Nightmare flight story!

            As I get ready to jump on my longest flight yet (12 hours 55 minutes) later this week, I was asked by a colleague whether I've ever had a particularly nightmarish experience on any of my past international flights. The reason I am sharing this story is that it may allow some of you to tolerate a little better some of the minor annoyances of flights in the future. You can thank your lucky stars that you weren't on my flight back in 2011 where the standards of this particular airline for treating its passengers were far below that of any U.S. based airline.  

           I was traveling with my youngest brother on Asiana Airlines flight 767 from Seoul to New Delhi. Our flight was expected to arrive at 11:45 PM in New Delhi and we fully expected to do so based on the flight crew preparing us for landing around 11:00 PM per the usual drill of making sure all the seats were upright, collecting all the headsets, shutting down the electronic devices and the entertainment tvs. We were prepared to land!  

           Instead of landing, we circled the airport in such bumpy weather that several of the passengers we observed got motion sickness inducing vomiting. I should note that I've only gotten motion sickness twice in my life and this was the only time that I have ever vomited. It was not a big surprise when our plane was finally delayed and diverted due to inclement weather. The plane ended up landing in Ahmedabad around 2:00 AM.

           Thinking that we’d be back in the air within a couple hours, my brother and I just chalked up the delay to bad luck. Little did we know that we’d be delayed and held captive in that plane for more than 12 hours with very limited communication and no amenities that were clearly available if the airline had even a speck of thoughtfulness toward its passengers!

             An announcement was made shortly after landing in Ahmedabad that the airline was deciding what to do. Apparently, the previous 90 minutes since they announced where we’d be landing wasn’t close to enough time to make a decision. So we waited and waited until about 3.5 hours since the diversion was announced that the pilot was sent to a hotel to rest, because his workday was over.  The official announced reason why the pilot was able to deplane while everybody else was held captive: a law (not clear if it’s a Korean law, Indian law, or an airline policy) required him to rest after a certain number of hours worked. Concurrently, all passengers were prohibited from leaving the aircraft. Since the crew had limited English speaking skills, no further explanation could be attained.

           During this entire time period, no food, drink or entertainment was provided to any of the passengers that we observed. The temperatures outside soared above 104 degrees Fahrenheit on a crowded plane where tempers were flaring among the passengers. Furthermore, the headphones were not redistributed and the entertainment systems shut down. It is as if Asiana Airlines had never faced a similar situation before.

            In sum, the Asiana Airlines held all of its passengers captive with no food, water or entertainment on a hot and crowded plane and no explanation as to why we couldn’t stay in the airport. Finally at around 8 AM (6 hours after having landed and 9.5 hours since our last snack) a meager snack was provided with about 6 ounces of drinks. It was finally announced at around 10 AM that the pilot was almost back and that we’d be taking off for New Delhi shortly. We arrived back in New Delhi with a total delay of more than 12 hours. I lost a few hundred dollars in prepaid fees to change my plans from the delays and Asiana never provided one penny in compensation even after respectfully requesting a nominal reimbursement. 

           The positive to all of this is that this was far and away my worst experience in all my flights over the years. Airlines still do stupid things, but I can always think back and thank my lucky stars that it isn't quite as bad as flight 767.