10 Hours Delays?

(as published in Malaysia Today on 19 Sept 2011)
By Lynne_c

On behalf of the passengers of Air Asia X flight D7 2686 from Kuala Lumpur to Incheon, Seoul on September 2, 2011, I would like to share our experience about a delay that cost us more than 10 hours and the shabby treatment that Air Asia extends to its paying customers.

The chronology of the events are as follows:

The flight, D7 2686 was initially supposed to take off at 11.00pm and reach Incheon at 6.00am the next day.

11.00pm - Captain of the flight announced a delay due to a route change which requires the plane to upload 2 tonnes of fuel. The reason given was non-approval from ATP for clearance from Ho Chi Minh to Taipei.

12.00 midnight - Captain announces another plan change, requiring the uplifting of 1 tonnes of fuel from the plane.

1.00am - The plane was waiting by the runway to take off when the Captain announced clearance from Taipei and said that he would decide in 2 or 3 minutes if he would repark the plane.

1.30am - Captain re-parked the plane at the terminal

1.50am - Passengers were told to disembark to T18 by the Captain

2.30am - After more than 3 hours stranded in the plane, the passengers were finally allowed to disembark to T18 where everyone rushed to the rest room or to purchase much needed food and drinks

3.30am - Cold croissant and cold mineral water were distributed to the passengers.

4.00am - Some of the Korean guests requested for blankets for their children. The passengers were told that the plane will take off by 5.00am

5.00am - A new announcement was made that the plane will take off by 7.30am

6.00am - Two of the passengers cancelled their tickets and left

7.00am - One of the Managers assured the passengers that the plane will take off by 7.30am. A second Manager then said that Air Asia could extend our flight to another day. But he could not qualify for food and accommodation.

7.30am - The passengers were asked to re-board the plane.

8.00am - The plane reversed out of the parking bay and was parked in another place in the middle of the airport with 2 ground crew still on board. The new crew sat in the front portion of the plane, behind the red curtain, laughing and joking

8.20am - One of the passengers, a Mr. Chew, got up from his seat to approach the crew to find out what was happening. He was told that there was no pilot and the new crew said that they had just arrived from Delhi and were only told to sit in to board us on the plane. Anoother crew member, a Mr. Narin Singh, openly said that there was no pilot and he was there to bring the plane to where it was currently parked (in the middle of the airport). When pressed for confirmation, he declined to comment. However, it was very clear that Air Asia had moved the airplane without a qualified pilot on board!

9.20am - The plane finally took off for Korea

The delaying tactics employed by Air Asia was obvious. On top of all that, the passengers were subjected to rude treatment and thuggish behaviour from the ground crew and staff of Air Asia. When a disagreement arose between two Korean ladies and the ground crew at approximately 5.30am, passenger Mr. Chew recorded the incident on his handphone, but he was subsequently threatened and browbeatened by the Air Asia security to delete the video or else his mobile phone would be confiscated.

To date, there has been no effort from Air Asia to reach out to its customers and at least make an attempt to compensate everyone for the ordeal they suffered at the hands of Air Asia. We have never received any official answer on the reason for the delay. From what we had found out verbally, someone in Air Asia forgot to ask for clearance through Taipei air space, which sparked off the whole fiasco.

I am writing this to you in the hopes that our experience on board Air Asia X flight D7 2686 will be shared with your readers. Was all these hassle and stress worth the price of a cheap ticket? My answer, and the answer of all my fellow passengers would be, a resounding No.

More than that, seeing how shabbily Air Asia treated its guests that night, how they verbally accosted the Korean passengers who were struggling to speak English, I can honestly say, I felt an emotion I had never felt in my lifetime - I was embarassed to be Malaysian because Air Asia is a Malaysian company.
Tags: Air Asia X, Incheon, LCCT, Taipei Air Space, Ho Chi Minh, ATP

An Unprepared Team A Danger To All

A team by the name of Putera 1Malaysia Club went into Somalia with the idea of conducting humanitarian aid mission in a particular war zone area with the famine crisis being the main concern.

Unfortunately, this team was so unprepared and went in a haste without knowing what they are heading into. Not only that they have risked their own lifes unnecessarily but they had to be protected by the security forces that were already busy with the war. And now, they have to worry for a bunch of innocent / naive people from Malaysia who were trying to claim a name by doing something good.

