Arik Air Nigeria Mayhem

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• published: 28 Oct 2013
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I was rather surprised at the service rendered by Arik Air Nigeria (one of Nigeria's local flight operators) on the 24th of October 2013. Despite the purchase of a valid travel ticket for the 1530hrs flight from PHC to LOS, Arik Air sold more tickets than the plane could carry (why for goodness sakes???). We the passengers where left stranded on the tarmac and to be honest, I was really baffled and amazed at the level of poor communication within Arik Air. Although it was not a safe environment, the ground staff were forced to handle things by themselves, and also had to make decisions without support and steer from the management who I would have assumed would know how to advice the Arik employees on the ground. This got me thinking on how exposed these poor ground staff were, and also the extremely poor communication within the management of Arik Air. The staff where lucky not to have been violently attacked by the angry passenger who where left frustrated on the tarmac. Nonetheless, we eventually made it to Lagos with my 11 suitcases at around 10pm but had to travel via Abuja. This left me with no option than to reschedule my trip overseas for the next day, pay for a night in a hotel, got my driver waiting for hours in the airport, move around in Lagos very late at night, and the worst part, miss my birthday dinner planned for me in Lagos. Thanks Arik Air. Now Arik Air, some advice. Although it seems not be a culture of caring for your customer, please try and support your ground staff a lot better. These guys are at the end of your delivery and they play a key role to the image of your organisation. These poor guys on the ground get all the trouble due to the managements poor logistic planning, rather selfish way of thinking, poor communication, and arrogant approach towards customers (who have paid for ticket hence, a service rather than a favour). As a company I expect you all to make life easy for the ground staff, the same way those of you at the top do for yourselves. What will it take for you managers to think about this and understand the long term implications this causes to your organisation? This is not directed at low level managers but those of you right at the top. This has been highly disgraceful and I am highly disappointed at all the people that manage/run Arik Air on a day to day basis. You now have another highly disappointed customer. @arikair @arikairnigeria @arik @onliskcarew