Qantas Singapore to Melbourne Flight Delayed Overnight

10th Aug 2015

Passengers of Qantas flight QF36, bound from Melbourne from Changi Airport, Singapore, were left stranded over Sunday night due to their plane not being able to land.

A spokesman for Qantas explained that the original flight, which was supposed to arrive from Brisbane, was diverted to the Batam Airport due to "congestion at Changi Airport as a result of the airport's closure for SG50 flyover celebrations".

The aircraft had to stop for refueling in Batam, but the crew had overstepped its flight hours, causing a lengthy delay.

As a result, QF36 had to remain at the airport, waiting for a fresh crew to take control of it.

This caused delays for both QF36 (scheduled from Singapore to Melbourne at 7:55 p.m. on Sunday) and QF6 (departing on the same day at 11:50 p.m.).

In the end, QF6 departed from Singapore on Monday at 10:18 a.m. QF36, on the other hand, departed at 5:45 p.m. on Monday, 21 hour after its scheduled time.

However, Qantas QF36 was no longer a direct flight. Instead, passengers had to transit at Darwin.

The Australian carrier has provided meal vouchers and hotel rooms for affected passengers, but many of them were cross with what they believe was a lack of communication from the carrier.

Eric Zhuo from Singapore said the following after having to spend an unplanned night in a hotel:

"This was the only update they gave us, until a letter was sent to my hotel at noon today telling us that our flight would only take off at 5:45 p.m. It is really irresponsible of Qantas; we were forced to rely on social media and the airline's website for updates instead."

Zhuo added:

"I expected more from a full-service airline like them. The only saving grace was that most of us took the news rather calmly and did not create a commotion."