Qantas Delays/Cancellations

[I love to travel]

And of course EU 261 applies as you are ex LHR

 

[Melburnian1]

I was booked on QF10, received an app alert c14hrs ago the flight was cancelled. Moved on to QF2 departing tonight. No word of food voucher or otherwise - what is standard?...

jay684, great information but please don't forget that because you are departing from the UK, you should be eligible for EU261 compensation of Euro 600 per passenger given the substantial delay. The only rider is "exceptional circumstances" but it's most unlikely this sort of huge delay is due to that.

There have been other threads on AFF re the application process and how to follow up if there's a delay in receipt of the compensation. QF may well have forms or other information at check in at LHR. If not, it would be very kind if you let other passengers travelling who were booked on the cancelled QF10 know of their entitlement to payment from QF so that they can enquire on the spot.

Here is an extract from the QF website:

https://www.qantas.com.au/infodetail/flying/beforeYouTravel/EC261_2004.pdf

There are specialist businesses based in the UK for claims handling with EU261 but hopefully you won't require these middlemen.

If you can, please find out how many have been transferred from 'the 10' to 'the 2.' I'd find it surprising if 'the 2' had heaps of vacant seats.

As QF is a legacy (not a low cost) airline, I'd have thought meal vouchers would be provided. However if you received 14 hours' notice of the cancellation, it'd be illogical (unless you had to due to say prior air or surface travel bookings depositing you at LHR in time for the original QF10 that was flicked)) that you turned up more than three hours prior to the timetabled departure tonight London time of QF2, so in that case one surmises an airline would believe it didn't have to provide you with an evening meal at say 1800 hours (if you didn't have access to an airline lounge).

 

[Melburnian1]

Adding to QF's long distance flight woes, QF56, the Saturday 11 May B789 from LAX to BNE (the 2215 hours that normally arrives on Monday mornings) has also been cancelled, as was QF55 (the 2035 hours Saturday BNE to LAX). Apologies that I missed the latter yesterday.

Locally, QF783, the 1920 hours Sunday 12 May SYD - ADL was up up and away at 2017 so arrival for B738 VH-VYD is estimated at 2134, 34 late.

 

[Jay684]

And of course EU 261 applies as you are ex LHR

Anyone know how qantas actually makes the payment? Qantas voucher, credit back onto the credit card used to pay, or trensfer to a nominated bank account?

 

[Melburnian1]

Saturday 11 May's QF2 operated uneventfully on its initial sector (LHR to SIN), departing at 2059 hours, six minutes early and arriving on Sunday 12 at 1730, five late. However A388 VH-OQB did not then depart for SYD until 2145 hours, 150 minutes late, so on Monday 13 it arrived at 0657 hours, 107 late. This however should not adversely affect any oubound flights from Sydney as the turnarounds are far greater than the minimum normally required.

Sunday's QF1 that departed SYD 58 late (as above) stopped in SIN from 2307 hours (52 late) to (Monday 13) 0044 hours (49 minutes behind schedule) with LHR estimated arrival at 0730, 65 late for VH-OQE.

 

[Melburnian1]

VH-ZNG (B789) remains in PER as at 1525 hours local time on Sunday 12 May.,,

This aircraft operated QF9 ex PER (to LHR) on Sunday 12 May, departing at 1841 (four minutes early), requiring transfer of luggage and presumably any freight and mail from VH-ZNE that arrived ex MEL on the domestic QF9 sector at 1709 hours, six early.

Impressive that the baggage handlers were able to transfer the ULDs (if I have the term correct) in the allocated time. Less work than if it had to occur manually as with the 737s, but still not a task that takes only ten minutes.

This is not the first time QF has swapped aircraft in Perth when previously a '9' and a '10' have been cancelled. milehighclub may be kind enough to fill us in as to why this occurs. Achieving the desired number of aircraft cycles?

VH-ZNE looks to have spent overnight in PER on Sunday 12.

 

[Melburnian1]

Sunday 11 May's QF11 USA second sector (although a B789, not an A388 as is the initial one ex SYD) was cancelled. QF12, the 1810 hoirs Sunday LAX - JFK also got teh boot.

