We arrived at the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) office in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, thrilled about our upcoming trip to Kigoma, a remote province on the Northwestern (check) of the country. JGI had arranged an eight day visit, allowing us to see firsthand their incredible work in several different parts of the province. Danielle would do all the serious research, and I would have a chance to play with chimps!

But when we arrived at our meeting: Pancras Ngalason, JGI Tanzania’s Director, casually asked to us: “How are you getting to Kigoma?”

“We’re flying…”, we responded (the 27-hour bus ride on unpaved roads doesn’t have a bathroom or show any American romantic comedies).

“Hope not with Precision Air?,” he asks.

[Silence]

“ Yes, why….,” we respond…

It turns out that Precision air is the worst airline in the world (in case anyone was wondering).

Why? Well, for starters… the government is recalling one of their planes for safety and maintenance (already a bad sign – when the Tanzanian government recalls a plane, it’s probably pretty serious). And of course this was the only plane that Precision routed between Dar Es Sa Salaam and Kigoma – and due to these safety concerns, the entire route is suspended for nearly four weeks – until mid-December (they have dozens of planes – none that they can “spare” to pick up any flights on this route)…

When Bernie first heard the news he wondered, of course, if it was due to a worker strike and would have joined the picket line for better wages. But instead the government was punishing the airline for being unsafe! Welcome to traveling in Africa.

Did Precision Air contact us by email and let us know that our flight was canceled before we traveled all the way to Dar? No. No email, no notification to our travel agent, no newspaper advertisement, no press release, no Facebook message, not even a Tweet, nothing…

And the only other airlines that flies there – Air Tanzania – has no reciprocity agreement that allowing Precision to rebook us automatically. And Air Tanzania’s route is completely full for the net two weeks. But, we thought, it should be easy to get a refund…

Not quite. After going to the Precision Air office and speaking to an agent we were told to come at in a few hours when the cashier would be back and could refund us. When we returned, no cashier. Come back before closing they said. We did. But instead of a refund, we had to get in shouting match with the office manager. You might not know it by looking at her, but Danielle is not someone you want to cross. She looks quiet and cute – but when she’s mad, she’s really mad. After listening to the manager tell us that there was nothing he could do to help us, Danielle stood up and proceeded to tell the manager why in no uncertain terms he better make a long distance phone call to our travel agency and get this straightened out—NOW. He made the call and arranged for us to be reimbursed—but they claim that the refund will take five or six months via mail to the United States.

So, just in case your planning your honeymoon in Zanzibar, hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro, or going on Safari anywhere in Tanzania – please, please avoid Precision Air.