Family blames Qantas for spoiling holiday after Brisbane airport delay

[Mal]

Family blames Qantas for spoiling holiday after Brisbane airport delay | Courier Mail

QANTAS has been blamed for spoiling the end to a Brisbane family's Christmas after they were left waiting for a flight for over four hours only to be told after midnight it had been cancelled.

To make matters worse, the Steffen family of Nundah on Brisbane's northside were questioned by Australian Federal Police when they complained that a food voucher provided by the airline did not cover the costs of the meal.

 

[Flashback]

He asked to speak to the Qantas terminal manager to discuss the problem and before he knew it, AFP officers arrived to deal with a staff complaint made against him.
"I found it unbelievable that they could misuse the AFP in such a manner. I hadn't raised my voice, swore or threatened the staff in anyway,'' Mr Steffen said.

Well, someone isn't telling the truth!

 

[VHOEJ]

I shake my head at this 'story'. Are they upset the AFP were called or thier flight was cancelled? Seriously, if DJ and JQ had a filght around the same time, they would have had to cancel it for the same reasons. Airlines don't cancel or delay flights for no reason. Those storms that have hit do impact flights And with JQ I am sure they wouldn't have got a voucher either. Are they that poor they couldn't pay for dinner? And all the other passengers who were delayed would have looked at the situation with some perspective, but this group go to the media.

The number of people who never think that something may go wrong when you travel is staggering...........

 

[markis10]

Classic no news, there were lots of people affected by the storms, including the QF DRW MEL flight that landed at East Sale!

 

[rwatts]

Classic no news, there were lots of people affected by the storms, including the QF DRW MEL flight that landed at East Sale!

My cousin was on that flight. I was a little surprised when she reported she was sitting on the tarmac at RAAF Sale. They got into Melbourne ten hours late complete with lightning strike on the aircraft on the way from Sale.

Richard.

 

[straitman]

Classic no news, there were lots of people affected by the storms, including the QF DRW MEL flight that landed at East Sale!

... are thanks. I wondered what that was about when it flew over.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

"I found it unbelievable that they could misuse the AFP in such a manner. I hadn't raised my voice, swore or threatened the staff in anyway,'' Mr Steffen said. "I agreed with the AFP officers to take any complaint direct to Qantas head office, and send Qantas a bill for any additional monies relating to meals.''

I'm sure the Duty Manager had nothing better to do that evening with flights cancellations and delays than wonder whether a meal voucher covered the cost of a stir fry. The airline doesn't control the opening & closing hours of the food outlets but eateries do close down at BNE Airport early. I can't believe a family wouldn't be eating before they left for the airport as even if it was a dinner flight you don't generally get fed until an hour after take-off which would have been around 2100!

An airline doesn't just call the AFP for no reason at all. It's only happens when it gets to a point that the staff feel that they or other passengers have been threatened whether verbally or physically by the actions of a passenger(s).

Sadly it's becoming an all too frequent occurrence. Just recently a staff member in BNE was physicallly attacked by a passenger because they refused to believe they weren't travelling with a particular airline & refused to go to the airline they were booked with.

 

[DC3]

Family blames Qantas for spoiling holiday after Brisbane airport delay | Courier Mail

I wonder if they have ever flown in the USA at Christmas, where you can get real weather delays?

 

[Mal]

I wonder if they have ever flown in the USA at Christmas, where you can get real weather delays?

You would expect that a family (who must be of at least reasonable intelligence) could make do to get something edible - especially since between the 4 of them they had $60 to spend, or at least shouldn't be too concerned about chipping in say $5 per person to get something to their satisfaction. I wonder what they were planning to eat at the other end of the flight ...

Anyone want to take a photo of the menu at that Asian place? I'm curious about the validity of their claims, and what the actual cost of mains is there. I would expect somewhere around the $15 mark being an airport, but curious whether it's $25 or closer to $20.

 

[Storyteller]

7:55 flight, so possibly arrived 6:55 or so. Our scouts investigating prices also need to report back about other possible places open. Sounds like they were angling for lounge access by wanting to speak with the Manager.
( must remember to give the AFP an extra big hello next time I'm at the airport, for them having to deal with real problems as well as this sort of stuff)

I love it that they were booked onto a DJ flight the next morning - there you go, have a nice flight, enjoy your life ...

