Qantas Delays/Cancellations

[Flyerqf]

It appears that QF11 is waiting for the late arrivals of QF15 and QF93 otherwise it could be quite empty on its continuation to JFK.

 

[Flyerqf]

QF98 is delayed departing HKG 2.5 hrs and will stopping in Cairns due to operational reasons.

 

[ChrisGibbs]

It appears that QF11 is waiting for the late arrivals of QF15 and QF93 otherwise it could be quite empty on its continuation to JFK.

Arrived bright and early this morning into LAX on QF11 at just after 0600am... The CSM updated me a couple of times through the flight on the impending delay on the QF11 LAX - JFK service. The initial indications via the tech crew was for an 11:00am departure from LAX to JFK however it looks as though the late arrival of QF93 into LAX has driven the delay out to a 1345 departure. All AA flights from LAX-JFK were fully booked leaving the delayed QF11 744 service as one of the only viable options...

 

[Melburnian1]

...All AA flights from LAX-JFK were fully booked leaving the delayed QF11 744 service as one of the only viable options...

ChrisGibbs, many thanks for a great on-the-spot report.

It would be interesting to know how often the transcontinental USA AA flights are either fully booked or have only a small number of spare seats throughout a day's offerings. This may sometimes be a key reason why QF11/QF12 have to operate through from LAX to JFK and return even when QF15 is delayed ex Oz, because QF would want to avoid adverse publicity from passengers being stranded in Los Angeles (or New York.)

It also begs the question with QF12 from JFK to LAX cancelled on 19 April: are AA bookings in the westbound direction ex JFK similarly heavy, or not a lot lighter such that QF passengers cannot all be accommodated? Reports from QF12 travellers waiting at JFK, or accommodated on earlier AA flights to get them across the USA would be welcome.

The Wednesday 19 April 2017 QF11 ex LAX has been further delayed to what is showing an an expected 1430 hours departure from LAX, but this is being typed at 1437 LAX time. Arrival at JFK is suggested as 2215 hours, 335 minutes tardy. FlightAware has a note on its website advising of severe 100 minute delays into JFK due to 'runway in use' (presumably 'congestion' as we might term it.)

The Thursday 20 April arriving in SYD QF130 ex PVG (A333 VH-QFB) should pull in 43 late at 0913.

UPDATE: Wednesday 19's QF11 departed LAX at 1458, 398 minutes later than the 0820 hours schedule.

 

[ChrisGibbs]

Quick update: QF11 arrived into JFK at 2302 local time after getting away from the remote stand at LAX at 1458. There were 100+ passengers connecting off the delayed QF93 from Melbourne with some of those connecting through to Buffalo from JFK. Given the QF12 JFK-LAX was cancelled the aircraft flew back to LAX empty from JFK as QF6014 departing 0050 local and scheduled to arrive into LAX at 0340...

 

[Melburnian1]

...Given the QF12 JFK-LAX was cancelled the aircraft flew back to LAX empty from JFK as QF6014 departing 0050 local and scheduled to arrive into LAX at 0340...

Outstanding work ChrisGibbs: thank you!

What an expensive way to run an airline. However it would have to take account of crew rostering: it would not (unless through an act of God such as a snowstorm) be acceptable to have QF (or any airline or surface transport) crew sitting around, much as it might be enjoyable for a while, in New York for greatly in excess of their rostered time there.

QF108, the fairly recently introduced PEK - SYD daily is most often punctual but the Thursday 20 April arrival is not so, with VH-EBG (A332) likely to arrive at 1722, 242 minutes tardy after not taking off from Beijing until 0345 this morning, exactly four hours later than the timetabled Wednesday 19 April 2345 hours late night pushback.

 

[Melburnian1]

In further on Thursday 20 April, longhaul A388 flight QF1 is again delayed, this time with its projected departure from SYD becoming 2100 hours tonight, 310 minutes late for its trip to DXB and LHR. Presumably with QF having at least a few hours' notice, the cabin and flight crew have been asked to sign on at a later time than would normally be the case.

If the late running becomes a bit more serious, it will threaten the ability of the Friday 21 April QF10 from LHR to DXB and MEL to depart on time as it is due out at 1330, and QF1 normally requires about an hour and 45 minutes minimum to turn itself around for the return to Oz.

There is an unacceptable amount of poor punctuality on both the LHR and LAX flights at present. While highly variable - some days can be almost perfect - what travellers like is consistency. While it would be silly to assert that competitors like SQ are perfect, SQ appears to be far more reliable than QF. One reason may be that with SQ, one typically changes to a fresh aircraft at SIN whereas the QF A388s normally operate 'through' DXB on their c. 23 hour Australia - London or return trips.

