My experience with Flight 540 is
the perfect embodiment of everything that is wrong with our country, especially
on matters relating to bad manners and consumer rights.
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| Fly 540 aircraft |
An airline that was at one time in
2017 sued by a disabled passenger is in the news again. The passenger, Agnes
Nyaga filed a petition in the High Court claiming that the pilot of a Fly 540
plane had declined to let her on board, and shouted at her in a humiliating
manner.
Lawyer Muthomi Thiankolu had a
different experience with the airline and here is his story.
My experience with Flight 540 is
the perfect embodiment of everything that is wrong with our country, especially
on matters relating to bad manners and consumer rights. Here is why. I booked
and paid for a flight from Mombasa to Nairobi with Flight 540 on 23rd July
2019, i.e. about 26 days ago.
The flight was scheduled to take
off today at 1640 Hours Kenyan time. Flight 540 called at 1322 Hours to say
that they had rescheduled the flight to 2210 Hours. The caller said they had a
technical issue with one of their aircraft, hence the rescheduling of the
flight. That meant an eight-hour delay, and being marooned in Mombasa for an
extra eight hours. When I asked the caller what the airline would do to make up
for the inconvenience, she had no answers.
I pointed out to her that when
passengers are late; the airline simply leaves them or imposes a fine/penalty
to get into the next flight. She could not explain why the reverse did not
apply. In short, she told me only ‘management’ could respond to my questions.
The caller sounded surprised when I pointed to her that Article 46 of the
Constitution provides for consumer rights, and that the conduct of the Flight
540 airline fell far below the constitutional threshold.
In short, I had to extend my stay
in Mombasa by eight hours. I arrived at the airport in time for the 2210 hours
flight. It has now been rescheduled to 2330 hours or thereabouts. And there is
no guarantee that the flight will not be moved even further. Meanwhile,
passengers who ought to have left about ten hours ago are still marooned at the
airport. The airline has not even bothered to get them dinner or refreshments.
Ironically, the passengers would be in Nairobi or near Nairobi if the airline
had booked them into bus ten hours ago, when it became clear that the airline
would not honour its contractual commitments.
The airline could also have made arrangements
with other airlines to transport the passengers to Nairobi. Flight 540 did not
bother to do any of these things.
Because, to Flight 540, it is all
about money and profits rather than about human beings. Because, to Flight 540, the passengers are
just chattels.
Because Flight 540 is still operating under the colonial
guidebook where one could treat citizens as if they belonged to a sub-human species.
Because, to Flight 540, most of the passengers are Kenyans and Africans after
all. You can treat Kenyans and Africans badly. And get away with it. Even when
Article 46 of the supreme law on the land says, among other things, that
‘consumers have the right to goods and services of reasonable quality.’
Methinks it is habits like those of Flight 540, and our high tolerance for such
habits, that make other civilizations have little respect for Africans. I have
low tolerance for mediocrity. Consequently, I will never, ever, make another
booking with Flight 540.
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