I recently flew back to HK from Shanghai. My flight was scheduled to arrive in HK at 4:30pm, but we did not arrive until 9:45pm. Neither anyone from Dragon Air ever contacted me about the delay nor did the ground crew inform me of the delay when I was checking in. I only found out when I got to the gate at 12:45pm for a 1:30 flight from the ground crew at the gate. They told me that the plane has not arrived from HK due to bad weather conditions in HK; furthermore, they could not determine the length of the delay. Funny thing though, I checked with the weather report in HK and found out that HK was sunny with slight overcast. (FYI, it was raining in Shanghai for about an hour, but the sky cleared up at around 1:00pm) The plane finally arrived and we were boarded at 2:30pm.
All is good until……we sat on the tarmac till 6:45pm. The captain told us that due to the cloudy conditions in Shanghai, the Shanghai air controller would not allow us to take off, but we were 2nd in line and that we should be taking off soon. That was 3:30pm. At around 5:00pm, the captain told us that there were people who wanted to get off the plane, but he does not recommend disembarkment as we are now first in line. At 6:00pm, after a lot screaming and complaining, the captain made another announcement that he will start the process for those passengers who want to disembark the plane.
Lo and behold, at 6:45pm, we were told by the captain to fasten our seatbelts as we are taking off.
Now during the whole four hours plus ordeal, we were served with 1 drink, 1 bun, and 1 ice cream cup. Kids were crying because they hungry, but the flight attendants refused to serve the passengers with a proper meal. An old lady who sat behind me asked for a cup of hot tea and was scolded by one of the flight attendants. The flight attendant told her that she would serve her some tea, but she better hurry up and drink it as the plane would take off any seconds (more like 4 hours).
I asked one of the ‘nicer’ flight attendants if delays of such nature are usual and she told me that she has experienced delays throughout the last several months from Shanghai and Beijing. Now, I understand that flights are delayed due to unforeseen circumstances like weather, but if these delayed are not of unusual circumstances and are seen as normal, don’t you think airlines should be better prepared for such delays? Why can’t they inform passengers earlier and let them decide if they want to take the risk and sit on the tarmac for 4 hours. Also, if this is usual, why can’t they supply more food on the flight, like a few crackers or biscuits?
I felt like a hostage on the flight with no rights or a voice. I felt like one of the cattle and made to feel that way. Sadly, this is with one of the best airline to fly to Mainland China.
To add salt to injury, I filed a complaint with Cathay and the customer relations person told me basically to **** off and buy travel insurance.