Malaysia Airlines sent me several Flight Retiming and Change Notifications on July 30 for flights that I had booked for Oct 30 – three months away. Several, because my husband, my mum and I were scheduled to travel together for my nephew’s wedding on Nov 1, 2019 in Brisbane. Our flight has been retimed by over 12 hours. Instead of leaving at 10.25am on Oct 30, we fly out at 22.35pm. The return flights have also been changed.

The initial reaction was “£$%^&”. A plan for the holiday in Brisbane was in place, and it was being scuppered. My husband and I were to drive to the wedding venue on the morning of Oct 31 with the rest of the family, who are flying in from London. Also, on Malaysia Airlines. As with plans that seem to go awry, at least at first, the family managed to pull together acceptable alternative flight time/dates. But, only after discussions, telephone calls and many toing and froing texts. My mum and I will now leave two days earlier on Oct 28 but my husband, due to work commitments, will do the overnight flight on Oct 30.

The re-booking agents at Malaysia Airlines were efficient and helpful. Luckily, seats were available for the earlier flight on Monday. But, I have to point out that persuasion was required as my mum didn’t embrace the idea of flying on a Monday as it’s her prayer and vegetarian fast day. She was looking forward to a day flight on Wednesday where she could enjoy the service, food and ambiance. Thankfully, I hadn’t yet booked the Sebel Brisbane Margate Beach hotel, where my husband and I were going to stay, after we drop off my mum at my sister’s, the mother of the groom. Fortunately, I hadn’t yet booked my non-refundable Jetstar ticket to visit my other sister and her family in Sydney. All of which would have been impacted by this 12-hour delay. Phew.

The Malaysia Airlines’ email said it regretted the inconvenience caused. But did it really? Airlines, the world over, change their flight schedules, for a whole host of reasons.  As recent as last Thursday ( Aug 15), we were delayed almost three hours on our return flight from Perth to Kuala Lumpur on Malindo Air. Its email attributed operational requirements for retiming the flight. I asked and was told the reasons could have been air-carrier delay, baggage delay etc. Anyway… these incidents got me thinking of my experiences with other airlines.

Some years ago my husband and I arrived at Toronto airport for a flight to Vancouver. Our cabbie looked hard for the airline so he could drop us off at the entrance door. Once inside the terminal, we still couldn’t find the airline or our flight on the departure board. The airline had gone bust. From the time we booked the ticket to when we were scheduled to fly. The irony was we booked early so we could save on the ticket price but eventually paid almost triple for new tickets on another budget airline. We didn’t check our emails as we were on the road, and had no mobile phone. The defunct airline had, in fact, refunded the ticket money.

On an Air Asia flight, we were almost diverted to Melbourne from Perth, our destination, due to bad weather. Flying for another 3.5 hours to the east coast of Australia was not a pleasant prospect. The captain announced we were on-route to Melbourne, when the gods smiled down us. The weather improved, and we were allowed to U-turn and land in Perth, after all. The only airplane that did that morning. As we walked past the duty free hall at Perth airport, we received a round of applause. Nice.

My mum and I had a bit of adventure when we flew Turkish Airlines for my sister’s wedding in England many decades ago. First there was a secuity risk. Our night flight was rescheduled to the morning. We flew out of Kuala Lumpur but somehow ended up sitting on the plane on the tarmac at New Delhi Airport. I remember it being hot and stifling. We arrived in Istanbul late in the evening, and because of the night flying restrictions, we were bussed to a hotel. A four storey walk-up with no lifts. The next morning when there was no sign of the airport bus, we hailed a cab, with two young Malaysian students, whom we had befriended earlier. We got ourselves to the airport, into the airplane and onward to London, without incident. The delay meant I missed my sister’s hen party. But, happily, my mum and I were pesent for the wedding.  Our return flight was totally uneventful. Nice.

There will, undoubtedly, be other delays, disruptions and cancellations. Usually with few or no options to choose from, I chalk it up to – adventures or … misadventures of flying.