Discover apologises to stranded Namibia holidaymakers

For Discover Airlines, the new year took off to anything but a dream start. Passengers from Germany, Holland and Belgium were stranded in Namibia for days due to a technical fault. The incident made headlines in Namibia, the Netherlands and Belgium.

"Passengers, angry and uncertain, criticised [the parent company] Lufthansa for poor communication and limited rebooking options during peak travel season", the Portal Aviation24.be reported. "With only one flight daily from Namibia to Western countries, many are left in limbo, unsure when they’ll return home."

The media reports from Monday evening spoke of "hundreds" of holidaymakers and an "ordeal" that had already lasted four days. Discover Airlines, on the other hand, explained when asked by Namibian.org that they had flown the last affected passengers back to Frankfurt after three days.

Spare part flown in from Frankfurt

According to the airline, the flight from Windhoek to Frankfurt on Friday evening (3 January) had to be cancelled. "The reason was a technical defect that required spare parts to be flown in from Frankfurt."

The flight was therefore postponed to Sunday. However: "During the repair, an additional delay occurred [...]. After the repairs were completed, the aircraft departed [...] on Monday, January 6, with the passengers who had not yet been rebooked."

The holiday airline confirmed that there were hardly any alternative flights during the peak travel period over Christmas and the New Year. They were therefore only able to rebook "approximately 100" of the affected passengers.

Discover Airlines also responded to the accusations of a lack of communication. "The affected passengers were notified of the delays via email, provided their contact information was included in the booking." Like all airlines, they had no other channel to contact passengers.

"However", the airline emphasised, "we are fully aware that [...] the frustration of our guests is entirely justified, and the communication may be perceived as inadequate. We deeply regret this." And further: "We sincerely apologize to the affected passengers for the inconvenience caused by the delay of the flight."

Enter email address and check flight status

As mentioned in an earlier report by Namibian.org, it is advisable (even retrospectively) to enter your email address for your booking. In addition, Discover Airlines passengers can check the status of their flight on the Lufthansa Group website.

The holiday airline offers ten non-stop flights per week from Frankfurt to Windhoek. Alternatives are connections from Ethiopean Airlines with a stopover in Addis Ababa and flights with a change in Johannesburg.

Sven-Eric Stender