About 10 passengers on Tuesday missed Kano flight from Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos due to what the passengers described as “overzealousness” on the part of the Azman Air Services Ltd airline workers.
The passengers got to the counter between 9:35 and 9:40am for a 10am flight.
The flight number is ZQ 2313 (HK).
The flight ticket says “Check-in closes 30 mins before departure” and “Boarding gate closes 15 mins before departure.”
Among the passengers is a man going for promotional examination, a journalist, businessman, government officials.
Instead of the airline official, Bashiru Otaru to allow them collect Boarding Pass and head to board since Boarding Gate closure time was still 10 minutes away, he insisted that they have missed the flight.
One of the passengers told him he has “Checked-in” online, asking him to give him the already printed Boarding Pass, Otaru declined.
He said the passenger ought to have printed the Boarding Pass online after completing the check in.
The passenger told him he did it on his mobile phone and it is not possible to print it. Otaru insisted that he has missed the flight.
Another passenger showed him his printed “Checked in” Boarding Pass. Otaru still denied him joining the flight.
The passengers demanded to see the Station Manager. Otaru said he could not be reached in office because he had gone for ramp inspection.
Their demands for his contact to intimate about the challenges were rebuffed by him.
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“His (Station Manager’s) office is up there. Go and check if he is there,” he told the passengers.
On getting to the Azman’s office on floor 1, they met a man said to be Operations Manager, who led the passengers to talk to Otaru, but Otaru insisted that they have missed the flight.
According to the Operations Manager, the flight was not full, wondering why he (Otaru) could behave in such manner.
The passengers lodged complain at Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) office.
The woman told them that they were late for five minutes and that is the law.
Not satisfied with her explanation, they told her that there several occasions airlines (Azman inclusive) would delay flights for up to three hours.
“If we could show understanding with the airlines for such long period delays, how come they cannot show understanding with passengers for five minutes lateness? This is unfair,” Muhammed, one of the passengers told the NCAA official.
After rescheduling their flights for evening (6:45pm) and payment of N5,000 and above for “No show”, three of the passengers returned to the Station Manager’s office.
The Station Manager, Kawu Sani Aliyu told them that Otaru did not wrong for sticking to the rules.
Aliyu agreed with the passengers that Otaru could have notified him since some of the passengers had pressing engagements that could not be delayed for the next 6:45pm flight.
“We do not derive joy in making our passengers miss flights. We try as much as possible to assist them get on board. Even this particular flight was delayed because we noticed that some people have checked-in and they are not on board. We had to make fourth announcements,” Aliyu said.
