By Akakan Umoh
On Wednesday, 31 July 2024, my little cousin and I were on our way to the airport.
“Have you cross checked your flight details? What is your departure time?” I asked him.
“It says here 1 p.m. I need to be there early to check in. Can’t miss this flight, because I have the next flight back to USA from Lagos by 7 p.m. I have a speaking engagement two days from now that I need to meet up.”
Both of us sat at the back of the car, while my driver sat at the front wheels, driving.
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I was checking current news from my tablet, while my cousin was looking at his flight ticket and staring out the car window looking pensive.
“Relax, this is 11 a.m. Of course, by the time we get to the airport, it will be 11:30 a.m. Good thing Port Harcourt doesn’t have traffic like Lagos. We will get there on time, you will check in, and depart for Lagos by 1p.m. Just take a deep breath in and out, and relax,” I said to reassure him.
I noticed his shoulders that were tensed up earlier, relaxed a bit.
He stayed looking outside the window, while clutching his flight ticket tightly, while I went back to reading the news items on my tablet.
That was how we stayed in total silence till we got to the airport.
Just as I predicted, we got to Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, by 12:08 p.m.
We went straight to Ibom Air counter to check in, because that was the flight we had booked for his departure to Lagos three weeks earlier.
My cousin queued behind three other passengers waiting to be checked in, while I waited at the side with his luggage.
Immediately, about three or four other passengers who were for the same flight also came and queued behind my cousin.
Not more than five minutes after my cousin queued in, they finished attending to two passengers out of the three that were in front of my cousin.
A tall, not too skinny, but chocolate in complexion looking young fellow who was controlling the queue, announced immediately:
“Check in for Lagos flight has closed. Because you came late, you have missed your flight.” This young man blurted out arrogantly, without any iota of remorse.
Initially, it sounded like it wasn’t us he was addressing because this was just unbelievable.
When, it was now obvious who the guy spoke to, my cousin turned to look at me in utter disbelief and confusion.
I, too, was shocked at the announcement.
“What do you mean by we came late for check in? Departure time is 1p.m, and this is just 12:15 p.m. So, how are we late?” One of the passengers in front asked the guy controlling the queue, but he acted like he didn’t hear the question.
When reality set in, that this guy was actually serious, and that there was a possibility of my cousin and about eight other passengers who were on the queue with him, going to miss their flight that afternoon, we all approached this fellow and opted to talk to him, but he gave us no listening ears.
We enquired if there was a manager or any other superior we could talk to, but this same fellow said no, that he was the alpha and the omega, as long as that situation is concerned.
Now, while this situation was ongoing, to our chagrin, we saw about 10 people who were not on queue before, being ushered to the counter area.
In the presence of the already frustrated passengers, the counter people collected huge amount of money from them and hurriedly proceeded to give them boarding passes so they could go on the flight.
To my own understanding, these 10 passengers never had tickets for that particular flight, but had to bribe their way to be able to board the flight, leaving people who had taken the time to purchase tickets early and planned ahead, stranded.
As we couldn’t see any other superior Ibom Air staffer to lay our complaints to, we approached other airport officials and told them our story. They merely laughed at us and said something that gave us chills and in utter disbelief.
According to them, this is the trademark of IbomAir and a practice that has been going on for a really long time. That the practice goes from the top to the least staffer in IbomAir. So, there was nothing they could do about it.
The sheer wickedness!
Now, it became crystal clear to us that some IbomAir tickets go to the highest bidder.
Luckily for us, one airport official, a good Samaritan, volunteered to step in and assist us. He directed us to the security office of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), located within the airport terminal building. We went there as a group and reported the matter.
Some security officers followed us to the IbomAir counter and immediately got these guys arrested. At the FAAN security office, they made statements to that effect, and evidence of this malpractice recovered from them. The affected passengers also made their individual statements, of which most of them recounted that they have had similar experiences with IbomAir.
By the time we were done at the FAAN Security office, it was already past 1 p.m, and the booked aircraft had already departed.
Neither my cousin nor the other affected passengers could make the flight. They all had to scramble for tickets of other airlines in order to meet up their various engagements in Lagos.
The sad thing is that, when my cousin got to the United States, I reached out to him and asked him repeatedly if any member of IbomAir or FAAN has reached out to him to apologise and give him an update on how the matter was resolved but he said no.
Whenever my cousin recalls this bitter experience, he has vowed not to use this particular Airline for local flights again because of the corruption going on there.
It worries me a lot, that this act some staffers are carrying out against passengers is dangerous to the IbomAir brand, which is our own.
At this point, I want to remind our own dearest IbomAir that there was once a Nigerian Airways, and many other airlines which were once celebrated but are no more today because of unchecked several issues of this nature.
The professional lawlessness in the sale of tickets by some staffers of IbomAir, is now a regular practice, and also the order of the day by these few lawless staffers of IbomAir, Port Harcourt station.
Passengers who planned their trips and bought their tickets in advance, are being deprived and swindled of the opportunity to fly, in favour of passengers who had no tickets at all but are willing to pay these criminal members of staff some outrageous amount, which they collect and dump in their pockets. This, they do, by closing check in to a flight early before the stipulated and standard check in closure time of 45 minutes to departure in a domestic flight.
I would love to reiterate here that most of the airport officials who spoke to us said nothing was going to be done about it, that it’s just a normal thing with IbomAir.
If FAAN, Port Harcourt and Management of IbomAir, have not joined the trend in the country, where companies and organizations usually feign not responsive and responsible in situations like this, they should come clean on the report of investigation on these matter, apologise to the affected passengers, put measures to outwit a reoccurrence, that way, trust may be restored in the IbomAir brand and the investment secured.
Moreso, the Government of Akwa Ibom state, which has invested heavily in the company, should endeavour to extend an oversight eye and checkmate this sad occurrence so that this lovely and beautiful airline will not vanish one day like Nigerian Airways, among others.
