Jaunted

The irony is that the LOS of today is orders of magnitude better than the LOS of previous decades. The FAA used to post signs at American terminals warning travelers about the airport's horrible security situation, and in 1993 the agency suspended direct air service between Lagos and the United States. Crime was rampant. Robberies happened while planes were taxiing on the runway. Immigration officers refused to let people into the country without bribes.

Nigerian officials finally solved the crime problem by implementing an...ummm..."shoot on sight" policy. The policy was successful enough that the FAA restored direct flights to Nigeria in 2001.

Today's complaints mostly revolve around how travelers have to wait at immigration and baggage for hours at a time, and without air conditioning. Apparently "the air conditioning system is almost permanently faulty," which is suboptimal under any circumstance but particularly problematic on the hot and humid West African coast. Travelers are also still subject to harassment, though today it mostly takes the form of heckling rather than the old-school "give us your money or we'll kill you" variety. Because, you know, "shoot on sight."

[Photo: Aadebayo / Wiki Commons]