Qantas Delays/Cancellations

[JessicaTam]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Hi JB

In your opinion is Qantas experiencing more or less issues with its A380 fleet compared to say the 747 at the same age and or in comparison to other operators of the A380 with similar fleet age and size?

Please post this question in the "Ask the Pilot' thread.

 

[Ansett]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Please post this question in the "Ask the Pilot' thread.

Sorry thought it was relevant in this thread given the reports of technical and other issues with the A380.

 

[jb747]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

So I hear!
Especially when combined with three hours on the tarmac at LHR (as reported to me), on the initial leg, for a series of technical issues.

It wasn't that long. About 90 minutes. From what I could see in the tech log, the APU bleed valve didn't close when they shut the APU down after the engines were started. The MEL for that requires that engineers physically close it. It's up in the tail, so not the easiest thing to get at.

The issue in Melbourne was that the 'on call' doctor wasn't returning phone calls. We had spoken to the company, and they had contacted the authorities about 4 hours out, and supposedly all of the appropriate people would be in attendance. They weren't....

 

[pagingjoan]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

It wasn't that long. About 90 minutes. From what I could see in the tech log, the APU bleed valve didn't close when they shut the APU down after the engines were started. The MEL for that requires that engineers physically close it. It's up in the tail, so not the easiest thing to get at.

The issue in Melbourne was that the 'on call' doctor wasn't returning phone calls. We had spoken to the company, and they had contacted the authorities about 4 hours out, and supposedly all of the appropriate people would be in attendance. They weren't....

Great response, thank you, JB. Much appreciated. I will pass on to my friend who was on the flight, and I know he will be most interested in the backstory.
Again, my thanks for taking the time to post the detail.

 

[kevrosmith]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

The issue in Melbourne was that the 'on call' doctor wasn't returning phone calls. We had spoken to the company, and they had contacted the authorities about 4 hours out, and supposedly all of the appropriate people would be in attendance. They weren't....

Gee.. that sounds familiar... Airline staff telling pax that thus and thus will be arranged and all fine when you arrive... and then you get there, and the staff there know nothing about it

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Will be interesting to see how EU261 plays out in all of this. Suspect there will be a lot of claims submitted.

 

[jb747]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Will be interesting to see how EU261 plays out in all of this. Suspect there will be a lot of claims submitted.

The staff certainly knew about it, as they had been involved. But we were dealing with a government department, and the sun had gone down.

 

[Melburnian1]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Thursday night's badly delayed QF9D is now expected in LHR at 0545 local time, as it spent overtime - around two hours at DXB. This should still mean plenty of time to form the overnight delayed, amended departure time of 0830 on Saturday 4 July for QF2 to DXB and SYD.

No QF A380 flights ex SYD tomorrow (Sunday 5 July) are shown as likely to be delayed (QF1, QF7 or QF11) , so has QF somehow rustled up a spare (B744?) to form one of these flights despite now being down to 11 of the latter, or is it just that QF doesn't yet know if QF2 will improve on the schedule and thus be able to form an on time or close to it departure of QF1 on Sunday afternoon, the scheduled 1600 hours to DXB and LHR?

 

[Melburnian1]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

QF129, which may be VH-QPH as it is still on the SYD tarmac, has been delayed from 0935 to a suggested 1200 today (4 July) in its departure so with arrival in the mainland's commercial capital not expected until 2035, 125 minutes late, tonight's QF130 should be a bit under two hours late in departing from PVG (schedule is 1955 hours.) The latter is yet to be disclosed on the QF website.

 

[FlyboyAl]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Currently sitting in the LAX lounge and QF94 has gone from "On Time" to "scheduled" - does anyone have any ideas on this?
No one seems to know anything here!

 

[Melburnian1]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

The delayed QF9D from Thursday arrived LHR on Saturday 4 July at 067 local time, with that aircraft (VH-OQH) having now departed LHR at 0829 as QF2, a minute earlier than QF predicted, taking off at 0847 and proceeding to DXB and SYD hopefully with a load of happy campers who in some cases spent the night in a London hotel courtesy of QF.

