15 min connection in MEL scheduled by QF

[RooFlyer]

I have a flight to Sydney from Hobart booked for next August.

Got an alert today that the HBA-MEL leg had been cancelled, and to check phone application for substitute arrangements etc. Have a look at the rebooking they brought me:



15 mins! Fair dinkum!! Not even a legal connection. No wonder I have such complete and utter contempt for Qantas' management and IT. How could they allow IT that brings such tripe forward? Couldn't there be a line somewhere in the re-scheduling program that says : "Check minimum connection time" ?

What a bunch of complete and utter plonkers. [/rant]

 

[opusman]

Maybe it's the same aircraft operating both services?

 

[drron]

Get into training now.That run between gates is going to test you out.

 

[kookaburra75]

I have a flight to Sydney from Hobart booked for next August.

Got an alert today that the HBA-MEL leg had been cancelled, and to check phone application for substitute arrangements etc. Have a look at the rebooking they brought me:

15 mins! Fair dinkum!! Not even a legal connection. No wonder I have such complete and utter contempt for Qantas' management and IT. How could they allow IT that brings such tripe forward? Couldn't there be a line somewhere in the re-scheduling program that says : "Check minimum connection time" ?

What a bunch of complete and utter plonkers. [/rant]

We had the same with a trip to Hobart from Canberra earlier this year. Our flight from Canberra to Melbourne was cancelled and we were put on a later flight that gave us only 15 minutes change over time in Melbourne - with the next flight being a few hours later. I called and asked them whether they would hold the flight, given we wouldn't have a snow-flake's chance of making it. 'No', was the answer, and they re-booked us on a series of later flights.

 

[RooFlyer]

Maybe it's the same aircraft operating both services?

I think you may have tongue in your cheek, but if it is the same plane (not they would know 10 months out), getting everyone off and then on, ready for push-back in 15 minutes would be a spectacle.

 

[RooFlyer]

We had the same with a trip to Hobart from Canberra earlier this year. Our flight from Canberra to Melbourne was cancelled and we were put on a later flight that gave us only 15 minutes change over time in Melbourne - with the next flight being a few hours later. I called and asked them whether they would hold the flight, given we wouldn't have a snow-flake's chance of making it. 'No', was the answer, and they re-booked us on a series of later flights.

Well, now I know that its not a one off glitch.

Frigg'n hopeless.

 

[Stevo.1702]

Maybe it's the same aircraft operating both services?

I actually had the same thought. But I guess 15mins is far too tight.


"Attention ladies an gentlemen - We will be begin boarding today's service approximately 5 mins prior to the aircraft arriving at the gate. Please mind the gap."

Would I be exaggerating if I said stranger things have happened?

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Last time I flew LST - MEL - ADL, the Dash8 Taswegian flights used to arr and dep down the end of Pier A of MEL QFd T1 in the range of gates 21 to 30 odd somewhere down that end, down the set of escalators.
Maybe 15 mins can be doable, if the Taswegian flights still arr and dep down there, Pier A of MEL QFd T1.
If the flight to SYD dep at say gate 26, or 25 or 28 then its a run up the escalators and to gates 26/25/28.
**((OR))** has the QFlink Dash 8s gone to T4 now?

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Looks like QF1xx_ is the 717, and QF2xx_ is the Dash8s.
Either call up QF or see if you can do it, OP, and let us know the result.
QF1014 and all like flights from HBA seem to arr into MEL QFd T1 gate 4 today, maybe the QF flight to SYD would dep gate 1 its not a far run.

 

[Pushka]

They will change it. In similar circumstances I’ve had the operator laugh at the stupidity of it. Clearly computers don’t think too much.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Hopefully they don't put the OP into a flight with JQd arr into T4!
QF1016 not expected in till 19.05 at gate 23 down the end, and the QF flight to SYD QF460 for today dep at gate 3 at 18.30!
Yep, all the best of luck with a change in flights for the OP.

 

[Kerrodt]

It does actually say that they need to chat with you so it hasn’t been presented to you as a fait accompli. They system most likely needs to attach your PNR to a flight, irrespective of how impossible it is, otherwise the booking would collapse.
Call them up or chat and I’m sure all will be resolved.

