For air travelers, if you like unorganized, erratic, unpredictable travel\u00a0experience, I will recommend Arik Air. If you are to embark on a journey\u00a0and don\u2019t care whether you get there on record time, I will recommend\u00a0Arik Air. If it does not matter that you could lose out on a crucial\u00a0appointment just because the transporter (an airline for that matter) you\u00a0choose is unreliable, I will recommend Arik Air.<\/p>\n
\nOn Tuesday, the 1st of March, I set out for a research residency in Ghana.\u00a0I was to leave from the Akanu Ibiam \u2018international\u2019 airport in Enugu,\u00a0via Lagos to Accra. Against my gut instinct, because of previous\u00a0experiences, I chose to go with Arik Air. I made that choice because Arik was the only Airline that had flights from Enugu right up to Accra on 1st\u00a0March. Others had either Enugu\u2192Lagos or Lagos\u2192Accra, and not both. I\u00a0then chose Arik all the way so that if there were any delays, I would be\u00a0sure not to miss my flight since it would be on them to take care of me\u00a0all the way to my final destination. And how right I was!\u00a0The Enugu\u2192Lagos flight was slated for 12:25pm<\/span><\/span>. I got there two hours\u00a0earlier. After the check-in process, we waited until 12:50pm<\/span><\/span> before they\u00a0announced that our 12:25pm<\/span><\/span> flight had been moved by an hour. But we were\u00a0not upset because that hour was already far-spent, leaving us with a\u00a0couple of minutes to go. However, after waiting out that hour plus many\u00a0more minutes, with no sign of an Arik flight on ground, I made for their\u00a0desk only to be told that our Lagos-bound air craft was still in Abuja,\u00a0being held up by a lack of fuel. When I told them I was to connect another\u00a05pm<\/span><\/span> flight from Lagos to Accra, they said I had no problem since I was\u00a0going with Arik all the way. Indeed, they had two flights from Lagos to\u00a0Accra on that day, the second slated to depart at 8pm<\/span><\/span>. That gave me a\u00a0little relief. But I felt pity for one of the passengers, a young man, who\u00a0was going for a crucial meeting in Lagos, scheduled for 3pm<\/span><\/span> on that day.<\/p>\n \nHe decided to take a flight which was ordinarily a quicker option. To no\u00a0end, he argued with Arik staff as to why he had not been warned\u00a0beforehand; as to whether there was nothing they could do for him in terms\u00a0of any alternative arrangement, to put him in another airline or\u00a0something. I also recalled that the last time, in June 2015, that Arik\u00a0postponed, for 4 hours, a flight that I was to join, it was upon my\u00a0arrival to their desk that I saw the notice pasted \u2013 whereupon I had\u00a0berated them for failing to go with the times, for failing to send an\u00a0email, or even a text message. Unluckily for that young man, Arik was the\u00a0last Lagos-bound flight from Enugu on that day; others, Air Peace,\u00a0Medview, etc. had all gone. He was at his wits end, shaking, almost in\u00a0tears. I wished him well. \u201cSo, two different Arik flights would leave for Accra at the same time,\u00a08pm<\/span><\/span>?,\u201d I asked him. \u201cWe are sorting things out,\u201d he said vaguely. After\u00a0the check-in ritual, we moved in for boarding, and thence began the\u00a0confusion. Get ready for it.\u00a0On my request, I had been re-booked for the 8pm<\/span><\/span> flight with number W3 396.\u00a0The flight originally slated to depart at 5pm<\/span><\/span> was number W3 304. Around\u00a07:40pm<\/span><\/span>, the schedule announcer directed passengers on 396 to proceed to\u00a0gate 31 for boarding. But because nothing was said about passengers on\u00a0flight 304 who had been waiting since afternoon, all passengers on Arik en\u00a0route Accra proceeded to gate 31. After we had all waited for about one\u00a0hour, one lanky fellow materialized and apathetically asked all passengers\u00a0on flight 304 to proceed to gate 52, again saying nothing about those on\u00a0flight 396. Almost everyone bound for Accra, yet again, like a flock\u00a0without a direction, proceeded to gate 52, about a 200-metre walk. When I\u00a0showed my boarding pass to the desk officer on gate 52, she said I was not\u00a0in the right place. I, as well as other passengers with boarding passes\u00a0bearing the same number as mine, returned to gate 31 and waited.\u00a0Meanwhile, the flight schedule display was not of much help to us: it no\u00a0longer had information on flight W3 304, given that its departure time of \u00a05pm<\/span><\/span> had already passed, without Arik management bothering to inform the\u00a0airport management that their flight W3 304 had been delayed until 8pm<\/span><\/span>, in\u00a0which case they would have simply re-written the notice to reflect that\u00a0change. The airport display was showing flight 396 for departure at\u00a08:45pm<\/span><\/span>. Now, passengers on 396, which was showing on the display, did not\u00a0yet know their fate but passengers on 304, which was no longer showing on\u00a0the display, were being profiled for boarding on gate 52. I wish you the\u00a0best of luck the next time you will use Arik Air. I have seen enough of\u00a0them to know they are habituated to disorders of this sort.