Singaporean woman gives tips after flight delays on Bangkok trip

Flight delays can be excruciatingly frustrating.

Just ask TikTok user Pumpkinified, who had to endure not one, but two delays during her flight back to Singapore from Bangkok. 

She was travelling on budget carrier Scoot, and a straightforward two-and-a-half-hour flight on July 29 unfortunately turned into an overnight ordeal.

Pumpkinified documented the experience and shared it on TikTok on Aug 2.

@pumpkinified #flightcancelled #delayedflight ♬ 美食 好吃 开心 - 翼

Seated and buckled up in the plane, Pumpkinified was ready for take-off.

However, an announcement was made to the passengers that there were "issues on-site" that engineers were trying to resolve.

Nothing too unusual there, as technical issues can and do crop up, but the wait continued to drag on, and eventually, passengers were told to disembark the plane.

"We were given some food vouchers to have dinner at the airport, Pumpkinified said.

Unfortunately, the waiting continued and her flight back to Singapore was cancelled.

Scoot arranged for accommodation and a shuttle bus to ferry passengers to the hotel for a one-night stay.

Pumpkinified boarded the shuttle bus to the airport the next morning to catch her flight that was scheduled for 2pm.

But the rescheduled flight ended up being delayed too. Thankfully, it was only a two-hour delay.

Pumpkinified told AsiaOne that this was her first ever time experiencing flight delays or cancellations.

She added: "The main purpose of this video was to share what happens to certain airline passengers when flights get cancelled."

In the comments section, some were rather unforgiving and criticised the airline carrier nonetheless.

These netizens suggested that travellers should avoid flying on Scoot, if possible.

However, there were others who felt that Pumpkinified's experience of flight cancellations wasn't all that bad.

Lemon8 user Ying falls into that category of passengers who experienced unpredictable flight delays in Europe.

A six-hour layover in Munich turned into an additional night in the German city, before her rescheduled flight the next day also got delayed with her luggage stranded in a different city from her.

Such things happen

Pumpkinified seemed to be able to navigate the emotional stresses of dealing with flight delays and cancellations.

However, she did provide some travel tips to fellow travellers: "Make sure you have travel insurance [and] give a two-day buffer for important appointments."

Pick a travel insurance that meets your needs and find out how much you are reimbursed for unforeseen circumstances when you travel such as delayed flights or lost luggage.

Another tip Pumpkinified provided was to have a plan B for "whatever that's waiting for you at home". This could be matters relating to work or childcare arrangements.

In her case, the unforeseen flight cancellation meant she had to make last-minute changes to extend her pet-sitting arrangements.

ALSO READ: Is it necessary to buy travel insurance?

amierul@asiaone.com

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