Jetstar Delays/Cancellations

[Melburnian1]

Sunday 25 December's JQ8, the 2210 hours SIN-MEL (B788 VH-VKH) was not airborne until 2340 hours so on Boxing Day, arrival is estimated as 0931 hours, 61 minutes tardy.

Not as delayed is JQ18, the 2140 hours HKT-MEL in the sky last night at 2230 for suggested arrival of 1035, half an hour late for VH-VKI.

JQ602 (0600 hours ASVV-SYD) was presumably held due to the earlier fog in Sydney, so it did not take off on its 0600 hours AVV-SYD until 0735 hours. A320 VH-VQA should arrive at about 0844 hours, 79 late. A delay of this magnitude is difficult to recover from if the aircraft has an intensive schedule on normally what is a very busy Boxing Day.

JQ36 from DPS down to MEL has A321 VH-OFL and is arriving at 0801 hours, 46 late.

 

[Melburnian1]

In more on Boxing Day 2022, JQ38 from DPS to SYD has B788 VH-VKA with arrival of this class leader expected at 1037, 152 minutes late.

 

[Melburnian1]

Tuesday 27 December sees JQ7 having taken off from MEL at 1706 hours with SIN arrival for B788 VH-VKI suggested as 62 minutes late at 2112 hours mid evening.

JQ58 (1425 hours DPS down to BNE) was in the sky at 1540, so its arrival should be 2301 hours, 56 behind for VH-VKD of the same class.

The 1440 hours MEL-BKK (JQ29, VKF) was in the sky at 1638 so its arrival looks to be 77 minutes tardy at 2107 hours.

JQ90 (CNS across to DPS, A320 VH-XNJ) is the 1850 hours up up and away at 1949 for a presumed arrival tonight at 2214 hours, 39 behind.

 

[Melburnian1]

Jetstar turn back; Failed to Get Authorisation

Here's a new one 😬 https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/holiday-nightmare-jetstar-makes-sudden-uturn-45-hours-into-flight-to-bali/news-story/0c6cf752d08818fdd521e59002c740a3

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[Melburnian1]

The above may explain why JQ107, the 1825 hours DPS-PER is delayed to an estimated 2300 hours in departure on Wednesday 28 December given a pilot was allegedly on the turned back MEL-DPS JQ35 yesterday.

 

[Melburnian1]

Continuing with 28 December, JQ117 (A320 VH-VGO, the 0915 hours morning DPS-PER) did not become airborne until 1505 so arrival is forecast for 1823 hours in the early evening, 323 minutes tardy.

JQ1035 looks like the special to convey passengers affected by the embarrassing turnback of JQ35 last night (see above).

This 1645 hours extra took off at 1829 hours, so arrival for VH-VKF (B788) is expected at 2118 hours, 103 minutes late.

The normal JQ35 tonight was supposedly to depart MEL 40 late at 1855 but by 1939 it had yet to become airborne.

 

[Quickstatus]

@Melburnian1 . Is JQ35 late more often than not?

 

[Saab34]

Last time JQ35 was on time was 14th December.

JQ7 MEL-SIN even worse 28th November.

SYD-ICN the new Korea flight, once in the last 2 months.

 

[Melburnian1]

Last time JQ35 was on time was 14th December.

Goodness gracious. All three are terrible: outstanding research, Saab34. An airline, like the plague, to avoid.

With the JQ35 turnaround (back to MEL instead of arriving in DPS - see above 'Herald Sun' story), a reader at 'The Australian' is saying the real reason the plane didn't make it to DPS with JQ35 is that every Wednesday, the relevant runway is closed from 0200 to 0700, so with the flight departing MEL at 2302 and taking off at 2314, it would have reached DPS in that closure period.

 

[Quickstatus]

real reason

That would be on the NOTAM. If so, no pilot would have operated that flight at that time.

 

[Saab34]

The 787 performance has been terrible for the past 6 months minimum. It’s getting to the point in which one starts to question the viability of the 787 business plan. Bali turn back or not, engineering problems they ran with previously are not the problem today.

Scoot and AirAsia manage to conduct a widebody operation from much bigger and busier hubs without disaster day after day.

