Delayed report, but to add another data point to the mix...
2/12/23
QF87 (SYD>ICN) delayed from 11:40 to 15:08 and eventually took off 16m later. Once we were at cruising altitude, the Captain actually came around and began introducing himself to selected pax in the J cabin (presumably only CL/P1/WP) and providing an explanation for the delay.
Turns out that the operating aircraft (VH-QPC) arrived 55m late from HND and was initially directed to one of the remote bays. It then had to undergo a tyre pressure check for one particular tyre, meaning the aircraft had to remain stationary for 2 hours for pressures to normalise and provide an accurate reading. This pushed us past the magic midday hour, meaning that the remote bay could no longer be used for boarding and they had to wait for a gate to become available. That ended up being Gate 50, so completely the opposite side of T1 to where we would normally have been departing.
We eventually arrived into ICN at 00:00 local time - some 3hrs 35m behind schedule - meaning that all the usual transport options (i.e. AREX and Limousine Buses) had finished for the night. To their credit, Qantas had organised charter Limousine Buses to get people (largely) where they needed to be based on the standard bus routes.
23/12/23
QF88 (ICN>SYD) delayed from 22:10 to 22:25 courtesy of the late arrival of the operating aircraft into ICN. Wheels up some 23m behind schedule, ultimately arriving into SYD approx 18m ahead of schedule. Nice recovery.
. Just sitting in the lounge a couple of champagnes down… Choose your own adventure, what do you think will happen next?
