WHEN you don't get what you want, sometimes, you might get
something even better.
This was what 30 passengers found out on Monday.
They did not know that their Tiger Airways flight had been
rescheduled. They said they had not seen the e-mail the budget
airline had sent them about this.
But they later found themselves on a more expensive flight,
albeit a later one, and for some, a more direct one to their
destination.
About 50 passengers arrived at the Budget Terminal after
12.30pm, to find that their 2.30pm flight to Macau - TR902 - had
been rescheduled for 12.35pm, and had left without them.
The aircraft can seat 180 passengers.
Tempers flared as passengers - tourists and businessmen -
gathered in the Airport Operations Division office, wanting to get
to their destination as soon as possible.
When The New Paper arrived around 2pm, the office was packed
with luggage and luggout 40 upset passengers were milling about
angrily.
Worried & irritated
Some demanded to see a Tiger Airways representative, while
others sat on their bags with sullen faces.
Airport staff were placating the upset passengers, some of whom
were using the service counter phone to call overseas.
At 2.30pm, Miss Jessica Blackwell, 21, an American, was
frantically calling her university friends in Hong Kong on the
service counter phone.
She goes to Lingnan University there, and is due to make a group
presentation this morning for a liberal arts subject.
She didn't know if she could get there on time, and felt she had
let the others in her group down.
Another upset passenger was Madam Sun Lai, who was going to see
her elderly mother, who has diabetes.
Madam Sun was with her 9-year-old daughter.
Some of the irritated passengers had booked hotels, and others
had transfer flights which they feared they could not catch.
They were ushered into a room, and were addressed by airport
staff.
Some passengers said Tiger Airways was offering them a full
refund, or a change of date to another Tiger Airways flight.
But the passengers were not satisfied - they wanted to get to
their destination.
For two hours, they sat in the room, waiting for answers.
At 4pm, the door opened, and what emerged were mostly smiling
faces. Miss Blackwell called her friends in Hong Kong, reassuring
them: 'We'll be there.'
Tiger Airways had decided to put the passengers on another
flight at no additional cost.
These passengers could choose to leave at 6.30pm for Hong Kong,
which is about an hour-long ferry ride from Macau.
The tickets they were given were for a Cathay Pacific flight,
and were significantly more expensive.
Thirty passengers took up the offer, and it was not a bad deal
for those who had intended to go to Hong Kong in the first
place.
Technician Yeo Eng Chuah, whose original plan was to take the
flight to Macau, and then a ferry to Hong Kong, felt he was
lucky.
But despite the unexpected 'upgrade', Mr Yeo said he was
'frustrated and disappointed'.
He claimed he received the e-mail notifying him of the
rescheduling only at 3.10pm, when he checked his mail at a free
Internet terminal at the airport.
Mr Yeo added: 'I don't want to have to argue for three-fourths
of the day for such an upgrade.'
The rest of the passengers chose to fly to Macau on another day,
or requested a full refund.
Some were still upset, like businessman Goh Soo Teck, 36, who
had to attend a conference in Macau this morning.
He spent an extra $700 on a Singapore Airlines flight to Macau
yesterday evening, and wanted a full refund on the Tiger Airways
ticket.
'It's common for flights to be delayed, but this is a case of no
notification,' he said.
'This is the first time I have booked a seat on a budget
airline. I regret it.'
http://travel.asiaone.com/Travel/News/Story/A1Story20081120-101952.html
The guy must be fustrated as he
didn't wait for the upgrade... 