Qantas Delays/Cancellations

[Quickstatus]

VH-OQG is on approach into SYD this afternoon as QF6004 5 days late

Did it get a new engine?

 

[jb747]

Did it get a new engine?

Of course.

 

[Melburnian1]

On Sunday 28 May, QF23 departed SYD 19 minutes late at 1009 hours but did not become airborne until 1047, so arrival of A333 VH-QPB is not expected until 50 minutes late at 1730.

 

[Melburnian1]

QF130, the overnight from PVG to SYD (A333 VH-QPJ) should arrive on Monday 29 May half an hour late at 0900 hours.

 

[Flying Fox]

VH-OQG is on approach into SYD this afternoon as QF6004 5 days late

Did it get a new engine?

Did it fly passenger free from LAX?

 

[Melburnian1]

Did it fly passenger free from LAX?

A QF60XX is normally an indication,. Flying Fox, that it is a 'ferry flight' - analagous to an empty car movement on a railway - without passengers.

Sometimes QF60XX as a flight number can be used for charters such as the regular annual ones for Exclusive Brethren members to and from the UK, but from what is observed, charters ('specials') seem non existent to and from the USA.

There would be a few reasons why QF would normally operate such flights as empty workings.

The exact time it could leave might be unknown until a few hours before, making it difficult even if the airline wanted to accommodate passengers.

It might lack a full complement of cabin crew as they may have been flown back earlier on other scheduled flights. Normally airlines (like any business) don't want to pay for a 'five day holiday' for crews if they can avoid it, and in any case these staff would have other rostered flights so it would be important after their normal mandated rest in each destination to try to get them back to their (in this case) Australian base as quickly as possible.

Passengers who originally experienced the QF94 that turned back to LAX due to one inoperable engine would have long been rebooked on other flights.

To accommodate passengers would mean catering and other provisions would be required.

In this case, QF6004 was scheduled ex LAX at 0600 hours, so if passengers had been allowed and the crewing problems solved, it would have meant checkin open from 0300, which suits some leisure passengers but not most businessmen and women. The arrival time of about 1500 hours in SYD is a good one in the sense that one could check in to an hotel immediately and not be an 'early arrival', but high yield business passengers that then airlines chase often travel F when available or J and so in theory sleep enroute and then want to commence meetings or making piles of money at 0830 or 0900 so a mid afternoon arrival is not favoured by such elites.

 

[gaz0303]

QF128 8:15pm HKG-SYD was cancelled last night. Problem with announcement speakers. Flight only cancelled at 1:45am, a shambles getting us to a hotel. Checked into the Marriott at 4:30am.

Some of us have been lucky and moved to CX139, 9:15am flight to SYD.

 

[Quickstatus]

QF128 8:15pm HKG-SYD was cancelled last night. Problem with announcement speakers. Flight only cancelled at 1:45am, a shambles getting us to a hotel. Checked into the Marriott at 4:30am.

Some of us have been lucky and moved to CX139, 9:15am flight to SYD.

Not your aircraft (VH-OEH) but historically this also happened on another B747 sibling VH-OEE (15 year old - so still young) on 06 Feb 2016 trying to depart SFO. The cancellation and hotel arrival times were also similar

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....lays-cancellations-52193-465.html#post1586441

 

[docjames]

Also happened to us in BNE heading to LAX back in 2008 (!) but delay was "only" 2.5hrs. It's obviously a safety issue as commands to evacuate etc cant be made centrally without the system.

Small sample size, but perhaps a common problem on the 744s.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

Seems QF1877 leaving ADL for PER at 14:55 yesterday was cancelled.
Many PAX were put on QF599 at 20:25.
Which was then completely full with several (I think at least 4 possibly up to 9) PAX from the cancelled all-economy Qantas Link 717 scoring op-ups.
So the J cabin was completely full and quite chaotic.

 

[Melburnian1]

QF128 8:15pm HKG-SYD....only cancelled at 1:45am, a shambles getting us to a hotel. Checked into the Marriott at 4:30am.

Some of us have been lucky and moved to CX139, 9:15am flight to SYD.

If you call about two and a half hours sleep in an hotel, if that, 'lucky.' I'd call it 'bleary eyed.'

One difficulty with hotels in 'destination' cities like HKG can be that they have pretty high occupancy percentages, so QF staff or contractors may have to ring around or look at their daily updated list of which hotels have how many rooms vacant, and then arrange buses accordingly. This must take a while particularly if the staff have little or no notice of the plane being defective, which appears the case here with the flight only cancelled at 0145, five and a half hours after scheduled departure. Great information though.

QF117, the 1200 'high noon' from SYD to HKG on Monday 29 May was cancelled, as is what it often forms now that both are A333s, QF30, the 2010 hours overnight HKG - MEL. Not sure if there is a nexus with the QF128 arrival this morning being cancelled.

