Horrendous Flight With Etihad

[zorro1]

Even if you have to pay slightly more on these

carriers at least you know what to expect - and many of these Middle Eastern carriers

are staffed by Westerners anyway who just don't try as hard to please

Maybe because of the price difference, which is not slightly but sometimes double.

If I can fly to Frankfurt in business class, with flatbed service for under 70.000 Baht,

compared to Thai at 130.000 Baht with older type B747 seats, I know which I prefer.

As I stated earlier have flown 8 times with Etihad of which 7 flights have been excellent.

There's nothing ANY airline can do about weather conditions and if schedules are disrupted,

those that suffer most are the passengers at ANY airport.

I don't mean to imply that Etihad couldn't have handled the crisis much better, but having been at

Abu Dhabi in the midst of things, I can assure you that none of the staff present could do anything

to control the mob of angry passengers any better than they did, given the exceptional circomstances.

Furthermore it was my distinct impression that the passengers who remained calm suffered the least.

No malice intended

cheers

onzestan

agreed if it was slightly more we would all go singapore air for sure but its usually a lot lot more

[KhaoNiaw]

I flew Etihad, BKK to Manchester in August. There was a 3-hour delay but because I'd checked in early, they had time to put me on a THAI flight to Mumbai and an Etihad connection to AD, to make the Manchester flight. Later check-ins wouldn't have that option.

I would second the views about poor ground service and general lack of information, with different people saying different things at each stage. The luggage arrived 2 days later.

The return seemed to be going smoothly as the aircrew boarded the plane at AD, only for them to disembark a little while afterwards. A 5-hour delay here with little information and food vouchers that seemed to be good for food boxes that I guess came from the plane.

The planes and service in the air were fine. But I'd be wary of using them again.

Edited November 23, 2007 by KhaoNiaw

[ukjackthai]

Didn't even read your post. I just know these were exeptional circumstances - it happens with ALL 5* carriers. I was a frequent flier to BKK [Average; 3 times a year] during the ages of 4 months and 17 years. Of all the airlines, Etihad was close to the top of my recommendations [Flew with them 3 times during the peak English holiday seasons] amongst the likes of emirates [beautiful stop-off airport and fleets] and quatar [Free return tickets & 5* accommdation because of a volunteered 2 day delay] imo most middle easten carriers offer 5* services.

You think you were hard done by huh? Try Biman Bangeladesh airlines for 72 hour delays, including both LHR AND DHK, and then rewarded with some cockroach ridden bed and breakfest in Dhaka with the security guard at the front door with his AK47 - Dare to step outside for a ciggerette?

@ torrenova; Why bring past cultures & traditions into a disscusion about Airline carriers? Surely with the comments you made somebody is likely to get offended - so please do keep them to youreself or start a new topic about middle-easterners. IMO its normally the westenars who turn out to be "The [uncivilised] angry mob of disgruntled travellers"

Edited November 23, 2007 by ukjackthai

[CbrLad]

Interesting perspective now let me add mine

For £2000 I expect to be transported from A to B as promised and be afforded a modicum of good service and pleasantness.

19 intelligent replies to 1 moron...about the usual ratio I suppose

By the way shreck I also have a commercial pilots licence but I guess any "moron" can get one of those. There are many many reasons why you were delayed, to many possibilities to list here but feel free to pm me if your intersted. A good/sad example is the one to go crash ( he was warned about wind shear). The pilot was more concerned about his schedule than he was for the safety of his pax. A divertion back to Bkk would have caused a 2-3 hour delay for all flights already booked on that aircraft for the rest of the day. 3 hours for a life is surely a small price so be happy shreck you arrived frustrated but you did arrive

Maybe you and others should read his post more carefully. He wasn't complaining about being delayed, sometimes shit happens. But read his post and you will see he was complaining about how the delay was handled firstly in the UK (promises of hotels etc) and then how it was handled in Abu Dahbi and then the lost baggage issue. Having been a passenger in the back of more planes than I can count and been delayed many times, I can tell you I won't fly airlines that handle situations badly by choice, but those who handle it well I will happily fly. That has nothing to do with safety, that is to do with customer service. I guess a pilot doesn't need to worry about that, afterall their job is to drive the plane safely and as efficent as possible.

