Trust me when I say that Mother Nature is a women and as such, she changes her mind very quickly indeed. I am learning to fly here, so I experience these weather changes first hand. Since when do we still get monsoon winds and seas in January? The world weather is changing.

Posted by Graham on January 4, 2015 22:02

Tomorrow out? How? There will be no extra Relief flight. The passengers have to try to get an empty Seat on a regular Gully Booker flight. Keep in mind it is high Season.....

Posted by Tim on January 5, 2015 04:39

@Graham

A common misconception is that the word "monsoon" refers to rain. It doesn't. Monsoon refers to a predominant wind.
Phuket is subject to the monsoon 365 days of the year. From May through September, we get the South-West monsoon which brings rain as the wind picks up moisture from the Indian Ocean.
From November through April, Phuket gets the North-East monsoon which brings dry weather.
The monsoon wind direction changes due to the heating and cooling of the Chinese land-mass and the relative air-pressures between this land-mass and SE Asia.

Posted by Sir Burr on January 5, 2015 08:20

Considering the recent air asia tragedy, no sane person would argue about an airline choosing to put safety first. Etihad would much rather fly than assume the lodging and meal costs for 300+ pax. If a passenger is negative, I suggest the passenger watch the news coverage of the recovery of the air asia bodies.

Posted by Ryan on January 5, 2015 10:12

I flew in on Ey430 and please believe me, the FOG at Abu Dhabi was the worst I've seen in my life. Couldn't see a metre in front of you. Not much Etihad can do about that. I think I was the last flight out possibly. It was chaos there.

Posted by mr man on January 5, 2015 13:03

There is a sand storm in UAE. It is quite regular natural event there, so people need to learn at least a bit about it.
Only after it ends, flights will be resumed, with all the consequences of peak season bottle-neck.

It would be fair if the airline re-book passengers to other airlines, but I guess there are very few seats available these days.

Passengers should prepare themselves that they will have have stay few more extra days here, and that they will get only 1day long perspective updates at best.

Posted by Sue on January 5, 2015 13:43

The point these people are making is about crisis management. They understand the fog situation, nobody to blame. What customers expect is communication, information, empathy and support during a crisis situation.

Posted by wm on January 5, 2015 16:32

Etihad is facing now same problems worldwide, I guess it is very difficult situation in operational terms ,mane yes, mother have limited presence and resources at 2nd and 3rd tier destinations like Phuket, that is why service in London or Sydney on such occasions is better.

"An epically miserable flight from Abu Dhabi to San Francisco took 28 hours - including 12 on the tarmac"
http://qz.com/321146

It is unlikely that passengers here will get me thorough briefing. At some point they will be informed that they have to prepare themselves for a rapid deployment to the airport.

Posted by Sue on January 5, 2015 20:48

If there is a major weather or similar natural event in a hub or nearby , it is always disaster, be it sand storm in desert or eruption of Eyjafjallajokull, and that have profound global effect. Airlines simply do not have enough financial "fat" to make such situation smooth and comfortable for all passengers, if this is not local, but global event.
You simply have to accept it.

I myself have been numerous times in similar situations, one of most uncomfortable was spending almost extra week in Antannarivo when one of two flag carrier aircraft fallen broken, with flights to BKK cancelled :40C heat, every day 3hrs round trip to airport on car w/o a/c, daily check in/check out into the 5* hotel with almost no a/c and *hot* indoor pool , 2-3hrs at desk in airport to get accommodation voucher for the current day etc.- not much better than just living on T5 in Heathrow.

NO, passengers do not get SAME denial of boarding / delay of flights / cancellation of flights treatment around the world at least because it is based to big extent on minimum statuary requirements, which are different in the EU, US, Australia etc.

The situation by far is not such that airlines , in good faith, take contractual obligation which are above most of minimum statutory requirements, and apply it uniformly all around the world.
It is exactly opposite .

The EU rules under regulation 261/2004 are that by choice of passengers he can be sent by next flights or re-reputed by another airline, ASAP as it is technically possible. In addition accommodation, meals, few calls should be provided. In the case of weather event there us no extra monetary compensation.
This rule would apply for Etihad passengers on,y if they have tickets sold under code-sharing agreement under some EU airline name - which if applies only to smaller part of passengers in Phuket, as Etihad sells most of tickets under its own brand.

