A BRUTISH AIRWAYS 'APOLOGY'?

Friday, May 2, 2008

Brutish Airways, through journalist and apparent spokesman, Ademola Adedoyin, issued a statement today -

"We regret the upset that the events onboard the BA75 to Lagos on March 27 have caused in Nigeria. We have made it clear that the decision to offload passengers was made in consultation with and on the advice of the UK police, and the sole aim of this decision was to ensure the safety of our passengers, aircraft and crew.

“Offloading passengers is not a decision that is taken lightly and is a rare occurrence. However, the disturbance on board the BA75 service to Lagos on Thursday, March 27, was a very serious incident, which required the presence of 20 uniformed police officers to regain control of the situation.”

I could say a lot about this 'regretful' statement from the Brutes, but I leave you to tell me if the above qualifies as an apology.





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Unknown said...

It reeks of 'tokenism' - as in they have seen the euphoria that their 'decision to offload all the passengers' has caused and seem to be offering a token apology for the record. It still doesn't explain a number of things...he says that they offloaded the passengers because they wanted to protect the safety of the crew AND passengers. Scratch out the passengers and be straight ...from the accounts I have read, the only people who flew out of the UK that day were the crew and the indignant deportee. Which also leads me to ask - what exactly was the seriousness of the incident - BA owes the public an explanation of this...What exactly is the definition of 'a serious incident' on a stationary BA plane these days? What did happen that day? Were the passengers waving guns? was there a physical assault of any of the BA crew or among the passengers themselves...From what I have read, the passengers voiced their discomfort with the way a fellow passenger - albeit a reluctant one - was being treated and they in turn were treated shabbily and not in the least like paying customers. There is no explanation of why Mr Omotade was singled out and jailed and why his money was seized....No! This is certainly not enough. And the BA spokesperson should rephrase the opening sentence...in my opinion Nigerians are not upset (children get upset when they don't get what they want) Nigerians are outraged that BA thinks that they can get away with treating customers so shabbily and this token apology just makes it worse!!!

Z said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Z said...

What kind of nonsense is that?! I thought "it's about time they issued a statement" and then I read it. What an overwhelming disappointment. I have no doubt in my mind that the passengers behaved in a more than appropriate manner, given the circumstances in which they found themselves. Had I been on that flight, I would have stood up and said something as well. This "sorry, but ..." insincere 'attempt' at an 'apology' is completely unacceptable. It is insulting. I also fully agree with jola naibi's comments. I certainly won't be flying BA any time in the perceivable future.

Today's ranting said...

I read it on punch today and I must say I found it really annoying. This is not an apology at all. They've actually found a way to justify their foolish act. I have always had this feeling that this case would die soon just like many other cases. I don't see the nigerian government doing anything reasonable to address the issue.The welfare of Nigeians is not their responsibility cause we didn't vote them into power.

Dojaa said...

I think the reputation of BA in Nigeria has been ruined, apology or not. There are now a lot of Nigerians who would not fly BA ever again.

In My Own Words said...

Apology indeed! A totally annoying statement to keep everybody quiet. Our dear govt is definitely not taking a hard enough stance with them.
I for one won't be flying with BA for a long while.

Unknown said...

If BA thinks they've gotten away with this joke of an apology, they can think again!!! What I'd really like to see is a ban against BA by the Nigerian government (or aviation authority). BA must no longer operate flights to Nigeria. It's the only measure that will make BA and other airlines realise that Nigerians are not to be messed with.

Koko said...

BOYCOTT BA & VIRGIN ATLANTIC simple and short. If these racist airlines lose the pounds and dollars they get from Nigerians who keep coming back for more abuse may be they would put their house in order. BA particularly has multiple black belts in racism. According to one of its Senior pilots who confessed to Times newspaper of London that racism is a staple of BA pilots and staffs. He said that BA pilots often refer to African as "coons" and all other sorts of derogatory remarks. This behaviour also has the blessing of the top managements in BA because the have refused to act when these acts are reported to them and judging from the so called letter of apology that was written to the "coons" in Nigeria we know they are loving it!

rethots said...

....'twas quite nauseating reading those lines (when i did). Infact, personally the government ought to have sanctioned them (& let 'em feel what it means not to have Nigerians patronage for just a little while).

Eventually, we'll always get such treatments, if we continually present ourselves as these (accepting that flimsy lines & smiling to ourselves that we got an APOLOGY from BA).

CAN THEY DARE THAT WITH GHADDAFFI's PEOPLE (COUNTRY)?

Atutupoyoyo said...

At the age of 6 I did not regret stealing the last piece of cake from the fridge when my mother expressly forbade it. However I still apologised for it.

I never apologised to Mr Peter for mistakenly killing his pigeons. However I regretted the pain it caused him.

Regret and apology are two very different animals. This carefully worded statement is no apology.

shhhh said...

def not an apology, more like an explanation to me. i still wont fly them. yeye airline

Sele Akobo(curvyice) said...

Maybe we should re-incanate the spirit of abacha in the 1990s into Yardy, so he can ban these idiots they call BA.Just maybe they can make the money nigerians give them from ghana alone. From what i gather they almost bled to death from the ban issued against them by Abacha. And to think some otehr deportee dies on a BA flight a week b4 this one that sparked all this controversy...and no body diid nothing about it.
Who are we to these guys? yea they colonized us but were an INDEPENDENT STATE now and we deserve the rights that goes with such a status change.....
To think that none of the big guns from london attended the meeting with the minister of defence;what insolence?
I for sure am in support of the boycott, make them beg.

Nine said...

I don't see an apology so I won't even comment on it's sincerity or lack thereof.I shall continue avoiding BA and BA alliance partners.

guerreiranigeriana said...

this is exactly why i refuse to fly those monkeys for life...so the insults continue?...they ask a nigerian to deliver this expression of regret and justification for their action?...nonsense...

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