Its no longer news that the value of the Nigerian Naira has dropped to an all time low, especially with the floating of forex by CBN. What is rather new is the fact that consumers have had to undergo a process of changing their lifestyle due to the glaring fact that the standard of living has dropped significantly.
It is also an obvious fact that we now have spending limits on our Naira debit card, which automatically means that there is a limit to our spendings in foreign currency per day. As at today the limit on the Naira debit card for withdrawing foreign currency is $300 (GTBank), while online limit as at some months ago was $1000, i'm not sure of the new online limits, as i have been unable to keep up with the change.
For a service provider like British Airways,and other airlines flying the Nigerian route , it is evident that this is not the best of times for them all. They have had to keep moving according to the pace and direction of the economy.
You see, aside from having a regular eight to five job, i do a lot of other stuff on the side, and one of them includes sourcing for ridiculously cheap tickets for family and friends to travel to their destination of choice, don't get me wrong, i am not a travel agent, i only love cheap travel tickets. So those who know me well, trust me to get them a good bargain on tickets.
Because of my love for sourcing great tickets, i have been able to identify the effect of the present economy on service providers such as British Airways.
In the past we could pay online for any international flight from Nigeria to the rest of the world, which is always cheaper than calling the airline's reservation desk or using a travel agent, this online ticket usually comes at a percentage(if you didn't know now you know), and that was the trip for me and many others like me. But since the economy took a turn around, this online purchase do not exist any more except you have a foreign debit card. At that time you could even go as far as booking a ticket on British Airways website and you have an option to pay later or pay at the bank, but that service no longer exist on British Airways website, now you have to book and pay immediately, which is not feasible for any Nigerian to do at this time because you have an average spending limit.
The tweets below was a twitter correspondence between myself and British Airways as far back as March 2016 before the dollar was floated..
The question now is, has the issue been looked into? Probably yes!, has the issue been resolved, eeeerrrrmm No!, Do I blame the airline? Well not really. The truth is the state of the economy is beyond everybody right now, and service providers are equally hanging at the tail end of the rope. We all heard about United Airlines stopping all operation in Nigeria.
The consumers are faced with fighting the urge to continue living their normal life or face reality, while the service providers are counting their losses daily from this economic pandemonium.
We can only hope that our economic reforms and policies will help bridge the new gap between the consumers and the service providers. only time will tell.
It is also an obvious fact that we now have spending limits on our Naira debit card, which automatically means that there is a limit to our spendings in foreign currency per day. As at today the limit on the Naira debit card for withdrawing foreign currency is $300 (GTBank), while online limit as at some months ago was $1000, i'm not sure of the new online limits, as i have been unable to keep up with the change.
For a service provider like British Airways,and other airlines flying the Nigerian route , it is evident that this is not the best of times for them all. They have had to keep moving according to the pace and direction of the economy.
You see, aside from having a regular eight to five job, i do a lot of other stuff on the side, and one of them includes sourcing for ridiculously cheap tickets for family and friends to travel to their destination of choice, don't get me wrong, i am not a travel agent, i only love cheap travel tickets. So those who know me well, trust me to get them a good bargain on tickets.
Because of my love for sourcing great tickets, i have been able to identify the effect of the present economy on service providers such as British Airways.
In the past we could pay online for any international flight from Nigeria to the rest of the world, which is always cheaper than calling the airline's reservation desk or using a travel agent, this online ticket usually comes at a percentage(if you didn't know now you know), and that was the trip for me and many others like me. But since the economy took a turn around, this online purchase do not exist any more except you have a foreign debit card. At that time you could even go as far as booking a ticket on British Airways website and you have an option to pay later or pay at the bank, but that service no longer exist on British Airways website, now you have to book and pay immediately, which is not feasible for any Nigerian to do at this time because you have an average spending limit.
The tweets below was a twitter correspondence between myself and British Airways as far back as March 2016 before the dollar was floated..
The question now is, has the issue been looked into? Probably yes!, has the issue been resolved, eeeerrrrmm No!, Do I blame the airline? Well not really. The truth is the state of the economy is beyond everybody right now, and service providers are equally hanging at the tail end of the rope. We all heard about United Airlines stopping all operation in Nigeria.
The consumers are faced with fighting the urge to continue living their normal life or face reality, while the service providers are counting their losses daily from this economic pandemonium.
We can only hope that our economic reforms and policies will help bridge the new gap between the consumers and the service providers. only time will tell.
