Qantas Delays/Cancellations

[Melburnian1]

QF130 (Mon) is delayed 4 hours. It looks like yesterday’s QF130 will be formed by today’s QF129 and therefore the 4 hr delayed QF130 will be operated by the aircraft with mechanical issue delaying the last 2 days.

Getting very confusing Flyerqf. Must be a major problem for an A330 to be unable to depart for two consecutive nights.

Surely some passengers would have been placed on other airlines like partner China Eastern (assuming it has spare seats.) Not ideal and some may grumble at perceived 'lack of quality' but if it gets one to Oz sooner, may be 'worth it' for passengers.

MEL is quite busy as one might expect at the conclusion of a holiday weekend. QF455, the 1730 hours SYD down to MEL (B738 VH-VXJ) did not take off until 1810 (about 25 minutes late) and looks to have been slowed by ATC, so its arrival should be at 1937, 32 late.

 

[Flyerqf]

QF130 is further delayed to 0230. ETA into SYD is 1600.

 

[Melburnian1]

The scheduled Sunday 11 March 2018 QF130 departed PVG at 2024 hours on Monday 12, with arrival in SYD set for 1010 this morning (Tuesday 13.)

The Monday 12 March QF130 departed PVG at 0219 hours on Tuesday 13, a little ahead of what Flyerqf indicated above, so its arrival this arvo should be at 1545 hours rather than the timetabled 0940.

On Sunday, QF12 ex JFK arrived in LAX at 2117 hours - only 22 late - but QF12 for SYD did not depart the movie capital until 2321 hours, 51 late. On Tuesday 13 it should be at its SYD arrival gate at 0816 hours, 46 minutes past the allotted.

'The 16' left LAX on the stroke of midnight and should be in BNE on 13 March at 0653, 48 late for a net gain of two minutes on the schedule.

QF129 is again expected to be delayed, with projected Tuesday departure at 1125, half an hour behind time.

 

[Melburnian1]

Tuesday 13 March's QF408, the timetabled 0700 hours MEL up to SYD did not take off until 0809 hours. A332 VH-EBD should arrive at 0920 hours, 55 minutes late. I cannot its next proposed sector but sometimes PER is the destination.

 

[Melburnian1]

QF129 departed later than the half hour predicted delay on Tuesday 13 March, as it was off blocks 63 late at 1158. Arrival in PVG should be 43 minutes tardy at 1913, continuing the recent consecutive days of tardiness or cancelled flights.

 

[Fra66L]

QF74 diversion interesting.. obviously must have had plenty of spare seats if they thought inconveniencing all the SFO-SYD pax was worthwhile.

Has QF done a diversion like this in the US before??

I was on that flight - apparently it is not the first time QF74 has been diverted to LAX. Word is that it is still not at capacity after the years without BNE>SFO direct flights. Business was full at at least one passenger had been downgraded. The staff did what they could but the impact was felt as we sat on the tarmac at LAX for ~2 hours (unsure, I dozed off).
The lack of points upgrades available on that leg would contradict the "not-at-capacity" statements though......

 

[Melburnian1]

...
The lack of points upgrades available on that leg would contradict the "not-at-capacity" statements though......

While a discussion for another section of AFF (FF programs), airlines may not always continue to have points upgrades or reward seats available in each class even when there are many spare seats. Frustrating and to me a turn off from rewards programs. Others I know are far less complimentary about such practices. Then we have airlines like QF that try to route FF claimants indirectly (taking many more hours) yet don't manage to sell every seat in a higher class.

 

[Quickstatus]

I was on that flight - apparently it is not the first time QF74 has been diverted to LAX. Word is that it is still not at capacity after the years without BNE>SFO direct flights. Business was full at at least one passenger had been downgraded. The staff did what they could but the impact was felt as we sat on the tarmac at LAX for ~2 hours (unsure, I dozed off).
The lack of points upgrades available on that leg would contradict the "not-at-capacity" statements though......

Various factors affect Points upgrade and award seats availability, not just physical capacity.

Many airlines and QF included do not necessarily fill their premium cabins to 100% with upgrades/awards. It is not unusual to see premium cabins with spare seats on take off.

If J was full this time it may have been because of the uplift of disrupted LAX passengers.

I wonder if at least some of the QF74 passengers (or for that matter the disrupted passengers) were contacted to see if they would be prepared to take the next days QF74 or another transpacific flight to free up some space

 

[Melburnian1]

QF15 (1020 hours morning BNE - LAX B744) departed at 1053 hours on Wednesday 14 March, so arrival should be at 0710 hours, 70 minutes late. This will at least delay the transcon QF11 a little if same aircraft continues to JFK.

1225 hours SYD - MNL, QF19 was off blocks at 1311 hours. Arrival has become a suggested 1815 hours, 45 late, meaning QF20 should be able to depart at around 1930, half an hour late for the redeye back down to SYD.

Earlier, QF11, the 1030 hours SYD - LAX that is often on time did not commence pushing back until 1146 hours, so same day arrival has become an estimated 0725 hours, 65 minutes tardy. This won't help punctuality of transcon QF11 either.

