Plat bumped out of Economy X - Twice.

[jakeseven7]

I would be assuming it had to do with trim requirements on the aircraft, so the weight and balance. I'd be 99% sure this is the case.

On a 737? Plane must have been very empty....

 

[redwoodw]

A temp check gun takes 5 seconds a person to complete. If done at gate and pax boarding passes marked when done, or an OK they passed the test given via sticker or similar it clearly adds zero time to boarding the plane.

Please post here the alleged reports of this simple process "taking hours".

As far as Virgin knew some passengers on our plane were heavily COVID infected, and they had high temperatures. The entire plane were then breathing their exhalations for 90 mins. To passengers AND all staff.

Testing such persons ON ARRIVAL is clearly the dumb way to do things. Laziness and total disinterest on Virgin's part.

No other airline in Australia does that - why blame VA alone? You seem to have a grudge with VA (clearly shown in your posts in the past) but not other airlines - if you're so dissatisfied with VA why not vote with your wallet?

Not a word or a link on the Virgin email flight advice of needing to have the SA Police clearance submitted 72 hours in advance. (Despite no new SYD cases for 21 days - and then they wonder why no tourists bother.)

You seem to put the responsibility of your own travel arrangements and due diligence on the airline - it's YOUR responsibility to ensure you have the appropriate documentation to travel not the airlines'.

Why airlines do not use some brains to do a fast forehead temperature check of all boarding pax at gate I have no idea. It at least LOOKS like they are interested in welfare of staff and other passengers.

Fever is not 100% associated with the coronavirus. It's possible one develop other symptoms without actually getting a fever - or even one might just be in the incubation period or simply asymptomatic. It's not an effective measure to detect the coronavirus.

 

[milehighclub]

I am really challenging my brain here but I don't think the zones split at that row

I am thinking the same. Row 3 to 6 would be in the same zone (Oa). The next zone starts at the front of the engines (Ob).

 

[muppet]

On a 737? Plane must have been very empty....

Agreed. VA2 must be one finely-tuned operation to perfect the 737’s centre of gravity by moving one pax from row 3 to 6.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Agreed. VA2 must be one finely-tuned operation to perfect the 737’s centre of gravity by moving one pax from row 3 to 6.

Well, the owner of the airline has basically no bearing whatsoever on weight and balance calculations.

 

[jakeseven7]

Well, the owner of the airline has basically no bearing whatsoever on weight and balance calculations.

Maybe Bain saved .01 cents of fuel by moving the plat passengers though? It all adds up

 

[Must...Fly!]

Maybe Bain saved .01 cents of fuel by moving the plat passengers though? It all adds up

Maybe they should. Given the uproar that was around in the VA1 days when the "whatever you want from BoB" was discontinued in J I think they would face an uphill battle at any change!

 

[ozstamps]

So who pays for all these temparture check devices?

Virgin of course. They are simple, fast, non intrusive, effective and accurate. No special training needed. Cost is absolute PEANUTS in the airline industry. Part of giving the APPEARANCE of being seen to be remotely interested in the welfare of their passengers.

All manner of medico reception areas etc, use these routinely now. Fail this and you are asked to leave.

No Touch Forehead Thermometer (FDA-Cleared) | Thermoworks - cost per long lasting retail less than my one way ticket cost. Anyone with a high reading needs to get a medico clearance before flying. Simple.

You may be happy to be sitting next to someone for 2 hours with raging COVID-19, and high temp, that the airline has not detected, simply as they are penny-pinching and short-sighted.

I am not.

 

[eastwest101]

So who pays for all these temparture check devices? Are Qantas, Air North, Rex etc doing this?

Regarding the on arrival checks which are done from my understanding in the relevant health authorites, some of these are the tests have caused delays of hours on the tarmac. Maybe drop them your concern

NOTE: I my post I said health checks, not temparture checks. A health check can include a covid test.

Rex have already been doing temperature checks upon check-in for many months. Not too hard for them, but obviously less numbers of pax than QF VA and JQ.

ozstamps is correct in that the official SA advice is that 7 days before entry to SA they are looking for an application, in reality its currently about 7mins to fill out the online form and get the email back while you are taxiing from the runway back to the aerobridge.. I think SA are now up to Version 35 of their Emergency Management (Cross Border Travel No 35) (COVID-19) Direction 2021 and with reports from other states of rules being changed on people whom are already in the air on their way to another state/destination, the level of cynicism around the state border restrictions is pretty unsurprising. Lots of "make busywork" happening, but still massive glaring deficiencies and obvious gaps in the way that a lot/all states are "policing" their borders, 12 months later and they are still making it up as they go with no national standards and many inconsistencies.

If the airlines wanted to make detailed public announcements about travel restrictions for the destination and for transiting pax onto other flights then the public announcement would probably last the duration of the flight! I recently flew QF and general announcements were made on some interstate flights but not all, last month VA were making 'general' announcements as well asking people to check as part of the standard Covid-19 briefing but wasn't state specific.

 

[ozstamps]

Rex have already been doing temperature checks upon check-in for many months. Not too hard for them, but obviously less numbers of pax than QF VA and JQ.

. Lots of "make busywork" happening, but still massive glaring deficiencies and obvious gaps in the way that a lot/all states are "policing" their borders, 12 months later and they are still making it up as they go with no national standards and many inconsistencies.

Yes very clearly pre-flight temp checks are possible by commercial airlines here, some above have zero big picture vision of what is possible, and what is prudent and sensible, and safe.

