Ayo Mairo-Ese, a host on Arise Television’s Morning Show, has called on regulatory authorities to sanction airlines that she claims are mistreating consumers. She specifically urged the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) to take action against these airlines.
Mairo-Ese highlighted that consumers continue to suffer due to a lack of heavy sanctions for errant airlines. She expressed her frustrations on her X handle on Friday, citing instances where passengers are left stranded despite booking flights and arriving at check-in counters early, only to be told their flights had departed hours earlier without any prior notice.
She criticized the practice of airlines failing to notify passengers through email, text messages, or calls about changes to flight schedules. Mairo-Ese stressed that flight tickets are expensive, and passengers, who make significant sacrifices to travel by air, are often treated poorly.
In her posts, she said:
“Why do we do this to ourselves in this country? You book a flight for a particular time, you get to the check-in counter over an hour before the flight, then get told that the flight already left 3 hours prior? No notice. No email. No text. No call. Please make it make sense!
This is not the first time this is happening, and until there are HEAVY sanctions for erring airlines, consumers will continue to suffer. The tickets are NOT cheap; people make sacrifices to travel and then you treat consumers shabbily! It cannot be rocket science to make sense of aviation travel in Nigeria.
We want investors to come in, we want Nigerians to fly Nigerian, but operators do not want to do right by the people. When will consumers’ rights matter in Nigeria?!! @fccpcnigeria @mikeachimugu01 @fkeyamo
I’m so upset. It’s not just me; a good number of people. Not just one airline too! @fccpcnigeria @NigeriaCAA @mikeachimugu01 please sanitize this industry. Protect the interests and welfare of Nigerians. The country is hard enough; let some things work!”
Mairo-Ese’s remarks have sparked a conversation about the need for better consumer protection in the Nigerian aviation industry.
