A Screw Loose Experience

What do you get when you cross 200 passengers with a lot of excuses?. Utter
pandemonium, aggression and frustration. It was definitely an experience and one I would rather not have been involved in. I should have taken the earlier flight. I did arrive at Perth International Airport early, and I did board the Garuda flight bound for Bali. But, I never thought that I would have most of my first day of my sojourn in my own city and not of my intended destination.

It all began on board with the first announcement by the pilot: “Ladies and gentlemen, there will be a short delay of 30 minutes whilst the engineers inspect one of the wheels”

30 minutes later: “Ladies and gentlemen, there will be a delay of 2 hours. Apparently one of the bolts holding the wheel in place has drifted loose. For your convenience we ask you to disembark and wait in the terminal until the error is repaired”

So, 300 disgruntled passengers emitting all manner of abuse filed off the plane and into the terminal. We all did as requested and waited at Gate 1. Well, a small proportion of them of anyway. Some headed to the bars, others to the smoking room, and yours truly to the bookshop which was happy to relieve me of $200.

I sauntered back to Gate 1 after an hour pleased to find that cakes and drinks had been supplied courtesy of Garuda International. Give me a break!...why not let us all into the business lounge at least. After the 2 hour deadline I spotted a Garuda representative and this meant only one thing – DOOM.

2 hours later: The Garuda representative informed us quiet calmly “I am so sorry (that’s gotta be a fib) but the engineers are having trouble with obtaining a part (hey, this is Australia – we have everything) and so there will be a further delay of 4 hours”

The stunned mullet expressions portrayed the feelings amongst the passengers. It took no more than 30 seconds to sink in and the masses scattered to the far corners of the airport. The bookshop owner welcomed me with open arms like I was part of the family.

4 hours later: 50% of the passengers are in good voice fuelled by copious amounts of alcohol, 25% were intent of murder, and the remainder, trying to be extremely patient. I staggered back to Gate 1 with another $100 worth of books and sat down wondering if I’ll ever get to Bali.
The Garuda representative appears with a beaming smile on her face. In my opinion it was not good. She took a deep breath “Ladies and gentlemen (she would have made a good pilot!), unfortunately the flight has been delayed until 10.30pm as the spare part for the wheel has to be flown from Jakarta. In the meantime, courtesy of Garuda you will be accommodated at the Ibis hotel and given lunch and dinner. All transport costs carried by us”. She was there, then she was gone.

We all had to re-enter Australia through Immigration, obtain our luggage and take it to the Ibis hotel. I must admit it was nice of them to supply a bit of tucker in the atmosphere of a five star hotel, but I would rather have stayed and chatted to my long lost relative at the bookshop.

As it turned out, we were all picked up on time and on arrival at the airport had to exit through immigration and boarded the plane on time at 11pm. Then it came. “Ladies and gentlemen, there will be a short delay of 30 minutes, but, let me assure you we will be departing at midnight “.

I had been awake since 3am and when I arrived at Denpasar airport at 3.30pm the following morning, I was proverbially stuffed. Fortunately, Immigration and customs never argued with us (I wonder why) and all passengers walked out of the terminal happy to be in Bali.

05.00 hrs: No taxis at the airport. No hotels picking up their clients because it’s too early. No happiness anywhere.