Qantas Delays/Cancellations

[coriander]

Mrs C was on QF flight MEL-SYD yesterday morning, got almost to end of runway before captain said, "not happy" and returned to the terminal. After about 20 minutes, they said plane not going, deplane. Same crew must've found another plane and everyone boarded arriving in SYD 2.5 hours late. Mrs C not happy - first plane had in-seat IFE, second didn't. I asked here what plane it was, she said dunno, it had two engines. Sigh.

 

[Pushka]

Currently waiting in International terminal Sydney for a domestic bay to free up. 30 mins so far and all estimates are described by Pilot as being optimistic.

 

[Pushka]

Pilot said pandemonium at Sydney gates. Still in International. Guy next to me just missed his Int flight.

 

[Melburnian1]

The Monday 19 October QF25 from SYD to HND was delayed overnight and departed at 1132 on Tuesday 20, being now due at HND at 1855. Touching wood as I write, tonight's QF26 is not timetabled to depart the Japanese 'city friendly' in terms of proximity to Tokyo until 2200 local time so an 1855 arrival should leave a reasonable margin for any 'attention' that is required.

Tonight's QF1 (Tuesday 20 October) is shown on the QF website as delayed in its SYD departure from 1700 to a nominal 2005 hours, but that time has well and truly passed and it appears to not yet have left.

If this continues for another couple of hours the ability of QF to get Wednesday 21 October's QF10 out of LHR may be impaired, particularly if QF1 has a longer than timetabled DXB stop.

B744 operated QF17 from SYD did not depart until 98 minutes late at 2008 this evening for LAX, meaning a predicted LAX arrival of 1550 hours in lieu of 1405.

Meanwhile for a flight that is of a much shorter duration, QF1525 from SYD to CBR, its departure was about 90 minutes late with National Capital arrival predicted as 2055 hours, 80 minutes behind time.

Pushka's post above was a trifle cryptic. Are some of these delays due to the partly heavy rainfall that is appearing on the Australia's official weather forecasts & weather radar - Bureau of Meteorology site east of Kandos (NSW)?

 

[Melburnian1]

QF's website revised the departure time of QF1 to 2115 tonight but that was 40 minutes ago. It appears to not yet have departed.

 

[Melburnian1]

Tonight's QF1 from SYD has now been delayed from 1700 to an expected 0800 tomorrow morning, a 15 hour delay. QF suggests that the stop in DXB will be from 1520 to an as yet not updated departure time. This must mean LHR arrival at around the 2100 mark on Wednesday evening if all goes well (in other words, that there are no further significant enroute delays.) Advice from AFF viewers who were booked on this flagship service would be appreciated. Did you receive two taxi vouchers, or if an out of towner, what hotel are you being accommodated in and is it with dinner and tomorrow morning (bright and early) an 0530 brekky?

Perhaps some QF1 passengers have flown down to MEL to join tonight's QF9 but as always this could depend on when QF became aware that the QF1 would suffer an overnight delay. With the website showing a 2115 hours departure until about 2200 tonight, that suggests QF did not know of the longer than anticipated (overnight) delay until late in the peace. It may have something to do with crew hours being exceeded and understandable inability to rustle up a substitute tech crew and flight attendants in sufficient time to depart before the dreaded 2300 hours SYD curfew.

The Wednesday 21 October departure time of QF10 from LHR to DXB and MEL has yet to be altered on QF's website but logic and plane availability suggests that it will be badly late. In theory this means that the Thursday evening departure of QF9 ex MEL (22 October) will also be delayed as with one A388 typically in planned maintenance and the roster if I am not mistaken requiring 11 aircraft, there just are not the spares to substitute an aircraft.

UPDATE: QF is now showing a Wednesday 21 October departure time ex DXB of 1720 for QF1, and a resultant LHR arrival at 2140 hours that day.

If I recall, one AFF contributor previously confirmed that it was possible to operate a B744 to LHR but this requires 'advancing' of crews a couple of days prior (presumably to both DXB and LHR) and even if a B744 was available as were tech crew, it would be presumably be an expensive solution. Then we have the problem that a B744 carries fewer passengers and has a seating configuration that differs from a QF A388.

Of course QF may have some other solution and if so it may be revealed as the company website is updated.

This looks like another case of unacceptable rolling delays that bedevil the LHR QF operation, although in fairness I noted four consecutive recent days of QF9 being early or on time into LHR so it is in a sense 'luck of the draw.'

UPDATE: QF is now showing an updated departure time on Wednesday for QF1 of 1720 hours ex DXB with a LHR forecast arrival of 2140 hours.

 

[defurax]

Perhaps some QF1 passengers have flown down to MEL to join tonight's QF9

Looking at the current loading of QF9 departing in 55 minutes, it seems not many PAX, if any, were able to take that option: F4 A4 J9 C9 D9 I2 W9 R9 T9 Y9 B9 H9K9 M9 L9 V9 S9 N9 Q9 O9 G0 X9 E9

 

[Melburnian1]

The overnight delayed QF1 from SYD departed this morning (Wed 21 October) at 0857, almost an hour later than QF had predicted. It is due into DXB at 1620 for an optimistically suggested (though not impossible) 75 minute stop before QF suggests a LHR arrival at 2200 hours tonight local time.

