QantasLink Airbus A220 Discussion

[Lucass]

Had my first A220 flight today, overall could not really say it was much different to a 737 experience. Cabin crew seemed green, we were delayed 20 minutes due to a “catering issue” , after takeoff crew came round almost an hour into our flight to serve a beef and mushroom pie that had uncooked pastry on the base, and 20 minutes later the offer of seconds!

On delay on departure was also mentioned by the unnamed captain who said they had to do a variety of recalculations on the numbers for an additional 10 minutes, I noted a check captain in the jump seat on boarding!

Overall I found the aircraft fine, but both the tech and cabin crew seemed very green.

It’s a relatively new aircraft to their fleet… crew have to be trained somehow

 

[jonboixxx]

The times I’ve flown on the A220 service started with 1DF then 1AC and then 2DF and so on.

Thanks, prefer row 2, so may switch from 2AC to 2DF in anticipation of some short catering on QF recently.

 

[markis10]

It’s a relatively new aircraft to their fleet… crew have to be trained somehow

Training is done before passengers are taken, not on the job. I know one of the A220 sim captains. The issue is the setup of the company and the low pay, not the people, they are poorly supported in the interests of being low cost and it’s very obvious at the coal face. As a comparison look at the entry into service flights for the A321xlr vs the A220.

One gets the feeling the plane has an orange paint job…..

 

[Saab34]

I would expect the subsidiary pilots at this one to strike this year over EBA negotiations. And so they should.

 

[dylarr]

Quite a few flights between MEL-OOL that were scheduled as A220 have been subbed with B737 throughout March. Have received a few flight number change notifications over the last couple of days. They've only been operating on this route for a couple of weeks.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

The 06:00 out of MEL-SYD yesterday was an A220 and left very late with a tech fault resulting in MANY missed connections for long haul international. Not good

 

[Saab34]

I feel like a few are out of service at the moment as a few of my colleagues have been screwed over this week, all on 220 flights. Having a look all appears to be in service so not sure what the issue is? Crewing?

Looks like more cancelled tomorrow also

 

[AIRwin]

I feel like a few are out of service at the moment as a few of my colleagues have been screwed over this week, all on 220 flights. Having a look all appears to be in service so not sure what the issue is? Crewing?

Looks like more cancelled tomorrow also

Saving fuel?

 

[Harrison_133]

I feel like a few are out of service at the moment as a few of my colleagues have been screwed over this week, all on 220 flights. Having a look all appears to be in service so not sure what the issue is? Crewing?

Looks like more cancelled tomorrow also

X4A just spent almost a week AOG in Brisbane, which would partly explain it.

 

[markis10]

Pretty sure I saw on Facebook marketplace a wanted to buy A220 serviceable engines ad by NJS

 

[elanshin]

I imagine Airbus and P&W still have major issues with the engines and the repair backlog is still enormous. Also seems the 320 family are being prioritised over the a220s.

 

[Kingo42]

A220 #12 VH-X4L has been spotted in Mirabel all painted, standard livery with name Blue Tongue Lizard, MSN is 55447 and test rego is C-FOVK

 

[markis10]

Qantas must be desperate! Fabricated a story about mom and son flying together for the QF group when in reality they are employed by two different companies:

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/travel-stories/adorable-qantas-moment-caught-on-camera/news-story/a437bab0e5f12d89ee2deb580afb4e81

 

[AuSammy]

Qantas must be desperate! Fabricated a story about mom and son flying together for the QF group when in reality they are employed by two different companies:

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/travel-stories/adorable-qantas-moment-caught-on-camera/news-story/a437bab0e5f12d89ee2deb580afb4e81

Are you alleging they don’t both work for the Qantas Group of companies?

 

[Saab34]

It’s confusing half the time with these subsidiaries and who actually works for who. On a recent flight the FA was telling me she worked for a causal contract Labour hire firm, her employer wasn’t the Qantas Group.

Seems like VA are the only main carrier that has both Pilots and CC on the same payroll.

 

[markis10]

Are you alleging they don’t both work for the Qantas Group of companies?

‘Qantas group” is what’s used to cover the fact there are multiple companies, in this case it’s NJS and one of the cabin crew companies, and while they may have flown together I doubt they worked together!

 

[Laptop Jockey]

Qantas must be desperate! Fabricated a story about mom and son flying together for the QF group when in reality they are employed by two different companies:

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/travel-stories/adorable-qantas-moment-caught-on-camera/news-story/a437bab0e5f12d89ee2deb580afb4e81

How is it "fabricated"?
Ethical issues with news.com.au running these advertising pieces masquerading as news aside, the article states pretty explicitly the Qantas PR team directly pulled the strings to get them on the same flight, but it's not like they grabbed some random woman off the street and put her in a stewardess uniform for a photo op. Additionally the quotes are pretty telling where multiple times they specifically state "Qantas group" which no person ever says. Nobody says "I'm flying Sunstate Airlines tomorrow" or "I booked an Alliance flight through Qantas".

At the end of the day they go to work wearing a Qantas uniform, on a Qantas flight, on a plane with a red kangaroo on the tail. In the minds of 99.9% of people, saying he's a Qantas pilot and she's a Qantas hostie is going to be perfectly honest, and the Byzantine details of the corporate structure and subcontracting arrangements are irrelevant.

 

[markis10]

At the end of the day they go to work wearing a Qantas uniform, on a Qantas flight, on a plane with a red kangaroo on the tail. In the minds of 99.9% of people, saying he's a Qantas pilot and she's a Qantas hostie

It was painted as a day where mum works with son, reality is son worked while mum paxed. The divisive corporate structures now in place mean it’s not possible for that particular mother son combo to work together whatsoever. Qantas cabin crew on any of the variety of EBAs (think there are three) cannot work on NJS aircraft and vice versa.

 

[DejaBrew]

BREAKING NEWS: Company PR team publishes feel-good "promo fluff" piece through major media outlet(s).

Well that sounds like pretty much every PR team for virtually any major company around the world. Not sure I understand why that's so galling for some folks?