According to a Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat (http://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/artikkeli/Finnairin+koneessa+h%C3%A4irik%C3%B6itiin+viikonlo ppuna/1135229826594?ref=rss) crowd from Spain caused a small riot on a MD11 parked on gate in PEK on Saturday - even the purser got punched by one of them.

(Loosely translated)

"The passengers got angry because the departure of the flight was delayed by several hours due to a jet engine hydraulic problems. First the passengers had to wait five hours in the terminal. After waiting they were let to the plane while the repairing was ongoing. The AC didn't work properly and there was over 300 people aboard. The main exits were left open and the pax were able to go to the doors to get some air.

The pax had waited two hours on-board as the test-run of the fixed engine began. The pax were asked for their seats for the engine test operation. One Spanish woman standing by the exit door refused to take her seat. The situation got out of hands and she hit the purser for been asked for her seat. The crew called the police.

When the police arrived they faced a group of angry Spanish crowd. Ten of them was taken to the police custody. Eventually the flight departed nine hours behind scheduled departure time."

Here is some pix and story (http://www.flightforum.fi/forum/index.php/topic,69161.0.html) in Finnish from a pax on that flight.

Another great publicity stunt for AY & their M11 operations...stupid to let SLF to board while repair is underway, just stupid, no excuses whatsoever for the PEK ground staff/captain..

Quite a lot of Spanish pax on the Europe - China routes. Don't think AY can afford to lose their custom.

Quite a lot of Spanish pax on the Europe - China routes. Don't think AY can afford to lose their custom. Lifelong ban from e.g. AY flights for rioting individuals (regardless of the nationality) might just hurt more the rioters than AY. Misbehaving on board must not be tolerated anywhere. Delayed flight, so what, will most of the Spanish folks think and probably regret the behaviour of their countrymen.

OT: Once sat onboard a LH A346 just landed to FRA. Plane had to stop to wait for few minutes on the taxiway, at which point a big bunch of Spanish pax stood up and started to empty the overhead lockers. The staff tried to control the issue by announcement, but the pax just sat down and left luggage to block aisles. Finally cockpit door opened and staff from there came to clear the aisles to the laps of these pax. The wait doubled due to the pax in hurry...

Also Aamulehti (local Finnish newspaper) wrote about this: http://www.aamulehti.fi/uutiset/kotimaa/41977.shtml (in Finnish)

The interesting part is actually the picture they have made telling one plane's schedule for the week: http://www.aamulehti.fi/uutiset/kotimaa/5413958-big.jpg (in the air 135 hours and on ground 35 hours). According to that picture, the plane flew the following routes:

Helsinki - Bangkok: Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday
Bangkok - Helsinki: Monday, Thursday, Sunday

Helsinki - Canton (Guangzhou): Friday
Canton (Guangzhou) - Helsinki: Saturday

Helsinki - Beijing: Monday, Thursday
Beijing - Helsinki: Tuesday, Friday

Helsinki - Osaka: Tuesday
Osaka - Helsinki: Wednesday

In the picture, dark blue in the timeline is the flight time, light blue is the turnaround time on ground.

One busy plane. :)

Also in Aamulehti A/C Service Manager Janne Tarvainen from Finnair said that the service irregularities for MD11 hasn't got significantly worse during the past years and service probability is extremely high (maybe best in the world).

In MD-11 we trust! Smoother and faster. ;)

Lifelong ban from e.g. AY flights for rioting individuals (regardless of the nationality) might just hurt more the rioters than AY. Misbehaving on board must not be tolerated anywhere. Delayed flight, so what, will most of the Spanish folks think and probably regret the behaviour of their countrymen.

Travel choices are also related to image and media reports and as we both know those can vary a lot depending on the quality of PR work.

It is quite surprising that the crew didn't go illegal during the wait time.

You can blame Finnair for moving the scheduled time forward by an hour every hour or so. IMHO this is the SOP of Finnair rather than telling the whole truth up front.

Also because the delay was so severe they would have needed to move pax to other airlines. By not doing the right thing they are in the mess. Of course the Spanish pax shouldn't have behaved like they did.

Some publicity and lots of discussion going on (http://www.lavanguardia.es/lv24h/20070830/53389557350.html) down there...

Some publicity and lots of discussion going on (http://www.lavanguardia.es/lv24h/20070830/53389557350.html) down there...

is it just me or is that a AY pilot giving the camera a finger...

Did AY comply with the EU rules about flight delays and cancellations for passengers on this flight?

is it just me or is that a AY pilot giving the camera a finger...

Rather shockingly that is exactly what it looks like he is doing. No matter how bad things are there is no excuse for that....

Rather shockingly that is exactly what it looks like he is doing. No matter how bad things are there is no excuse for that.... Seems to me like a Photoshopped image. More interesting to read the Spanish commenting below the article.

Seems to me like a Photoshopped image. More interesting to read the Spanish commenting below the article.

really?

I think this is genuine finnish frustration being displayed after a long period of stress.. no need for Photoshop to muster that emotion..

I think this is a typical example of mistakes having been done on both sides and emotions getting out of hand.

On the one hand, the airline has the responsibility for the delay, as it is a mechanical issue. So why are they boarding the already stressed passengers at a moment when the maintenance work is ongoing and they cannot even regulate the climate in the MD11. It is not surprising that people lose their nerves in the heat and the dense environment of economy class.

On the other hand, the Spanish lady losing her nerves and to get violent against a flight attendant, what does she expect to happen? If someone gets out of control in such an environment by being emotionally stressed, she is just not fit to fly.