<\/p>\n After a restless while, I rallied other passengers telling them how it\u00a0would not make sense for an airline which was complaining of lack of fuel\u00a0to take two Boeing 737 air craft to the same destination at the same time\u00a0when all the passengers planned for the two different flights were not\u00a0enough to fill up one. We all marched together to gate 52 and managed to\u00a0convince the duty manager to put us all in flight 304. For those who had\u00a0check-in luggage, our next challenge was this: for an airline that had\u00a0shown itself to be as sloppy as Arik Air had done, how do we get them to\u00a0transfer our luggage from wherever they were without mixing things up. We\u00a0again approached the duty manager who, after series of phone calls,\u00a0front-and-back stairs, and head-scratching, eventually got each of us to\u00a0personally identify our luggage before we finally made our hard-fought\u00a0departure.<\/p>\n Some of the staffers were cautious enough to make apologies, begging us to\u00a0understand. But my response to them was that they were asking us to do\u00a0what they don\u2019t do for customers. The last time I missed my Arik flight\u00a0from Lagos to Enugu, I had arrived late owing to Lagos traffic \u2013 but\u00a0early enough to be processed for boarding if I was dealing with a more\u00a0customer-friendly Ariline \u2013 and they refused to let me in. all my pleas\u00a0were rejected. I spent about 30 more minutes at their desk before the\u00a0plane buzzed off. Other Airlines they might be interested in copying when\u00a0it suits them would actually announce any missing customer\u2019s name a\u00a0number of times before finally shutting the door for departure.\u00a0I\u2019m compelled to write this at this time because I\u2019m now convinced,\u00a0after this umpteenth time, that it can only take such an action for Arik\u00a0to consider improving on customer treatment. It can be anybody\u2019s turn to\u00a0take a flight tomorrow<\/span><\/span>. This is neither my second nor third experience\u00a0with Arik\u2019s erratic sloppiness. On one occasion last year, they postponed\u00a0my journey to the USA by two days without any prior notice. And I was\u00a0already at their desk at airport before, like a fool, I realized what had\u00a0happened. I had promised them I would never be back to Arik, but I was\u00a0somewhat condemned to be back on this (hopefully) LAST occasion. An\u00a0airline like Arik can only survive in a setting like Nigeria where\u00a0anything goes \u2013 and I told them this to their face.<\/p>\n Clearly, these are troubled times in Nigeria, and one had better focus on\u00a0matters of grave national concern \u2013 such as teenage-girl-kidnap, gun men\u00a0on the rampage, anti-graft war, budget padding, etc. \u2013 and not on such\u00a0unserious matters as professional misdeeds of a business that only\u00a0services the elite. I have always restrained myself from writing about\u00a0this among a population where the suffering majority might find it\u00a0incautiously elitist to dwell on such matters when there are other burning\u00a0national questions. I agree. But I am around enough to also know that not\u00a0a few others have been raising such other graver questions. I have also\u00a0been doing so myself on different media. However, that the national space\u00a0is heated up does not warrant that we stop keeping watch on other spheres\u00a0as well. Besides, my experience with Arik has been so interesting, and I\u00a0thought that not sharing it with others would be selfish. I am sorry about\u00a0the length of this post. I hope you enjoyed it, though.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For air travelers, if you like unorganized, erratic, unpredictable travel\u00a0experience, I will recommend Arik Air. If you are to embark on a journey\u00a0and don\u2019t care whether you get there on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47787,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nOur 12:25pm<\/span><\/span> flight eventually left Enugu at 4:30pm<\/span><\/span>. On our arrival, they\u00a0took three of us who were connecting to other countries from Lagos to the\u00a0international wing of the Muritalla Muhammed Airport. My first step as I\u00a0made my entry was to approach the Arik duty manager to ask what would be\u00a0done about my having missed the 5pm<\/span><\/span> flight to Accra. He told me, without\u00a0showing any regrets, that the 5pm<\/span><\/span> flight was also being delayed until 8pm<\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n