Letters | Cathay Pacific leaves Dubai travellers all at sea after flooded airport sees flight diverted

Passengers, my husband among them, were told that a new crew was on its way from Dubai, as those on board had reached flight time limits. And that it would take about two hours, during which time passengers had to stay on the plane. The new crew arrived about 3½ hours later. Passengers were also told that Cathay Pacific had no ground traffic rights at this airport. The new captain said he hoped to take off in 45 minutes, and then it will be a 20-minute flight. Passengers at this time had been given a bottle of water each, and a small packet of nuts.

But, over six hours later, they were still sat on the plane, with no food or water, and no proper information as to what was going on. Many missed their connecting flights. Apparently, Dubai International was still flooded and in chaos.

Then the passengers were told that they could disembark; the crew stayed on board. Passengers went through customs and into baggage claim, only to stand there for over two hours waiting for luggage to be offloaded. It was nearly nine hours since landing!

In all this time, no representatives from Cathay Pacific appeared. More than 300 passengers, including the elderly and children, were left to fend for themselves with no food, no water and little information.

I tried to contact Cathay Pacific in Hong Kong and it was a nightmare. They kept me on hold on two occasions for over 25 minutes and kept telling me that this was not their usual airport. I phoned them again on Tuesday and was told I would have to wait for customer relations to call me!