QF1 from SIN diversion to Baku, Azerbaijan (GYD)

[NM]

QF VH-OQH still in GYD. Whatever the issue, it is taking some time to address. The 388 out of service for 3 days already. I hope no other technical issues with the 388 fleet as I am sure the remainder will be stretched until OQH is back in SYD.

I assume the crew that flew the fresh aircraft from SYD will then need to rest (24 hours??) before flying the original aircraft back to SYD (or somewhere else where the engineering works can be completed).

 

[milehighclub]

OQH is set to depart at 1740 from Baku as QF6026 back to SYD

 

[Quickstatus]

VH-OQH still in GYD

See post #205 for possible reason.

The crew which operated OQD into GYD arrived at 2130 local time. Add in rest time, and in parallel, engineering investigations and repairs, the crew will depart 44 hrs later.

 

[exLXCXFF]

Exactly half way now between Baku & Syd, South of Medan, Indonesia. Expected 2034 arrival in SYD according to F24.

 

[cambriamarsh]

I wonder how passengers travelled to their final destination after landing at LHR. There's no public transport on Christmas day.

Not even National Express?

 

[drron]

As expected the media have found an ungrateful passenger. This on news.Com .

 

[Melburnian1]

The other bit of information this passenger gives is:

(same story author but on 'Herald Sun' site with it seems slightly different wording):

She told NCA Newswire that passengers were advised the aircraft would be landing in Azerbaijan because of the smoke alarm on-board.

After disembarking the aircraft, the passengers were then transported to the terminal via bus.

Kylie said they waited 11 hours at Baku Airport. Picture: Supplied




A passenger whose family was left stranded on Christmas Eve after the flight they were on was forced to land in Azerbaijan has revealed the extent of the chaos that unfolded.
On December 24, a Qantas flight from Singapore to Heathrow was forced to land at Baku Airport in Azerbaijan after reports the smoke alarm had been triggered in the cargo hold.
Kylie Palmqvist and her family were on-board the flight, after catching a 5pm flight from Sydney through to Singapore on their way to London.

The Qantas Airbus A380 made an emergency landing at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku Azerbaijan. Picture: Supplied

She told NCA Newswire that passengers were advised the aircraft would be landing in Azerbaijan because of the smoke alarm on-board.
After disembarking the aircraft, the passengers were then transported to the terminal via bus.

After 11 hours of waiting without information, Ms Palmqvist said Baku Airport staff began manually entering passports into their system.

From there, the passengers were transported to the Marriott Hotel in Baku, where it took them another hour to check in.

 

[RSD]

(Moved to here)

While I appreciate that QF is saying it proactively kept aircraft in operational reserve for contingencies, I remain skeptical that the airline has indeed put in place such a company policy. Maybe demand for QF seats have reduced due to a combination of industry high fares and negative perception plus economic conditions?

I’m surprise that the Baku aircraft was no more than 75% full, on a flagship route (no the PER-LHR is not the flagship route), at a time of the year when travel is at one of its peaks.

And to counter that, the airline spins a story that they have a proactive operational contingency policy?. Especially when they have never done so in the past. I also don’t recall the CEO or the airline actually making this a big announcement. Afterall, one would think that something like this would add to a positive company perception.

Let’s see how this plays out.

On Christmas Day I was reading the Qantas inflight mag on my final sector and in AJ's writings towards the front he did mention that QF would have up to 20 aircraft available over the Christmas period for use as spares as needed - given the lead to publish and print etc then this was clearly planned and organised months ago.

 

[Melburnian1]

On Christmas Day I was reading the Qantas inflight mag on my final sector and in AJ's writings towards the front he did mention that QF would have up to 20 aircraft available over the Christmas period for use as spares as needed - given the lead to publish and print etc then this was clearly planned and organised months ago.

The 'spares' might be due to anticipated low bookings, or a deliberate decision by QFd especially and QFi to keep airfares at a high level - try sometimes in excess of A$850 if booking QFd same day for a single Y class journey from Sydney to Melbourne.

Domestically, there's a cosy dupoly (regarding QFd plus JQd as 'one'). The only fly in the ointment is pesky Rex, but it doesn't fly everywhere and when present, flight numbers per day remain low. Bonza has yet to get off the ground, and from all accounts will largely or only be on lesser travelled routes.

Another factor may be pilot or cabin crew shortages because many left during 'peak COVID' . Training or retraining isn't instant.

Additionally, some would have leave at Christmas/during January 2023 school holidays.

In short, we don't know why. 'Up to 20' doesn't mean 'up to 20 international aircraft' as some are likely to be B738s and perhaps turboprops.

I agree with Quickstatus: skepticism is wise, while acknowledging the claim.

 

[milehighclub]

In short, we don't know why.

