We had an absolutely awful flight experience on our way to PMI. Our flight was scheduled to depart 15:05 from BER. After the initial issues of the airport itself, we finally took off at 16:25. During this entire time we were sat in the plane for over 40 minutes without ANY information as to what the problem is and why it's taking so long. While this may or may not be the fault of the airline, we simply wouldn't know because we simply weren't told ANYTHING. 1st unacceptable occurrence. We were supposed to land at PMI at 17:40. At approximately 17:15, a fellow passenger experienced a medical emergency, which led to us making an emergency landing in Zurich at about 17:50. Noting the times, were it not for the initial delay, this interruption may not have even been necessary. The emergency itself is no fault of the airline, of course, but again, if we had left on time, it may not have come to this situation, but this we will never know.At about 18:30 the doors were closed and we would have been ready to depart. According to multiple Skyscanner apps, etc. from surrounding passengers, we had a takeoff slot planned for us around that time. Yet we still didn't move. At 18:50, the flight attendants started going through the cabin inquiring as to which bag belonged to random passengers, without explanation, and largely quite rudely. Despite our take-off slot, we still hadn't moved. Again without any explanation as to why. 2nd unacceptable occurrence.At 19:05 the rain started from the storm system we had spotted about an hour before, stating that it might be good, if we hurried a bit. Still standing around with the aircraft doors closed, still without explanation. At 19:17 we were told the airport had come to a standstill due to the storm and we wouldn't be taking off for a while yet. This would've been avoidable, if we would have hit the earlier take-off slot, that we for some reason decided to let go, again without explanation. 3rd unacceptable occurrence. Whatever vague tales were spun via intercom, were also never understood, as they were too quiet and mumbled. The crew was asked multiple times by several passengers to speak up and more clearly. This simply did not happen.As we were traveling with a toddler, who hadn't properly eaten in over 4 hours at this point, because this was not an anticipated timeline, I decided to inquire after a snack and some water. Upon asking the flight crew, I was told that they could not give away things for free. EXCUSE ME, WHAT?! I then said, alright never mind the adults, we're grown, we can manage, but could we at least get something small for the multitudes of small children on board?! The answer, no, not unless the airline okays it. Upon me asking if they could please get in contact with someone from the airline to get that okay, I was told that they didn't have any way to reach anyone. Again, excuse me, what?! 4th and most unacceptable occurrence about this whole fiasco. How can an airline be so profit oriented as to deny small children at least a cup of water and a bag of pretzels after a delay of about 4 hours??Once we finally landed at 21:55, we were told that we were at an incorrect parking position and had to wait yet another 15 minutes for busses to take us to the gate. How exactly does THAT happen? This whole thing led to us not being able to pick up our car seat, because the rental company closed at 22:00. Additionally, the car rental company had to remain open longer than their official office hours. Unfortunately, we also landed at a counter where the clerk deemed it necessary to take his frustration for being stuck at work longer than necessary out on us. This again I know is not the airline's fault, but just made the whole thing even more frustrating.In my over 30 years of flying, most of which were at least 1 transatlantic flight per year, among other shorter regional ones both in Europe and America, I have never experienced anything like this. The seemingly pointless delays, the lack of any and all information, and the lack of competence and empathy from the flight crew was all so incredibly frustrating and made for an incredibly unpleasant experience. I expect more from a large scale service provider.
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