National airline Garuda Indonesia has issued an apology — sort of — to its customers as delays and cancellations stemming from a “new operational monitoring system” continued for a second day on Monday.
Thousands of passengers were left waiting at airports throughout Indonesia on Sunday after a number of flights were delayed or simply canceled, with many of those affected expressing anger for the complete lack of information provided by the airline.
In an advertisement placed on news portal Detik.com, Garuda apologized for the delays but gave no clear explanation about what was causing the ongoing problems.
“Garuda Indonesia apologizes to those who use our service for the flight delays and cancellations related to the application of the new operational monitoring system,” the advertorial said.
Garuda could not be contacted for comment, nor was any information available on its Web site.
On Tuesday, at least three domestic flights from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta were canceled, while at least ftwo lights to the airport were canceled, according to Cecep Sutardi, an operational officer with state-owned airport operator Angkasa Pura II.
He said the latest information from Garuda was only that the airline would help passengers to refund tickets and transfer to other airlines.
One of Garuda’s “pissed off” customers, Aisyah, told the Jakarta Globe by e-mail that she was scheduled to fly from Lampung to Jakarta at 5:50 p.m. on Sunday but was told by the check-in staff that the flight had been delayed until 9:30 p.m.
“She couldn’t give us any specific reason, more like babbling.”
She said she understood that the airline was attempting to apply a new staff roster system, “but as we could all see it was a mess.”
“When finally we boarded on the plane, I asked one of the cabin crew what happened ... She said she had no idea.. They called her on her day off, forcing her to come and work.”
She added that the only compensation offered was fried chicken.
Niky Lauda, wrote to the Globe to say that she was one of many hundreds of people affected.
The 31-year-old manager of sales planning and analysis for a drinks company said she was scheduled to fly from Jakarta to Semarang in Central Java at 12:30 p.m. but the flight was delayed — again with no explanation — until 4:30 p.m. when it was canceled outright.
She said that as she had three days of meetings in Semarang, she persevered and was eventually able to board a Sriwijaya Air flight at 7 p.m. after buying a ticket from a scalper at the exorbitant cost of Rp 850,000 ($92).
Niky said a friend of hers said that there was a six-hour delay for an international flight from Jakarta to Singapore.
She said during her wait at the airport there was no duty manager in charge, and though refunds were available, Garuda failed to offer hotel rooms for those forced to delay their flights till Monday.
Niky said she was disappointed with the nation’s “very terrible” flag carrier.
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