April Fooled

I am not one who commemorates April Fool. Though, with today's series of unfortunate event that so coincidently happened on the first of April, I was called upon to write a special entry about my devastating experience with this particular airline.

So, this is the story of my 2016 April Fool of the day:

 

On March 31st, my husband got a phone call from his destress mother, asking us to come home pronto because his attendance is needed at his late father's will reading the next day in the afternoon. Since it was a last-minute purchase, the flight fare was skyrocket. 

As we were trying to book our tickets (cheapest by far) from Malindo Air, the website suddenly crushed down on us, and the tickets that we previously booked were automatically cancelled. We tried the second time and guess what, the price hiked up to about 60 bucks... We loaded the page using different devices and different API, yet the price remained the same. 

😓 

Then, comes the boarding time. Malindo Air OD1621 bound to Kuala Lumpur at 2015 was first delayed to 2100 due to technical difficulties. Please take not that no prior announcement was made to the passengers who had waited at the boarding gate since 1945. Then, it was delayed the second time to 2200 with the promise that we all could fly out tonight. 

However, at 2300, one of the engineers came down and informed us that it was a major breakdown and they were trying their best to fix the plane up. We were consoled with a meal voucher and a promise that should this flight were not able to continue its journey that night, a rescue flight would come to our aid. 

Had only we known... 

Jeng jeng jeng... At 2400, after hours of waiting, OD1621 was officially cancelled as they could not fix the plane. And the best part was, April Fool guys, there was no rescue flight flying in! It was only a sick joke to get our hopes high so we did not flee to other airlines for rescue. 

My word of advice, please refrain from making promises and giving false hope when you know you are not able to keep them. Constant updates should be done to your passengers, so they will be aware of what is going on, instead of keeping us in the dark. Had we known earlier that there was no rescue flight, we could have easily refunded and bought new flight tickets from different airlines. 

Instead of thinking about the amount of money you are going to lose that night, think of the circumstances that your passengers have go through due to this delay. Someone's family member could be dying and waiting for them to bid their last goodbye, or a child could be waiting for his/her mother to come home after days of outstation, or perhaps a newlyweds were on their way to their honeymoon and they had a connecting flight early in the morning. You may not see this, but these kind of circumstances that come from that devastating delay could turn someone's life over. 

Though, I must congratulate the ground crew for staying calm, despite being yelled at for incompetency and withholding information. I do, however, understand the aggravation of the passengers, as we too had distressing matter to attend to the next day. 

But, what to do. As a firm believer of fate, I believe things happen for a reason. Imagine had we boarded the plane anyway and it broke down in the sky or something... 😰 

Now, if you'll excuse me while I retreat to my hotel room courtesy if Malindo Air and indulge myself with my free meal. At least, they keep their promises of free meal, accommodation and transportation. Hiks. Good night.