Things didn't went as planned and maybe the plan wasn't a good plan after all.

I'm so sorry to hear about the demise of our Bernama TV's cameraman, cameraman Noramfaizul Mohd Nor, in Somalia while following this bunch of unprepared team.

You have to read some true facts of what has happened prior to and during the so-called humanitarian aid mission leading to the demise of a Malaysian.

Failure to listen cost a life, an article in Star, depicted that a 7 member reconnaissance team of Malaysians arrived earlier to assess the safety situation for the upcoming humanitarian aid mission. The verdict - "Risky".

Was this "Risky" situation looked into or further planning with proper risk management being factored prior to the arrival of the 48 members of the Putera 1Malaysia Club?

Apparently, out of the 48 members, 40% of them were from the media. 18 of them? An experience army team going into the war zone will not allow so many media members to follow them else it may jeopardise their mission as they have to waste resource to save the media members if caught in a crossfire. It could have been more media members if not for the limited seats in the military aircraft. 74 media members were at the airport but only 18 were allowed to follow eventually. I really wonder what sort of briefing notes that had been provided to the media members in preparing them.

You don't send so many media members to cover a war zone story in a particular group. Moreover, this Putera 1Malaysia Club are not trained soldiers or they were carrying any weapons? Were they?

The 7 member reconnaissance team actually reported to Putrajaya first prior to the departure of the 48 members under the umbrella of Putera 1Malaysia Club. Their recommendations stated the following:-

a) that this team should make full preparations and leave after Hari Raya; and
b) concentrate their work and set up a clinic at one selected camp for the refugees.

Even though "Risky" but the team went ahead without listening to the advise as mentioned in items (a) and (b) as above. Outcome?

An international news agency journalist did mention that they have to go through a 3 days intensive training conducted by former commandos before they jump into the war zone. That too, does not guarantee their survival in a war zone.
 
To quote Putera 1Malaysia Club president Datuk Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim who asked everyone not to politicised or “cashed-in for cheap publicity" on the death of a Malaysian - you mean to say that people can't ridicule the club for its unpreparedness which caused a Malaysian to die unnecessarily?

The humanitarian aid mission was cut short immediately following the death of a Malaysian journalist. Why cut short the trip? If this team was so gung-ho about the mission, it should have gone ahead with the agenda that had been planned. A death shouldn't have derailed a humanitarian aid mission where its main objective was to save even more lifes.

This Datuk made the following statements to the press:-
a) We are preparing for a second mission but we have to settle several unresolved matters before we make another attempt.
b) The club would not rush into things and would take all necessary precautions and follow closely all standard operating procedures during the next mission.
c) 45 people, including pressmen, had signed for the next trip so far.

My comments on the above:-
a) You mean to say that the club didn't resolve certain issues for the first mission but still went ahead with it?
b) Admitting that this first mission was a rush job and SOP wasn't followed at all?
c) All the best to this 45 persons.

Immediately right after this tragedy, a cabinet minister said that "standard operating procedure should be created to serve as a guideline for all parties." Isn't this a little too late?

The cabinet minister also mentioned that "There should also be a reconnaissance done in these areas to determine the level of security." I think he hasn't been briefed about the 7 member reconnaissance team hahaha.

Worse still, our PM quoted this - "But if you're not prepared to take the risk, then stay home."

This blogpost is not written with selfish intention or any political agenda. It's in the minds of Malaysians who cannot understand why such humanitarian aid mission cannot be handed over to the professionals such as the Médecins Sans Frontières ("MSF") who have been there for years.

I respect the intention and the main objective of this trip but they should have prepared themselves in view of MSF International President Dr Unni Karunakara's experience in Somalia.

Irrespective of whether our journalist was prepared in mindset or knew what he was volunteering for or for the fact that many organisations have/would be contributing aids to the journalist's family, whoever organised the trip should have been more responsible for it as his death could have been avoided.
Tags: Putera 1Malaysia Club, Somalia Famine, Humanitarian Aid Mission, Somalia War Zone, Bernama TV, Noramfaizul Mohd Nor, Médecins Sans Frontières