 

[RooFlyer]

It does actually say that they need to chat with you so it hasn’t been presented to you as a fait accompli. They system most likely needs to attach your PNR to a flight, irrespective of how impossible it is, otherwise the booking would collapse.
Call them up or chat and I’m sure all will be resolved.

I happened to be out at the time, so I used the phone app (sigh .. I held out as long as I could for correct English - 'the phone application', but I concede that battle is lost ), which I also loath.

So yes, I did go to the 'chat' but after interminable delays in that process, I gave up and decided to call back after I had checked options for myself on the web site.

But you have missed the point. WHY would they program their re-scheduling to even suggest a 15 min connection? Why not re-schedule it to at least the MCT - it is available, being 9 months away? I mean, you always have the option to accept or reject any involuntary change. Is it just incompetent 'programming', incompetent oversight, incompetent management or a combination of all three?

Just like when, based near Hobart on my QFF profile, and with a trip booked ex Hobart, the website and app helpfully declares "DESTINATION: HOBART!" and suggests hotel booking in Hobart. Thats been like that for years. Not a glitch.

I mean, doesn't anyone in the Qantas management use their own web site and see such idiocy (not to mention lost sales opportunities), or do they see it and just not care?

Don't worry, I called up and got the flights changed without any trouble, (in fact they offered me a direct HBA-SYD flight, which I didn't want to take). The change was never the issue. It was just the moronic Qantas IT that 'suggested' a connection of just 15 mins.

I love Qantas in the air, I really do. But as for their IT and management - it speaks for itself, doesn't it?

 

[Denali]

Good thing 2018 has prepared you for this...

 

[Rangalad]

You’re lucky! My connection is -9h 40mins.

 

[kermatu]

I've had flight cancellations or timing changes many, many times and been rebooked onto inconvenient services. Not 15 minutes (which is ridiculous) or requiring time travel, but poor choices such as changing from a J service to a Y only plane (a problem ex-CBR). While annoying and requiring a call, I appreciate being rebooked onto something with a clear message to call to confirm and/or fix, and not being given a simple - "please call us" message, which may be missed for days.

 

[juddles]

...... The change was never the issue. It was just the moronic Qantas IT that 'suggested' a connection of just 15 mins....

Rooflyer, I hate to disagree with you, but describing the QF system as "moronic" just reveals that you are a truly inexperienced flyer. You should learn to hold your tongue and thus not reveal said inexperience.

Air travel is a complex game, and the airlines (such as QF) do an amazing job of allowing cheap reliable air services.

It is NOT the fault of their IT people that dumb passengers cannot disembark/embark in a timely fashion. And despite your personal needs for more than 15 minutes to amble around the airport, you have to recognize that the issue is being created BY YOU! Not them.

You should be ashamed, and stop posting for a while.

P.S. Sorry - feeling silly - I completely agree that any system that even suggests such drivel as a 15 minute connection is just showing what we all already know - QF IT is painfully inept, and beggars the question why such a company runs such shiite.....

 

[oz_mark]

But you have missed the point. WHY would they program their re-scheduling to even suggest a 15 min connection? Why not re-schedule it to at least the MCT - it is available, being 9 months away? I mean, you always have the option to accept or reject any involuntary change. Is it just incompetent 'programming', incompetent oversight, incompetent management or a combination of all three?

It will be programming based on the rules they were given.
Presumably they want to change it to something that suits you - anything they come up with may not be suitable.

 

[RooFlyer]

You’re lucky! My connection is -9h 40mins.

I doffs me cap!

P.S. Sorry - feeling silly - I completely agree that any system that even suggests such drivel as a 15 minute connection

Phew, I was getting worried!

It will be programming based on the rules they were given.
Presumably they want to change it to something that suits you - anything they come up with may not be suitable.

Up thread, you'll see I blamed management most of all. I didn't re iterate that enough in the follow up.

Yes, anything they come up with may not be suitable, which is why we are given the choice to accept or not, but to have a system that generates impossible options and then push them out to passengers without a final check "does suggested itinerary meet MCT?" just treats the customers with contempt.

" Just spit out anything and have them call us. Whatever."

 

[GoldCanyon340]

You’re lucky! My connection is -9h 40mins.

Hope you've got a TARDIS or DeLorean.