Despite lodging complaints and sending reminders to Ethiopian Airlines for the weeks, the requests of Mary Emelieze Udeh, an Abuja resident, for the refund of N1,691,736 she paid for a Lagos-Toronto flight have not been acknowledged by the airline.

Udeh told FIJ on Friday that she had made payments to book a seat on an Ethiopian Airlines flight for her inlaw who was travelling from Lagos to Toronto.

“My husband’s niece had gained into a university in Canada and was to assume studentship on August 22,” Udeh told FIJ.

“On August 8, I made payment for a Lagos-Toronto flight with my GT Bank account. It took less than a minute and I received a debit alert from the bank informing me that the transaction was successful. However, my brother-in-law called to inform me that the payment did not reflect and the booking had failed.

Proof of transaction.

“My husband and I waited all through the night for an acknowledgment from Ethiopian Airlines, but we did not receive any.”

Udeh also told FIJ that her husband went to the Ethiopian Airlines office at Transcorp Hilton in Abuja to lodge a complaint on August 9, but instead of resolving the issue, the staff who attended to him gave him an email address to contact.

“My husband and I emailed them that night but they did not acknowledge our email till August 12. It was acknowledged by one of their staff called Pascal,” said Udeh.

In his response, Pascal had told Udeh that she would get a refund in 21 working days, but nothing came when the stipulated timeline had elapsed and Udeh had to send them a reminder. Yet, nothing was done.

She kept on sending emails to remind the airline to provide her a refund, but Ethiopian Airlines failed to oblige.

She also told FIJ that two of her children are secondary school students and would resume a new academic session soon.

“My husband’s niece is already in Canada. Her father had to make another payment when he saw that the service I had paid for was not rendered. She is already in Canada but I have not received refund,” she added.

“I have children in secondary school who would resume a new academic session soon. Since there was no ticket, this money will definitely come in handy to pay their school fees for the new academic session.”

FIJ emailed Ethiopian Airlines on Friday, but the airline did not respond.

Only six months ago, FIJ had reported how Ethiopian Airlines made Tochukwu Umezulike, a Lagos State-based artiste and talent development manager, pay an extra $589 for a flight while travelling from the United States to Nigeria due to an error on the airline’s part.

FIJ had also reported previous customer complaints against Ethiopian Airlines here, here and here.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *