Tajik airlines: complaints of passengers
Translation of the inscription
We fly to far and near abroad.
Our motto: flight safety and service on the high level
Our goal: promotion of integration of our country with the rest of the world.
Tajik airlines, which is owned by the state, inherited the planes after the collapse of Soviet Union, which belonged to Aeroflot, the airlines of Soviet Union. The aircraft-fleet of the company was not renovated after the collapse of Soviet Union, and it seems that the state is not concerned about this problem.
Besides the old planes, Tajik airlines also acquired a bed reputation in terms of service. The complaints about the service from the passengers are innumerous, you can hear them everyday. Rahmon in one of his posts on the Tajik Russian-language blog paid attention to this problem. He was reporting on the bad service and old planes of the company.
Flying on the old planes which were overused is dangerous. The aircraft-fleet has not been renovated after the collapse of Soviet Union. The administration of the air-company is reporting the necessity to replace all the old planes with new one, which can comply with the international standards but nothing is changing and nothing is going further than words. It is interesting to know where do all the multi-million grants go, which are allocated by international institutions for modernization of the airport, purchase of new planes, improvement of the level of service, training of the personnel and so on.
Most of the foreign citizens (local citizens have got used to it) are terribly upset by the border control. The Tajik customs and border control is special. Before going through the passport control you have to wait for many hours in line, that’s because one or maximum two out of seven checkpoints are working. I still don’t understand why they need the other five checkpoints.
Last week the International Public Organization “National League “Tajiks” posted an open letter on the web-site Our Tajikistan about the abuse of passengers’ rights by Tajik airlines. The representatives of the League reported that seventeen passengers (citizens of Tajikistan) of the Tajik airlines were not allowed to get aboard though they had tickets for the flight from Moscow to Dushanbe.
Representatives of the airlines claimed that there was no space for them on the board. Well, it can happen only to passengers of Tajik airlines. The company sells tickets to people and then announces that there is no space for them on the board. Fortunately, with the help of the League nine of them were took aboard, and later they reported that the space was occupied by a luggage though it is absolutely forbidden by all rules of aviation.
The representatives of the air-company are saying that the reason for not taking aboard the passengers is the overload of the plane. However, the excessive load is supposed to be the luggage but not the passengers. As we know, the luggage usually occupies more space than it is allowed. In this case, there were computers, TV-sets, and other equipment which were put in the plane instead of passengers. We are also upset about the fact that the air-company “Tojikiston” (Tajik ailines) compensated only thirty percent from the cost of the tickets, though it was not the fault of the passengers not to get aboard. More than that, the air-company did not even provide the passengers with accommodation and food.
Obviously, they became the victims of corruption, which is widespread in this company. Any of the merchants could just pay extra money and load all his goods on the passenger plane. Usually if there is no more space in the luggage compartment, they put the goods of their client (merchant) on the seats of the passengers and report that they have no more space for the passengers.
There is another situation which usually happens. When someone needs to get aboard but has no ticket, he/she may pay extra money right before the flight in the airport to the representative of the company and get aboard instead of someone else. It is nonsense but it may happen to any of the passengers of Tajik airlines.
That is my guess-work, which I am sure is not far from reality but the explanation of the whole situation, provided by the administration of the National League “Tajiks”, which advocates the rights of the passengers in this case, surprised me very much. They are claiming that the representatives of Tajik airlines are doing this on purpose in order to undermine the reputation of the President of Tajikistan (Rahmonov) before the elections.
Elections are coming soon in Tajikistan, and the representatives of the Tajik airlines are spoiling the reputation of our president. We are sure that it is done on purpose to undermine the reputation of the president of Tajikistan.
Probably they are spreading these strange statements because, Tajik airlines is the state-owned company and it implies that it is owned by the President of Tajikistan. Or it is just a desperate attempt to attract the attention of the President and make him aware how much they love him. I am sure only about one thing that this flattery will not make any change.
Though the National League “Tajiks” assumes that this kind of abuse is happening only to Tajik citizens, in reality all the passengers, no matter where they come from are subject to this kind of situations. Last year, even the ambassadors of several countries to Tajikistan were fed up with the service of Tajik airlines and wrote an open letter to Imomali Rahmonov, the President of Tajikistan. James was reporting on that in Tajik blog.
The ambassadors of the United States, Britain, France, Japan, Turkey, and Switzerland wrote an open letter to President Imomali Rakhmonov on Friday asking him to address Tajik Air’s most glaring service problems. They complained about difficulties buying tickets, getting onward connections, the lack of compensation for delays and cancelled flights, decrepit airport facilities, and the need to increase “respect for passengers”.
on August 5th, 2006 at 4:52 pm
I don’t buy it… I don’t think anyone gives a damn about the president in Tajik Airlines, let alone going an extra mile undermining him. These guys want to earn cash and would do almost anything (starting from intimidation of officers to banning passengers from the flight) to snatch those extra $$ for themselves. The fact is that many of officers bought their position in the airport and in return they are given a free hand to recoup their investments.
With all due respect, I don’t think the problems embassadors face are exactly those that are faced by Tajik passengers. Tajiks get humiliation and intimidation as an added bonus. What is even more shameful they pay extra for it.
Something is really rotten in Tajik Airlines.
on August 5th, 2006 at 7:53 pm
My flight from Dushanbe to Khujand was delayed by a day and a half, and when I finally got to the airport in Khujand, they would not honor my return ticket because I was late getting to Khojand!
on August 7th, 2006 at 7:26 am
Tajik boy I absolutely agree with you that noone gives a damn about the president in Tajik airlines, the officers only work for themselves and you are right that they just want to recoup their investments. It’s happening throughout the whole country in all the spheres, even in the law-enforcement agencies, not saying about the rest. You can get the position for money or with the help of your high official relative. Something is rotten not only in Tajik airlines but in the whole Tajik land.
on August 8th, 2006 at 3:37 am
I have to agree, the one good thing is the food! I could do without the smoking on board and avoided the bathroom. I’ve flown Tajik Air from Moscow to Dushanbe and back, from Istanbul to Dushanbe and back and from Dushanbe to Khojand.
Turkish Air apparently now flies once a week from Istanbul.
on August 8th, 2006 at 6:19 pm
planes have not been serviced ever since the collapse…. wow, so we are soon in for a big plane crash and maybe after tons of people die they will do something.
on August 9th, 2006 at 2:08 am
I don’t know about you guys, but I am not flying Tajik Airlines back home…
Every time I get on the board of that TU-134 I feel the plane is about to crumble in the air. Have you heard those rattling noises when it takes off?
One time a guy even fainted in the seat next to me… perhaps he had a frear of flights but those sounds could even make the toughest guys panic.
Could be a perfect theme for the next Scare Tactics show on the Sci-fi channel
on August 9th, 2006 at 5:36 am
I think that by saying “aircraft fleet has not been renovated since the collapse of Soviet Union”, Rahmon meant that there were bought no new planes since the collapse, but not “planes have not been serviced ever since the collapse”. It means that the planes are old and overused but they are still serviced.
on August 9th, 2006 at 5:43 am
Tajik boy, TU-134 planes are not only in service of Tajik airlines, all other Russian and some post-Soviet countries’ air-companies are still using them. The question is how does each of those companies use them.
on September 25th, 2006 at 12:05 pm
I agree with Vadim,
Planes have been serviced but are of course overused by now. However, Tajik Airlines should stop the monopoly and other airlines should be let in. The main reason I guess for them to not let them in is the “fear” of being “put aside” as soon as other flight operators appear on “stage” having better quality services, chipper flights, accurate timing etc. In this case Tajik Airlines will lose its customers who are using them as there hasn’t been any other choice for them.
on May 1st, 2007 at 8:42 am
Hello everybody
I was going to visit my home country Tajikistan but I put away my trip just because of poor service and poor infrustructure of Tajik airlines. Tajik airlines charges the highest tariffs and the poorest service in comparison with other international companies. I wish only that officials in Tajikistan understand that the company can not survive anymore. Tajikistan should open its economy for fair competition. A lack of knowledge in such field as international economy brings country direct to the poverty. Tajikistan should look at the nearest neighbour countries. How long we Tajiks will be treated as a third class. We have bad reputation not only within developed world but we are treated by our government which is totally corrupted, even worse. We need to start to think in long terms but not in short terms. The population of Tajikistan is only 6 million which is lower than population of Moskow city. I can not beleive that we are so stupid that can not provide people with gas, with light, with service wich affordable all levels of pupulation. How long should we leave our country and to go somewhere else to earn money and to provide our families. Where is the light? If our president is not able to do it who will do it?