QF1 from SIN diversion to Baku, Azerbaijan (GYD)

[nancypants]

There's been mention in this thread that perhaps Qantas should have had paid agents in place at the various airports along its route for events like this - but how realistic is it to pay every year for something at a place like Baku? A QF aircraft landing at Baku is almost certainly no more than a one in thirty year event - and then you times that by the number of airports along the route taking in various flight plans depending on wind and time of year and it gets impractical I would have thought. For sure have something in place at a few major places along the way like Frankfurt in case the UK's weather gets really ugly, but not every possible airport along multiple possible routes.

You’d think this would be a decent space for oneworld or some kind of bilateral agreements with partners- when Malaysian had their diversion to ASP (?2018), clearly they wouldn’t be maintaining a presence there but having contacts in the form of Qantas would surely smooth things along somewhat?

 

[Melburnian1]

However it is spun.. this presents as excellent service recovery by the 'roo and plaudits are trumps......

Let's wait until passengers are respectively in London and Sydney before forming a judgment, but yes, at least an aircraft is on the way.

 

[CaptJCool]

Let's wait until passengers are respectively in London and Sydney before forming a judgment, but yes, at least an aircraft is on the way.

Just out of interest, how many PAX are likely to Disembark at LHR VS TRANSFER onto UK Cities or Ireland or mainland Europe ?

 

[OATEK]

Let's wait until passengers are respectively in London and Sydney before forming a judgment, but yes, at least an aircraft is on the way.

Why wait? A recovery operation is in place, and the availability of a spare A388 was an outstanding piece of risk management if it was a result of forward planning.

 

[Captain Halliday]

Assuming AV Herald is correct, I’m surprised it’s only 356 pax given all the hype about high demand post covid plus this one being just days before Christmas.

 

[milehighclub]

Let's wait until passengers are respectively in London and Sydney before forming a judgment, but yes, at least an aircraft is on the way.

Yes, I am sure you will spend all of Xmas day finding every single negative report. God forbid, that when something goes wrong, QF can and does actually do a pretty good job under the circumstances. Do they always get it right, maybe not, but given all the information, in a country that from what we have all been reading, isn't exactly straight forward to deal with, have got passengers in hotels, got a replacement aircraft and will get most people home in time before Santa visits.

Even the SQ article that you shared had two totally different accounts. One not so flash, and the other, more understanding given the situation. That happens with almost every event.

There are two media headlines out of this diversion:
"Passengers STRANDED for Christmas in BAKU - "I was abandoned in the terminal and there was no one to talk too" said one flyer (insert photo of a 737)
or
"Rescue flight to get diverted passengers in Baku home for Christmas" "It was a long journey but they did they best under the circumstances" (and still insert that 737 photo)"

I feel that you honestly want the first headline.....

 

[moa999]

You’d think this would be a decent space for oneworld or some kind of bilateral agreements with partners-

Only Oneworld airlines servicing GYD is QR with 2 flights a day.. but at this time of year can't imagine much availability on DOH-LHR, let alone the QF/QR issues.

Former Oneworld member S7 used to fly to GYD as well

 

[nancypants]

Only Oneworld airlines servicing GYD is QR with 2 flights a day.. but at this time of year can't imagine much availability on DOH-LHR, let alone the QF/QR issues.

Former Oneworld member S7 used to fly to GYD as well

Yes I haven’t entirely developed this proposal as you can see

 

[CaptJCool]

Assuming AV Herald is correct, I’m surprised it’s only 356 pax given all the hype about high demand post covid plus this one being just days before Christmas.

I’m not surprised did you see the fare pricing ?.?

in looking up the QF Seat maps appears its 484/485 Max PAX.

SO Loading is 73%

 

[kangarooflyer88]

I also wonder why it requires a flight all the way from Australia to get the pax onward to London. Surely they could charter one or more aircraft from any of many European airlines to get them on their way sooner, without the expense of an empty A380 flight? I understand most carriers are very busy but there's a lot to pick from.

