VA Cancellations, Delays growing?

[MooTime]

Hello AFF brain trust.

VA562 from Perth to Sydney was cancelled yesterday, while on the tarmac we were in a sauna of a plane for half an hour before we headed back to the gate. They then put the Plat and Gold members on VA471 Perth to Brisbane arriving at 1:40am and subsequent connections in the morning, meaning some of us are sleeping in the terminal for hours with no food.

First they cook us in there Perth sun in a tin can, then they make us deal with the chaos of re-checking in for a flight that departs 15mins after we deboarded the original flight, and not offering accommodation and it being too late to book any accomm for the night or some sort of compensation when we land in Brissy.

Is there anyway as a someone who's plat and flown with Virgin many times for work and recreation to get any compensation? Has any one had any experience in clawing something from Virgin like credit or something?

Sorry to sound pretentious, second time dealing with a virgin cancellation, got cancelled in Tokyo and still going through the travel insurance claim on that. Thanks for the help y'all.

So you were on the BNE airport floor from say 2am to what 6-7am departure to SYD? Shirley not.....
Others had to stay in Perth for the night? Prob better option.

Not good enough imo, even for WP's?
Any families with kids?

 

[AviatorInsight]

Hello AFF brain trust.

VA562 from Perth to Sydney was cancelled yesterday, while on the tarmac we were in a sauna of a plane for half an hour before we headed back to the gate. They then put the Plat and Gold members on VA471 Perth to Brisbane arriving at 1:40am and subsequent connections in the morning, meaning some of us are sleeping in the terminal for hours with no food.

First they cook us in there Perth sun in a tin can, then they make us deal with the chaos of re-checking in for a flight that departs 15mins after we deboarded the original flight, and not offering accommodation and it being too late to book any accomm for the night or some sort of compensation when we land in Brissy.

The crew noted the cabin temp was high. The standby aircon pack temperature control valve wasn't working, causing the temps to skyrocket. So back to the gate you went. A talk with engineering meant the flight now needs to fly at 25,000ft as a maximum altitude on the remaining air conditioning pack.

 

[buggy00]

So you were on the BNE airport floor from say 2am to what 6-7am departure to SYD? Shirley not.....
Others had to stay in Perth for the night? Prob better option.

Not good enough imo, even for WP's?
Any families with kids?

Yeah, retrospectively would of stayed in Perth. But there was no time to think unfortunately as they booked us on a flight that departed in a few minutes (which was delayed).

And yeah, families slept on the floor at BNE airport baggage collection area. Even as a Plat, wasn't treated any differently (which is a good sign, I'd rather see families helped first).

 

[PERLHR]

Hope you have Established some positive feedback from VA on this event. Sounds like a crazy nightmare. I find it incredible that airlines in Australia get away with this behaviour.

 

[buggy00]

Hope you have Established some positive feedback from VA on this event. Sounds like a crazy nightmare. I find it incredible that airlines in Australia get away with this behaviour.

I did actually get a reply in a few minutes of sending a complaint, let me know what everyone thinks:

Thank you for taking the time to write to us regarding your cancelled flight from Perth to Sydney on 26 March 2024.

We value your loyalty as a Platinum member and we would like to apologise for the disruption to your travel plans. We always want our guests to have an enjoyable and trouble-free experience with us, and we are sorry this has not been the case for you on this occasion.

Thank you for supplying receipts confirming the details of out of pocket expenses as a result of the disruption along with your bank details. We have assessed your claim in accordance with our Guest Compensation Policy and Conditions of Carriage and can advise a total payment of $19.00 AUD has been arranged.

This payment includes the meal costs. Please allow up to 14 business days for this amount to appear in your nominated bank account.

In light off your disappointing experience/Given your poor experience, I’ve taken the liberty of issuing 7500points in your velocity Platinum account.

We have also forwarded your status credit concern on our velocity team that will contact you as soon as possible.

Thank you for your patience and we look forward to welcoming you on-board again soon.

So tl;dr got my in-flight meal paid for and an extra 7500 points. Also technically the SC and Points from the new BNE-SYD flight.

What does everyone think, sufficient?

 

[Saab34]

I mean, without customer protections in place, I guess it’s likely the best you will get.

