Qantas/Perth: Police called in after passengers grounded

[Lee G]

The problem is that some passengers are reasonable and will accept that the lightning struck the aircraft, some will be OK about it but want to know to the minute when departure is, and will keep hassling until they are told something - even if there is nothing to give. The last bunch is the *damn it - I paid to fly at this time now tow the plane around and load them up and while you*re at it load the free bar up as well*.

There are time when there simply isn't any information to give. In this case it looks like a rolling delay - you know - one that looks simple and just a check will have it running again but them the check becomes an ongoing concern and just in case the plane is cleared ... this continues for hours.......until 6 hours on finally the reality is that the aircraft will not go.

Passengers see the latter as lack of information, but it isn't. They would have been told what was going on, however, the traveling public seems to think there is some sort of magic about flying (ok - there is ) but also want to know to the endth degree about the detail as well. There is no longer any trust that they, the punter, is actually going to be looked after - in short - everyone wants to be a victim .... you get more recognition!

It is also becoming progressively more concerning that the public who flies seems to be demanding more and more, with less and less concern about their impact on other passengers or for that matter the crew or aircraft.
This also translates into why we are hearing more and more about these major blow ups at airports when delays occur - that plus the media gets into a feeding frenzy about anything to do with aviation, particularly the pseudo national carrier.

You will hear of more and more of these occurrences in the next few years.

[Owen H]

It is always a shame when passengers have to endure these sort of delays. I have been through plenty of them, and they are incredibly frustrating.

That said, QF continuously updated the new estimated departure time (which would have been a best guess estimate), and unfortunately it rolled and resulted in the flight being cancelled. There is nothing worse than trying to explain to passengers that you really don't know when the flight will leave, and that it could be 30 minutes or it could be 10 hours.

As Lee has said, everyone assumes that the airline is hiding information and not telling you the truth. Usually, they are.

The passengers themselves said that they were updated numerous times with new departure times, and that they kept rolling.

It is an unenviable position to be in, but I'm not sure how much more information any airline can actually give.

[Mike W]

Originally Posted by Ash W

So an A330-200 load of people were put on a Virgin Blue flight (737)? Doesn't make sense at all.

Maybe...

Around 100 people were reported swelling around the Qantas flight desk after QF 648, which was due to depart at 12.10am today, had still not left by 6.30am.

[D Chan]

Originally Posted by Lee G

The problem is that some passengers are reasonable and will accept that the lightning struck the aircraft, some will be OK about it but want to know to the minute when departure is, and will keep hassling until they are told something - even if there is nothing to give. The last bunch is the *damn it - I paid to fly at this time now tow the plane around and load them up and while you*re at it load the free bar up as well*.

There are time when there simply isn't any information to give. In this case it looks like a rolling delay - you know - one that looks simple and just a check will have it running again but them the check becomes an ongoing concern and just in case the plane is cleared ... this continues for hours.......until 6 hours on finally the reality is that the aircraft will not go.

Passengers see the latter as lack of information, but it isn't. They would have been told what was going on, however, the traveling public seems to think there is some sort of magic about flying (ok - there is ) but also want to know to the endth degree about the detail as well. There is no longer any trust that they, the punter, is actually going to be looked after - in short - everyone wants to be a victim .... you get more recognition!

It is also becoming progressively more concerning that the public who flies seems to be demanding more and more, with less and less concern about their impact on other passengers or for that matter the crew or aircraft.
This also translates into why we are hearing more and more about these major blow ups at airports when delays occur - that plus the media gets into a feeding frenzy about anything to do with aviation, particularly the pseudo national carrier.

You will hear of more and more of these occurrences in the next few years.

Absolutely agree - some of the abuse that airport staff cops is simply unjustifiable. Police quite rightfully called.
The travelling public shouldn't think that by abusing frontline staff they will get a better outcome because ultimately frontline airport staff are not the people who make the call.

[Ash W]

Originally Posted by Mike W

Maybe...

If true both Virgin Blue and Qantas have some issues. I mean to say Qantas with 100 on an A330 and Virgin Blue with 100 free seats on a 737.

As for the quote though, it said 100 swelled the desk, didn't actually say it was 100 pax on the flight, and seriously I doubt that all the QF PAX were accomodated on that one Virgin Blue flight. Sounds a bit like the media generalising a little bit at the sake of common sense and acuracy. Nothing new there I guess.

[Raymond Rowe]

I remeber one night coming out of Brisbane.We were on push back and they sheared the tow bar on a 737.It took out a fair bit of the nose gear light and pipes.We felt it happen on push back and the captain came on the PA.When he announced it i knew we could be in for a fun time at BNE.The staff had no idea at what was going on a nad gave very little info.I was lucky to speak to the captain anf got the whole story.I knew what had to be done as we had to take off lots of times the parts that were required.2 hours later we were on a flight home but could have been a lot longer if the did not rob the parts from another 737 that was under overhaul in BNE.