[Ricardo]

I have to say also that I find the upper class / businessman person type in UAE the most arrogant and ignorant in the world. 2 years ago they asked my thai wife to leave a restaurant at AD airport as she was female and this time they excelled, from insisting on smoking cigars the size of cucumbers whilst my kids were eating breakfast to ignoring all queues and walking straight to the front. Annoyingly the airport staff and etihad staff just let them.

Welcome to the arab world - but note that the nature of some of their passengers is not directly the fault of the particular airline concerned.

A seperate issue would be that there is no 'Fast-Track' system, for CIPs (Commercially Important People) at this particular airport, and that arabs flying up-front don't share our British attitudes, to queing or pushing-in.

Hopefully your reasoned-complaint to Etihad, with full-details of the bad-service, should merit you a significant reduction in the cost of any future trip.

[ClaytonSeymour]

Even if you have to pay slightly more on these

carriers at least you know what to expect - and many of these Middle Eastern carriers

are staffed by Westerners anyway who just don't try as hard to please

Maybe because of the price difference, which is not slightly but sometimes double.

If I can fly to Frankfurt in business class, with flatbed service for under 70.000 Baht,

compared to Thai at 130.000 Baht with older type B747 seats, I know which I prefer.

As I stated earlier have flown 8 times with Etihad of which 7 flights have been excellent.

There's nothing ANY airline can do about weather conditions and if schedules are disrupted,

those that suffer most are the passengers at ANY airport.

I don't mean to imply that Etihad couldn't have handled the crisis much better, but having been at

Abu Dhabi in the midst of things, I can assure you that none of the staff present could do anything

to control the mob of angry passengers any better than they did, given the exceptional circomstances.

Furthermore it was my distinct impression that the passengers who remained calm suffered the least.

No malice intended

cheers

onzestan

agreed if it was slightly more we would all go singapore air for sure but its usually a lot lot more

Well, I have to disagree with you there. I like to break the journey and the UAE makes an excellent stopover so, no I wouldn't take SQ, not unless my Wife wanted to visit her Aunt (lives there) anyway.

Now, if I was flying to OZ then yes, I would consider SQ for the same reason as I wouldn't really consider them for flying to Thailand. Personally, I prefer MH anyway, SQ are good no doubt but, I've always found them slightly overrated.

Never had any problems with any middle eastern carrier, though I'm not over struck on GF - old aircraft with unacceptable inflight entertainment, on a positive note they do allow an extra 10kg's of luggage at the starter level of their frequent flyer program. Oman's also an interesting destination & though they've pulled out of GF, I'm looking forward to trying Oman Air in the future - their inaugaral London & Bangkok services are due on the 26th & 28th respectively.

Unfortunately, the OP's had a bad experience, thanks for sharing it but, I wont be influenced in the slightest.

[zorro1]

Maybe you and others should read his post more carefully. He wasn't complaining about being delayed, sometimes shit happens. But read his post and you will see he was complaining about how the delay was handled firstly in the UK (promises of hotels etc) and then how it was handled in Abu Dahbi and then the lost baggage issue. Having been a passenger in the back of more planes than I can count and been delayed many times, I can tell you I won't fly airlines that handle situations badly by choice, but those who handle it well I will happily fly. That has nothing to do with safety, that is to do with customer service. I guess a pilot doesn't need to worry about that, afterall their job is to drive the plane safely and as efficent as possible.

The flight out of BKK was 3 hours late so everyone missed their connection in Abu Dhabi....

Have a good read yourself matey,thats the first complaint in this post is it not? and things snowball from there. If i ruled out every bad experience in the last 20 years I would probably be only flying Concorde. Well maybe not.. I have been inconvenienced by some of the worlds best airlines including Qantas, Singapore air, Lufthansa and have been left stranded for 20 hours in a hot smelly airport. So which airline that is perfect do you fly with at a competitive price that never lets you down by choice? cant wait to book my next flight

Edited November 23, 2007 by zorro1

[Tafia]

Always found Etihad to be an excellent choice myself. Used many times, no problems ever..

Same here, also late arrival for connection from BKK to LHR and they held the flight so as not to miss the connection. I also rated their food some of the best.

