What Best Airways? This Airlines Actually Starves Its Passengers

After billionaire Tony Fernandes’ AirAsia Flight QZ8501 mysteriously crashed last Sunday in the Java Sea together with 162 people on board en route from Surabaya to Singapore, air travellers around the world have been extremely cautious about flying. In another drama at the same Juanda International Airport, Surabaya, close to 120 AirAsia passengers got a shock of their lifetime when one of the plane’s engines “died” with a loud explosion.

The jet, which was heading for Bandung, Indonesia, returned to its departure gate without any further problems and the 120 people on board were asked to disembark. Later, AirAsia told passengers the Flight 7633 would be resumed after the fault had been fixed. However, close to 90% of the jittery passengers refused to reboard, fearing they would suffer a similar fate. Naturally, nobody in their right mind would risk their lives with such incidents.

While both Malaysian airlines – MAS and AirAsia – struggle to pacify air travellers, another story developed in the Middle East. Etihad Airways Flight 183 from Abu Dhabi to San Francisco was supposed to take only 16-hours. However frustrated passengers found out how the airlines got its throne as the“World’s 9th Best Airlines in 2014″, for the wrong reasons. The Flight 183 was stuck on the tarmac for 12-hours, before allowed to takeoff.

Apparently, the flight was not allowed to takeoff after heavy fog attacked Abu Dhabi Airport on Saturday. While it was perfectly alright to delay any takeoff under such dangerous circumstances, it was another story altogether to keep hundreds of passengers, including kids and seniors, inside the plane for 12-hours without food. Hence, passengers on board the Etihad Airways Flight 183 had to suffer the agony for a total of 28-hours before reaching U.S.

Naturally, it was chaos with fighting inside the plane – amongst passengers and between passengers and flight attendants. Passengers complained that they were fed with false updates with promises of taking off within-15-minutes to within-30-minutes. One promise leads to another and before the frustrated passengers knew it, it had passed 12-hours, with zero food served.

Etihad, a national airline of the United Arab Emirates, which includes Abu Dhabi, has apologized for the delay. It claimed the fog caused them to cancel 20 flights in Abu Dhabi. Flight crew also disallowed passengers from leaving the plane to wait at the airport terminal, because the Abu Dhabi airport wastoo crowded with other stranded flights. Needless to say, with nothing else to do, irritated passengers took to social media to vent their frustration.

Had the situation happened in U.S. soil, it would be a havoc. The U.S. Department of Transportation prohibits lengthy tarmac delays. The maximum allowed for international flights is 4-hours. And carriers must make sure passengers are provided adequate food and water. However, the rules only apply to U.S. airports, and do not apply to foreign carriers overseas. Still, food and water are essential items that should be given, regardless of carriers.

Hence, it’s unclear if Etihad could face fines for the massive delay, or will have to pay passengers anything because the delay did not occur in the U.S. soil. Nevertheless, Etihad has already lost some businesses, with those hungry, sleep-deprived and frustrated customers promise never to fly with Etihad again.

-financetwitter