For me, flying Delta Airlines to Nigeria since the American airline commenced its non-stop flight to Lagos has become an unavoidable but tortuous ritual. For some reason I always find a way of getting suckered into another bad experience one bad flight after the other.
Perhaps my decision is influenced by the faulty reasoning that the first experience is so bad that it could not be worse. But every flight has been worse than the previous.
Flight DL50 aboard a Boeing 767-300er from the United State’s southern city of Atlanta to Lagos started with a typical forty six minutes delay without the courtesy of an explanation from the flight crew. Though the attitude of some Nigerian travelers who willfully disobey basic flight rules as regards carry-on luggage and seating on assigned seats can pose a problem for any airline, Delta could easily use it to explain away such delays.
I often use this slightly over 11-hour of flight time to do some writing or edit some of pending reports before turning my attention to in-flight entertainment. This fight was not different. After I was done with my writing and grabbed the headphone and attempted to insert it on the outlet on the armrest but the device just won’t go in. I fondled with it for a while before motioning to one of the hostesses for assistance. She repeated exactly same motions as I did earlier with the same result – not working! She left and returned a few minutes later with a pair of earpiece from the business class. He handed one to me to the gentleman next to me who was experiencing the same problem.
While I appreciate Dana -the hostess’ effort, her solution did not work either as I had to push hard and hold on to the device for it to work. I was supposed to do this throughout the duration of the flight!
Meanwhile, the business class had unoccupied seats and one would expect that the reasonable thing to do would have been to relocate me to the business section because of my status with the airline. I am a frequent flyer on Delta Airlines with over 160,000 frequent flyer miles – which has earned me a platinum status on its sky miles program.
Entertainment choice is limited and will lull even the restless to sleep. Instead of a personalized television set per person, Delta still operates the old 13-inch television sets that looked more like relics found 1960s movies. Programming is just as awful as the set. The movie, “Hotel for dogs” is more suited for a kindergarten playtime than for adults and businessmen executives on a long flight.
Apart from the earpiece problem, the aircraft looked dilapidated with torn upholstery and some parts dangling around. My thought shifted from comfort to safety immediately but I was reassured of my relative safety because of the strict regulation and maintenance schedule mandated by the United States aviation regulation agency – Federal Aviation Administration.
I fly Delta Airlines every other month and that means about five times a year. I am actually due to fly them back to the United States a week today and I don’t know what of make of it – another eleven hours of agony? I may need to smuggle my favorite liquor, a Remy Martin, into the flight to alleviate the torture.
Sunny Ofili is publisher of The Times of Nigeria. He can be reached at editor@thetimesofnigeria.com
