SFO nightmare -- 400 stuck on plane 7 hours (CX)

[simong]

Nearly 400 passengers were stranded aboard a Cathay Pacific Airways jet for more than seven hours Tuesday at San Francisco International Airport, adding yet another planeload of angry consumers to a growing industry backlash.

Passengers boarded Flight CX873 to Hong Kong just after midnight Tuesday for a 1:20 a.m. departure. But the Boeing 747 never left the gate.

"We sat there three hours before they said anything," said Mark Valenta, a newlywed for whom the flight was to have been the start of a dream honeymoon to Asia. "Then the PA system went down, the lights were going on and off, babies were crying. It was a nightmare."

And it lasted the entire night.

It wasn't until 7:30 a.m. that the flight finally was canceled due to equipment problems and passengers disembarked.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...NGSLQIDEN1.DTL

Woah... bit shocked when the other half sent me this..

[CGK]

Reading the article, sounds like SQ dealt with it much much better when I had that SQ1 mechanical delayed early December last year ...

[milehighj]

I read the article. Sounds like CX didn't do a good job, but at the same time I imagine there was a fair bit of sensationalism thrown in by the SF Chronicle...

[jjpb3]

I sympathize with the passengers for their frustration ... and with the cabin crew who had to deal with it.

Edited to add: Though if we were to judge from the airline spin, there was no frustration to deal with.

[Singapore_Air]

An unfortunate event indeed.

Maybe the passengers will book SQ next time.

[taipeiflyer]

wow, that's terrible... and i thought i had it bad when i was flying Mon night from sfo to lax on UA 805. Flight was delayed for 3 hours without a single explanation... plus, they took over an hour getting the luggage off the plane, due to the simultaneous arrival of 6 UA flights in LA. My 9:40 pm arrival in LAX ended up being a 2 am departure from the airport when it was all said and done. i was pretty ticked off and and for the first time ever, I complained about the way things were handled. They ended up giving me a $150 voucher so that eased some of my frustrations.

[WSSS]

Soon many will start to fly with SQ and the demand for seats will become very high. Its really annoying and frustrating to sit in the plane for hours (without air-con), I've experienced it before while flying BA and my flight was delayed till the next day. SQ is always very punctual, and that's why SQ is my preferred airline.

[singaporeairlinesboi]

hahah
yes more new fans for SQ001
sucks for your cx

[StarG]

What an unfortunate incident. When things go wrong, usually CX handles it pretty well. I wonder what happened in this case.

[singaporu_kooku]

I'm surprised this happen to CX. If I'm not wrong, few months ago, CX also has left its passengers stranded in JFK inside the plane for hours. Wonder what's wrong with CX.....

[KeithMEL]

If I'm not wrong, few months ago, CX also has left its passengers stranded in JFK inside the plane for hours. Wonder what's wrong with CX.....

I believe the JFK storms affected most, if not all other airlines operating out of JFK around that time, not just CX.

[jjpb3]

I believe the JFK storms affected most, if not all other airlines operating out of JFK around that time, not just CX.

I was at JFK when one of those storms hit. The BA lounge was packed with passengers from the delayed BA (a series of them), QF and CX flights. The BA passengers were last to be called from the lounge, but after boarding, when I woke from an exhausted nap, we were still on the ground waiting to be de-iced, and the CX flight was just beginning to taxi. Those pax were in that plane for a long time.

[KeithMEL]

I was at JFK when one of those storms hit. The BA lounge was packed with passengers from the delayed BA (a series of them), QF and CX flights. The BA passengers were last to be called from the lounge, but after boarding, when I woke from an exhausted nap, we were still on the ground waiting to be de-iced, and the CX flight was just beginning to taxi. Those pax were in that plane for a long time.

Nasty!
Am glad I missed the ORD snow storms by a few days when I visited the US last winter.
Then again the DEN storms caused my UA flight BOS-IAD to be canceled.

Flying around the Northern Hemisphere in winter can be stressful - but one of the few times I can disappear for weeks on end.

[UMD]

The fact that this was an after midnight International flight from a non hub and a replacement aircraft would not be available in a short time period, I don't believe I would say this but 7 hours was not too bad at all (despite the fact that I would hate to be 1 of the passengers trapped inside).

My brief personal experience with being stranded on a plane happened on a NW 320at MSP last month. After we boarded, we stayed for at least 40 mins before the pilot made the 1st announcement regarding minor technical problem and that he was sure that the problem would get fixed in 15 mins. After 15 minutes, he came out again on a speaker and said it would be another short 10 minutes. Then another 20 minutes of silence before he reported that the mechanics could not fix the problem (which was a hydraulic fuel leak) due to the rain and that the plane needed to be towed to the hangar and be completely dried off before they could fix it. At that point, we were also told that the pilot would discuss with the ground agent on whether we stayed on the plane or we could deplane and waited for another replacement aircraft.

We were lucky that around 10 mins later we were told the replacement aircraft of the same type would pull next to our gate and that we would be allowed to deplane and wait at the next gate. That whole process took close to 90 minutes and that was for a domestic flight at MSP which is the home turf for NWA.

Before my NWA experience, I actually had a similar experience with SQ 156 (or 158) (A345 SIN - CGK) for about 1 1/2 hours 2 years ago. We had to wait on the plane while the problem was being fixed. I was on Y and the crews actually served drinks to us right after the captain announced that the delay would take more than 1 hour to fix. We were not allowed to deplane despite the plane was still on the gate but we were allowed to use the toilets and mobile phones. The IFE was also turned on so many of the pax actually played the games on Krisworld.

I guess that must be some types of rules and regulations relating to staying on the plane after boarding. Anyone knows?

[Dynasty]

I have the experience also, it's also a CX B744 flight from HKG to the Philippines in 2002.Originally, our flight scheduled to take off in 0730, but when we arrived at the airport in 0600, the check-in counter shows our flight is being cancelled, I immediately asked the check-in counter lady to see what happened, and she told me that its originally an A330 flight, but because of the small amount of passengers, Cathay decided to cancel this morning flight today, she told me to wait for the further notice. We Hong Kongers are very civilised, we stayed calm and just take a seat or keep waiting in front of the counter like a lemon, but the airline was so so so "GENEROUS", no any compensations, no coupon given for morning breakfast......It seems this is our fault, we bother her!! OK! We wait ,we wait... At about 1230 something, a Cathay lady called us to check-in, she says is now 2 flight combined into 1 with a Boeing Jumbo, and will be take off at 1345.All right,accept it, we've no choice! Then, after the regular procedures, we finally saw a crying old Boeing 744 parked at the gate. "THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING CATHAY PAIFIC, WE NOW WELCOMES THE MARCO POLO MEMBERS AND THE REAR SEATS PASSENGERS BOARDING FIRST". HA HA... Boarding, very happy? No,after I sat down, why it is so hot, hot as an incinerator, then I heard a noice from the loudspeaker,"THIS IS CAPTAIN SPEAKING, DUE TO THE FAILURE OF THE AUXILLARY POWER UNIT, THE CABIN IS NOW LOOSING THE AIR-COND, WE MUST FIX IT BEFORE TAKEOFF, THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENT", how can I be patient in such an extreme climate!!!! Afterwards,we waited inside the fire for several hours and finally takes off at 1500. Once it landed in the Phipplines,I told myself very seriously,"CX,NO MORE ANOTHER TIMES!!!!!" So I always said about the CX's slogan:CATHAY PACIFIC - NOW,YOU'RE REALLY CRYING!