Pretty sure I said why, you just don't like the reasoning. It wasn't smooth running earlier in the year, so they decided they didn't want a repeat at a busy time of year. That plan worked perfectly in this situation. There was an available aircraft and it did a rescue flight. If everything had been in full swing, that media article would have them all celebrating the festive season in Baku and a lot more scathing, or if they did send a rescue flight, something else might have had to give.

The second she questioned the pilot for being over cautious, the story had lost me - I'll have a QF pilot be over cautious any day.

 

[cambriamarsh]

Pretty sure I said why, you just don't like the reasoning. It wasn't smooth running earlier in the year, so they decided they didn't want a repeat at a busy time of year. That plan worked perfectly in this situation. There was an available aircraft and it did a rescue flight. If everything had been in full swing, that media article would have them all celebrating the festive season in Baku and a lot more scathing, or if they did send a rescue flight, something else might have had to give.

The second she questioned the pilot for being over cautious, the story had lost me - I'll have a QF pilot be over cautious any day.

Agree.

Overcautious? In what world is a 1% "things get very bad" outcome acceptable?

 

[drron]

On Christmas Day I was reading the Qantas inflight mag on my final sector and in AJ's writings towards the front he did mention that QF would have up to 20 aircraft available over the Christmas period for use as spares as needed - given the lead to publish and print etc then this was clearly planned and organised months ago.

Really good from QF. It seems that they have been listening and learning from all the problems of the past year.
Now they just have to come up with a solution to the OS call centres and reticketing disasters.

 

[Quickstatus]

over cautious

For following SOP?. I wonder how many possenger stories did the journalist sift through and got the most clickbaity one, then embellished it some more...

have to come up with a solution to the

A cultural change is required. this are not isolated issues within separate sections of the company

Ungrateful passenger

It is good news for Apple AirTags. The passenger with the severe case of "get-there-itis" was able to locate her luggage with Apple AirTags

I was reading the Qantas inflight mag on my final sector and in AJ's writings towards the front he did mention that QF would have up to 20 aircraft available over the Christmas period for use as spares as needed

Why limit the readership to just the inflight magazine. I would have thought that such significant change in fleet operations would be publicly announced.-

I believe keeping significant numbers of operational spares has never been done by the airline before AFAIK. Remember the increased utilisation of aircraft to increase profitability and the chaos that ensued during one holiday period when one A380 passenger and luggage was offloaded to accomodate passengers from another A380? - around the DXB era.

 

[drron]

News have now updated their story with a QF spokesperson giving a time frame of communication with the passengers. Plus a twitter response of a happy passenger.

 

[Quickstatus]

time frame of communication

Some people can never be assuaged.

I hope QF reflects on the goodwill that can be generated when it looks after its customers. It's much more effective than any spin doctors in marketing can muster up.

Companies can spend lot of $$$ in trying to get new customers. But then don't look after the customers that buy their product. Worse, the level of care depends to some extent on level of passenger loyalty

 

[Melburnian1]

One stupid comment Mrs Palmqvist (see above) made re this diverted QF1 was:

“The return of our passports was interesting, Qantas staff and proactive passengers yelling names out and just hoping we were all honest, which of course we were.”

Apart from the extremely remote possibility of an "honest" someone stealing a passport for later use by criminals who somehow substitute someone else's name and photo, how else would the airline return passports, especially if time was of the essence?

The way I'd do would be to lay them out on a big table arranged alphabetically A-C, D-G and so on, but that might have been too slow.

 

[Quickstatus]

lay them out on a big table arranged alphabetically A-C, D-G

But that does not eliminate the passport thief
Basically it's easy enough to match passport with something on the passenger like a booking email, electronic ticket.

Much ado about nothing in this particular instance

 

[SYD]

But that does not eliminate the passport thief
Basically it's easy enough to match passport with something on the passenger like a booking email, electronic ticket.

Much ado about nothing in this particular instance

or photo?

 

[RooFlyer]

As expected the media have found an ungrateful passenger. This on news.Com .
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that unhappy passenger seems to have an amazingly similar story to the other Qantas IRROPS landings we’ve heard about recently. As in - taken to the terminal and kept there without information for extended periods of time. Time will tell to see whether it really was 10 or 11 hours, but the comment about lack of communication is all-too-familiar. Overall his case seems to have been handled okay but the fine detail will come out in due course I guess.

An airline doesn’t have to have a departure schedule to keep in touch with passengers and tell them what progress has been made and what is trying to be achieved.

Post automatically merged: Dec 27, 2022

how else would the airline return passports, especially if time was of the essence?

call names out and ask people to step forward and then matching the photo with a person who steps forward and then give them the passport. maybe ask them for their year of birth as well.

 

[Quickstatus]

or photo

Or a face - there is the person standing right there claiming the passport. Not a dishevelled look either due to 2 nights at the Marriott.

10 or 11 hours

Well there is also the small issue of Azerbaijan immigration.... and the standing up of the local on call QF representative who probably has never hear of QF before.