Mumbai, May 10, 2008 (Asia Pulse Data Source via COMTEX) -- -- Passengers of the Mumbai-New York flight of American carrier Continental Airline underwent an ordeal after their flight was delayed by 20 hours because of hydraulic failure.
The flight, originally scheduled for departure at 2300 hrs on Thursday, left Mumbai at 1900 hrs on Friday. The economy class passengers, who were taken off the aircraft at around 0030 hrs on Friday, had complained the cabin crew left them unattended.
A Continental Airline official in India said the airline would look into the the passengers' complaints on case-to-case basis.
We all know delays are part and parcel of the airline industry the way you handle the delays sets your airline above the others, an unfortunate event for the passengers with commitments though
Jetblueguy22 From United States, joined Nov 2007, 720 posts, RR: 1 Reply 1, posted (3 months 2 weeks 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 8088 times:
Quoting Karan69 (Thread starter): The economy class passengers, who were taken off the aircraft at around 0030 hrs on Friday, had complained the cabin crew left them unattended.
What do they think they were doing? Its not like they were off partying. They aren't there to babysit adults they are there for safety. Here we go again though too. I hope this doesn't explode into a big ordeal. Whenever I see something like this on the news I hear something about jetBlue in 2007.
Blue
Saab 340:Like a pack of gum going half the speed of smell-Ron White
CMHfreqflyer From United States, joined Apr 2008, 23 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (3 months 2 weeks 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 8040 times:
Jetblueguy22 -
Agreed that this does not look like a big deal - 90 minutes seems about right for CO to figure out that they had a major mechanical problem.
But - I'm always surprised that no one on one of the planes involved in the Jet Blue debacle called 911 - after 8 or 10 hours I'm thinking that I would be close to saying that I was being held hostage too!
D
DLPMMM From United States, joined Apr 2005, 2036 posts, RR: 4 Reply 7, posted (3 months 2 weeks 5 days 13 hours ago) and read 7865 times:
I had the same sort of experience on the CO DEL-EWR flight. Mechanical problem, 5 star hotel, flight delayed until the next day. Not a big deal. CO gave me ~$600 credit (I had a Biz class ticket) for the inconvenience.
Just a sensationalistic newspaper article (not uncommon in the media,as we all know).
Ikramerica From United States, joined May 2005, 15062 posts, RR: 45 Reply 8, posted (3 months 2 weeks 5 days 13 hours ago) and read 7798 times:
It sounds like the Y pax were not taken care of right away, but had to wait, and the pax felt like they were being treated poorly. But it also just sounds like CO had to work out the arrangements for the J pax first, all 40-50 of them, and then take care of Y. With limited ground staff, I guess that's fair? They did pay lots more to be on the flight. I would expect that at EWR, the Y pax would not have had to wait so long, but also would not have stayed at a 5 star hotel. There are plenty of crappy hotels around EWR to choose from…
Of all the things to worry about... the Wookie has no pants.
Davescj From United States, joined Jun 2007, 1254 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (3 months 2 weeks 5 days 13 hours ago) and read 7743 times:
I can't believe they left pax on the aircraft, without crew. It doesn't make sense. Sound like once they knew it went mech, everyone was taken off and accomodated -- which does make sense.
That said, "Y" pax left? I've never seen this. Usually all are taken off, unless they had ground crew book the J class, come on, give them reservations, let them go, etc. But the whole thing sounds contrary to standard practice. I can never think of a time I was in J and allowed off the plane before Y pax when it was a mx cancellation. Groundstaff simply had us all get off, got us all hotels, and that was it. Total non drama.
Ikramerica From United States, joined May 2005, 15062 posts, RR: 45 Reply 10, posted (3 months 2 weeks 5 days 13 hours ago) and read 7744 times:
I would also imagine they had to spend a little time finding 200 potential rooms in the area open at 1AM. You can't just snap your fingers and find 200 rooms. Takes a bit of time. And again, J pax get set up first.
Of all the things to worry about... the Wookie has no pants.
PNQIAD From India, joined May 2006, 361 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (3 months 2 weeks 5 days 13 hours ago) and read 7727 times:
Quoting Seattle ops (Reply 3): They should be used to this in India, aren't most of Air India's flights 20 hours late?
And the basis for your smart a$$ comment / question is? First of all, while AI is not the epitome of punctuality, your assumption is still a bit excessive. And not seeing any emoticons after it suggests to me that you were not trying to be sarcastic either.
Also, there is a wide spread perception (and with some good reason) in Indian population that western (US / European) airlines to tend to give secondary treatment to flights out of India. While it has changed significantly in the last few years, earlier it would be obvious with the older aircrafts with worn out interiors LH and others used to ply on India routes and the general attitude of FAs.
Truth be told though - in this case - 90 min. seems a reasonable amount of time and not much to complain about.
