2 hours ago
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The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), has embarked on a consumer awareness programme aimed at sensitising air travellers about their rights and responsibilities to facilitate smooth travel experience.
The consumer awareness campaign, which was executed through a roadshow exercise carried out by the management and staff of NCAA at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, was also taken to the Federal Secretariat, FCT, Abuja.
According to the Acting Director General of NCAA, Captain Chris Najomo, the initiative has become necessary to bridge the knowledge gap among air travellers, airlines, and aviation agencies, noting that in the past, the gap led to misunderstanding and poor consumer experiences for many travelling on both domestic and international flights.
Addressing journalists shortly before the commencement of the awareness exercise at the NAIA, Captain Najomo said: “This awareness is to alert and let passengers know their rights and also let the airlines know their rights. It’s not only passengers that we all support or back up all the time; we also back up the airlines when they are right.
“So, this awareness campaign is to tell the public their rights and these are your obligations too. You must know your obligations in terms of adhering to certain regulations at the airport. For instance, you cannot blame the airline if you miss your flight for coming into the airport 30 minutes to departure, when you should have been there two hours earlier for local flight or three hours for international flight.
“So, the NCAA is using this consumer awareness campaign to educate the passengers all over the nation, all over the airports. We have done the Lagos Road show, this is the Abuja Road show. We will walk from our office here to the terminal where we meet with the passengers and tell them their rights. So, we are here to sensitise the public and tell them that we are behind them.
“The NCAA has a portal whereby if anything goes wrong such as loss of baggages, boarding issues, etc, you just go to the portal, and the first person’s voice you will hear is my voice: “my name is Captain Chris Najomo, the Acting Director General of NCAA, how may I help you? And you lay your complaint and immediately the answer comes out.
“Apart from the portal, we have desks spread all over the 22 airports. Our consumer protection officers are all there and they are all uniformed now. To make their flight seamless, passengers must be at the airport two hours before departure for local flight and three hours for international flight.
“You cannot have a local flight by 12:30 and you walk in there by 12 O’Clock. No, they will deny you because there are processes you must follow. If you behave unruly, you will be dealt with. FAAN authorities will hold you. It is when you get there two hours before and you are denied, then the NCAA will come in and back you up.
“Again, a lot of people don’t know their rights. That is why we are doing this. We will also tell them their obligations. We also tell the airlines to advise their passengers on time.”
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