Cathay Pacific is getting some bad press for how it handled a recent diversion. While inclement weather is outside a carrier’s control, the way that airlines respond is important, and I don’t buy Cathay Pacific’s excuse…
Continue reading: Cathay Pacific Traps Passengers On Plane For 28 Hours (11 Hours On Ground)
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
A whole lot of planes was diverted and/or delayed on that day.
Could it have been that they have somehow overlooked this particular plane during the chaos? What happened on the other planes that got diverted to Taiwan?
Human error do happen especially when a lot of planes weren't where it's supposed to be at a time it should have been.
PS. Saw a video footage of a CX plane coming in to land on Hong Kong, the lightning outside the window sure was scary.
Ben - that 3-4 hr rule in the US may be valid for CBP airport. Once on UA's MEX-IAH diverted to CRP and stayed on the plane 6 hours. It was claimed there was no CBP so not even the main door could be open. After 4 hrs or so water ran out so then door was finally opened. Will never forget that experience
Total nonsense handling by the airline!!! If you get a crew off the plane, you can also get the pax off, even to sit by the gate for hours.
Even worse.. There were a number of passengers onboard with a final destination of TPE. They weren’t allowed off and forced to fly to HKG, then take another flight back to TPE. Ouch.
I imagine the fact that this is an international flight has something to do with it. I'm curious, in a situation like this, where the vast majority of passengers are not going to be nationals of the airport you've diverted to, how do you handle immigration controls?
Are there hold rooms where passengers can be kept contained without allowing them to wander the rest of the airport?
Especially in a situation like this, where the two governments (China and Taiwan) aren't exactly on friendly terms, Cathay might have decided it would be easier to just keep everyone on board, especially if weather might clear at any moment and they don't want to lose a possible landing slot.
All of this isn't to excuse what Cathay did. When Air India diverted to Russia with a bunch of US citizens, they still let everyone off for as long as it took to get another plane in, so it can be handled. I'm just curious if people know the details of how these type of international diversions are handled.
"Passengers also had access to insufficient food and drinks, as nothing was catered during the time on the ground."
That's a completely FALSE statement, where did you get your source from ??? As from multiple local Hong Kong media (of course in Chinese no English), they did cater and served a full meal + snack on the ground at TPtE
Their original destination was Hong Kong. If the passengers didn't want to go to HKG, they shouldn't have gotten on the plane in the first place.
CX has a hub at TPE - even though scaled back compared to what it used to be in the past, still should be able to handle this better.
Most passengers can enter Taiwan visa free. For those that can't, remaining on a plane less than half full is a lot more comfortable.
It remind me an experience in December 2010 when I went to JFK to pick up a friend of mine who flew Cathay from HKG. Originally scheduled an evening arrival yet due to an huge snowstorm (already stopped by then) all passenger are stuck in the plane for the entire evening until something like 7am in the morning. Exact same situation with what happened for this flight. Probably before the 4 hour limit on tarmac delays international flights applied. Poor myself has to hang on the JFK terminal overnight!
Obviously Cathay haven't learnt anything from that....
This is an international flight, and Chinese passport holders are not allowed thaos enter Taiwan or even transit through Taiwan without a permit. It would be a chaos if they have to determine who may be deplaned.
I don't think "Most" is true. A lot of people flying CX are transfering passengers. Chinese and Many Southeast Asian nationals needs visa to enter Taiwan.
I think this is a very bad PR for the airline and pitty the passengers, especially in the Econ section. CX used to be one of the best airline next to SQ to do over and beyond for the interest of the passengers, especially in a force majeur situation. I hope they got some sort of compensation for this 13,5 hrs delay.
Cathay is a shadow of what it once was. This is no surprise and their service has also been steadily going downhill. Very poor handling in this case and no public announcement or apology from CX here in HK.
They didn’t buy a ticket to spend 11 hours on the ground at TPE. They bought non-stop LAX-HKG. Short of an infectious disease outbreak, no reason to hold for that long. TPE is a major airport and CX flies there routinely. Badly handled.
Had a similar experience with Cathay years ago (2018), transiting in HKG, my midnight Cathey flight to SFO got canceled after boarding and waiting for hours, due to mechanical issues. They told us to get off the plane, and that's it. Once we are back to the terminal, not a word about their plan for taking care of the passengers overnight, no communication, no compensation, staff disappeared, we were left to care for ourselves in the terminal overnight, and wait for the rescheduled flight the following day. The only passengers getting some care are those on the business class. My conclusion: Cathay could be great if there is no disruption to the flights; Cathay is horrible in customer care during flight disruptions, especially if you are flying economy. I've been avoiding Cathay since then.
Not sure what everyone is on about here regarding who holds what kind of passport and visa requirements. TPE has international transit like almost all bigger airports in the civilized world so passengers could have been disembarked and allowed into the terminal building without having to go through immigration. There wouldn’t have been any record of this for anyone.
Except those with final destination TPE could have continued to arrivals and immigration (regardless of any luggage they might still have on that plane).
CX is now registered in China not Hong Kong and China and Taiwan are in a territorial dispute with imminent invasion of Taiwan threatened.
I presume this is "politics" and CX caught in the middle?
USA (Trump) Don't abandon Taiwan. It is not part of China.
My suspicion is the Chinese government didn’t want someone on that plane having access to Taiwan. Many citizens in China are subject to exit bans or forbidden from traveling to certain countries.
