Important Lessons from an Air Traveller

In Nigeria where a lot of things are taken for granted ranging from breaking and breaching public rules and regulations such as disobeying simple traffic rules, hatred for paying taxes, littering the streets with garbage waste, giving and taking bribes, display of impatience and intolerance for fellow citizens among several other bad vices that characterize our society as hostile, I have learned some lessons as an air traveller that are reforming and transforming my habits. A few of such lessons are highlighted below;

Attention to Details: I arrived at the airport too early or too late on some occasions, spent extra money moving from one terminal to another and checked in at a wrong airline because I did not pay adequate attention to the schedule details on my flight ticket. This teaches me that everything written on my flight ticket is significant and should be given due attention.

Punctuality: since check-in and issuance of the boarding pass at the airport often take place an hour prior to the eventual departure, I had occasions of rescheduling my flights, deferring a ticket or paying extra money to travel with another airline due to my late arrival at their airport. Sometimes, my lateness was due to unexpected heavy traffic, and other times, due to late take off from my home.

Due Diligence: the due diligence conducted on every traveller by the airport and immigration officers teaches a lesson of patience and careful submission to travel rules and regulations. No matter how impatience one is naturally, we usually undergo such due diligence painstakingly although there are instances of brawls with the airport officials by some impatient citizens. Such due diligence has at times led to the apprehension of drug dealers and individuals trying to abscond from the country even when they are restricted from doing so.

Neatness: the neatly dressed flight crew and neatness of the inside of the flight cabin create a conscious or unconscious sense of personal neatness when aboard the plane. Wastes are rarely littered around, and every passenger tries to play within that order.

Decorum: the level of decorum observed by every passenger aboard the plane is almost always predictable. No undue interference with others, no sharing of the tracts, no preaching, no marketing activities and little or no noise pollution among others makes air travelling an exciting event although there have been instances of disruption of the relative peace passengers enjoyed by some unscrupulous passengers. The recent case of an unidentified passenger evacuated from an Ibom Air flight due to threats to the life of Bola Tinubu, the Nigerian president-elect is a rare case of disruption of flight decorum.

Overall, air travelling teaches great lessons of self-discipline and diligence with such lessons applicable to every area of life. If one properly evaluates air travelling experiences and apply the lessons learnt adequately, it has a way of shaping us, can help us to be better persons and play a great role in making one successful in almost every endeavour