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Airline founder flies to Japan to apologise to stranded passengers
Starlux airlines: Starlux airlines faced the wrath of the passengers after the issues in their two flights caused trouble to the passengers.
In a bizarre incident, the founder of Taiwan-based Starlux Airlines flew to Japan to apologise in-person to the passengers who were stranded overnight after multiple delays and cancellation of flights.
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As per the report by Taiwan News (article beyond paywall), Chang Kuo-wei, chairman of Starlux Airlines, flew to Japan's Narita International Airport on May 7 after the airlines faced backlash over a series of problems forced 308 passengers to spend overnight without food at the airport in sleeping bags.
Kuo-wei was seen in a video explaining that one flight had been delayed due to ''really strong winds", while the second flight was delayed by an aircraft maintenance check before the flight crew exceeded their permitted working hours. He further said that airlines will compensate the inconvenience by offering the full refunds to passengers.
Starlux airlines faced the wrath of the passengers after the issues in their two flights caused trouble to the passengers. Passengers on one flight, JX803 were originally scheduled to board at 3:45 pm, but it was delayed to 4:20 pm without citing any reason. Meanwhile, Starlux then moved passengers to another flight at about 5:30 pm, after a staff member informed passengers that the two flights were being merged.
Passengers were of the thought that the flight had not been delayed because of weather but so that the two flights could merge and leave together as one, the report added.
The ordeal wasn't over yet. The passengers boarded the flight at about 7 pm, but they were kept on the plane till midnight, and the flight was then cancelled because of Tokyo Narita Airport’s curfew.
Even then, they were not allowed to deboard the plane until sleeping bags arrived at 1 am. They were then forced to sleep at the airport terminal. While the airline provided dinner, they had to buy their own breakfast the next morning.
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The airline then announced that the flight would take off at 6 am on May 7, but then the departure time was changed to 8 am again. That's when airlines founder Chang Kuo-wei arrived at the airport to apologise to the stranded passengers, though not many were convinced. The plane finally flew after a 16-hour-delay.
