Flight to S'pore on Garuda Indonesia

Flight to S'pore on Garuda Indonesia

From Kompas

My colleague and I were on a flight to Singapore on Jan. 14 on board a Garuda Indonesia aircraft (GA 828), which took off from Jakarta at 2:55 p.m.. The journey, which usually takes one and a half hours took eight long hours. The pilot said the plane could not land at Changi Airport because of adverse weather conditions. Strangely, other aircraft had no problems landing there. After flying in circles for about 30 minutes, the plane landed in Batam. The passengers were told that the flight would resume as soon as the weather improves.

In Batam, we had to stay in a waiting room - not a proper one - and could not have any food or drinks - even if we paid for them - as the canteen was closed. Worse still, we had to carry and take care of our luggage, without any help at all from the Garuda crew. After five hours, we were taken by ferry to Singapore via Sekupang. Tired and hungry, we (including children and foreigners) arrived at Singapore's World Trade Center (WTC) at midnight in cold and rainy weather.

Our sufferings did not end here though as there was not a single taxi at WTC. We had to queue at the phone booth to order a taxi.

JULIANA LESTARI TANIE

Jakarta