It is a disgrace that the tannoy was not working or even the megaphone, it just shows what the maintenance is like.
Be careful what you imply in what you write.
The PA failing to work was NOTHING to do with maintenance, it was related to the fault that caused the smoke/fumes, as were many of the other abnormalities during the event.
The 300's have 2 megaphones, one at the front and one at the rear, they are stowed in hat racks. They are checked every day for functionality. I can only surmise that with the passengers up and about and in the way the CC at the front couldn't access theirs, and the CC at the back didn't know what was occurring as he/she sits rearward facing and has a bulk-head between her and the cabin.
I'd also like to take umbrage at
It is the same thing at airports when there is a delay, if only people were told the truth they wouldn't get so frustrated.
Most people are given information when delays occur, sometimes it's best not to go into too much technical detail, and sometimes the detail isn't available. In addition many people don't listen to announcements so they think they've been left in the dark when they just haven't listened. And sometimes the original plan for the delay changes so passengers think that they have been led along, when actually they really haven't.
Little rant over, just remains to congratulate the crew for a job well done under very unusual circumstances
