I had an unpleasant experience yesterday mostly about waiting for my flight to Singapore to finally announce boarding. When I first arrived at NAIA Terminal 2, I already saw the announcement on the electronic board that my flight would be delayed by an hour. I like to be always early for my flight so that I wouldn't have to rush through travel tax payments, checking in, and immigration processing. I always assume that there will be many other passengers every time I travel abroad and that the terminals (whether 1, 2 or 3) will be very crowded. There are also the security checks that are sometimes lax and sometimes strict. So an hour delay was relatively acceptable considering the turnaround times of aircraft. What was not good was the anouncement an hour later while I was having a late light lunch that our flight would be further delayed by another 3 hours! And so I ended up with a rough start to a
I am no stranger to delays, whether on domestic or international flights, and I have written about what has been a harrowing experience only last June on my trip back from a conference in Korea. That experience reinforced my acceptance of delays only if the reason would be related to safety. That is, I have come to accept that delays are inevitable due to technical or maintenance issues. After all, I would not want to experience engine or other troubles while in the air. I am quite thankful that I am not one of those who have such experiences where the plane had to turn back or had to make an emergency landing because of technical problems.
In this case, however, I suspect that it is not really a case of engine trouble or whatever technical difficulties was announced as a general reason for the delay. The airline has been experiencing a lot of other troubles lately and these included serious labor issues and their pitch for flights to additional destinations to the US being disapproved for a variety of reasons by FAA officials. The consequences have included possible cancellation of orders for aircraft that they intended to use for these flights. Not that they would need these aircraft at current demand considering that they have fewer aircraft to juggle, and this has led to delays that have been experienced by not a few travelers. In fact, I pity those who had to make an effort to transfer to other airlines to make their connections. That is a terrible predicament that I wouldn't want to experience myself. In comparison, the main competition is pushing through with 20 aircraft orders in the next 3 years that should allow them to expand domestic and international offerings that would surely escalate a competition that seems to be as one-sided as many already perceive these days based on ticket sales alone. Clearly, the monicker "plane always late" need not be reinforced by the airline and they need to address a whole lot of issues including those relating to management considering that they have been steadily losing ground to competition for quite some time now. Their only advantage has been their flights to the US and Canada, and soon that advantage will vanish and further endangering a franchise that was touted as Asia's first.
I am no stranger to delays, whether on domestic or international flights, and I have written about what has been a harrowing experience only last June on my trip back from a conference in Korea. That experience reinforced my acceptance of delays only if the reason would be related to safety. That is, I have come to accept that delays are inevitable due to technical or maintenance issues. After all, I would not want to experience engine or other troubles while in the air. I am quite thankful that I am not one of those who have such experiences where the plane had to turn back or had to make an emergency landing because of technical problems.
In this case, however, I suspect that it is not really a case of engine trouble or whatever technical difficulties was announced as a general reason for the delay. The airline has been experiencing a lot of other troubles lately and these included serious labor issues and their pitch for flights to additional destinations to the US being disapproved for a variety of reasons by FAA officials. The consequences have included possible cancellation of orders for aircraft that they intended to use for these flights. Not that they would need these aircraft at current demand considering that they have fewer aircraft to juggle, and this has led to delays that have been experienced by not a few travelers. In fact, I pity those who had to make an effort to transfer to other airlines to make their connections. That is a terrible predicament that I wouldn't want to experience myself. In comparison, the main competition is pushing through with 20 aircraft orders in the next 3 years that should allow them to expand domestic and international offerings that would surely escalate a competition that seems to be as one-sided as many already perceive these days based on ticket sales alone. Clearly, the monicker "plane always late" need not be reinforced by the airline and they need to address a whole lot of issues including those relating to management considering that they have been steadily losing ground to competition for quite some time now. Their only advantage has been their flights to the US and Canada, and soon that advantage will vanish and further endangering a franchise that was touted as Asia's first.
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