Famous last Qantas words in Bangkok: 'Nothing to worry about'
Famous last Qantas words in Bangkok: 'Nothing to worry about'
Lindsay Murdoch
October 30, 2011
Bangkok: Claudia Braun was so afraid of being stranded in flood ravaged Bangkok she telephoned Qantas hours before flight QF2 left London for the Thai capital, a scheduled stopover on the way to Sydney.
“I was told there was nothing to worry about,” says Ms Braun, a 28 year-old veterinary surgeon from Zurich.
But almost 18 hours into the flight, shortly before QF2 was to land in Bangkok on Saturday night, she and 300 other passengers were told the flight was being suspended in the city that is under threat from the worst floods in half a century.
“It’s just so unfair,” Ms Braun said in tears as she wandered chaotic Bangkok airport almost two hours after the plane had landed.
As first and business class passengers were ushered on to a British Airways flight to Sydney, economy passengers were told they would be taken by bus to the Four Wings Hotel in the Sukhumvit Road area of Bangkok, one of the areas under threat of flooding.
But Ms Braun said she did not want to stay in Bangkok and tried to book on another flight to Sydney, where she was to meet a friend and fly to Cairns for a four week holiday.
But she failed to secure a booking and by then the bus had left without her.
"I was willing to pay for a seat on another airline....I was quite hysterical," she said.
With the help of an ABC television crew, Ms Braun eventually was taken to the hotel where passengers were told that efforts would be made to book them on alternative flights.
Sydney rigger Gary Flanagan, 64, says Qantas staff either lied or were misinformed when they told passengers who arrived at Bangkok airport to check in for the flight to Sydney that the cause of suspension was either industrial action or a maintenance problem.
“I heard on the news before I left my hotel in Bangkok that Qantas had suspended all its flights,” he said.
Louis Moser, Qantas’s manager in Bangkok, was at the hotel handing out a Qantas statement blaming the cancellations on “damaging industrial action by unions.”
“We sincerely apologise for the impact this industrial action is having on your travel plans,” the statement said.
David Stuart, managing director of Sydney-based company Colormaker Industries, paid $1859 for a seat on an Emirates to Sydney rather than having to stay in Bangkok, unsure when he would be booked home by Qantas.
“Sure, I’m upset. Why wouldn’t you be?,” he said.
Mr Stuart said as QF2 came in to land he overheard flight staff telling passengers that Qantas boss Alan Joyce had been “quite stubborn” in negotiations with airline unions.
Only a few of the passengers taken to the hotel ventured out into Bangkok where large areas are inundated in filthy waist deep water.
Stephanie Monh, 32, from Germany, said passengers had been told they would receive some news at breakfast.
“They explained something about the reason for flight’s cancellation but I didn’t understand it,” she said.
Passengers arriving at Bangkok airport for the flight QF1 to London early today were told the plane was not going anywhere.
“There’s nothing we can do,” said London taxi driver Dave Bates, 62, who has been holidaying in Thailand.
“I hope they can quickly put me on another flight,” he said.
“I don’t want to be stranded in Bangkok’s floods….I have spent all week avoiding them."
smh.com.au
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