Tension is fast rising in London among disappointed passengers of the defunct Ghana International Airline (GIA)

More than 800 disappointed passengers who were unable to fly to Accra from London due to the unexpected closure of the airline in the summer of last year are planning a massive demonstration in London within weeks to press home for their refunds.

A spokeswoman for the group said the demonstration would end at the Ghana High Commission where they will present petitions to the Head of Mission.

They have also threatened to take the issue to courts in the United Kingdom and in Ghana to demand for their monies with interest and compensations.

The GIA was closed down due chiefly to severe financial and operational constraint in June last year. At the time of the decision to bring operations of the airline to a halt, tickets had been sold to many passengers both Ghanaians and non-Ghanaians.

Investigations in London have also revealed that so far, 26 families who had booked the flight to travel to Ghana for funeral, wedding and other ceremonies could not either make it at all or had to buy new tickets and fly to Accra on other airlines.

The major challenge according to the passengers who had paid between 490 and 2000 Pounds, no arrangements were made to provide refunds or find alternative means to fly them to Accra.

One of the affected passengers, Mrs. Catharine Joseph said in an interview that, she had to pay extra 70 Pounds to change the date of already purchased tickets for herself and son Katakyie Adu-Boahene, 15 years, only to be told that they could not fly because the airline was no longer in operation. “We were waiting for the outcome of that and all we heard was absolutely disappointing.” She said. Frederick Badu purchased his ticket with three other family members, Francisca, Fernanda and Frederica to fly to Ghana from the UK but was disappointed by the fiasco. The family paid nearly two thousand Pounds for the four tickets and has since “struggled” with the Travel Agent, Travel House UK, to get their refund but to no avail. “I cannot let this money go waste, I will fight every thing to get it.” He vowed. Miss Faustina Amponsah-Ramson also could not travel in June last year to attend her daughter’s engagement and wedding ceremonies primarily due to the debacle of the GIA. “I am extremely discouraged and I don’t feel like patronising anything Ghana any longer.” Mr. Samuel Lansana, and wife Philomena, together with their two children Gideon and Evans had perhaps the worse part of the frustrations, as they had to incur other expenses to the airport and back to their house and in three days time had to purchase new tickets for the whole family to fly on a different airline because “we could not postpone or cancel the trip because it was very crucial.”

Mr. Samuel Sare who purchased his ticket from the Frontline Travels in South London said, “I had to travel on the 27the of June last year for a very important family issue. It was not for holiday, it was a necessity. Now GIA has disgraced me before my family at home in Ghana because I could not attend to a very important family issues.”

Nearly 50 disappointed passengers have officially lodged complains with the Ghana High Commission in London.

“We were only made to provide our names and contact details nearly a year ago but we have not heard anything from them. Not a word from anywhere.” One of them said.

Efforts by Travel Agents in the city of London to persuade their disappointed customers have proved futile and at a point the passengers turned their anger on the Agents.

The CEO of Flight Travel Centre, Alhaji Ibrahim Atta-Apau who expressed his frustration in an interview said the situation is gradually collapsing his business. He said many customers are loosing faith and interest in the travel agents because of the woes of the GIA.

“I cannot sleep, and when I come to work I received nearly 80 calls a day from my valued customers who have been disappointed by the GIA in my name.”

“The problem has compounded because GIA was collecting their monies from us weekly and therefore there is nothing, by way of monies, to refund to these innocent passengers.” He noted.

He observed that the patience of the customers has completely run out and their intended action was in the right direction.

According to Alhaji Atta-Apau who has been in the business for the past 20 years, this is the worse experience in his career. He said a total of 135 thousand Pounds is need as a refund to 282 passengers who purchased GIA tickets from his Travel Agency.

“We (Travel Agents) have sent a delegation led by the Director of Circle Travels, Mr. George Newman to Accra to have talks with the government to find the way forward.

Mashin Malik of Flight Vision confirmed this and said they have sent the delegation because “the pressure on us is too enormous to bear.” He said he needs nearly 130 thousand Pounds as a refund to 283 disappointed passengers.

He said his Travel Agency had booked passengers on GIA flights up till September 2010 before the Airline crumpled three months earlier.

Officials at the Ghana High Commission, in reaction said efforts were being made by the Government to address the issue.