Passengers stranded in China after Tigerair delay
She had planned to fly to Bangkok with a friend at 8am yesterday for a short holiday after returning to Singapore from China.
But her flight from Xi'an was delayed for 29 hours, and her friend left without her.
Miss Ng, 37, was among 141 passengers stranded in Xi'an after Tigerair flight TR2969 was delayed because of a fuel leak.
They were told to disembark two hours after boarding. The flight was scheduled to depart at 11.35pm on Wednesday.
At around 3am, they were told that the flight was cancelled and taken to a hotel, where they spent the night.
Mr Leong Siew Tim, 80, an engineer who was on the flight, told The New Paper that no Tigerair representative accompanied them.
Miss Ng said they were given conflicting information about the flight.
"They said we would depart on Thursday at 11.30pm. When we were heading to the airport, we were told the flight, too, had been cancelled."
They had to return to the hotel, where some passengers caused a commotion and the police were called in.
Mr Leong said: "Some passengers threatened to hold back the flight's departure unless they were reimbursed in cash. The Tigerair representative told us, 'This is a budget airline, what more do you expect?'"
Tigerair told TNP that the flight had been re-timed and the affected aircraft required more time for servicing.
Its application for a replacement plane was granted at 9.30pm on Thursday.
Tigerair said the plane arrived in Xi'an at around 4am yesterday, and flight TR2969 arrived at Singapore at about 10am.
COMPENSATION
Mr Leong said Tigerair would send a $50 voucher as compensation.
Dr Michael Chiam, senior lecturer in tourism at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, said Tigerair should have got a local agent to accompany the passengers to the hotel and update them.
Course manager for aviation management and services at Temasek Polytechnic's School of Engineering, Mr Abbas Ismail, felt that Tigerair handled the situation well as it had put them up in a hotel and provided them with transport.
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