No airside irrops handling at HKIA?
I've been stuck at HKIA for the past 4 hours, waiting for a 3pm MU flight to PVG that keeps being pushed back. Departure is now hoped for at 6.45pm, which all but guarantees that I'll miss my connecting flight from PVG to SYD.
I tried to get on the earlier (also delayed) flights, but they were full. The gate supervisor says, no, we don't endorse tickets, we're just a small outstation. You gotta go to PVG and they'll get you sorted. But why would I want to fly there only to be told that my flight is gone? I should note that I'm on a revenue RTW, so all I wanted to do was change to a flight I could have booked in the first place (e.g., CI via TPE or GA via CGK).
Gate supervisor says, go to the lounge. It's a shared Skyteam lounge, and they offer no rebooking. They direct me to the service counter, where overwhelmed agents issue food vouchers. It doesn't look like they've ever rebooked anyone. So I ask, who does the rebooking? You have to talk to the airline, landside. How do I get landside? Cannot!
At the same time, I'm on hold with my issuing carrier, but they can't do anything because the ticket is already under airport control. I doubt calling MU would have helped at all.
Clearly, I didn't play this very well -- starting with the foolish decision to fly MU when other alternatives would have been available -- laugh if you must. But for future reference, how are non-CX irrops handled at HKIA?