Is this a question, as AFF member Quickstatus recently surmised, that the 'minimum equipment list' demanded by QF flight crew is greater than for SQ or other airlines operating the rather out of favour (with everyone except EK) A380s? Or is there some other reason? Whatever the case, thousands of QF passengers a month must be experiencing these delays on the longest QF flights (bar for the DFW, SFO and seasonable YVR routes) that QF operates. This is because many of the delays affect more than one flight, felt most acutely on the Australia - LAX - JFK and return route but also problematical on the two routes out of Oz to and from DXB and LHR.

Rostering and connecting flights has something to do with it but to and from the USA, QF7 and QF8 (DFW A388) and QF73/QF74 (SFO B744) are far more consistently punctual than QF11/QF12/QF93/QF94. If using QF to the USA, it may be worth considering routing oneself via DFW if travelling to New York state, Miami and so on, although one should examine the connections and see if they are efficient.

On Thursday 20, QF522 (1715 hours SYD - BNE) was cancelled.

 

[Himeno]

It would be interesting to know how often the transcontinental USA AA flights are either fully booked or have only a small number of spare seats throughout a day's offerings. This may sometimes be a key reason why QF11/QF12 have to operate through from LAX to JFK and return even when QF15 is delayed ex Oz, because QF would want to avoid adverse publicity from passengers being stranded in Los Angeles (or New York.)

It also begs the question with QF12 from JFK to LAX cancelled on 19 April: are AA bookings in the westbound direction ex JFK similarly heavy, or not a lot lighter such that QF passengers cannot all be accommodated? Reports from QF12 travellers waiting at JFK, or accommodated on earlier AA flights to get them across the USA would be welcome.

AA has up to 12 non stop LAX-JFK flights each day (8 on Sat, 11 on Tues). 12 flights gives 120 F, 240 J and 864 Y (50% of which have extra leg room).

 

[Melburnian1]

Continuing with Thursday 20 April, QF51, the normally punctual 1200 'high noon' BNE - SIN (A333 VH-QPD) did not take off until 1657. Lion City arrival at gate should be approximately 2222 hours, 247 minutes tardy.

VH-QPD may then be swapping and proceeding tonight from SIN down to MEL on QF30, as its 2055 hours departure is showing as delayed until 2330 tonight with MEL Friday 21 April arrival suggested as 0840 hours in lieu of the normal super early 0520, or 200 minutes tardy. Mostly it appears that QF51 becomes QF52 in SIN but thankfully the aircraft type is similar (QF35 northbound is often an A332, not A333) so sending it optionally to MEL can occur.

 

[Flyerqf]

Outstanding work ChrisGibbs: thank you!

What an expensive way to run an airline. However it would have to take account of crew rostering: it would not (unless through an act of God such as a snowstorm) be acceptable to have QF (or any airline or surface transport) crew sitting around, much as it might be enjoyable for a while, in New York for greatly in excess of their rostered time there.

QF108, the fairly recently introduced PEK - SYD daily is most often punctual but the Thursday 20 April arrival is not so, with VH-EBG (A332) likely to arrive at 1722, 242 minutes tardy after not taking off from Beijing until 0345 this morning, exactly four hours later than the timetabled Wednesday 19 April 2345 hours late night pushback.

Melburnian1 - the crew operating the empty flight would have been the crew who would operated QF12. Just without passengers. They'd need them in LAX to operate flights in coming days. They obviously decided it was best to put up passengers in New York hotels than LAX because they would have been arriving into LAX at 4am in the morning.

QF1 tonight is delayed due to a issue with IFE. It wouldn't have been planned so a crew change may be required, hence the longer delay.

 

[Flyerqf]

Also interesting to note that the aircraft with the IFE issue hadn't flown since Tuesday morning and was in mx Tuesday morning until this afternoon when the issue was detected.

 

[Melburnian1]

Also interesting to note that the aircraft with the IFE issue hadn't flown since Tuesday morning and was in mx Tuesday morning until this afternoon when the issue was detected.

If I recall correctly, this again shows how the QF A388 (and B744) fleets are typically not fully utilised on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but normally are on Thursdays to Mondays inclusive. Exceptions include Easter, and pre Christmas to the end of January or slightly beyond when due to high passenger demand it tends to be all 'hands to the wheel.'

Occasionally, one still sees complaints about lack of IFE on longhaul flights made on review sites like Google. The complaint used to be that sometimes QF staff would have to reboot the system numerous times, and sometimes it still would not work.

it is however unusual to see a major flight (in this case QF1) delayed for more than five hours due to this issue.

