Travel stories: Flight delayed.

My recent flight was rather eventful by KLM standards, IMO. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a love-hate relationship with them, like everyone does with Air Asia or MAS. In fact, I think it's the best option for KL-Jakarta route on proviso that you are not bound by time of arrival/departure. 

Although this route is only serviced by one flight per day, but it has so many things that I *heart* KLM for. Numero uno - big planes i.e. Boeing 777-300 because KL is a stopover point for long-haul Amsterdam-Jakarta. Secondly, no weird cabin smell that can induce a headache or nauseous feeling, especially on MAS and Air Asia planes servicing domestic and regional routes. For Air Asia, it's the dreaded rush of fume smell just before take-off that makes me sick. Last but not least, little stuffs to pleasant-ise the journey - lavender-scented hot towels, in-flight entertainment and decent meals.

Anyway, I digressed. It was 10 minutes passed official departure time and we were still parked at the gate. Next came the pilot's voice on air, announcing that flight was delayed due to overfuel. This should not cause a problem upon taking off but it's definitely dangerous when we land in Jakarta. To complicate matters, it was easy to put in fuel but definitely tricky to unload off the extra fuel, which the pilot foresee would delay the journey by 1 hour. In the meantime, the ground crew had to look into unloading unnecessary weight off the plane to cut down the delay. Half an hour into waiting, the pilot voice came on again, announcing that we were good for take-off, just as the plane was departing from the gate. Hurray!

But... Yes there's a but. As we were taxiing to the runway, the notorious KL thunderstorm came upon us and minutes later, pilot announced again due to the unfavourable weather condition which was creating havoc on wind directions and such, we would have to sit out until the weather clears up. Thank god it wasn't long though.

Delicious meal - Selected for you by KLM. Simple but smart psycho-marketing tactic.