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- Mar 25, 2010
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Why Are So Many Melbourne-Sydney Flights Cancelled? is an article written by the AFF editorial team:
You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.
You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.
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If I had to choose who to believe on this issue - it wouldn't be Qantas....
Same goes for really anything else you might like to raise.
#SackGoyder
Dozens of flights have been cancelled or delayed along the nation’s east coast on Thursday due to a severe shortage of air traffic controllers that led to the effective closure of airspace to the south of Brisbane.
A Qantas spokesman said 100 flights had been delayed across the group, and 10 services were cancelled because of the airspace restrictions.
Virgin Australia was also hit hard. Flights to and from Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Ballina were forced to operate around the uncontrolled airspace, which added time and distance.
An Airservices Australia spokeswoman confirmed the airspace restrictions from 6am to 1.30pm on Thursday due to “short term, unplanned air traffic controller leave impacting en route airspace between Sydney and Brisbane”.
“During this period, we will manage the airspace safely by implementing internationally recognised procedures and continuing to provide a flight information service, a search and rescue alerting service and a safety alerting service using an air traffic controller who will monitor the frequency the pilots are operating on and surveil the airspace,” the spokeswoman said.
It's kind of a non article to be honest. On busy trunk routes anywhere this happens and is probably a combination of events....crew hours, crew availability, maybe loads and strategic re loading of pax, it happens say London to Glasgow or Edinburgh, Madrid to Barcelona, Frankfurt to Munich etc. Obviously it is easier to canx high density routes than those scheduled once or twice a day. I believe though in Australia crew absentee issues remain?
Past couple of weeks a lot of CBR-SYD/MEL flights were consolidated. QF made announcements to the effect "if you don't have a carry on bag and would like to fly early, come see service desk opposite Gate 11" and in one instance, a flight was cancelled and QF announced " QFxx_x is now cancelled and pax are re-booked to fly on VAxx_"
The gossip I hear at CBR airport is there will be more cancellations and consolidations - simply because there are not enough pax flying CBR-SYD/MEL routes.
The whole delay saga QF and VA are going thru between CBR-MEL/SYD is concerning because I have tight connections on my upcoming international trip in a weeks' time. I think I'm going to call QF and see if they can get me to SYD the night before ... just to be safe! talking to some baggage handlers at CBR ....I'm also wary of checking in bags because if the flights are delayed, then chances are bags won't make it ...
This has long been my thinking but a couple of weeks ago I found that my 0600 to SYD was delayed due to fog. Perhaps it is something that only affects Dash-8s?Historically, when using CBR flights I generally found the 'first of the morning' at say 0600 to 0630 generally were able to depart on a (to be) foggy morning, but from especially 0800, it was highly doubtful, as both departures and arrivals were unable to operate.
Your caution is prudent.
Past couple of weeks a lot of CBR-SYD/MEL flights were consolidated. QF made announcements to the effect "if you don't have a carry on bag and would like to fly early, come see service desk opposite Gate 11" and in one instance, a flight was cancelled and QF announced " QFxx_x is now cancelled and pax are re-booked to fly on VAxx_"
The gossip I hear at CBR airport is there will be more cancellations and consolidations - simply because there are not enough pax flying CBR-SYD/MEL routes.
The whole delay saga QF and VA are going thru between CBR-MEL/SYD is concerning because I have tight connections on my upcoming international trip in a weeks' time. I think I'm going to call QF and see if they can get me to SYD the night before ... just to be safe! talking to some baggage handlers at CBR ....I'm also wary of checking in bags because if the flights are delayed, then chances are bags won't make it ...
That is the way I do as well, but this time - I was extremely busy (EOFY) and the whole getting to MEL/SYD the day/night before completely slipped my mind. I tried calling QBR yday to have the booking changed - but was quoted over $1k difference in fare, so chose not to ... but I'm genuinely worried for next week ... fingers crossed ...never try to connect same day to international flights
But while I can see that compensation regimes may work at times in EU/UK, in a massive market, I can only see increased costs leading to higher fares in our relatively small market. I would rather see cancellation leading to better refund rights rather than "fines".
I hold the view that airlines have as their goal to fly passengers to and fro, and do that fairly successfully most of the time.
Then who do you think would end up paying the fines if not the travelling public (as higher fares)? Just look at what happened to the AFFer who chased AY and finished up losing big time. The airlines will always find a way to have the travelling public pay - I don't see that they have any other choice.Nothing would teach airlines like Qantas/Jetstar/Virgin Australia that they need to up their act than the presence of costly fines for delays.
They'd do everything possible to avoid paying, claiming (say) weather was to blame, but not always so.
Like JohnK, I don't hold the same view as you.