Qantas Systematic Cancellation of Flights

[MEL_Traveller]

No you're right, this is just my POV, but I have many data points as I travel AA F a lot in the US and often look at same day changes. Just like the 7 hour delay in this thread is one person's POV and a single data point.

Back to my experience -
<24 hours before I see lots of F seats.

Once 24 hours hits, it's zero.

My argument with the same day change is it's relatively useless because you are locked in - nobody can change, therefore nothing is gained or lost. And yes, I see people with gate upgrades on flights that I knew was sold out - but if the GDS is saying no seats, the website won't let you change your flight (same deal with re-accommodation, unless they are going to proactively get in there - which is what I was suggesting they do in my first post).

My experience matches evanb. While same day change might not be a realisable benefit, in the event of IRROPS I’ve found them to be pretty good. The flight might be ‘full’ but they have been known to be able to oversell, expecting that if you are delayed due to IRROPS, most likely someone else will be too, so you might well get in the flight if they don’t show up.

Pre covid they used to hold something like F2 on wide bodies on trunk routes like ORD-LAX or JFK-LAX to cater for full fare pax, which came in handy during IRROPS!

 

[jrfsp]

They would argue the A330 was never designed (and is not economical) to run on these short one-hour domestic hops and they would probably be right, except that perhaps doesn't take other operational constraints into account.

In any case, aren't they running a little short on widebody capacity at the moment? They likely won't have a spare A330 lying somewhere to swing onto SYD-MEL at short notice as they would probably be needed on an international or transcon route.

Widebody flights are commonplace in Asia
Japan especially, KUL-SIN, HKG-TPE etc

Don’t forget the 767s which used to ply the triangle. QF and VA are trying to outdo each other on frequency. Flights are so bunched up that often later departure arrive before earlier scheduled ones. That’s before any delays or issues occur

 

[wenglock.mok]

Widebody flights are commonplace in Asia
Japan especially, KUL-SIN, HKG-TPE etc

Don’t forget the 767s which used to ply the triangle. QF and VA are trying to outdo each other on frequency. Flights are so bunched up that often later departure arrive before earlier scheduled ones. That’s before any delays or issues occur

You're right of course, but I don't think those routes see the 15-minute intervals that QF are currently scheduling during the peak periods on SYD-MEL. They're usually at least an hour apart (or 45-minutes in peak times).

Just to clarify - I'm not defending QF. However, I think their hands were forced because after the 767s were retired, they no longer had a widebody that could achieve the turn times they needed to make regular widebody operation on that route economical (or so they claim). To begin with, the A330s were not a one-for-one replacement for the 767s, and simply replacing a 767 flight with a 737 would not do as that would be a huge capacity downgrade. As such, they probably did the next best thing they could think of which is increasing frequencies except that obviously contributes to slot congestion at our airports.

They would of course say that more frequencies are what their customers want, and they would be somewhat correct except in practice, because the tight frequencies demand tighter scheduling, there is less than minimal room to recover from delays and these flights end up either getting bunched up and/or are dispatched out of order (4.30 flight leaving before the 4.15 or 4.00).

 

[elanshin]

You're right of course, but I don't think those routes see the 15-minute intervals that QF are currently scheduling during the peak periods on SYD-MEL. They're usually at least an hour apart (or 45-minutes in peak times).

Thats because they're running widebodies. JL A359 running HND <> CTS is loaded with double a 738 capacity. Those widebodies are also configured for regional domestic travel for more Y passengers.
If they didn't they would most likely be running low intervals.

They would of course say that more frequencies are what their customers want, and they would be somewhat correct except in practice, because the tight frequencies demand tighter scheduling, there is less than minimal room to recover from delays and these flights end up either getting bunched up and/or are dispatched out of order (4.30 flight leaving before the 4.15 or 4.00).

There is definitely room for a few more widebodies on trunk routes but the reality is QF has more 738s available than they do widebody. Remember they lost a heck of a lot of capacity during covid with their longhaul widebody fleet that they're still nowhere near atm.

I'm sure in a hindsight, they wouldn't have their a388s get stuck in a refurbishment queue, limp their 747s a bit longer and not convert the 2 330s into 330F to meet current demand.

 

[Himeno]

Don’t forget the 767s which used to ply the triangle. QF and VA are trying to outdo each other on frequency. Flights are so bunched up that often later departure arrive before earlier scheduled ones. That’s before any delays or issues occur

I had a trip to SIN booked last year (end Sep 2022). After I booked, QF extended the D-I min connect time and started moving people who now breached that to earlier domestic flights, which included my booked CBR-MEL.
My new flight was delayed and I was sitting on board during the boarding process watching out the window as the originally booked flight was pushing back.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Given the slot restrictions in SYD, one wonders about the economics (operating costs and by implication, airfares) and CO2 created by

0700. 738
0715. 738
0730. 738
0745. 738


vs

0700. 330

0730. 330

Running the 738s every 15 mins is environmentally friendly though. In particular it’s an improvement in my travel environment having that flexibility of having an airplane going to my destination every 15 mins in the event of IRROPs or me choosing to exercise my bundle of rights earlier/later in the day.

They would argue the A330 was never designed (and is not economical) to run on these short one-hour domestic hops and they would probably be right, except that perhaps doesn't take other operational constraints into account.

Try telling that to the Japanese. They run 777s all the time on domestic routes many of which last an hour. Oh and they board their 777s faster than Qantas can board a 717. The Japanese know how to travel!