CAAT demands explanation from Nok Air for two flight delays

[snoop1130]

 

The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) is looking into complaints about flight delays reported by some passengers who flew with domestic carrier Nok Air. The disrupted flights were from Bangkok to Hat Yai and Bangkok to Phuket on a recent Saturday.

 

One of the distressed passengers relayed his experience on social media. His flight to Hat Yai couldn't take off because the plane's engine failed to start. To make matters worse, the air-conditioning system of the airplane wasn't working, causing discomfort to the passengers as they were sweating profusely. He likened their condition to being drenched with water during the Songkran festival.

 

Eventually, the passengers were allowed to leave the plane and were offered a doughnut and small bottle of water each in the departure lounge. They were then asked to return to the same plane. The captain tried to assure them of the plane's safety. However, several passengers voiced their concerns and refused to reboard the same plane. A different plane was arranged and it departed from Don Mueang airport at 6.05 pm, a good few hours later than the originally scheduled time of 1.20 pm.

 

There was also a complaint from a passenger on the Bangkok to Phuket flight. He recounted an ordeal similar to the first incident, alleging they were left inside the grounded plane without air-conditioning for hours. He was particularly upset due to the inconvenience it had caused his elderly parents and young nephew who were traveling with him. The flight, which was supposed to reach Phuket by 8 pm, ended up arriving around 1 am the next day.

 

File photo for reference only. Courtesy of Google

 

-- 2024-05-06

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[Chivas]

 

Would these stupid passengers have preferred the plane to take off with just one engine

 

Aircraft go tech 24/7 worldwide

 

Ludicrous article

[Captain Monday]

Not a lot of details to go on here.

[hotchilli]

15 hours ago, Chivas said:

 

Would these stupid passengers have preferred the plane to take off with just one engine

 

Aircraft go tech 24/7 worldwide

 

Ludicrous article

The article is reporting an incident.... the ludicrous part is possibly from stressed out passengers.

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, Captain Monday said:

Not a lot of details to go on here.

Engine wouldn't start on push-back, passengers remained on the aircraft while engineers investigated the problem.

On the ground they should have hooked up ground power to run air-con system, they didn't, people suffered until they eventually dis-embarked to the departure lounge.

[new2here]

I agree that nobody will argue that taking a delay for a potential maintenance (MX) issue is the right move — safety trumps all..

That said, where I think it’s all went “bad” was the handling once it was decided that there was going to be a MX delay .. but .. to be fair, at the onset it’s not uncommon for the main teams to be unsure of exactly how long or how complex the “fix” will be.. and considering deboarding and reboarding a flight can take time and does come with some logistical challenges… at the onset, IMHO, i think it’s wise and prudent to keep everyone onboard..

 

the trick is.. the tricky part is knowing at what point does the risk of a longer MX fix offset the logistics of taking everyone off and putting them back on.. at what point does that trade off tip?  hard to say because each event is unique..

I do agree that immediately upon returning to the blocks (gate) ground power should be started or a GSE air con unit used.. something to help mitigate the heat as aircraft have generally lousy thermodynamics as far as heat goes when on the grounds 

A few “strikes” against Noke here — IMHO - this was apparently at a station where they maintain active operations.. so there’s a reasonable expecting that they have their staff and resources to handle this kind of event.. Had it occurred at an outstation where DD had no ops or staff, then that’s somewhat different .. Also, it was domestic .. domestic means there is (usually) no immigration or customs processes to address .. international fights may require that immigration “sign off” on any deboarding actions.

 

 

[Sydebolle]

Not to be taken serious; if an airline delays anything for maintenance reasons then it is not only in the interest of the airline alone ........ but explain that to one of those ever-so-important Thai passengers showing off their grannies and uncles the 21st century while trying to squeeze yet another Krispy Kreme box full of whatever, which they could have bought on arrival as well. 

Stupidity of the finest order! 

[Puccini]

6 hours ago, Sydebolle said:

Not to be taken serious; if an airline delays anything for maintenance reasons then it is not only in the interest of the airline alone ........ but explain that to one of those ever-so-important Thai passengers showing off their grannies and uncles the 21st century while trying to squeeze yet another Krispy Kreme box full of whatever, which they could have bought on arrival as well. 

Stupidity of the finest order! 

 

Leave a dog in a closed car in the sweltering heat for hours without air conditioning and you get fined for cruelty to an animal, but leave passsengers in a plane under the same conditions and it is "not to be taken seriously"?

[Sydebolle]

15 hours ago, Puccini said:

 

Leave a dog in a closed car in the sweltering heat for hours without air conditioning and you get fined for cruelty to an animal, but leave passsengers in a plane under the same conditions and it is "not to be taken seriously"?

The ground handling failed; disembark the plane, get it fixed (or change the aircraft) and get on with it. The decision to keep the bird on the ground was right and the delay justified.

What is (no surprises here) staggering, remains the kind offer of a bottle of water and a doughnut instead of spending the extra buck to get the passengers off the microwave into the terminal. Comes with the LCC strategy of killing each other over airfares - I guess. 

[lordgrinz]

Got stuck at DM yesterday after our JAL flight from Tokyo was diverted, due to bad weather at Swampy, we spent almost 7 hours on the runway before finally flying to Swampy from DM. A 6.5 hour flight turned into about 15, at least we had air conditioning.