Must have been having a really bad day.

[CbrLad]

Have a good read yourself matey,thats the first complaint in this post is it not? and things snowball from there. If i ruled out every bad experience in the last 20 years I would probably be only flying Concorde. Well maybe not.. I have been inconvenienced by some of the worlds best airlines including Qantas, Singapore air, Lufthansa and have been left stranded for 20 hours in a hot smelly airport. So which airline that is perfect do you fly with at a competitive price that never lets you down by choice? cant wait to book my next flight

Well I have, and actually his comment about the 3 hour delay is a statement of fact not a complaint.. Not one of his complaints is about an operational issue, especially one outside their control like a delay. His complaint is what happened after that, ie taking 4 hours to be processed when you are 7th in the queue and being messed around by the almost non existant staff who didn't have their ducks in a row. Now any airline worth their salt would have known that the passengers would miss their flight (afterall they had the 8 hours or so it takes the flight to get from BKK to Abu Dhabi to work that out) and have already started making what ever alternative arrangements could be made to accomodate them, clearly Ethiad didn't do that. I have had Qantas on 2 occasions know I was going to miss the last flight SYD-CBR after a delay and on arrival they have someone at the gate with your name with all the details for the hotel that they have already booked you into and details of the flight they are going to get you home on. Now that is customer service. So the question is why have so many attacked Shrek for complaining about the poor service he received and bringing his personal experiance to our attention. That is what a discussion board is all about I thought.

Now as for the post overall, I will agree with you that if i refused to fly every airline I have had a bad experiance with then there wouldn't be many left, the difference is I didn't attack Shrek for making his feelings know, whereas others here did. I have to ask the question why? I personaly like to hear of companies that give poor customer service so that when the time comes for me to make a choice I can weigh up the benifits and make my own mind up.

Edited November 23, 2007 by CbrLad

[IMA_FARANG]

Need to share this in case anyone is weighing up their options on flights to BKK.

My self and my wife and 2 small kids came back on EY401 from BKK to Manchester via Abu Dhabi on 15/11/07.

The flight out of BKK was 3 hours late so everyone missed their connection in Abu Dhabi....so check in took me 4 hours and I was 7th in the queue. This was followed by a 8 hour wait in the lounge at AD (were promised a hotel in AD bu BKK staff but when we got to AD they refused one).

We eventually got rerouted to Heathrow and then to Manchester 13 hours late.

Etihad staff were non existent at each airport on the way. Their paperwork was not done so staff at the next airport knew nothing of the problem, causing more delays.

Baggage was lost for 24 hours and then cases damaged.

Bottom line is you can get to AD but you cant get any further...there were only 6 departures scheduled all night, 3 of them cancelled, and none were to western europe.

I have to say also that I find the upper class / businessman person type in UAE the most arrogant and ignorant in the world. 2 years ago they asked my thai wife to leave a restaurant at AD airport as she was female and this time they excelled, from insisting on smoking cigars the size of cucumbers whilst my kids were eating breakfast to ignoring all queues and walking straight to the front. Annoyingly the airport staff and etihad staff just let them.

Do youselves a favour go from either london, franfurt, amsterdam etc to bangkok where regardless of flight delays you can easilly get home; and where the locals at least have a granule of liking and respect for non-arabic visitors.

Sorry to hear you had a bad flight. Maybe this story will make you a bit happier. I don't know if you can still find it in the BBC World Service archives from last week, but it is worth looking for.

An Airbus A340, while on the ground in the factory in Toulouse (sp?) France was somehow started and moved forward on the a taxiway/maintenance ramp, and driven into a cement wall. The front of the plane was severly damaged and a part of the nose of the plane was broken off. (Article had a photo showing nose of the plane broken and pointing up into air at about 45 degrees). Apparently the plane was moved while a crew from Etihad Airlines, who was due to accept the aircraft from the factory was on board. Neither factory or airline representatives would confirm the report that the Etihad crew, who was on the plane at the time of the accident, were the ones who started the aircraft.

Oops.

[IMA_FARANG]

At least you were not on this aircraft.

A recent incident at Tolouse on a brand new aircraft due to be delivered 21st Nov.

After I posted a comment of this, I saw you had posted the photo.

