Have you had a bad experience on British Airways? Do you feel disrespected because you’re Nigerian? Share your story here. Provide as much detail as you can - of names, dates, times and locations.
Take Action
1. Send an e-mail to the CEO of British Airways, Willie Walsh, protesting over this mistreatment.
2. Sign the online petition compelling BA to apologize or face boycott
3. Phone British Airways to register your protest by calling British Airways Customer Relations department on 0844 493 0 787 (from within the UK); +44 1293 666245 (from outside the UK).
4. Write in to: British Airways, Customer Relations (S506), PO Box 5619, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 2PG
5. Write about your own experience here
6.
Join Ongoing discussions at Nigerian Village Square
2. Sign the online petition compelling BA to apologize or face boycott
3. Phone British Airways to register your protest by calling British Airways Customer Relations department on 0844 493 0 787 (from within the UK); +44 1293 666245 (from outside the UK).
4. Write in to: British Airways, Customer Relations (S506), PO Box 5619, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 2PG
5. Write about your own experience here
6.
Join Ongoing discussions at Nigerian Village Square
I wouldn’t really describe it as a bad experience because I was compensated in the end but I’ll like to highlight the story because i was probably the only person on that BA flight in 2004 that actually complained to them and got compensated for the inconvenience.
Personal experience with BA
So i had a bit of a problem with BA on my last trip to Lagos in 04, the usual thing, faulty engine, flight delayed for hours etc. To be fair to BA they did offer to put us up in an hotel, however the hotel they offered was not to my “high” standards at all. I mean i may have stayed in a few ’shitty’ hostels and hotels in my many travels but at least i was the one paying for it, in this case BA was paying so there was no way i was going to stay in ’stopover hotel’ or ‘airport hotel’, if their own flight crew was going to stay in sheraton then i had to stay there as well.
Unfortunately for me the BA ground staff in Lagos was having none of it, so i ended up spending the night at MMA (with the bloody A/C on full blast!!). To cut a long story short i got back to the UK and took it up with their customer services with the usual ‘Naija shakara’ that all true ‘naijas’ learn if they ever lived in Lagos. Lo and behold BA came begging with a generous offer of compensation. (and that was how i ended up in Australia some months ago)
And its not just BA i’ve claimed compensation from, KLM too got the same treatment for messing around with my luggage.
The moral of my story is, if you are unhappy with the way an airline or any company treats you, complain, hit them hard, if you’re in Nigeria don’t complain there, send it to their main base and make sure you chase it up.
Read story on my blog - http://naijaman.cfmxdeveloper.co.uk/diary/2006/02/in-news-travellers-flay-spraying-of.html
Hi Ijebuman,
Good to read that you got compensated!
Thanks for sharing the story with us on Respectnigerians.com
Years ago, my wife suffered indignities at the hands of BA employees in London on her way to Nigeria from the USA. To their credit, at my request, they reimbursed her loss with a letter of apology. More recently, Virgin Atlantic lost my luggage on a flight from London to Port Harcourt. After two years of seeking compensation for lost luggage and providing by registered mail from the USA all requested documentations, Virgin Atlantic did not reimburse me for the lost luggage. Air Frace conveniently told me when I arrived at the airport in Chicago, USA to board a flight to Port Harcourt, that my flight, although confirmed, had not been ticketed by the booking agent. The alternative given were (a) pay $4,500, or (b) I can’t board. I boarded. It was Christmas. They robed me. THE ONLY ACTION THESE EUROPEAN AIRLINES THAT PLY NIGERIAN ROUTES WILL RESPECT IS ONE THAT IMPACTS THEIR PROFIT. THEY LOVE MONEY, AND ANYTHING THAT THREATENS THEIR PROFIT WILL GET THEIR ATTENTION. MY QUESTION IS: WILL NIGERIANS WHO USE THESE AIRLINES HAVE THE GOOD JUDGEMENT TO PUNISH BA WITH AN EFFECTIVE BOYCOTT? LET US ALL DO IT. AVOID BA. IT WILL GET THEIR ATTENTION. AFTER BA, TURN TO VIRGIN NIGERIA. AND SO ON. YOU WILL SEE THEM CHANGE BECAUSE THEY LOVE MONEY. THAT’S ALL THAT WILL GET THEIR ATTENTION.
