By Dickson Jere
When flight ZN306 touched down at KKIA slightly past midnight, there was applause and cheers inside the cabin.
“Amen…” some shouted.
“We thank God for the safety…” others chorused.
It looked like a miracle that the plane had landed safely.
The 1:35 minutes flight from Johannesburg to Lusaka was dreadful. The cabin was super silent as the plane took off into the skies – three hours after its scheduled time. Initially, we were told, the aircraft had problems to refuel hence the initial delay. Later, the story changed to “technical” problems being fixed but without any indicative timelines.
The wait was unbearable!
You see, aircrafts do have technical problems from time to time and delays are part of the aviation glitches. However, it is how you attend and the problems that matters.
“What is going on…?” Passengers asked when they were clumped inside a bus for almost an hour with the majority standing.
We were later told the plane was not ready and that passengers can come out of the airport bus and go back to the terminal but only at the restricted boarding area. The wait was unbearable as passengers were not allowed to return to the lounge. No water or drinks were served to the stranded passengers.
“Even us do not know what is happening,” the agent said when confronted by group of angry passengers.
Zambia Airways – our country’s flag carrier – needs to up its game in management. Calls went answered. No one from the Airline ever showed up to explain to the passengers nor offer an apology except from the agents who equally had no answers. I said it before, Zambia Airways needs presence at OR Tambo Airport to address such concerns and incidences. You cannot delegate such responsibility to agents who does not have your interest.
“Zambia Airways is always like that…” the agent said.
The Saturday flight landed past midnight instead of 21:25 hours. I missed my scheduled engagement of that night. And there is no single apology from Zambia Airways – even just a text – to passengers who were on that dreadful flight! It is small things like “sorry” that makes a difference. Management should up the game or else we will return to South Africa Airways whose fares are very competitive too!
It was my second time using this Airline on this route and looks like my last after the Saturday dreadful flight. They seem not to bother about customer care…
