Delayed, Postponed, Cancelled...

Patiently Waiting..

Time stands still

Bus ride to ASMA Hotel Jerudong

Breakfast at ASMA

Me and my big mouth.. Maybe it serves me right, I shouldn't have counted my eggs before they hatched or even before they were laid. As today I was suppose to be on the back nine of the Pine Hurst golf course in Bangkok, but I'm actually on my bed at home in BRUNEI contemplating what might have been. I hope I won't be boring you guys with the details but hey its my blog and I'm gonna write what ever I want (Anger & Frustration speaking there). Yesterday afternoon started off efficiently with my cousin and I went to the money changers to get a hand full of Thai Baht. Checked in around 4pm and back home to freshen up. Back at the airport around 6pm, and was laughing and joking around in our seats by 615pm. 'Eh lama jua wang tani kan take off ani?' my cousin asked. Our flight as 'adequately' explained by the CSO is experiencing some 'recalibration of instruments' and the flight will be 'delayed for a few minutes'. Minutes passed, and it was almost an hour later before we heard any explanation by the cabin crew. Can't blame them though, they were bewildered as much as we were. By 8pm, 70% of the passengers on the flight were getting anxious. Who could blame them? I won't, as I was one of them. More on that later.. '.. The Engineer will require 20 - 30mins to get the parts for the instruments'. What the fuck!!! By this time, every one has lost hope. Things were about to get worst. Next thing that we heard was being asked to disembark. Light refreshments, light dinner and at 10pm were asked to 'enter gate 3 immediately for security check'. Oh yes.. we are actually going to Bangkok. A few minutes later, the unthinkable happened. '... due to technical difficulty, the flight will be estimated to leave TOMORROW' WHAT THE HELL!!!!! No one wanted to leave the departure gate. My cousin went into disarray, my best mate went into bizarro mode and I went to auto pilot heh?? apakan?? What is going on RBA?? Can we get a descent explanation from the ground staff. All they could say was they couldn't promise anything, but the tentative departure time is 12pm today. However, I have to give the ground staff some credit for their way of handling the situation. Even though they were a hand full of passengers who were very very frustrated (I wonder who??? heheh) but the ground staff were able to calm every one down. We were offered to go back home or stay a night in ASMA Hotel in Jerudong. 'Baik tah tani bemalam di sana saja' my cousin stressed. 'Awu eh, sudah tah nda sampai ke Bangkok, at least ampit jua bemalam di hotel' I replyed. At the end of the night, all 3 of us ended up in ASMA Hotel in Jerudong rather than in Bangkok. The more I think of lastnight, the more I'm getting frustrated. To make the story short, this morning woke up with a bit of hope as RBA informed that the flight is 'confirmed' to leave at 12pm today. Oh yes, maybe I can salvage a ruined golf weekend with some shopping for the missus. But it all turned sour as we received word during breakfast that the flight is scheduled to leave at 3pm!!! We came to a consensus to just cancel the trip as we were suppose to return back tomorrow morning. All that adrenaline and anxiety for nothing. Went straigth to the airport to pick up our luggage and get our tickets back. Saw a few familiar faces from the flight and they were dismayed as I was when we saw that even today's flight is CANCELLLED!!!! I won't say that I am a frequent traveller, but have had a fair share of travelling in my 29 years of air travel. But this is the worst experience I have had with our national flight carrier. Kenapa tia RBA ani?? I have always supported RBA, be it travelling to Europe or even regionally. But 1 incident won't deter me from travelling with them. It was a one time accident, but guys (RBA) please and I beg of you, please don't keep your passengers in the dark of what is happening during the delay. I for one would understand it if proper explaination of the situation was given at a much earlier time rather then at distant hourly announcements. So now I'm back home, with thousands of Thai Baht in my wallet and no where to go. Hey wait a minute, Empire Driving Range... hmmmm, interesting.