Qantas Delays/Cancellations

[love_the_life]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Dom QF549 BNE to CBR cancelled this afternoon (scheduled at 17.25). Passengers who could be were accommodated on the earlier QF545 - so we were chockers! The shadow for my WP colleague disappeared along with everyone else's. And… what were they serving as a refreshment? Three-seed crisps (certainly not crisp) with fig something (that tasted like jam with a bit of balsamic), a packet of bird seeds. Whoever ordered that item obviously is no gourmand. Of course there was always the excellent (not) Sav Blanc!

That said it was an uneventful flight, very few if any ankle biters and luckily a newer plane so can't really complain.

 

[Mr_Orange]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Tuesday's QF16 due into Brisbane tomorrow morning from LAX has returned to LAX about 2 hours into the flight.

More fun and games at LAX tomorrow then!

 

[OATEK]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

More fun and games at LAX tomorrow then!

Wonder if their ground crew will be looking at it any differently after the recent bad publicity here on AFF?

 

[Mattg]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Dom QF549 BNE to CBR cancelled this afternoon (scheduled at 17.25).

Sorry to be overly pedantic, but QF549 is a BNE to SYD flight, is it not?

 

[Mr_Orange]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Wonder if their ground crew will be looking at it any differently after the recent bad publicity here on AFF?

You would hope so.....

 

[love_the_life]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Sorry to be overly pedantic, but QF549 is a BNE to SYD flight, is it not?

Not pedantic at all.
My mistake - BNE-SYD, you are right! Oops - too much of that stunning Sav Blanc obviously, after a rather busy work trip.

 

[Melburnian1]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Thursday 23 October 2014's QF10 got away from LHR 28 minutes late at 1358, arriving DXB at 0005 on Friday morning (today - 24 October). The latter was 35" late.

However instead of the 2 hour 10 minute timetabled stop, the flight did not depart until 0422 with the result that it is due into MEL tomorrow morning (25 October) at 0020 in lieu of the scheduled 2155 on Friday evening.

Naturally, QF9 (which is running tonight unlike a small number of other recent days when QF have either partly cancelled it beyond DXB or not run it at all due to low demand) is delayed until a forecast 0215 departure tomorrow morning, two hours and 20 minutes behind time.

The QF website predicts that it will arrive DXB at 0900, an hour and 55 minutes late on Saturday morning 25 October, but despite the website 'knowing' that, it still lists a mythical departure time from DXB of 0910, not the more likely 1045 or later.

Why doesn't the website automatically 'correct' this known information to assist those travelling from (in this case) DXB to LHR?

UPDATE: QF9 departed MEL at 0229, so will not arrive DXB until about 0930, for what is now on the website an updated 1100 departure, meaning arrival at LHR 90 minutes late at 1510 if the forecasts prove accurate.

 

[Jos888]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Dom QF549 BNE to CBR cancelled this afternoon (scheduled at 17.25). Passengers who could be were accommodated on the earlier QF545 - so we were chockers! The shadow for my WP colleague disappeared along with everyone else's. And… what were they serving as a refreshment? Three-seed crisps (certainly not crisp) with fig something (that tasted like jam with a bit of balsamic), a packet of bird seeds. Whoever ordered that item obviously is no gourmand. Of course there was always the excellent (not) Sav Blanc!

That said it was an uneventful flight, very few if any ankle biters and luckily a newer plane so can't really complain.

Bad sav Blanc and birdseed....that would be something to look forward to

 

[love_the_life]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Bad sav Blanc and birdseed....that would be something to look forward to

You have no idea how uninspiring it was; think vinegar with sand to chew. If I had not been so desperate I would have been wiser to stick with the water!

 

[Melburnian1]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Thursday 29 October's QF19 did not depart SYD until 1506, 2 hours 16 minutes late. Due to MNL's busy runway it did not arrive until 2007, two hours and seven minutes late.

However, showing what can be achieved when the pressure is on, it managed to depart southwards at 2110, an impressive 63 minute turnaround for VH-QPD and with a bit of luck will arrive in SYD at 0800 this morning (30 October 2014), 90 minutes late to form QF129 to PVG that does not depart until 1050, hopefully on time.

Has anyone else seen a faster turnaround than 63 minutes with an A330? It's not school holidays, so numbers travelling internationally on many routes may not be quite as high, although QF has stuck with SYD-MNL despite competitor PR recently upping its A340 flights from 4X weekly to daily and newbie 5J commencing 4X weekly A330 flights in early September, a huge increase in capacity on this increasingly important business route with MNL now being in the top three locations for call centre employees worldwide and some business process outsourcing emanating from that major city as well.

 

[defurax]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

No QF9 on 30 November! Someone booked me on EK407 MEL-DXB and I asked them if they would mind putting me on QF9 instead so I could put a J to F upgrade request...they came back and told me sorry defurax, no QF9 on the 30th...

 

[Ansett]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

No QF9 on 30 November! Someone booked me on EK407 MEL-DXB and I asked them if they would mind putting me on QF9 instead so I could put a J to F upgrade request...they came back and told me sorry defurax, no QF9 on the 30th...

Errrrrrr now I am worried as I was on QF9 on the 30th MEL-DXB=LHR which was delayed in DXB for more than 3 1/2 hours due to fuel pump problems and the bird was OQB.

