Aircon not working on plane

j69ant

If a decent service was provided in the first place, people wouldnt be asking for compensation. They loaded 200+ people onto a plane with a known issue. Then attempted to resolve the problem.

Why not leave the guests in the waiting area, where they had aircon and access to facilities...

Instead, they were loaded onto a plane, and the staff refused to provide any refreshements ? Unlike the staff on C_Mababejives flight, the airline staff stood in the ailes just fanning themselves with the safety cards.. Only bothering to move when people asked questions.

Maybe if the airlines thought about their guests a bit more, people wouldbe be dis satisfied, chasing compensation.

richardw

j69ant wrote: »

... They loaded 200+ people onto a plane with a known issue. Then attempted to resolve the problem. ....

Don't think they'll openly admit to that to you.

ttoli

j69ant wrote: »

Why not leave the guests in the waiting area, where they had aircon and access to facilities...



Maybe if the airlines thought about their guests a bit more, people wouldbe be dis satisfied, chasing compensation.

Presuming that is that the Gate wasn't needed for another flight departure?

Doshwaster

ttoli wrote: »

Presuming that is that the Gate wasn't needed for another flight departure?

Airlines have very tight slots for their time at gates and get fined if they go over. It could be that they expected to depart at 11:30 so boarding at 11:15 is reasonable but a delay elsewhere pushed them back to 12:15.

Personally, when I fly all that I ask is to get to my destination alive. Everything else is of secondary concern.

It might be worth a letter to the airline but I'm not sure what kind of "compensation" the OP is expecting. I'd be surprised if it's any more than a £50 voucher off a future booking.

bagand96

This is a situation where the airline is damned if they do and damned if they don't.

The aircraft had been dispatched and therefore was serviceable. They knew of the issue, and quiet reasonably the crew had requested ground power/aircon at Palma. For some reason this obviously didn't arrive. So the airport, or the handling agent let down the airline on that count. However the way things work in Spain these days, completely unsurprising.

The crew would have boarded in good faith based on an expected departure time. Especially knowing they didn't have air conditioning. Did they actually say the delay was due to trying to resolve the air conditioning? I suspect it was more likely waiting for a Ground Start Unit (based on the fact it was probably your aircraft's APU that was not working). Again, the delay in the ground start would be down to airport/handling agent, and again, in Spain not surprising.

Thing is, a ground start will never turn up until the aircraft is ready to go, and the aircraft isn't ready to go until its boarded. So its a catch 22.

Monarch could have not dispatched the aircraft from the UK in the first place until the APU was serviceable. But how much delay would that have caused to the outbound, and subsequently your flight? And the flights for the aircraft later in the day. And as another poster said you'd all want compensating for that too. A difficult choice for the airline but the'll always try and keep the schedule going.

As for your experience, email customer services. Expect a vaguely apologetic reply, and maybe a small goodwill gesture.

trolleyrun

I have to agree with Bagand96 on this. It sounds like the APU* was unserviceable and there was a wait for the ground staff to find and hook up the GPU**

Yes, in hot weather it is uncomfortable, but it was only for an hour.

*APU: Auxillary Power Unit. It's the little engine in the tail which (mainly) runs the aircon on the ground. Depending on the length of flight, an aircraft can normally depart base (home airport) without this working, to avoid a delay. It's perfectly safe to fly without the APU working, depending on length of flight.

**GPU: Ground Power Unit, which is an external power unit much like a large generator. This runs the aircon on the ground when the APU doesn't work.

When the APU doesn't work, one of the aircraft engines is started with what is called an airstart, by equipment on the ground. An airport has a limited supply of such equipment which can cause a delay in starting engines. The second engine would start from the first engine being up and running. All perfectly safe, however it may be uncomfortably hot until the aircon gets going.