Published 19th Aug, 2022

By Emmanuel Uti

A public sector consultant resident in Nigeria has accused Ethiopian Airlines of withholding her £406 for over six months.

The consultant, who asked to be anonymous, said that she had tried all she could to get the airline company to refund her without success.

She told FIJ she booked a flight to the United Kingdom from Lome, Togo, in December but was not allowed by the airline to use the ticket.

She stated that Ethiopian Airlines representatives at the Lome airport told her she could not board the flight with a one-way ticket.

When she realised she could not convince the airline staff that she had a return ticket, she purchased an Ethiopian Airlines return ticket after someone told her what seemed like a viable solution.

“He told me there was no problem if I purchased the ticket. He said I should cancel the ticket when I got to the UK and request a refund,” she told FIJ.

She said that she cancelled her return ticket in January after arriving at her destination in the UK and the company acknowledged her request.

“I received an email that they had received my request and that they’d cancel it and refund the ticket. They said they would waive the cancellation fee of about £50,” she said.

“But after that, it entered voice mail. They said they could not refund my ticket because there was an embargo on it. And since then, they’ve stopped responding.”

She reached out to Ethiopian Airlines’ Twitter handler in February and was asked to contact the Manchester Airport. She said that after doing as directed, there was no resolution, and the airline told her that her ticket had been blocked.

“The Ethiopian Airlines kept telling me to contact their local office, which I did. When I was in the UK, I called their number several times, but no one ever answered. And because I was far from London, I couldn’t go to their office there,” she said.

The consultant also said the last time she heard from the company was in June, when they promised to refund her only after deducting £200 from the actual purchase price.

“I sent them an email, asking them why they wanted to deduct £200 from my money when the penalty was just £50, but they never replied me,” she said.

“I then tried to contact their Nigerian office, but their rep told me there was nothing they could do. She then directed me to their office in Lome.

“When I got to Manchester Airport, I realised they left one of my bags in Addis Ababa. The bag had all my winter clothes. I had to buy new winter coats which cost me about £100. And despite this, they haven’t refunded me.”

FIJ emailed Ethiopian Airlines, but they had not responded at press time.

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