Sunday, October 18, 2009

Flight Delay in Kuching International Airport

I experienced a flight delay late last month on MH2266 Kuching-Sibu flight. The aircraft was supposed to depart at 1030 before it sustained a faulty engine on its PORT side. We were already onboard the aircraft while it left the aerobridge and it returned back after the safety demonstration by the air stewardesses.

The head of the engineering team arrived with a van with the spare parts needed for the repair. Apparently, the engine sustained more damage than expected (I overheard the first officer mentioned about oil leakage or something).

Since I got a lot of time to kill, I just went around the departure hall of Kuching International Airport to snap some photos

Some of the support vehicles at the tarmac

Kuching International Airport lack of shopping experience compare to other international airports (Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur, Penang & Langkawi) in Malaysia

The Coffee Bean outlet for those who need to a quick cup of coffee

Since my flight was delayed for more 2 hours, MAS gave the affected passengers a lunch coupon to dine at Marrybrown.

Arriving to Kuching International Airport might be confusing for first time traveler here as those who arrived from places other than the State of Sarawak will have to go through immigration clearance.

For those who arrived within Sarawak (Sibu, Bintulu, Miri, Tanjung Manis, Mukah), there is no need for immigration clearance

Concourse area of the departure hall

The ageing MAS fleet of Boeing 737-400 which need to be phased out. I read they will replace the ageing fleet with Boeing 737-800 in the next few years.

Air Asia's Airbus A320

The aircraft I was suppose to fly was beyond repair (MAS don't even to bother to notify us on the repair progress) and everyone rushed to the Transfer Counter to get the next flight back to Sibu.

I eventually flew at 1555 in another aircraft. The delay was more than 5 hours. MAS could have done better in giving us a more accurate information rather than keep us guessing on what to do next.

12 comments:

TZ said...

when i read your blog entry title... I already guess what flight company u r flying with... How? Coz their delaying reputation... :p

No only you encoutered this with this airline company... I was frequent travel from Penang to KL on business... so many times delay until i fed up and drive from KL to Penang... :p

walkw/me said...

Delayed flight is so frustrating especially if u have very important matters to attend to in your destination. Anyway, it's out of passenger's control. The best thing to do is roam around while waiting to kill the dull moments.

Happy Sunday!

KwOnG FeI said...

perhaps the good side is u can canwhore around..
haha..
anyway the waiting is really frustating..
plus u might need to spend on meals or drinks while waiting

Ben said...

Yes, I think they underestimate the problem twice and I agreed they should provide better information update to the affected passengers let say on hourly basis via sms. So you can camwhore not only inthe airport but back to Kuching City within that 5 hours :D However, on the other side I'll not want those repair crews merely do a quick but shoddy fix as life is at stake ;)

William said...

Not announcing could be done on purpose!

wenn said...

i flew from KL to Kuching on may 2007..nice airport..

renaye said...

well.. i think the existence of coffee bean is much more comforting than having no shopping experience in airports!

Ken Wooi said...

i thought you're talking about AirAsia at first.. =P

kenwooi.com

EJ said...

I hate when airline do that!

By the way, I am trying to generate some support for our daughter. I entered her into a Smile Contest, so if you could please vote for her (just once), the contest runs until October 31st. Your vote would be so much appreciated.

To cast your vote, please go to this link. Please look for Jillian Rylie Cottrill.

Thank you very much for your help!

pusangkalye said...

odd but it reminds me of NAIA terminal 3--hehe.peace

SJB aka SUELYN J-B. said...

nice airport..

Shahzad Saeed said...

I don't prefer for for adding every content in a single page. It may probably difficult for slow connections