Nigerians trying to return home encountered a taste of home in Houston after Nigerian officials delayed their Ethiopian Airlines repatriation flight to Lagos for eight hours while trying to scalp every last ticket onboard.
Bedlam In Houston As Nigerian Officials Scalp Tickets On Ethiopian Airlines
Repatriation flights are a lucrative business, both for the airlines that operate them and the agencies who sell tickets. Over the course of the pandemic, Ethiopian Airlines has become a key operator of such flights.
Nigeria contracts with Ethiopian Airlines to offer rescue flights from Houston nonstop to Lagos. These flights roughly operate on a bi-weekly basis and are very popular. In fact, every flight is oversold and includes a long waitlist of passengers hoping for no-shows.
Nigerian Embassy officials are “in charge” of the flight and embassy officials have used it to allegedly make additional money on the side. One-way tickets cost NGN600,000 (~USD1,575). But when there are no-shows, embassy officials will scalp the tickets for higher prices to standby passengers desperate to get home. In most cases, the Nigerians will add a USD250 margin to the ticket.
Annual per capita income in Nigeria is about USD2,200 per year, which highlights what a big deal USD250 is.
The whole process of scalping tickets takes time, but nearly led to a revolt on yesterday’s service from Houston to Lagos. The flight boarded on-time. Upon completion of boarding, officials counted no-shows and open seats onboard. Then the auction began, only this time they weren’t getting the margins they sought. Like negotiations in the Idumota Market, the back-and-forths between eager (but apparently not too eager) standby passengers went on and on.
…for six hours.
Finally, embassy officials had met their quota and the 12-hour flight took off.
Meanwhile, the passengers onboard were held hostage…without air conditioning. Familes became agitated as children cried. Crew members were berated for matters far beyond their control.
After several hours some passengers demanded to get off and were allowed to. Those seats were promptly resold too.
And the trials were not even over once the flight took off.
Nairametrics, a business news outlet in Nigeria, further alleges that passports are confiscated when passengers arrive until negative COVID-19 tests arrive…or immigration officials are “greased” USD600.
Oh Nigeria.
CONCLUSION
Spare me the lectures about stereotyping. I’m simply relaying what happened in Houston yesterday. I’ve also been to Nigeria myself…and was met with a bribe solicitation only moments after arrival. It is what it is. I’m not disparaging a nation or people, only the corrupt who continue to give Nigeria a bad name.
My sympathies to the passengers on yesterday’s flight…
UPDATE:
Exclusive: Nigerian Consulate Responds To Ethiopian Airlines Ticket Scalping Incident
> Read More: Transit in Lagos – Bribing My Way Out
image: Alan Wilson / Wikimedia Commons
I’m just here for comments about how racist you are for highlighting facts. **warming up the popcorn**
I guess people prefer to fly nonstop? BA and Turkish offer 1-stop options. Those are viable alternatives, no?
SAD.. THIS TRULY HURTS SO MANY OF THE GOOD NIGERIANS THAT I HAVE MET AND LOVE.
This author is a liar !!! Nothing like that happened and I was one of the physicians and nurses that volunteered to vet the covid19 reports and take their temps before they would check in . This is nothing but stupid fake news and the his guy needs to cover his head in shame
Your grievance, if valid, is with Nairametrics…but please reach out to me via email or the contact form above and I am happy to update my story with your official statement.
The story is about right. It will be most ingenious for any Nigerian, in fact Africans to dispute any part of it. Many of us have lived it in other circumstances. There must be Nigerians on those flights who can validate the story, if not Ethiopian Airlines officials for fear of reprisals.
Oh my goodness, Nigerians are mad that someone is calling out the corruption of their leaders. Are you guys forgetting that Nigeria loses billions every year due to corruption? Even if this particular story is not true it doesn’t change the fact that Nigeria and many African countries are all corrupt Maybe some of you spent so much time in north and Europe and have no idea what it is like in Nigeria. Get a grip and accept your weakness.
