Compensation scheme coming to Australia?

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Forg said:
^ Did airlines really book you on a rival airline, when flights were cancelled?
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Not only for cancellations - last Fri June 9 we missed a SQ flt SIN-MEL due to delayed dep SQ flt ex FRA - SQ put us on later SIN-SYD flt then QF flt SYD-MEL - totally makes total sense for airlines to cooperate in re-accommodating pax in such a manner - will always work both ways over a period of time
 
Forg said:
^ Did airlines really book you on a rival airline, when flights were cancelled?
11 years ago I had a CX flight which was canned, but the alternates were One World … VA can only really stick you on their competitor‘s flights if they run out of flights themselves.
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Adding to other examples, I had an AA flight from LAX-BOS in December 2021. I arrived on a seperate ticket from NAN on FJ, which was delayed, then had 2+ hours in LAX immigration so missed the AA flight completely.

This was all my fault for not giving myself enough time to connect.

Nonetheless the AA agent in T4 offered to put me on standby for the next flight to BOS. She said it was pretty unlikely to clear so offered to put the entire fare into a flight credit! I ended up buying a new UA fare to BOS through DEN. Of course the first leg got canceled due to crewing issues so I lined up at the UA service desk - they were rebooking people onto at least DL flights, and maybe other carriers too. I ended up with LAX-ORD-BOS (still on UA), arriving just a few hours later than I first intended.

I used the AA credit to get back across the US at the end of my trip (though had to go through my OTA Expedia - what a nightmare).

The US airlines have definitely become less flexible since then, but in Australia I think I would have been cough out of luck the moment I missed the first flight.
 
Forg said:
^ Did airlines really book you on a rival airline, when flights were cancelled?
11 years ago I had a CX flight which was canned, but the alternates were One World … VA can only really stick you on their competitor‘s flights if they run out of flights themselves.
Click to expand...
They can, it depends on a few things, and the other airline needs to have an interline agreement in place. They'll still try to rebook on their own or partner flights before going to another unrelated airline.
eg, if Qantas has a problem on their US flights, they'll try to reroute you to another QF flight from another city, then go to AA, then to JQ/AA via HNL or FJ via NAN. If that doesn't work, they'll try CX or JL before going to NZ or another US carrier.
Qantas can rebook you to DL or UA, but it will be their last option.

Some years ago, I was booked CBR-SYD-TYO. There was weather issues in SYD which kept delaying my flight out of CBR. When I went to the ground staff about the delays, they said they'd put me on the next flight, until I pointed out that I had an international connection. At which point they went "oh cough" and started to work on rebooking me. JL was booked out, both the flight that night out of MEL and the SYD flight the next morning.
They decided to get me to MEL, and their first choice was JQ to NRT via DRW and MNL. I wasn't going to take an A320 Y seat with 2 transfers in the middle of the night for a paid W seat with J opup. They ended up putting me on CX (who opuped me to J the moment I walked into the CX MEL lounge).


My last trip in 2019 started with CBR-MEL-xSIN-HND. I got to MEL without issue, but the aircraft meant for the MEL-SIN had been hit by lightening on the inbound and was delayed and then cancelled. Everyone else on the flight was rebooked to the EK MEL-SIN-DXB flight. If I'd been moved to that, I still would have made my connection to JL. But QF wouldn't do that, refusing to move me to EK because I was on a oneworld ticket (even though they were allowed to use non oneworld airlines in such events). They had me go backwards through immigration, sent up to SYD then on to QF25.
 
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Forg said:
^ Did airlines really book you on a rival airline, when flights were cancelled?
11 years ago I had a CX flight which was canned, but the alternates were One World … VA can only really stick you on their competitor‘s flights if they run out of flights themselves.
Click to expand...
Yes and I experienced this many times in the past in both economy and business class.
 
I suspect the government is going to try and kick it into the long grass with the “ avaiation white paper” which will be high on ideas and low on actual detail.
 
I saw this in the philippines recently:
1711527381442.png
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The kicker: There was a staffed "passenger rights action desk" next to this sign, where one could presumably seek support if they are not being supported by the airline.
 
Well let’s hope we don’t go anywhere near the Canadian model! Weather is carved out, as are safety related issues ‘at gate’ immediately prior to departure.

But worse still, any knock-on delays from either of the above are also excluded!!

Read a case today where weather the day before had affected the last flight in of the night. The crew needed their mandatory rest of 11 hours.

That delayed the first flight out (regional airport). The plane had multiple sectors to fly that day, but as the first was late, so were all the rest, with increasing delays.

The tribunal held that weather the day before was directly attributable to the delay almost 16 hours later, so the airline was excused!

We need the EU/UK model! Not that it’s really going to assist many people domestically given the high frequency, but it might for international.
 
MEL_Traveller said:
We need the EU/UK model! Not that it’s really going to assist many people domestically given the high frequency, but it might for international.
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The best part of the EU/EK model is the duty of care. "Extraordinary Circumstances" has no relevance.

Irrespective of the cause of a delay or cancellation of a flight (weather, strike, volcano or any other reason) the airline MUST provide appropriate accommodation, food and transfers.
 
MEL_Traveller said:
Well let’s hope we don’t go anywhere near the Canadian model! Weather is carved out, as are safety related issues ‘at gate’ immediately prior to departure.

<snip>

We need the EU/UK model! Not that it’s really going to assist many people domestically given the high frequency, but it might for international.
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EU UK has weather as an extraordinary reason. But unsure if ongoing actual aircraft delay is carried over. Suspect not. EU UK is small.
Australia and Canada some what similar being large countries with few major airports (4~5) and smaller regional airports, with limited services per day.
Given the time delay before UK-EU261 kicks in would be limited compensation.
But as above EU UK duty of care is a winner.
 
Mwenenzi said:
EU UK has weather as an extraordinary reason. But unsure if ongoing actual aircraft delay is carried over. Suspect not. EU UK is small.
Australia and Canada some what similar being large countries with few major airports (4~5) and smaller regional airports, with limited services per day.
Given the time delay before UK-EU261 kicks in would be limited compensation.
But as above EU UK duty of care is a winner.
Click to expand...
Yes, but my understanding it has to be severe weather, not something which might be expected within the norms.

In Australia it seems a bit of rain tends to send airlines into meltdown. While the weather may marginally slow operations or ATC, the tight turnarounds mean the smallest of delays can severely compound.

That’s shouldn’t be covered by any exemptions.
 
exceladdict said:
The kicker: There was a staffed "passenger rights action desk" next to this sign, where one could presumably seek support if they are not being supported by the airline.
Click to expand...
This is sensational - it's one thing to have these 'rights' in place, but having someone on site able to assist in one way or another would make all the difference.
 
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