Many thanks Dr Eljasa for the concise details you provided. We have started the boycott already! I have a strong belief that many Nigerians would join the boycott train as time progress.
Thanks once again and regards to your wife.
I truly can’t wait to see the end of this story.
There are several cases of British airways maltreating it’s customers as if flying economy class is some sort of crime, or that Nigerians are all criminals and should all be treated as such, or is this supposed to be another ERA of the 20th century slave drive ?
I had a similar case 2005 travel ling from the US to Nigeria, stop through this same and notorious terminal 4, went into the city,boarded my flight to Nigeria on a mission trip for heaven sake! Returning after two weeks only to be deport ted back to Nigeria for carrying and American Fake passport.I remembered the interrogating officer asking me tell me your real name.My American Colorado Drivers License was seized.
Back in Nigeria The American Embassy gave me a temporary pass port back to the states. I have since then made two other trips in 2006, and 2007,the latter with a group of missionaries i took home, yet harassed.
British Air ways will till today not compensate me for the flight ticket back to the states. Neither will they apologies for the trauma caused my Family both in The US and in Nigeria.I painfully kept all document for some day that my vioce and the voice of the many others that have gone through the malicoius acts of officers in terminal 4. The world need to hear this !
Adebayo Adeyemi
Denver Colorado
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I have boycotted BA for years. I think they are snobbish towards their customers at best! When i told my boyfriend about this petition asking for a boycot, he laughed and asked if Nigerians are only just realising that the airline deserves to be boycotted. Its shameful that Nigerians seem happy to accept just any kind of treatment for people/organizations who are paid handsomely to render decent service. Like ijebuman said, we need to realise that it is our right to complain if not completely satisfied with a service we are paying or have paid for. That is actually my new years resolution.
The disrespectful attitude of all these european airlines that go to nigeria is well chronicled. I have not taken a BA flight since 1978 after i suffered some humiliation in their hands on a flight to the USA.
I will never take another one of their flights either as long they do not have a monopoly on the route.I still dont understand the blind attraction to BA. Colonization ended a while ago. Boycotting them will surely be the only way to get an EFFECTIVE point across. Apology letters fall way short for the racist and downright disrespect showed nigerians by the staff of british airways.
I have just recently got back from abuja,and had problems getting a seat and a boarding pass.
I wrote to BA 24hrs within returning to the UK,I was compensated by the airline and given £100 voucher towards my next trip
Your airline will soon be out of service by the grace of God. You treated me badly two times 7 years ago only because of my skin color and my nationality as a Nigerian. Since then, I had stopped flying with BA. All my efforts to get compensation for the bad treatment melted on me by BA staff in Germany went on your deaf ears. I will also submit my own experience with BA to the Nigerian parliament and pray that Nigerian government will banned BA from flying to Nigeria. We have nothing to loose because Nigeria has no national carrier. I would continue to look for your downfall and you will fall, racist airline. You are treating us badly because of our skin color.
I had OK treatment from BA, on my single flight with them but this story of racially tinged mistreatment of Africans by European airlines is a regular and recurring one. Air France, Sabena and British Airways are notorious. All African people need to join together and teach one European airline a lesson, and I think British Air should be the target of a universal African boycott, not just Nigerian.
Fellow Nigerians,
I stopped flying British Airways over five years ago after being at the end of what I consider to be the most arrogant, rude and condescending behaviour I had ever seen on an aeroplane. What was my crime? I just asked politely for an additional can of coke! (perhaps worth about 30p or less at the time).
Someone on Facebook suggested that Nigerians pickett the BA offices on 15th May. Honestly, that would be an excellent move! If we could get a third of the numbers that we see turn up at Notting Hill Carnival every year, BA and the Nigerian government will know that we Nigerians are not prepared to lay down and become every airline’s dormat.