I can't establish promptly if there are Thailand laws that are applicable to international flights of non-Thai airlines originating in the Kingdom. Probably there is no such laws, as it would be major red tape & burden, there are only laws for domestic flights.

It leaves delayed flights only under international conventions domain, like Montreal convention, that do not provide for any specific regulation of such situation.

This it all is regulated on contractual basis - read, as airlines wish and pleased to do.

Let's read what Etihad General condition says on the subject:
1) Re-routing :
9.2.2 If we cancel a flight due to be operated by us, fail to operate a flight reasonably according to the schedule, fail to stop at your destination or Stopover destination, or cause you to miss a connecting flight operated by us on which you hold a confirmed reservation, we shall, at your option, either:
9.2.2.1 carry you and your Baggage at the earliest opportunity on another of our scheduled services on which space is available in the class in which you were originally booked without additional charge and, where necessary, extend the validity of your Ticket; or
9.2.2.2 within a reasonable period of time re-route you and your Baggage to the destination shown on your Ticket by our own services or those of another carrier, or by other mutually agreed means and class of transportation without additional charge. If the fare, charges and exceptional circumstances surcharges for the revised routing are lower than what you have paid, we shall refund the difference; or
9.2.2.3 make a refund in accordance with the provisions of Article 10.2.
2) providing of accommodation and meals while waiting:
9.3.1 If we are unable to provide previously confirmed space on a flight operated by us in the class in which you are booked and for which you have met all applicable Check-in Deadlines and boarding deadlines, we shall provide compensation to those Passengers denied boarding in accordance with applicable law and our denied boarding compensation policy. A copy of our denied boarding compensation policy is available upon request. Apart from this, we will have no liability to you for any loss or expense whatsoever.

1) is a bit more relaxed than the EU regulation, that allows act on re-routing in not prompt manner, but by its essence is the same.
2) reads that if Thailand do not provide in its laws for international flights by non-Thai airlines out of Kingdom any requirement about providing accommodation & meals, airline is not obliged to do it. NICE.

Moreover, the EU regulation requires actively inform passengers about their rights and choices ( if they don't do that, they are punished ), but in legal vacuum of Etihad flying out of Phuket, their General Conditions are silent on that - in other words , passengers should find themselves about their choices and take their initiative to request these choices from the airline .

Posted by Sue on January 5, 2015 21:43

Etihad Airlines is just so much safer to fly than Air Asia, who flew into a known storm front and Malaysia airlines who flew over a war zone. Sand can cause many million ounces of trouble to keeping a jet in the skies. Volcanic ash also caused disruptions. Just stop bleating and enjoy the journey you whiners? Or hire your own charter jet and fly directly home. Phew???

Posted by Robin S on January 5, 2015 23:39

It is a good lesson for passengers about flying the non-EU airline, as they are not subject of a burden of the EU laws on inward flights, and, yes, Etihad, in general offer better prices in all classes than the EU airlines - obviously, also because Etihad is under smaller burden of regulation, and incur smaller costs.

Would passengers chose to fly Lufthansa, British Airways, Air France/KLM , SAS, Finnair or whatever the EU airline (actually not just the EU - the EEZ (the EU + Norway + Iceland + Liechtenstein , as 261/2004 regulation is applicable within the EEZ (and may be Switzerland too, it should be checked - Switzerland adopts selected the EU laws )), then passengers would be under better statutory protection.

It is all about money - every inch of extra effort , if multiplied globally (e.g.to hire outsourcer to liaison with passengers regularly on details of delayed/cancelled flights), costs a lot, and I don't expect that airlines will do more than they have to do under minimum statutory requirements .
Those laws in turn appeared because airlines continuously were unable to adopt self-regulation of acceptable level, so they were coerced to by the mean of law.
The EU 261/2004 is probably the best law in the world protecting passengers in such situation, and US is considering extending its own rules to be on par with the EU.

It is worth to look through its text to see exactly what are the rights of passengers :
http://goo.gl/P0FBvT

Posted by Sue on January 6, 2015 00:40

Moody passengers are preferential to dead passengers enjoy your extra time in Phuket as the airline is now paying for lodgings im sure they will be in touch.

Posted by slickmelb on January 12, 2015 01:02

Slickman,
its also far easier to get return business from moody passengers.

Posted by Manowar on January 12, 2015 05:32