By LAWANI MIKAIRU

Passengers of Aero Contractors Airline who have already booked and  paid for their flight tickets were Wednesday, seen making frantic efforts to reclaim their money and luggage that have been checked in before the announcement that the airline is suspending its flight operation.

At the airline’s counters at domestic terminal, there was no airline staff at  the check –in and ticket counters  and  passengers were confused as there was nobody to speak to. Passengers who had come to board flights to Port Harcourt and Abuja  were disappointed as there was no one to contact to get their refunds, as officials of the airline were no where to be seen.

Angry passengers whose flights were canceled and who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that they only got to know of the cancellation after they checked –in their luggage and collected boarding passes.

Passengers were seen moving from the ticket sales counters to the check-in counters and from there to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) at the first floor of the terminal, where they were later directed upstairs without solutions to their problem.

An elderly woman, who was affected by the impromptu cancellation, also said that she had already checked –in her luggage and the flight was to depart at 12noon and that she had been at the terminal since 10 am.

She also said that she only got to know about the cancellation after she had check-in and collected boarding pass.

She added that she has been at the terminal waiting for the flight to fly her and other passengers to their destinations at 12noon, when it was announced that the flight would take off at 1.30pm and subsequently cancelled the flight.

“How do I get my luggage and go back home now. I don’t know anywhere and it was my people who dropped me in the morning and they left immediately .Now my luggage has been checked –in, how do I collect my luggage,” she complained.

Some of the passengers  numbering about  100, who had also checked-in their luggage  for the Abuja  and Port Harcourt flights were seen moving towards the arrival to  proceed to the baggage reclaim area to collect their luggage.

At the baggage reclaim area, passengers  were very angry and raining curses on Aero Contractors for allegedly knowingly selling tickets to passengers when the airline knew that it will not fly. The passengers were further angered by the disappearance of the officials of the airline from the counters to assist them in getting their refund.