Qantas Delays/Cancellations

[Melburnian1]

On Monday 24 July, QF98 arrived in BNE (ex HKG) 55 minutes late at 0740 hours.

QF30 from HKG down to MEL (A333 VH-QPH) is likely to arrive at 0824 hours, 44 late.

QF2001, the early morning 0630 hours TMW down to SYD had a late start to its morning with Q300 VH-TQY not becoming airborne until 0800 hours. Arrival is predicted at 0909. While the BOM had only predicted 'frost', perhaps there was some low lying fog in inland Tamworth this morning.

The overnight PVG - SYD (QF130, A333 VH-QPB) should pull in 33 minutes behind time at 0903.

The 0730 hours peak period QF411 from SYD down to MEL (A332 VH-EBO) did not become airborne until 0824 so the inevitable result is a projected 45 minute tardy arrival in MEL at 0950 hours.

QF117 from SYD to HKG is estimated to depart 75 minutes tardy at 1315 early this afternoon with a 2125 hours arrival, 105 minutes behind schedule.

 

[Flyerqf]

Passengers on QF128 still boarded - been on there for 5 hours now. ETD of 0930 HKT so still another 2 hrs before they depart, if they do indeed depart.

That sounds like my worst nightmare even in J.

 

[Quickstatus]

Here is a weather map - rain and radar composite for the South China Sea. The weather is expected to move west as its the Northern hemisphere

 

[Melburnian1]

Also on Monday 24 July, QF23 (scheduled 0950 hours SYD - BKK) has been delayed in its departure until 1100, meaning at least a 40 minute delayed, 1720 hours arrival in BKK late this afternoon local time and a delay to the departure of tonight's QF24 back to SYD. This route's performance over the past couple of weeks has been poor in timekeeping, yet previously it was pretty punctual.

A333 VH-QPH on QF79 (0935 hours MEL - NRT) did not become airborne until 1029 so arrival is suggested at 1940 tonight, 40 minutes late.

The 0950 hours from SYD across to ADL, QF741 (B738 VH-VXF) took off at 1022 and is predicted to arrive at 'high noon' 1200 hours, half an hour tardy.

 

[docjames]

QF10 is on time so far today....

 

[Melburnian1]

In further on Monday 24 July, A332 VH-EBP on QF35 (1145 hours MEL - SIN) departed at 1215 but did not take off until 1237 so arrival is suggested as 1842, 47 minutes late.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Passengers on QF128 still boarded - been on there for 5 hours now. ETD of 0930 HKT so still another 2 hrs before they depart, if they do indeed depart.

That sounds like my worst nightmare even in J.

I can't understand holding pax on a plane for that long?

 

[Melburnian1]

I can't understand holding pax on a plane for that long?

QF128 departed HKG not long ago at 1033 hours on Monday 24 July, 854 minutes later than its scheduled pushback of 2015 on Sunday 23. Arrival in SYD is estimated as 2100 hours instead of 0710 hours. B744 VH-OEG is the aircraft.

Flyerqf, were passengers eventually allowed to alight from the B744? Given that the storm signal for Typhoon Roke was downgraded at about 1500 hours yesterday afternoon in HKG to merely a category 1 (1700 AEST), why was the aircraft further delayed? Crew out of hours and no replacement available?

 

[Flyerqf]

QF128 departed HKG not long ago at 1033 hours on Monday 24 July, 854 minutes later than its scheduled pushback of 2015 on Sunday 23. Arrival in SYD is estimated as 2050 hours instead of 0710 hours. B744 VH-OEG is the aircraft.

Flyerqf, were passengers eventually allowed to alight from the B744? Given that the storm signal for Typhoon Roke was downgraded at about 1500 hours yesterday afternoon in HKG to merely a category 1 (1700 AEST), why was the aircraft further delayed? Crew out of hours and no replacement available?

Technical issue with the aircraft. The flight was boarded at 2.30am for a 3.15 departure. The technical issue was discovered after boarding so the passengers were held on the aircraft for 7 hours.

 

[Melburnian1]

...The technical issue was discovered after boarding so the passengers were held on the aircraft for 7 hours.

