by Galen Li, MBA '08

Ghana is a nation of tremendous economic growth and opportunity. The burgeoning economic situation in Ghana has brought with it a surge in demand for both business and leisure travel. Challenges that come with this surge in demand, however, were made clear to me with my personal horror story from Accra Airport.

March 30, 2008 was the last day of a fantastic 10-day experience in Ghana. After learning about successful businesses, culture, and government intricacies within Ghana during our study trip, it was time to return to Boston. Although we were asked to meet at 6:30am in the lobby ready to go, we finally left our hotel at 7am. While at first cranky about our early awakening, we were soon glad to have arrived at the airport three hours before our scheduled 10:15am flight.

Upon arriving at Accra Airport, we were greeted to lines as far as the eye could see. Our first stop was at customs, where airport employees took our check-in luggage. These employees opened and inspected each piece of check-in luggage. Next, we entered a long, snaking line to get checked-in for our flight. To the side of this extensive line were scales where we could weigh our own luggage to ensure our bags were not overweight. After a good half hour at customs and another 45 minutes in the check-in line, we found out why the line was taking so long; each piece of luggage being checked-in was again being opened and inspected. After our luggage was finally checked-in for the flight, we were handed boarding passes. While most of our trip members had seat assignments noted on their boarding passes, mine did not and I was told to get a seat assignment at the gate.

After checking in our luggage, most of us felt much more comfortable. My classmates filed into duty free stores and other souvenir shops to make use of their remaining Ghanaian Cedis. Without a seat assignment, I diligently pushed onward towards the departure gate.

The next step in our amazing race through the airport was a third security checkpoint - this time for our carry-on bags. We placed our bags, metallic possessions, and other extraneous items on the conveyor belt for a machine check in typical US airport fashion.

At last, I was ready to reach the gate and receive my seat assignment when around the very next corner, I reached another security checkpoint! Frustration was clearly mounting by this time. What else could possibly be checked? Our carry-on luggage was again looked at here. Instead of the machine check, however, this time airport employees did a manual inspection, opening up and feeling through all of our items. Just ten meters ahead, I already saw the next security checkpoint. Here, each of us stood still, spreading our arms and legs, as airport security patted us down as if we were being arrested. At this point, Mr. Ola Olaniyi, who was in line behind me, began to vent his frustrations to the employees as his body was getting violated.

By the time we got through the five security checks and to the gate, it was almost 10am, just fifteen minutes to our scheduled departure time. The flight was already boarding, yet I saw a group of passengers waiting in a seating area between the gate booth and the plane. Two Delta employees greeted passengers at the gate: one male, one female. When I asked the male employee for a seat assignment, he kindly asked me to take a seat and wait until my name was called. For the ten hour flight to New York, I wanted to ensure a window seat, but when I asked the Delta employee for one, he referred me to the female employee next to him. Before I even could request a window seat, she asked me to sit down and wait for my name to be called. I twice attempted to interject a request, but both times she only spoke louder and in a more condescending tone, repeating that I needed to sit down and wait for my name to be called. Normally calm and patient, I became deeply upset. I wanted to say something, but held back because I didn't want to jeopardize my chances of getting on the flight. Little was I to know that a window seat would be the least of my concerns.

After ten minutes in the waiting area with 30 others attempting to get seat assignments, the Delta employees began to call out names. As only half the names were called, tension began to mount. What was the serene and peaceful nature in Ghanaians that I had grown accustomed to during the entire trip had fallen apart. Two men, in particular, had visibly lost their composure. One kept approaching the female Delta employee, saying sternly that he was the first one to the gate, and that his name was never called. The other was even more vehement. After pleading his case that he had to be on the flight to get to Washington D.C. for a court case, the Delta employee repeated her broken record of sitting down until his name was called. He snapped, responding that he "didn't pay so much money for this flight so that she could act like such a b****!" I wanted to congratulate and thank him for articulating what we were all thinking, but even those around him were scared to speak to him.

It got worse. When Delta announced that the flight was full, the mob of stranded passengers looked like it was going to get violent. A swarm of screaming customers surrounded the Delta employees. One man vowed confidently, "I am getting on that plane. I am going to get on that plane and f*** some people up!"

At this point, Miss Angelina Clarke came to my rescue. She got the attention of an employee and smartly explained our situation. We were a student study group of 30 from the US that needed to travel together. Either I had to be let on the flight, or 29 passengers were getting off the plane. At once, the employee understood our circumstance, and worked with the other employees to find me a seat assignment. Instead of printing me out a boarding pass, however, he wrote my seat number with a pen on my seat request pass. Nevertheless, I took it to the gate where they asked to see my plastic boarding pass, which I was never given. Having been sent back to get my boarding pass, the angry mob was now catching on to my situation. I heard livid screams of, "Why is he getting a seat?" Even the workers were panicking at this point in fear of a riot, as all of them started screaming on their walkie-talkies for them to let me through. Angelina and I ran to the plane fearful of both a lynching and not making our flight. Stopped again at the door of the plane for not having a boarding pass, we made our final push through the airport and airline bureaucracy.

Needless to say, the airport in Accra has room for improvement. It can adopt a lot of the operational practices and procedures from US airports. For example, opening and inspecting check-in luggage can be done behind the scenes to reduce the number of lines throughout the airport. Inspections for customs and check-in can be combined into one check to avoid redundant work.

Examining carry-on luggage and travelers can be done at a single checkpoint to allow for a parallel process of scrutinizing the traveler and his luggage simultaneously. Instead of necessitating a machine and human check of each carry-on bag, one process or the other should be selected instead of both, possibly by upgrading the machinery.

At the airline level, Delta needs to make customer service a priority. Employees should be assessed for their patience and service in the hiring process. Those employees not reflecting these characteristics should be terminated as soon as possible. It is common for airlines to oversell flights because many paid passengers often miss their flights for one reason or another. However, in the event that not every paying passenger is able to board the plane, the airline needs to appease those not flying. The common method of appeasement is to offer a free or deeply-discounted voucher for passengers to voluntarily take a later flight at no additional cost. Those accepting the voucher can make room for others to board the flight.

My abysmal experience with Accra Airport and Delta Airlines allowed me to empathize with the Ghanaian travelers. Although I witnessed Ghanaians losing their tempers at the gate, I couldn't blame them at all because I understood their frustrations. At the end of the day, it is clear that operations need to improve, and I know that the passionate and peaceful Ghanaians will effect that change.