Now if we had some laws in place, I’d expect to be compensated about ten fold.

 

[Must...Fly!]

It's the lack of support on arrival at BNE that really irks me. The 7500pts and meals reimbursed is fine. Things happen, and I'm actually quite sure VA would've had a spare frame to tail swap with in PER, it's literally useless due to the absurd curfew situation in Sydney.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

MEL expecting lots of mms of rain Mon.
Just as I am due to fly out.
Same as Boxing Day last year.
Lots of delays.
Well, more time in the lounge, then.

 

[Saab34]

HND-CNS cancelled tonight. Aircraft remains on the ground in Toyko, did leave Cairns no issues.

The other 3 MAXs are all overnighting in BNE tonight so I assume one will head up in the morning.

 

[ben95]

HND-CNS cancelled tonight. Aircraft remains on the ground in Toyko, did leave Cairns no issues.

If I'm not in a rush I'd enjoy the complimentary upgrade to NH and/or a direct flight and an extra night in Tokyo with hotel and meals paid for , but if you are a Japanese tourists with accom booked in Cairns for your holiday then it would be an issue.

 

[Saab34]

Well they just cancelled today’s CNS-HND flights. I assume the stuck aircraft will just operate tonight’s flight

 

[Harrison_133]

April On Time Performance figures:

Table 1: Total Industry On Time Performance for April 2024​

Reporting Airlines	Sectors Scheduled	Arrivals On Time %	Departures On Time %	Cancellations %
Hinterland	1,015	81.6	88.5	1.2
Jetstar	8,373	74.9	72.7	2.2
Qantas - all QF designated services	19,687	79.0	79.9	2.3
Rex Airlines	5,780	80.7	83.3	1.0
Skytrans	981	86.4	87.8	17.5
Virgin Australia - all VA designated services	11,690	81.2	82.1	1.7
All Airlines	47,526	79.2	79.9	2.3
Individual operating entities
Qantas	7,800	78.2	79.1	2.2
QantasLink	11,887	79.5	80.5	2.4
Virgin Australia	11,306	81.4	82.6	1.7
Virgin Australia Regional Airlines	384	74.5	68.4	1.8

Source: Airline On Time Performance Statistics —Monthly

 

[MooTime]

VA wins April.

Rex if some like I guess.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

In the VA lounge at SYD now. 13/13 on-time for the year so far, and #14 this morning is looking good.

(Interesting from the chart above that Rex is the only carrier that managed to have a lower on-time arrival rate than departure. Given most of their flights are at small regional airports without much congestion, makes me wonder if the flights times are simply too short.)

 

[eastwest101]

In the VA lounge at SYD now. 13/13 on-time for the year so far, and #14 this morning is looking good.

(Interesting from the chart above that Rex is the only carrier that managed to have a lower on-time arrival rate than departure. Given most of their flights are at small regional airports without much congestion, makes me wonder if the flights times are simply too short.)

Probably the effect of fog, a lot of regional airports without ILS so the aircraft departs the larger cities on time, but slows down and waits for fog to burn off at some regional airports. Similar to diversions around thunderstorms in summer.

 

[Must...Fly!]

(Interesting from the chart above that Rex is the only carrier that managed to have a lower on-time arrival rate than departure. Given most of their flights are at small regional airports without much congestion, makes me wonder if the flights times are simply too short.)

Maybe a consequence of the milk run flights - do the stats measure each take off & landing or just the first and last of a particular flight number, I wonder.

 

[mel-world]

Maybe the title needs to reflect the better delivery of VA services lately. Or I'm just being optimistic.

 

[PERLHR]

I'm doing a status and points run to Tokyo later in the year from Perth. (Well gotta be occupied somehow...). Already VA have changed a little some of the sector times in theory allowing plenty of connecting time. We shall see ....,,

 

[twinaisle]

Maybe the title needs to reflect the better delivery of VA services lately. Or I'm just being optimistic.

OTP has been good. No more leniency boarding late passengers which is good. There's nothing more frustrating that having everything ready to go and waiting for someone because they can't get their timings and life right to board an aircraft.

 

[RooFlyer]

No more leniency boarding late passengers which is good.

Not good - excellent!!