HNL Hurricane Lane - bloody Qantas

[juddles]

Sorry Juddles, it wasnt that I wanted to avoid rainy days, I didn't want to put my disabled(terminally ill) wife through the stress of going through having to shelter from a category 4 Hurricane, but thanks for your empathy or lack of it .... it all worked out in the end

Popeye, I did not know that extra info. I was debating general traveller circumstances. I did not mean to be rude to you. Please accept my apology.

 

[moa999]

HNL is an outstation for QF with a limited schedule.
Not surprised that it took them longer to become aware of the hurricane and announce waivers versus airlines with more HNL flights.

Glad it all worked out, even if it no doubt added some unnecessary stress to the holiday.

 

[davidj]

Not really sure what i would be claiming.

The QFA rebooking fees or fare?

 

[Forg]

HNL is an outstation for QF with a limited schedule.

This is sorta interesting; ‘cos it was a pretty important port-of-call for QF historically, when they had to stop there in order to get to the USA (proper).

 

[Pushka]

Popeye, I did not know that extra info. I was debating general traveller circumstances. I did not mean to be rude to you. Please accept my apology.

In your defence I agreed with what you were saying. Popeyes preference for quick departure seems more reasonable with this additional medical information however that is always the risk when travelling overseas.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Quite hilarious given your support for the poor underpaid public servant who can't be bothered to select their seat in advance and ends up sitting between two gamers (or traumatized by the thought of having to).

Two different scenarios. In the gamer example it costs hundreds of dollars to select seats which could potentially be avoided by airlines requiring contiguous seating (as indeed it was once, when airlines pre-allocated seating to everyone). Calling an airline to request or take advantage of a waiver is free.

 

[Popeye]

HNL is an outstation for QF with a limited schedule.
Not surprised that it took them longer to become aware of the hurricane and announce waivers versus airlines with more HNL flights.

Glad it all worked out, even if it no doubt added some unnecessary stress to the holiday.

Thanks Juddles, tried hard not to give this up but it became obvious when people were challenging my motives for leaving early
No hard feelings. .

Cheers Popeye

 

[Popeye]

This is sorta interesting; ‘cos it was a pretty important port-of-call for QF historically, when they had to stop there in order to get to

HNL was a big hub for QF in the 90's with passengers from BNE MEL and SYD transferring to flight to SFO and LAX.

They also had an extensive codeshare arrangement (I was part of a team that set this up .. NZ was also involved) with the now defunct CP (Canadian) who operated DC 10 aircraft to YVR YUL YYZ and other points north

Cheers Popeye

 

[JohnK]

But that isn’t a Qantas issue though.

No but why ever be pro-active or helpful?

Hurricane warning. Seats available on earlier flight? "Yes sir, we can make change for you right now and waive all change fees" without having to go get higher authority should be easily doable.

When I had chicken pox and was hospitalised I wouldn't be able to fly QF BNE-SYD on the Friday and then off to Thailand on weekend. Restrictive ticket. First customer service agent changed the flights and waived the change fees as I was in hospital. Flew the first flight but wasn't in any condition to go anywhere and had to pay to change flights again.

 

[Pushka]

No but why ever be pro-active or helpful?

Hurricane warning. Seats available on earlier flight? "Yes sir, we can make change for you right now and waive all change fees" without having to go get higher authority should be easily doable.

When I had chicken pox and was hospitalised I wouldn't be able to fly QF BNE-SYD on the Friday and then off to Thailand on weekend. Restrictive ticket. First customer service agent changed the flights and waived the change fees as I was in hospital. Flew the first flight but wasn't in any condition to go anywhere and had to pay to change flights again.

The hurricane was downgraded by then and flights not disrupted.

 

[JohnK]

The hurricane was downgraded by then and flights not disrupted.

Not when the OP called. It was still a looming threat.

 

[Pushka]

Not when the OP called. It was still a looming threat.

Well this is the thing. Downgrading or non eventuation (?) of a predicted event can occur and does occur frequently. Should airlines change everything in the case of a maybe? The same applies to Bali. Or anywhere really. We travelled there in November last year. Predictions that the volcano would blow imminently. We were not allowed to cancel even though it was ‘imminent’. To do so in advance was regarded by the travel industry as a preference not event. It didn’t blow. We travelled and returned.

We are currently booked to go again next week. Long story. Earthquakes this time. Again we cannot cancel and rebook.

 

[JohnK]

Well this is the thing. Downgrading or non eventuation (?) of a predicted event can occur and does occur frequently. Should airlines change everything in the case of a maybe?