The Nigerian route is one of BA’s most lucrative. Unless some Naija bloke is chopping serious money somewhere, any sane executive would see reason and apologise and compensate those affected.
We have been stereotyped as fraudsters, theives, rogues etc. A campaign such as this one will serve as the fightback to reclaim our good name.
Its not their probelm o, if Nigeria could just invest money in the national carrier, wont we be out of the woods?I believe that people that brought naija into this state of disgrace would be punished , if not now, in their generations to come.
please lets pray for the peace of Nigeria and the upliftment of such a great nation.
carry go , omo Naija!
For this long, overdue BOYCOTT to work, it must be monitored and constantly re-tooled. One such way is to keep watching at Murtala Muhammed International Airport
to find out if there Nigerians crossing the picket line.
If such “citizens” of Nigeria are found, they should be admonished and embarassed to the extent tolerable by law until Nigerians totally and completely stop flying this carrier.
Another way to punish this British Airways is to introduce other Africans to this Citizens’ Initiative, and urge them to join. I’m sure citizens of countries like Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Ethiopia, etc, are also victims of British insults and assaults and must find this initiative an avenue to vent their anger and disgust.
Nigerian news organizations must also help by keeping this story of BOYCOTT alive. This BOYCOTT must succeed on a grand scale.
One must view the attitude of BA within the context of how the british people feel about black folks. They call us “coons”, which translates to “lazy” as a british “friend” once told me. The british has offended every culture on earth and pillaged every nation. They massacared Native Indians in the Americans, Aborigins in Austalia, Africans in the millions through colonization and the slave trade. Thanks to the mosquito; it helped repel a permanent foothold by the british in most of Africa. Britain can never completely pay for her crimes against humanity in my generation or any generation.
BA sprays their planes as if Nigerians stink! Every race has a perculiar ordor and the white BA employess peharps would rather entertain the ordor of other races. Do they spray when they load up for New Delhi? NO!! Any one come in close proximity with Indians?? But they are not insulted because now they are a world force. Nigeria must take that lesson to heart. As far as we have not taken care of our country, the rest of the world will continue to treat us as they wish. Nigerians do not have a patent on bad behavior but we are a easy target even from our own africans. I DO NOT, WILL NOT travel BA or knowingly patronize Britain. I feel same for australia and once returned a car when I discovered it was manufactured in australia. Nigerians must avoid britain at all cost and I still wonder what the hell Nigerians go to britain to do. The british are born with racism in their DNA and it does not make sense to try to change that; it is not a winning battle. Just go back to history and you’ll discover that BA is doing what britain has always done: treat the black man as if he is not a creation of the same God that created all humans. I will NOT fly BA if it is my last chance to eternal life or if my life dependeded on it. I had my own BAD experience with BA, though I do not hold a Nigerian passport: I was a black man, traveling to Nigeria.
I had a terrible experience with BA in Dec 2006, viz:
I travelled to Aberdeen on a Course and on my way back, I flew BA from Aberdeen to London. The weather was very bad in Aberdeen and before we got to London, the London-Lagos Leg had left for Nigeria.
I was flying Business Class, so, I was checked into Heathrow Hilton and booked on the Virgin Atlatic Flight to Nigeria for later that night.
I later flew Virgin Atlantic to Nigeria. On getting to Nigeria, lo and behold! None of my luggage came! BA did not transfer mu Luggage to Virgin Atlantic! I had to stay back in Lagos for 2 extra weeks before I got my luggage, and when the last one came, it was tampered with and some of my personal stuffs were missing and the bag was torn (I still have a snapshot of the bag till date)
I filled the Baggage Claims Form and was tossed around for more than a year and when I told them that I was going to escalate it, that was when they paid me a paltry compensation which was not up to half of what I lost. This was after almost 2 years of fighting for my compensation!
