After I had completed my mission in Lae (the city in Papua New Guinea; PNG), It was the time to fly back home. As PNG had only one International airport at the capital city, Port Moresby, I had to fly from Lae to Port Moresby to catch international flight to fly out from The Land of the Unexpected.
Air niugini, the flag carrier of this country had used Fokker-100 to serve this route. It was not easy to find this type of aircraft to serve the civil flight. Herewith the details of this flight.
Date : 19 November 2014
Flight : PX103 (LAE – POM)
ETD : 11.00am (GMT+10)
ETA : 11.45am (GMT+10)
Duration : 45 minutes
Aircraft : Fokker-100
Cabin : Economy
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I started to check-in and get boarding pass. Security check were passed quite quick as it was not huge airport and the traffic was not so busy.
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During waiting it had annoucement : “Current aircraft is doubted and has to be checked. We apologize for the delay due to we have to change the aircraft”. In short, it was delayed 80 minutes.
But I had sufficient time to catch my another flight from Port Moresby to Singapore. No needed to worry. 🙂
When, everything was ready, the boarding was started.
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The seating arrangement in the Business class was organized in a 2-2 configuration, with a total of eight seats. As for the Economy class, it was set up in a 2-3 configuration, accommodating a grand total of 93 seats.
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The seat pitch was narrow (my height is 183 cm). It felt like sitting in economy class of ATR-72 aircraft.
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After take-off, I was served a light snack that resembled a typical full-service offering. It included orange juice (Made in Australia) and some crackers. However, they had a delightful combination of sweet and salty flavors, making them quite delicious and enjoyable.
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For a while, the flight was descended and landed to Port Moresby. Then, I went to claim baggage at the belt.
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But, unexpectedly, an unimaginable event occurred.
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My checked baggage was disappeared. It was not loaded with the flight !!!!!
I inquired with the ground staff and received the following information:
We really sorry. We put your luggage in wrong aircraft !!
We will send to you by next flight from Lae and will arrive here 4.30pm.
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But my flight to Singapore would be departed at 3PM !
After 30 minutes of dicussion (because the ground staff just said “sorry” and had no idea how to deal with this problem), thus, I decided to continue my travel to Singapore and asked them to send my baggage to Bangkok in one day after and issued me “certificate of lose baggage” to claim with my travel insurance. (Finally, I got my baggage when I arrive Bangkok airport).
I was fortunate for this case, at least, they took responsibility, and all my belongings were intact, except for the food items such as instant noodles, snacks, and dried fruits that I usually carry for travel and dispose of along the way. They had evident signs of inspection (my bag has a combination lock that needs to be aligned to open). It seems like the staff must have inspected them for security purposes, but the lock itself was undamaged and still functional as usual. I have to thank the staff for handling my baggage.
The tag at my baggage when it was arrived at Bangkok
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In overall, I could give the score for this flight as 2 from 10. Because it was delayed 80 minutes and loaded my baggage to wrong flight. They needed to improve their service !
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Written by : SHIPY SIWARIT TIASUWATTISETH
Shipy-Ship 