Relax - Passengers wait 50 minutes in the plane for late air steward

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Passengers wait 50 minutes in the plane for late air steward

AsiaOne | Tue, Nov 3 2009

According to a passenger, the inflight announcement said the Tiger Airways cabin crew had overslept and was rushing down.

Passengers wait 50 minutes in the plane for late air steward

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A Tiger Airways flight with some 100 passengers was delayed for 50 minutes because it was waiting for a late air steward, a Chinese newspaper reported.

Passengers on TR152 - heading from Singapore to Phuket - were reportedly told during their wait on the tarmac that the crew had overslept and was making his way down, the Shin Min Daily News said on Sunday.

According to 37-year-old Ms Wang, a property agent who was travelling with her family of six, the flight on October 24 was nearly full with some 100 passengers when they boarded.

After a 15-minute wait on the tarmac, a Caucasian-sounding voice said in an inflight announcement that they were sorry for the delay, because a steward had overslept and was still making his way down.

Taken aback, Ms Wang said all she could do was continue waiting.

After another 20 minutes, a Chinese air steward in his 20s was seen hurrying up the plane, whose arrival was met by the applause of the passengers onboard. After this, the plane started moving and took off.

Ms Wang said that her brother and sister-in-law - who flew on a monthly basis - had never encountered a situation where the flight was delayed because of a late cabin crew.

She said that in the case of passengers being late, they would not be allowed to board the plane - so shouldn't cabin crew be bound by the same rules?

Tiger Airways explains

The budget carrier told Shin Min that the delay was due to technical problems and the 8.15am flight had to be delayed for 50 minutes.

Tiger Airways also said they apologised to the affected passengers onboard.

When asked later on about the allegedly late air steward being the cause of the delay, the airline’s spokesperson told Shin Min to send an email regarding the issue.

Tiger Airways subsequently replied to the email, saying it would maintain its earlier explanation given and will not be elaborating more, Shin Min said.