I am very sure that I was treated this way because I am Nigerian!
If I was American or European, they would have paid me some compensation on landing Nigeria and realising that my luggage was left behind, this would have taken care of my toiletries, etc. I had to use my personal money to buy toileteries and stayed in the Hotel in Lagos at my own expense.
These BA people needs to be taught how to treat Nigerians!!!
I have travelled BA only once to Nigeria in 1998 as a teenager. Although I did not experience any rude behaviour,but they way they treated other Nigerians was very uncomfortable for me at that young age. I vowed that day and after the decline of Nigerian Airways never to travel by BA to Nigeria. The boycott after this last incident will now be a worldwide ban.
My fellow Nigerians and others who are appalled by this let us stay steadfast and be patient.But its very unfortunate to hear some Nigerians saying “ah which one consine me”. Granted we all have our own problems and issues but as I told a friend yesterday I said “I hope you or your family experience a similar treatment, let’s see what your reaction will be”. Mr Omotade and the 136 Nigerians and other Nigerians appalled by this probably DO NOT KNOW HIS AND THEIR ACTIONS SAVED THAT DEPORTEE’S LIFE. Remember Osamuyiwa who died at the hands of the Spanish Guardia Civil.
Slowly my brothers and sisters until the changes DEMANDED by us are fully implemented, BA sales to and from Nigeria will begin to dwindle.
Well, this is what we get when we do not put our acts together. All being said, if we had our own National Airline that operated well with all the good services called NIGERIAN AIRWAYS, many Nigerian travellers would as a matter of course have abandoned the likes of BA since. I am not and will never be in support of any kind of injustice especially of this kind so dont get me wrong. I have never had any sort of problems personally with BA but the kind of tales I hear does not gladden the heart one bit. The other thing that upsets me is the price from the UK to Nigeria/Ghana which is definitely double the price from the UK to the USA considering the fact that from the UK to Nigeria is about 6 hrs and to the States about 8?? I wish I knew the answers. I do want to boycott these guys - BA,Virgin and what have you but the question is if I do which airline do I travel home with? I am sure many people will be asking the same question. So while we fight this battle, please let us find ways of fighting to keep our own wholly Nigerian owned Airline. God bless.
I writes fron the United States. I already emailed Mr.Walsh and had advised him to resign his position with immediate effect. It is very dissappointing that BA would suddenly forgot all the patronages from nigerians accross the world. I love you guys that instituted this gestures. Remember, there are other organizations/countries that will face this sort of face off soon. watch out!
Hey all….this is specifically to the administrators of this site.
I believe we as Nigerians represent a huge buying force in the European economy as a whole and a lot of times, we are not respected. I personally have not had any issues with BA but i’ve hear way to many stories that annoy me.
To give more weight to this campaign i understand there are some PR websites (myprgenie.com, vocus.com)that can help launch a PR campaign from $250 to about $1500 and one can publicize stories in the media that will be heard by a lot more than just an email chain. This action may actually get BA to wake up.
One can send the petition to them and courteously alert them that further actions on publicizing their condescending customer service will be taken.
I flew BA to/from Nigeria in March this year, the Nigerian officials at the check in desk attempted to maltreat me and gave them about 90 minutes of drama, which I am sure they will never forget. At check in, they unilaterally decided to down grade my ticket to economy class, telling me they had oversold their higher classes and so had the right to choose people to down grade. All attempt to tell them that in all my years of flying (and I fly a lot!), I have never heard that nonsense before, instead airlines will announce to passengers that they are overbooked and let willing passengers decide to disembark or go to a lower class and get additional compensation. I kept escalating my concerns to higher levels of management, but it seemed they did not get it, all of them kept telling me the same nonsense, the most senior manager, who started claiming he had lived in London and Dallas (like I really care!) told me that if I had a problem with the leg room in coach class, i should have medical insurance for that problem…imagine the stupidity! he told me that if I was not going to accept the down grade, I had to extend my stay in Nigeria. I could not believe the madness, imagien an airline taking my money, being wrong and then being rude and insulting. By the time, i was done raining trouble at the BA counter, I had my right seat and vowed to stay away from BA or any other stupid airline that behanves like they are doing me a favor.