Q200 VH-TQX on QF2174, the mid afternoon SYD to PQQ that is scheduled for departure at 1545 hours did not become airborne until 1741. Arrival should be at around 1835, 100 minutes even late.

 

[Melburnian1]

The Sunday 28 May 2017 QF9 had an uneventful journey from MEL to DXB, arriving a little early on Monday 29 May, but A388 VH-OQG may still be in DXB. The QF website suggests it will arrive LHR at 1805, three hours and 55 minutes late despite allegedly departing DXB nine minutes early at 0856 this morning. Neither FR24 or FlightAware indicate that the aircraft has departed DXB.

Advice from others as to what has occurred would be appreciated.

 

[Blackbird]

Departed DXB at 13:28 for arrival LHR 18:18. On QF website and FR.

 

[Melburnian1]

Departed DXB at 13:28 for arrival LHR 18:18. On QF website and FR.

Blackbird, many thanks: that is an amazing almost seven hours in DXB. 1818 is the time it is expected to land, not arrive at the gate at LHR.

As tonight's QF2 is not timed to depart until 2135 hours, in theory it should be punctual, but the very late arrival of QF9 means not a lot of time for maintenance should any be required during what is timetabled to be a much longer gap between flights.

The aircraft, VH-OQG, is the same one that 10 days ago had to return to LAX on QF94 after one of its four engines failed.

Advice as to why it needed to be in DXB for more than six hours would be good.

UPDATE: This delayed QF9 should pull in to its designated arrival gate at LHR at about 1755 hours local time.

 

[Quickstatus]

Qf32.aero has a short report on a pilots (RdeC) perspective about a delayed news years day QF9 MEL-DXB flight (due to fog at DXB)

 

[Melburnian1]

The delayed in DXB QF9 ex MEL (A388 Vh-OQG) on Sunday 28 May arrived LHR a little earlier than predicted above, at about 1742 hours - 212 minutes late.

Monday evening's QF2 from LHR to DXB and SYD has been delayed in its departure from 2135 hours to a predicted 2220 hours (0720 Tuesday 30 AEST.)

 

[Melburnian1]

...Monday evening's QF2 from LHR to DXB and SYD has been delayed in its departure from 2135 hours to a predicted 2220 hours (0720 Tuesday 30 AEST.)

The cause for the long DXB stop affecting QF9, and in turn QF2, was a broken fuel gauge.

The Monday 29 May QF2 departed LHR at 2245, arriving DXB on Tuesday 30 May at 0836, 66 minutes tardy. Departure was at 1038 hours, 83 late with expected SYD arrival on Wednesday 31 at around 0644 hours, 94 minutes behind schedule for VH-OQG.

 

[Melburnian1]

A388 VH-OQD is en route ex MNL after a period of maintenance with arrival in SYD likely at about 1230 hours on Wednesday 31 May. It took off at 0245 which may be unusual because I thought that major airport shuts down (although they don't seem to use the 'curfew' word) between 0130 and 0330 (a much shorter period than SYD's seven hours, although the latter allows three or four inbound international passenger flights to land between 0500 and 0559 for half the year.

QF93, the 0915 hours MEL - LAX departed 73 minutes late at 1028 on Wednesday 31 May. Arrival should be at 0735, an hour behind schedule. In turn QF11, the transcontinental USA B744 is predicted to depart 40 minutes late at 0900 hours for east coast JFK.

 

[docjames]

A388 VH-OQD is en route ex MNL after a period of maintenance with arrival in SYD likely at about 1230 hours on Wednesday 31 May. It took off at 0245 which may be unusual because I thought that major airport shuts down (although they don't seem to use the 'curfew' word) between 0130 and 0330 (a much shorter period than SYD's seven hours, although the latter allows three or four inbound international passenger flights to land between 0500 and 0559 for half the year.)

I think it's been commented before that deploying the A380 into/out of MNL effectively "shuts" the airport due to clearances and runway issues.

So no great surprise if it's been blocked out during a time period without other traffic.

 

[Melburnian1]

....So no great surprise if it's been blocked out during a time period without other traffic.

Five or 10 years ago, MEL handled more passengers annually than MNL; now, the reverse is true, and MNL has a much greater percentage of travellers that are on international flights. It also often seems to be down to one runway.

The Tuesday 30 May QF1 from SYD departed DXB at 0424 hours on 31 May, 124 minutes tardy, arriving at LHR at 0849, 114 minutes behind schedule.

Tuesday's QF12 (B744) commenced pushing back at JFK at 2010 hours, two hours tardy with LAX arrival at 2232, 92 late. The A388 on the continuing QF12 left LAX at 0015 hours on Wednesday 31 May, 105 minutes past the allotted with likely SYD Thursday 1 June arrival at 0725, 65 late.

QF16 from LAX to BNE departed at 0056 hours today, 96 minutes late so Thursday 1 June arrival is forecast as 0745, 95 late, but still with sufficient theoretical turnaround to form QF15 ex BNE on Thursday punctually.