Qantas does this all the time when it suits them. Storms are predicted in SYD or BNE Friday afternoon/evening and they start proactively flow forwarding regardless of whether the storm hits or not.

In this situation there was a real Hurricane threat. Empty seats on the HNL-SYD flight last Wednesday will remain empty forever. It costs nothing to move someone forward in these situations.

 

[Pushka]

Qantas does this all the time when it suits them. Storms are predicted in SYD or BNE Friday afternoon/evening and they start proactively flow forwarding regardless of whether the storm hits or not.

In this situation there was a real Hurricane threat. Empty seats on the HNL-SYD flight last Wednesday will remain empty forever. It costs nothing to move someone forward in these situations.

Yes I’ve heard those calls but obviously this happens on the spot and not a couple of days in advance as in this situation.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Well this is the thing. Downgrading or non eventuation (?) of a predicted event can occur and does occur frequently. Should airlines change everything in the case of a maybe? The same applies to Bali. Or anywhere really. We travelled there in November last year. Predictions that the volcano would blow imminently. We were not allowed to cancel even though it was ‘imminent’. To do so in advance was regarded by the travel industry as a preference not event. It didn’t blow. We travelled and returned.

We are currently booked to go again next week. Long story. Earthquakes this time. Again we cannot cancel and rebook.

Volcanoes are somewhat unpredictable, hurricanes are 'there' and visible on the map. Yes their course and intensity is not known for sure, but it is something you can see in real time as it approaches. Most countries take precautions for approaching bad weather - such as Hong Kong for typhoons, same for the Philippines, and even in Shanghai when I was there (preparations started three days before it was due).

This is why other airlines were offering waivers. And this is also an unusual event for Hawaii - 26 years since the last major one.

The airlines would have lost nothing by accommodating passengers on empty seats flying out.

 

[Pushka]

Volcanoes are somewhat unpredictable, hurricanes are 'there' and visible on the map. Yes their course and intensity is not known for sure, but it is something you can see in real time as it approaches. Most countries take precautions for approaching bad weather - such as Hong Kong for typhoons, same for the Philippines, and even in Shanghai when I was there (preparations started three days before it was due).

This is why other airlines were offering waivers. And this is also an unusual event for Hawaii - 26 years since the last major one.

The airlines would have lost nothing by accommodating passengers on empty seats flying out.

Sure, if there are empty seats and not a long queue of people requesting them. And that is the unknown. Wonder if they will do things differently next time as clearly these are unpredictable too.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Sure, if there are empty seats and not a long queue of people requesting them. And that is the unknown. Wonder if they will do things differently next time as clearly these are unpredictable too.

Nothing the airline can do if there are no empty seats. The number of people requesting them shouldn't matter... except of course to those with status who might question why they didn't get first dibs. But other airlines manage and QF is also experienced.

 

[Pushka]

Nothing the airline can do if there are no empty seats. The number of people requesting them shouldn't matter... except of course to those with status who might question why they didn't get first dibs. But other airlines manage and QF is also experienced.

Ah of course the number of requesting matters if there aren’t many/any empty seats.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Ah of course the number of requesting matters if there aren’t many/any empty seats.

QF gets 100 calls requesting a change to another flight. 50 can be accommodated, the other 50 can't. Still 100 calls. Compare that to no waiver being offered - QF still gets 100 calls, still has to access 100 reservations to check the fare conditions, and tells 100 people they can't change (and indeed listen to 100 people say there's a waiver on other airlines!).

I think if people would be much more understanding if they're told the flight if full once it's reached capacity is rather than a blanket 'we're not offering the waiver'? (Except perhaps for the status pax who may want to know why they weren't proactively moved?)

 

[Pushka]

QF gets 100 calls requesting a change to another flight. 50 can be accommodated, the other 50 can't. Still 100 calls. Compare that to no waiver being offered - QF still gets 100 calls, still has to access 100 reservations to check the fare conditions, and tells 100 people they can't change (and indeed listen to 100 people say there's a waiver on other airlines!).

I think if people would be much more understanding if they're told the flight if full once it's reached capacity is rather than a blanket 'we're not offering the waiver'? (Except perhaps for the status pax who may want to know why they weren't proactively moved?)

Maybe they just didn’t get the chance to develop a protocol so ‘no waiver’ was given. Honestly based on my experiences I don’t this any of this is a Qantas issue until it became obvious that flights could not fly. And that didn’t happen anyways