Qantas Delays/Cancellations

[jrfsp]

Oh dear. QF10, the often punctual 1155 hours ex LHR to PER on Saturday 6 May is delayed in pushback until 1300 hours on Monday (!) so instead of being in PER from 1140 to 1310 hours on Sunday 7 (today), the intermediate stop should be from around 1250 on Tuesday 9 to 1835, with MEL arrival at about 0010 on Wednesday 10 May.

Quite the journey: the long stop in Perth indicates that passengers will change to a 'local' aircraft such as an A332 or B738 that runs MEL-PER-MEL as a special.

B789 VH-ZNB is arriving in LHR at a suggested 0811 hours today (Sunday 7), 186 late, so this may be the cause of the delay.

I suggested yesterday that the late QF1 wouldn't arrive today in LHR until after 0800: this has turned into an estimated 0858 hours, 143 minutes late for A388 VH-OQJ as it did not take off from SIN this morning until 0211 hours.

A332 VH-EBQ on QF67, the 0905 hours morning Sunday 7 SYD-BLR was airborne at 0951 so expected at gate arrival becomes 1653, 33 behind. The return may well pick up time and be under half an hour late arriving in SYD tomorrow afternoon if there are no further delays.

B738 VH-XZI is on QF143 (0850 hours SYD across to AKL) that wasn't in the sky until 0958 so arrival should be 1442 mid afternoon, 47 late.

QF11, the midmorning nicely timed 1020 hours SYD-LAX today is expected to push back at 1320, 180 late for the A388. VH-OQK came in on 'the 12' ex LAX at 0837, 52 late so perhaps it's forming 'the 11'.

QF81 currently switches between an A332 and A333: today's it's apparently the former, but departure of this 1150 hours SYD-SIN is not predicted until 1440 this arvo, 170 minutes late.

The new QF CEO doesn't officially take the reins until November but she has her work cut out fixing numerous problems including QFi's extremely poor timekeeping.

Amazing that the vast majority of competitors (not based in Oz) can mostly run on time but QFi so often cannot.

Given one B789 looks to be marooned in London for a while as above, it'll be interesting to see if this means further cancellations. 789nerd and Flyerqf will be our experts. Timetabled fleet utilisation is not identical every day.

Delayed QF10 also resulted in cancellation of QF 93

 

[Melburnian1]

QF1 (1510 hours SYD-SIN-LHR) was earlier today showing as 'on time' on Sunday 7 May 2023 but was amended to a 1615 hours pushback.

By 1628, it had not departed. It's VH-OQJ that was the tardy QF2 arrival this morning.

Given the regular overstays in Singapore northwest bound, it's possible for the flight to be two hours or more late into London tomorrow.

UPDATE: Just after 1530 hours, QF1 has been further put back to a claimed 1815 ex SYD in the early evening.

Make that a possible four hours or more late arriving at its London Heathrow gate tomorrow.

 

[ayebee]

Qantaslink QF2011 seems to be having an interesting flight this afternoon.
Flew to destination Orange and diverted back to SYD.

 

[Melburnian1]

As at 1637 hours on Sunday 7 May, SYD looks to have just adopted single runway operations via the east-west facility.

This may well create delays if it continues into the 1700 and later peak period on a Sunday.

QF123, the 1555 hours SYD-GFF "REXStopper" was already late so as at 1637 was third in the queue.

 

[Melburnian1]

Qantaslink QF2011 seems to be having an interesting flight this afternoon.
Flew to destination Orange and diverted back to SYD.

Orange was forecast today to have 'snow showers'. Would this be a possible cause of the flight's return to its origin?

 

[Melburnian1]

Updating post number 14722 above, the delayed ex-SYD QF1 on Sunday 7 May 2023 has been further put back to a suggested 2030 hours, 320 minutes late.

This makes arrival in LHR before noon on Monday 8 unlikely.

 

[Melburnian1]

Sunday 7 May 2023 finds JQ1, the afternoon 1550 hours MEL up to HNL (B788 VH-VKI) not airborne until 2004 hours. Expected arrival is about 0955 hours same day, 235 minutes behind schedule.

A320 VH-VFT on JQ665 from AYQ down to MEL is arriving at 2051 hours, 266 late.

 

[Flyerqf]

Given one B789 looks to be marooned in London for a while as above, it'll be interesting to see if this means further cancellations. 789nerd and Flyerqf will be our experts. Timetabled fleet utilisation is not identical every day.

As mentioned above, QF93/94 rotation on Sunday 7th is cancelled. Tuesday there is a spare 787 in MEL, so if ZNG does arrive back late Tues night / early Wed morning then there should be no other delays. MEL-PER QF9 and PER-MEL QF10 on Tuesday will be operated by a 332 though, so the aircraft can turn around back to LHR in Perth.

 

[Flyerqf]

QF554 is taking off from SYD to BNE at 12.04am, which must almost be a record given the curfew.

Path over Rockdale too given East West ops today due to winds.

 

[Melburnian1]

QF554 is taking off from SYD to BNE at 12.04am, which must almost be a record given the curfew.

Makes a mockery of the 'curfew'.

 

[Melburnian1]

On Monday 8 May, A332 VH-EBQ on the QF68 from BLR down to SYD should arrive at 1331 hours, 206 minutes late as last night takeoff of this 1810 hours scheduled flight was not until 2223 hours local time.

