A weekend in the life of
THE WORLD'S WORST AIRLINE

Victor Amokeodo
First published: November 1993

Nigeria Airways has, in recent times, leapt to the forefront of organisations that give Nigeria a bad name. Unlike many organisations carrying out lamentable services within the country, the pain and shame caused to Nigerians by Nigeria Airways is compounded by the fact that it is an international organisation and as such its practices are witnessed by foreigners everyday. And virtually everyday, it does not fail to deliver a blow of disgrace.

Take what JNA discovered is a very typical weekend in the life of Nigerian Airways. Saturday, September 11, 1993. There was a throng of Nigerians at terminal three, Heathrow airport, all desperate to go home. There was bedlam as masses of people shouted, pushed and jostled for boarding passes.

Why were there so many people? Well, for the past three or four days, the airline had been cancelling its scheduled flight due to some ridiculous reason or the other so much so that by Saturday, there had been a huge backlog of prospective travellers. It was obvious many of those present would not travel that day.

The scene was made even worse by the fact that it was set against a background of orderliness and almost non-existent queues by the other airlines sharing the terminal. And what's more, as the passengers of the other airlines walked casually through the doors into the lounge, many looked in bewilderment and disdain at the rowdy scene that greeted them at the Nigerian airways end of the terminal. There were furtive glances and scornful smiles at the expense of the hapless Nigerian travellers. Do not blame them. Have you ever been to Yaba bus stop at rush hour? That was how it looked at the Nigerian Airways check-in counter on this Saturday.

Although it was obvious that the crowd was too large to be accommodated by the 'plane, most of the travellers felt confident that they would get on the 'plane. Hopes for this were however dashed when it was suddenly announced that the plane had been diverted to Israel.

Israel? Why? There seemed to be some mechanical problem or the other. There was some shouting, cursing and abusing. Nigerian Airways officials promised that the plane would surely be at Heathrow the following day (Sunday) and would lift 200 passengers. That was 6pm, Saturday 11th.

On Sunday, crowds had begun to gather as early as 9am for a flight that was scheduled for midnight. As the crowds built up and it became increasingly evident that the promised 200-seater Jumbo might not be able to accommodate all the travellers. Tension began to rise and many fist fights were narrowly averted. With the amount of flare-ups witnessed by our reporter in the brief period he was present, there almost certainly must have been some fights that day.



The Nigeria Airways staff made up of just two women (at the counter) and an occasionally emerging manager, Chief Atta, did nothing - if they were able to - to put some order into the chaos. It was down to the efforts of a few passengers to create some order. They made everyone present write down their names and queue up in the order in which their names appeared on the list.

At every stage of the procedure, there was a fight:

"Who gave them authority?"

"I was here before that man, why should his name be on the list before mine?!"

"Ah, what do mean you were here before me? I have been here since Monday!"

"Shut up and go on the line who do you think you are?"

"You are a man, and I am a man. Do not shout at me. I will beat you up here now......"

Amidst all this, some passengers were quietly confident. Said one traveller: "they have confirmed my place on the plane so all this fighting doesn't concern me." An onlooker replied him: "Ah, uncle these Nigeria Airways people, they will confirm the same place for 10 different travellers!". The man's confidence ebbed.

Once in a while, chief Atta appeared on the scene. People rushed to him to explain their predicament. "Just queue up", he assured them. "The plane will definitely take you".

Some order was brought to the babel and there was just the odd flare up. But the scene still resembled a marketplace. One must not forget that again, we were the centre of attraction in the very quiet Sunday evening at terminal three. And the reaction that that attention invited was not at all complimentary.

At about 9 o'clock when the queue for boarding passes had reached number 145 or thereabouts, it suddenly dawned on those on the queue that something was wrong. Those at the back of the queue who had the least hope of getting on the plane had broken the barrier and gone to scuffle directly at the counter. All hell was let loose. Where were the men controlling the queue? When did they leave? What is going on?

As it turned out, the boarding passes had finished. Only 70 passes had been issued for a plane that was supposed to take 200 people. What happened to the remaining 130? Where was the manager? Where was chief Atta?

All hell was let loose and it took a team of policemen to protect Mrs R Cotter and colleague - the visible faces of Nigerian airways - from possible G.B.H. the crowd screamed at them: "Are you proud of wearing that Nigerian Airways uniform?"

"I am not but what can I do about it?"

"You are all bastards. You should lose your jobs!"

"Who is the manager? We demand an explanation for this. We are not dogs. You can't keep treating us this way! Where is the manager!"

"He is in room 27.....".

The crowd dashed to the room allocated to Nigeria Airways. It was locked. They couldn't get in. There was now a very visible police presence and they warned the crowd against forcing their way in. It would be a criminal offence. etc etc....

At the end of a long and frustrating day, most of the crowd had to find their way back home. But not every one could go home because not everyone had somewhere to go. One woman wept bitterly as she said her luggage had been taken aboard the plane but she and her children had failed to secure boarding passes. The earliest possible time for the next flight given by Nigeria Airways was the following Tuesday and even then no one was sure of getting on board except unless they were friends of Chief Atta. How was she going to cope, she wept bitterly She had no clothes, hardly any money, and her luggage would almost certainly be stolen in Nigeria. How would she cope? What would her children eat? Another woman in tears said there was a chance that she would be sacked at work as she was already eight days late, no thanks to Nigeria Airways

Probably the most pathetic case was that of a woman who was supposed to have travelled from US to Nigeria. She was put on another airline to join Nigeria Airways in London for the final leg of the trip (according to some passengers, Nigeria airways planes had not been allowed to land in the airport where she started out because it owed the Airport Authority a lot of money). Her woes began when she got to Heathrow only to meet the horrible situation. As if that was not enough, she was again charged for carrying excess baggage after having paid for the excess to the other airline in the US. Even with all this, she was almost certain not to travel that night.

Again, there was unconfirmed talk of a woman who was arrested amidst the melee. The arrest allegedly involved something she must have done while overstaying in the US by two years.....

As I made my way home, shaking my head at the colossal and despicable inefficiency of a national Airline in a world where airlines are owned by mere individuals, someone shouted to me that it was even worse in Christmas time.

There are so many questions Nigeria Airways have to answer to its passengers and the tax payers but there are some that need immediate answers:

(1) What happened to the 130 places that were unaccounted for on September 12?
(2) Why was Chief Atta not there to do his duty of explaining the situation to the passengers when things got ugly?
(3) Why is there no compensation for delayed travellers or why are they not at least kept in a hotel for the duration of the delay like any half decent airline would do?
(4) Why are passengers being told of delays and cancellations only after they have been queuing up for hours?
(5) Can Chief Atta and his crew justify why they should continue to be paid for their monumental inefficiency?
(6) Who is responsible for the problems of September 11 and 12