more QF delays...

[Daniel F]

My flight to San Francisco has been delayed until 8:30pm today. I just hope it does actually leave at that time since I'm going over there to attend a funeral.

I've rung up Qantas to see if they can route me through LAX, but they said they can't do anything unless my flight is cancelled. If my flight gets cancelled or delayed till tomorrow I will have no other options that will allow me to get there in time.

Does anyone know if the cause of the delay is due to a late inbound aircraft or a maintenance issue? And does anyone have any suggestions what I can do?

[Matt_L]

Hi Daniel,
It seems that the problem is due to QF12 having been cancelled on the 19th in LAX. Now this seems the reason but im not 100% sure, but theres a huge backlog- flighstats.com shows a QF8 LAX-SYD being cancelled today and todays QF12 delayed 690 minutes.
So the knock on effect from QF12 yesterday or the day before cancellation could be the reason for the delay of QF73.
No solutions for you with regards to your circumstances but I hope the plane leaves at 830 for you and the other passengers sake.
My condolences and good luck with it.
Regards,
Matt

NB bit off topic but Not sure whether its MX or what reason for this QF73 delay, but a QF 744 on LHR-BKK a few days ago diverted back to LHR with witnesses saying the engines were screaming, a shift seems to be occuring in QF lately as these issues and delays were much more isolated before.

[Sarah C]

Originally Posted by Daniel F

My flight to San Francisco has been delayed until 8:30pm today. I just hope it does actually leave at that time since I'm going over there to attend a funeral.

I've rung up Qantas to see if they can route me through LAX, but they said they can't do anything unless my flight is cancelled. If my flight gets cancelled or delayed till tomorrow I will have no other options that will allow me to get there in time.

Does anyone know if the cause of the delay is due to a late inbound aircraft or a maintenance issue? And does anyone have any suggestions what I can do?

It is shame you are experiencing this Daniel. If this delay is caused by the engineers actions (and back log of flights), I hope they remember the effect they are having on passengers like you.

[Montague S]

Originally Posted by Sarah C

It is shame you are experiencing this Daniel. If this delay is caused by the engineers actions (and back log of flights), I hope they remember the effect they are having on passengers like you.

well what about the effect that it has on the engineers...people's lives are dependent on the work that they do, they should be adequately compensated for that.

stop and think for a moment how many QF a/c are in the air on any given day and the amount of passengers that are onboard...then make sure you remember that its the engineers who are responsible for making it happen when they sign off on the a/c being fit for flight.

Originally Posted by Matt L

So the knock on effect from QF12 yesterday or the day before cancellation could be the reason for the delay of QF73.

most flights arrived on time into Sydney this morning...its the outbound from Australia that seems to be causing the issues.

[Marty H]

Originally Posted by Sarah C

It is shame you are experiencing this Daniel. If this delay is caused by the engineers actions (and back log of flights), I hope they remember the effect they are having on passengers like you.

How can it be a backlog from engineers when the engineers arent striking until next week???

Real shame because they are standing up for their pay and conditions, inflation is at around 4 to 4.5% yet the QF are offering 3% way below inflation, QF are happy to pay strike breakers $100K for 6mths work, yet cannot find the extra 1.5 to 2% per year to look after their own loyal staff, who ensure that the safety record of the company and OTP. QF contiunally report $1 billion profits yet continually screw their staff again and again all for the shareholders and Dixons benefit.

What sort of effect on pax like Daniel if some dodgey LAME from India clears and aircraft for flight if it has a defect he doesnt detect????

[Ash W]

Originally Posted by Marty H

How can it be a backlog from engineers when the engineers arent striking until next week???
...
What sort of effect on pax like Daniel if some dodgey LAME from India clears and aircraft for flight if it has a defect he doesnt detect????
...
Once again looking out your window over YSSY and providing nothing but rubbish

I am on QF1 tonight, which has been delayed until 20:20 due to it coming late out of maintenance. Qantas advised me of this at 21:30 last night and also called this morning to change my connecting CBR-SYD flight. Sounds a bit fishy to me, ie the engineers although not striking are up to something to delay flights.

Yesterday QF5 didn't fly, it left this morning and there was another flight, think it may have been QF149 which didn't leave until late this morning too.

As pointed out most of the flights are arriving on time, it seems to be delays mostly to aircraft coming out of the shop. Funny thing last time I flew QF1 back in late Feb there were similar problems.

[Malcolm Parker]

Originally Posted by Marty H

How can it be a backlog from engineers when the engineers arent striking until next week???

Although they are not on strike until Monday. I think some some of them they still have overtime bans in place. So if there is excessive work to be done and not enough staff rostered on. There will still be delays as the engineers are not doing overtime to complete the tasks.

Driving past the Sydney Jet base every day at several different times of the day. I don't know if it is a coincidence but there seems to be more parked there than say this time last year due to maintenance back ups perhaps?

[Greg McDonald]

Originally Posted by Marty H

How can it be a backlog from engineers when the engineers arent striking until next week???

If some people can't see that the engineers have been on a 'stealth strike' over the last number of weeks then they must be truly blind!!

As far as pay rates go I think they should take the 3% being offered and stop being so bloody greedy!! I work for a company more than 10 times the size of Qantas (IBM) and they never give pay rises that are linked to inflation but rather productivity. I know very few people who are getting ANY pay rises lately, let alone 3%.

Maybe the engineers should check the current thinking on pay rises and inflation. In brief, most financial experts agree that if pay rises start flowing more freely then inflation will rise unacceptably and spur interest rates even higher than they are already. It doesn't take a mastermind to realise that, if this happens, then most other comodities will rise in price THEREFORE NEGATING ANY EXTRA PAY RISE YOU MIGHT HAVE GOT!!

[David Knudsen]

Originally Posted by Greg McDonald

As far as pay rates go I think they should take the 3% being offered and stop being so bloody greedy!! I work for a company more than 10 times the size of Qantas (IBM) and they never give pay rises that are linked to inflation but rather productivity. I know very few people who are getting ANY pay rises lately, let alone 3%

Well said Greg, my thoughts exactly - if you're not happy with your pay or conditions, move on like the rest of us have to do!

[Montague S]

Originally Posted by David Knudsen

Well said Greg, my thoughts exactly - if you're not happy with your pay or conditions, move on like the rest of us have to do!

ok...now there is a pretty simplistic and stupid suggestion, if the majority aren't happy with their conditions and they do decide to move on can you imagine the chaos it will cause for the company? I think you'll find they choose to stay because they are loyal and its the only job most of them know.

pay increases usually get indexed against the CPI and companies that refuse to increase wages in the face of higher inflation in the broader economy will always face this problem.

food alone was up nearly 6% for the March quarter 2007 to the March quarter 2008 and fuel was up nearly 7% for the same period...for the period from March 07 to March 08 the CPI rose 4.2%...that's pretty significant in anyone's language....although its not that bad if your on $7 million a year.