 

[defurax]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Errrrrrr now I am worried as I was on QF9 on the 30th MEL-DXB=LHR which was delayed in DXB for more than 3 1/2 hours due to fuel pump problems and the bird was OQB.

In this case it seems the cancellation has been planned long ago, the flight does not show up in QF timetable. I noticed there is no QF2 on November 17, so I guess a 380 will be spending two weeks in maintenance at Lufthansa Technic in Frankfurt.

 

[Melburnian1]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Although QF10 on Friday 31 October pulled out of LHR three minutes early at 1232 and arrived DXB at 2346, just 16" late, it overstayed at the latter and did not depart until 0335, 140 minutes late. More fuel pump problems?

Hence it is still winging its way to MEL where it should arrive at about 2345, 110" late.

In consequence tonight's QF9 has been delayed from its scheduled departure of 2335 to a suggested 0115 on Sunday 2 November 2014. QF predicts a LHR arrival at 1300, only 35" down, but on previous occasions this sort of forecast has proven to be a tad optimistic.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Sorry to be overly pedantic, but QF549 is a BNE to SYD flight, is it not?

Qlink have a B717 flight that ops BNE/CBR as QF1549.

 

[Melburnian1]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

On Saturday 1 November, QF10 did not arrive MEL until 2359, so QF9 could not depart until 0211 this morning. QF expects it to be two hours and five minutes late into DXB for an 0850 arrival, with departure at 1020 gaining a bit more time and forecast arrival 75" late into LHR at 1340. Again, I see this as too optimistic given that the flight is late and so not occupying its normal path into the very busy London Heathrow.

in the other direction, Saturday 1 November 2014's QF10 departed LHR 11 minutes late at 1246 but lost another 50 minutes to DXB for an 0031 arrival this morning. With DXB departure 70 minutes down at 0225, QF suggests that it will arrive MEL at 2220, 45 late, presumably again delaying QF9 (due ex MEL at 2335), although the QF website is yet to reflect this.

Will these delays to QF10 and hence QF9 be even more prevalent as the Pommy winter approaches?

These turnarounds at MEL have allowed QF to better utilise its 12 A388s, a very good idea and necessary for any airline to (try to) maximise yields and eliminate or at least markedly reduce losses (assuming economic conditions robust enough for business and lesiure travel to be at reasonable or better levels, QF not pricing itself out of the market with super expensive fares relative to its many competitors on the Kangaroo route, and allowing for the distaste that many of us have for the Middle Eastern airports compared to the superior Asian ones thus to some extent hobbling QF's flights), but the tightish turnarounds are beginning to come at the cost of some late running. It isn't as if QF has a spare A388 normally sitting in MEL (or LHR).

It would be interesting to know if as the A388s age, they are experiencing more in service failures per million kilometres flown.

UPDATE: QF9 from Saturday overstayed at DXB by 26 minutes and so is now not due at LHR until 1535 on Sunday 2 November, an hour and 55 minutes later than the 'glass is half full not half empty' QF computer earlier predicted. However it should have plenty of time to form QF2 southeast bound tonight. QF10 is now also a few more minutes delayed and not predicted to arrive MEL until 2230 this evening.

 

[Canny man]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Very poor show by QF out of Perth last Thursday. I was on the 0725 to BNE and while there was a short delay to boarding time, it was nothing untoward. The issue was that once on the plane the delay stretched out to an hour. The reason? A rugby player from Perth Spirit had failed to board at the same time as his team mates. Now I understand people can be delayed, but I would have thought that after a set period of time the bag would have been offloaded and we could have gone without the late passenger.

As it was, we couldn't make up the lost time and many people were inconvenienced because one person couldn't make the gate on time.

 

[Mattg]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Very poor show by QF out of Perth last Thursday. I was on the 0725 to BNE and while there was a short delay to boarding time, it was nothing untoward. The issue was that once on the plane the delay stretched out to an hour. The reason? A rugby player from Perth Spirit had failed to board at the same time as his team mates. Now I understand people can be delayed, but I would have thought that after a set period of time the bag would have been offloaded and we could have gone without the late passenger.

As it was, we couldn't make up the lost time and many people were inconvenienced because one person couldn't make the gate on time.

Interesting. I wonder why Qantas chose to wait? Is a rugby player really important enough to delay an entire plane load? If my plane was delayed for an hour for one person, I would hope they were at least a very important person.

Any idea why they couldn't just transfer the pax to the next flight, like they would have with everyone else?

 

[Canny man]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

I've no idea why the hold up for one person. I've also written to the rugby club in question as I didn't like the way he got on joking and smiling as if inconveniencing so many people was a big laugh. I queried how he could be trusted to find the try line if he couldn't find an plane....

 

[Melburnian1]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

UPDATE: QF9 from Saturday overstayed at DXB by 26 minutes and so is now not due at LHR until 1535 on Sunday 2 November, an hour and 55 minutes later than the 'glass is half full not half empty' QF computer earlier predicted. However it should have plenty of time to form QF2 southeast bound tonight. QF10 is now also a few more minutes delayed and not predicted to arrive MEL until 2230 this evening.

The first two days of November have not been happy ones for QF9.

The Saturday 1 departure struggled into LHR at 1607, almost four hours late. The Sunday 2 Nov departure from MEL left 45 minutes late but was 81 minutes late into LHR.