You have the fact, but to humble observers like me this makes no sense. Why couldn't passengers be allowed to alight, be processed through immigration and customs and taken to hotels for a few hours?

Even if passengers were fed and watered during that time, it's an extremely long period on which to have to mostly sit in what in Y is a cramped seat.

In the USA airlines need contingency plans for this sort of problem. Where was QF's on this occasion in HKG?

In further on 24 July, QF15, the 1020 BNE - LAX (B744 VH-OEB) departed at 1322; arrival is expected (same day) at 0825 hours, 145 minutes late.

QF11, which had been advised as delayed by two hours to 1150 in its SYD departure did so at 1214. Arrival in LAX should be at 0830, two hours late. This will make a timely connection with the similarly late QF15 as the latter becomes QF11 across the USA to JFK.

 

[Melburnian1]

Although Sunday 23 July's B744-operated QF12 arrived LAX 47 minutes late at 2147 hours ex the bright lights of New York City, the flight number continuation with an A388 did not push back in LAX until 0025 hours on Monday 24 July, 115 minutes behind schedule. Tuesday 25 arrival is predicted at 0735 hours, 75 minutes tardy.

Sunday night's QF16 (that normally would arrive BNE early on Tuesday morning) has been cancelled in line with the fate of Sunday 23rd's QF15.

B744 VH-OJS has sat at BNE for all of yesterday and today after arriving on QF16 on Sunday 23 July's early morning. One assumes it remains defective. QF is suggesting that QF15 ex BNE is operating on Tuesday 25 July, so perhaps a B744 will work up from Sydney empty if VH-OJS remains a failure. We need milehighclub or Flyerqf's sagacious advice re this.

 

[Flyerqf]

QF2 is stranded in DXB. Not sure on details.QF128 is delayed 6 hours tonight

 

[Melburnian1]

QF2 is stranded in DXB. Not sure on details.QF128 is delayed 6 hours tonight

FR24 suggests that A388 VH-OQI departed LHR on QF2 on Sunday 23 July, taking off at 2213; on Monday 24, it arrived DXB on time at 0730 hours (this morning.) It then allegedly went back to LHR on QF9, taking off at 1012 hours, 67 minutes after scheduled departure.

Meanwhile on Sunday 23, VH-OQC was airborne from MEL at 2354 on the 2255 hours QF9, arriving DXB at 0742 hours, 37 late this morning (Monday 24 July) and seemingly terminating.

This is the second time in the last 10 days or so that this swap has apparently occurred. If correct, it is VH-OQC that is, as Flyerqf so nicely put it, 'stranded in DXB.' It strikes me as a pain to have to transfer items like freight from one A388 to another, Perhaps it is a case of QF knowing that one of the two aircraft has failed, so the company swaps aircraft to allow the longer sector (DXB - MEL and then in time back to DXB) to operate and just cancel the shorter DXB - LHR - DXB sectors.

If one's longhaul aircraft was suddenly swapped at an intermediate stop and a valuable personal item left on board in error and not found by the cleaners but by a passenger on the next operating sector, it would be a while before said item was returned to its owner.

QF128 from HKG is allegedly arriving SYD at 1250 hours early tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday 25 July).

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Several unhappy people on Facebook re the massive (24-hour) delay ex YVR. Pax held on plane for hours, then left waiting in the terminal. Told to use the lounge for the day but the lounge was full with no seats. Then 60 or so bags didn't arrive in SYD and told only have $60 to buy clothing.

 

[Melburnian1]

...the massive (24-hour) delay ex YVR. Pax held on plane for hours, then left waiting in the terminal. Told to use the lounge for the day but the lounge was full with no seats....

While there may well be a different reason at each airport, one hopes that this being 'held on board a QF plane for hours' is not becoming a pattern given that this morning (Monday 24 July) it also occurred at HKG with the HKG - SYD extremely heavily delayed QF128.

Passengers would be tired and irritable after an extra few hours sitting in a Y seat - stationary. Not my idea of a joyful experience.

