An airline supervisor went to great lengths to appease furious passengers dealing with a nightmare delay.
China Airlines flight CI-153, initially scheduled to land at Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport from Osaka, Japan, in the afternoon, experienced significant delays due to Typhoon Gaemi.
The flight eventually touched down around 2 a.m., but the ordeal was far from over.
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Exhausted passengers then faced an additional wait of nearly three hours for their luggage to appear in the baggage claim area.
Social media was soon flooded with images of the chaotic scenes in the baggage hall, posted by irate travelers. One passenger lamented, “The plane finally arrived, but no one was managing the luggage. We waited from 2 a.m. to 4:30 a.m. for our bags, and it was pure chaos inside. When we inquired, we were told the airport staff had already gone home.”
Passengers were informed they would need to wait until 5 a.m. last Friday (July 26) for an airline supervisor to start her shift, according to Luxury Travel Daily. Confronted with a crowd of angry travelers, the supervisor knelt to apologize.
However, one traveler urged, “Don’t kneel; we want compensation. We’ve been waiting here for three hours.”
Addressing the complaints, a spokesperson for Taoyuan Airport attributed the luggage delay to Typhoon Gaemi. They noted that extra manpower and overtime arrangements had been made, but the storm significantly disrupted operations. Additionally, the simultaneous arrival of around 22 flights between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. further strained the baggage handling team.
The airport spokesperson extended apologies for the inconvenience and promised to review their protocols for weather-related delays. China Airlines also expressed gratitude to their frontline workers for their dedication during the challenging period caused by the typhoon.
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