Kenya Stockholm Blog

Ticketing Saga: Okante “On The War Path” With Mr. Adiwa

Mr. Okante, the husband of the woman who was turned back at Arlanda International Airport has surfaced to criticize Mr. Antony Adiwa and his Saanda Travel Agency for incompetence and misrepresentation of facts. As a person whose wife and daughter were treated to the indignity of being turned back at the airport, Mr. Okante said that it is his responsibility to correct the facts as allegedly misrepresented by Mr. Adiwa.

Speaking to KSB on telephone, Okante said that his wife’s trip was planned well in advance and that the question of money not having been enough because of the age of the child should not arise.

He said that problems began soon after his wife tried to confirm her ticket following information from Mr. Adiwa to the effect that his wife needed to add more cash just days before she was to travel to Kenya and after she had finalized all payments.

According to Okante, “Mr. Adiwa said that the price of the ticket had increased because there had been an abrupt increase in tax” which she needed to sort out. “It had nothing to do with the kid being overage”, he said.

On Thursday last week, his wife called Mr. Adiwa but the Agent was not taking the phone. The search for Adiwa on telephone continued last Friday but he was nowhere. The problem continued throughout the week-end, time when his wife was also left in limbo because she was scheduled to travel on Monday morning.

“My wife decided to proceed to the airport because she did not know the position”, he told KSB. Okante proceeded to say that when they were on their way to the airport, Mr. Adiwa called but never told her not to proceed to the airport. “She told him that I am on the way to the airport”.

When she failed to check-in at Arlanda because her ticket number was not in the computer system, she took contact with Adiwa who demanded 5,000 kr before the matter could be fixed. A negotiation of sorts then proceeded and in the end, her wife had to part with more cash before she could get a new ticket that enabled her to travel on Tuesday this week.

Mr. Okantes said that he was ready to take responsibility for naming both Mr. Adiwa as the Agent and his Travel agency because he could prove what he was talking about to anybody. He said that he remains very dissatisfied with the manner Mr. Adiwa handled the booking and promised to take the issue to another level if necessary. He said that it was unfortunate that Mr. Adiwa was giving a different explanation to the public when he knows what he had done.

The ticketing saga has provoked heated debate among Kenyans in Stockholm although sympathy appears to be tilting in favour of the woman. Several commentators at KSB have come up with several claims about incompetence by the agency in question although these claims have not been properly substantiated. By virtue of being in business, it is in the interest of Mr. Adiwa and his business that the tiny issues being raised be addressed as a matter of urgency to prevent the reputation of his business from getting into disrepute.

Okoth Osewe

December 11, 2008 Posted by makozewe | News & Analysis | 28 Comments