The onwards LAX - SYD sector is delayed in its departure from 2230 to 2300 on Sunday 12. This may be due to passengers having to transfer ex JFK on AA flights to QF. An identical delay - 2240 hours to 2310 ex LAX is suggested for QF94 to MEL, but the smaller capacity B789 to BNE (QF16) is predicted to depart punctually at 2320 hours.

It's far from always the case that when 'the 12' runs late ex JFK that 'the 94' is held in LAX for connectors, but it must depend on passenger numbers on QF12 ex LAX.

 

[Melburnian1]

On Monday 13 May 2019, QF81, the 1010 hours morning SYD - SIN (A333 VH-QPF) departed at 1046 but had a long wait for takeoff at 1122, so arrival has become a suggested 1810 hours, 80 late.

QF63 (1055 SYD across to JNB, the B744) was worse, pushing back bang on 1200 'high noon' with arrival forecast as 69 late at 1809 hours.

The 1345 hours SYD to CGK is usually a good runner, being on time or better arriving in Jakarta, but today is expected to push back 35 late. QF7, the 1235 hours A388 (SYD to DFW long flight) is delayed 25 minutes in departing.

 

[moa999]

Reported more 787 issues (from airliners.net)

ZNA has a centre fuel tank issue which QF had attempted to rectify earlier (replaced a part, I believe), but the fault persisted. So, it positioned down to MEL for attention in the hangar (including access to the fuel tank).

 

[Melburnian1]

Reported more 787 issues (from airliners.net)

moa999, this probably explains the two B789 transfers on 11 May reported elsewhere: one was BNE to SYD, the other SYD to MEL. VH-ZNA was on QF6026, arriving in MEL at 1037 mid morning on Saturday 11. It has yet to operate a further flight.

Tonight's QF55, the 2035 hours BNE - LAX B789-operated flight has been cancelled. QF16 and QF56 are both displaying as operating ex LAX on Monday 16: could this be a mistake for one of them?

 

[Quickstatus]

VH-ZNG (B789) remains in PER as at 1525 hours local time on Sunday 12 May.

Reported to be a bird strike. As the flight crew would have already started their clocks, any immediate repairs would have consumed the limited “up the sleeve hours” they had. (Assuming bird strike occurred on finals to PER).

 

[Quickstatus]

VH-OJU the veteran 19 year old B747 operating QF26 HND-SYD apparently had a contained engine failure and diverted to CNS on the early Mother’s Day Sunday 12 May. It is reported the engine failure occurred 2 hours before landing. Initially the aircraft descended (not dived) from FL320 to FL240 dropping 8000 feet

If indeed this was true then the failure occurred north of the PNG landmass.

Operating on 3 engines after shutting down one. The normal routing takes the flight near CNS anyway so it was easy to go to CNS. Reports were of the pilot taking 2 hours to find an Australian airport to land the aircraft

Passengers rerouted to their final destinations by QF.

It remains in CNS.

I wonder what this means for the retirement of OJU. Presumably the engine will need to be replaced - with a new one?. Do refurbished engines as an entire unit exist in this industry?

 

[DAC1]

A friend has mentioned that QF44 diverted to BME overnight. Hasn’t said much about why, but mentioned emergency vehicles met their aircraft. Seems like they’ve been waiting a while but passengers are being rebooked onto other services (particular friend has been rebooked onto BME-PER-SYD).

 

[Quickstatus]

A friend has mentioned that QF44 diverted to BME overnight. Hasn’t said much about why, but mentioned emergency vehicles met their aircraft. Seems like they’ve been waiting a while but passengers are being rebooked onto other services (particular friend has been rebooked onto BME-PER-SYD).

Reported as an “electrical fault”

I believe on any one weekday, BME has 4 departures to PER (F100, 717, 737-800, 717) and a one 737-800 to SYD

 

[flydoc]

A friend has mentioned that QF44 diverted to BME overnight. Hasn’t said much about why, but mentioned emergency vehicles met their aircraft. Seems like they’ve been waiting a while but passengers are being rebooked onto other services (particular friend has been rebooked onto BME-PER-SYD).

ABC radio reporting pilots requested a ‘priority landing’ at BME following, as Quickstatus has just noted, an electrical fault.

 

[Quickstatus]

If No Mayday, then likely the aircraft’s Emergency Electrical Generator - called the EmerGen (not the APU) was not required.

