Unbelievable: Hanoi>Dmk>Bkk +5 Hours...

[zappalot]

Yesterday the Qatar Airways evening flight from Hanoi to Bangkok BKK was I guess a special one.

With almost 6 hours on the plane the flight was really unusual. First it was circling above Suvarnabhumi airport waiting for a landing slot, but after about 30 minutes it landed in Don Mueang airport first even the Qatar Airways flight was scheduled to land in Suvarnabhumi airport.

Also about another 10 flights were supposed to land in Suvarnabhumi airport were rerouted to Don Mueang Airport and were parked away from the passenger terminals.

There all these flights had to wait until the only one available tank truck re-fueled the planes and only after about three hours with the passengers waiting in the plane it left finally to its destination Suvarnabhumi airport.

Anyone with a reason for this?

Edited June 9, 2013 by zappalot

[Lakegeneve]

What did the pilot & Qatar staff say was the reason?

[scorecard]

Was In the news about 10 days ago, they had just started repairs to many pot holes in the swampy runways and parking spots, repairs estimated to take 3 months. Delays expected.

Maybe this affected your Qatar flight.

[challenger99]

I am glad and hope to believe. Ho Chi Minh plan 10 time bigger airport and should work after 5 years and discharge the HUB Bangkok (hope overtake). More and more after build a bad rundways etc. for what we have to suffer it is unpleasant use Suvarnabhumi. They do what rhey want with us, if you have the car in Swampi and they land in Don Mueang the even not offer you a dime of free transport. Shame on this.

[josephbloggs]

Was In the news about 10 days ago, they had just started repairs to many pot holes in the swampy runways and parking spots, repairs estimated to take 3 months. Delays expected.

Maybe this affected your Qatar flight.

I doubt that. That is scheduled work and shouldn't cause flights to be redirected, especially considering they flew back to BKK a little later. I'm guessing it was probably due to weather.

I'd be interested to know how long the flight from DMK to BKK took.

Edited June 9, 2013 by Maestro
Corrected wrong airport code. SVB stands for Sambava airport in Madagaskar.

[zappalot]

The pilot just told us that as we departured late a little bit Suvarnabhumi Airport was to busy and can not provide a landing slot so the flight had to be redirected to DMK...

But that sounds unbelievable?????

[Jdietz]

Probably some VIP wanted to land his private jet. Were half of Bangkok's roads closed as well to get him to the shopping mall in time?

[joy16]

Was In the news about 10 days ago, they had just started repairs to many pot holes in the swampy runways and parking spots, repairs estimated to take 3 months. Delays expected.

Maybe this affected your Qatar flight.

Taxiways and parking spots are repaired in this time, not the runways. And it started yesterday (10 Jun 2013).

The pilot just told us that as we departured late a little bit Suvarnabhumi Airport was to busy and can not provide a landing slot so the flight had to be redirected to DMK...

But that sounds unbelievable?????

Sounds unbelievable but it can be possible.

[Thereisnoif]

The pilot just told us that as we departured late a little bit Suvarnabhumi Airport was to busy and can not provide a landing slot so the flight had to be redirected to DMK...

But that sounds unbelievable?????

Yes it is a <deleted> explanation. Even if Suwa was busy , all he had to do was circle for some time until he got a landing slot.

[harrry]

The pilot just told us that as we departured late a little bit Suvarnabhumi Airport was to busy and can not provide a landing slot so the flight had to be redirected to DMK...

But that sounds unbelievable?????

Yes it is a <deleted> explanation. Even if Suwa was busy , all he had to do was circle for some time until he got a landing slot.

He probably would only be able to circle for half an hour or so before he stated into his compulsory safety reserve. What surprises me is that they did not process them at DMK as it is an International airport. Would have been a loot cheaper for them.

[Tomtomtom69]

So it seems that Qatar Airways eventually flew you from Don Muang to Suvarnabhumi. Why not just bus you over there for free? Would have been quicker but yes the ticket did say Suvarnabhumi...hey on the plus side, you got to take a flight for a distance of 30km, although after that awful delay I don't think you were rejoicing...

Edited July 9, 2013 by Tomtomtom69

[zappalot]

So it seems that Qatar Airways eventually flew you from Don Muang to Suvarnabhumi. Why not just bus you over there for free? Would have been quicker but yes the ticket did say Suvarnabhumi...hey on the plus side, you got to take a flight for a distance of 30km, although after that awful delay I don't think you were rejoicing...

it would have been a logistics problem. A few passengers would have wanted to get out at DMK, a few would have wanted to continue. Then they would have had to search for the luggage of the ones who wanted to get out at DMK.

And there were passengers at bkk waiting because this flight was to be continued to Qatar.

[harrry]

So it seems that Qatar Airways eventually flew you from Don Muang to Suvarnabhumi. Why not just bus you over there for free? Would have been quicker but yes the ticket did say Suvarnabhumi...hey on the plus side, you got to take a flight for a distance of 30km, although after that awful delay I don't think you were rejoicing...

it would have been a logistics problem. A few passengers would have wanted to get out at DMK, a few would have wanted to continue. Then they would have had to search for the luggage of the ones who wanted to get out at DMK.

And there were passengers at bkk waiting because this flight was to be continued to Qatar.

Most countries would have deplaned all and bussed them to the destination. It is lucky the crew were not out of time...or they probably were and ignored it.

[infernalman7]

Seems like they don't like having passengers deplaned here in Thailand.

Last time I was on my flight back from Melbourne to Bangkok when the stupid yellow shirts closed the airport. Thai Airways told passengers to remain on the plane as there was no immigration or customs left at BKK. Guess how long? 7.5 hours!