MEL Departures boards not correct

[Boris spatsky]

Why is it that the VA departure boards are not correct at MEL? For example, just now, my flight is delayed 1 hr 20, but the board says 'boarding now'. When i asked the lounge angel, she replied 'sorry sir, we can't alter the board'. Ridiculous, especially considering that you could clear security for gates 1-10, only to find a gate change to gates 11+, requiring another security check.

 

[anat0l]

The lounge angel is most likely right, because IIRC all the departures FIDs were centrally controlled, and moreover automated (e.g. if T-30 minutes, change status to "Boarding", even if it isn't really happening).

Not sure how delays get transmitted and reflected on the board.

 

[Boris spatsky]

It doesn't seem to happen like that at other ports though?

 

[777]

No it's broken in sydney as well at the moment.

 

[muppet]

It's not that it's broken, the staff openly admit that the airport controls the boards. It's nonsense, there's almost no point having them. They're only useful if the flight is on schedule.

During storms in Sydney in Jan, many flights cancelled or delayed by hours, the board were saying "Boarding" and then "Closed". I went to my gate once it said "Boarding" there was no action, no announcements. After it said "Closed" then dropped off all together, I got in a queue and asked what's the deal. She said "maybe 20 mins ... we don't control the boards" apparently it's too hard to make announcements. The lounge was the same, no time for announcements as they were dealing with so many misconnects.

 

[RooFlyer]

At HBA this morning, no Virgin flights were appearing on the departure screens at all (which cater for all airlines). At the departure gate, all it said was a TT (Tiger) flight had been cancelled (surprise, surprise). As I had done OLCI and walked straight to the gate, it was a bit of a nervous wait till the gate agents turned up!

At MEL this afternoon, one VA departure screen in the lounge was running 2 hrs behind ie showing 1:30pm departures at the top when it was 3:30pm.

Anyway these screens never to relied on. Always ask the lady/guy at the gate to advise staus (even then all I really believe is when there is a plane parked at the departure gate).

 

[markis10]

It's not that it's broken, the staff openly admit that the airport controls the boards. It's nonsense, there's almost no point having them. They're only useful if the flight is on schedule.

That is correct, airports should stick to what they do well, ripping people off with expensive options.

 

[nlagalle]

That is correct, airports should stick to what they do well, ripping people off with expensive options.

In surprised the airports haven't started changing to view the boards!

 

[777]

AFAIK it's another sabre bug. VA's IT system provides information to the airport about flight movements and scheduling and they then feed that into the display. It seems to me that TripAdvisor alerts have been a bit iffy since the sabre switchover as well which use the same data feed i think?

 

[nlagalle]

Another bug?? All I keep hearing about is sabre bugs!

 

[LiamR]

Yep, I noticed this when I travelled last week, the boards just seem to be running off a scheduled, rather than what's actually happening outside.

*Sigh*

 

[oz_mark]

AFAIK it's another sabre bug. VA's IT system provides information to the airport about flight movements and scheduling and they then feed that into the display. It seems to me that TripAdvisor alerts have been a bit iffy since the sabre switchover as well which use the same data feed i think?

The same problem was there before sabre. They really need some boards they control.

 

[bullerdude]

The same problem was there before sabre. They really need some boards they control.

Not necessarily, if they fed the right data to the Melbourne airport systems about what their areoplanes are actually doing then the board would work fine.

Right now, it seems they are just sending scheduled data instead of live data.

 

[eastwest101]

It's not that it's broken, the staff openly admit that the airport controls the boards. It's nonsense, there's almost no point having them. They're only useful if the flight is on schedule.

Agree - the boards are pre-written pieces of fiction that may or may not bear any resemblance to reality, it didn't used to be like this a long time ago, maybe back then the airlines were responsible for their own flight status info and boards?

 

[openseat]

It happens at QF as well.

I was in the SYD Flounge last week and JQ29 went to boarding on the FIDS. i asked at the desk and was told to go to the gate. Got to the gate (54 - so a long way from the Flounge). No boarding - delayed for an hour.

 

[RooFlyer]

What about at check-in, then? If they say a flight is on time (at the time of check-in), are they simply reading off the same b/s info feed, or do they have at least moderately reliable info?

 

[Boris spatsky]

There must be some input by the airline though for gate information??

 

[eastwest101]

There must be some input by the airline though for gate information??

Only sometimes - if someone remembers to do it. QF/VA/JQ and everyone else quite often fail to do this.

 

[notzac]

How difficult would it be for VA to run their own information screens - especially in the lounges?? I've never understood this.

 

[Elbobbo]

Anyone else miss the old rotating card boards? its just not the same on an LCD screen... :{