I was on the 11.45am QF580 flight from Perth to Sydney last Tuesday (27/5). When I got to the airport, the boarding time had been changed to 12.30pm. No biggy I thought. But then things started to get worse and we were eventually told that the 743 that had arrived from Sydney (I think) had a problem with its navigation which could not be fixed and so they would tow a plane from the international terminal to replace it. Revised boarding time 4.10pm.
At the time, I said to my friend whom I happened to meet at the Q Club that we would be pushing to get in before curfew in Sydney.
From my recollection, we finally boarded about 4.30pm and then a further series of delays occurred. First, an unruly passenger was kicked off and his bags had to be located. Once that was done, we were told that the fuel gauge in the cockpit was not working and because the plane had been using its APU since it had been pulled over from the international terminal, they didn't know how much fuel was in it. This meant they had to do a manual check with fuel rods.
And then the clincher, all the time that the plane had been sitting at the international terminal and then at the domestic terminal, it had not been catered.
From recollection, we finally took off between about 500pm and 530pm and were told that Qantas were on the phone to Canberra to get an extension on the curfew. At this point, I leaned over to my friend and told her that this was probably unlikely given what I had read on this forum about flights in similar circumstances not getting an extension. I made a bet with her that we would end up in Melbourne.
We were eventually told that Canberra had in fact given them an extension until 11.20pm. Perhaps the new government are taking a different approach to this issue? However, the flight path showed us landing in Sydney at 11.27pm! I then asked the head purser (who was going around getting feedback from everyone) if we were going to Melbourne. He declined to answer that question.
When we passed Melbourne I thought that was probably a good sign and at top of descent, the captain told us we had a further extention until 11.30pm. I think our wheels touched down in Sydney at 11.29pm.
Even with all the delays, I thought Qantas did a good job of keeping everyone fully informed. The captain and all the crew were extremely apologetic throughout. They kept me and my friend served with wine and peanuts. Admittedly, we were in business class so I can't comment on economy class.
I think the moral of the story however, is not to book on a 743 from or to Perth if you want to get there on time.
Happily, my return flight on the Thursday from Sydney at 7.20pm left on time and arrived 10 minutes early. And yes it was a 743!
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