Passengers angered as Vietnamese carrier cancels flight after two-hour delay
Wednesday, November 07, 2018, 11:54 GMT+7
Passengers of a Vietnamese airline were infuriated after their flight was canceled following two hours of delay on Tuesday.
Operated by low-cost carrier Jetstar Pacific, flight BL434 was scheduled to fly from Ho Chi Minh City to Tuy Hoa City in the south-central province of Phu Yen.
M., one of the passengers, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that everyone was on board and the plane was ready to take off at around 1:30 pm before the captain announced that the flight was postponed due to technical errors.
The flyers were then asked to return to the terminal of Tan Son Nhat International Airport, M. continued.
At around 3:30 pm, passengers got on the aircraft again before the captain informed them of another technical issue.
However, the flight was canceled this time.
“We were then asked to return to the terminal and collect our VND200,000 [US$8.61] compensation at the Jetstar counter,” M. stated.
Another passenger of the flight named H. expressed his anger after the carrier canceled the flight for no proper reason.
The compensation was also unacceptable, H. said, adding that each passenger had to pay VND500,000 ($21.5) to VND1 million ($43) for their tickets.
A Jetstar Pacific spokesperson said on the evening of the same day that the flight was called off as Tuy Hoa Airport closes at 5:30 pm.
Flight B434 was expected to depart at 2:05 pm and arrive at 3:15 pm, the spokesperson said, adding that it was first delayed due to a technical error.
Jetstar later arranged another aircraft, which was ready to take off at 3:04 pm.
However, operators of Tan Son Nhat said that the plane would not be able to depart before 4:00 pm due to busy schedules.
As the journey takes more than an hour, it was unlikely that the aircraft arrived before the closing time of Tuy Hoa Airport, forcing the airline to cancel the flight.
The flight was rescheduled to the following day, and passengers were given compensation as a gesture of “goodwill” from the carrier, according to the spokesperson.
They were also allowed to pick a different date or refund without any charges, he added.
Tuy Hoa Airport is one of the few airdromes in Vietnam not serving incoming and outgoing flights after sunset.
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