The Fog of War.. ABX Style..

[Poguemahone]

Wanted to share with the group a little about the Albury fog situation.. Every Winter we have Fog and we live with it! Most people in the know book flights in the afternoon in and out to avoid the situation.

A little about my weekend, I retuned from Singapore flying SA in the 380 (Was Grand), Landed in Sydney at 6am and made my way to the Vlounge to wait for my 8:05 departure to ABX. I knew we had fog in Albury as my partner called me to expect the delay but the news did not get to Virgin..

We departed on time and soon over the PA was told we had fog in ABX and will run the holding pattern which was ok, after 7 huge ovals to the North of Albury the PA lit up announcing they will take a shot at landing and if no good they will head back to Sydney.. which is ok! yeah the plane had a few groaners but sh+t happens and we understand this..

We take the long approach over the lake and hit the fog, I was sitting in the usual place and saw the ground not where it should be lol! go around was initiated and we are back in Sydney in 35 minutes.. (3hrs in total) ok still cool as I knew that the Virgin staff will be organising the pax on the other 5 flights landing in ABX that day and all will be A O K..

Nooooo.... We all spilled into the departure lounge and gathered around the desk..Then came the news.. Hey Everyone! You are going on a bus!! WTF! and the bus will only take 3hrs from Sydney to ABX LOL (6.5hrs plus is the real time)

I ran which started the panic as country people know if you need something done you do it yourself! It was like the Amazing race to see who could hit the Qantas Counter to get on the 12:05pm to ABX.. at least 12 of the 50 on that plane got the 12:05 by rebooking themselves. I also went to the VLounge to get the deal on rebooking costs etc and the staff actually rang ops and were instructed to not get involved and leave them to the Bus! Nice eh!

So, Why am I a bit pissed off..

1. I would have thought it would have been a good idea to rebook passengers on Qantas or Rex
2. I would have thought it would have been a good idea to rebook the only Gold on Qantas or Rex

I will say that the 50 on that plane will morph into thousands of negative conversations on how Virgin left them in the cough..

Why do they do this? I have had this same issue with Qantas over the years and ALWAYS got a Rex or later Qantas flight..

Pog Out!

 

[FuzzyAUS]

I was in ABX for the first time about 10 days ago, we were 45 mins late out of SYD due to waiting for some PAX from BNE and then the wrong fuel calcs done by the ground staff.. Got into Albury 30 mins late and was asked by the person picking me up were we delayed because of fog..For your flight, I'm surprised they didn't know before takeoff as they do look at the WX conditions for arrival. No way would I have gone down on a bus, I was in and out for work in the same day, did really enjoy the area and will go down again in a few months I think..P.S. Up your bum too!!

 

[Mal]

Very poor handling by DJ. It's the sort of behaviour I expect from JQ or TT... Not DJ.

 

[david870mdg]

Absolute cough by DJ. Don't even try to trumpet pax safety as a concern. Fly to MEL then chuck the pax on a bus, land in MQL..

o/t
Do we have another Bundy Bear?

 

[FuzzyAUS]

Bundy Bear is still here, we were both using the same picture for years, somehow when I joined I put the image in the wrong area and it wasn't showing up..Bundy has change image to a sail boat I think now

 

[LiamR]

Wow. That is very unusual service from DJ. I'd expect much better.

I'd only expect them to do that if ABX was shut and they couldn't get any more flights out. But it sounds like Qantas were operating with no problems.

Whats interesting is you mention a total lac of communication within Virgin. That is what I find so strange, usually everybody talks. (Unlike some, other airlines)

I guess there isn't much you can do now... Did you receive a refund?

 

[Verde]

Sounds like a miserable time, sorry to hear it went so badly.

I'm a bit surprised, as I had been told that when fog was a problem in the past that planes had arrived in Corowa and then bussed people to Albury (though this was more likely to be Qantas that did it). Even landing in Canberra/Melbourne would have been quicker for a bus than Sydney (and obviously Wagga is much better too, though at least Canberra is on its way back to Sydney where the plane presumably needed to be for its next run).

Very poorly handled, though perhaps there was something else going on as well, I'd be horrified if this was the normal plan for dealing with fog in Albury by Virgin (I hope that it wasn't merely that they decided to get the plane back to SYD ASAP to be on time for its next flight and didn't want to delay by using other airports).

Wanted to share with the group a little about the Albury fog situation.. Every Winter we have Fog and we live with it! Most people in the know book flights in the afternoon in and out to avoid the situation.

A little about my weekend, I retuned from Singapore flying SA in the 380 (Was Grand), Landed in Sydney at 6am and made my way to the Vlounge to wait for my 8:05 departure to ABX. I knew we had fog in Albury as my partner called me to expect the delay but the news did not get to Virgin..

We departed on time and soon over the PA was told we had fog in ABX and will run the holding pattern which was ok, after 7 huge ovals to the North of Albury the PA lit up announcing they will take a shot at landing and if no good they will head back to Sydney.. which is ok! yeah the plane had a few groaners but sh+t happens and we understand this..

We take the long approach over the lake and hit the fog, I was sitting in the usual place and saw the ground not where it should be lol! go around was initiated and we are back in Sydney in 35 minutes.. (3hrs in total) ok still cool as I knew that the Virgin staff will be organising the pax on the other 5 flights landing in ABX that day and all will be A O K..

Nooooo.... We all spilled into the departure lounge and gathered around the desk..Then came the news.. Hey Everyone! You are going on a bus!! WTF! and the bus will only take 3hrs from Sydney to ABX LOL (6.5hrs plus is the real time)

I ran which started the panic as country people know if you need something done you do it yourself! It was like the Amazing race to see who could hit the Qantas Counter to get on the 12:05pm to ABX.. at least 12 of the 50 on that plane got the 12:05 by rebooking themselves. I also went to the VLounge to get the deal on rebooking costs etc and the staff actually rang ops and were instructed to not get involved and leave them to the Bus! Nice eh!

So, Why am I a bit pissed off..

1. I would have thought it would have been a good idea to rebook passengers on Qantas or Rex
2. I would have thought it would have been a good idea to rebook the only Gold on Qantas or Rex

I will say that the 50 on that plane will morph into thousands of negative conversations on how Virgin left them in the cough..

Why do they do this? I have had this same issue with Qantas over the years and ALWAYS got a Rex or later Qantas flight..

Pog Out!