By Ada Nkong
The need to enforce penalties on unruly passengers as a means of sanitizing passenger, airlines engagement has been emphasized.
The Director public affairs and consumer protection of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority Mr Michael Achimugu during a meeting of the regulating authority with airline operators in Abuja disclosed that Pilots have been directed to deplane unruly passengers before takeoff or resolve issues before takeoff .
“Pilots must not fly plane until unruly passengers are removed from the aircraft by security or the issue resolved amicably. This will go a long way to protect cabin crew and make passengers treat them with courtesy”.
“Cases are overblown because the pilots in command did not take charge. Going forward, no passenger has right to touch any cabin crew”.
Over the years,the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has drawn attention to air passenger rights and the obligation of airlines to passengers, recently giving ultimatums on compliance.
On the flip side, several incidents in the past couple of weeks where passengers have overstepped their bounds and even gone physical with airline staff and property has drawn attention to passengers responsibilities.
In an engagement in Abuja Wednesday, between airline operators and NCAA, The director Public relations and consumer protection Mr Michael Achimugu while calling for improved compliance with customer compensation emphasized the need for passengers to live up to their responsibilities as law abiding passengers face the consequences.
Some airline operators shared their experiences with unruly passengers while calling for airline operators rights to also be protected
Blacklisting a passenger from flying is the highest sanction for unruly passengers.
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