TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The nine passengers of the Garuda Indonesia flight GA 298 plying the Jakarta-Bengkulu route were left at the airport by the jetliner on Friday, 23 November. The passengers said they were baffled by the situation as they claimed they had arrived on time and accordingly to the schedule on the ticket.
Barus Barak, 51-year-old, and his three colleagues were among the passengers. He stated that they had arrived and waited at Terminal 3 of Soekarno-Hatta Airport since 12:00 p.m. In accordance with the schedule on the ticket, the boarding time was at 1:30 p.m.
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“We arrived as early as possible, but until the boarding time, there was no announcement until 2:00 p.m. But we got the answer that the GA 298 had taken off,” said Barus.
Barus and his colleagues panicked before finally receiving replacement tickets from the Garuda management. “The four of us were able to accept [the tickets] because we were coming home from work. If we were going to leave, we would protest,” said Barus.
Garuda Indonesia's public relations staffer, Diky, said he had just heard the information about the nine passengers. “I will check immediately,” he said briefly.
AYU CIPTA