WorldStage Newsonline– A schedule flight No. P47173 of Nigeria’s Air Peace from Benin City to Lagos for 11.40 hours was delayed by 25 minutes on Monday 19th March, 2018 as a flight attendant by name Sandra had a rough session with some passengers on board.
An eye-witness told WorldStage Newsonline that the attendant was rude to several passengers and particularly insulted the parents of two passengers on seats 22C & 23D, one of who was holding a foreign passport.
“The passengers attempted to beat up the attendant,” our source said.
The attendant was said to have gotten angry after four announcements were made that four persons should come and confirm their luggage with no response, and when a passenger told her to check if those people were Abuja bound, since they were all checked in at the same time, she was said to have flared up.
Later while the plane (5N-BQP) was taxing to the take-off point, the attendant was said to have shouted at a passenger who still had his laptop opened, and this did not go down well with some passengers.
“She was not polite in telling him to shut it down,” the eye-witness said.
The incident was said to have made the Pilot, Capt. Wellington to bring the plane back to the ramp.
When contacted for reaction to the incident, Mr Chris Iwarah, the spokesperson of Air Peace said what happened was that the plane first taxied to the wrong runway and when it returned to the ramp, the Captain had already made a report of a security situation concerning two passengers who refused to switch off their mobile phones.
He said the passengers were unruly and one of them even slapped the crew official, and the Captain had no choice than to handover the passengers to Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) security officials at the airport.
He said the passengers were detained, and by regulation, they were not to be released until the plane had landed at its destination.
He said later when the passengers became remorseful, the airline decided not to take up the case against them and advised FAAN to use its discretion to release them from detention.
Nigerians are regular victims of inhumane treatments by airlines over the years, particularly the foreign carries.
As recent as in April 2017, some Nigerians on board a KLM flight threatened to prevent the plane from taking off after they spotted another Nigerian, who was being deported, in chains.
Also in the same April 2017, Turkish Airlines was reported to have abandoned no fewer than 22 Nigerian students of Glisten International College, Abuja between the ages of 11 and 15 at Istanbul Ataturk Airport, while in February 2018, the same Airlines purportedly ill-treated a Nigerian businesswoman, Tolulope Ogundokun when she wanted to board a flight from the Ataturk International Airport in Turkey to London.
Emirates in January this year allegedly tied up a Nigeria while its crew also beat a septuagenarian, Pa. David Ukesone on-board Chicago bound flight from Dubai. The man was reported to have been maltreated for up to eight hours in the flight.
British Airways had in May 2008 admitted and regretted a March 27 incident, which led to the maltreatment of over 130 Nigerians on-board its London-Lagos flight.
The airline in a statement then, said that the decision, which led to the incident, was taken in the interest of safety, and that it was not meant to maltreat the Nigerian passengers.
According to an industry analyst, from physical to emotional abuse, threats, maltreatment on board and on ground, before and after boarding, poor in-flight services, the bad treatments of the country’s citizens know no bounds.