He is telling the truth my friend elderly mother was there and she came to church Sunday explaining just this! How her elderly mother sat in the heat on a plane with no A/C and how they moved her seat 3 times even though she paid and picked for an isle seat her mother was put in the middle $1500 for a one way to be treated so bad. Nigeria we need to do better! It’s not right
Lmao! Mister doctor why are you mad at oyibo man for speaking the truth inside his own oyibo countri that you go to meet and enjoy his beautiful country with him, leaving behind your own poverty stricken and dirty countri What is wrong with you? Are you mad?.
Anyways, thank you for measuring the body temperature, blood pressure and possibly heart rate of your fellow Nigerians to ensure they are not going to infect president Buhari with any disease that can lead to a one year medical vacation with European doctors in LONDON and DUBAI or maybe SINGAPORE – President Mugabe preferred the Asian Singaporean medical doctors to his African country’s. You know Buhari have no trust in your medical expertise .
As you already know, most African leaders believe African medical practitioners are only good at measuring body temperature with European invented thermometer Kai! barawo! Wahlai talai, ah gwo gifi yu my tuwo shinkafa.
Can you get on a flight with an e-ticket out of Lagos Nigeria to San Fran ?
I think most of the passengers are Biafrans, especially Igbos. I also think most of those [Nigerian] embassy officials scalping the Biafrans and cheating them out of their hard earned money are parasitic northerners and few westerners. They usually get those lazy, juicy government jobs, to the deprivation of the Biafrans. This is why Nigerians will not let the Biafrans go. We are the sources of their survival, both home and abroad. Shame!
Biafra must restore so that we will operate our own Biafran airline. No other nation’s airline will fly our people and make profits out of us anymore. And no more corrupt Nigerian officials will scalp unnecessary high price flight tickets from we Biafrans anymore.
Hate is a strong word but I can’t not find any passive explanation for the self-inflicting hindrances and stagnated growth of the Nigerian nation.
Fact is Biafran hates Biafra equally as Nigerians hate Nigeria. Otherwise how do we explain the failure of this Africans to creating an economically and environmentally bouyant nation.
If the igbos really love Biafra as they claim they would have used their own know-how and resources to build an economically and environmentally prosperous biafran states, independent of the Nigerian government. They haven’t and will not but remains part of the larger corrupt people in Nigeria.
Is interesting how the biafrans didn’t cry about Leaving Nigeria during the presidency of goodluck Jonathan – an igbo speaking native of crude oil rich state, who ruled Nigeria for six years having an igbo- native minister of petroleum but failed to build a petroleum refinery in home region, to create employment for his people.
Please educate me. How did the igbo presidency of Jonathan benefits the biafran igbo states. Alison madueke – igbo speaking petroleum minister accused of embezzling billions of dollars from Nigerian oil revenue and hiding out in Europe with I’ll gotten riches used in buying foreign citizenships as alleged. What prosperity did she build for the igbo biafrans? If you’ll save us the agony of knowing how much education she has and her contribution to follow-follow European education in Africa.
A biafran country can never help the igbos any more than their present fate. It is only a United Nigeria with one love that can prosperously advance Nigerians and Africa. So let’s stop divisive politics and stay focused on uniting politics. Peace.
This situation is not any different in Uganda ( another corrupt country) . Repatriation flights operated by Ethiopian airlines to Europe are sold at a whooping USD 2200 one way. With the ticket agencies adding USD200 , when compared to the European airlines the price of a ticket is almost one third . ( SN Brussels for example is USD 830 one way).
This is not racism shows how corrupt Africa is.
The sole reason why Africa and black people as whole remains in an either stagnated or backwards developmental stance, is the blunt refusal to call out and address their regressive moral and ethical vices, towards their own race.
All of black diaspora is still largely postured with most modern abject poverty and human sufferings, poor infrastructural amenities and joblessness, way into the 21st century, while sitting on the richest prime geo-deposits of the Earth’s natural resources. Why? Corruption and hate.
