue at the national airport.

I was one of the passengers on the held up Lagos bound flight. To be honest I was more shocked about the lack of security at our Nation's Capital airport, than the idiots on the Tarmac. I don't want to be alarmist but if that's the level of security at our national airport its only a matter of time before we have a MAJOR incident. If I was a criminal or terrorist I'd be rubbing my hands together and waiting for my moment to strike (by the looks of things, they're open for criminal behaviour any given evening).



To illustrate a little, people (passengers and random onlookers on the airport grounds) were able to wonder around the airport from 8pm - 1am at night with total impunity.
One of the passengers on my flight went outside the airport TWICE, wasn't checked and just came back onto the plane. The so called airport security that arrived (1 hour into the incident), were more concerned about passengers taking pictures of them than dealing with the issue at hand. For all anyone knows this could have been an orchestrated distraction for something more sinister. 



Question: Would this be allowed to happen in any other functioning nation? Simply NO! If we benchmark this with other African countries (not even the West) this just simply wouldn't happen. We are apparently in conflict with the terrorist group Boko Haram at this point in time and we've witnessed the horrific incident in Nairobi only last week, if that doesn't heighten security then I really don't know what will.



FOR HEAVENS SAKE IF NOBODY IN THE COUNTRY HAS REVIEWED THE SECURITY AT OUR AIRPORTS (WHICH CLEARLY THEY HAVEN'T), THEN WAKE THE HEAL UP!!!



Regarding the Calabar passengers that were delayed: No matter their grievances they have no right to break both national and international civil aviation law. In any other
civilised country this would be a major security incident and they would have had the book thrown at them. Try this crap in the US, you'll be flung in jail for a long time, banned from flying or even worse. Try this in some other African countries you would have been literally kicked off the tarmac and then flung in jail or worse. And you know what? Rightfully so, even though you had a grievance with your airline and all that....



Arik: Simply irresponsible! One of the worse airlines in the world for sure. Clearly customer service is NOT in the company's handbook and not a word that their management or staff have come across. So let me help you out: 'Customer service' is the provision of service to customers BEFORE, DURING and after a PURCHASE.
According to Turban et al. (2002) "Customer service is a series of activities DESIGNED TO ENHANCE THE LEVEL OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation."

Arik is an embarrassment, what the heal does 'VIP' movement on your plane have to do with disrupting a scheduled flight? If your VIPs can't make it at the scheduled time, tell them politely to charter another flight. Your passengers were left to fend for themselves, while your staff just drove off, simply inexcusable. Your staff and manager did't even bother to secure them and the tarmac before leaving. Where were they supposed to go? What consideration was given to: their personal security, transport, accommodation, feeding, disruption to their journey - simply disgusting. BUT all this conversation should have been taking place in the safety of the Arik office with a SENIOR Arik manager.

So, when I believe I have seen all the rot in the sick Nigerian system, am proven
otherwise. I could go on but most importantly fix the security. And before I get people yabbing about patriotism. Patriotism doesn't demand you to be foolish. It is about love and devotion to your country and it’s DEFENCE. So most importantly FIX the security issue at the national airport.

what a sanctimonious arssehole

because he was not at the receiving end of ariks indifferent incompetence, he feels he can talk down to aggrieved victims who took the law into their hands.

that is the other problem of the black man. a complete lack of empathy for the plight of others

^^ exactly

Deor03 explanation was better than that selfish punk who wrOte in the Punch newspaper

knew all along the situation could only have been as a result of the worst form of customer service

oyb:

what a sanctimonious arssehole

because he was not at the receiving end of ariks indifferent incompetence, he feels he can talk down to aggrieved victims who took the law into their hands.

that is the other problem of the black man. a complete lack of empathy for the plight of others

Dont mind him

[
Aviation hostage

This is just one more of the re~occuring incidents involving our home based airline operators, more particularly, Arik. Its now second nature to them. Moreso smarting at the fact of how well their cheap recourse to political blackmail had gotten them off the hook of the Ministry of Aviation & its agencies sometimes last year culminating in the sack of the DG, NCAA. With the dearth of a strong regulator & enforcement mechanisms in the industry...incidents of this nature shall continue unabated.