Arik Air

✅ Verified Review | I booked the earliest flight of the day out of Uyo to Lagos. I had a connecting evening flight to Frankfurt at 22.45. Our Arik flight was scheduled for 9.15 according to the ticket and so we were there at 08:00. The Lady at the check in desk immediately told us that this flight time has been moved to 12:00 a couple of days ago already and that we can check-in at 10.00, in another 2 hours. Excuse me, am I lost? I bought the ticket a day ago and so the flight time should have been adjusted on the ticket. We were so happy to leave Nigeria after a 8 month Long Job adventure that we took the delay with a tired smile. At 10.00 we checked in with the other passengers and sat till 12:00. At 12.30 it was announced that the flight will be another 45 min delayed. At 14:00 they announced flight postponed for another 2 hours. We obviously got nervous and looked into buying a ticket for the last remaining other Airline to fly out. But Arik air assured us that it will not be necessary and their flight already in the air on the way to us. This was a lie. At 16:00 they announced that the plane is now on the way and would land in 45 min. It landed 16.45 and with no further info from the ground staff we boarded. Once in the plane we were surprised to find it to be packed to the last seats. It turned out that another plane en-route to Port Harcourt is picking us up. With not much time left to catch our international flight in Lagos we headed off towards Port Harcourt. In PH it took time to unload and re-fuel and for new passengers to board. We looked at the time and it was after 18.30 when we started towards Lagos. We finally arrived in Lagos from where we had to travel to the international Airport and go through check-in and customs in rush hour. It was the worst trip we ever had and really working on our nerves. The Arik ground staff was rude and lied to us the whole day. A trip of one hour became 10 hours. Stranded at a lousy Airport. The Airline itself was an old Boeing 737. The aircon did not work througout the flight and we nearly fainted. Chairs were taped together and the seatbelt on my friends chair could not Close. I stongly suggest not to travel with Arik if you concerned about your health, safety and smooth travels.

✅ Verified Review | Abuja to Lagos. Working in Nigeria for the past year I have flown Arik on numerous occasions between Abuja and Lagos and Kano. On the whole they delivered a pretty good service domestically by Nigerian standards but from about November last year they ran into serious cash flow issues due to the drop in the value of the Nigerian Naira. As a result flights became subject to regular cancellation and delay. In January the airlne was take over by the Nigerian Government and now has a much reduced service. Arik has a number of regional routes around West Africa which are well known for delays and cancellations. But the same applies to most other regional airlines. Asky is probably the best, owned by Ethiopian. They also fly (or did fly) to New York, London and Johannesburg but unless price is our only criteria, flying Arik long haul is an experience I wouldn't recommend. Inflight service is limited. Plans are old and tatty. Delays and cancellations frequent. Bags often never arrive.

This roundtrip from JFK to Lagos Nigeria was very bad. I had flown with ARIK air 5 years ago and was hugely disappointed with the experience this time around. My reason for flying with this airline was due to its direct flight with no layover, and the fact that I had flown with them in the past and had a good experience. This time it was shambolic. Leaving JFK, they boarded on time but we were stuck on the runway for almost an hour (I can understand it is not always the airline's fault) but the fact the flight attendant told us the in-flight entertainment would be turned on once we left the gate was kinda odd. Only to hear over the PA that the entertainment system was not working and this made every moment in the 10.5 hour flight feel frustrating for not being honest with us travelers. There was no entertainment on the return flight as well. The plane décor was less than desirable. Once you got past the business class section, the walkway carpet was in need of replacement as you could see the show and cart marks. One bathroom was non-functional and smelled unsanitary with the toilet seat broken off. I wasn't sure if the airline wasn't taking note of what needed to be fixed. The meals were nothing special. Since it was the same plane returning the above is ditto just that we left 2 hours later than we were scheduled from Lagos and they gave an excuse of being held for inspections which I didn't buy. This led to us landing on the tarmac in JFK since they lost their slot at the gates. Thus we had to be bussed to immigration and waited 1.5 hours to get our luggage. A trip and airline to forget. And there was no wi-fi.

✅ Verified Review | London Heathrow to Lagos. Arik Air impressed me as I wasn't expecting the quality of service from an African airline. They have improved their services, expanded routes and fleet. I booked online but had to select my seat so contacted them on the phone. Staff was accessible over the phone they confirmed my selection then and there..

✅ Verified Review | I've got my ticket from Accra to Banjul on July 19. When I got to the airport on the evening of July 20 to check in, the Arik office there told me that my flight had been cancelled. There was absolutely no notification ahead of time! They later changed my flight time to the same one two days later, which made me change my business plan including the hotel reservation and the pick-up from the Banjul airport that night. Next day I asked my agent to go to their office again and she told that they refused five passengers from Accra just because the aircraft from Lagos was too small to contain more passengers. But why did they sell more tickets than the seats? It caused me a lot of trouble! Last time (in May) when I took the flight from Arik between Accra and Dakar, it delayed more that 3 hours! I will definitely exclude Arik from my business flight choice in West Africa from now on.

By far one of the worst experiences I have had flying out of the country. They were supposed to take me from JFK to Lagos and then to Liberia, it almost seems impossible for them. After a 12 hours layover in New York, when it came time to board, they were late checking their passengers in and then when we got to gate we sat there for another 4 hrs before they told us to line up for boarding. We waited another hour and they proceed to tell us that the flight was going to be delayed for an hour, 45 mins later we were told they were having technical issues that could last for hours. If you ever going to west Africa, Arik Air is not the airline.

✅ Verified Review | Flew Lagos to Dakar. I arrived at Lagos airport for my flight which was supposed to leave at 8.30pm but was delayed. The airline did not announce this delay, instead, I had to run around asking airport staff for information and thanks to a nice gentleman I finally found out the the plane was delayed 4 hours. 4 hours wait for a 3 hour flight. After waiting 4 hours the plane was further delayed an hour and once we boarded, we had to wait another hour and a half until it took off. All this time there was absolutely no communication from the airline, we were just expected to wait in ignorance. In the end I arrived in Dakar at 6am instead of 12am as scheduled. I will never recommend flying Arik Air.

Our Arik Air flight from Lagos to London was originally supposed to depart at 12.55. After checking in, we we told that there would be a delay of about an hour. Just after about an hour and a few minutes, a lady came to update us telling us that there would be further delays and she didn't really know when we would be leaving. There was a lot of commotion and anger from the passengers at which she promised to do her best and while we waited we would be offered some refreshment (which never came!). About 30 mins later we were told we could board the plane. We were quite bemused as we all knew that they only boarded us that quickly to get out of the promise to give us refreshments as they should have. We all settled into our seats and sat there for another 1.5hrs with no explanations from anyone as to why there was still a delay. Passengers became agitated, angry and very upset. We eventually left Lagos at 4pm and got to London around 9pm. The treatment of passengers on the flight was shabby and unprofessional to say the least, and I will never recommend Ark to anyone.

Left on time for short flight of about 50 minutes from Lagos to Accra. Offered breakfast (egg, sausage and baked beans) with drinks. All nice. Had to shovel it down quickly due to the short flight time. Terminal staff let us down with my freight baggage. Couldn't be more helpful.

Lagos to Abidjan with Arik Air. Bad, truly very bad. The plane was really dirty, I would say it had not been cleaned for days or weeks. Travelling in business class at dinner time I was told by the chief purser that he was sorry that catering forgot to load the meals and the drinks. And I was flying out from their hub! I travel all the time around Africa but this was really one of the worst services - or should I say no service.