Colleague EBV has had five significantly late flights in a row: this morning it arrived in BNE as QF52 (ex SIN) at 0805 hours, 85 minutes behind time.

The badly delayed QF1 (A388 VH-OQK) on Sunday night was airborne from SYD at 2045 hours mid evening, arriving SIN at 0228 hours, 298 minutes behind the timetable. It has not long taken off at 0446 hours so LHR arrival is predicted for 1130 local time (2030 AEDT), 295 late.

Although VH-OQJ on Sunday evening's QF2 from London should arrive SIN this afternoon at 1700, half an hour early, it isn't predicted to depart for SYD until 2200 tonight, 150 minutes late due presumably to mandatory flight crew rest requirements.

Again, this shows the limitations of QFi's decision to route the MEL-LHR flights each way via Perth (and with a different aircraft type), so if there is substantial late running on 'the 1' or 'the 2', passengers suffer on another flight from an unavoidable late departure. This is not the pilots' fault: sufficient rest is essential.

Of numerous airlines operating a 'Kangaroo route' with a one stop hop to/from LHR, QFi must surely consistently have the worst punctuality by far. Yet it usually charges the highest fares. For aspirant users not wedded to it via FF or office booking policies, one might say 'better value (and service/food on board) elsewhere'.

A332 VH-EBO on recently introduced QF39 (1510 hours MEL-CGK) did not take off until 1743 on Sunday 7, arriving at 2132 hours (137 minutes late) and then becoming airborne from Jakarta as QF40 at 2309, arriving MEL this morning at 0820 hours, 100 minutes tardy.

The weather in Sydney last night was challenging (storms) so perhaps not surprising that QF25, which recently has been running late a lot, did not take off until 2253, arriving HND this morning at 0711 hours, 106 minutes late. Aircraft was A333 VH-QPD.

 

[Melburnian1]

On Sunday morning 7 May 2023, A333 VH-QPF arrived in HNL on the redeye QF103 (ex SYD) at 1016 hours, nine minutes early.

Not exceeding the allocated turnaround time in Honolulu seems difficult, as QF104, the 1200 'high noon' on Sunday from HNL back down to SYD did not take off until 1331 hours. Monday evening SYD at gate arrival should be at around 1951, 71 minutes behind time, not unusual for this flight.

In the seven days including today, QF104 has been cancelled once. Its 'best' performance has been to arrive SYD 72 minutes late; its worst, 134 late.

I don't know what the problem is in HNL but it's a constant irritation for passengers who'd like to be back home in Sydney on time or close to it.

 

[Silvia]

the HNL flight is always tricky. Hard for Melbourne bound passengers... do you risk it with JQ who are half reliable or do you go QF but risk to get to SYD late and miss the last flight to Melbourne... it's a lose/lose situation.

A tricky morning as @Melburnian1 suggested with Sydney's storms last night and runways down to 1 op. QF404 MEL-SYD was cancelled, QF406 MEL-SYD (B738 VH-VZP) arrived at 9 35, 100 min tardy, QF408 MEL-SYD was cancelled, QF410 MEL-SYD (B738 VH-VYZ) arrived to gate at 9 56, 91 min behind, QF412 MEL-SYD (B738VH-VZT) is on route and suggested to arrive at 10 37, 117 min late, QF414 MEL-SYD (A332 VH-EBL) is just taking off and has a revised arrival at 11 50, 175 min tardy.

Not the day to fly to Sydney for sure.

 

[milehighclub]

QF8 paid a visit to BNE

 

[789nerd]

QF8 paid a visit to BNE

VH-ZNC still in BNE - shown as due to proceed onwards to SYD at 10:00 AEST - past 14:00 and no sign of movement - flight crew issue ? Presume passengers have been transferred to domestic flights if possible.

 

[789nerd]

This morning's QF63 SYD-JNB (B789 VH-ZNE) was 64 minutes late departing, after apparently spending a day in Sydney Maintenance. Despite a westwards journey, is shown as making up time to be 25 minutes late into Jo'burg. The return QF64 should therefore be able to depart on time.

 

[milehighclub]

VH-ZNC still in BNE - shown as due to proceed onwards to SYD at 10:00 AEST - past 14:00 and no sign of movement - flight crew issue ? Presume passengers have been transferred to domestic flights if possible.

Scheduled out at 1700 - lightning strike so going through the checks required

 

[Melburnian1]

Monday 8 May's QF1 took off from SYD at 1541 hours so arrval in SIN for A388 VH-OQD should be at about 2122, a creditable eight minutes early.

The fun then stops as probably again due to necessary flight crew rest minimum stipulations imposed by fatigue management, the onwards leg to LHR won't depart until 0415 hours tomorrow morning instead of the timetabled 2330.

The delay can't be helped, and presumably the lounge remains open for the minority who have access but such a delay is especially hard on mums travelling with very young children, as well as the elderly if the latter have health problems. So again, LHR arrival will be significantly tardy.

 

[789nerd]

Scheduled out at 1700 - lightning strike so going through the checks required

Eventually pushed back at 17:09 - positioning on to Sydney as QF6001.

 

[Flyerqf]

Saturday’s QF10 (operated by VH-ZNG) from LHR to PER will depart at 1400 on Monday (in around 2 hours from now). It will arrive in PER at 1320 tomorrow (Tuesday). It will turnaround in PER to operate Tuesday’s QF9 (the MEL-PER sector operated by an A332).