CX722 28 March a little tale
Mar 30, 2013, 3:39 am
#16
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Sorry that was a bit tongue in cheek, as although not perfect, I was happy with they way the re-booking was taken care off.
Although the lady on the transfer desk did try to tell me the previous days ticket HKG to CTU was valid, until I asked about the date...
Mar 30, 2013, 3:51 am
#17
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I dunno. I've been in the WX above and one tech.
The WX above - the captain was still saying we were waiting to go up to 2am. He then had to give up til next morning cos of noise abatement issues. Given the time he gave up, the expectation we can get out as soon as possible next morning and the number of passengers stranded, I can't fault CX for not letting us off (or even go to the terminal).
Tech (also in HKG) - The airline (HX) knew by 4pm that my 5pm flight won't fly til tomorrow 9am, so they rounded us all up at the gate and took those who can get out to the Park Lane at around 7pm. There were 70 odd Vietnamnese nationals who couldn't, and they were put up at Plaza Premium lounges' sleeping rooms.
But even the HX case involves a HK airline at its home port with plenty of notice. Contra that to CX at a divert port at midnight.
The WX above - the captain was still saying we were waiting to go up to 2am. He then had to give up til next morning cos of noise abatement issues. Given the time he gave up, the expectation we can get out as soon as possible next morning and the number of passengers stranded, I can't fault CX for not letting us off (or even go to the terminal).
Tech (also in HKG) - The airline (HX) knew by 4pm that my 5pm flight won't fly til tomorrow 9am, so they rounded us all up at the gate and took those who can get out to the Park Lane at around 7pm. There were 70 odd Vietnamnese nationals who couldn't, and they were put up at Plaza Premium lounges' sleeping rooms.
But even the HX case involves a HK airline at its home port with plenty of notice. Contra that to CX at a divert port at midnight.
Obviously the weather and the low fuel were the critical events in this case thus the landing at CAN.
Last year on a BA LHR to PEK, the flight went tech before leaving the gate, the Captain announced that we would require replacement metal. So we were offloaded and ground staff said we would re-board the same plane when it was repaired. They even put another flight crew on, I asked in the lounge, about replacement metal, they said no, same gate etc. 6 hours later, new metal different gate. Moral of this little bit, honest Captain.
Mar 30, 2013, 4:27 am
#19
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[I really can't remember where this come from, or whether I even remember this correctly. Apologies!]
No such problems diverting MNL except it's far!
Mar 30, 2013, 7:10 am
#22
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Feel for you and others who endured this ordeal- you should claim free flights for life from cathay if u havent developed a phobia of flying them again- china has a standard transit visa policy as long as passengers have a boarding pass for the next destination in hand, which you obviously did..poor form by CX.
Mar 30, 2013, 9:51 am
#23
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Difficult situation, but I think it was well handled by CX, particularly by the cabin crew as you say.
I think CAN was experiencing a lot of diversions + CX control in HKG were dealing with multiple delay/cancel/divert scenarios so it would have been very difficult for the captain to get updated info as soon as possible.
I don't think the captain would have lied to the passengers, often in these situations the captain is as clueless as the passengers, because they have to rely on mixed info from CAN airport/HKG airport/CX control, and often the info is misleading, confusing and takes time to arrive.
Honestly, by the way he was constantly giving updates, I think he was trying to give info to passengers as soon as he knew. Id say if info was being delayed, it would not have been from the captain, but from CX control in HKG.
I think CAN was experiencing a lot of diversions + CX control in HKG were dealing with multiple delay/cancel/divert scenarios so it would have been very difficult for the captain to get updated info as soon as possible.
I don't think the captain would have lied to the passengers, often in these situations the captain is as clueless as the passengers, because they have to rely on mixed info from CAN airport/HKG airport/CX control, and often the info is misleading, confusing and takes time to arrive.
Honestly, by the way he was constantly giving updates, I think he was trying to give info to passengers as soon as he knew. Id say if info was being delayed, it would not have been from the captain, but from CX control in HKG.
Mar 30, 2013, 7:04 pm
#25
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Seems like just the common sense approach that people would dismiss.
From CX perspective, if you need to fly the plane back to HKG anyways, why not make the passengers wait. Cost wise makes more sense the hiring buses.
From CX perspective, if you need to fly the plane back to HKG anyways, why not make the passengers wait. Cost wise makes more sense the hiring buses.
Mar 30, 2013, 7:18 pm
#26
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CX should sent a kaocha (考察) team over to SoCal and learn from WN. Every time LAX/SAN/SNA gets fogged in during the late evening and planes divert to ONT, WN arranges buses in no time. I know there's a border or two, but lightening the "load" (of visaless stuck pax) would make sleeping on the plane overnight a lot easier.
Mar 30, 2013, 7:52 pm
#27
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In this previous post http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/catha...8th-march.html I mentioned CX722 KUL –HKG on March 28 was diverted to CAN for a refueling stop due to being in the holding pattern for approx 1 hour.
Upon our arrival in CAN at approx. 6:30pm, the captain informed the passengers that this will be a short stop of around 2 hours while we refuel and depart to HKG.
After 2 hours, the refueling was completed and the captain made a second announcement, that we would have to wait another a little longer as now HKG was closed. By this time I suspected that the flight crew would be out of hours very soon and that a new flight crew would be required. Sure enough, within the next hour the captain made the announcement that “we are now out of hours” and we are talking with CX about the situation. About 1 hour later, new announcement “we are arranging with the Chinese flight authorities to allow us to send a plane from HKG to take you there, this make take 2-3 hours”.
