Air Blue: leaving passengers high and dry

More than 300 aeroplane passengers were delayed for 48 hours without proper food at an airport after a flight developed a technical fault.
The Airblue flight was due to fly from Manchester Airport to Islamabad, at 9.50pm on Friday – and passengers were fed chips and beans to keep them going during the delays. Passengers spent Friday night in hotels in Manchester and then returned to the airport to wait for the flight again on Saturday – but were later told it was being delayed until 3pm Sunday. Airline officials then offered to put up the irate passengers in a hotel some 80 miles away in Birmingham, West Midlands, because they said there were no rooms available in Manchester.
Most refused the offer and slept overnight in the airport, which is located south of Manchester city centre, only to find the plane again missed its take-off slot. The flight finally took off late Sunday night. But that meant delays for the passengers who were booked to go on that plane – who were told they would be delayed for 24 hours. Some travellers said that the delays had left families in tears. Matthew Miller, 38, was originally due to catch a flight on Tuesday evening but it was cancelled. So when he turned up to catch the plane on Friday night, he was furious to find he was grounded again. He said: “I’m a maths teacher and the term is about to start in Pakistan. I thought I’d be getting back in good time but as it is I’ll be lucky to get there by Monday. The mood is terrible. “People are shouting and in tears. The airline just aren’t communicating with us – over the whole time they have given us about 40 minutes. The food is chips and beans.”
A passenger named Javed told BBC Five Live on Saturday night: “It has to be seen to be believed. “There’s 300 people here. Children, diabetics, non-English speaking people that can’t even understand the tannoys. I’m seeing people making expensive phone calls to Pakistan. “I’m seeing people that cannot keep their fasts. I see people that have no access to food when it comes to opening their fasts. It is a shambles and an embarrassment to British society. “To keep saying we will inform you in two hours, and in two hours they say: “We will inform you in two hours”. I’ve chosen to eat virtually nothing because I didn’t want to have chips and beans again.” Many passengers spent Saturday night in Manchester Airport rather than travel to the accommodation offered by the airline about 80 miles away in Birmingham.