According to the BBC World article I saw, Airbus company officials would not officially confirm that the airline crew was the cause of the accident, but they did say that a mixed group from Airbus and the airline were on board at the time of the accident, and that the Airbus personnel were not at fault. (Which leaves, who else to blame?)

[Lazy Sod]

I'm sure there are horror stories concerning every airline. Myself and my wife fly regularly from Bangkok to UK and we find Etihad to be the best, but having said that we are fortunate to have never missed a connection in Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi airport seems pretty basic and so I guess if there is a problem then it spirals into a horror story. That's the big advantage of Heathrow, even though I hate it, if you miss a connection there are lots of alternative flights they can put you on.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

I can never understand what makes people choose these Middle Eastern airlines

- I absolutely equally detest Emirates and I have flown most of the world's airlines.

I just don't think is any comparison to the premier Asian airlines such as

Singapore air or Cathay Pacific. Even if you have to pay slightly more on these

carriers at least you know what to expect - and many of these Middle Eastern carriers

are staffed by Westerners anyway who just don't try as hard to please

Such nonsense, written by people who only pretend to know something about which they write.

Easy to forget that airlines such as Emirates are at the forefront of introducing new technology on aeroplanes.

Possibly the first to introduce seatback TVs and then touchscreen TVs. Other airlines followed reluctantly, kicking and screaming.

When BA did eventually follow, years later, the screens were smaller, seat pitches less generous and service remained..... functional.

THAI? Absolutely pathetic! Ten years out of date on their London to BKK route. Yet people still swear by them.

EVA? Only just introduced seatback TVs on the LON - BKK route. Maybe eight years after Emirates?

Cathay Pacific? Took a while to get to grips with On Demand entertainment system(had problems on both legs of a return flight. They had to re-boot each time. I told them what to do, as they suffered from exactly the same problem on Singapore Airlines ), though they are fine now. Flew back on their Flat Bed Business class product, but had to double check that I was booked on the correct aircraft. They have a flight to the UK half an hour earlier(or later) that is fitted with standard Business class seats, not Flat Beds. So check before you confirm.

I receive some of the best service on Middle Eastern airlines. They almost always have the tastiest food and the friendliest staff. There are times when I spend more time with the staff than in my seat.

What's next? You can bet that it will be one of the Middle Eastern airlines introducing it. Private Suites

Maybe it's good that you detest Emirates. That will be one less grumpy person on the flight.

The rest of us will sit back and enjoy the good food and latest technology.

Edited November 23, 2007 by Jiu-Jitsu

[Lickey]

Seems like the OP has calmed down now, perhaps hes never had an ear drum burst or a tooth abbcess, or a kidney stone, even a gall stone on the move, or diagnosed with luekemia or cancer, and you had to wait 13 hours for your flight home? oh dear, how sad,, never mind,

[pointofview]

It is important for all to understand that a great majority of UAE camel jockeys have absoulutley no decorum. The only things that work well in any of their sand pits have to be operated by outsiders - fact. Curse their mustaches - and choose emirates!

[Goshawk]

It is important for all to understand that a great majority of UAE camel jockeys have absoulutley no decorum. The only things that work well in any of their sand pits have to be operated by outsiders - fact. Curse their mustaches - and choose emirates!

...who also happen to be another group of 'UAE camel jockeys', 'operated by outsiders'

[pointofview]

It is important for all to understand that a great majority of UAE camel jockeys have absoulutley no decorum. The only things that work well in any of their sand pits have to be operated by outsiders - fact. Curse their mustaches - and choose emirates!

...who also happen to be another group of 'UAE camel jockeys', 'operated by outsiders'

Exactly my point

[Krub]

In general, Etihad is set up well, as long as things go right. However, when things go wrong, they, like other middle eastern airlines, they haven't a clue as to how to handle people.Or the situation. They're not 'people' trained. They need to look towards the Americans for that.

In my opinion, you can't get better than Americans when it comes to service.

Americans for service ? You must be joking.

