By Chinelo Obogo
Publisher, Travelers Weekend Magazine, Mr. Ikechi Uko, has said that Nigerian passengers usually have bad experiences flying domestic airlines as they have not been served well by domestic airlines.
In a chat with reporters recently in Lagos, Uko, who is also the convener of Chinet Aviacargo Conference said that any conversation that does not include talking about how to improve the experience of the traveler is a complete waste.
“The Nigerian passenger has not been served well as at today if you cannot buy all those tickets and have options and you have to fly from here to Abuja and now come back to Lagos because you couldn’t get that flight connect.
I don’t see any system where that will work very well. In 2004 when I started going to Ghana by Nigerian airlines, the experience I had then is probably better than what I am experiencing now as a traveler.
“So, anything we are discussing and we are not talking about how to improve the experience of the traveler is a complete waste of time, because the traveler today is not being served well. This is just what happened to me. The other day when I was in Abuja, I slept at the lounge at the airport because they kept moving the flight from 5 to 7, from 7 to 9, from 9 to 10, from 10 to 12 and at 12 they canceled and they said you have to go to Abuja. I can’t go to Abuja in the early hours of the night, so I stayed at the lounge till morning.
“For those of us that travel every other day, it is a bad experience. I will like to be patriotic and support the Nigerian airline and the players, but if you know what some of us have to go through, I don’t think we are having the right discussion. The airports are failing, have failed or not efficient enough,” he said.