Merry Christmas, Qantas travelers! If you got stuck because of fog in Dubai, you’re out of luck.
On Christmas, some Qantas passengers spent the entire day on a plane—with nothing but frustration instead of holiday cheer. More than 450 passengers on a flight from Sydney to London were rerouted and grounded to Al Ain International Airport thanks to heavy fog in Dubai.
And then, after the 14-hour flight, the plane and its passengers sat on the tarmac for another 10 hours. Plus, there was an extra delay trying to find baggage when they eventually did get off the plane.And to add insult to injury, none of the passengers will receive compensation by the airline. They were instead instructed to file a claim with their travel insurance.
On social media, angry passengers claimed they weren’t given food and weren’t allowed to get off the plane:
“Merry Christmas from Qantas, 14hr delay on a plane with no food, 1hr delay at Dubai getting to the terminal, cabin crew that don’t have any idea and constant lies and to top it off delay to get luggage. Really outdid yourselves this year,” one woman posted. A male passenger tweeted to Qantas, “It’s sounding like the day was driven more by your errors than just fog.
A Qantas spokesperson airline/news-story/da6037ca1a596abc57bdf6088c6285ca”>confirmed to News.com.au that the main delay was caused by fog, but noted a mechanical issue was discovered once the plane landed, which required spare parts and an engineer to come in from Dubai. The spokesperson also said the passengers ate all the food on the plane, and they actually were given the option to disembark once the extra delay was discovered.
Fog continues to be an issue on flights through Dubai, and the airline is monitoring the situation.