Thursday, February 25

Norwegian Airlines 22 hours delayed

This photo of some of our bored travelling friends onboard Norwegian Airlines´DY2963 (NAX5963) from Malaga, Spain yesterday, cannot tell the full story of a planned flight with 22 hours delay. Travelling passengers are able to find internal relations when external mis-management are becoming visible. A lot of laughter and use of own money in restaurants, taxfree shops, cafes and bars can create many relaxing situations, but that is mostly because Norwegian Airlines failed to take care of us and inform properly their passengers (customers).

I am not sure if any detailed presentation here will be of any interest. I know that many passengers will write to the company´s CEO and present complains on our behalf. I also know that technical problems can occur, and that security is the first and final topic to be dealt with, but being almost without any formal information and only receiving "we do not know", rumors and wrong information from crew members, are a quality chalenge that has to be focused at the upper management in their strive to get more and more return of their investment.
Without customer satisfaction there is no TQM (total quality management).
Our plain was scheduled at 18.45 Tuesday, but late departure of the plain from Norway (and too late for returning with the same crew) should have been taken seriously earlier than 1 am Wednesday night. We were offered hotel-beds and breakfast, but with only few hours sleep and required early return to the airport for a new checkin and security procedures, it should have been able to give us information and not left us alone with questions at the scheduled gate for many hours. The leaving of a 11 years old sick girl and an eight months old baby (with families) behind closed and locked airport doors, is part of the scandal.

At last we boarded the aircraft, but had to wait grounded in the heat for another hour without water supply because no slot was available for the journey. When in the air we were informed that they had no food onboard because the food they got the day before could not be used. What the crew used the many hours waiting for departure without checking food and water supply is an enigma. I also felt that the crew lost their authority through the day, and could also question the possible security challenge, if something fatal had occurred.

At last we landed at Moss Airport - Rygge - 2 hours ahead of planed arrival, not Tuesday but Wednesday - 22 hours delayed.
Hopefully this will be a once in the life time experience. As one of the passenger (a pilot from SAS) said: "I have never experienced a situation handled like this, and I have been flying for 42 years".
The last photo of myself at the pool before leaving our hotel, may be as a symbol of the other days of our 5 weeks longterm stay in southern Spain. A recommended variation of spending the wintertime away from snow and cold weather.
In the days to come I will present some of our experiences in Andalusia.

2 comments:

Anne said...

Huff så kjedelig da Arne!! en blir litt lsiten av å sitte slik å henge på en flypass og den handlinga på Tax-Free`n blir så mye dyrere enn hva en først hadde tenkt..., men skitt au. Hadde en liten mellomlanding på Rygge vi også på tur til Brussel sist uke, og du for en liten flott flyplass da gitt!

Stilig header også, som den Playboy`en forran de båtene vettu. like it!! Glidd rett inn i Monte Carlo du

Rune Eide said...

Velkommen hjem, om enn i seneste laget. Reising kan være gøy :-)

PS Jeg går ut fra at værgudene har spart litt snø til dere...