Cathay Pacific slammed HK airline over 5-hour Bangkok delay

Hundreds of Cathay Pacific passengers endured a travel nightmare in Bangkok when a flight cancellation left them stranded for hours with no answers, no food, and no passports.

Passengers of flight CX630, scheduled to leave Bangkok for Hong Kong at 4.55pm on Monday, November 25, found themselves stuck on the plane for over five hours before being shuttled to a hotel at nearly 3am. To make matters worse, their passports were confiscated without explanation, leaving many feeling anxious and unsafe.

“We were waiting on the plane for hours until an announcement at 11pm said the flight couldn’t take off,” said Lee, a 36 year old designer. “The ground staff took our passports, put wristbands on us, and couldn’t explain why. We felt very insecure.”

The Hong Kong airline blamed the delay on a spoiler fault discovered at 8pm. Engineers initially fixed the issue but the fault resurfaced after the plane returned to the gate. Some first-class and business-class passengers were transferred to another flight, but over 200 economy passengers were stranded.

“We weren’t offered food or water. Only business-class passengers got ice cream. My friends were getting stomach aches, and we didn’t sleep, waiting for updates.”

Stranded travellers were taken to the Amaranth Suvarnabhumi Hotel but frustration grew as updates were sparse and Cathay staff were nowhere to be seen. An email from the airline later revealed the technical fault and promised compensation of 10,000 Asia Miles for affected passengers.

Cathay’s next Bangkok-to-Hong Kong flight was scheduled for Tuesday at 4.55pm, leaving passengers with nearly 24 hours of chaos and uncertainty.

“It’s unacceptable. We were treated as an afterthought.”

This incident sparked criticism over how airlines handle emergencies and left Cathay facing a fierce backlash, reported Bangkok Post.

In related news, Cathay Pacific Airways re-launched its Airbus A350 aircraft, after a dramatic engine fire grounded the fleet and caused the cancellation of 90 flights.

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