Nightmare airlines

[Fidel]

Ok,

 

It's time for that once every 3 to 4 years visit with the Thai girlfriend to the family in Ireland. Being a tight (or poor) bastard, I'm busy looking for the cheapest flights from Bangkok to Dublin. The whole exercise becomes even more expensive when you factor in the return flight from Islamabad to Bangkok on top of my Bangkok to Dublin return flight. If we don't book our flights together, the chances of the GF being turned down are greater.. plus, a visit to Ireland is made more bearable with a week in Thailand at the end.

 

So, the best deal I'm offered is about 32,000 baht return. Not bad. It's with Turkish Airways.

 

Now, I've never flown Turkish Airways, but I have bitter experience of choosing the cheapest flight with an airline I know nothing about.

 

A few years back I was heading back to visit the folks for Christmas, alone. I e-mailed the travel agent and was offered a return flight from bangkok to London for something like 18,000 or 19,000 baht. Bargain! It was with an airline called Biman, remember this name folks.

 

At the time I thought, "well, how bad could they possibly be". I found out. I arrived at Don Muang an hour or two before check in time. Waited at the check in desk, there was nobody there. Hours passed, and by the scheduled departure time, still nobody had shown up. Finally, about 2 hours after the scheduled departure time we were allowed to check in.

 

We went to the departure gate, the plane was sitting outside but we weren't allowed to board. We waited, and waited and waited and were told over and over again, "one more hour". At one point an angry passenger, who's elderly mother had been left sitting in a wheelchair for about 8 hours, went for a crew member, throwing punches and airport security had to restrain him.

 

We waited the entire night and were finally allowed to board the following morning. When we boarded we discovered that the plane was already half full with people in transit from Singapore. They'd spent the entire night on the plane.

 

We took off. Entertainment: the call to prayer from Mecca, no booze, stinking plane, horrible cabin crew, the plane was literally falling apart. As I was walking up the aisle, my foot disappeared into a hole and I almost twisted my ankle.

 

As we were approaching Dhaka, coming in to land, the pilot made an announcement, "I'm sorry ladies and gentlemen, we are unable to land at Dhaka due to fog". Shit. Could things get any worse? We were diverted to Chittagong airport. At least we could have a rest and maybe some food. When we got there, no seats, no restaurants, no shops, we all lay on the floor for about 3 hours.

 

Finally made it to Dhaka. We had to reconfirm our tickets.. the place was absolute chaos, no queuing , just hundreds of locals screaming and climbing over each other to get to the desk. Finally got on the plane to London. Some other cheap skate Irish people could see their bags on the tarmac as they were about to board. They tried to get the flight delayed long enough to get the bags on. No go.

 

By the time I got to London, I had missed my connecting flight to Dublin. It was December 23th. No flights to be had. I spent the night awake in the airport, by now about 3 days after leaving Hua Hin for Don Muang. The next day I bought a ferry ticket from Hollyhead to Dublin, so I had to head into the city. The thing is, I hadn't expected to be exposed to the elements on this trip, so I was wearing shorts, sandals and a light fleece. As I trudged through the puddles in an unfamiliar London at 7 am, one of my sandals broke.. oh the misery.

 

Eventually I called home to be told that my sister had booked me on a business class flight to Dublin from Luton, 350 pounds one way. I finally got home, days late.

 

The return leg was no better. A 12 hour delay in take off. Landed in Dhaka, no connecting flight to Bangkok. My passport was taken from me and I was sent to a shitty guest house where I had to SHARE A ROOM with another passenger, thankfully he was an Irish guy I had befriended on the flight.

 

By the time we got to Bangkok I was broke (after paying for through the nose for booze to get me through my time in Dhaka). I tried to get a cash advance on my credit card, I didn't have my cc pin, and they refused to give me an advance. I ended up borrowing 300 baht from the same Irish guy I'd shared a room with in Dhaka. By the time I got home to Hua Hin, I had 10 baht left.

 

So, I searched for passenger opinions on Turkish Airways to make sure I don't have the same shitty experience. Seemingly they're ok. I looked up Biman on the same site and it seems almost everyone has as bad if not a worse experience as I had a few years back. There are two random samples below, followed by a link to more passenger reviews. Worth a look for a laugh. NEVER, EVER fly Biman.