The reporting is a bit inaccurate. The black rainstorm signal was hoisted again at 5:50 am on 5th August and wasn’t lifted until 5:05 pm that day. I know that because I was at HKG at that time waiting on the tarmac to fly to BKK. Was due to leave at 9 am but was stuck at the gate (sitting on the plane) for 2.5 hours in a hot cabin with only water and no food or snacks. I almost felt like fainting. Most planes took off after 11:30 am so I don’t know why that flight couldn’t fly back from TPE earlier. It was one of those days that I wished I’d booked C class but don’t tend to for short hops. I thought I was hard done by until I read this article! Cathay isn’t good at handling these situations.
Noel Phillips snuck away from the holding area at Johannesburg airport and went to another gate when his flight to Mozambique was diverted. He only had hand luggage too.
On the one hand, I'm left in mind of the flight into Atlanta that got stuck on the tarmac in Birmingham (IIRC?) overnight because of immigration issues, so that came to mind.
On the other hand...
I'm going to put blame on the Taiwanese officials for not ordering the plane over to a gate and telling CX to take their insurance issues and stuff them.
I think CX is just lucky they didn't get a door rush when the crew change happened by those pax. Given some of the videos of passengers in that part of the world coming close to rioting over the years, the door opens and someone with only hand luggage makes a run for it...that's going to be an "interesting" situation all around. I'm sure there's a charge to be had somewhere in there, but at that point I'm not entirely sure a prosecutor would back CX up.
(I'm just imagining a case coming off as "We're charging you with trying to get back into your country while your airline was refusing to let you off the plane" - that'd be a Lowering the Bar article waiting to be written.)
The vagueness of the official explanation, the general profile of travellers on this route and the fact TPE is a major outstation for CX sounds like there were geopolitical issues at play.
I suspect there was a sizeable contingent on board holding mainland Chinese passports and Taiwan would not permit those individuals to deplane, even in nominal transit. Mainland Chinese need special permits to travel to Taiwan and this is generally limited to only business travel and to visit family. CX would not be able to facilitate deplaning of just non-Chinese passport holders (can you imagine the ire they would get from the netizens on Weibo??!) and coupled with what they probably thought would be a short ground stop made the least worst, and most politically stomachable, decision to just hold everyone on board.
CX can also hardly give that as a reason without inflaming things even further, which is why you have this vague statement about insurance and silence thereafter.
If people think CX is still the wonderful airline of old, then this latest incident should be a wake up call. Customer service is a shadow of its former self, even if you're flying premium. I've watched first-hand the degradation since the highs of the 90s to my last dismal flight in 2023 (70% in premium. 30% in economy). Even former HK work friends now admit preferring to fly down to Singapore to catch SQ onwards to Europe/Middle East rather than fly their local airline. Swire knows this downward trend is unstoppable now, but cannot do anything about it.
Yes, it's only the USA where large airports with international flights do not have "sterile" transit.
i.e. to get out of the departure lounge you have to go through immigration
If a CX flight is diverted to Mainland China, CX is not allowed to deplane diverted flights. This is a CAAC rule, and that's why CX didn't divert this and other flights to SZX/CAN.
And that's usually why HKG diversions are diverted to TPE. Now why did Taiwan not let them off? Visa-free nationals and HKSAR (who will at least be afforded airside transit rights, as well as landing permit on arrival) will be accommodated, it's only Mainlanders who have to stay airside.
If CX knew to replace the crew, it had to know about what it was/wasn't doing for the poor pax... And shame on the original Captain for not supporting his/her pax... Makes me think the US carriers aren't that bad after all... although I couldn't rule out this horror story occurring in the US either...
Sorry to say, but as a long-term HK resident and frequent flyer on CX, I totally disagree with you. The airline got its mojo back and and is pretty much as good as it used to be, both on the ground and in the air (and IMHO certainly better than SQ). Website and app excluded.
As am I. CX isn't close to what it was. I've cut my usage significantly as a result. BR, SQ, TG,... All better in every way (except lounges)
Just curious. Were the passengers compensated in any way from Cathay Pacific??? Anyone know?
Agree that it's back - isolated incidents like this one excepted. Extrapolating from 2023, when HK had just reopened, is not a good indicator of where things are in 2025.
More likely Taiwan, which was in control of this situation on the ground, didn't want to let a whole bunch of mainland passport holding Chinese in without scrutiny.
Sure but given the nature of Taiwanese politics about mainland infiltration even from visitors one can imagine they would still be paranoid and not have allowed this, especially if the plane could have left "any minute now" so it didn't seem necessary.
Can you imagine the firestorm about discrimination on the Chinese internet then? Mainland passengers are big money for Cathay and it's already faced controversies for alienating them.
The (Chinese) source is here. A meal and cookies were served, but maybe some still deem it insufficient. I can see that. Bear in mind though CX and its parent company Swire is a joint venture owner (together with CI) the largest catering at TPE which is called "China Pacific." https://www.hk01.com/%E7%A4%BE%E6%9C%83%E6%96%B0%E8%81%9E/60263870/%E9%BB%91%E9%9B%A8-%E5%8E%9F%E7%BE%8E%E5%9C%8B%E6%8A%B5%E6%B8%AF%E8%88%AA%E7%8F%AD%E8%BD%89%E9%99%8D%E5%8F%B0%E5%8C%97%E9%81%BF%E9%9B%B7%E9%9B%A8-%E4%B9%98%E5%AE%A2%E4%B8%8D%E6%BB%BF%E4%B8%8D%E5%87%86%E8%90%BD%E6%A9%9F%E9%A3%9F%E7%89%A9%E4%B8%8D%E8%B6%B3
My Wife and I travel worldwide (( AND I WOULD NOT )) Fly with Cathay Pacific after that performance we were looking at that Trip next year, but My wife said you would have to be joking What terrible experience for the people in economy We only travel B C
They gave us new boarding tickets of our flights that we missed and got us a hotel and 2 meal vouchers that you can use inside the airport.