The Tuesday 20 2355 hours QF9 from MEL to LHR is running an expected five minutes early which is helpful, as it will quickly turn around and form a delayed QF10 today at about 1530 ex LHR if all goes well, two hours late. QF predicts that it will be 100 minutes late into DXB at 0105 on Thursday 22 October, but has yet to publish an amended DXB departure and MEL Thursday evening arrival time. QF9 on Thursday evening ex MEL will very likely be late away.

Meanwhile QF has also yet to amend the Wednesday evening LHR departure time of QF2 to DXB and SYD, but it will have to be late as it is timetabled to depart at 2125 hours but the very late QF1 will not be arriving until 2200 hours as noted above.

 

[defurax]

So QF9 yesterday left the gate only a few minutes late, but apparently the tractor/tug could not be easily disconnected and it took 30 minutes to get some engineers to do the magic. In the end we arrived in DXB 36 minutes late, but as soon as we landed TripIt alerted me that the remaining DXB-LHR flight would depart DXB at 11:20AM, More than 2 hours late.

I will most likely miss my connecting flight to ORY from LHR and the later flight shows 0 in all classes on EF. Anyone here knows how BA deals with overbooked flights for transiting PAX who missed their connection? Will BA give me priority to get a seat on the later flight to ORY?

 

[Melburnian1]

defurax, I cannot answer your question, but the reason that the Wednesday evening QF9 ex MEL did not depart DXB until 1102 on Thursday 22 October - as you suggest, almost two hours late - may have been due to a need for sufficient staff rest time ('slip') in DXB due to late running of a previous flight. This QF9 is shown as likely to arrive LHR at 1540, an hour and 50 minutes late.

The delayed Tuesday 20 October QF1 ended up arriving LHR at 2203 on Wednesday evening. This A388 turned around in an impressive one hour and 41 minutes to form a delayed QF2, departing at 2344 hours for the trip to DXB where its stay was from 0915 to 1150 today (overstaying by 50 minutes) so in consequence its SYD arrival on Friday 23 October 2015 is forecast to be at 0805, an hour and 55 minutes behind the schedule. Had this plane kept to the alloted time in DXB it could have shaved about 65 minutes off the total timetabled elapsed journey time from LHR to SYD, but this is not to be.

The delayed QF10 from Wednesday afternoon ex LHR (A388 VH-OQK) is due into MEL tonight (Thursday 22) at 2340, an hour and 45 minutes late, with the departure of QF9 back to DXB and LHR expected at 0130 on Friday morning (95 minutes late), meaning a probable DXB stop from 0820 (75 minutes behind time) to an as yet unadjusted departure time of a claimed 0910 on the QF website. The 50 minute stop shown there at present is unrealistic.

With the end of another month approaching, one has to feel a whiff of sympathy for the QF manager at the LHR 'station' (a name borrowed from railways) who may have to write another memo to the management of LHR explaining why QF's punctuality performance is not optimum.

Nonetheless it is good in one sense to have a profitable airline because it can then have the confidence to invest in new technology - something that may have been missing from say USA-domiciled airlines for many years until quite recently - but unfortunately this may not assuage many travellers who are merely concerned with travelling from point A to point B on time (with safety a 'given.')

QF's lack of punctuality on its MEL to LHR route through DXB would have to be one of the worst, if not the worst, performer of any airline offering Australia to UK flights. Of course other airlines require one to change aircraft in some cases at their intermediate stop (and one operator, BI even does a bit of a milk run from MEL to BWN then a stop in DXB prior to arrival at LHR) but SQ's timetabled Oz to LHR or reverse times can be faster than QF's, and yet SQ is more reliable in terms of not operating behind time nearly as often.

The QF SYD to LHR results such as this week's 16 hour departure delay and 15 hour arrival delay may be what statisticians refer to as an 'outlier' but those who were booked may not be all so forgiving. In QF's defence that was an afternoon when lightning had struck around SYD with one article on Latest & Breaking News Melbourne, Victoria | The Age or Australian Breaking News Headlines & World News Online | SMH.com.au showing a QF domestic flight approaching SYD with lightning bolts visible in the background - quite some distance away in reality but it looked 'close' in the photo or video.

 

[Melburnian1]

Many evening departures (not just QF's) were badly late this evening ex MEL (THursday 22 October 2015.) These included QF636 to BNE (due out at 2005 but took off at 2228) and QF2289 to LST (due to depart at 1910, but took off at 2056 hours.)

The BOM is recording a large (unsuually so?) variance between actual and perceived temperatures so that may have something to do with it.

 

[Melburnian1]

The Thursday 22 October QF10 departed LHR bang on time at 1330 hours, arriving DXB at 2333, just eight minutes late, but then overstayed until 0312 on Friday 23, meaning a projected late evening arrival in MEL tonight at 2300, 65 minutes late. In turn, the 2355 hours departure of QF9 this evening ex MEL is likely to be delayed until around 0045 (oddly, once again that is yet to be shown publicly on the QF flight status website section), although with some luck - no delays into, at or getting away from DXB - the airctaft may be able to pick up time on the flight to LHR.