I was on a British Airways flight from Lagos to London in August of 2006 wherein I develop a moderately severe headache.I asked one of the flight attendants to kindly give me 2 pills of Tylenol or Paracetamol for my headache;the usual first aid treatment for this kind of problem,to my astonishment she went to their cabin and came back to tell me that they do not have this on their flight.
This was the same flight wherein I saw them serving alcohol;wine,whisky freely to our people.
I plan to travel home this year and will not be flying this Airline again.Case closed.
Pleaaaase,my beloved people let’s boycott this Airline and show them that we are not living in the past any longer; until an unreserved apology (and an appropriate compensation given to the people involved in this)is given to all Nigerians .God bless our dear country.
I fly BA regularly not because i like the airline or the attitude of the staff towards Nigerians but because i have no choice when it comes to travelling home.It is a shame that a country like Nigeria with all its resources and wealth have no national carier and instead depends on all these foriegn airlines who have no respect for us because of our inability as a nation to run and manage our own airline.
In April 2007 i went to Nigeria with my family. On coming back to london i had all my children (aged 5, 11,and 12 years) in different part of the aircraft. My daughter who is less than 5 years at the time was asked to sit in the midst of strangers and the mother was given two rows of seats away from my daughter. I objected to the idea of my daughter staying in the midst of strangers for a 6 hour night flight to london.
What appalled me most was the action of the senior official on board who did not find any thing wrong with my daughter who is still emotionally attached to the mother staying in the midst of strangers. When i asked her if she could do that on their transatlantic flights from london to America she accused me of shouting and being aggressive. She even threatened to blacklist me if i continue to object. This is typical of British to silence a blackman when he wants to put across his views. I did not budge until they re-arranged their seats and my daughter was given a seat beside the mother.
This incident made me to conclude that BA staff are racists and have no respect for Nigerians. They fly to Nigeria because it is lucrative for them. They are only interested in how much they can make and not we as people. I do not feel any anger towards the airline but to our politicians who collude with the airlines to exploit our people. Sometimes i feel ashame of that country Nigerian because our government and the individual politicians are only interested in the kick backs they get from these airlines. This should be an awake call for nigerian government to do something and make these airlines treat us with respect.
marija V
THOUGH, NOT REALLY HAD AN EXPERIENCE WITH BA, COS DONT BELIEVE IN THEIR SERVICES DELIVERY, DUE TO NUMEROUUS COMPLAIN, AS OUTLINED ON THIS WEB, AM A FAN OF VIRGIN ATLANTIC.
WHAT I BELIEVE IS FOR THE NIGERIAN GOVT. IF THEY LIKE THIS OUR BELOVED NIGERIA AND DONT TAKE BRIBE SHOULD BAN THEM FROM OUR AIR SPACE FOR 90DAYS, THEN WHICH THEY BWRITE A WRITTEN APPOLOGY TO NIGERIANS, AND THE BLACK RACE, ON ALL NATIONAL NEWS PAPERS IN NIGERIA, AND CARRY ON AIR AS WELL,BOTH LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL AIR LIKE CNN, FOX , BBC, SKY NEWS ETC ETC. AFTERALL THEY NEED US MORE THAN WE NEED THEM, OIL, NIGERIANS INVESTMENT IN UK, OUR LOCRATIVE MARKET FOR THEIR PRODUCT ETC ETC. THE BALL IS IN THE NIGERIAN GOVT. TO MAKE THE BIG DIFFERENCE…….
Fuck BA, I live in the US and i have gone home on BA a few times, They have on Respect for anybody that is Black,We as nigerias need to get our goverment to GET BA OUT,OUT, of NIGERIA NOW.