After a another hour, “the Chinese have agreed to sending a plane to collect you, it will be here in 2 hours”
Another hour goes by, “the Chinese have changed their minds so there will be no flight and now we are trying to book hotels in Guangzhou for you as soon as possible”
Another hour later approx. 2 or 3 am “The Chinese will not allow any passengers to disembark as the terminals in CAN are full with passengers from all the diverted flights and the hotels in Guangzhou are full. Please make yourselves as comfortable as possible as you will be sleeping on board tonight. CX are aware of the situation and working on a solution”. Fortunately the flight was not full and there were many spare seats.
After another 4-5 hours, next announcement “a new flight crew will arrive in CAN at 9:30am and we will have you back in HKG asap”.
Eventually we land in HKG 12:40pm, 17 hours after the original arrival time.
During the time at CAN, food hot meals were provided from the airport and IFE was on, good drinks service and a good will payment was offered to all passengers of 500Rmb for the inconvenience….
I have nothing but praise for the cabin crew in this situation for their excellent work and long hours they put in, but I suspect that the Captain was making announcements that were a little way off, to placate passengers on board. After talking with some experienced ground staff, they informed me that CX are not allowed to disembark passengers at CAN as they have no agreement, also I suspected that there would be issues with persons not having PRC entry visas, which would be another reason passengers for passengers not allowed off. I know in Shanghai and Beijing there is the 72 hour tourist arrival visa, but does Guangzhou have this facility?
Hotels are full? How many hotels in Guangzhou, must be a big party on somewhere, may I have an invite please?
From the moment we landed in CAN, I suspected that we would be on board overnight as I thought that the visa entry, flight crew flight hours would conspire against us.
What I did not expect was the announcements from the Captain. You may draw your own conclusions as to what I think.
But at the end of the day, I get to my final destination safely 25 hours later than planned.
Upon our arrival in CAN at approx. 6:30pm, the captain informed the passengers that this will be a short stop of around 2 hours while we refuel and depart to HKG.
After 2 hours, the refueling was completed and the captain made a second announcement, that we would have to wait another a little longer as now HKG was closed. By this time I suspected that the flight crew would be out of hours very soon and that a new flight crew would be required. Sure enough, within the next hour the captain made the announcement that “we are now out of hours” and we are talking with CX about the situation. About 1 hour later, new announcement “we are arranging with the Chinese flight authorities to allow us to send a plane from HKG to take you there, this make take 2-3 hours”.
After a another hour, “the Chinese have agreed to sending a plane to collect you, it will be here in 2 hours”
Another hour goes by, “the Chinese have changed their minds so there will be no flight and now we are trying to book hotels in Guangzhou for you as soon as possible”
Another hour later approx. 2 or 3 am “The Chinese will not allow any passengers to disembark as the terminals in CAN are full with passengers from all the diverted flights and the hotels in Guangzhou are full. Please make yourselves as comfortable as possible as you will be sleeping on board tonight. CX are aware of the situation and working on a solution”. Fortunately the flight was not full and there were many spare seats.
After another 4-5 hours, next announcement “a new flight crew will arrive in CAN at 9:30am and we will have you back in HKG asap”.
Eventually we land in HKG 12:40pm, 17 hours after the original arrival time.
During the time at CAN, food hot meals were provided from the airport and IFE was on, good drinks service and a good will payment was offered to all passengers of 500Rmb for the inconvenience….
I have nothing but praise for the cabin crew in this situation for their excellent work and long hours they put in, but I suspect that the Captain was making announcements that were a little way off, to placate passengers on board. After talking with some experienced ground staff, they informed me that CX are not allowed to disembark passengers at CAN as they have no agreement, also I suspected that there would be issues with persons not having PRC entry visas, which would be another reason passengers for passengers not allowed off. I know in Shanghai and Beijing there is the 72 hour tourist arrival visa, but does Guangzhou have this facility?
Hotels are full? How many hotels in Guangzhou, must be a big party on somewhere, may I have an invite please?
From the moment we landed in CAN, I suspected that we would be on board overnight as I thought that the visa entry, flight crew flight hours would conspire against us.
What I did not expect was the announcements from the Captain. You may draw your own conclusions as to what I think.
But at the end of the day, I get to my final destination safely 25 hours later than planned.
Last edited by yul36; Mar 30, 2013 at 7:59 pm
Mar 30, 2013, 8:17 pm
#28
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They held you hostage for 17 hours and gave you 80 dollars and fifty cents. They would have to dig a whole lot deeper to get me back on one of their planes. They were nice to you because they were as trapped as you were. Frankly they should have diverted to Macu where there are lots of hotel options, and a hi speed ferry to get u back to hkg.
To be honest, what else could CX do once the plane was in CAN? They were not able to get pax off the aircraft due to immigration issues + authorities. The only thing they could have done is to bring the replacement crew much sooner. I guess they waited for the next KA flight for that.
Terrible ordeal, CX probably should have tried to divert this flight enroute or to TPE/MNL then to a Mainland city. I wonder if these diversions were due to a lack of readiness by CX control in HKG, and perhaps they thought weather + disruption would not be as bad as it was?
Mar 30, 2013, 9:38 pm
#29
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