Volcano disrupts all flights to UK (April 2010)

[Mal P]

Hi folks,

Quick question - I was due to fly on QF9 from Melbourne to London on the 19th, and that flight has been cancelled which I can deal with, but I had a separate Qantas flight booking from Canberra to get to Melbourne to take the flight.

Any chance Qantas might fly me back to Canberra to await whenever QF9 might take off? Or is it one for the travel insurers?

Thanks

 

[Mal]

Re: A volcano ate my QF Frequent flyer points

As you can imagine it is nearly impossible to get through to anybody at an airline right now but I did manage to get through to the QF UK frequent flyer number yesterday. I explained the situation to them and was effectively told that I would have to wait for a frequent flyer seat on that route to become available - a very long wait and useless for my purposes, or I would have to cancel, forfeit my FF points and get a refund of taxes.

I suggested a re-booking for next year's event as the organisers are allowing people who can't make the race to defer entry but the guy at QF pointed out that bookings are only valid for a year from the booking date - so no go!

Certainly no suggestion that I could in any way get a refund of FF points, I would love to know whether this sounds like normal practise.

There is no UK Qantas call centre any more, the phones divert to Australia, so you would expect to get the right information!
Point 1 and 2 (except for no refund of points) are fairly standard for this situation, so I expect that the information is correct (but perhaps not morally right!).

It is very disappointing that Qantas has chosen to treat people with FF redemption bookings as 3rd class citizens (eg can only rebook if availability exists etc). They really should be treated exactly the same as commercial tickets.

Point 3 doesn't sound correct as according to Fly - Major Disruptions

Frequent Flyer Classic Redemption Tickets

Passengers are able to re-book or re-route subject to redemption seat availability only. Additional points/taxes may apply if re-routed.

Normal change fees will not apply.

Refunds

* Any refund penalties will be waived for tickets issued prior to 17 April 2010.
* This excludes penalties imposed by suppliers or third parties.
* To request a refund, return your ticket to the original point of purchase prior to 11 June 2010.

As the chance of you making it to Boston before Monday is virtually zero, I suggest you call back Qantas and request that they refund the FF ticket according to their policies. You should then be able to rebook the ticket as a new award for next year, but it might take a few days for availability to show for that date.

 

[Mal]

Hi folks,

Quick question - I was due to fly on QF9 from Melbourne to London on the 19th, and that flight has been cancelled which I can deal with, but I had a separate Qantas flight booking from Canberra to get to Melbourne to take the flight.

Any chance Qantas might fly me back to Canberra to await whenever QF9 might take off? Or is it one for the travel insurers?

Thanks

I say call them and ask. Tell them the flights are connected as see if they will assist. I'd also point them to :

Where travel has commenced, the customer is able to return to their original point of departure with their ticket value stored for a 12 month period from ticketed date of departure.

While not exactly the situation you're in, they are showing a lot of flexibility (at times!) and should be able to get you back to CBR.

As a side note, I had three separate bookings (Commercial tix ex-LHR, award tix ex-HKG and commercial tix ex-HKG) which I convinced them were all linked. They changed all three to later dates.

 

[ejb]

Re: A volcano ate my QF Frequent flyer points

...It is very disappointing that Qantas has chosen to treat people with FF redemption bookings as 3rd class citizens (eg can only rebook if availability exists etc). They really should be treated exactly the same as commercial tickets.

....

I agree with this point totally.

The delay is no ones fault so QF should have all pax being offered the same deal, the first available seat once the ash clears or a full refund, points and/or cash.

There is going to be no FF seats available for weeks due to this delay so anyone on FF seats is stuffed and that is not fair.

They should be treated the same as all other tix.

ejb

 

[dajop]

Good to see some airlines are planning some contingencies, hopefully the ash cloud will remain clear of Madrid and Rome so Thai can implement their plan of adding an extra daily flight BKK-FCO and extra 4 flights (for the week) BKK-MAD (ie 11x week to FCO, 7xweek to MAD)

More can be found here.

THAI is implementing a contingency plan for the period of 19 – 29 April 2010. In order to facilitate stranded passengers’ travel to and from Europe, THAI is adding temporary flights to and from Rome and Madrid during 19-29 April 2010. Flights to Moscow and Athens continue to operate on normal schedule as follows:

I guess QF with operations only in FRA and LHR and added crewing complexities cannot implement such contigencies.

 

[v8Statesman]

Re: A volcano ate my QF Frequent flyer points

They should be treated the same as all other tix.

I agree, once you have your 081- Number. A Y seat is a Y seat, a J seat is a J seat etc.

 

[samh004]

I guess QF with operations only in FRA and LHR and added crewing complexities cannot implement such contigencies.

Well, that and they’d have to somehow get their big birds through a no-fly zone, assuming most are at their hubs, and not free of the ash.

 

[ejb]

Well, that and they’d have to somehow get their big birds through a no-fly zone, assuming most are at their hubs, and not free of the ash.

I dont think QF have any planes stuck in LHR, I think they all made it out.

However I can't see QF flying into MAD/FCO as these airports will just back up and a new problem will occur.


ejb

 

[Mal]

I dont think QF have any planes stuck in LHR, I think they all made it out.

I actually believe there are two 747's stuck at LHR. Haven't been out to check though

On that note. Was at Paddington Train station this morning (Where the Heathrow Express leaves from). Was amazing seeing the number of people rocking up with luggage and then going "sigh" when they saw the signs advising that all flights were suspended.

