April 14 2007. I was flying from Manila to Singapore on this budget airline. It's my 2nd time taking this airline. I had (and still have) question marks swirling around me regarding this decision, but I figured since my first trip went pretty smooth, I should give it the benefit of the doubt. The ETD in Manila was 8:30pm, with ETA in Singapore at 12:30am. After checking in, I went on my way to the boarding area. I was looking forward to this flight, and landing in Singapore and basically just getting this trip over with. When I got to the boarding area, I noticed something missing. I sat down and was people-watching when I heard one lady saying "The flight is delayed. We'll be boarding at 9:30pm." That's when I noticed what was missing. THE AIRPLANE. DUHH!!!! I had a friend who's going to pick me up at Singapore at 12:30am! I scrambled over to the nearest phone booth to contact my friend and inform him about this delay.
Came 9:30pm, and the plane still has not arrived! They moved the boarding time to 10:30pm. This time I chose to text my friend, embarrassed as I was with this delay and obvious messing up of his schedule.
Came 10:30pm. Still no boarding call. And this time, there were no more announcements. They just made us wait. I think it was after this time that the plane arrived. I didn't notice anymore. I did remember hearing another announcement, which was really the icing on the cake. The ground personnel announces that as a protocol, the planes should rest for 3 hours before making the following flight. 3 hours! 3 friggin' hours! BALONEY! I've been flying on an almost-fixed basis between Taiwan and Manila on another non-budget airline... and I have never, NEVER (!), let me say it again, NEVER (.) heard such an outrageous excuse.
I wonder who came up with such an idea? I wonder if anyone ever really bought that lame excuse? Are the planes used by this airline made of gold that they can't over-use the planes? hahah. I wonder if they ever realized that round trip flights are only an hour apart between countries? I wonder most of all if it even occurred to them really just how lame it was, and worse, that the passengers would actually buy that?
So, we boarded the plane eventually, and took off at 12:45am. Apparently, they were sticking to their 3-hour plane rest story as the pilot announced to us that we are flying even if the plane has not rested for 3 hours. Somehow I feel like we've all been reprimanded... that because we have been complaining non-stop about the delay, they have no other choice but to fly us before the 3 hours were up. DUH.
As for the rest of the trip, I don't even remember if they even held their famous game on board the plane for that trip... considering that no one is probably up for a game thousands of feet up air in the air, at 1am in the morning, after being delayed for 3 hours. When I got to Singapore and saw the people bound for Manila on the same airline... I wonder what excuse they gave them? I wonder if they were also told the plane has to rest for 3 hours before it flies them back to Manila? haha.
Truth be told, it's so pathetic I cannot even muster up the energy to be angry.
7 comments:
Same airline. The ground steward told us when we were checking in as a group... "kaninong bag ito? ibaba yan.. ibaba!" Hala utusan kami in an ala-donya tone. Gawin ba kaming alila! Eto ang reaction natanggap niya - pinagtawanan namin. Eh kasi....
cheap fares... cheap service hahaha
jenny, i was just going to blog about that in an upcoming blog... haha, you just beat me to it.
Low fares = Low Quality. It's up to you if you can handle it.
hi lee, i have a reaction to that comment on my third posting about this topic... hehe
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