First hand experiences with United Airlines very similar to what the OP encounterred with Ethiad

Unfortunately it happens with most airlines when they have a bad day but most manage quite well in their home airport

I would rather be in the hands of Singapore AIrlines or the Japanese Airlines than any others when things go wrong

Never believe promises of ground staff always cross-check and/or have it in writing

[Shrek]

Interesting perspective now let me add mine

For £2000 I expect to be transported from A to B as promised and be afforded a modicum of good service and pleasantness.

19 intelligent replies to 1 moron...about the usual ratio I suppose

By the way shreck I also have a commercial pilots licence but I guess any "moron" can get one of those. There are many many reasons why you were delayed, to many possibilities to list here but feel free to pm me if your intersted. A good/sad example is the one to go crash ( he was warned about wind shear). The pilot was more concerned about his schedule than he was for the safety of his pax. A divertion back to Bkk would have caused a 2-3 hour delay for all flights already booked on that aircraft for the rest of the day. 3 hours for a life is surely a small price so be happy shreck you arrived frustrated but you did arrive

Maybe you and others should read his post more carefully. He wasn't complaining about being delayed, sometimes shit happens. But read his post and you will see he was complaining about how the delay was handled firstly in the UK (promises of hotels etc) and then how it was handled in Abu Dahbi and then the lost baggage issue. Having been a passenger in the back of more planes than I can count and been delayed many times, I can tell you I won't fly airlines that handle situations badly by choice, but those who handle it well I will happily fly. That has nothing to do with safety, that is to do with customer service. I guess a pilot doesn't need to worry about that, afterall their job is to drive the plane safely and as efficent as possible.

spot on thank you

it was coming back so substitute bkk for london but you hit the nail on the head

[Shrek]

Have a good read yourself matey,thats the first complaint in this post is it not? and things snowball from there. If i ruled out every bad experience in the last 20 years I would probably be only flying Concorde. Well maybe not.. I have been inconvenienced by some of the worlds best airlines including Qantas, Singapore air, Lufthansa and have been left stranded for 20 hours in a hot smelly airport. So which airline that is perfect do you fly with at a competitive price that never lets you down by choice? cant wait to book my next flight

Well I have, and actually his comment about the 3 hour delay is a statement of fact not a complaint.. Not one of his complaints is about an operational issue, especially one outside their control like a delay. His complaint is what happened after that, ie taking 4 hours to be processed when you are 7th in the queue and being messed around by the almost non existant staff who didn't have their ducks in a row. Now any airline worth their salt would have known that the passengers would miss their flight (afterall they had the 8 hours or so it takes the flight to get from BKK to Abu Dhabi to work that out) and have already started making what ever alternative arrangements could be made to accomodate them, clearly Ethiad didn't do that. I have had Qantas on 2 occasions know I was going to miss the last flight SYD-CBR after a delay and on arrival they have someone at the gate with your name with all the details for the hotel that they have already booked you into and details of the flight they are going to get you home on. Now that is customer service. So the question is why have so many attacked Shrek for complaining about the poor service he received and bringing his personal experiance to our attention. That is what a discussion board is all about I thought.

Now as for the post overall, I will agree with you that if i refused to fly every airline I have had a bad experiance with then there wouldn't be many left, the difference is I didn't attack Shrek for making his feelings know, whereas others here did. I have to ask the question why? I personaly like to hear of companies that give poor customer service so that when the time comes for me to make a choice I can weigh up the benifits and make my own mind up.

thank you

i know there are delays we have all had them

every single incident that followed was avoidable if anyone at etihad had taken ownership or cared

if it had just been me and kung ok we have travelled the world for many years but the kids are 8 and 6

the whole experience was 'anonymous'...i think people shouted because there was noone to shout at !

[Shrek]

I'm sure there are horror stories concerning every airline. Myself and my wife fly regularly from Bangkok to UK and we find Etihad to be the best, but having said that we are fortunate to have never missed a connection in Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi airport seems pretty basic and so I guess if there is a problem then it spirals into a horror story. That's the big advantage of Heathrow, even though I hate it, if you miss a connection there are lots of alternative flights they can put you on.

how true

the plane was comfy and clean...and most of the tellies worked

toilets clean in fact in flight hard to complain about anything

not thai or chinese service but still good

but boy oh boy are you dependent on no delays if you are going thru abu dhabi

[Shrek]

