Kwam 1, Kwam 2 and air travel wahala, by Simbo Olorunfemi

I take the liberty to assume that there is near-unanimity that Kwam 1’s obstruction of an Aircraft from taking off from the Abuja Airport, days back, is a misdemeanour that cannot, and should not, be excused under any condition.

His conduct would not have only triggered needless delay in the operations of the airline(s) and inconvenience to many passengers, it potentially put the lives of those on board and on ground in the line of clear danger.

Such is the gravity of his conduct that it won’t be a surprise if it is visited with prosecution as a full-blown criminal conduct, with grave implications for the musician.

There is no justifying or rationalising his indiscretion, and he has done well in admitting to his lapse of judgment and unacceptable conduct on the tarmac.

Obviously, other issues to do with his politics and track record in public conduct have also weighed in, some might argue, disproportionately so. The perception of him as arrogant, real or contrived, has not helped in the matter. Rightly or wrongly.

We have now also seen the incident involving the young lady on the Ibom Air flight from Uyo. No point detaining ourselves with details of that incident, safe to say that it won’t be the first time we are seeing unruly passengers, even if that level of escalation is unprecedented. Again, her conduct has criminal implications and might see her facing prosecution in court, as had been the case in the past.

But these incidents, which qualify as ‘air rage’ (aggressive or violent behavior on the part of passengers and crew of aircraft, especially during flight), have had me reflecting from the sidelines, as I read one commentary after the other on the Kwam 1 incident.

The first thing that came to my mind was how stressful it has become to travel by air travel since the 9-11 terrorist attack and the protocols the industry was forced to adapt.

Long gone, now, are the leisure days before 2001 where people can stroll in and out of airports and airplanes without endless scrutiny, frisking of bodies and luggages. Necessary as it is, for the sake of security, it can sometimes become burdensome and tiring, robbing air travel of the pleasure it can (or ought to) be.

“Air travel isn’t as pleasant as it used to be and is getting worse…Everyone is experiencing crowded planes, flight delays and lengthy security checks,” Andrew Thomas says.

Again, this is not to explain away the incidents that we have witnessed, or justify air rage, which we are told, is on the rise around the world.

But it leads me to interrogate what I have witnessed in my modest experience of air travel, and my conclusion that the human factor (managerial style) can make a world of difference in determining how crisis situations eventually play out. Same scenario or circumstances can lead to different outcomes, depending on the individuals involved. While one intervention might help to diffuse tension, another one might end up escalating it.

Rules and regulations are what they are. They are meant to be enforced. They should be. But is the intendment of the farmers of these rules that these rules must be followed to the letter, or are there mitigating circumstances under which discretion can come in on the part of the Managers, without necessarily compromising on the spirit behind the rules?

I believe the latter to be the case, from a few of my experiences:

Years back, we were on our way out of Johannesburg back to Lagos, with a baby who was only a few months old who only took water specially processed by his Mum. So we had a little bottle in the hand luggage. Our explanation sufficed in Lagos. We had no issues previously in Jo’burg on our way to Cape town, and on our return to Jo’burg. But on this leg out, this particular Official, a lady, would not have it, despite our plea and appeal from our Colleagues. She refused to let us into the departure wing with the small bottle of water for the baby, and we just had to let go. She followed the rule to the letter.

Another instance. A flight out of Heathrow with the family. Had bought biscuits and canned drinks for the boys for them to snack on before departure, but the check-in procedure took forever that we had to make for the gate immediately after, forgetting about the drinks in the carry-on luggage.

No jokes. They didn’t just refuse to let the kids have the drink so they could quickly take them, they held us back, while the drinks were taken away to run some checks. Not even the sight of the visibly distraught boy moved them. They followed the rules to the letter. Good.

Two unpleasant experiences. But I have also seen officials choosing to be humane, even in the face of the rules.

Again, a personal experience, which I think I once shared, in part, here.

We were late for a domestic flight out of Lagos. The counter had closed. But because we had checked in online, other members of my family were allowed to proceed for boarding while I processed the luggage. By the time I was done, boarding was said to have closed, and I was not allowed in. But about 20 minutes later, instructions were received that I had been asked to come board the flight I thought had long left.

I recall that the Flight Dispatcher was furious, that even when the staircase had been brought to the door of the plane to board, he insisted he was not going to allow me to.

He was clearly agitated, threatening to log the ‘incident’ against the Captain. But eventually, grace prevailed, the Captain had his way and I boarded the flight.

I was once the recipient of grace from a Flight Captain who ordered for the door of the plane that had been shut to be opened to allow me board.

A case of an official exercising his discretion in an humane manner.

Yesterday at the airport, I was a recipient of grace. ‘You have 2 kg excess, and you have to pay’, she said. Expressing my plan to take books out got her angry, asking me to drop my carry-on luggage. That weighed 7 kg. Triumphantly, she announced that I couldn’t take out the books from the checked-in luggage, and dismissed as not ready for checking in. I took my bag away to wrap and luckily found myself on another desk.

This lady was friendly, and she exercised her discretion in waving off the charges for the excess luggage.

Grace. Discretion.

I remember her telling me that the job comes with a lot of pressure and that it is important for everyone on the job to find a way to smile, and shake it all off less we become a trigger for rage.

So, reflecting on my experiences, pleasant and unpleasant as well as all that has been playing out in the public space of late, I am of the view that, for whatever reasons, there is a lot of anger in the air, which even though doesn’t excuse our long-standing culture of bad behaviour, can still serve as basis to step back and see if there are ways to better manage some of the sticky situations we often find, without them degenerating to fire-for-fire, or escalate to the point of people clearly losing their heads.

A cooler (wiser?) head might have approached the K1 incident differently, which might have led to a different outcome than what we saw.

On Kwam 1’s, flask I refuse to believe that it is impossible to have come to a resolution to the ‘satisfaction’ of both parties, without the matter even getting to the attention of the Flight Captain.

My point is, there is always more than one way to handle such situations. If I was the Team Leader faced with the K1 situation, I might have handled things differently. Yet that doesn’t make the way those who managed the situation wrong. I would have tried to handle this stakeholder differently, and might have had a different outcome.

A ‘wise’ or ‘smart’ Manager (Leader!) knows, or should know that it is not always Black and White. There is always that grey area, which can be explored without breaching the rules. After all, it is more about the spirit than the letter of the law.

Successful stakeholder management often requires wisdom and an unwritten capacity to think on one’s feet. Leadership often calls for a way to walk the fine line to find an amicable resolution to problems to prevent undue escalation.

We have to work harder at striking the balance between throwing the rule in the face of others, just to prove a point, and finding a way to exercise discretion in a manner that can bring that elusive smile to the face of others, especially travellers who have to put up with so much, these days, just to be able to travel by air.