A law firm, Sovereignty Legal Practitioners, has threatened to file a class action against British Airways over the systematic inhuman treatment of Nigerian passengers using the airline.
In a pre-action letter to the airline dated August 30, 2024, by its Principal Partner, Ife Ajayi, the law firm decried the persistent disruption of scheduled flights to Nigeria as a result of the airline’s alleged deployment of faulty and substandard aircraft to Nigerian routes and noted that it would file a class action against the airline if the practice was not checkmated.
The letter addressed to the Customer Relations Department of the airline in London, was also forwarded to the Nigerian Aviation Ministry, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister for Justice, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chairman of National Assembly, British Embassy, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA and the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, FAAN.
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In the letter, the firm noted that hundreds of Nigerian passengers have experienced untold hardship following frequent delays and cancellations of their flights due to technical faults of the aircrafts used on the Nigerian routes.
It recalled an August 29, 2024, incident at Heathrow Airport, where Nigerians in an Abuja-bound British Airways flight were disembarked after three hours of check-in and later crammed in low class hotels without any definite date or time of departure to their destination.
“Specifically, there have been multiple instances where our clients, that is ‘Nigerian passengers’ have experienced significant delays and disruptions due to the use of faulty or substandard aircraft,” the letter reads.
“For instance, within the two weeks of the month of August 2024, checked in Nigerian passengers (our clients) have been disembarked after three to four hours after boarding, due to technical failures prior to departure.
‘’Most vexatious is the Heathrow Airport experience of August 29, 2024, where Abuja-bound passengers were disembarked after three hours of check -in without knowledge of when their Airline would be able to airlift them.
“These frequent technical faults raise safety concerns, traumatize passengers particularly children and create the impression of routes not worthy of respect.
Source: Vanguard