Black people hate black people’s progress more than any white person does. Otherwise, Africa and all of black diaspora would have been the most richly advanced continent and human habitat on Earth. Think about it.
Black people stay opposed to the wellbeing and prosperity of their fellow Africans by imposing and instituting a culture of bribery and MASSIVE HOARDING OF MONEY flown out of Africa and hidden in Europe, America and Asia. But cry about being called “shit hole countries”
The fact is that it is become cultural for Nigerians and their government to either invent or ruthlessly capitalize on mishaps, misfortune and catastrophe as a means for never ending personal enrichment and wealth. Hence, the culture of chronic price gouging at every presenting happenstance.
Albeit, aside from the natural resources mined and sold out of Africa, ( not by even African discovery, technology, investment and academical inputs but BY WHITE PEOPLE) what does Africa produce to sustain it’s people? Nothing, absolutely nothing but empty-head academical copycat european invented pieces of meal tickets named bachelor, master and doctorate degrees.
The Ethiopian air transportation used for the corrupt flight ticket gouging is a western invented mode of transportation, not African.
Black people having been the origin of the human race have abdicated their leadership position and have become the consumer race of the world, consuming any and every invention dumped on them by the west, and now by Asia.
It is only by a selfless love for Africa and one another that the Africans can return to their original birth right and leadership, to first and foremostly uplift their nations and the the continent. Peace.
Why are you so concerned about how American blacks and African blacks feel towards one another? Non blacks have a lot to say about things that they don’t have to deal with yet benefit from it. How do you feel about the white Afrikkaners trying to cry discrimination because they aren’t allowed to farm down there?
Amen, you are spot on
Nigeria is one of the most corrupt countries in the world, so this story is hardly racist or stereotypical.
You are absolutely correct. I am a Nigerian. It is a shame
I flew Ethiopian out of Accra last month. Same thing waited hours at the office in the crazy packed downtown to get on wait list. The flight was schedule to leave at 10am.
We left at 6pm. No television on flight. No charger, so most passengers like myself had dead phones when we landed in Washington Dulles at 3am .
The flight attendants were too tired to care. I am assuming if it was a US airlines they would have been illegal to even work such a long day.
The plane are big and new but lack everything else.
Every country is corrupt just a bit more uncovered. Customs office in the US don’t take bribes but they sure take expensive items from passenger claiming illegal to enter US. And trust they don’t throw away all those things either.
I flew Ethiopian too 3 weeks ago from Accra to Washington Dulles 3 weeks ago the plane took off on time and arrived on time , I had a great smooth flight all the way home, personal by seat tv great fast polite crew and world class service definitely fly again with Ethiopian
Nigeria is a bonified sh*thole, will never, won’t fly there. The pple do not even like themselves.
I dislike hypocrisy .America is a nation that treats blacks as though they are less than humans and believe that whites are privileged.America has a lot of issues stop being self righteous and concentrate on the problems of your country.A country where grown adults drink sanitizers and refuse to wear masks and blame it on the president
I’ve just reposted this article on some forums and some Nigerians who were there to see off this flight vehemently oppose this writers take on the cause of the delay of this flight.
“That is TOTALLY FAKE NEWS. I was at the airport checking people in, and most items reported here is Totally FALSE and FAKE. Yes the flight was late and the air conditioning in the plane was turned on late. But the flight was late because Nigeria were checking in about 4-5 pieces of luggage at the airport and repacking luggages at the check in counter. The embassy officials never had anything to do with ticketing. Nobody complained or even mention about ticketing. Yes there was complaint about the heat…Houston is hot and the flight left 1hour behinds schedule not 8 eight hours. Traveller running late asked for the late departure so they can get on the flight. The Author was not there and offered NO evidence or verified his story. Matthew Klint is a liar writing fiction fake NEWS.
