I wish to use this medium to get the attention of the chairman and management of Arik Air to the actions of their checking in staff at MMA which is quite unfair, and can give the company bad name.
A friend of mine visited me last weekend in UK from Nigeria. She used Arik Air. This was her first visit to the United Kingdom and when she went to check in, your checking staff asked her to present her UK hotel reservations. She pointed out to your staff that she was going to stay in a friends place and that she has got my address and phone number but your staff said that she won’t check her in because the UK immigration will deport her for not having the hotel reservation. She made her to go and pay 10,000 naira consultation fee to another agent (not an Arik Air staff but probably partner in the whole game) for making a hotel reservation in order to be checked in.
I stand to be corrected but to the best of my knowledge, UK law does not require that somebody should have a proof of hotel reservation before boarding when the person has made it clear that (s)he will be staying with a friend. My mum visited me a few weeks ago and she travelled with British Airways. Nobody asked her for her hotel reservations or letter of invitation or proof of the address of where she was going to before being checked in.
It is my belief that your checking in staff took advantage of the fact that my friend hasn’t got much experience in travelling to the UK earlier to rip her off with her cohorts. Actions like this will give your airline bad name and should be stopped. The lady in question should be cautioned and made to understand that it is not the best way to represent an indigenous firm that is already making name for itself.
While fighting corruption in high places, we should equally look at the ‘small’ ones.
I hope that this kind of incident should not happen in your firm again.
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