Calls for redress over Etihad flight delays

Some angry travellers have demanded compensation or submitted complaints after severe fog led to a string of flight delays.

ABU DHABI // Some angry travellers are demanding compensation and complaining to authorities over long delays that left them stranded in Abu Dhabi.

Passenger Noveri Mandey, 32, has created an online petition to demand compensation after waiting in Abu Dhabi International Airport for more than 21 hours for her flight to Jakarta after foggy weather led to a series of flight cancellations and delays that began on Saturday.

Travellers had repeatedly asked to meet an Etihad Airways manager about the flight but were denied their request for more than 12 hours after their departure time, said the Indonesian.

“Passengers were kept in the dark with no official announcement and were merely told to keep checking the flight information board,” she said.

Departure times were revised at least five times, she said, and passengers on her flight were not given hotel accommodations, which she later heard others had received.

“Etihad ground staff were seldom around, ineffective and unable to provide any clear information to the stranded passengers,” Ms Mandey said, adding that that was “unheard of”.

“I am a frequent traveller, and coming from Singapore, this kind of situation will never go out of proportion at Changi airport,” she said. “Abu Dhabi’s airport is very small and not suitable for a long transit.”

She also worried about her father, who was on his first long-haul flight after suffering a stroke last year, she said.

Passengers on Flight EY183 to San Francisco created a Facebook group about the ordeal of waiting for more than 12 hours on the tarmac before their 16-hour flight.

One passenger said he had complained to the United States Department of Transportation and received a response that said his complaint would be forwarded to the airline.

Michael Vladimer, a fellow passenger on the flight, blamed customer service for the “miserable” experience, although he felt it was right to delay flights because of the fog.

“Throughout the first few hours we kept hearing different time estimates for pushing back from the gate, none of which ever happened,” he said.

“Because of the false estimates and unstated problems, passengers became increasingly frustrated with Etihad staff.”

Passengers were given sandwiches about four hours into their wait. Their aircraft later had to be restocked and refuelled, and there was a change of crew because the previous crew had worked eight hours.

“Finally, around 3pm, after 12 hours of being on the plane stuck at the gate, we pushed back,” said Mr Vladimer.

After arriving in San Francisco, he said he and other passengers waited two and a half hours for their luggage. An Etihad agent told him that more than 100 pieces of luggage from the flight had not been delivered.

Etihad has said it would review its policy on how long passengers are kept on board during delays on the tarmac.

It waived customary cancellation fees but did not respond to a request about compensating passengers on delayed flights.