By Sir Michael Akiboh”
Sorry, but I’ve now spoken to other passengers on the flight who disagree with Mr. Akiboh’s assessment. He’s welcome to reach out to me (Matthew at upgrd dot com) and I will certainly update this story if he provides more corroborating evidence. Thank you.
Michael, 1 hour late??? I was on this flight and that is SUCH A LIE. The whole flight experience was like a scene out of a horror movie. The flight was even on a defective jet bridge to begin with
Dear, you need to STFU. Nobody wants you in Nigeria, you can’t even afford to fly anywhere if you wanted to. So sit on your ass, eating junk and getting obessed, like almost everyone in your country.
Exactly my thinking. Dada you probably still paying student loan and can’t live because of morgages.We Nigerians pay our children fees upfront.You are taxed out of yourselves and you come and project Nigeria as shithole.You are probably poorer than Nigeria middle class and would have to save a whole year for a ticket.The world project Nigeria as poverty stricken and I laugh when I see the Americans struggle with taxes and loans like their lives depend on it.Am sire people who know the gold in Nigeria are in several flights tapping that’s why flights to Nigeria are full with Indians and chinese.By the way I live outside Nigeria and I’m a professional and I love my country.
The flight left after 8 hours not 1, my family was in the airplane. All the passengers in that airplane went through hell
U must be one of the people benefiting from the bad image of the country. I do not surport anyone opening the Yansh of the country o but if this is tru they need to be exposed and be stopped. Corruption in every sector se na curse on the country and the people. Fair and fairness is never order of the day but corruption and show of class. Thunder fire and purnish all the people that curse this country Nigeria . Also the thunder should not leave anyone benefitting or supporting corruption and evil way in that country. Ogun obatala oya iyemoja and all the gods in that country revenge on them all.
Michael, 1 hour late??? I was on this flight and that is SUCH A LIE. The whole flight experience was like a scene out of a horror movie. The flight was even on a defective jet bridge to begin with
Your fada
Just here to ask to stop using the term biweekly – is it 2x per week or every 2 weeks
Biweekly means every two weeks.
No, it’s ambiguous, hence the request.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/biweekly
Ok. Every two weeks.
Every fortnight?
🙂
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
Lol
Look at this guy over here spending his days reading the dictionary. I’m sure he’s a hoot at parties.
Pls spare me America is even more corrupt you are just better at branding.Only the ills of
The nation is highlighted while u highlight the good in the US.We know the branding is good but we know your airlines are have safety issues.And with the injustice perpetuated there I guess there is moral standing to criticizes another nation
So because you’ve been to nigeria an engaged in bribery means your article isn’t racist? I’ve been to America and been subjected to all sorts of racist conduct. Would it be stereotyping if I painted a picture of all whites such as yourself as bigots ? I mean it is true that every institution of yours, racists and racist attitudes are as commonplace as that expressed here .
Or am i excused if i claim it’s really just a jab at the few that give the rest of you a bad name. Since you really “love” the rest of us.
Any comments on the incident in Houston?
Can you provide video evidence showing Nigerians diplomats auctioning tickets, as claimed in your write up?
My report, as I made clear, was based off the Nairametrics report. I would reach out to them.
He’s being called a racist for stating facts that’s really crazy that pointing out that Nigeria is corrupt you’ll be seen as a racist.
If it is so then we all racist including myself a black man saying that most of our African countries are corrupt because of greedy government officials who we vote into Power but then they don’t fulfill their promises and all they do is steal public funds.
Africa would be really ahead but corruption is killing us and stopping us from progressing like we should. Government officials are already wealthy yet they want more and more and they never get enough of stealing money meant to develop the country and help the needy.
Call me a racist or anyone else for stating facts but it will be the truth at the end of the day, i know you don’t want to hear it but it is exactly just that.
Thank you Mathew for stating the obvious. If any one found your article discomforting and unnerving, maybe they should continue to speak up against the cancer called corruption which has become the norm in Nigeria and not to question the veracity of the innocuous author.