Seems like the OP has calmed down now, perhaps hes never had an ear drum burst or a tooth abbcess, or a kidney stone, even a gall stone on the move, or diagnosed with luekemia or cancer, and you had to wait 13 hours for your flight home? oh dear, how sad,, never mind,

explain

[Shrek]

Seems like the OP has calmed down now, perhaps hes never had an ear drum burst or a tooth abbcess, or a kidney stone, even a gall stone on the move, or diagnosed with luekemia or cancer, and you had to wait 13 hours for your flight home? oh dear, how sad,, never mind,

hey just noticed you are in isan

we can meet up some time for a beer am very near you twice a year

went quiet because i go to work in the day stoopid

why do 1 or 2 people just spoil it

[rak sa_ngop]

It is important for all to understand that a great majority of UAE camel jockeys have absoulutley no decorum. The only things that work well in any of their sand pits have to be operated by outsiders - fact. Curse their mustaches - and choose emirates!

...who also happen to be another group of 'UAE camel jockeys', 'operated by outsiders'

Even Emirates are pretty useless at handling situations when things go wrong.

Last year my flight from BKK was delayed and I missed my connection. At Dubai I queued up with 10's of other passenger to get my reassigned flight details. However each queue was static with one problem passenger (family) group being dealt with at the head of each queue. It took me over one hour to advance 3 places to get my new details which only took about 3 minutes.

Luckily I was in the business class queue, otherwise I would have had a several hour queue-up and possibly missed the reassigned flight.

You would think that having a fast-track queue for straightforward reassigned flights would have been obvious but .......

[asiaworld]

problems...AD has so few flights to europe you will be stuck there for ages. As for my gripe with arabic people thats hardly etihads fault...they just dont want us in their country full stop. They dont need our money and we are considered the lowest of the low (possibly with the exception of those speaking hebrew !)

Sounds like you've spent waaay too much time in LOS mate .. Beleive me , if you care to investigate deeper you'll find out, that Emiratis aremost certainly ''Super welcoming''>comparing to Thais !! >With literally millions of Britons to 'confirm' that fact with their feet .. They do have few similarities with thais, in that they don't make it easy to naturalise there, but surely they don't force you to dovisa runs welcoming you with free medicare,3 yrs renewable residency e-gate, superb lifestyle, what hae you.. The only sad part is, the place becomes waay overcrowded nowadays

[Lickey]

Seems like the OP has calmed down now, perhaps hes never had an ear drum burst or a tooth abbcess, or a kidney stone, even a gall stone on the move, or diagnosed with luekemia or cancer, and you had to wait 13 hours for your flight home? oh dear, how sad,, never mind,

hey just noticed you are in isan

we can meet up some time for a beer am very near you twice a year

went quiet because i go to work in the day stoopid

why do 1 or 2 people just spoil it

I really dont think "moron and stupid " are good words to use on TV forum, and could get you banned, now from your posts, i understand that the actual flight and food was good, yes, i agree, ive flown with Eithad 4 times and had brilliant service with no delays, perhaps ive been lucky? AD is not the best place in the world to spend 8 hours, but at least you have all the ammenties there, its not like being stranded on the M6 in UK after an accident, So you are home safe and sound, so whats the big gripe all about?Delays happen all over the world, or should it be just for your pleasure because you booked and paid for a ticket and the worlds airlines must stick with what you booked!!! never mind weather conditions, extra saftey checks ect,possible terrorist activity,there is a multitude of reasons for delays, but of course no explantion will satisfy you, until the oxygen mask drops down in your face, perhaps then you will wish you had waited, and an 8 hour wait is a lot better than a tooth or ear abbcess, believe me!!

