Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion
N860CR, maybe those transferring to SYD ex QF10D made it, as QF10D arrived at 2008 but QF494 departed 22 minutes late at 2122.
MEL_Traveller, this thread is only about delays or cancellations. The vast majority of all airlines' flights normally operate. Timekeeping varies from month to month, but the 'on time' definition is rather loose as flights are only counted as 'late' once they are at least 15 minutes late. On top of that, many schedules are often slack: for instance, Sydney to Melbourne southbound flights are allowed 95 minutes gate to gate when the actual flying time is often 61 minutes, so as travel writer Clive Dorman once pointed out, flights can depart Sydney half an hour late and arrive Melbourne bang on time as per the scheduled arrival, or depart Sydney 45 minutes late and still not be regarded as late due to the 15 minute leeway.
QF is however experiencing quite a few documented problems with its A380s. Whether it is just bad luck or symptomatic of something more serious that has gone wrong is a question best left to QF's engineers or management, but clearly the now multiple occasions of a third of the A380 fleet not working on particular days is far from ideal.
QF is also deliberately reducing its Boeing 744 fleet by retiring some aircraft so if the current schedules continue, that must mean fewer large aircraft as 'spares.' In turn, should there be aircraft failures in service, that must logically mean more cancellations or delays for QF passengers, but it may be manageable if only one A380 goes 'tech'. If two or more are suddenly unavailable, that may be when passengers experience ill effects.
When you say 'getting there' we would need to know to which destination you plan on travelling. You could then look up
FlightStats - Global Flight Tracker, Status Tracking and Airport Information and discover how that particular flight had performed in terms of punctuality. However, how it ran yesterday is not necessarily a guide to how it will run today or tomorrow, although if there are many instances of delays or cancellations, that would show an unwelcome trend.
Why not use the Flightstats website to compare the punctuality of particular QF flights with (say) SQ, CX, MH and so on? Look up flight numbers on Flightstats or individual airline websites and then compare and contrast.
Ansett, having had the dubious pleasure of an E seat on QF10, I'd have to say it's even worse than a D, even if you were near the galley and subject to its noise. QF10 was my worst experience in recent years of any flight. I am sorry that your delayed DXB experience was so poor, even if the hotel itself was quite good. You must be extremely tired.