Economics lose
This is more than amusing and at the same time it's absolutely annoying. I'm at Melbourne airport more than 2.5 hours after the scheduled time of departure. It was meant to leave Melbourne at 12:30 pm but here I am at 3:02 pm and the ground staff can't confirm whether the plane has left Sydney to fly to Melbourne or not even after calling Sydney airport. Amazing.
The first delay notice at midday had us departing at 2:45 pm but an hour later we were told it'll leave at 4:15 and half an hour later it was 4:45. This means the 6ish hour flight to Denpasar will get us there at 7:30pm local time instead of the scheduled 3:15pm. Who knows what time we'lll get the connecting flight to Jakarta but if we do get the very next flight which is normally one hour post arrival, it'll be roughly 9 pm when we get to Jakarta. Of course, this is assuming we actually leave at 4:45pm and get an immediate transfer flight.
It's gonna be one hell of a jostle at Denpasar with all the actual passengers of the evening flight provided they're not full in the first place. The good thing about the delay is that the rush hour traffic would've been over as people would've been off the roads mostly by then. Also there's a good chance the 9pm air traffic is light so we don't have to go through massive lines at the immigration check point.
I've actually sworn off Garuda 4 years ago for its lack of punctuality and Qantas for the snooty staff which pretty much leaves me with Singapore Airlines but because I was in sort of a tight budget I had little choice but to fly with Garuda. I should've remembered their notorious delays. The extra couple of hundred bucks would've been totally worth the layover at the airport heaven that is Changi.
Comfort beats economics hands down. It's why I use a Mac.
edit - 3:30pm AEST
5:00pm departure now. Surprise, surprise.
My brother just messaged me. He said "Okay, we'll pick you up next week". ROFLOL
edit - 3:42pm AEST
Plane hasn't left Sydney. Meant to leave 12 minutes ago.
All the passengers look restless and one by one they're coming up to the service desk to ask the same question, "What the hell is going on".
Apparently the plane's having problems with its wheels. Flat tire? Cracked landing gear?
I can't believe we only got an $8 coupon for compensation. I WANT HALF THE TICKET PRICE BACK!!!
edit - 12:32am AEST inside the plane 30 minutes from Denpasar
We actually made it. The plane arrived at Melbourne Airport around 6 pm and we left an hour later. Around 4pm they announced that we'd be leaving at 6 pm and handed $10 coupons for us to spend. $18 for a 7 hour wait. That's barely the cost of one DVD. Anyway, that was one hell of a day. Got to the airport at 9:10 am, checked in at 10:30, had brunch, got to the gate just after 11 and well, thanks to a faulty landing gear, we spent more time at the gate than on the plane.
This will be the last time I'm flying Garuda, next long haul flight in the region, Singapore Airlines. I know it's not the airline's fault but it's the latest in numerous bad flights I've had with them. I've had more delays and interruptions with this damn airline than any other and I'm not a frequent customer.
Thanks to the supposed landing gear problem (they actually said different things such as the tire exploded, they had cargo issues, faulty landing gear, lack of flight permit, etc), I'm gonna be staying overnight in Denpasar, who knows what hotel, where and who'll be paying, definitely not me, better be Garuda.
Most people would cherish the thought of being in Bali despite recent events, but I'im tired. 7 hours at the departure gate, 6 hours in a cramped, lousy, and uncomfortable Airbus 330-300, (I've always been a Boeing man, they have such nice interiors), I just wanna get to my old bed at my parents' house in Jakarta. That won't be until late Saturday. The last connecting flight to Jakarta will have left by the time we get to Denpasar so it's morning flight for us.
edit 6:42pm AEST from a wi-fi enabled restaurant in mall the day after the flight
Arrived in Jakarta last night, just before midnight actually. Miracle happend. Cursed miracle. As we arrived at Ngurah Rai Airport in Denpasar at 10:05pm local time, everyone going to Jakarta was suddenly rushed to the transfer desk (the plane was actually connected to one of those rampways instead of having to board a bus to the gate as is the norm there). Turns out the airport delayed the departure of the Narita-bound Garuda/JAL flight so that they can get all of us going to Jakarta from Sydney and Melbourne on board. The plane was gooing to stop over in Jakarta anyway.
That was nice of them to get us aboard but it also caused one hell of a confusion. Everyone was frantically trying to contact their people to arrange for the late pickup and I already told my brother before we left Melbourne that the ground staff said we won't make it to a connecting flight before the next day.
With my pone being a prepaid number, it's not authorized for international roaming so I had to use Sav's phone to send my bro a message (int'l roaming is expensive) in the hope that he was still awake and understood enough of it to come and pick me up at the airport. Sav ended up actually calling to get her dad to pick her up.
Soon as we got to the transfer desk, we were issued replacement boarding passes and rushed to the gate. Within 20 minutes we were back in the air. What a whirlwind trip.
