Air Peace Fails to Refund Customer Two Months After Missing Flight

Two months after a customer of Air Peace airline missed his Lagos-Kaduna flight, the airline has refused to refund him part of the cost as its policy demands.

The customer, who asked not to be named, said missing his flight on November 7, 2021, was not exactly his fault.

“It was more or less an intentional issue that the ticketing officers caused,” he told FIJ. “I was there at the exact time for boarding, but I wasn’t allowed to check in because I was late.”

“I saw some passengers in the queue checking in. What I suspect is that the airline was overbooked and they only seized the chance of me getting to the airport around the time of boarding to give my seat to someone else.”

The customer had to travel to Kaduna by road at a time the route was deadly because of recurring bandit attacks.

On November 13, he sent an email to the airline, requesting a refund for the service he was unable to access. His email was responded to with an assurance that 75 percent of N55,000, the total cost of the flight, would be returned within 28 days.

“Up till date, they have not reimbursed me, despite several reminders to them,” he said.

In one of the emails from Air Peace, FIJ observed the airline asked the customer to attach “a letter of authorisation” if the provided account details were different from the name on his booking ticket.

When FIJ called the Air Peace customer care to seek reasons for the delay in refund. The officer reviewed the details and confirmed that a transaction was underway with the client.
However, the agent absolved the airline of any wrongdoing, noting that the customer failed to send a letter of authorisation.

This customer would subsequently send FIJ a screenshot of the email to which the letter of authorisation was attached.

Last year, FIJ reported several instances in which Air Peace breached its obligation to provide flight services without having to pay a refund.