Passengers waiting to board Qantas flight QF36 were stranded for an agonizing 23-hour stretch in the Singapore airport from Sunday evening to Monday.
The national airline of Australia blamed Singapore's National Day celebrations for starting a chain of delays. Singapore closed its airspace for the event on Sunday evening between 6:25 p.m. and 7:10 p.m., so an inbound flight from Brisbane to Singapore ended up stopping on the Indonesian island of Batam to refuel.
That plane, meant to pick up an estimated 300 people in Singapore, was forced to remain there because its crew had exceeded the allowed flying hours. It needed to wait for the next crew to be flown over, and that flight only arrived at 4:39 a.m. Monday.
People were tired and furious, and some blamed Qantas for not providing timely updates.
@RobJPickering @Qantas Latest screw up, 4th delay, now departing 1745 after 21hrs delay. No more direct flight! #qf36 pic.twitter.com/ddX1oCKdbo— Eric Z (@OuhzCire) August 10, 2015
Giving up hope that #QF36 will depart tonight @Qantas pic.twitter.com/J821ki9Nlf— Shawn Taggart (@thegafferguy) August 9, 2015
#QF36 debacle! Worst customer service experienced in my life. Be visible and communicate are the key rules. none existed at changi @Qantas— Mark scott (@Ozscotty) August 10, 2015
According to The Straits Times, other airlines didn't experience such dramatic delays, and had rescheduled their flights "months ago" ahead of the festivities.