Summary (all times were approximates, GMT+8)

• Passengers of this flight, you may answer this form so that we can coordinate in case someone’s filing a civil case against Zest Air.
• Scheduled flight Zest Air Z2393 (ETD: January 2, 2011 1915h) bound for Manila from Davao.
• No announcement of delay before ETD.
• 1945h, 30 minutes after ETD, ground crew flight will be delayed due to additional servicing of aircraft. No new ETD was given.
• No announcements were made until 2230h, 3 hours 15 minutes after ETD. People from Zest Air were “hiding” most of the time as they weren’t there to assist us.
• 2230h, a “supervisor” named Emmanuel Aldea, announced that flight is cancelled. A new flight will be held the next morning at 0625h, in conjunction with an existing 0625h Zest Air flight. No hotel accommodations, just free dinner.
• New ETD is now January 3, 2011 0625h.
• No announcements from Zest Air until around 1000h the next day. Not even an announcement of delay of our new flight. Announced that new ETD will be January 3, 2011 1030h.
• The other 0625h flight (but delayed) pushed through but carried passengers scheduled for the flight. People started complaining since we weren’t prioritized even if we were delayed for more than 11 hours already.
• The 1030h flight pushed through. The Zest Air management issued no official statement regarding the delay.
• In-flight, they served our “breakfast” at 1200h. To add insult to injury, the food pax were not enough for everyone in the fight. There was also a lack of utensils. Some people at their food pax with their hands.
• Original ETA: January 2, 2011 2100h. Actual time of arrival: January 3, 2011 1240h.
• Total delay: 15 hours and 40 minutes.

Happy New Year everyone. I started writing this post on my tenth hour at Davao International Airport. My sister and I were here more than two hours before the ETD of our Zest Air flight as a check-in requirement.

We checked-in together with my sister’s batchmates (which we saw at the airport). For me and my sister’s ticket, a Zest Air ground staff asked for a photocopy of the credit card used to purchase the ticket. Since we had none, we were asked the first and last four digits of the credit card. We were able to provide it right away since it was stored on my phone. As the crew gave us our boarding passes, we immediately notice that there were no names on them. Just passenger and seat numbers, not even flight or gate number. Continue reading “Our almost 16-hour delay with Zest Air” »