From Entebbe to Dar

                                                                                                                               I spent about 12 hours today flying from Entebbe, Uganda to Dar Es Salaam. What started out as a simple process to catch a flight turned out to be quite exhausting. I arrived at the Entebbe Airport at about 6:45 am in morning for a 9:45 am departure. You see I prefer to arrive early than to be caught in traffic or security jam. “Which flight?” is the usual good morning, “Air Uganda, to Dar” was my tired response. “Not yet, go and seat over there”, the “over there” was the coffee shop next to the departure lounge.

I stayed there till almost an hour later – then I remembered that I had the phone number to the duty manager so I called. “I am so sorry” was his immediate response, “I will come over right away”. And he informed me that the flight was rescheduled from 9:40 to 13:00 hours and that Air Uganda will take of me by offering access to the business class lounge (Karibuni Lounge).  The “I am coming right away”, I was promised earlier took another 30 minutes and no one showed up. So I went to the departure lounge where I was greeted with several “I am so sorrys”.

When it came to giving me the Karibuni Lounge coupon that proved to be another matter. The check-in attendant wanted me to clarify if I knew of the rescheduled flight earlier. It sounded like those who got the notice were not entitled to the business class lounge. So I promptly responded in my best “stimuli-pause-response” mode. But I guess I was not very successful doing that because I overhead the supervisor to the attendant say “don’t worry, he is a Nigerian!”.

On check-in, I had 12Kg over weight and charged $60 but at an exchange rate to the dollar of almost 260K UGX. I tried to complain but was too tired to continue so I said “please keep the change” – I gave 170K UGX. I finally made it to Karibuni Lounge where I was attended to my a lovely hostess who not only made me a chicken sandwich for lunch but asked “what will like to drink?”.

Later the Duty Station Manager came and continued with the “I am so sorry” except this time he apologized for the staff who gave overcharged me 11,000 UGX on the excess luggage. I thanked him for his follow through. You see, I could tell that the Duty Manager was doing all he could to ensure that I felt comfortable. But comfort was the last thing on mind after 6 hours of waiting.

But the experience at Entebbe was mild compared to what awaited me in Dar es Salaam. We arrived at about 3:00 pm or so and it took a full 2 hours plus to get a visa issued. We arrived behind Emirates Airlines and what a wait. First the Immigration officer was kind enough to point out to me that I had already had a multiple entry visitor’s visa. But she was quick to announce that I needed another type of visa called CTA. According to the Tanzanian Immigration website, Applicants who intend to travel to Tanzania for business purposes will be issued a Visitor's Pass, which has words "CARRYING ON TEMPORARY ASSIGNMENT (CTA)". This pass will be issued on arrival at the entry point and is valid for 2 months only, from the date of issue. For obtaining a visitor's pass, fee of US$200, Company's Recommendation Letter or an Invitation Letter and 2 photos should be submitted during the application. However, before traveling they are requested to obtain a Travel visa from the Tanzania Missions abroad. I was lucky the immigration officer did not demand the all the other collaterals, just the money.

So after paying $200 dollars, the immigration officer left with my passport and I waited for almost 2 hours for the CTA to be issued. I wandered, used the bathrooms, sat, stood and hoped for providence to release my passport. I thought about all the positive things I could do with my time and practiced once again the power I had between stimulus and response. It was tough but I kept reminding myself to focus on the good of this situation. Occasionally, I will wander to the window and ask the immigration officer about “is passport almost done?”, and I got “no this is manual, it takes time”.

I eventually got the visa and I left for the hotel reflecting ho what one could do with the various opportunities I encountered. At the risk of sounding like the master of the obvious, Air Uganda could use a simple SMS enabled system which will notify customers directly – not emails – about flight rescheduling or cancellations. To quote William Pike, the former Managing Director of Uganda’s New Vision, “we know there will be mistakes in service delivery, but please communicate”. Rather the several “I am sorrys”, keep your commitment to provide support to passengers during long delays instead prolonging the pain by not keeping you word. Let your “I am coming” truly mean you are on the way.

As for the two hours at the Airport in Dar to get a visa or permit, the folks there can decide to change that by making specific choices about providing a welcoming service and making the visa application process as painless as possible. First up, can notify customers at point of departure about these rules by the airlines and offering a web enabled system for getting this done. It would have been by far better to deal with this online instead of the frustration at the airport in Dar.

Delivery of public service does not have to be painful – and the folks at the Rwanda Development Board have proved this. It took less than 2 hours to get my company registered in Kigali complete with a Tax Identification Number (TIN) and Value Added Tax (VAT) numbers. All delivered sternly but with delightful outcomes. And I know all countries can offer the same level of service if we decide to make the appropriate choices.