Qantas on-time performance

[thadocta]

My Mel-STD flight on Fri was completely cancelled. Been a while since that's happened to me. Every flight Mel-STD was delayed by at least an hour.

Good old qantas

I wasn't aware that Qantas flew to Santo Domingo...

Dave

 

[JohnK]

My Mel-STD flight on Fri was completely cancelled. Been a while since that's happened to me. Every flight Mel-STD was delayed by at least an hour.

Good old qantas

I think you mean MEL-SYD. That would explain why the last 4 flights BNE-SYD on Friday night were delayed by 40 minutes or more.

 

[Harpoon]

I wasn't aware that Qantas flew to Santo Domingo...

Dave

Woops.... dam iPod auto corrects syd to STD. Didn't notice

Anyway yes I meant Sydney.

The reason they claimed the flight was cancelled was due to strong winds or something at Sydney for the incomming flight (which arrived on time mind you). The plane was sitting at the gate, we were all ready to board. guess what, no crew appeared to be around... no pilots either...

I'm completely speculating but it appeared as though my mel-syd flight simply had no crew to fly it. So then over the speaker they made up some garbage about high winds causing a problem on the aircraft. I would think that if you're going to make up lies about why a flight is cancelled, at least make it half believeable. The explanation seemed very weak.

Then...

My return syd-mel flight last night - delayed 40 minutes as well. And guess what the issue was there - no crew. Are Qantas that thinly stretched with pilots and cabin crew? (Both these planes were 767s).

All in all a cracking weekend to sydney with about 4 hours total wasted in the airport for a 1 hour flight. /sigh

I really pity you weekly commuters who do syd-mel or mel-syd on a monday & friday Must be fun....

 

[JohnK]

I really pity you weekly communters who do syd-mel or mel-syd on a monday & friday Must be fun....

SYD-BNE and BNE-SYD on a Sunday and Friday is not much fun either....

 

[docjames]

ANY trip involving SYD is not much fun (airport that is for the sydney-ites not to be offended!)

 

[Maca44]

Yesterdays problems with QF73 being delayed 6 or 7 hours at SYD didn't help, and would have been a pain for the pax seated in the a/c for that long even before departure. I am on QF73 in a couple of weeks and thought leaving 4hrs at SFO would suffice to connect with my flight to ORD, so with the other AA flight being on a separate booking I hope I don't experience the same problems.

 

[serfty]

... I am on QF73 in a couple of weeks and thought leaving 4hrs at SFO would suffice to connect with my flight to ORD ...

You should be ok ... just:

• Flight Status - QF 73 last 60 days

 

[possumoz]

I must have a very charmed travel life. My flights are rarely delayed by more than a few minutes. I think my average would be one delayed flight every 10 flights or so. The most dramatic was on 28 July with a very delayed flight from SYD up to BNE. Meant I missed my connecting up to TSV so Qantas put the six or so of us up in a hotel (more about that fleapit another time). The only time that's happened to me before was when TSV airport was closed due to flooding. Funny thing is I only ever get the big delays when I'm travelling with one particular staff member. Happens every time.
The delayed flight on 28 July was also my first flight after achieving Lifetime Silver.

 

[JohnK]

I think you do have a very charmed life.

Yet another week and QF555 my SYD-BNE flight has not started boarding yet. It was due to depart at 19:45 with a late scheduled boarding of 19:40. Still no announcement. I guess I will not be arriving in SYD on time at 21:15. Happens to me all the time....

 

[JohnK]

Another week and almost every flight since I got to BNE airport this evening has been delayed. So far QF551 was delayed, QF553 looks like being delayed for at least half an hour and my flight QF555 does not start boarding until 19:50, 5 minutes after scheduled take off, so at least a 20 minute delay. Who knows what time I get into SYD. No problem gives me more TIME to surf AFF and drink vodka & orange....

 

[Bundy Bear]

I usually find that once one is late all the flights seem to be late. I guess that means a few more drinks in the lounge.

And what about the standard message; Due to the late arrival of the incoming aircraft your flight has been delayed, has anyone ever heard of a different message.

 

[JohnK]

The flight ended up being 45 minutes late again. It is nice to have extra time in the lounge and meeting fellow AFFers like Bundy Bear and mm472 but I would like my flights to be on time so I can go home and relax before returning again Sunday afternoon.

Boarding was complete by around 8:05pm for a very full flight. One person sitting in business class and not sure if there was many seats vacant in economy. We sat there and sat there and then more people started to board. A total of 11 more people in business class and another person in economy. This was getting very frustrating for all on board. I got up to complain to CSM but no point as it is not his fault.

Finally the first officer announced that they had closed the doors and pushed back around 8:30. The majority of the cabin had started clapping and cheering loudly. This is my first time ever I have experienced this sort of sarcasm on a QF flight. I think it has got to the point where people are fed up with the constant delays.

As for on-time performance I feel the figures of 80%+ reported regularly are absolute hogwash. Another reason why I have no faith in statistics. They report what you want to read not fact. My last 8 flights on QF have all been delayed by 20 minutes or more. Not good enough but unfortunately there is no viable alternative....

 

[straitman]

We sat there and sat there and then more people started to board. A total of 11 more people in business class and another person in economy. This was getting very frustrating for all on board. I got up to complain to CSM but no point as it is not his fault.

Not good enough but unfortunately there is no viable alternative....

