Pulled off Flight and still 15min to go:(

[yohy?!]

good to get some closure on this and see that we can dawdle with confidence as long as we make it to the gate at least 10mins prior

ill test it out on my next trip

 

[mel-world]

Question....?

Who operates the various display boards in an airport - the airlines or the airport operator? If the former, there is not much excuse for the information being wrong or any updates being delayed.

If the latter, anything could happen, especially on boards displaying various airline's information. The airport operator just wants you out of the lounge or through security so you can use their shops no matter how long the flight is delayed. The latest tag saying 'wait' or 'gate opens XX-mins prior to departure' is to keep you captive near the shops for as long as possible.

In a lounge where only the VA flights are displayed, I assume that this is updated by VA operational staff so these boards should be accurate to a few minutes although I do note a reluctance to display delays expeditiously. I once left the lounge 30-mins before a flight showing an on-time departure (as is my normal practice) to find a 45-mins delay posted by the time I arrived at the gate some 5-mins later. Not happy.

 

[UpInTheAir]

Hi Steve

Apologies for my delay in response which took longer than I'd have liked. Our Ground Operations colleagues have looked into this and have confirmed that the standard operating procedures were followed.

According to our records, your flight was called in the lounge at 6.06pm and 6.12pm. The offload process commences at 10 minutes before departure when boarding ceases, and our system shows that you and your travelling companion were removed from the flight well within this timeframe.

I can assure you that that every effort had been made by Virgin Australia team members at Melbourne Airport to provide you with an optimal opportunity to board your flight in good time. A decision as impactful as offloading our guests is not made lightly, and such an action is only taken to ensure that flights depart on schedule for the convenience of all guests.

The facts of the matter now seem to be in dispute. OP says he was there 15 mins before. Velocity Frequent Flyer indicates offload did not occur until "well within" 10 minutes. OP can you provide more info? And would you share with us how VA have resolved this with you?

In any case I too am very glad to have clarity from VFF on the policy, ie offload does not commence until 10 mins before. I am a last-minute kind of person (ready to be flamed!) so this is important to me.

All in all an interesting thread thanks to all posters.

 

[moa999]

As always two sides to a story

OP
6.00-6.15 - No calls in lounge
6.15 - Arrives at gate- already off loaded

VA
6.06 First call
6.12 Second call
6.20+ Offload procedure commences
6.20+ (by assumption) arrives at gate

Maybe we put it down to out of sync watches.
Anyhow - good to know that VA has such a detailed record of these things.

And appreciate the comment from VFF re offload timings.

 

[RAM]

sorry stickshaker, but I think that pax who believe they can waltz down to the gate 15 min before departure and be assured travel, are not being fair. You state you are platinum, so you must have flown a bit. Surely you have learnt to not trust boarding calls and screens only?

Do you think it would be ok if all the pax decided to just arrive at the departure gate 15 min before published take-off time??

Equally afaik the 'screens/boards' are not run by each individual airline but by the airport operator and each airline is reliant on the airport operator to do the right thing.

This was the case with EY and Abu Dhabi where depending on the terminal you have different information for the same flights.

Perhaps the workers around the plane were offloading some one else's checked bags who also decided to wait to the last minute - maybe that was what misled your thinking.

In the end you have to take responsibility for your actions and if you want the extra drink/snack then weigh up the potential cost. To me it is just the same as people who over-stay parking at sign posted zones. Sooner or later you lose and complain about the cost.

Becoming a DYKWIA is not socially uplifting!

 

[Aussie_flyer]

I think Qantas control their own displays in their terminals at places like SYD BNE and MEL, maybe not elsewhere

 

[PineappleSkip]

... only to hear my personal page. Got to the flight less than 15 seconds after the page, and they said that I'd been offloaded. Why make an announcement if you're already off?

Couldn't agree more. That is ridiculous.

Also the comments about doubtful reliability of departure screens have me wondering about the reliability of VA's response. Would be good to hear the OP's take on this.

Cheers skip

 

[Bandicoot]

Wow. Not so long ago I was in the lounge at Brisbane airport, sitting by the flight board, and obsessively watching for my flight to flash boarding. I swear there was no announcement, no what I call personal boarding call, and then suddenly i see final call on the board. I ran because it was well after scheduled time. Enroute to the gate came the ONLY announcement I ever heard about my flight announced that off load procedures had commenced. When I got to the gate the flight was closed. I was appalled and they ticked me off and let me on. I ask what is the point of a lounge, if you are obligated to go to the gate, before a boarding call or announcement only to aimlessly stand around as there are no seats left. Why have priority screening at Melbourne from the lounge. Sounds like envious payout on platinum members to me. Re the boards Virgin and Qantas are racing to the bottom. And Jetstar. One stormy night, flights cancelled, I watched my flight on the board, waiting for the gate, departure time ticked by. No gate. Well there is no way the flight would beat Sydney curfew. So I went to the gate. No such flight. Cancelled oh hours ago. Let's face it we are self loading freight.