 

[Melburnian1]

The delayed QF10 referred to in post 1792 did not arrive MEL until 2343. QF9 then did not depart until 0201 on Saturday 24 October with QF suggesting an arrival in DXB at 0915 today, 130 minutes late and a perhaps little bit optimistic LHR forecast arrival of 1515, 85 minutes down.

 

[Melburnian1]

QF93 from MEL to LAX was meant to depart at 1050 AEDT on the 'one hour later' summer timetable but has yet to do so as far as I can see.

The QF website is still showing it as meant to depart at '1200' which as I write this is 68 minutes ago. The crew would still be within their permitted hours, and the aircraft has a very long turnaround in LAX, so at this stage there is no danger of the return QF94 on Saturday 24 October 2015 departing late, but I am not at MEL airport and hence do not know if there has been a mechanical, electrical or other problem that will see the flight cancelled rather than merely delayed in excess of two hours.

 

[coriander]

QF93 from MEL to LAX was meant to depart at 1050 AEDT on the 'one hour later' summer timetable

Flightaware says departing 1410.

As an aside, I note that QF93 departure time moves back to 1020 AEDT from Tuesday.

 

[Melburnian1]

coriander, many thanks. The QF website still asserts '1200' which obviously is incorrect. How does the FlightAware - Flight Tracker / Flight Status / Flight Tracking site "know" about a departure time when the QF company public website does not relay the same information to a public user? Does FlightAware have a direct link to ATC regularly updated information for aircraft that are on the ground?

 

[coriander]

coriander, many thanks. The QF website still asserts '1200' which obviously is incorrect. How does the Flightaware site "know" about a departure time?

I've no idea, I'm just a humble soon-to-be passenger looking at https://flightaware.com/live/flight/QFA93.
I used FA earlier this year to track my son's trip to the US and it seemed to correlate with his timings to/from the US on QF93/94 very closely, especially with the delays!

EDIT: how accurate it is I don't know - FA says of this flight "Status Taxiing (pushed from gate 3 hours 20 minutes ago)". Didn't know the runway was so far from the terminal :shock:.

 

[Melburnian1]

coriander, I have a slight grin (the 'gritted teeth' or 'ironic' variety) on my face as it may indeed be taxiing - to the hangar or remote stand!

QF has now altered the departure of QF93 today (Sat 24 October) to 1955 hours tonight (probably necessitating a new crew) with arrival in the good ol' USA predicted for 1605, same day of course. One assumes passengers receive meal vouchers or similar. This would be especially annoying for those passengers without lounge access: it is not really sufficient time to go home to Melbourne's eastern or southeastern suburbs, and come back again after having done something 'useful' at home or elsewhere, and psychologically passengers have expected to depart MEL at 1050, not nine hours later. As always though, better that any faults be repaired on the ground rather than a problem detected once the plane is at XX000 metres.

This still should allow the Saturday evening QF94 to depart on time.

 

[coriander]

arrival in the good ol' USA predicted for 1605.

Hope this doesn't happen on Wednesday - I have onward connections from LAX and commitments in SFO Wed evening. I have left 5 hours between arriving and departing LAX ...... which I thought was enough!

I have to say that this thread is quite depressing because of its "I never knew that" revelations: I can't remember a flight where I've been delayed more than an hour on departure. I'm starting to get nervous about my QF1 to LHR and onwards as I can't put the onwards leg on the one ticket (LCC). One wonders how long QF will sustain such poor on-time performance. Maybe they should buy one of the MH A380s to ease the stress on their scheduling (and passengers).

QF has now altered the departure of QF93 today (Sat 24 October) to 1955 hours tonight

Today's flight has now vanished from FA.

 

[Melburnian1]

coriander, just to reassure, such a delay as today's for QF93 is quite unusual: often it is punctual. Delays are far more frequent (though again, not daily) on the MEL (especially) and SYD to DXB and LHR QF routes with QF1/2/9/10. In that sense it is a bit of a lottery but unfortunately the odds of a bad delay on the LHR route are not 66:1.

Depressing or not, this thread is factual as it lists actual not imagined delays (notwithstanding that sometimes we can speculate as to the cause of a delay and be incorrect, myself included.)

While this is a delays and cancellations thread and not a 'what fleet ought an airline have?' thread, your suggestion of extra aircraft has been supported by other AFFers such as JohnPhelan who criticised QF's scrapping or retirement of two 747s.

I agree that the Australia to LHR QF routes have unacceptably poor punctuality. At least on that route there is, if you research it, a vast amount of competition. SQ is the fastest to LHR in some cases; a smattering of the other carriers you could consider (not all offering 'immediate' connections at an intermediate point) include BI, CA, CX, CZ, JL, KE, NH, OZ, PR, SQ and if you must MH. And they're only some of the ones via Asia (a better intermediate stop in my view than the culturally dissimilar Middle East desert.) QF's timekeeping must be the worst of any of these airlines!