Flight delayed: AirAsia pax threatened to take staff hostage.

[Tanandika]

Flight delays angers passengers- only this time, no PPS to brag about.

http://thejakartaglobe.com/home/air-...-delays/323156

[SQflyergirl]

Hostage taking no less.

[sqdazz]

A threat like that by passengers is quite unacceptable. anyone who made those threats should be arrested and dealt with by police, and I think banned from the airline.

[s7r0ng3r]

Hostage taking? I ask these passengers, is this acceptable behavior in a democracy?

[wsssaero]

If those passengers are unhappy, by all means go and complain. But do so legally. Hostage taking is barbaric behaviour.

[flyguy]

believed such incidents can happen in Indonesia but its in the tarmac on ground and not on the aircraft - and the pax likely verbally "threatened" to do so but never did. Well another form of such incidents would be those paz still onboard where they refuse to deplane bec of some issues as have happened a few times esp in China, and remember one incident in HKG too. These would be more serious as they are actually onboard an aircraft and any untoward "hostage" taking of the crew by pax is far more at risks.

[B727]

Vicious, just plain vicious.

[Kyo]

Hostage taking? I ask these passengers, is this acceptable behavior in a democracy?

Let's hope the majority don't vote in favour of hostage taking, then...

[s7r0ng3r]

Let's hope the majority don't vote in favour of hostage taking, then...

Hey, I've got my fingers crossed here!

[scooby5]

The question about hostage taking..... if AirAsia personnel had left for the evening, would they even come back to work the next day. I'm not saying it's right but delayed for 15hrs how can you know you get answers if you let the guy go home for the night?

I might prevent staff from leaving as well........until i had answers! How dare they cancel a flight and leave passengers stranded at the airport without anybody to communicate with, potentially.

[flyguy]

the indon air asia staff did try and find hotels to accomodate the paxs but some of them just plainly refuse and demanded to be flown out on that nite and air asia indon did fly them out on several diff airlines out the next day - pls read whole story :


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Kinanti Pinta Karana

AirAsia Receives Reprimand After Irked Passengers Revolt
Medan. Budget airline AirAsia got a tongue lashing from Medan’s Polonia Airport authority on Monday for neglecting passengers booked for a flight to Jakarta on Sunday night that was cancelled after a five-hour delay.

Metro TV reported that at one stage some of the passengers had threatened to take airline staff hostage for delaying and then cancelling their flight.

“We should have taken off at 7:10 p.m., then the flight was delayed to 9:30 p.m. and then to midnight, and then they told us it was delayed until Monday but we still don’t know for sure. There is no clear information,” a distraught passenger told Metro TV before ultimately flying to Jakarta on Monday.

Passengers had shouted at AirAsia staff and banged their fists on the service counters.

The airline did not give any reason for the delay.

Airport administrator Razali Abubakar said that according to regulations, airlines must be reprimanded if they fail to look after their passengers.

Razali said if a flight was delayed for an hour or two, passengers should be informed. If it’s delayed for three hours, accommodation should be found for them. Though the flight was delayed for several hours on Sunday, AirAsia failed to offer help to passengers.

Razali said the airline began looking looked for hotels only after heated arguments with customers. Some passengers agreed to the arrangement, but most spurned compensation and demanded to be flown to Jakarta immediately.

Razali said AirAsia was likely losing market share to other airlines such as Lion Air.

He said the company’s financial woes could account for a reduction in its fleet and diminished quality of its services.

AirAsia staff members said upset passengers had raised a fuss at the airport, but said they had ultimately been flown to Jakarta on several different flights on Monday.

Some flew on a Lion Air flight at 11 a.m., others on a Sriwijaya Air ticket and the rest on an AirAsia flight at 1:30 p.m., company officials said.

Staff members said passengers had been asked to spend the night in a hotel provided by the airline, but many of them refused, insisting that they had to be flown out that night, with some of them saying they were due at work in the morning in Jakarta.

[UMD]

.... Though the flight was delayed for several hours on Sunday, AirAsia failed to offer help to passengers.

Razali said the airline began looking looked for hotels only after heated arguments with customers. Some passengers agreed to the arrangement, but most spurned compensation and demanded to be flown to Jakarta immediately.

Maybe QZ could have handled it better and offered the compensation before the passengers were all upset from getting stuck at the airport waiting lounge and having their flight delayed until the next day.

I just learned that QZ had 3 out of its 10 aircraft on MX that day. This was why the delay went on until the next day. My friend's flight out of BTH to CGK the next day was delayed from 8:30 until 13:30 then further delayed again until 20:30. However, as this was anticipated the delay was advised via hours earlier before the new departure time.