I have never fly british airways before may be because I live in far away australia and I dont have any reason to travel via BA even when going to europe, there are many good asian pacific flight that will give you a worth for your money. One thing I cant stand is discrimination and insult to my person or my race, I have been following BA saga and I did agree its time someone put there arogance into check. I will employ if the coordinator of this boyccot plan could reach to face book and create a goup page for this boyccot action, its also a very good medium to reach out to many more people around the globe and this will keep the pressure mounting.
Thanks once again for all the responses.
I sympathise with anyone who doesn’t get respect if it’s due. As far as Nigeria is concerned, having done some work related training there I would like to ask Nigerians why almost everyone from passport control at Lagos or PH right to the hotel (including cops on the street) are all on the take and if they you don’t grease their palms with naira then you will struggle to get your passport/ID papers back before you return home. Corruption might be a way of life in some countries but it’s pretty hard to take when you visit a country to train the native population!
The inhuman and unjust treatment of Nigerians abroad has been actually on for a very long time now, just that the recent one with BA could not just go without getting justice thanks to audacious people behind it. I will also like to bring to your notice that it’s not only BA that indulges in this kind of animalistic behaviour. Just two weeks ago, a friend of mine was unjustly detained, embarrased, verbally assaulted and deported back to Nigeria in Istanbul on the 29th -30th of August 2008.
En-route to Copenhagen Denmark from Lagos Nigeria via Istanbul on the 29th of August together with her husband, an officer at the point of boarding the 10.15 flight to Copenhagen refused her entry into TURKISH AIRLINE TK 1783. Without been interogated or questioned, the officer together with other officials took her to the deportation department in the airport, falsely accused her of using a fake visa which was actually authentic and issued by the Swedish government. She was not allowed to talk or interrogated and threatened to beat up the husband. Together with the husband, they were verbally assaulted with words that are unimaginable, constantly making reference to Nigeria and Nigerians as criminals.
Several attempts were made by the embassy of Sweden in London, Istanbul and other officials in Sweden including the University where she studies to get across to the Turkish officials to confirm the authenticity of her visa, all to no avail since they have made up their mind about her. The most annoying part was that the Turkish Airline officials made no attempt to confirm the authenticity of her visa. She was finally taken back to Nigeria on the 30th of August 2008 after being detained in a room filled with smokers without window for over 24 hours.
This is not the first time Turkish Airline will be deporting Nigerians without just reasons as confirmed by a senior Nigerian Immigration officer on duty when she arrived Nigeria. The officer now getting seriously disturbed with the rate by which Nigerians are been deported by Turkish Airline said it’s time for Nigerians to stop patronizing this airline.
I will like to use this medium to inform fellow Nigerians and anyone who loves justice to stop travelling through TURKISH AIRLINE just like BA until they recognize how to treat their customers with respect irrespective of their race, colour or nationality.
I have flown with British Airways many times in the past both to MMA and Federal Capital. I have only ever been treated with courtesy and respect by the cabin crew. Maybe this is because I treat them with respect and remember that I am on an aircraft and modify my behaviour to suit my surroundings.
Too many times I have been embarrassed by my countryfolk who have acted in a bad way towards the crew for no reason. On one trip a woman next to me was asked to show her seatbelt to the cabin lady before take off. She refused and said that she was only being asked because she was Nigerian. This was ridiculous and gives us all bad names. So many times I see fellow passengers acting like spoilt children when they do not get their own way. If this is the way you want it, hire a plane and you can pay to have your own way.
I have witnessed a fellow countryman being deported from the UK with Bellview so please do not attempt to say to me that is is only the European airline that is making this happen to us. I spoke to a guard who was going back with one woman who shuoted all the way back to MMA. He said that she had tried to bring drugs into UK. If she did it then she deserves what can happen to her in nigeria.
The victim attitude that is so evident in these pages makes us seem weak. Behave ina civilised manner and you will be treated respectfully in return. Behave like a spoiled child or pull the race-card as so many countrymen do and you will be treated the way you deserve.
I was on the same flight as Mr. Omotade, I was shocked by his attitude! He was rude, loud and agressive to the BA crew and police.
