By Muyiwa Adetiba
A young boy once accompanied his mother to the airport to see his grandmother off. He looked on as his grandmother went through the process of checking in.
He looked on as others who had gone through a similar checking in process exchange hugs and kisses and thereafter disappeared through a corridor. Soon it was the turn of his grandmother. She kissed and hugged his mother then turned to him for a kiss and a lingering hug. Then like others, she too disappeared.
Through the window, he looked on as planes glided off the ground, took off and disappeared into the sky. It was a forlorn boy who held on to his mother’s hand as they left the departure lounge. Overcome with what he had just witnessed, he looked tearfully at his mother and said with all the emphasis at his young disposal, ‘I hate the airport.’ The surprised mother asked why. ‘It takes people away.’ He answered. The mother enveloped him in a loving bear hug and silently led him into the car.
The Airport has over the years, been a place of many tearful departures. But it has to its credit, also been a place of many joyful arrivals. It has been a silent witness to many emotional scenes. Aware of its increasing role in the emotional well-being of its users and their loved ones, many airports have been redesigned.
Many are now comfortable, homely, serene, and travel friendly. Especially at the departure lounge where travellers spend more time. In spite of this, regulatory authorities have mandated airlines to ensure that their customers have as little waiting time as possible before and in between flights. Passengers are now entitled to request for compensation if their connecting flights or waiting time go beyond a stipulated time.
Nigerian airport administrators seem either unaware or unconcerned about the massive improvements in airport development all over the world. The fact that flight delays are increasingly frowned upon in the industry cuts no ice with them. Our airports are still designed in such a basic manner that one wonders if our leaders don’t use other airports. The ambience is ordinary while the facilities are below standard.
And the waiting time for local flights is lots higher than the industry average. It is also not unusual to see cleaners sitting idly on stools and dozing off while seats and armrests are caked in layers of dust. I was once minded to point the attention of a cleaner to the dust on some seats around me in a recent experience but backed off for fear of being insulted.The Airport is a miniature version of everything a country represents. There is law enforcement; there is immigration; there is commerce; there is the treasury. The vibrancy and efficiency of a country can be gleaned from the vibrancy and efficiency of the people at the airport, the first place of contact for most visitors.
The airlines whose job it is to make
sure waiting time at the airports is reduced to the barest minimum are unfeeling in Nigeria. There even appears to be a sadistic delight in seeing travellers suffer before flying out. It seems normal these days that every flight apart from perhaps the first flight, is delayed. I had an unsavoury experience last week on a round trip to Abuja. I travelled with a 74-year old aunt. We got to the airport at noon for a 2pm flight on Air Peace. We felt good that we came early enough to avoid congestion and rush. We learnt to our disappointment, that the flight had been delayed by two and a half hours. Weren’t we informed? Following a mild protest on our part, we were told to approach a supervisor to see if we could still be put on the flight. She looked at us, looked at the computer and said we were lucky because we were definitely on the 4.30pm flight. ‘Lucky? Is it going to be free?’ The supervisor didn’t bother to reply us.
She was done with us. And so started the long wait. We had three postponements. The last one was accompanied by groans all over the departure hall. Meanwhile, I was surprised that the 2pm flight still took off. Why were we not on it? We eventually left at 7pm. The first day of the two-day event we were going for was well and truly over by the time we got to Abuja. The driver who had been detailed to pick us had the better part of the day wasted. There were probably people who suffered more dire consequences as a result of the delays. My niece and her young daughter got home at 1am from Abuja this week. They could have been attacked.
The return flight was no less dramatic. I was supposed to head back with wife, daughter and aunt on a 1.20pm flight. I got to the airport earlier than them because I had stayed nearer the airport and was in any case, booked separately. An Air Peace staff offered to help me check in. I was happy. He came back with a 4.30pm boarding pass. Dismayed, I asked why. He said that was what came out with my name. ‘Wasn’t I informed of a delay? I was asked again. I was not. I was still rueing the inevitable wait when my family came.
My new Air Peace friend helped them. Two were on the 1.20pm flight while the third, my daughter who doesn’t live in Nigeria, was dropped. This time, the aunt flipped. She wondered at the kind of professionalism which could make them divide a group, especially with the same surname. What if the dropped one needed help during and after the flight? What if she was a minor? Or a stranger to the shores?
She insisted that whatever manipulation that got her young niece out must be corrected. She insisted on not leaving the line until she was attended to. This 74 year-old lady was on her feet in front of the counter for over an hour refusing all palliatives including a standby option. One angry supervisor threatened to push the three of them to 4.30pm or return their money.
Still she didn’t budge. In the end, some magic was performed and a seat materialised. The story should have ended there but it didn’t. They got to Lagos to find my luggage on the conveyor belt. My luggage had travelled while I couldn’t. This carelessness could have cost me the loss of my luggage.
I had often wondered why airlines don’t survive in Nigeria given the high demand for air travel. Now I have an idea. The avenues for leakages and manipulations are too many. Besides, any business that is not customer focused cannot be there for the long haul. In Nigeria, air travellers are treated as if they are dispensable pawns and not human beings with needs and preferences. There is a reason someone prefers a noon flight to an evening flight for example. That choice must be respected.
Disclaimer
Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.