Still On British Airways [opinion]

Lagos, May 12, 2008 (This Day/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- BAIRY | news | PowerRating | PR Charts -- It would seem that the world's biggest airline, British Airways bit more than it can chew when it off-loaded some Nigerian passengers recently because of what it considered their unruly behaviour. Since then, Lucifer has escaped from the pit of hell, and there is no peace on earth.

Since I wrote my piece last week, I have been inundated with all sorts. My God! Our people are tough. I have decided to serve you two sizzling hot accounts from the horses' mouths. One from the Nigerian who claims to be the victim blogged his experience on the internet, while the other is from an erudite Nigerian who works for British Airways in London. Please draw your own conclusions, as I rest my case on the raging controversy of the year.

I have to admit I'm one of the great admirers of yours; in terms of your business acumen and your regular column in This Day which I do read religiously online every Saturday. Also I wish to state that I'm one of the few African 'Cabin Services Director' (CSD) working on BA flights and I've been a London based BA employee for over ten years on the 'Longhaul' fleet. I must stress that I'm not writing this rejoinder as an official spokesperson for BA, rather I'm doing this as a Nigerian who had witnessed at close quarters the attitude of fellow Nigerians on BA flights.

A number of my friends had called my attention to the petition/campaign going on the internet regarding BA. I wasn't going to pay much attention to this until you alluded to it in your column. Contrary to what most Nigerians may believe, BA is not a racist company; BA employs more people from ethnic minorities than any other public quoted company in the UK, and it was also one of the first companies in the 90's to introduce positive discrimination by insisting that new job applicants must be able to speak a second language. Among the languages officially recognised were Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa; and each crew employee gets annual allowance for speaking another language. Even Richard Branson's Virgin had not managed to do this. I was employed mainly on merit without having to 'press any button' or contact any 'godfather' for favouritism.

Of course, there is no disputing the fact that the Nigerian route is one of the most lucrative routes for BA, but also one of the most problematic. When I first joined BA, I used to stand up to my colleagues, at the risk of losing my job, to defend fellow Nigerians' integrity. Sadly, over the years, I've since abandoned that attitude having witnessed and experienced first hand the embarrassing attitude of Nigerians. As an employer of labour yourself, you will agree with me that employees are employed to work to certain rules and standards. Most Nigerians I've had to deal with expect you to bend the rules for them; even when you try to explain that such compromise could cost you your job.

About five years ago, when BA was still flying to Malaysia, I witnessed first hand when a high ranking Nigeria Diplomat slapped a BA colleague of mine on the face for having the audacity to stop him from bringing a hand luggage that had exceeded the limit on a London bound flight. He produced his diplomatic passport to avoid arrest by the Malaysian Airport security. In my over ten years of flying, I've suffered more abuse in the hands of fellow Nigerians who were passengers on flights I operated on than from any other Nationalities. I've witnessed so much fighting - verbal and physical - among passengers on Lagos bound flights over what I will call trivial issues.

While most black people I've encountered in the course of my flights are often proud of me as a fellow black man and offered words of encouragements, most Nigerians often see my presence on their flights as an opportunity to bend the rules for them, and barrage of negative comments often followed whenever such request was turned down. Only about three weeks ago on a flight from Chicago, I had to intervene to stop a Nigerian woman with three children from being offloaded from the flight because she was very abusive towards a lady colleague of mine. This woman's grievance was that she was not allocated a seat that would enable her to put her infant baby in a 'flight cot'. No amount of polite explanation that there were other families that missed out as well, and that this allocation was done on 'first come first served basis' would stop her from shouting at the top of her voice. I had to tactically intervene and spoke to her in Yoruba that she was on the verge of being off-loaded. That was when she stopped her embarrassing posturing.

Most of my colleagues, especially those who had been operating for decades as crew on Nigerian routes, often spoke highly of Nigerians they had met and had made friends with. Some of my white colleagues have told me stories of how they've gone out socially with some of our Nigerian passengers and how pleasant some of them can be. At the same time, they are often frustrated especially with the present generation of Nigerians who see every shortcoming on the part of BA as a basis for confrontation, verbal or physical assault.

I heard of an incidence from one of our Captains: About three years ago, a Nigerian Minister of Aviation caused a BA London bound flight from Lagos to be refused dispatch clearance by Air Traffic Control. The said minister was supposed to be on the flight, but he arrived late to the airport and the aircraft had already pushed back from the air bridge. He wanted the aircraft to come back to the stand so that he could board, this request was against the BA policy, apart from security issues involved. But the minister wouldn't take no for an answer. After the flight was delayed for about three hours on the tarmac, and intervention from BA HQ and Aso Rock, the minister sadly had his way. My colleague told me that throughout the said flight, the minister was very rude to the crew attending to him.

Sir, again as an employer of labour yourself, I hope you will appreciate some of the difficult circumstances we as BA crew face when having to deal with Nigerians; most of these situations are sadly unique to Nigeria. I don't even want to delve into credit card fraud we had to endure, or so many negative experiences of my colleagues that work on the ground at Heathrow.

Of course as a profit making company, I agree with you that BA could do better in the area of Air miles allocation for executive card holders and I will gladly pass on your suggestions to our products department. As for your suggestion regarding Richard Branson's style of management, that style suits his niche market. BA is not a one man band, unless the company is bought by a maverick multibillionaire.