[zorro1]

Seems like the OP has calmed down now, perhaps hes never had an ear drum burst or a tooth abbcess, or a kidney stone, even a gall stone on the move, or diagnosed with luekemia or cancer, and you had to wait 13 hours for your flight home? oh dear, how sad,, never mind,

hey just noticed you are in isan

we can meet up some time for a beer am very near you twice a year

went quiet because i go to work in the day stoopid

why do 1 or 2 people just spoil it

I really dont think "moron and stupid " are good words to use on TV forum, and could get you banned, now from your posts, i understand that the actual flight and food was good, yes, i agree, ive flown with Eithad 4 times and had brilliant service with no delays, perhaps ive been lucky? AD is not the best place in the world to spend 8 hours, but at least you have all the ammenties there, its not like being stranded on the M6 in UK after an accident, So you are home safe and sound, so whats the big gripe all about?Delays happen all over the world, or should it be just for your pleasure because you booked and paid for a ticket and the worlds airlines must stick with what you booked!!! never mind weather conditions, extra saftey checks ect,possible terrorist activity,there is a multitude of reasons for delays, but of course no explantion will satisfy you, until the oxygen mask drops down in your face, perhaps then you will wish you had waited, and an 8 hour wait is a lot better than a tooth or ear abbcess, believe me!!

You will find that posters who resort to personal insults are also the biggest whiners. If you disagree with them you are automatically a "stoopid moron" This is the nightmare passenger you would not want to sit next to on a 12 hour flight. Pity them ayrab flight attendants and the ayrab cigar smoker who jumps the Que but more than likely either had first or biz class tickets .....

[agudbuk]

A

It's really bad that since you were travelling with 2 small children they did not go out of their way to help.

I'm glad to hear they do not give preference to children.

What are we single people , second class citizens?

[chrisole]

Having worked in the oil-field wost of my life working in the middle and far east I have had many good and terrible experiences, flying Libyan Arab to British Airways (?), try a 12 hour delay in Kalcutta and AD will seem like paradise. Sh@t happens and all the moaning and complaining won't help a bit, always be glad you managed to walk of the aeroplane. You will get home eventualy and hopefully in one piece. So your luggage has been delayed, is that a life threatening issue, no, just one of inconvenience, it will be returned to your door shortly, if it is completely lost then you can lay a claim on the carrier.

I don't know how many landings and take-offs there are at any given airport nor how many passengers pass through, but I have an idea of the massive logistics involved, and if you take this into consideration, the occasional screw up is inevitable. Unfortunately most passengers take this as a personal affront and start giving the ground staff hel_l. You try facing a long line of pi##ed off passengers wanting persoal attention and try to keep calm and smile, betch'a couldn't.

I've flown Etihad a few times, no complaints, but the airport hasn't changed much in 12 years, my preference will always be Emirates, although I get a little hacked off at the bus ride. Currently I'm flying Gulf, very basic but the flight attendants are about the best. Qatar Air comes very close to Emirates but still has a little further to go to be in serious competition (they are getting there). I do prefer to fly the Middle Eastern airlines than European and Asian, but that is just a personal preference.

The bottom line when travelling is "Nill carborundum illigitemi desperanum", it's just another story to tell your grand children.

[RJJ]

A

It's really bad that since you were travelling with 2 small children they did not go out of their way to help.

I'm glad to hear they do not give preference to children.

What are we single people , second class citizens?

If you don't have kids then you have no idea, and yes you are a second class citizen for the arrogance to make such a statement.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I used to fly a lot from 1999 to 2004 Melbourne to: Singapore, Malaysia (via Singapore), BKK, South Africa and Hong Kong.

Usually I travelled Qantas as it was paid for by my employer.

I would like to say that I rarely had delays of more than one hour.

The longest delay I had was Singapore to Melbourne. The plane took off (almost on time) but there was a problem with one of the weather computers.

There are 2 of these computers on board, and one had failed about 45 minutes into the flight.

They announced all the details that it was faulty and because they were less that 40% of the flight distance, they had to return to port of origin.

Well 300 odd passengers got off and were greeted with an army of staff already armed with new boarding passes for alternate flights to other Australian cities, and also had the boarding passes for the transit from the alternate city back to Melbourne.

Had another Qantas flight late into Sydney so everyone missed their connections.

Just before landing, they announced everyone with Qantas connections had already been transferred to new flights and asked everybody to remain seated upon landing unless you were transferring to Adelaide (and one other city) as they had the shortest lead time, so they needed to get off first.

I made no complaints about the delays, and am still impressed today at the forward planning and execution of the work-around plans.

Qantas are not rated as the best airline, and have some aging aircraft, etc. etc. etc., but my 2 worst examples of flight delays are clearly described above, and I would love to hear of travel stories that have been handled better than this.