I think that we spoil our best intentions with bad manners.
This issue of Mr Omatade has completely overshadowed the injustice done to the deportee.
I say, leave Omotade to face the music but we should focus on the treatment of deportees and BA’s tolerance of the inhumane treatment accorded them.
If anything, i am impressed by the support this issue received. Even the government for once impressed. I very much doubt if this would easily re-occur.
No one should put up with this kind of discrimination and insult.
United we stand
http://www.fatsripping.com
Dear Nigeria Today, following is something I sent to NigeriaTodayOnline some months ago when everyone was unhappy with BA. Of course it never got published.
What I said then is just as relevant now…..
Dear NigeriaTodayOnline
During the past two weeks or more I have been reading ad nauseum about the ‘BA incident’ and what I am reading sounds more and more pathetic. You Nigerians are all jumping on the ‘shared indignities’ bandwagon, without a full knowledge of the facts and with a lot of prejudice and self-pity, and you are beginning to sound like a rabble.
Why don’t you forget about all that for a moment and spare a thought for the gross indignities we ‘Brits’ and other expats suffer every time we have to negotiate Murtallah Muhammed Airport.
Most of us in the oil industry have ‘protocol’ staff who save us from the worst of these indignities (the work of ‘protocol’, in this context, being more or less a business of handing out bribes.) However, the last time I arrived at Murtallah Muhammed Airport I discovered, to my great dismay, that some new minister had recently banned expat protocol staff from the terminal building in an effort to ease congestion, meaning that for the first time I was going to have to ‘run the gauntlet’ alone.
As soon as I entered the baggage ’security check’ area it was evident to me that the staff there had knowledge of the minister’s new directive because they were praying on the expats with unusual rapacity. Describing the two security agents I had the misfortune to deal with as ‘unprofessional’ would do them too much honour: they were aggressive, presumptuous, offensive, rude, insulting pigs. They upturned everything in my bag as though they were going through a garbage dump, continually asking unnecessary and intrusive questions about every small item they found - when not single thing in my bag needed to be identified or justified. To be frank, I just wanted to tell them to fuck off and keep their hands off my stuff. That is precisely what they deserved.
Finally - predictably - they found something to take issue with: a carton of cigarettes. They took these out and wanted to confiscate them, saying it was illegal to take them out of the country. I told them it was not illegal. Their insistence that I would ‘not be getting on a plane’ unless I gave them the cigarettes was both sinister and threatening. But I refused. I even asked them to go and get a senior official to confirm whether or not I was carrying anything illegal, which of course they didn’t see fit to do because I wasn’t. So I stood my ground for several minutes and it was only the pressure of the waiting queue behind me (replete with fresh ‘victims’, of course) that finally persuaded these vultures to let me to pass - with my belongings intact, thank you God, but in complete disarray.
These two travesties of the security profession are, of course, scum - and Murtallah Mohammed Airport is full of them. But don’t get me wrong, there is white scum as well as black scum and there is even British scum. The difference is that you won’t find British scum systematically raping and pillaging the belongings of innocent passengers at Heathrow, Gatwick or any of our other airports: we try to put as many of them as possible in prison.
I remember a very revealing and entertaining BBC documentary series entitled ‘Airport’ that explored the workings of Murtallah Muhammed Airport – famous at that time for being the ‘worst airport in the world’. As I recall, it finally took a healthy dose of British management and British expertise to teach the airport how to operate with at least a modicum of decency and dignity (not to mention efficiency). Now, it seems, everyone is falling back into their old ways!
As far as the ‘BA incident’ itself is concerned, I will say this. I have been flying all over the world for years and have no particular feelings for BA or any other airline: they are all much the same at the end of the day. Also, I think that airline staff are, for the most part, carefully-selected and well-trained to deal with ‘difficult’ passengers or incidents: they have to be. In the many years I have flown on planes with tough oil industry workers who, more often than not, board a plane tired and/or under the influence of alcohol, I still cannot recall a single incident that was remotely serious enough to delay a flight or require the removal of a passenger.