Jetstar has a new COO. Perhaps out of his depth.

 

[Melburnian1]

@Melburnian1 . Is JQ35 late more often than not?

Saab34, bless him, has already posted an answer.

Just to show how correct he is, tonight's JQ35, the 1815 hours MEL-DPS is expected to depart at 2115 hours.

Unfortunately our government doesn't publish statistics on the timeliness (and cancellation percentages) of international flights arriving in Australia. If it did, QFi would be one of the worst performers, but JQi's abysmal 'performance' (an oxymoron if ever there was one) exceeds QFi I would suggest for unpunctuality. Terrible: so glad I've not used JQ for about 14 years.

Some bogans who have one holiday a year and save and scrimp for it must be beside themselves. It's wrong to yell profanities at cabin crew as alleged may have occurred, but while we can't condone it, one can 'sort of' understand it even if we would hope we never do it ourselves. I feel sorry for people who are in a rare event treating their family or spouse to a Bali holiday, only to have their planned arrival date wrecked by Jetstar.

I'm surprised in the social media world of today (not always a positive) videos haven't emerged. Perhaps they're on platforms I never access such as Instagram or mainland Chinese-owned TikTok?

A $200 travel voucher with no doubt restrictive Ts and Cs doesn't cut the mustard.

 

[Quickstatus]

A quick look at the JQ 787 airframes suggests an invariably late fleet.
I have not looked at the A321 fleet yet

Is JQ running a high utilisation high frequency operation?.

Does the new QF policy of keeping operational spares on hand extend to JQ?

 

[Melburnian1]

One I missed today (28 December 2022) was flagship JQ1, the 1645 hours MEL-HNL.

Cancelled.

Says it all. Years ago when Philippine Airlines was poor (much improved today, though has downsized), it apparently had some acronym PAL INC that was translated by wags as 'Plane Always Late If Not Cancelled'.

In 2022-23, that no longer applies to PR but is an appropriate statement for most JQi operations.

JQ has been profitable so it'd be interesting to know whether management regards the B788 punctuality and cancellation problems as merely 'small beer' or whether it's starting to cost the parent company Qantas a fair bit of moolah.

It must be annoying for flight and cabin crew: even if they're used to problems including delays, JQi takes it to a whole new adverse level.

 

[Melburnian1]

A quick look at the JQ 787 airframes suggests an invariably late fleet.
I have not looked at the A321 fleet yet

Is JQ running a high utilisation high frequency operation?.

Does the new QF policy of keeping operational spares on hand extend to JQ?

I don't know about the A321s/A320s but yes, with the B788s, it appears (at least during holiday periods) that delays continue and in some cases compound.

A few pages back I looked at every B788 at a point in time. It wasn't an attractive look if you were a patron hoping to connect to another flight within a couple of hours.

 

[Quickstatus]

hoping to connect to another flight

JQ is really a point to point service. I would not rely on it as a connection to/from another flight.

 

[Quickstatus]

And late again.

The replacement flight for 27/12/22 JQ35 was JQ1035
This flight was supposed to depart at 28/12/22 16:45 hrs but was itself 1:30 late.

As it was operated by a B787 (VH-VKF) I don’t think the route capacity is the issue. Additionally a quick perusal of that airframe also shows a consistently late operation.

 

[Melburnian1]

JQ36, is the 2230 hours Wednesday 28 December DPS-MEL with A321 VH-OFE. Takeoff was not until 0215 hours on Thursday 29 so expected arrival becomes 1035 hours, 200 minutes late.

VH-VKE (B788) that was involved in the disastrous MEL-DPS turnaround (see above) is on JQ18 from HKT to MEL. Arrival is predicted as 1047 hours midmorning, 42 late.

 

[encryptededdy]

Yesterday's JQ47 SYD-ICN arrived on time.

This marks an impressive two times this flight has arrived on time since its launch two months ago.

Maybe Jetstar needs a pre-recorded message apologising for the delay that plays as part of the safety video, to save the flight crew having to say it every time.

 

[Harrison_133]

On top of the Bali woes, Jetstar’s domestic operation isn’t having a great start to 2023. So far today, they’ve amassed 18 cancellations out of Melbourne and 16 out of Sydney.