A Lagos passenger has petitioned the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority seeking intervention after United Nigeria Airlines failed to refund ₦306,000 for a flight she could not take, nearly four months after she submitted the request.
Mrs Justina Abiola Ogunjolu’s husband, Abidemi Adebamiwa, filed the complaint with the NCAA’s Consumer Protection Department on October 13. The family is asking the regulator to secure repayment of the full ticket value, investigate how her booking was handled, correct records that allegedly show the flight as flown, and assess compensation for the inconvenience and distress.
Ogunjolu booked a return ticket through Expedia on June 2 for travel from Lagos to Abuja on June 22, with the return scheduled for June 27. Expedia recorded a payment of US$214.50. The airline’s own booking records and a signed refund form listed the ticket value as ₦306,000.
On June 21 the airline notified her that flight UN 0518 would operate as UN 0520 at 11:00 a.m. the next day because of unscheduled aircraft maintenance. When she arrived at the airport on June 22 she found passengers for both the morning and 11:00 a.m. services still waiting. Staff directed her to a restaurant upstairs and later told her to stay near the counter in case seats became available on another aircraft.
Around 3:00 p.m. she was among roughly 15 passengers called forward, only to be told her name did not appear in the system. By the time a supervisor located the booking, the seats had been filled and the 6:00 p.m. flight was also full. She spent most of the day at the airport without travelling.
She requested a new booking for the 11:00 a.m. flight on June 23. An itinerary issued that day confirmed the change and again listed the ticket value as ₦306,000. The following morning staff again could not find her reservation. After further delays she was told the 11:00 a.m. service was full and offered a later flight. With important work and an appointment in Abuja already missed and no assurance of a seat, she abandoned the journey and applied for a refund on June 23.
The airline acknowledged the online refund request on July 11, said it had been forwarded to its accounts team and indicated a five-day processing period. The money had still not been paid by October 13. Follow-up correspondence included a final demand on September 21. The family also noted inconsistencies in the airline’s customer-service records: an acknowledgement under reference 63127 was followed by a closure notice citing a different number while linking back to the original thread.
During a September 30 conversation with Expedia, an agent told Adebamiwa that United Nigeria Airlines had marked the flight as “flown,” while Expedia showed the booking as completed. He informed the agent that his wife had not travelled.
In the petition the family submitted the original itinerary, the maintenance notice, the revised booking, the refund form and related correspondence. They asked the NCAA to facilitate the ₦306,000 refund, examine the handling of the booking and the treatment Ogunjolu received from staff, explain the prolonged delay, correct any inaccurate travel records and consider appropriate compensation.
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