Poor Service Delivery: Ethiopian Airlines Apologises

Following a complaint filed by the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) on the ill-treatment meted out to passengers of Ethiopian Airlines on Saturday, May 18, 2013, at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja, the airline has apologised to the affected passengers through the Council.

 The Council’s letter was based on several complaints received from passengers of the said flight, particularly those of the Business Class on poor service delivery.

 The airline, in a reaction to the Council’s complaint, tendered its deep apologies to the Council and all the affected passengers, blaming the shoddy service to the passengers of the affected flight on its system failure.

 In a letter of apology signed by Aschalew Endale, the airline said “on this specific date all the systems that we are using were interrupted for a week due to network connection problem,” disclosing that an attempt at solving the problem in good time with its system support staff did not achieve much because of the seriousness of the failure.

On the faulty weighing scale, the airlines said: “As you may know the airport at Abuja is under renovation and the weighing scale at the check in counter is not working due to the on-going renovation process. The airline has provided a separate scale till the renovation process is finalised.”

 Commenting on the reported rude attitude of its staff to the affected passengers, the airline stated that “we have given strict orientation and briefing by giving strong consideration to your recommendation on the letter.”

 CPC had, in its letter, recommended training of all the airline’s staff on acceptable service delivery in line with the contractual obligations of the airline and international best practices, stressing that “at all times, staff of ET must display expected courtesy and professionalism in their duty both in the normal course and during crisis situations.”