Spice Jet Airlines — Stranded at Fujairah on Spice Jet flight to Dubai without transport or food; coffee was charged DH10

Address:	122016
Website:	www.spicejet.com

I'm Indian passport holder and resident of Canada traveling from Kochi to Dubai on SpiceJet flight SG17 on 28 Dec 2016 with my minor daughter. I was on a tourist visa to Dubai and did not have a local Dubai number. Due to fog in DXB the flight, due to land at 2.30am was diverted to Fujairah, which is approximately 2 hours by road from Dubai. The captain informed us that we were delayed and will be send back once the ATC gives clearance. Despite being a full flight all passengers were stuck inside a stuffy aircraft, provided water only on request, coffee at the rate of DH10 per cup, until 8am in the morning. There was some croissants and juice provided at that time. There was no way we could charge phones, connect to Wifi nor make local calls. At approx 8am a new captain comes on board and announces that we could disembark if we would like to do so. Many passengers left. About 80 passengers refused to disembark as the cost of taxi fare to Dubai is approximately DH275. When we asked the crew why we cannot be provided a bus they said they do not have an operation in Fujairah. This is 2 hours driving distance from Dubai. When we got agitated they said that they cannot get any bus service as all buses were booked by other airlines that got similarly stranded at different airports close to Dubai. The Captain constantly announced that there will be further delays to travel back to Dubai. We said we are happy to wait as we would spend the same two-hours in a safe place rather than travelling in an unknown place, with spurious taxi drivers and fog situations. However, the crew was not willing offer any solutions but were behaving as if they want to get rid of the passengers at the airport. The tone was there will be huge delays, it is better you get off, we don't know when we will be able to take off to Dubai. After failing to make any headway with the crew who were making apologies but not offering any solutions I tied up with another passenger to share a ride to Dubai. On disembarking I find that the entire luggage had already been offloaded. Therefore, it was clear that the crew was simply trying to get rid of the passengers and not keeping to the promise of flying us/transporting passengers to the correct destination Dubai. They were making false excuses. We also came to know that few Emirati/locals were provided transport before every other passenger mostly Indian nationals from Kerala. There were few foreign nationals who I'm sure were also provided royal treatment. What is the risk policy of Spice Jet? We were not stranded in an unknown desert or mountain! Is it not the airlines responsibility to get passengers to their promised destination? Is it normal for Spice Jet to let people off with lame excuses that they do not have operation at an airport? Are passengers expected to have an operation at an unknown airport and do they have to fend for themselves? Every one of the families have spend close to DH300 to reach home. Not to mention the wasted hours. I reached home at noon, almost 10 hours after the scheduled arrival time because of the carelessness of the Spice Jet crew. Many passengers who were due to join work on Thursday lost 3 days salary because of the callousness of Spice Jet. Who is answerable to the miseries of passengers like myself and many more who will be left stranded at different airports because Spice Jet DOES NOT HAVE ANY RESPONSIBILITY TO DELIVER ITS PASSENGERS AT THE PROMISED DESTINATION EVEN DURING EMERGENCY SITUATIONS?