DJ288 Cancelled from 3rd July Onwards

[lovestotravel]

DJ 288 is cancelled from 3rd July onwards. This was the 20:15 CBR-MEL flight. Now the latest non-stop flight to MEL leaves CBR at 17:00 :shock::shock: which is a total waste of time for me and I assume many others trying to work in CBR for the day.

So I log-in to see what's happened to my bookings and I have been "moved" to the 18:35 CBR to SYD connecting to the 20:00 SYD-MEL

A 1 hr 30 earlier flight to get into MEL at about the same time!

Now yes, this is one month away, but where is my email/phone call to let me know about this ?

FAIL Virgin

The Qantas flight leaves at 20:45 which is getting a little bit late, but my coughpy Silver status and Qantas club access gives me only 1 piece of baggage. I have a Qantas JASA flight coming up which will get me close to Gold but now I'll have to do another one or simply pay for extra baggage each flight! Oh QF821 is a 737-400

NB: Yes I understand Virgin may change flights due to supply/demand and to reduce excess flights but :evil::evil::evil: as I have seen quite a few "adjustments" lately

DJ 288 re-appears for bookings in late November again

I wonder if/when Virgin will contact me about this :shock:

 

[pat25d]

Were you booked into J or Y?

Reason I ask is that I think it is unreasonable to expect airlines to contact all passengers about issues like these, especially when it is a month away.

All pax are warned that flights may change and to check the bookings regularly.

If you are in J I would understand more if someone was annoyed about not getting a call, but still wouldn't expect it.

 

[Fruitcake]

Were you booked into J or Y?

Reason I ask is that I think it is unreasonable to expect airlines to contact all passengers about issues like these, especially when it is a month away.

All pax are warned that flights may change and to check the bookings regularly.

If you are in J I would understand more if someone was annoyed about not getting a call, but still wouldn't expect it.

I disagree - it's not too hard to generate an e-mail to all affected pax if the flight changes. Other airlines can manage to do it.

For example on Friday night I received an e-mail from Delta informing me that the flight time of a booking eight weeks away has changed (flight now 45 minutes earlier). At the same time (coincidentally) I received an e-mail from Air New Zealand that a flight more than five months away has changed. DL's e-mail simply said, "here's your updated details", whilst NZ offered a link to their reservations system where you could accept/reject an alternate flight. Given they had shifted my AKL-CNS flight from arriving 21 hours before the solar eclipse to five hours after the eclipse, I decided to reject it, called up, and was rebooked on a connecting service.

 

[serfty]

Disagree +1

I was booked on this flight for May 27 when it was 7:30pm departure - about six Weeks ago it changed to the 8:15pm time - that was to late for is so had to rebook.

They did proactively send an email showing the revised timings - which is the least they should do.

Posted on a wing and a prayer ...

 

[pat25d]

Sorry missed the email part: yes I agree emails should be sent, calls no.

 

[lovestotravel]

All my flights are in J - 1/2 paid and 1/2 using points/pay redemption, I have 9 flights affected by this!

As this is a flight cancellation and then re-booking onto a CBR-SYD-MEL flight, I wonder how that's handled by the computer. A flight time change email would be pretty simple to have sent out automatically!

My issues:

A 18:35 departure from CBR is not that helpful to me
It goes via SYD and add an extra 90 mins to my trip
No notification - Yet, but I shouldn't have to log-in and see the change for myself
If I change to Qantas it costs me $$ in terms of paying $$ for extra baggage on Qantas and/or having to change my plans to leave early and get the new VA flights

Also VA not having an evening departure to MEL out of CBR for 5 months is strange, but again, I am sure they have crunched the numbers! At the same time the CBR flights are usually $$$ so I am sure the loads must be okay!

I do expect a call about this, with the number of flights and a Platinum... But then again, maybe my expectations are a little high..

 

[esquire]

A number of fellow PER-CBR-PER travellers and I have given up on Virgin for the CBR-PER leg - times have changed (meaning for former leaving 1pm and arrive back to Perth for dinner is now gone -- all MEL connections now have long layovers 2h+at MEL (some at standard $400-500+ saver fares) or they try and push you via Sydney (one with a connection time of 30 minutes which one of my colleagues has missed 2/4 times....then left to wait 3 hours for the next SYD-PER and an extra hour flying time....)

 

[lovestotravel]

Yep I don't like my chances of making a 35min connection at SYD, when/IF that happens to me (missed connection) it's a 4 hour + trip to get from CBR- MEL which is of NO interest to me when I just want to get home.

Looks like I'll be very familiar with the 737-400's on Qantas shortly

It's funny, as soon as Virgin redeems themselves in my eyes, they just blow it all away with something else

Sometimes it's just best to stick with Qantas, you know what you are going to get!

 

[lovestotravel]

A number of fellow PER-CBR-PER travellers and I have given up on Virgin for the CBR-PER leg - times have changed (meaning for former leaving 1pm and arrive back to Perth for dinner is now gone -- all MEL connections now have long layovers 2h+at MEL (some at standard $400-500+ saver fares) or they try and push you via Sydney (one with a connection time of 30 minutes which one of my colleagues has missed 2/4 times....then left to wait 3 hours for the next SYD-PER and an extra hour flying time....)

Yep changes like this stink of a LCC mentality!

Sometimes you have to endure minimal revenue/a loss to keep customers happy and continue to spend with the company

For me, it just makes me want to fly Qantas more to get Platinum status with them, the bean counters may look at cancelled one flight as no big deal as it was not making $$ for them, but the people affected likely will base further flying decisions on this

The cancellation of the 20:15 CBR-MEL flight also allows them to close the CBR lounge 2 hours earlier!