MHTripple7 From United States, joined Feb 2008, 126 posts, RR: 0 Reply 15, posted (3 months 2 weeks 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 7178 times:
Quoting MaverickM11 (Reply 5): This begs the question, would it have been worse to keep the passengers "imprisoned" onboard for 20 hours, or in the BOM terminal ?
LOL, I honestly think CO did them a favor by keeping them in the nice 777 for that long instead of the BOM airport.
Ian1121 From United States, joined Jun 2006, 16 posts, RR: 0 Reply 16, posted (3 months 2 weeks 5 days 8 hours ago) and read 6202 times:
I honestly think that Continental is the worst airline because of their service , but that's just my opinion. If you're going to fly international, try British Airways or Virgin Atlantic.
44k From United States, joined Aug 2007, 224 posts, RR: 0 Reply 17, posted (3 months 2 weeks 5 days 7 hours ago) and read 5618 times:
Quoting Slider (Reply 26): His observation about Indians is correct, whether one wants to argue about it or not.
While human nature and behavior is consistent on a global basis, there are many cultural differences that we in the airline business see consistently. And like I've said a bajillion times before, it's called a generalization because it's generally true. And there is a marked difference between Indians and say, for the sake of argument, Japanese or Americans or anyone. Indians will freak out, get really pugnacious, whereas Japanese typically will write the letter to customer care when they get home.
Quoting Ikramerica (Reply 31): That is such a naive statement. Human behavior is NOT universal, it is culturally shaped.
As a airline AAgent I whole heatedly agree. I used to dread the flights to ORD in the afternoon because of all the DEL connections! (God forbid it was delayed, which was all too often..) While there are some exceptions to the rule, a clear behavioral pattern does exist!
Flybyguy From United States, joined Jun 2004, 1430 posts, RR: 1 Reply 18, posted (3 months 2 weeks 5 days 4 hours ago) and read 4149 times:
Quoting Ikramerica (Reply 8): It sounds like the Y pax were not taken care of right away, but had to wait, and the pax felt like they were being treated poorly. But it also just sounds like CO had to work out the arrangements for the J pax first, all 40-50 of them, and then take care of Y. With limited ground staff, I guess that's fair? They did pay lots more to be on the flight. I would expect that at EWR, the Y pax would not have had to wait so long, but also would not have stayed at a 5 star hotel. There are plenty of crappy hotels around EWR to choose from…
Oh come on... fairness would have been based on ticket price. I'd wager that a number of people in Y paid full economy fares which would have trumped anyone in J who got there because of upgrades or award travel.
"Are you a pretender... or a thoroughbred?!" - Professor Matt Miller
Ojas From India, joined Mar 2008, 366 posts, RR: 0 Reply 19, posted (3 months 2 weeks 5 days 4 hours ago) and read 4108 times:
IMO nothing extraordinary has happened, f flight got delayed .... it took time to detect the problem and then CO provided accommodation. I do not think there is any reason to criticize anything in this matter. This has happened in the past to many airlines, and specifically at BOM, EK has the worst reputation of handling such delays.
As far as passengers complaining, I really don't trust the media when it comes to Aviation, and I don't think fellow members should take this opportunity to dig at "Indians" and highlighting their "broad minded" thinking.
There are all sorts of passengers everywhere, and out of 200 if there are 5-6 unruly passengers, that is something unavoidable. And of course we all know that the media highlights the inconvenience of those 5 people than explaining whether CO managed it well or not.
Quoting MHTripple7 (Reply 29): LOL, I honestly think CO did them a favor by keeping them in the nice 777 for that long instead of the BOM airport.
With an airline like CO, it would have been a bigger favor had they been in the terminal.
Why is that we drive in a parkway and park in a driveway?
Mir From United States, joined Jan 2004, 10269 posts, RR: 57 Reply 20, posted (3 months 2 weeks 5 days 3 hours ago) and read 3839 times:
Quoting Davescj (Reply 10): I can't believe they left pax on the aircraft, without crew. It doesn't make sense.
They can't. If passengers are onboard, the crew has to be there.
Quoting Ikramerica (Reply 31): They were on the plane all of 1.5 hours, at the gate it seems, before it was determined that the plane would not fly soon. As for unattended, we don't know what that means in this context. Didn't get drinks or food offered (unattended), CO crew was not on the plane at all (another meaning for unattended), etc.
Likely means that they didn't get food or drinks. Drinks would probably have been nice, but I don't really see the need for food for just a 90 minute delay. Sounds like CO did pretty much everything that could have reasonably been expected of them given the circumstances.
-Mir
Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the war room! | Bloomberg '08!
Sponsor Message: 
From India, joined Oct 2004, 2562 posts, 
From United States, joined Nov 2007, 720 posts, 
?
From Denmark, joined Nov 2007, 169 posts,