Passengers raise the alarm over activities of touts at Abuja airport

Air travelers in Nigeria are expressing worries over the massive return of touting across the country’s airports.

Many of the travelers who spoke to Tribune Aviation, hinged their latest fears on the manner the touts are effortlessly mingling with accredited ticketing staff of the various airlines operating illegally without being exposed.

Many of the touts who are said to be working in conjunction with some airline staff have their identity cards displayed on their uniforms showing they work for some airlines which has made innocent passengers to fall into their traps.

Narrating his experience to Tribune Aviation, MrYemi Martins who worked in Abuja revealed how he was almost swindled by one of the touts at the NnamdiAzikwe Airport, Abuja while making arrangements to purchase another ticket for an Abuja/Lagos bound flight having missed his first flight last week.

According to him, sensing that he was desperate to travel out of Abuja on the Sallah eve to spend the public holidays with his family having narrowly missed his flight, a tout approached him and assured him a seat on one of the airlines if he was ready to pay N105,000.

Martins who said he was almost falling for the gimmick of the tout however sensed a foul play when the tout said he will issue him a boarding pass carrying another passenger’s name different from his, an offer he turned down.

Another female colleague of Martins, HajiaHannatu who also missed her flight, cited how she was asked to pay as much as N120,000 for a business class ticket on a one hour flight to Lagos.

Having paid the sum to obtain a seat in the business class, she was shocked to be told by the tout that she could only get a seat in the economy class which she also turned down. The tout reluctantly refunded the N120,000 under the threat that the airline he claimed he worked for would be taken to court.

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This type of experience according to investigations has become a daily occurrence at the Abuja airport in particular under the watch of security officials stationed at the terminal building.

Martins and her colleagues however appealed to the aviation authorities to step up their security network for the sake of making it difficult for the touts to have access to any of the airports.

“Allowing these touts to operate at the airports at a time few passengers struggle to patronise air travels amidst tough economic situations only to be swindled may not only further discourage intending travelers, but paint a bad image of the security networks at the airports.”

He however, appealed to the traveling public to be more vigilant as they make arrangements for their flights in other not to fall into the illegal pranks of the touts who have created a dangerous network at the airports.