FlyboyAl's QF94 departed only eight minutes late from LAX on Friday 3 July (see post number 1410) so the 'scheduled' showing on the above nicely photographed screen may have been a glitch.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Qf1470 Two hours 20 minutes late this morning. - according to Miss FM's technical explanation "it was broke". Now they understand why I wanted them to fly up the night before. As a consequence they have missed their connection to Auckland....

 

[jb747]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Qf1470 Two hours 20 minutes late this morning. - according to Miss FM's technical explanation "it was broke". Now they understand why I wanted them to fly up the night before. As a consequence they have missed their connection to Auckland....

Even if it wasn't 'broke', I'd never be game to trust an early morning departure out of Canberra (or Wodonga, for that matter). Fog is just too common.

 

[FlyboyAl]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Yep, we were as good as on time and had a great flight (the J op up helped). I guess scheduled is just another word for on time!

 

[Flying mermaid]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Even if it wasn't 'broke', I'd never be game to trust an early morning departure out of Canberra (or Wodonga, for that matter). Fog is just too common.

Absolutely - we always fly up the night before for any flight earlier than 1pm - we are doing this in September for a flight to Joburg. However when you are in your 20s you always feel you know better than your parents.

Have had the whole story now - apart from the "broken" plane the next one was delayed by fog, so they missed the LAN flight they had been rebooked on. After initially a lack of interest from ground staff, who had them booked on a 5pm flight to Auckland, which meant they missed their flight to Rotorua and their first night's accommodation, they have now been put on an Air New Zealand flight at 12 (in economy but at least it is a flight) and Miss FM asked if they could still have J lounge access. So they are now sitting in the Qantas lounge eating chocolate and drinking wine! Good service from Qantas, although Mr FM and I are in disagreement about this.

 

[Melburnian1]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

QF7 this afternoon (Sunday 5 July) is to be delayed from its usual 1300 hours departure to DFW and will instead depart at a claimed 1700, presumably waiting for the much delayed Friday night QF2 ex LHR to arrive around 1500 - 1530 this afternoon. This should be the last delay in this series as layover time should easily be sufficient in DFW for the run back to SYD.

jb747, sagacious advice re not catching early morning flights but observation and advice from airline staff in CBR is usually that the first morning departures between 0600 and 0630 sneak out (in the most case) before fog descends - but, like you, I don't risk it. Another reason why Australia needs high speed trains along its lower east coast.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

jb747, sage advice re not catching early morning flights but observation and advice from airline staff in CBR is usually that the first morning departures sneak out (in the most case) before fog descends - but, like you, I don't risk it. Another reason why Australia needs high speed trains along its lower east coast.

This is true Canberra people aways try to get first flight out in winter if they need to fly that day. I have known fog after the first flight to cause delays until midday. However if the first flight has mechanical problems or other issues, then you are stuffed, so I never risk it.

I am now so scarred by missed connections, that I am booking 4 airport hotels as part of a 17 day trip, so I don't have to have any connections anywhere!

 

[cove]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Yes we use an airport hotel in Singapore so we are ready to fly long haul the following day. It avoids missed connections.

 

[jb747]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

There are flights that I could use to get me to Melbourne for the 9 and for the 93. I sometimes fly down for the 9, but only because I've still got about 4 hours available that I could use to drive, if it is delayed. Biggest issue there is afternoon thunderstorms at either Melbourne or Albury (so it's mostly a summer problem). For early morning flights, you're quite right that the first flight often manages to sneak away, but the risk is far too great, so I always go the night before.

It's much the same with connections. I can't believe some of the ones that people try. I use 3 hours as a minimum, but really consider the next day even better.

 

[Melburnian1]

Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion

Unfortunately there are again problems on the MEL - HBA route. QF1502 from HBA is about 90 minutes late; in consequence, QF1503 is delayed from 1135 until a suggested 1255 this afternoon. QF1504 later this afternoon is expected to be delayed by about 70 minutes, but the tight turnarounds may mean this is a slight underestimate.

This route is still deserving of a little 'management attention' from QF although one other AFF member who knows staff at QF had long suggested that not only was QF aware of the problems with this (Cobham operated?) route, the winter schedule would largely fix them due to lower demand on the route at this time of year (except when there is AFL on.)

QF should be very grateful for staff like jb747 who are prepared to have an extra night away from home.