And now at 12:30am there is no
information about the flight anymore. The Airline has not
offered an apology and none of their officials is visible. No
refreshments for the passengers who have missed their dinner
at home; and there is no alternative arrangement for their
flight or accommodation for the night.
This
has become a standard operating culture of this Airline. I
experienced this nasty treatment from Medview in May this
year. My Flight was scheduled for 7.00pm Nigerian Time. The
Airline shifted the flight to 9.30pm for operational reasons.
Only God knows what to hell are these operational reasons.
At
9.30pm Airline announced a further delay of 30minutes for same
operational reasons. Then at about 10.00pm Airline announced
further delay of flight till 11.00pm
Flight eventually took off about 11.00pm(cumulatively 4hours
behind schedule)
While this psychological torture lasted, no official of the
airline spoke to the passengers either by way of apology nor
reassurance thereby grossly neglecting their duty of care
There is no doubt that the delay caused various degrees of
disruptions and complications in individual journey plans of
the passengers. The delay further increased the cost of travel
to the passengers, as we were made to arrive Lagos very late
in the night after midnight) when the cost of taxi services
naturally escalated. The delay also caused serious
inconvenience to the passengers thereby eroding the value for
the money paid the airline for the flight.
Furthermore the delay exposed the passengers to personal
safety risks as we were made to travel on deserted Lagos
streets at unsafe late hours. It forced some passengers to
skip their dinner against their will which is injurious to
their health
My
Lawyer had written a protest letter to the management of the
Airline asking the Airline to tender an apology in Writing to
each of the aggrieved customers but they did not as much as
deem it necessary to reply.
This is totally unacceptable conduct on
the part of the Airline. Even touts at a motor park would
tender apologies to passengers when their departure is
delayed. There is a safety angle to this too. If the Airline
could compromise simple and basic things like customer care
ethics with impunity, then one wonders how many safety factors
are compromised in the operations of Medview. It calls to
question the safety of their planes in the air. It calls to
question the rigor of the Audit procedures that were employed
to grant them operational license in the Nigerian airspace.
With recent plane crashes and several
near misses in the country, the Aviation Minister should not
be seen as turning a blind eye to these telling signs of an
impending disaster that Medview is promising to be. Doing so
would amount to manslaughter.
I therefore urgently call upon the
Minister for Aviation to immediately audit the activities of
Medview Airline with the view to addressing these concerns.