 

[Bandicoot]

I don't believe VA. And I don't trust the screens. And I think we should revolt about such shabby treatment. Why have screens. Virgin and Qantas should treat frequent travellers with more respect and keep them informed with accurate information. As for the airport operator updating screens well I am too polite to say what I think about that. Reminds me of taxi control at Sydney airport. Unfathomable.

 

[Bandicoot]

That is just slack as - and I had a similar experience.

I sat in the BNE lounge one evening waiting for 'boarding' to show up on the screen for a flight to Adelaide, after about 20 mins of it saying nothing I went up to the folks at the desk and asked the status, they made a call to the gate and what do you know, final call about to close.....I said to the lounge staff what's the deal with that and they were sorry the gate never called, so off I went at a great rate of knots to hear them calling the flight in the lounge and then a bunch of 'paging passengers a,c,b,d,e,f,g come to gate x now' in the terminal

lesson learnt, now I not rely on the screens without checking!

 

[Aussie_flyer]

It seems to be a recurring theme on this board that VA's FIDS are wildly inaccurate, and the lounge staff are regularly not calling flights. I don't care what the VFF rep says about this particular incident, I think VA have a big issue they need to fix.

 

[OzEire]

Did I read somewhere that one of the airlines (QF ?) is trialling direct updates to your smart phone? Like a personal display board?

Could be handy both for pax and airline who might be able to see that Mr Jones is connected to the lounge wifi rather than at the gate (technically possible, privacy issues ?).

 

[Timba-Jet]

Grant the flight boards are not controlled by VA, however as a customer, (most of whom are not AFF type folk would not no or care who controls the boards), this is communication from VA. It's still VA's responsibility IMO to ensure the third party are displaying accurate information on their behalf.

It's not good enough to Palm people off with the excuse it's not managed by us - do something about it.

On a side note, I've found VA tend to start boarding early, which is fine by me, but most of my recent flights have not pushed back early due to confusion on who was on the plane, "paging xx_, please press the call button if you are the plane".

 

[Pushka]

If the boards are located in the paid for/privilege lounges then they have to be accurate and the responsibility can't be palmed off with the "3rd party provider" excuse.

 

[Bandicoot]

Indeed, Virgin have a serious problem. I would not longer call them Virgin ...

I have found that best way to complain is to post on a company Facebook page. Guaranteed speed of light response.

To balance the scales I did receive a satisfactory response from (like a) Virgin regarding a complaint I made regarding abuse and harassment by a member of the security screening staff. Initially there was buck passing between Virgin and BNE.

 

[Bandicoot]

Perhaps frequent users of Virgin BNE lounge now no longer rely on the lounge staff or the FIDS. When I arrived at the gate, and flight was closed, I was snippily told that there must have been a call and correct information on the FIDS as no other lounge member was caught short. They did though let me on ... and I was ever so grateful for that.

 

[Bandicoot]

Quite agree. it is seriously shabby treatment. Whilst S..Shaker may have cut it fine, been a little lackadaisical even, he is Platinum and they could have let him on with a polite caution about next time. I don't tolerate shabby treatment and will lodge a complaint. If I don't get a satisfactory response then I take my custom elsewhere (if there is a choice of course). When Qantas squandered my goodwill by not ensuring paid for privileges I started flying VA. But Qantas have finally lifted their game, and I love the jaffas and liquorice all sorts in the lounge. Game over.

 

[yohy?!]

Did I read somewhere that one of the airlines (QF ?) is trialling direct updates to your smart phone? Like a personal display board?

Could be handy both for pax and airline who might be able to see that Mr Jones is connected to the lounge wifi rather than at the gate (technically possible, privacy issues ?).

HKIA has this and its brilliant - you can cool your heels in the lounge and wait for a boarding notification, it updates in real time through each boarding stage

 

[docjames]

Without getting into the ins and outs of the OPs situation, I too have had multiple issues in BNE and MEL with VAs boards - at one stage earlier this year in the MEL lounge there had been no boarding call, and in the lounge I noted three departure screens. One said "go to gate", one said "boarding", one said nothing (blank where the "boarding" etc goes).

As I has travelling with family and figured if it hadn't started it would soon and didn't want to hurry, we started wandering to the gate - only to hear the "final call" as we were approaching.

If we had been sitting in the part of the lounge with the screen that was blank (and if not for past experience i'd not known to be ultra-careful about checking the status), we'd have missed the flight (the only direct flight to our destination for the day).


I've also left the lounge in the past in BNE where the screens have said "boarding" only to find in fact the flight was still some way away from boarding.



CLEARLY there is an issue here for VA and it staggers me that it's been going on for YEARS and they STILL haven't fixed it (or worked with the airports to fix it).



Re: live updates - works fine unless your mobile reception is in a "blackspot". Whilst it's technically posisble the cost would outweight just keeping the screens up to date - I don't see why the airport needs to control the screens and not the airline (or it's contracted ground service provider where applicable).

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Yes qantas have live update about your flight via lounge wifi now