There is also the reduction of 1 CBR-BNE flight per day but an increase of 1-2 CBR-SYD flights

 

[Standby]

Yep changes like this stink of a LCC mentality!

Sometimes you have to endure minimal revenue/a loss to keep customers happy and continue to spend with the company

For me, it just makes me want to fly Qantas more to get Platinum status with them, the bean counters may look at cancelled one flight as no big deal as it was not making $$ for them, but the people affected likely will base further flying decisions on this

The cancellation of the 20:15 CBR-MEL flight also allows them to close the CBR lounge 2 hours earlier!

There is also the reduction of 1 CBR-BNE flight per day but an increase of 1-2 CBR-SYD flights

I know the pollies are on their winter recess fact finding missions soon but it's a pretty poor "we're chasing the business market schedule"
where the last nonstop to MEL is 1700(via anywhere to MEL from CBR isnt a schudule) and SYD 1830ish
makes it that much easier to justify to the boss why I keep flying the Rat

 

[lovestotravel]

I know the pollies are on their winter recess fact finding missions soon but it's a pretty poor "we're chasing the business market schedule"
where the last nonstop to MEL is 1700(via anywhere to MEL from CBR isnt a schudule) and SYD 1830ish
makes it that much easier to justify to the boss why I keep flying the Rat

Yep sure does, and I agree that CBR-MEL via SYD is not a feasible option

But again I am sure they have crunched the numbers on purely face value and it works out in their favour to reduce flights!

Just annoying when it screws my plans up, and those traveling with me on a few of the trips!

First it was the change from the 737-800 a month or two ago to the E-Jet and now the cancellation of the flight!

 

[Comoman]

Just to give some feedback that all airlines do it - even Qantas. I've just had one of my Qantas flights ex-Perth cancelled and some research found me this:

"Qantas INTL
Adhoc cancellations due to poor loads/commercial
QF77 PERSIN 04/05/07/11/20JUN
QF72 SINPER 04/05/07/11/20JUN (arriving PER)
Numerous adhoc a/c changes PER/SIN/PER: 333 to 332

QF68 HKGPER 03/12/26JUN
QF67 PERHKG 04/13/27JUN
QF67/15JUN and QF68/18JUN (arrival) a/c change: 333 to 332"

So to say it's a LCC carrier thing is not quite correct. And saying at least you know what you get with Qantas is (for me at least) also not correct.

 

[eastwest101]

Just a general observation for the CBR based and frequent CBR visitor, seem like DJ is pulling capacity out of CBR in general, in line with more ATR72's being around and forcing PAX to travel via SYD - which is really inconvenient for some, but if this is the case I assume that DJ are freeing up E190's and B737's for use in the network elsewhere? I know thats no consolation for some of the posters here.

All I can say is, like the Jetstarisaztion of OOL, let your wallets do the talking and give your business to people who do offer what you want, although I expect that QF aren't perfect in CBR either!

I think DJ should have really pursued CBR - in the future it could be a viable "afternoon hub" with flights from PER, MEL, ADL, SYD and BNE all going through CBR. Obviously early AM fog makes this dicey in the mornings but would have been an interesting idea. Also contingent on governments not f#@^ing thing up with stupid curfews or excessive landing fees in CBR.

 

[Justchecking]

I also think a 5pm departure to be poor timing for the last flight. Couldn't they have pushed the 5pm back a bit to pick up the business flyer? But the observation that CBR is becoming ATR central is entirely correct. Ok, fair enough, I can see that. Cheaper aircraft, more flights a day = more choice for the traveller. But it's strange that they may ultimately have limited J offerings into a port that 'should' be a good port for J. Maybe their number crunching has said that Y only + lounge is what's in demand?

 

[lovestotravel]

Well at least it seems I am not the only one thinking the same thing.

As I said I understand changes to schedules and the like but 17:00 being the last flight is a bit much!

737-400's YAY................

 

[wallacej]

I just read this post and am quite shocked. I often use the 288 and really dont want to do the 667 to syd at 6.35pm, for reasons stated by others earlier, miss the connection, then stuck in syd!

On the other hand I have been doing a bit on the ool to cbr at 9pm, and it is most often very light.

This really messes my day up, and will force me to go qf, or overnigt in canberra, neither really suits... And maybe it is to do with the pollies, but surely with their increased pax these days dj should reconsider this move.


Sent from my GT-P7500 using AustFreqFly

 

[wallacej]

And if anyone is interested, the last flight on Mon July 2, is on sale for $95

Sent from my GT-P7500 using AustFreqFly

 

[anchew]

Seems that DJ 288 is making a spectacular return on 7 OCT 2012

 

[Justinf]

Yep changes like this stink of a LCC mentality!

Sometimes you have to endure minimal revenue/a loss to keep customers happy and continue to spend with the company

For me, it just makes me want to fly Qantas more to get Platinum status with them, the bean counters may look at cancelled one flight as no big deal as it was not making $$ for them, but the people affected likely will base further flying decisions on this

The cancellation of the 20:15 CBR-MEL flight also allows them to close the CBR lounge 2 hours earlier!

There is also the reduction of 1 CBR-BNE flight per day but an increase of 1-2 CBR-SYD flights

why would they close the Lounge two hours early when there is a 7.45pm CBR-HBA flight?

 

[lovestotravel]

why would they close the Lounge two hours early when there is a 7.45pm CBR-HBA flight?

Didn't see that flight, I had a quick look and forgot about HBA

Now I could say why are they keeping the lounge open for 2 hours just for 1 flight cost of that would be a few hundred thousand $$ per year....

As an armchair critic, I'd be moving all the flights back a little and have an 1830 departure from CBR-MEL, instead of a 1700