While in the UK, I booked my one way flight from Lagos to Abuja as detailed below. This was to be my first experience of flying the (what I thought was), well renowned airline of which as an African, I was even bragging about to business friends. Having a confirmed ticket in hand I then proceeded to purchase a train ticket for my onward journey from Heathrow Airport based on the schedule arrival time.
The first mail I got from Arik was that I would not be flying the Airbus after all the excitement of getting on a new aircraft. As if this was not enough, just a day before my scheduled flight I got a message that the flight was now going via Abuja and on enquiry during check in I was reassured that "with a bit of prayer", the flight will get to Heathrow on time, i.e. 17:25, so I didn't panic.
To cut a long story short, I will not mention my flight experience at this stage of course but that I eventually got to Heathrow at 19:45, over 2 hours late obviously missing my train.
Arik ground staff (one lady whose name was not given) first advised concerned passengers like me that the flight the Arik flight had arrived on time, seemingly oblivious of the flight times. This was a clear insult not only to my intelligence but to other passengers in my situation. And note that there was neither a single word of apology from the cabin crew nor THE CAPTAIN.
Have you been treated the same whether locally or internationally??.
