I was on QF1 on March 2/3, in F....since I had to make my own arrangement to Gatwick and take a different flight to the 2nd destination on my itinerary due to the extended delay. No help from QF. Got offered 10k pts for the delay, and a claim that it was due to factors beyond their control. Apparently QF arent responsible for maintenance issues on their own planes.
I wont be flying QF 1/2/9/10 again. Have done so once a year for the past 3 years, and every single journey there has been an extended delay.
Fatcat, many thanks - great report.
This is the nub of the problem for QF on its lossmaking (as acknowledged by AJ) London routes: passengers who are on tight itineraries (businessmen, those attending funerals, connecting to cruises among others) can be 'once bitten, twice shy.'
QF9/QF10 are worse than QF1/QF2 for delays. It may be one of a few reasons why if QF cancels 'the 9' and 'the 10' upon commencement of the MEL - PER - LHR and return B789 flights that capacity has effectively been cut in half on the MEL - LHR route.
Many passengers may not contribute to AFF but they can read, and get to know that airlines like SQ have a far better timekeeping record between MEL and LHR than QF9 or its return QF10. To cap it all off, travelling via Asia is more interesting and vastly culturally more a fit with Australians than the Middle East.
Fatcat may have been unlucky on his 'random' journeys to have suffered a delay every time, but his experience shows that there are delays too often. I assume that Fatcat travelled in a reasonable range of seasons (not all travel was in the depths of a London winter or in months when Arabian sandstorms or fog proliferate.)
One must doubt that there were NO available seats on other airlines. It sounds like a profit-maximising decision by QF (who after all is or should be accountable to shareholders) to not pay other airlines for transporting stranded QF passengers.
AFF member Quickstatus has previously raised the question as to whether the MEL (minimum equipment list) on QF is more stringent than on competing major airlines.
Some delays are not an airline's fault but there is a basic expectation that transport operators properly maintain their rollingstock or equipment. After all, Fatcat has paid (or had paid for him) big bucks to travel in F.