About 2,798 passengers have reported different forms of maltreatment meted out to them by both international and domestic airlines to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, According to The Punch reports. While some of the passengers are seeking refunds for cancelled flights or missing belongings, others reported various consumer rights violations....Read Full Article >>➤
Some have even taken legal action against the airlines. A consumer complaint document obtained by The PUNCH from the NCAA showed efforts of the regulatory agency to quell the seemingly unending battle between the passengers and the airlines.
While passengers insisted airlines were the problem, operators described some concerned passengers as turning unruly at Nigerian airports.
According to the document, between January 2024 and the end of the same month in 2025; 2,384 passengers officially reported domestic airlines to the authority. The document showed that the NCAA resolved 1,092 complaints remaining 1,292.
On the international route, 414 Nigerian passengers also reported their displeasure with airlines to the NCAA with 167 of the concerns resolved, remaining 247 unresolved cases as at the time of filing this report.
The highest number of complaints recorded monthly on the domestic routes between January 2024 and September of the same year was 70. A spike was noticed between October last year and January 2025, as the monthly complaints oscillated between 102 to 155 monthly.
Our correspondent also observed that international passengers lodged more complaints in January 2024 with 37 displeased passengers.
Industry experts have noticed increased passenger awareness appealing to the NCAA to intensify efforts in educating passengers about their rights and obligations.
Furore at the airport is mostly caused by flight delays or outright cancellations.
Numerous passengers with urgent and critical appointments have failed to accomplish them, no thanks to abrupt flight delays and cancellations among domestic and international airlines. Some of such appointments were never rescheduled and permanently cancelled.
Various reasons have been adduced for the climbing flight delays among the airlines. While a section of players in the sector attributed this to inadequate facilities provided by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, others said it was due to the navigational facilities provided by the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, especially during poor weather.
Some others lampooned the airlines, particularly the domestic operators for delayed and cancelled flights without prior notice.
Passengers have however hailed the NCAA for stepping up its game regarding consumer protection but asked for sustained efforts to ensure improved sanity in the industry.
A frequent flyer, Joseph Udoka, told our correspondent that the airport contributes significantly to the anger in the country but the intervention of the NCAA has helped in resolving many of the contending issues.
He added, ”Now, different complaints and fights at the airport have drastically reduced unlike before. In the past, whenever you get to the airport you see one or two fights or displays of displeasure by passengers.
“Many of the airlines at that time did not even show remorse. Then, the airlines are best likened to emperors. But now all you need is to walk to any of the officers of the NCAA at the airport.”
When contacted, NCAA Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, acknowledged an initial difficulty in getting the airlines to comply with the rules of the authority.
He added that many operators were too comfortable with the non-compliance of the NCAA Act, a set of rules guiding the aviation industry in the country.
The NCAA official added that regular stakeholder engagements are fast-changing the narrative stressing that the changes weren’t without sanctioning some of the airlines. ...Read Full Article >>➤
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