Then, I got this from the main protagonist, Ayodeji Omotade. The story and its narration is a thriller:

On the 27th of March 2008 at about 12:30pm, I boarded the British Airways flight BA75 and I went straight to seat 53C. On getting to my seat, there were (sic) noises from an individual being forcibly restrained but who was not visible because some police officers and some plain clothes people held him down. The noise continued for more than 20 minutes and I was concerned because the individual was screaming in agony and shouting in pidgin English 'I go die' meaning, I will die. I pleaded with the officers not to kill him and my exact words were "please don't kill him."

The British Airways staff said the officers were doing their jobs and that nothing was going to happen. The noise became louder and other passengers started getting concerned and were complaining especially about their safety. The situation continued for another 15 minutes after I got on. Eventually, a member of the cabin crew announced that the passenger was going to be removed and the passenger was removed from the plane and we all thought that was the end of the situation. Five minutes later, two members of the cabin crew arrived with about 4 police officers and told me to get off the plane. I asked what the matter was and they said that I was not going to travel with the airline because the cabin crew thought I had been disruptive by questioning the noise being caused by the person that was removed. I pleaded with them that I was going for my brother's wedding and that I had all his stuff with me. I was dragged out of the plane as if I was resisting arrest.

As we got to the corridor that linked the plane with the terminal building, I was slammed against the wall and made to sit on the floor. I was still pleading with them telling them they had completely misunderstood me and that I was only complaining about the situation regarding the disturbances caused by the deportee they were trying to restrain and subdue. I was on the floor for about 20 to 25 minutes. Another passenger was brought to the corridor as well and he was also pleading with the officers.

I was later put in the back of the police van at about 1:50 p.m. and I was locked up there for about an hour or more still handcuffed. I was formally arrested at approximately 2:30 p.m. and my rights were read to me. Before the arrest in the van, I managed to reach for my pocket and brought out my mobile phone. I made some phone calls to my wife, sister and a friend while the low battery sign was on because I was all alone and still handcuffed. I was later driven to the police station where I was formally checked in.

I was in police custody for almost 8 hours and later released on bail after the interview with the duty solicitor and detectives. I had GBP473.00 on me which was seized as well as GBP90.00 sent to my mother in-law from my sister in-law and GBP1,050.00 given to me by my cousin who is a doctor for the upkeep of his parents in Nigeria. All the money together was GBP1,613.00. I was told that I would appear in a magistrate court to prove the money was not meant for crime or proceeds of crime. The officer told me that they will like to see traceability and that I needed my pay slips and bank account detailing my payments and withdrawals as well as my cousin's payments and withdrawals.

I was released but without the money. I made my way to Terminal 4 and arrived there at about 12:30 a.m. but the British Airways kiosks were closed. I was directed to the staff room and told them that I wanted to rebook my trip to Lagos. A lady told me to give her my ticket and she stated that British Airways has banned me from traveling with them indefinitely and that only the managers can use their discretions (sic) because I was a 'disruptive passenger.' I requested for my 2 piece luggage and she told me that the section will be opened later at about 5:30 a.m. and I will be escorted into collect them. I slept on the chair and waited till about 5:30 a.m. and attempted to rebook my ticket but was told that British Airways refused to take me. I decided to go and pick up my stuff and I was told that my luggages (sic) were missing. I was handed a form with reference number LONBA90924. At this point, I became totally stranded because I could not leave without my luggage because it contained my brother's wedding suit, shirts and accessories.

I was on the phone with my wife and she wanted to book an alternative flight that departs at 10:15am so that I could make it for the wedding. This was not possible because British Airways refused to disclose where my luggages were (sic) and did not remove my luggage from the flight when they called the police to arrest me. On Monday 31st of March, I appeared at the Magistrate court but was told that a decision was made about the GBP1,613.00 that was seized from me. The police had been granted a further 90 days to hold on to the money pending their investigation. I was given the officer's details .He requested 12 months bank statements and 6 months pay slip to prove that the GBP473.00 that belongs to me was not proceeds of crime and also requested that the GBP1,050.00 that was given to me by my cousin for his parents should also be traced to my cousin's 12 months bank statement and 6 months pay slip. DC Webster has promised to write me detailing these requests.

Still on Monday 31st of March, 4 days after I was taken off the plane, I made extra efforts to find out the whereabouts of my 2 piece luggage (LONBA90924), because they have not been sent to my address as promised by calling the lost baggage section at 13:44 hrs and spoke to a man called Neil who said that it is difficult for them to trace my bags and that there is a strong possibility that they might be in Lagos. He suggested that I should call back in 24 hours. Eventually, one week and one day later, my bags were brought to me at home. One was badly damaged and the other was intact. British Airways deliberately made sure I missed the wedding because if they were kicking me off their flight, they would have removed my bags from the flight. They were all there when the police officers made me to sit on the floor and heard me pleading to allow me fly for my brother's wedding.

I could have made either KLM or Virgin Nigeria the following Friday morning. I will not want to believe that the authorities involved in the situation deliberately or cleverly punished me unnecessarily out of frustration for not being able to restrain or subdue a deportee or that I as a fee paying passenger was accused of affray with violence when I was voicing my concerns about the disturbances caused by the deportees (sic). I never mentioned any abusive or swear words neither was I physically threatening anyone. My luggage mysteriously was lost and I have been banned on all British Airways flights without a chance to say my part of the story to redeem myself. 135 passengers were asked to leave the flight because they expressed displeasure regarding the disturbances caused by the deportees and the officers trying to restrain him. My ticket was even refused to be endorsed by BA to enable me to fly with another airline. I need full compensation of my loss and also a letter of apology from British Airways.

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