By Justice Okamgba
The experience aboard Emirates’ Dubai-Lagos flight highlights how Nigerian businesses can build customer loyalty through consistent courtesy, patience, respectful communication and service that remains professional even in challenging situations, JUSTICE OKAMGBA writes
After spending three days in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates capital, I began my journey back to Lagos on Thursday, 8 October, aboard Emirates flight EK 783, scheduled to depart Dubai at 10.15 am and arrive in Lagos at 3.50pm.
My trip to the oil-rich nation was for the second edition of Ai Everything Abu Dhabi, a major artificial intelligence summit that brought together technology companies, investors and other stakeholders to examine the expanding role of AI in business and the global economy. The event offered a glimpse into how the UAE is positioning itself to build an economy increasingly powered by artificial intelligence.
Getting to Dubai International Airport from Abu Dhabi involved a road journey of about an hour and a half. It was a reminder that international travel involves more than the flight itself. There is the drive to the airport, the time spent navigating the terminal, the wait before boarding and, eventually, the hours in the air before reaching the destination.
The most memorable part of the journey was neither the summit nor the drive between the two cities. It was the conduct of the people responsible for looking after passengers once we were airborne.
Customer experience has become an important consideration for airlines competing for passengers in an industry where travellers spend hours confined to a cabin, sharing limited space with strangers, and depending on the crew for assistance. A flight may depart and arrive as scheduled, but how passengers are treated along the way can determine how they remember the experience.
After about three years of international travel, during which I have travelled at least twice a year, I considered the crew aboard EK 783 the best I had encountered. What distinguished them was not one exceptionally friendly attendant, but the consistency of their conduct. The crew members I interacted with were patient, courteous and respectful, even when communication was not seamless.
Anyone who has travelled by air knows the routine. A flight attendant welcomes passengers, directs them to their seats, helps with luggage and ensures the cabin is ready for departure. There are greetings, smiles and the familiar announcements that accompany a flight.
But passengers also know that a smile does not always translate into a willingness to help. Occasionally, the friendliness displayed during the initial greeting disappears when a passenger asks for assistance a second time. A simple question can attract an impatient response, while a request that interrupts a crew member’s routine may provoke visible irritation even when the words remain polite.
These moments may last only a few seconds, but passengers notice them. A traveller does not expect every request to be met right away, but there is a difference between being told something cannot be done and feeling like a burden for asking.
I have encountered situations in which the courtesy displayed at the beginning of an interaction seemed to fade as the minutes passed, leaving me wondering whether the smile was genuine or simply part of a routine employees were expected to perform.
The Emirates crew offered a different experience. Their politeness did not appear to expire when an interaction became inconvenient. Even when there was a gap in communication between a passenger and a crew member, I observed patience rather than an immediate descent into frustration.
This is not to suggest that every crew I have encountered on other airlines has been unpleasant. Rather, the difference on this flight was how consistently the crew maintained a courteous approach throughout my observations.
Customer service is tested when things go wrong. It is often when a request is repeated, a misunderstanding occurs or a routine is interrupted that a company’s attitude towards its customers becomes most visible.
Test of patience
One incident that stayed with me occurred about 30 minutes before landing in Lagos. A Filipino passenger approached the restroom at a point when passengers were expected to remain seated as the aircraft prepared for landing. It was a situation that required a crew member to intervene, given the safety considerations involved.
The crew member could have responded sharply but instead communicated the instruction politely. There was no need for an unnecessarily harsh exchange. The passenger could be directed without being humiliated, and the safety requirement could be enforced without abandoning courtesy.
The encounter was brief, but it illustrated an important distinction. Good customer service does not mean allowing passengers to disregard instructions or compromising safety to keep them happy. It means communicating what is required in a way that respects the person receiving the instruction.
Employees in service businesses inevitably encounter customers who misunderstand a process, ask questions at inconvenient moments, or make requests that cannot be granted. How they respond can determine whether a difficult situation is resolved calmly or becomes an unnecessary confrontation.
A business can enforce its rules without treating customers as adversaries. That was one of the lessons I took from the interaction.
As the flight progressed, I became sufficiently impressed that I decided to speak to the person in charge of the crew.
I asked one of the female attendants, “Who is your leader in this aircraft? I would like you to help me call him.”
She immediately said she would call him and did so. A few minutes later, the crew leader came to meet me.
I introduced myself as a reporter with The PUNCH, Nigeria’s most widely read newspaper, and explained why I had asked to see him.
“I have been travelling in the last three years, at least twice a year. I am genuinely impressed with your crew members. Please, I would like to have their names,” I told him.
He responded respectfully and said he would get the names for me.
I had not asked to see him because something had gone wrong. I wanted to recognise a team whose conduct had made a strong impression on me. In a setting where management is often approached when customers have complaints, I felt it was equally worthwhile to communicate a positive experience and identify the people responsible for it.
The names provided were Olha from Ukraine, Rita from Portugal, Evje from the United Kingdom, Salamat from the United States, Afonso from Portugal and Lokesh from India, who led the crew. Anu, the Nigerian crew member I had spoken with earlier, was also part of the team that made the journey memorable.
I wanted their names because the experience deserved more than a passing compliment to an unnamed airline crew. The individual interactions had contributed to an overall impression that I considered exceptional.
