Typhoons and Missed Flights
I'm stuck in Hong Kong. Okay, I know there are worse places to be stuck, but this ain't easy. Seems typoon Pratwhatever..... is causing real havoc with my travel plans, and thousands of others with me.Over 600 flights were cancelled yesterday, in and out of Hong Kong International Airport. That left the airport in chaos. I should know, I was in the middle of it. And hated every minute.
When I arrived, I couldn't believe how easy it was to get through security. I should have known that was not a good thing. I think most other folks were at check-in counters being delayed. Since I had checked in early Thursday morning in Central Hong Kong, I didn't know it was such a mess until I got through the Security area and started looking for my flight. It wasn't even listed. All you could see were big DELAYED and big CANCELLED symbols.
So at that point I tried to get help at the Airline Services Desk. But one was closed for construction. So you should have seen the mess at the only one open: two people trying to help thousands with no organization whatsoever. It was just a pushing match between everyone to the counter and he who yelled loudest was getting help. The poor agents didn't even help themselves much by having a whiteboard behind them with some ambiguous message that there would be "More information later." When???? Everyone was livid.
They don't know how to queue over here, so it was just a big pushing contest. I literally saw people shoved to ground and pushed out of the their positions. And Cathay Pacific was paralyzed. They put out people with water bottles and blankets but couldn't answer any questions. After a couple of hours of trying to wait out the mobs, I finally pushed my way up to the counter to hear the constant verse: "Call this number at 10 PM" ......... That's all??? Are you kidding me???? Now wouldn't you think they coulda announced that over the intercom or put on that whiteboard. But no, they just kept getting the crowd angrier.
But that wasn't the end of Cathay's ineptness. Finally getting through this provided phone number after a couple of hours of trying, the phone agents just told me that this wasn't even the right number. No, "you need to call another Cathay Pacific phone number!!" Can you believe it!?! And this is rated the Best Airline in the World!! Well, forgive me.... it's not in my book!
To top it all off, hotels were, of course, booked by this time. I ended up on a sofa at a friend's home. At least I got a shower.
But it got no better today. After hours of waiting for phones to get answered at the service center, Cathay then just recommended going to their counter in Tsim Tsai Tshui!! At least they had a number waiting system there. But so what. After finally getting to counter, all they would do was book me on a flight two days later and say that if I wanted to go to airport (chaos) again, I might get on an earlier flight!! Pathetic!
To say the least, I don't get to Thailand now until Saturday night. I'll extend my stay until next Friday now. At least I get a hotel room tonight . Of course, I still don't have clothes. Hopefully I'll see them Saturday night! But I don't have much faith in Cathay Pacific right now!
posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 4:07 PM
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