Because QF1 isn't the end of the story. That same airframe is supposed to be flying back to Sydney (via S'pore) as QF2. So sure, they could charter an aircraft in Europe to bring folks over to LHR, but how does that solve QF 2? Remember too that this is arguably one of the busiest travel periods so the prospect of booking 600+ passengers (QF1 to LHR and QF2 returning to SYD) on other airlines may be difficult.

 

[PineappleSkip]

QF6025 is heading through India now, and in other news I have located what appears to be a sleigh heading south off CNS.

Merry christmas to all AFFers!

Cheers skip

 

[antycbr]

QF6025 is heading through India now, and in other news I have located what appears to be a sleigh heading south off CNS.

Merry christmas to all AFFers!

Cheers skip

View attachment 312622

OT: Does the sleigh have to avoid areas that Airservices can’t staff due to staff shortages? Does Santa pay overflight rights to the Russian Federation or does he boycott?

 

[jb747]

Or the aircraft cannot now fly until the cargo fire extinguisher bottles are replenished. Which then requires someone to check the smoke/fire alarm system and also replenish the bottles.

Were they fired? I don’t know. I expect that you may be able to fly without them, as long as the hold is completely empty.

 

[QFflyermelbourne]

I think so. Luckily the airline had an available airframe. Question is why did it have an spare. Isn’t air travel bursting at the seams?

The A380s have been slow coming back and Qantas made a big thing about having operational slack over peak summer to deal with something just like this. Suspect if 380s had been able to be more predictably stood up they might not have kept one so lightly scheduled.

 

[QFflyermelbourne]

Assuming AV Herald is correct, I’m surprised it’s only 356 pax given all the hype about high demand post covid plus this one being just days before Christmas.

I think there is some odd things going on across air travel. I was very surprised my domestic MEL-OOL the other day had only 100ish people on it with 3 spare seats in J and around 60 in Y. The CSM told me the return flight they were taking back only had 70 people booked - two days before Christmas!

I'm on QF1 next week and managed to get a J Classic Reward only about four weeks ago. There were at least two seats released very late.

So for all the talk about packed flights and the insane fares they've been charging, I don't think its translating in reality.

 

[CaptJCool]

I think there is some odd things going on across air travel. I was very surprised my domestic MEL-OOL the other day had only 100ish people on it with 3 spare seats in J and around 60 in Y. The CSM told me the return flight they were taking back only had 70 people booked - two days before Christmas!

I'm on QF1 next week and managed to get a J Classic Reward only about four weeks ago. There were at least two seats released very late.

So for all the talk about packed flights and the insane fares they've been charging, I don't think its translating in reality.

Traditionally from my experience, this is usual.
people prefer to arrive before Christmas Eve... I’m happy to fly on Christmas Day = less people about

 

[Quickstatus]

odd things going on across air travel

Interest rates, inflation = less discretionary income?

 

[Mattg]

I think there is some odd things going on across air travel. I was very surprised my domestic MEL-OOL the other day had only 100ish people on it with 3 spare seats in J and around 60 in Y. The CSM told me the return flight they were taking back only had 70 people booked - two days before Christmas!

I'm on QF1 next week and managed to get a J Classic Reward only about four weeks ago. There were at least two seats released very late.

So for all the talk about packed flights and the insane fares they've been charging, I don't think its translating in reality.

Sounds like revenue management decided not to release any/many cheaper seats in the expectation that the flight would fill up with people willing to pay top dollar. And they got it wrong this time.

 

[QFflyermelbourne]

Sounds like revenue management decided not to release any/many cheaper seats in the expectation that the flight would fill up with people willing to pay top dollar. And they got it wrong this time.

My thoughts exactly. One of many signs that things are slowing down fast in this economy. I was shocked when I got to the airport and there was essentially no queue at all for security and the lounge was less than half full.

 

[Melburnian1]

Is departure of the relief flight not occurring until it can arrive LHR at 0600 or later, or is it becoming a totally daytime flight from Baku to give passengers (and crew) a bit more time to adjust to the different time zone?

It's 0032 hours in Baku as I write (0732 AEDT). Flying time to LHR is c.six hours, and Baku is four hours ahead of the UK.