JohnK,

could some or all of them be from a connecting flight that QF elected to wait for :?:

 

[ozscot]

I've just returned from a business trip with 28 sectors in 4 weeks using various OW carriers. I'm pleased to say almost all the flights were pretty much on time and all the airport transfer particularly LHR T5 were very smooth. Had one cancelled flight early out of SFO causing a re-route but really the only trouble I had was QF leaving Australia and QF coming back to Australia.

Leaving I was on QF5 from Sydney which ended up being delayed 18 hours. QFF desk put me on the later flight but then rang to say that was delayed 5 hours. As I was only in SIN for 18 hours and 1 meeting this was a problem. Went to airport anyway and First Class check in were able to interline me to the afternoon BA flight. They were very helpful.

Coming back to Australia on QF94 leaving Wednesday night we were within 20 minutes of boarding on time but then were bussed to the aircraft way at the end of the airfield, the opposite end of runway though meaning a long taxi and over an hour late actually leaving the ground. We then had to divert to Sydney for fuel due to weather in Melbourne being below minimum for possible divert. Arrived 3 hours late.

Have been diverted for fuel coming back from LAX a few times recently. You guess it's genuine though the weather in Melbourne didn't actually seem too bad. You have to wonder if QF saving carrying the extra 40t of fuel all the way from LAX for possible weather divert, knowing they can pick it up in Sydney or Brisbane if they have to.

Cheers,
Steve.

 

[JohnK]

could some or all of them be from a connecting flight that QF elected to wait for :?:

I don't think so. I think they were business class passengers from QF557 which was the next flight. As far as I understand delayed connections had nothing to do with it.

As it turned out QF555, my flight, was 42 minutes late and QF557 was 66 minutes late so they tried to get some passengers on the earlier flight. Does not matter which way I look at the situation it does not make sense. Delay an already delayed flight further to get some more passengers on board. I am not very happy and neither were most passengers on board the aircraft....

 

[Evan]

<..> We then had to divert to Sydney for fuel due to weather in Melbourne being below minimum for possible divert. Arrived 3 hours late.

Have been diverted for fuel coming back from LAX a few times recently. You guess it's genuine though the weather in Melbourne didn't actually seem too bad. You have to wonder if QF saving carrying the extra 40t of fuel all the way from LAX for possible weather divert, knowing they can pick it up in Sydney or Brisbane if they have to.

Cheers,
Steve.

I would highly doubt that, this costs of a splash and dash so to speak would be massive, apart from the huge burn on the short flight i would imagine langing charges etc would not be small.

Could be a case of the ER's being used on other routes or out for maintinance and they are just using the other's or even the ER's are pretty close to maximum range with a heavy load, get some head winds or unexpected headwinds fuel can be an issue.

E

 

[serfty]

Maybe it's been as simple as there having been a consistent, strong, south-westerly jet stream flow over Victoria and the Tasman/SW Pacific the past few week; certainly it's been cold, damp and windy here.



Note that IME, LAX-MEL flights generally fly directly over SYD (@39,000ft) so are flying directly into this.

Look at this animation of the weather movement over OZ: http://www.bom.gov.au/products/nati...=1&reloaded=18&radar=true&satellite=true#skip

It's been basically like that for most of August.

 

[straitman]

Maybe it's been as simple as there having been a consistent, strong, south-westerly jet stream flow over Victoria and the Tasman/SW Pacific the past few week; certainly it's been cold, damp and windy here.



Note that IME, LAX-MEL flights generally fly directly over SYD (@39,000ft) so are flying directly into this.

Look at this animation of the weather movement over OZ: National Loop

It's been basically like that for most of August.

This plus the continuous bad weather at lower level. eg across south east Aust this evening the winds at 18500 (I can't look higher easily) are westerly at 25 - 45 kts and the forecasts have moderate to severe turbulence with areas that have rain, showers, snow and even fog in some places. These winds require extra fuel to be carried and the others can either require holding fuel or sufficient fuel for alternates.

ozscot, the idea of departing with less than appropriate fuel :shock: never comes into the equation although as other correctly point out some of the legs can be rather tight even when everything is going fine.

 

[ozscot]

Hi Guys,

the idea of departing with less than appropriate fuel never comes into the equation although as other correctly point out some of the legs can be rather tight even when everything is going fine.

I didn't mean to suggest they'd depart with less than the required amount of fuel, but obviously they didn't in this case have enough to deal with a possible divert on landing at MEL.

I don't know if it's actually possible to fit such extra fuel on-board, or if the tanks are already filled to the brim on leaving - and indeed if it is possible to carry more fuel whether it's commercially viable to do so. On such a long sector you can relate that headwinds, ATC routing and the like could easily make such a difference at the end.

Cheers,
Steve.

 

[oz_mark]

In May, Qantas (domestic jet) had 81.3% on time departures for all flights in Australia (no more than 20 mins delayed). Virgin Blue had 87.7% of departures on time.

If you delve into the facts further, Qantas and Virgin Blue had the following on-time departures from Perth:

PER-SYD 62.7% (DJ 97.1%)
PER-MEL 64.1% (DJ 91.1%)
PER-BNE 68.5% (DJ 74.2%)
PER-ADL 84.6% (DJ 100%)

The June figures are out, http://www.bitre.gov.au/publications/14/Files/BITRE OTP Report Jun 2008.pdf, and the comparisons with May might be instructive. June figures:

PER-SYD 45.3% (DJ 93.3)
PER-MEL 50.5% (DJ 87.2) (TT 66.7)
PER-BNE 49.2% (DJ 74.4)
PER-ADL 63.0% (DJ 93.3)

QF's on-time performance was pretty tragic....