Uganda Airlines, the national carrier of Uganda, has faced backlash on social media platform X after leaving passengers stranded in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, for over 32 hours without any communication.
As per a tweet, passengers who were supposed to depart on Thursday at 3 PM found their flight rescheduled to Friday at 11:30 PM, with no explanation given.
“Dear @UG_Airlines
you have passengers stranded in Dar-es-Salaam. The flight was previously scheduled for Thursday 3pm, then without explanation rescheduled to Friday at 7pm, and now 11.30pm. What’s going on?.”
This incident is not the first time the airline has received criticism for its poor communication regarding service delivery. Complaints have been frequent since the airline launched a few years ago.
“Our flight from Lusaka to Ebb yesterday was delayed by 5 solid hours. The plane actually left EBB for Harare at the time it was supposed to be picking us from LUN to Entebbe. People who were supposed to be in EBB at 8:30 landed at 2AM.”
Fortunately for Uganda Airlines, social media users highlighted how they have also dealt with complaints about other airlines, including RwandAir, among others.
“So unfortunate but Rwandair did that to us sometime back.
Had to fly at 7pm from Arusha to Kigali then Entebbe, the flight was pushed to 3am the next morning and we had to go to 3 destinations before Entebbe. That is Arusha to Dar el salam, Kigali, Nairobi then Entebbe. 3 days,” said an unfortunate passenger.
One user noted that the airline industry in Africa is not as developed as in Europe, North America, or Asia. With fewer travelers on the continent and airplanes not operating like taxis with regular stopovers, airlines must ensure they depart with a sufficient number of passengers. Another commenter suggested that the flight could have been delayed for security reasons due to President Museveni traveling to South Sudan by air.
