Perth airport: Tense moment angry Emirates passengers confront a besieged worker after their flight was delayed three times in 24 hours
- Passengers were refused flights three times
- Emirates staff rail as anger mounts
- READ MORE: Perth airport evacuated
Heated arguments erupted at Perth airport after Emirates customers were banned from boarding three consecutive flights, with some families having to wait 16 frustrating hours for take-off.
Tempers boiled as the would-be passengers berated airport staff after missing a flight on a plane on Sunday evening when they were originally scheduled to fly on Saturday evening.
“Someone has to give us answers to why?” one of the angry customer demands from the frustrated staff.
‘Do you know how much we paid for this? Thousands and thousands of dollars,” said another.
‘It’s not fair.’
Stunned Emirates staff were confronted by angry passengers who were refused three flights during a day-night period
Another staff member tried to calm down a man who was bothering him about getting a new flight.
“They will arrange and book that tomorrow morning,” said the employee.
‘Are we definitely going to fly tomorrow?’ the man asks.
‘I want to be honest with you and say ‘yes, you are’, but if the same thing happens, let’s say the plane breaks down again, you would come to me and say ‘you promised me’,’ the staffer replies.
Another passenger is far from satisfied with this answer.
“How can you keep doing this to the same passengers?” they ask.
“Emirates have a good name and everyone says Emirates has never had such a problem. Why the same passengers for three flights?’
“I completely understand your frustration and anger,” the employee said.
“Dubai has said they are not going to send people without food and water.”
Emirates’ headquarters are located in the city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
Saturday’s original flight was fully aboard, but was unable to take off due to a technical problem.
After waiting on the plane for three hours, the passengers were told to disembark as the delay had run out of crew shifts.
They were confident that a replacement plane would be there the next morning.
Furious customers demanded a guarantee that they would finally be able to fly to their destination
However, after making the second trip to the airport on Sunday, they learned that the flight had also been canceled, but were told that if they waited long enough they could board another one in the evening.
Despite new arrivals coming on board, stranded customers were told to stay behind again because there was not enough catering for them.
Perhaps a little surprisingly, when Perth radio station 6PR posted some of Sunday night’s tense airport exchanges on its website, commentators were more sympathetic to the embattled workers.
“I felt really sad for the poor staff who had to put up with all the abuse and where was the senior management at Emirates,” said one.
‘Keep a grip, it is what it is. The poor damn staff can’t do anything about it,” another commented.
Emirates has been contacted for comment.