Some Air Peace passengers at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, Friday,last week demanded a refund of their airfare in anger after their flight was delayed for several hours.
. PREMIUM TIMES reports that the flight P47140 from Lagos to Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, was initially scheduled to depart Lagos by 7a.m. but was shifted to 10a.m.
Some of the passengers were informed quietly by Air Peace officials that the flight had been further shifted to 11a.m..
But at about 11:20a.m., the Air Peace officials brought the now agitated passengers together and informed them that their flight would be delayed further because the aircraft they were supposed to travel in developed technical problems.
“Hey, stop that nonsense, refund our money to us,” a male passenger shouted angrily at an unnamed female official of Air Peace who made the announcement.
“What kind of ill-treatment is this? You brought us out to the airport since 7a.m., and you have been keeping us here as if we don’t have what to do with our time,” the passenger said, as he continued to shout.
Other passengers also shouted at the airline official who was struggling to explain what caused the delay.
They all demanded a refund of their airfare.
One passenger complained that he had an important business meeting to attend virtually by 2p.m. and that he would really love to be in Uyo by that time.
The airline official pointed to Air Peace aircraft parked on the tarmac. “That’s the aircraft that was to fly you people to Uyo,” she said.
“It’s grounded because of technical problem, the engineers are working on it. But we don’t know when they will be through with it.”
She said that Air Peace was working on an alternative solution, to deploy to the Uyo route an aircraft that was flying into Lagos from Akure, Ondo State.
“So what time are we leaving here (Lagos),” a passenger asked the airline official.
“I am sorry, I can’t tell. They are boarding right now at Akure, so they should be in Lagos by 12:30p.m,” the Air Peace staff added
When contacted, Air Peace Spokesman, Stanley Olisah said the delay was due to unscheduled maintenance on tbe said aircraft.
“The aircraft rostered for that flight had an unscheduled maintenence. So, we had to make arrangement for another aircraft to operate that flight.
“While we deeply empathise with the affected passengers for the delay and resulting inconveniences, we must stress that safety is our priority at Air Peace, and the situation was unforeseen.
“We are not in the habit of delaying passengers and will never compromise safety standards,” Stanley