Would be interesting to see what was degraded

 

[jb747]

VH-OJU the veteran 19 year old B747 operating QF26 HND-SYD apparently had a contained engine failure and diverted to CNS on the early Mother’s Day Sunday 12 May. It is reported the engine failure occurred 2 hours before landing. Initially the aircraft descended (not dived) from FL320 to FL240 dropping 8000 feet.

An aircraft will not normally be able to maintain altitude after the loss of an engine, unless they're already flying lower than optimum (which does happen a fair bit on busy routes). After shutting down an engine, if you're lucky enough to be below the 3 engined altitude, there's not really anything that needs to be done immediately. But, if you're above that altitude, the the autopilot will maintain the current altitude, the power will be rolled up to MCT....and the speed will start to decay. The rate of decay will depend upon just how far from the 3 engine altitude you are, but it can be quite rapid.

So, you need to descend. There are two ways to do this. You can disconnect the auto throttle, and manually push the power to MCT. Then select your target altitude and FLCH (flight level change). The aircraft will descend at the selected airspeed, but because it cannot reduce the power, the descent will be very slow. This isn't likely to be something ATC like, so it's generally better to just carry out a normal descent, and to get it over with.

If indeed this was true then the failure occurred north of the PNG landmass.

In itself not an issue. 3 engine altitude will be well above any terrain, unless you're in the Himalayas.

Operating on 3 engines after shutting down one. The normal routing takes the flight near CNS anyway so it was easy to go to CNS. Reports were of the pilot taking 2 hours to find an Australian airport to land the aircraft

Unless it's been moved, I'm sure that it took about two seconds to load it as the destination. Found. Assuming it was a reasonably clean shutdown, they wouldn't have to land at Cairns. Fuel burn is higher, but the aircraft would probably have sufficient to get to Brisbane. Nevertheless, it's a good idea to land at the nearest reasonable airport, without any pressure to do so.

I wonder what this means for the retirement of OJU. Presumably the engine will need to be replaced - with a new one?. Do refurbished engines as an entire unit exist in this industry?

I'd expect to see another 747 drop into Cairns at some stage with a 5th pod. Engines are stored as more or less complete units. How many Rollers remain, I have no idea.

 

[jb747]

If No Mayday, then likely the aircraft’s Emergency Electrical Generator - called the EmerGen (not the APU) was not required.

Would be interesting to see what was degraded

Whilst you might decide to declare a Mayday, such declaration is solely at the Captain's discretion.

There's not much information around. Supposedly the autopilot failed, but looking at the FR24 data for the descent, holding and approach, it looks like it's engaged. Cabin services were degraded and lights flickering, which sounds like the cabin has been more or less load shed.

The RAT (ram air turbine) would deploy if the buses were unpowered. Assuming it behaves in a similar manner on the 330 to the 380, if you're in the emergency electrical configuration, you'll lose all of the automatics, the cabin will have virtually no power, and the flight controls will degrade to direct law. The FR24 data simply does not look like this.

My guess is that they ended up with a single generator providing power to the entire aircraft. The aircraft has three generators. One on each engine, and another on the APU. There are a number of permutations that will get you back to one. Lose one engine driven generator, and then have an APU that won't start. Despatch with one out, with power coming from either both engines or an engine and the APU, and either lose another engine driven generator or (more likely) have an APU shut itself down. With only one generator, the coughpit and flight systems will still have all the power they need, but passenger needs fall off the queue. The problem now is that with only one generator operating, any further failure will drop you back into the emergency configuration....and you really don't want to go there. So landing at the nearest suitable airport is a really good idea.

 

[Melburnian1]

On Thursday 16 May 2019, QF19 is expected to depart SYD half an hour late for MNL.

 

[Melburnian1]

ABC radio reporting pilots requested a ‘priority landing’ at BME following, as Quickstatus has just noted, an electrical fault.

As at 1810 WST (2010 AEST) on Thursday 16 May 2019, looks like this aircraft (A332 VH-EBL) remains in BME.

Meanwhile, unrelated, QF6144 is operating from SYD down to MEL, airborne at 2004 hours with A332 VH-EBD, presumably as a 'ferry' (empty) flight.