We just got a text from SA Government reminding us we need to take a COVID test, as the armies of clueless bureaucrats do not talk to each other, or link all tests taken to the unique SA Police clearance number, so it is instantly clear who HAS and has NOT complied.

If there is an outbreak here they will as usual be floundering, and running around in panicky circles, tracing arrivals, and who has or has not tested.

The entire system is Monty Python like right now. Each time we arrive the SA Bureaucrats give you this laughable things from a roll they buy at the nearest Dollar Shop. Got this one yesterday. OR they give you the little square low grade paper Meat Raffle types from a little pad.

 

[redwoodw]

Virgin of course. They are simple, fast, non intrusive, effective and accurate. No special training needed. Cost is absolute PEANUTS in the airline industry. Part of giving the APPEARANCE of being seen to be remotely interested in the welfare of their passengers.

All manner of medico reception areas etc, use these routinely now. Fail this and you are asked to leave.

No Touch Forehead Thermometer (FDA-Cleared) | Thermoworks - cost per long lasting retail less than my one way ticket cost. Anyone with a high reading needs to get a medico clearance before flying. Simple.

You may be happy to be sitting next to someone for 2 hours with raging COVID-19, and high temp, that the airline has not detected, simply as they are penny-pinching and short-sighted.

I am not.

Temperature checks cannot detect coronavirus patients who are asymptomatic, do not have fever as a symptom or in their incubation period. Simply having normal reading doesn't clear one from the coronavirus. If you'd want to be sure of not sitting next to someone with coronavirus then you'd need everyone to take swabs before flying.

If you truly believe airlines should be the ones out there detecting whether a pax has the coronavirus - Greyhound or Murrays or even NSW Transport should be doing the same based on the same logic - airlines are no different than any other public transport service provider.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Taxi drivers should be taking temperature checks based on that. As should supermarkets and bus drivers.

It's flawed logic, the state is responsible for health, the airline's job is to safely fly you from A to B if you can fly from A to B.

 

[Bagpuss]

We just got a text from SA Government reminding us we need to take a COVID test, as the armies of clueless bureaucrats do not talk to each other, or link all tests taken to the unique SA Police clearance number, so it is instantly clear who HAS and has NOT complied.

What's that got to do with Virgin (or any airline)?

Maybe, why you're getting a COVID test, you can ask for an extra temparture check?

Though .... would be good to understand the reason for being bumped out of Economy X ......

Post automatically merged: Feb 10, 2021

Taxi drivers should be taking temperature checks based on that. As should supermarkets and bus drivers.

It's flawed logic, the state is responsible for health, the airline's job is to safely fly you from A to B if you can fly from A to B.

Think we should all start the "OzStamps Movement". Everyone buys a temperature check device and temperature check passengers prior departures. Ideally outside the terminal as an extra precuation.

 

[serfty]

Though .... would be good to understand the reason for being bumped out of Economy X ......

Agreed, more on the why from @juliusg could be useful in relation to the thread topic.

 

[Vic]

Before COVID I was going overseas 2-3 times a year, including one RTW. I made sure I was fully conversant with all the immigration, arrival, fee etc requirements but still got caught out occasionally with some arrival proceedures.

Some people need reminders - no big deal, it’s it?

But if you go into warnings etc at booking, if I book 6 months ago, will that info be useful to me other than as a general reminder?

I answered you point. It is entirely reasonable to for the majority of people to be fully aware of Covid-19, and the related border restrictions. Further to be fully aware that the border restrictions are changing constantly, sometimes by the hour. It's all that's been discussed since April 2020.

I don't agree that it's beyond the scope of mere mortals to know they need to check.

 

[serfty]

[moderator hat]

Several Posts heading off topic have been deleted/modified.​

​

Please stick to the topic which is "Plat bumped out of Economy X - Twice.".​

[/moderator hat]

 

[RooFlyer]

It is entirely reasonable to for the majority of people to be fully aware of Covid-19, and the related border restrictions. Further to be fully aware that the border restrictions are changing constantly, sometimes by the hour. It's all that's been discussed since April 2020.

I agree entirely but would maintain that it’s not unreasonable to assume that some people are fallible and/or missed the last change in rules. The elderly? So a little reminder on board or anywhere along the way should not be remarkable, I would have thought.

 

[stm1sydney]

Flew to Adelaide yesterday.

MANDATORY COVID test on day one here, and mandatory self-quarantine until a clear test text, which arrived after MIDNIGHT. (and they also then wonder why no tourists bother!)

Testing done by a private company near airport that dumbly does not note the flight number, or the unique SA Police approval number, on their brief form, so our negative test is still unknown to anyone in bureaucracy I'd say. No-one has phoned to ask.

What tourist will fly in, if they need to self-quarantine until a clear test is obtained, even from States with zero current outbreaks.

Wow, didn't know that about SA. They can go get f*cked. We have a three night trip booked in ADL (from SYD) in March, so if it stays like this, we won't be going and spending our money there.

 

[AIRwin]

Wow, didn't know that about SA.

Check for updates here:

Travel

www.covid-19.sa.gov.au

 

[jakeseven7]

Wow, didn't know that about SA. They can go get f*cked. We have a three night trip booked in ADL (from SYD) in March, so if it stays like this, we won't be going and spending our money there.

SA has lost the plot since pizzagate....

Anyway, I'm keen to know if VA2 have got back to the OP on why they did it, and compensation