Miri is a city in northwest Borneo, Malaysia.

A flight from there to Singapore typically takes just two hours, but passengers on board an AirAsia flight on that route on Thursday, Nov. 15, didn't have it so lucky.

Flight AK1755 had taken off from Miri Airport at 1pm, after a short 15-minute lag from the originally planned departure time of 12:45pm.

But it would only land in Singapore more than 10 hours later, with passengers spending almost five hours at Johor Bahru's Senai International Airport.

One of the passengers on board the flight, Kester Ng, told Mothership.sg that the ordeal started at 3pm — the pilot had announced that the plane was descending for landing in Singapore.

However, due to what was explained to be air traffic congestion and low fuel, the plane had to be rerouted to Senai to refuel, and also to wait for air traffic to clear.

Ng says the plane landed in Senai at 3:30pm.

One hour later, he said they were informed that the plane would depart after refuelling was done, at around 5:30pm.

Further delays

So 5:30pm came round, but unfortunately, the plane did not take off.

According to Ng, the pilot then explained that Changi Airport's air traffic was still congested (perhaps because of the conclusion of the Asean Summit on Thursday, and the priority departure of many dignitaries from the airport at the time).

The departure timing was then pushed to 7:30pm, and passengers were told to exit the plane and wait at the departure gate instead.

By then, it was 6pm, so Ng said passengers were given chicken burgers to eat and bottled water.

As expected, 7:30pm came round, but they would not be leaving yet.

An announcement was made to the passengers that the flight would be, once again, delayed till 9:45pm instead.

Frustrated passengers

At this point, Ng says the passengers got frustrated and angry with the delay and started shouting at the staff.

He added he was as well as he was worried he wouldn't make it home in time for his son's birthday, and doubly annoyed that he couldn't smoke in the area the passengers were confined in.

Here's a video he recorded and shared with us:

Lack of proof, alternative plans drawn up

Ng said an AirAsia representative on the ground had explained to passengers that the airline received an email, implied to have been sent from Changi Airport traffic control, that informed AirAsia that due to traffic congestion at Changi, the plane was unable to land.

He added that when passengers asked for proof of the email, the representatives speaking to them were not able to show it to them.

"(They seemed to be saying) there was nothing wrong with the plane, (and they were) basically blaming Changi Airport for the delay.

We did discuss among ourselves. Everyone was unhappy and felt that AirAsia was just stalling time. It felt like AirAsia was just trying to shift the blame to Changi Airport and not upfront or honest about the real reason behind the delay.

There were quite a few toddlers on the flight as well. Imagine who the parents had to go through with the children."

Some, said Ng, decided to take transport back home on land (because really, at this point, it would most definitely have been faster), but AirAsia's representatives said the airline would not compensate those alternative journeys.

In all, Ng estimates that half of the total passengers on the flight — anywhere from 20 to 30 people — decided to get to Singapore via land transport.

Ng says the flight finally took off from JB at 10:45pm. He told us he got home at around 11:20pm, just in time for his son's birthday at the stroke of midnight.

Not the only flight

This is likely to be one of several flights diverted and delayed though.

Also on Thursday, Singapore Airlines flight SQ861 was also diverted, this time to Paya Lebar airbase with the same reason of having run out of fuel after circling in the airspace.

AirAsia responds

In a statement given in response to Mothership.sg's queries, AirAsia confirms that the plane was diverted, and the delay was "further exacerbated by bad weather conditions".

They also apologise for the inconvenience caused.

AirAsia confirms that Flight AK1755 bound for Singapore from Miri, Sarawak on 15 November 2018 at 12.45pm was diverted to Senai International Airport in Johor Bahru due to air traffic congestion at Changi International Airport.

The delay was further exacerbated by bad weather conditions. While our aircraft was ready for departure from Johor Bahru, we could not do so as we did not have clearance from the Air Traffic Control due to congestion at Changi Airport. The aircraft was refueled at Senai airport in preparation to return to Singapore.

Guests were attended to by our ground staff in Senai airport and all necessary assistance was provided.

Flight AK1755 departed from Senai International Airport to Singapore at 10.00pm upon receiving air traffic clearance for departure.

We apologise for the inconvenience caused by these external factors.

Top image courtesy of Kester Ng