Not sure I'd want my kids picture spread all over the newspaper over something like this on a slow news day. Quality journalism too.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

7:55 flight, so possibly arrived 6:55 or so. Our scouts investigating prices also need to report back about other possible places open. Sounds like they were angling for lounge access by wanting to speak with the Manager.
( must remember to give the AFP an extra big hello next time I'm at the airport, for them having to deal with real problems as well as this sort of stuff)

I love it that they were booked onto a DJ flight the next morning - there you go, have a nice flight, enjoy your life ...

Not sure I'd want my kids picture spread all over the newspaper over something like this on a slow news day. Quality journalism too.

I can't believe a parent lets their 13 year old daughter wear a tiny pair of shorts like that on an plane in which case it doesn't surprise me that they care if she's dressed like that for a photo in a newspaper. She may as well have worn a pair of undies.

I do hope they ate breakfast at home before going to the airport the next morning for their DJ flight as it may have been a rude shock to them having to pay for food on the flight.

 

[richie9x]

This time of year people can get a bit emotional when travelling. In past years at this time of the year I have experienced some bad delays and canceled flights. Is interesting to see how different people handle it - some get angry, some get upset and while others are more pragmatic about it. In my expereince Qantas have handled it very well. The only criticism that I would make is sometimes it is obvious that the flight will be cancelled, as it won't make curfew at the destination airport, but they delay letting passengers know.

At BNE domestic it does surprise me how many of the food places are shut early. During summer time I usually land at 7pm looking across at the food court on the way out most of the places are shut or are closing down at that time. Hungry Jacks is certainly closed. I think I know the asian place they are talking about, I think it is "Wok on Air". It does tend to have more expensive prices, but not much more than the airport average.

In this case I don't think Qantas did anything wrong in the way they handled this case

 

[Noob]

What a waste of time, I honestly can't be bothered with 90% of the "news".

 

[Justchecking]

I think everyones missing the point here.....its xmas! That means things that wouldnt normally be worthy of a mention make news because QF stole someones xmas. Of course none of the other 176 people on the same flight suffered any similar loss of xmas cheer did they? Or maybe they didnt have any kiddies to photograph looking suitably glum? If anyones interested I'd like to be the subject of an article on a flight cancellation for next easter, when I'll claim that my flight cancellation caused me to miss my dying mothers final words. Heck! I'll even cuddle some strangers kidlet for photographic purposes....:mrgreen:

 

[DC3]

"... Or maybe they didnt have any kiddies to photograph looking suitably glum? ... "

Maybe Jesse (15) and Erica (13) are going to get ribbed to blazes by their school-mates, friends and neighbours over this.

Weiner Steffan needs his head read for putting his kids through such a stunt.

 

[elbarto]

Oh I love how people blame the airline for ruining their holiday, when in fact it was the weather. Does common sense exist anymore? Seems to me it's something people arent interested in anymore.


Sent from an Apple iPad wireless device

 

[anat0l]

Sadly it's becoming an all too frequent occurrence. Just recently a staff member in BNE was physicallly attacked by a passenger because they refused to believe they weren't travelling with a particular airline & refused to go to the airline they were booked with.

I'm sure there is a healthy contingent that would posit that "the airlines (or at least one particular one) have brought this upon themselves and deserve it".


Just posted a comment up, although I'm not confident that it will pass the moderation screen, knowing the sensitivity of the media companies to protect their "integrity" (or rather lack thereof). I'm actually waiting for someone to post the typical comment which calls out the AFF community as a bunch of sycophants.

 

[dfcatch]

The power went out for an hour up here this afternoon - even the Optus tower went down in the storm - I couldn't log on to AFF for over 60 mins!!

Can I blame Qantas??

Quick - I can here distressed kids playing outside..... Where's the camera?......

 

[drron]

Just back from dropping off the family at MCY.We went through security at 1538.A JQ MEL flight was meant to leave at 1540.The next in line was a young woman for that flight.Security woman says sorry the doors are closed you wont be getting on thsat flight."what do you mean it isn't due to leave for another 2 minutes and I have to work tomorrow".
Expect another JQ wrecked my Christmas story.

 

[Maca44]

Next year Werner and his weeners should try taking a flight out of ORD in early January, then see if he complains as it's not unusual to be delayed several hours in the terminal due to weather. When it happened to me (several times) I never thought of blaming the airline