 

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Biman Bangladesh - by Thierry de Borchgrave

 

10 December 2005

 

We tried to get to Bangkok with Biman Bangladesh, starting from Paris Orly. We should have left from Paris on Sunday, but the flight to Dhaka was cancelled. No announcement, no information, nothing. We managed to find a Biman representative who told us the flight would leave Monday morning. We could stay at a hotel close to the airport terminal, paid by Biman. We (and some more people that slept on the airport floor, because they did not find the well hidden Biman representative) left on Monday, but not straight to Dhaka. First to Rome to pick up some other passengers that got stuck there. Finally we took off to Dhaka and landed there in the middle of the night. Tickets and passports were taken and we could stay in a dirty hotel until the morning because the flight to Bangkok was leaving on Monday morning. The bus to the airport never picked us up. No flights to Bangkok on Monday ! You will fly tomorrow morning, we were told with a great smile. Finally we arrived in Bangkok Tuesday instead of Sunday. Return flight to Brussels via Dubai was okay, only three hours delay - first time and last time ever with Biman Bangladesh.

 

Biman Bangladesh - by Jimmy Yu

 

1 November 2005

 

Before takeoff, the normal checks on passengers' safety belt was not carried out. There was a door latch that was unserviceable in the pantry. Before takeoff, the cabin crew placed boxes in front of this door in the attempt to prevent it from flipping open. The exterior of the airplane was very dirty. The interior décor of the cabin is poor. The seat covers, which have floral designs, are old and tattered. A making tape was found pasted on one of the in-flight screen monitor. This monitor was suspected to have cracked at its edge. There was also a foul smell of lavatory in the cabin throughout the flight. Despite sound system being built in the seats, earphones were never distributed to the passengers. No movie were screened during the flight. Other that the in- flight magazine, â??Digontoâ??, no other reading materials were available in the cabin. Orange juice was served before the flight. After airborne, dinner which consists of only one meat puff and two springs rolls were served immediately. This meal was accompanied by hot beverage and plain water. The female cabin crew wears traditional â??sariâ?? that gives the passenger an exotic South Asian feel. Only basic and essential service, like food distribution, was rendered to the passengers and nothing more. The cabin crew never smiled throughout. The standard of Biman cannot be comparable on the world stage -services are tolerable for very short haul flights but not suited for passengers intending to travel international beyond 5 hours of flight.

 

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Link

 

 

 

 

[buffalo_bill]

Sir ,

 

what sounds like a big tragedy is in fact the result of an unwillingness to pay for anything better . Biman Bangladesh is a fine airline for those who are virtually broke , though as we can all see a source of unforgettable events .

 

BuBi

[MooNoi]

Fidel,

 

If there was ever an example of "you get what you pay for"... this is it!

[Barry]

With standards that poor, I wouldn't be surprised if the EU ban them.

[thalenoi]

Turkish Airways is ok, never flown them, but BB gf has.

 

Btw, I fly Qatar, stop over at Doha, excellent, dunno going to Ireland. Booked them to Paris next month 31k, had promotion jan/feb 2007 for 21k + tax, they fly brand new A340/600 to Paris and LHR

[Fidel]

Hi BuBi,

 

I know, I know. But keep in mind, at the time I was an English teacher on about 25,000 baht a month!

[Pescator]

Holy crap! I thought I had a Nightmare Airline story with PIA but you win hands down.

 

Biman Bangladesh? Duely noted.

 

By the way, I wouldn`t be surprised to learn that this airline today has an approach ban to Schengen airports.

That happened to the major part of the PIA fleet.

 

 

cheers

hn

 

[was_usvirgin]

Biman Bangladesh is one of the most famous 'worst airlines' out there. I'm sure you can find some airlines in Africa that will give them a run for their money, I just don't know their names.

[Whitney]

I found CDG airport to be as big a piece of shit airport as Dhakas. Having experienced CDG personally, I find interesting reviews about it here at

 

www.airlinequality.com

 

I wish all airports could be like Singapores

 

 

[buffalo_bill]

If you look at an accident statistic , they are better than our beloved Thai Air for example .