This 22 July 2017 Facebook post on QF's page may sum up what MEL_Traveller is suggesting:

Jarrod Anderson Hi Qantas, rather than focusing on trying to sell more airfares, how about putting the resource into answering hundreds of travellers posts who are stranded all over the world due to cancelled or delayed flights - none of whom are getting a reply??

 

[JohnPhelan]

You have the fact, but to humble observers like me this makes no sense. Why couldn't passengers be allowed to alight, be processed through immigration and customs and taken to hotels for a few hours?

I have been held on the ground on a QF aircraft for lengthy periods on two occasions - once for four hours at LAX, and once for almost five hours at LHR. In the LAX instance, we were eventually offloaded and the (replacement) aircraft finally departed around 12 hours late. At LHR, we did eventually take off.

On both occasions, engineers were trying to:
a) locate and determine the cause of the technical issue
b) then fix it.

Clearly, if they know at the start it's going to take five hors to fix it, they will let people off. But therein lies the problem - they just don't know. They tend to hope for the best when the process starts (that the delay will be minor because the problem will be found and fixed quickly). It may take ages to diagnose the problem. Then they're faced with the question of how long it will take to fix - and again, sometimes they're not sure.

They hope against hope they can get it all done quickly; but sometimes it isn't. But they don't know this (often) until two or three hours into the operation - by which time the pax are screaming on Facebook and Twitter. Hindsight is a wonderful thing......

 

[jb747]

In general, once you put the people off the aircraft, you're cancelling the flight. Whatever time you pick as your new departure will be a guess, and in any event, you WILL lose some of the passengers. So, if it comes good early too bad, you can't go until the nominated time....and you'll be late anyway, as some of the passengers won't turn up until ETD +10.

HK in typhoon season can be quite horrific. The warning may have been lowered on the ground, but the wind shear that you'll encounter on departure could well be extreme. I taxied out in a 767 on one occasion, but changed my mind and went back to the terminal. Sometimes it's just not that inviting .....

 

[cove]

Better to be safe than sorry if the weather is extremely poor. So many passengers don't think about delays as something for their own safety.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Better to be safe than sorry if the weather is extremely poor. So many passengers don't think about delays as something for their own safety.

I don't think anyone is contesting that. But the recent QF128 was delayed with pax held on board for over 7 hours it seems. I'm not sure that was all WX?

I think there are two camps of 'safety' issues. Those outside the airline's control (weather, ATC, immediate external impacts such as bird strike). There's a second set which might be within the airline's control... running your fleet so tightly there isn't time to fix routine problems between flights. Not having a spare plane on standby. The latter I don't think should be excused by passengers. They are a routine part of running an airline and recognised as such by regimes such as EU261.

Now - if airline contract were two-way... for example a passenger running late for a flight for whatever reason could simply take the next flight with no penalty... maybe pax would be a little more forgiving?

 

[Melburnian1]

The delayed 2015 hours Monday 24 July QF128 pushed back in HKG at 0238 hours on Tuesday 25, with arrival estimated this afternoon in SYD at 1311 instead of the timetabled 0710 hours.

It appears that the Sunday 23 July QF2 ex LHR has still not departed DXB. QF normally updates its website but it remains merely showing 'delayed' against the 0915 hours Monday 24 timetabled departure.

QF11 from SYD to LAX will experience a minor delay from 0950 to 1010 in its departure on 25 July but the other A388 flights ex SYD (and MEL) are allegedly punctual.

QF161 (0935 hours SYD across to windy WLG) should depart at 1015 hours.

The increasingly unpredictable QF23 should depart SYD this morning at 1025 hours, 35 minutes tardy with BKK arrival estimated as 1710 this afternoon, half an hour behind.

Monday 24's QF11 departed LAX 181 minutes late at 1121 with JFK arrival suggested as 1935, 175 minutes behind schedule. This will naturally delay the transcontinental USA leg of QF12 and in turn selected Oz-bound flights, although which one(s) "depends" and is not a constant from night to night. QF16 (formed by QF12) is normally then delayed (unless QF96 was operating and a swap could be made), bui it's the treatment of the other two (QF12 to SYD and QF94 to MEL) that varies.

B744 VH-OJS remains at BNE having not undertaken any flights yesterday.