For the uninitiated (of which I was one when Flyerqf first used this abbreviation a few months ago), 'mx' means 'maintenance.'

 

[Quickstatus]

Isn't it great that a bit of spare capacity re B747 can quickly minimise/mitigate the domino effect of delays and cancellations!!

 

[Melburnian1]

Earlier on Thursday 20 April, QF81 from SYD to SIN, the 1025 hours, departed 36 minutes late with SIN arrival predicted as 40 minutes behind schedule at 1730.

Perhaps due to late connecting passengers ex AA flights from JFK due to the B744 QF12 transcontinental flight being cancelled (see above) on Wednesday 19 April, QF12 (A388) departed LAX 83 minutes late at 2353 hours. On Friday 21, SYD arrival should be at 0755, 95 minutes tardy.

UPDATE: Predicted Friday 21 QF12 SYD arrival has become 0825 hours, 125 minutes behind schedule.

 

[Flyerqf]

AA has up to 12 non stop LAX-JFK flights each day (8 on Sat, 11 on Tues). 12 flights gives 120 F, 240 J and 864 Y (50% of which have extra leg room).

It does look like 7 of those would have already left by the time QF93 and QF15 had arrived.

 

[Melburnian1]

The delayed due to defective IFE QF1 on Thursday 20 April 2017 has departed from SYD at 2049, a minute shy of five hours late, and subsequently was airborne at 2112 hours. A388 VH-OQI is the conveyance.

DXB predicted arrival has altered again to 0520 on Friday 21, four hours and 55 minutes (295 minutes) tardy. QF suggests arrival at LHR will be at 1055, exactly four hours late. If true, QF10 tomorrow ought be able to depart on time at 1330 hours back to DXB and on to MEL, fingers crossed.

 

[Melburnian1]

QF10 arrived close to time this evening (Thursday 20 April) in MEL but the returning QF9 from MEL has been delayed to an expected departure at midnight (65 minutes late.) Advice as to why would be great: is it just an item or two of required, relatively routine maintenance?

Nonetheless it's not great that both LHR-flights ex Oz today have been delayed.

 

[Melburnian1]

The delayed QF1 arrival time in DXB on Friday 21 April has become 0630 hours, making it pretty remote that departure for LHR will be at 0640 hours as the QF website asserts. From memory on very rare occasions when a to or from LHR QF flight is late, the DXB stop has been reduced to as little as 75 to 80 minutes but it is normal for it to take 85 minutes as a bare minimum and often 95 to 120 minutes and upwards.

Thursday 20 April's QF9, the scheduled 2255 hours ex MEL departed at 0008 hours on Friday 21 and hence is estimated into DXB at 0750, 45 minutes late. With a reduced duration stop in DXB it could still be on time or very close to it when arriving in LHR.

As discussed in post 5169 above, QF36 from SIN to MEL (A333 VH-QPD) is delayed. Likely arrival at just before 0900 is a little later than QF's suggestion yesterday of 0840 hours.

QF2072, the 0915 hours arrival in ADL ex WYA has been cancelled.

 

[Melburnian1]

Alson what is a wet Friday 21 April in MEL, QF465 (0845 hours SYD - MEL, B738 VH-VZU) took off at 0954; arrival is predicted for 1111 hours, 51 minutes late.

QF129 departed from SYD 37 minutes behind at 1012; PVG arrival is predicted for 1905, 35 late.

The 0935 hours QF79 (MEL - NRT) was 28 minutes tardy off blocks at 1003; this should convert into a half hour late arrival at 1930 tonight.

A388 VH-OQD on QF127, the 1000 hours SYD - HKG departed at 1044 so arrival is likely half an hour behind at 1730 late this afternoon HKG time.

QF93 was 22 minutes late departing MEL at 0937 with same day LAX arrival forecast as 0705, also half an hour behind schedule. This will delay the B744 ex BNE on QF11, the 0820 hours LAX - JFK.

Further north, the SYD - LAX longhaul, QF11, departed 61 late at 1051 so it should be at its destination allotted airport gate at roughly 0750 hours, 80 minutes late.

QF423 (1001 hours SYD - MEL, retimed from 1000) that was airborne at 1057 (VH-EBJ) should arrive at 1213, 38 minutes late.

 

[Melburnian1]

The Thursday 20 April QF1 arrived and departed DXB on Friday 21 respectively at 0526 and 0739, so it was unable to shorten the stop as QF was suggesting to 70 minutes: it took 133 minutes. LHR arrival has further altered to a predicted 1220 hours, 320 minutes tardy.

QF10 will be unable to depart at its published 1330 hours from LHR, although this is yet to display on websites like QF's. 1415 or so would be a back of the envelope guess, fingers crossed.