Although actually, now I think about it, that isn’t quite true. I can recall such an incident – just one. But this wasn’t on a long-haul flight full of drunken oil workers, it was on a local Virgin Nigeria flight to Accra – full mostly of what looked like ‘locals’. And it left at 9 in the morning, so I don’t think we can blame this on alcohol.
The incident centred around one man – a ‘local man’ - and the big, heavy video camera he carried with him onto the plane. When he boarded, the cabin crew obviously assumed he was going to store this camera in an overhead luggage compartment, just as all the other passengers do with their luggage. But they were wrong. He wanted to hold the camera on his lap, for safe-keeping, throughout the flight. (For those of you who don’t know how things work on a plane, let me explain that this is obviously dangerous and therefore, strictly against the rules. It also begs the question why, if the camera was so valuable and so fragile, did the owner not even have a protective carrying case for it ?????? !!!!!!!!!
The cabin staff made repeated but fruitless efforts to persuade this passenger to put his camera in a locker but he flatly refused and the camera stayed on his lap. Continual refusal and continual arguing-back were the only strategies he could offer to resolve the situation. First, he argued very childishly that ‘all the other airlines’ let him carry the camera on his lap, so why wouldn’t Virgin Nigeria? This was obviously a blatant lie, because no airline – except perhaps a Nigerian one - would ever allow it. Then he demanded (naively and childishly) a written guarantee from Virgin Nigeria, on the spot, that they would pay for any damage his camera incurred. And so it went on…and on…and on.
Finally, the Virgin Nigeria captain announced over the speakers that he was holding the plane on the runway indefinitely. So an entire planeload of passengers was forced to sit and watch in complete disbelief, for some 40 minutes, as one pain-in-the-ass passenger was gently and patiently persuaded, by a highly professional and well-trained cabin crew, to accept their offer of a specially-emptied, specially-lined locker for his very special camera. It was just like being in a kindergarten!
Without attempting any deep psychoanalysis, what can we say about this incident and the man who caused it – apart from the fact that he was an embarrassment to humanity?
That he didn’t know the rules? Not knowing the rules is easily remedied, normally, with the appropriate instruction. But clearly, this man did know the rules. For some reason though, he preferred to play a perverse and confusing game with the rules, based on lies and deceipt, in order to get his own way. Besides, when the rules were formally explained to him – on repeated occasions - he flatly refused to accept them!
This is the behaviour of a dysfunctional misfit. He will always be in conflict with society and he will make very little contribution to society. He basically doesn’t know how to behave. He also has a diminished sense of social responsibility – not caring what damage or inconvenience he causes others in the pursuit of his own ends – as well as a diminished sense of personal responsibility – always looking for ways to place the responsibility for his problems on other people’s shoulders.
CONCLUSION: We will never know whether or not there were any people like this on board when the ‘BA incident’ occurred, but one has to admit it’s a possibility. Nigerians don’t have a reputation for stuff like this for no reason.
Finally, I read on Sunday 27th April that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, in its great wisdom, is now traducing British Airways with the additional ‘offences’ of baggage delays, flight cancellations and overbooking - ‘among others’ - !!!!!.)
Come on Nigeria, GET REAL! Apart from having – still – the world’s worst airport you also have, arguably, the world’s worst airline industry. If Nigerians ran the world’s airlines, the entire world economy would probably grind to a slow and painful halt!
In making the ‘BA incident’ a focus for your ‘shared indignities’, you are once again making yourselves the laughing stock of the planet.
STAND UP - FIX YOUR OWN PROBLEMS - STOP BLAMING OTHER PEOPLE
(I hope you will print this in the interests of providing your readers with a ‘balanced view’. I am a white Brit with a black Ghanaian wife and a mixed-race young son. So, ‘rejoinders’ suggesting racist attitude should be kept to postcard-size please! Better to address what I am actually saying!)