 

[Melburnian1]

B717 VH-YQV on QF1549 (1410 hours BNE down to CBR that did not take off until 1611 hours) should arrive at roughly 1834 early this evening, 94 minutes late. It had earlier been on QF1791 which while approximately 22 minutes late arriving BNE at 1507 was not timetabled to arrive there before the scheduled departure of the Canberra-bound flight, so some other plane may have been defective.

In any case its turnaround in BNE was slow, so this exacerbated the delay.

B744 Vh-OEI on long haul QF28 ex SCL should be in SYD at 1829 hours, 49 minutes behind time. It had only been 11 minutes late in pushing back in Chile yesterday at 1346.

 

[Melburnian1]

QF28 on Wednesday 14 March did not depart until 1413 hours mid afternoon, 38 minutes late. Thursday 15 March for B744 VH-OEG is forecast as 1836 hours, 56 minutes behind schedule.

 

[Melburnian1]

On Thursday 15 March, QF79, the 0920 hours MEL - NRT did not depart until 1025. A333 VH-QPI is expected to arrive at 1850, 65 late but that may change as while I write, the aircraft is still taxiing in Melbourne.

QF62 to BNE (if formed by QF79 as FR24 suggests will be the case) will be late tonight ex NRT. 'The 62' is due to depart NRT at 1930 so it may be able to do that from roughly 2000 hours.

No obvious reason for the delay as QPI came in early on QF80 this morning, arriving MEL 19 minutes ahead of schedule at 0741 hours.

UPDATE: QF79 took off at 1039 hours to the south.

 

[Melburnian1]

Wednesday 14 March saw QF12 from JFK arrive late in LAX, so QF16 did not depart the latter until 0021 on Thursday 15, 61 minutes tardy. Friday 16 arrival should be at 0705 hours, 50 minutes late.

 

[Flyerqf]

QF81/82 A380 was subbed out for a 744 today.
With no regular 744 ops at SIN, how would the QF82 have been crewed? Would they fly in a crew from HKG?

 

[serfty]

Various factors affect Points upgrade and award seats availability, not just physical capacity.

Many airlines and QF included do not necessarily fill their premium cabins to 100% with upgrades/awards. It is not unusual to see premium cabins with spare seats on take off.

Certainly up until a year or three ago, Qantas frequently went out with quite a few spare premium seats.

However in recent years, this is becoming rarer IME. I suggest improving yield management and points upgrades to the gate have seen to that; especially the latter.

A general "Not at capacity" simply means there was at least one spare sellable seat on the aircraft, it does not mean that all cabins were not full, nor that they did not grant points upgrades as much as they could.

 

[Melburnian1]

QF420 (B738 VH-VXP, the 0930 hours Friday 16 March MEL - SYD that was up up and away at 1012 should arrive at 1132 hours, 37 minutes behind time.

 

[Melburnian1]

Thursday 15 March's QF8 pushed back in distant DFW at 2151 hours, nine minutes early - creditable - but is estimated to arrive SYD at 0654 hours on Saturday 17, 49 minutes behind time but still in plenty of time to grab some 'green liquid' on St Patrick's Day.

 

[Must...Fly!]

QF81/82 A380 was subbed out for a 744 today.
With no regular 744 ops at SIN, how would the QF82 have been crewed? Would they fly in a crew from HKG?

If it was known about >24 hours ahead they could've easily paxed a crew in from wherever in Oz and just have them overnight.

 

[Melburnian1]

On St Patrick's Day, QF29, the 0945 hours MEL - HKG (A333 Vh-QPJ) departed two minutes early at 0943 hours but had an unusually long taxi and did not take off until 1040 - very long for MEL; the most I've ever experienced from pushback to takeoff is about half an hour at this airfield, but fortunately I've managed to avoid a sudden thunderstorm coming in or similar adverse weather. No doubt occasionally some AFFers including aviators have taken longer.

HKG arrival should be 36 late at 1651 this afternoon.

Colleague VH-QPA on QF79, the 0920 hours MEL - NRT was also delayed, taking off at 1038 after pushing back at 1007, which implies that QF29 may have had some unexpected delay as it pushed back initially before QF79 but took off after the Japan-bound flight. QF79 should arrive NRT at 1827 early this evening local time, 42 minutes late.

QF422 northbound from MEL up to SYD (B789 class leader VH-ZNA) did not take off until 1050 hours so arrival is likely at 1205, 40 minutes tardy.

Is the continuing use of the B789s on domestic flights like this a way of better utilisation for QF's newest mainline planes, is it to enable training for a larger number of flight (and cabin) crews, a combination of both or some other reason(s?) given that the QF9/10 via PER flights don't start for a week or so?

Friday 16 March saw QF11 departing LAX at 0903 hours, 43 minutes late, arriving JFK 45 behind at 1715. QF12 then departed at 1842, 42 late, arriving back in movie city at 2125, half an hour late. This was a rare occasion when the maxim of AFF member Flyerqf that if 'the 11' is late into New York, 'the 12' is further delayed (i.e. loses time on the ground) did not stay true.

 

[Melburnian1]

On Sunday 18 March 2018, QF12 from LAX should arrive 43 minutes late in SYD at 0813 hours.

QF20 from MNL departed 18 late on Saturday 17 but on Sunday is expected to arrive in SYD at 0646 hours, 31 minutes tardy.