How’s this be a racist comment? Bribing exists in every country. I didn’t read any thing that says Nigerians are the only corrupt country in the comment
Pls spare me America is even more corrupt you are just better at branding.Only the ills of
The nation is highlighted while u highlight the good in the US.We know the branding is good but we know your airlines are have safety issues.And with the injustice perpetuated there I guess there is moral standing to criticizes another nation.
I think people are missing the point here, just because there is racism in the US is not justification for outright corruption in Africa. The Nigerian Embassy officials and those involved in this shoddy deal are shameless. The airline should been screen in IATA or whatever organisation that govern air transport. Shame on you who condone such acts.
Facts? We’re you there ? The story is the typical hyperbole peddled about africa and nigeria. Yes we have issues but this sort of article takes the piss.
Well, it is in accordance with my experience and reported by Nigerian media, so I reported the story and clearly noted the source.
So he is not supposed to report on factual events for fear that a snowflake like yourself might be triggered? It’s a country he’s talking about, not a race.
And actually, yeah, the Democrats routinely paint all white people as racist, and yes, that in itself is racist. Glad you pointed that out.
EU, I was one of the passengers on this plane. I had a panic attack and passed out. They had to call in EMT. Please direct any frustration you feel to your useless and insensitive government and to Ethiopian Airlines because what we experienced on that flight yesterday was simply inhumane.
I’m African myself. My friend your outrage is misplaced. Would you have had the same opinion if the article was written by a Nigerian journalist? You need to be mad as hell at the greed displayed by these officals.
You need to write the airlines if you have to. Don’t be so damn sensitive.
A few comments :
1) Nairametrics as a source is well, questionable at best. A Nairametrics article without a byline is even worse. Take anything you see there with a huge pinch of salt. Articles without bylines in this region are usually the product of someone trying to promote an agenda of some sort.
2) As someone who has organised dozens of repatriation flights in West Africa, including Nigeria, over the last few months – I can assure you that Nigeria’s system for approvals and processing, although far from perfect, is among the most streamlined out there. You can’t just auction a repatriation flight seat into Nigeria to the highest bidder at the airport – there is a lot more to the process than that.
3) The procedure to retain passports of arriving travelers as security until completion of either 14-day quarantine or negative testing, controversial as it may be, is the official NIS policy at present. I know people who have gone through this process, and while they were worried about document safety while it was out of their possession, I haven’t seen a single case of this resulting in a negative experience.
4) Nigeria reopens their borders to scheduled flights from 29AUG20.
Thanks for weighing in Sean! There is supposedly video out there I am looking for. This story popped up in my Google News feed.
Hi, Matthew and thanks for the story, which is very true. There are some points that makes your story kind of biase, You don’t need to tell us about the whole Nation of Nigeria. You should have just limited your reporting to that specific incident. And, if you were looking to help bring the illegal actions of those embassy officials order, as a professional should a least get their names or something to identify them included in the story.
NOT ALL WHITE ARE RACIST. NOT ALL NIGERIANS ARE CORRUPT!!!
How did the crew fly after 8 hrs. of delay and stayed within the regulation limits? Just curious.
There is so much I don’t understand about this. Are there really that many Nigerians living in America that need to be repatriated? How does the scalping work – does this flight exist outside of the TSA controls?
Likely, the waitlisted passengers are issued standby cards so they can proceed to the gate.
Let’s be blunt: Nigeria is the biggest sh*thole on the planet. The major export industry is lying, thieving scammers, petty criminals ,including drug dealers, and corruption.
It ranks about 230 on my list of desirable destinations. It’s unfortunate because Nigerian art and textiles are wonderful.
