Volcanic Ash flight disruptions June 2011

[Austman]

Second day of being stuck in Wellington. You think that QF might offer a swap to NZ. But thay say that's a danger to the passenger (flying at all out of Wellington).

 

[gumpy]

I've got a NAN run coming up this weekend. What should I do?

1. Rebook for another week and claim hotel bookings on Travel insurance?
2. Reroute to a direct flight and lose the SC's I need to get to 2400...
3. Run the guantlet and potentially end up stuck in Mel or Brissy? If I get stuck in Brissy or Mel will QF put me in a hotel?

 

[gumpy]

Second day of being stuck in Wellington. You think that QF might offer a swap to NZ. But thay say that's a danger to the passenger (flying at all out of Wellington).

\

Did they put you in a hotel?

 

[Austman]

\Did they put you in a hotel?

Asked them that. Hotel assistance is only for stranded TRANSIT passengers. I have a MEL-WGN-MEL ticket, so the answer was "No".

 

[yohy?!]

QF has now extended waiver to flights up to and including 16th June - change and refund fees waived

 

[markis10]

Well it looks like ADL should be good to go tomorrow, although PER looks shaky late tomorrow with the lower level ASH rising up from the south.

 

[Blackadder]

From the QF facebook page

Some good news - all flights to/from Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Canberra are confirmed for tomorrow. NZ flights remain suspended until 12pm and TAS flights until 11am when the situation will be reviewed further.

 

[Justinf]

QF has now extended waiver to flights up to and including 16th June - change and refund fees waived

Do you think they are doing this to clear backlog or that the ash might reappear? I ask for selfish reasons only - I have a QF flight booked MEL_BNE on Friday night.

 

[Undercover Brother]

There is one thing I don't understand about QF not flying. I don't begrudge QF for taking the safer (or by policy default) option for not flying, however what strikes me as odd is the fact that nearly all major international airlines continue to fly, in some cases outside of controlled airspace (see and be seen!). We are talking Singapore 777's, Emirates A380's flying to Auckland at 20,000ft, Malaysian 777's, then there is the airlines just transiting Australian airspace... I could go on...

But it does strike me as odd that an airline like Emirates will fly to NZ and back in their flagship A380, with only a fraction on their journey being controlled by ATC, usually a massive no-no in Regular Public Transport operations, while QF plays the procedures card over and over again...

 

[yohy?!]

Do you think they are doing this to clear backlog or that the ash might reappear? I ask for selfish reasons only - I have a QF flight booked MEL_BNE on Friday night.

Probably a little of both - either way I'm happy, swapped my flights to AKL to NZ now just need Koru lounge guesting

 

[markis10]

But it does strike me as odd that an airline like Emirates will fly to NZ and back in their flagship A380, with only a fraction on their journey being controlled by ATC, usually a massive no-no in Regular Public Transport operations, while QF plays the procedures card over and over again...

Flight by RPT ops in non controlled airspace is hardly a massive no-no, especially if you are a turbo prop that does it every day, and the Concorde always cruised outside controlled airspace! Most of the RPT flights I looked at today were in controlled airspace, FL250/260 were common levels.

 

[clifford]

This nonsense (some airlines flying, some not) could only happen in Australia.

Seems to be similar to $12.99/kg bananas (was $1/kg last week in Europe when I was there).

Good luck guys...

 

[munitalP]

This nonsense (some airlines flying, some not) could only happen in Australia.

Seems to be similar to $12.99/kg bananas (was $1/kg last week in Europe when I was there).

Good luck guys...

Its a intellectual cough length competition with just a little too much testosteron involved IMHO. The airlines are risking lives for the sake of trumping the other. A joke. Have lessons not been learned?

The particle size of 50-100 um will build up very fast - and guess what, you can't see 50 um unless you have very good eyes.

As I have said in previous thread - Kudos QF for putting safety over profit. I hope and pray nothing hits the ground without the wheels down :|

munitalP

 

[Undercover Brother]

Flight by RPT ops in non controlled airspace is hardly a massive no-no, especially if you are a turbo prop that does it every day, and the Concorde always cruised outside controlled airspace! Most of the RPT flights I looked at today were in controlled airspace, FL250/260 were common levels.

Point taken markis, but I gather you get the point I was trying to make reference major RPT and Controlled Airspace travel. Surely if its good enough for some of the big boys, it's good enough for others. Singapore and Emirates wouldn't need to bring some of their prized long haul metal to AUS/NZ just for the sake of keeping the dollars rolling in. My guess is the damage to the brand if there was an incident would far outweigh the market share they get from our part of the world, it's just not worth it.

 

[markis10]

I suspect the real issue is the cost of operating the aircraft at way below optimum altitudes versus keeping them on the ground, QF still have a backlog ex MEL and this shows in the fares, while DJ dont! I am surprised DJ are not putting more flights into Tassie, at least its pleasing to hear there were no price gouging accusations being made for the flights they did open up today ex tassie!

I like the picture news are using in their real time updates, an aircraft engineers nightmare!

 

[gumpy]

I feel if CASA say it's ok to fly then it's ok to fly...

If CASA advise against it and VA were flying then completely different story...

 

[LiamR]

I feel if CASA say it's ok to fly then it's ok to fly...

If CASA advise against it and VA were flying then completely different story...

From what I've heard, CASA have pretty much said its up to the airlines to choose. That could or could not be true.

I'd assume CASA would stop them if it gets pretty bad....

Then again, I'm not a expert on this, so I can't really comment.

 

[jsd]

Is there any way to tell if a flight is overbooked or not? Qantas have put me on tomorrow night's QF1013 service (subject to review) but I don't see how they managed to fit me on as there is a planeload from Monday and a planeload from tonight :?: :-|


I'll gladly take myself off the flight if its overbooked, A.K.A. extended holiday

 

[gumpy]

you know what would really suck? if you had one of them cheap FASA from MEL to LHR booked from about a year ago and this happens...

 

[milehighclub]

Flight by RPT ops in non controlled airspace is hardly a massive no-no.

This is another Qantas policy. No ATC, No fly.


Although it is not a Jetstar policy, neither is it for Virgin.