One last thing, customs in Jakarta is very lax. I had three pieces of luggage and a backpack yet all they asked to be put through the x-ray scanner was my backpack. All of my luggage went through unchecked, untouched, and unopened. A sign at the arrival hall says "Drug traffickers face death penalty". So much for the warning.
The first delay notice at midday had us departing at 2:45 pm but an hour later we were told it'll leave at 4:15 and half an hour later it was 4:45. This means the 6ish hour flight to Denpasar will get us there at 7:30pm local time instead of the scheduled 3:15pm. Who knows what time we'lll get the connecting flight to Jakarta but if we do get the very next flight which is normally one hour post arrival, it'll be roughly 9 pm when we get to Jakarta. Of course, this is assuming we actually leave at 4:45pm and get an immediate transfer flight.
It's gonna be one hell of a jostle at Denpasar with all the actual passengers of the evening flight provided they're not full in the first place. The good thing about the delay is that the rush hour traffic would've been over as people would've been off the roads mostly by then. Also there's a good chance the 9pm air traffic is light so we don't have to go through massive lines at the immigration check point.
I've actually sworn off Garuda 4 years ago for its lack of punctuality and Qantas for the snooty staff which pretty much leaves me with Singapore Airlines but because I was in sort of a tight budget I had little choice but to fly with Garuda. I should've remembered their notorious delays. The extra couple of hundred bucks would've been totally worth the layover at the airport heaven that is Changi.
Comfort beats economics hands down. It's why I use a Mac.
edit - 3:30pm AEST
5:00pm departure now. Surprise, surprise.
My brother just messaged me. He said "Okay, we'll pick you up next week". ROFLOL
edit - 3:42pm AEST
Plane hasn't left Sydney. Meant to leave 12 minutes ago.
All the passengers look restless and one by one they're coming up to the service desk to ask the same question, "What the hell is going on".
Apparently the plane's having problems with its wheels. Flat tire? Cracked landing gear?
I can't believe we only got an $8 coupon for compensation. I WANT HALF THE TICKET PRICE BACK!!!
edit - 12:32am AEST inside the plane 30 minutes from Denpasar
We actually made it. The plane arrived at Melbourne Airport around 6 pm and we left an hour later. Around 4pm they announced that we'd be leaving at 6 pm and handed $10 coupons for us to spend. $18 for a 7 hour wait. That's barely the cost of one DVD. Anyway, that was one hell of a day. Got to the airport at 9:10 am, checked in at 10:30, had brunch, got to the gate just after 11 and well, thanks to a faulty landing gear, we spent more time at the gate than on the plane.
This will be the last time I'm flying Garuda, next long haul flight in the region, Singapore Airlines. I know it's not the airline's fault but it's the latest in numerous bad flights I've had with them. I've had more delays and interruptions with this damn airline than any other and I'm not a frequent customer.
Thanks to the supposed landing gear problem (they actually said different things such as the tire exploded, they had cargo issues, faulty landing gear, lack of flight permit, etc), I'm gonna be staying overnight in Denpasar, who knows what hotel, where and who'll be paying, definitely not me, better be Garuda.
Most people would cherish the thought of being in Bali despite recent events, but I'im tired. 7 hours at the departure gate, 6 hours in a cramped, lousy, and uncomfortable Airbus 330-300, (I've always been a Boeing man, they have such nice interiors), I just wanna get to my old bed at my parents' house in Jakarta. That won't be until late Saturday. The last connecting flight to Jakarta will have left by the time we get to Denpasar so it's morning flight for us.
edit 6:42pm AEST from a wi-fi enabled restaurant in mall the day after the flight
Arrived in Jakarta last night, just before midnight actually. Miracle happend. Cursed miracle. As we arrived at Ngurah Rai Airport in Denpasar at 10:05pm local time, everyone going to Jakarta was suddenly rushed to the transfer desk (the plane was actually connected to one of those rampways instead of having to board a bus to the gate as is the norm there). Turns out the airport delayed the departure of the Narita-bound Garuda/JAL flight so that they can get all of us going to Jakarta from Sydney and Melbourne on board. The plane was gooing to stop over in Jakarta anyway.
That was nice of them to get us aboard but it also caused one hell of a confusion. Everyone was frantically trying to contact their people to arrange for the late pickup and I already told my brother before we left Melbourne that the ground staff said we won't make it to a connecting flight before the next day.
With my pone being a prepaid number, it's not authorized for international roaming so I had to use Sav's phone to send my bro a message (int'l roaming is expensive) in the hope that he was still awake and understood enough of it to come and pick me up at the airport. Sav ended up actually calling to get her dad to pick her up.
Soon as we got to the transfer desk, we were issued replacement boarding passes and rushed to the gate. Within 20 minutes we were back in the air. What a whirlwind trip.
One last thing, customs in Jakarta is very lax. I had three pieces of luggage and a backpack yet all they asked to be put through the x-ray scanner was my backpack. All of my luggage went through unchecked, untouched, and unopened. A sign at the arrival hall says "Drug traffickers face death penalty". So much for the warning.
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on Friday, December 02, 2005 at 2:09 PM.
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