I was on that flight. The delay was real, the condition was terrible with no ventilation worst of all and the pilot treated us with no regard asper na nigerians forget them. However upon a call made to Ambassador Aisha Musa of Atlanta reporting the situation she called the ethopian management we saw immediate turn around and better more respectable service. We got updates, quick responses, we got served snacks before take off and began to be treated like human beings not locked up animals. I cannot say about what caused the delay nor corrupt practices mathew probably did more research as i stayed with my kids I only know what i faced. Thank you to Ambassador Aisha for speaking up for we her people, and not allow others treat us poorly. We must thank our officials and medical team on ground they were very respectable, fast, organized, and over all prepared to carry out their duty. The igbo man ambassador, i didn’t get his name was all hands on and patient to hear complains and resolve them quickly. Once again thank you to the nigerian team i was highly impressed. Thank you mathew for this report and we pray for a better Nigeria our beloved country.
Thanks for sharing your experience with us!
I dislike hypocrisy .America is a nation that treats blacks as though they are less than humans and believe that whites are privileged.America has a lot of issues stop being self righteous and concentrate on the problems of your country.A country where grown adults drink sanitizers and refuse to wear masks and blame it on the presidentt
Corruption and racism are not the same thing, so no hypocrisy here, Scent 2 me. Not sure why you didn’t use your name this time…
This situation is not any different in Uganda ( another corrupt country) . Repatriation flights operated by Ethiopian airlines to Europe are sold at a whooping USD 2200 one way. With the ticket agencies adding USD200 , when compared to the European airlines the price of a ticket is almost one third . ( SN Brussels for example is USD 830 one way).
This is not racism shows how corrupt Africa is.
Where are you from? I can tell you a little bit about the [redacted by admin] you come from. Systematic scandal. You idiots from where ever are quick to point fingers, but look in the mirror . No one condones crime and scams, but you can’t point fingers when where ever suitable you come from is worse. Wash your own dirty first.
Worth adding that Ethiopian Airlines was also on a defective jet bridge. When the EMT officials that came to help out after my sever panic attack asked an Ethiopian Airlines representative why they were using a defective jet bridge, she said something along the lines of “oh we don’t normally do this but this flight is for refugees and people that live in Nigeria, came here and got stuck.” A statement that is 1) Not completely true 2) More importantly, not an excuse! This is not how you treat human beings. Period.
Thanks a lot for highlighting I didn’t see any where where Matthew blames the Ethiopian officials.The airline has responsibility.We need to stop the thrashing of Nigeria.Nigeria isn’t the most corrupt country.
No, but Nigeria is still a very corrupt country.
If you struggle with panic attacks, might not be a good idea to get on an airplane. Just saying.
I’m African myself. My friend your outrage is misplaced. Would you have had the same opinion if the article was written by a Nigerian journalist? You need to be mad as hell at the greed displayed by these officals.
You need to write the airlines if you have to. Don’t be so damn sensitive.
And that means you come from a perfect country.What of what is going in lebanon.When Matthew reported this news he didn’t blame the airline he said it the conditions beyond their control.Biased reporting is irritating.I hate the stereotyping because same country that has port holes all newyork would come up and highlight the portholes in other countries.Does the airline not have some responsibility in this issue.The ventilation was a Nigerian problem.And I can very well choose to use whatever name I deem fit.Nigeria is great country with great human resource and I refuse to bow my head in shame because a biased reporter has chosen to tell one side of the story.
I think people are missing the point here, just because there is racism in the US is not justification for outright corruption in Africa. The Nigerian Embassy officials and those involved in this shoddy deal are shameless. The airline should been screen in IATA or whatever organisation that govern air transport. Shane on you who condone such acts.
Let them delay,we’re not even ashamed that we don’t have a national carrier. Big for nothing
This fellow Matthew obviously did not witness this things happen, he wrote based on what he heard or was told. That is the simple truth.
Nairametrics is only referred to towards the end of the article. If all of this article was based upon this source this should have been made much clearer.
I find it interesting the people were willing to pay top-dollar to get the hell out of the US and head to Nigeria! They seem to be doing a better job than the US with COVID!
Dude, you’ve had some pretty fun ‘viral’ comment incidents lately. I love when this happens.