94 passengers on a Shenzhen Airlines flight from Lanzhou to Shenzhen have been fully refunded for a 13-hour delay.

The delay was caused by a mechanical malfunction.

The plane was ready to take off at 12:20 pm July 17 from Lanzhou, the capital of Northwest China's Gansu Province, when the captain detected a fault in one of the engines.

The crew immediately informed passengers of the problem and began serving lunch. At 2 pm, the 105 passengers went back to the airport lounge to wait.

However, while the Lanzhou engineers knew what the mechanical problem was, they lacked the necessary skills and materials to repair the engine. The airline headquarters learned that the problem could be solved at Shenzhen airport in an hour.

At 4:10 pm, headquarters decided to send an aircraft from Shenzhen to bring the passengers back. At the same time, 11 passengers had their fares refunded at Lanzhou airport while the rest were put up at a hotel. Meanwhile, passengers were informed that the delay could be more than eight hours and fares would be refunded in Shenzhen, according to a new airline policy.

After the replacement aircraft arrived in Lanzhou shortly after midnight, passengers started boarding at 1 a.m. However, 40 minutes later, 10 passengers were refusing to board, skeptical about the airline's promise of compensation and demanding to be refunded the full fare before boarding. They finally boarded only after being given a letter guaranteeing a refund.

The aircraft finally left Lanzhou at 1:50 am, reaching Shenzhen airport at 4:33 am. Five buses took passengers to their homes.

Shenzhen Airlines published customer service guidelines July 5, clarifying conditions under which it would compensate passengers in cash. In the case of a delay of more than eight hours, passengers would be repaid in full.

(Shenzhen Daily July 21, 2004)