 

[uzza]

I actually believe there are two 747's stuck at LHR. Haven't been out to check though

According to http://www.theqantassource.com:

Currently at London Heathrow are 747-400s VH-OJG and VH-OJS, Currently at Singapore are A380s VH-OQC and VH-OQE.

 

[ejb]

I actually believe there are two 747's stuck at LHR. Haven't been out to check though

On that note. Was at Paddington Train station this morning (Where the Heathrow Express leaves from). Was amazing seeing the number of people rocking up with luggage and then going "sigh" when they saw the signs advising that all flights were suspended.

I stand corrected. I thought I read here somewhere that QF got all flights out just in time, but I may have read the post wrong.

How can anyone in london not know the airports closed, do they live underground?

ejb

 

[uzza]

I did ask previously about if any 388's got stuck at LHR, and jb747 informed me in another post that the only one there go out just before it was closed fortunately

 

[Mal]

I stand corrected. I thought I read here somewhere that QF got all flights out just in time, but I may have read the post wrong.

How can anyone in london not know the airports closed, do they live underground?

jb747 commented that QF32 and QF30 got out in time, but that does leave the late night departures (QF10 and QF2) still stuck there.

Yeah, it does amaze me that people don't know that all flights are cancelled. It must be the buzz in all hotels/backpackers/homes by now. I even walk down the street and hear various conversations about it.

Plus of course I haven't seen a plane (or a trail) for a few days. The lack of planes is actually quite nice!

 

[Oggy]

Thanks again to everybody for their feedback. I may well have just spoken to some poor guy that was very hassled with so much flight chaos going on over here. I'll let you know how I get on with QF on the matter.

Looking on the bright side right now London does have the bluest sky that I've ever seen. No con-trails, no aircraft holding for LHR! Very peaceful.

 

[Mal]

Looking on the bright side right now London does have the bluest sky that I've ever seen. No con-trails, no aircraft holding for LHR! Very peaceful.

Indeed! Beautiful weather yesterday and today, the sky is blue, there are no planes buzzing overhead. I think the sky is a bit hazy today, probably due to ash. But It is amazing what difference no planes causes. One might even correlate beautiful weather with no planes and ban them completely!

 

[samh004]

I dont think QF have any planes stuck in LHR, I think they all made it out.

However I can't see QF flying into MAD/FCO as these airports will just back up and a new problem will occur.


ejb

Late at night, read QF as BA. My bad.

Plus of course I haven't seen a plane (or a trail) for a few days. The lack of planes is actually quite nice!

Is the ash only at high levels or from ground level all the way up to the levels noted on the weather maps? I ask because I would have thought light planes operating at a much lower altitude would still be problem free, or is that logic wrong?

Looking on the bright side right now London does have the bluest sky that I've ever seen. No con-trails, no aircraft holding for LHR! Very peaceful.

Apparently you’re meant to be getting some nice sunsets too.

 

[Mal]

Is the ash only at high levels or from ground level all the way up to the levels noted on the weather maps? I ask because I would have thought light planes operating at a much lower altitude would still be problem free, or is that logic wrong?

Apparently you’re meant to be getting some nice sunsets too.

Generally the ash is concentrated pretty high up in the atmosphere, although there were predictions today for some ash to fall to Earth.

Light planes are different because they handle ash differently. Prop planes (I believe) aren't as affected by ash as jet engines. There are a few flights happening around the place - Apparently it's still legal to fly, just that you won't really get Air Traffic Control support etc.

I haven't seen a different sunset (or sunrise) yet. Still looking out for them. Perhaps tonight might be a time when I see a good sunset (Currently in Bristol, so away from the madness of London)

Back on the topic, I do hope flights re-commence sometime this week. My LHR-HKG flight next Sunday is in doubt, unless things re-open.

 

[dajop]

Well, that and they’d have to somehow get their big birds through a no-fly zone, assuming most are at their hubs, and not free of the ash.

I merely meant that as QF only fly to FRA & LHR they wouldn't have access to ground services at (currently) unaffected destinations, whereas TG do have operations at MAD and FCO already. Not so dumb to suggest that QF should try and get big birds through a nofly zone :!:

 

[hedge]

Generally the ash is concentrated pretty high up in the atmosphere, although there were predictions today for some ash to fall to Earth.

Light planes are different because they handle ash differently. Prop planes (I believe) aren't as affected by ash as jet engines. There are a few flights happening around the place - Apparently it's still legal to fly, just that you won't really get Air Traffic Control support etc.

I haven't seen a different sunset (or sunrise) yet. Still looking out for them. Perhaps tonight might be a time when I see a good sunset (Currently in Bristol, so away from the madness of London)

Back on the topic, I do hope flights re-commence sometime this week. My LHR-HKG flight next Sunday is in doubt, unless things re-open.

Correct as the major problem is the siliceous nature of the ash which turns to glass once it hits high temps such as those present in jet engines.

 

[samh004]

I merely meant that as QF only fly to FRA & LHR they wouldn't have access to ground services at (currently) unaffected destinations, whereas TG do have operations at MAD and FCO already. Not so dumb to suggest that QF should try and get big birds through a nofly zone :!:

Sorry, if you’d read my next comment you’d have noticed I read BA when you said QF accidentally, I was thinking something completely different.