QF9 sat 29/4 Melbourne to Heathrow - long delay in Dubai

[chocsaway]

All was going so well ... we landed in Dubai a mere 20 mins late at 7.20am this morning and boarded on time for a 9.05am departure. (Having had the bonus of an upgrade to F)
Sadly it was not to be and a fault developed on pre flight checks that has yet to be fixed ... local time now 12.30pm and very earliest we may leave Dubai will be 2pm but nobody is sounding too hopeful currently ...
Captain and crew very visible and great level of explanations and updates ... ah well back to the book.

 

[Quickstatus]

Have you and other passengers spent all that time onboard or were you allowed back into the terminal?

 

[Blackbird]

The QF web site shows 1500 departure for arrival LHR 1910.
The crew probably know more and hopefully 1400 is correct.

 

[chocsaway]

We were on board for about 2 hours and then the temperature was getting too high in the back of the plane - even up front it was very warm. The problem is connected to cabin pressure and air conditioning I believe and seems to be a leaky valve.
Anyway ...
They deplaned us all and carried on trying to fix it - looked like they had cracked it at one point as it ran for 15 mins without issue so they started loading passengers back on board only for the warning light to come on again.
Feel most sorry for parents with young kids who are cooped up at the gate ...

 

[chocsaway]

Sadly you're right Balckbird and the earliest is now 3pm departure ...

 

[Quickstatus]

We were on board for about 2 hours and then the temperature was getting too high in the back of the plane - even up front it was very warm. The problem is connected to cabin pressure and air conditioning I believe and seems to be a leaky valve.
Anyway ...
They deplaned us all and carried on trying to fix it - looked like they had cracked it at one point as it ran for 15 mins without issue so they started loading passengers back on board only for the warning light to come on again.
Feel most sorry for parents with young kids who are cooped up at the gate ...

You were probably comfortably back in the lounge but do you know if gate refreshments were provided?

 

[chocsaway]

I'm right above the gate so yes I can confirm water has been available from the get go and meal vouchers have been handed out twice to all passengers.
I've been really impressed with the captains handling of the situation and he and the cabin crew have been downstairs at the gate for almost the entire time answering questions and keeping the situation calm.
He has made announcements every hour and even requested that passengers didn't be rude the gate staff and cabin crew as they knew no more than he did right now. He got a round of applause for that comment from the passengers.
Well handled by Qantas and after all is said and done safety is their main priority.

 

[Quickstatus]

Could this thread be merged to the Qantas delays and cancellations thread please

 

[serfty]

Could this thread be merged to the Qantas delays and cancellations thread please

[Mod hat]

Not at the moment ... It is currently topical in its own right rather than be buried in a megathread.

It will likely be merged in a few days once this and its aftereffects are over.

[/mod hat]

 

[nlagalle]

serfty, that's inconsistent, because essentially it's just another - albeit interesting - QF9 delay.

Isn't it best to have these all together so that they are chronological? If merged in 'a few days', it is no longer chronological..thus defeating the purpose of any continuing separate thread.

If an aircraft lost a propeller as a Rex one did, or had an engine fall off, fair enough - but apart from the OP providing a great on-the-spot report (thank you!), it's little different from many other airline delays.

In any case the headline should refer to 'Saturday 29 April' not '...28...'

No it's not. Other delays have kept their own threads...

Btw merging does it on date so you'd still keep your chronological order but we'd get to read this first without it being lost in the noise

 

[snabbu]

serfty, that's inconsistent, because essentially it's just another - albeit interesting - QF9 delay.

Isn't it best to have these all together so that they are chronological? If merged in 'a few days', it is no longer chronological..thus defeating the purpose of any continuing separate thread.

If an aircraft lost a propeller as a Rex one did, or had an engine fall off, fair enough - but apart from the OP providing a great on-the-spot report (thank you!), it's little different from many other airline delays.

In any case the headline should refer to 'Saturday 29 April' not '...28...'

Personally I appreciate the OP's new thread and up to date first hand experience with the issue.

What those airline delays / cancellation threads each need is a simple wiki/spreadsheet with date/time/delay in minutes/reason/etc.

IMHO of course.

 

[chocsaway]

You are quite correct Melburnian1 - I got confused on the date I have now corrected it as it should have read 29/4 - clearly ditsy

 

[chocsaway]

And the latest is .... departure in an hour at 3.45pm woo Hoo!
Keep your fingers crossed!
New flight and tech crew here as well now.

 

[Melburnian1]

And the latest is .... departure in an hour at 3.45pm...
New flight and tech crew here as well now.

chocsaway (great name!), when you say 'new...crew' am I correct to assume that you mean the flight and cabin crews that were to be rostered on the second sector from DXB to LHR, not a 'third crew' who've had to sign on at short notice because of the delay?

If it was a 'third set of crew', that would mean eventually another flight in DXB would be delayed because QF would, if I may use the term, run out of crew members who had been sufficiently rested in accordance with fatigue regulations (and commonsense.) How some of these crew members cope with such constant changes in time zones is difficult to comprehend, even if they get a few days off or more between each 'tour of duty.'

It's just a little ambiguous.

 

[turtlemichael]

And the QF website has the delayed flight at 55 minutes faster than the scheduled time of the original flight. We'll see

 

[chocsaway]

Hello Melburnian1
It's a new tech and flight deck crew only (i.e. Pilots x2 and engineers etc) at this stage - apparently the cabin crew are within their hours.
I couldn't honestly tell you what flight the new crew they were due to be on but I know they were called in because of the delay!
I know how they feel on the time zones

 

[Melburnian1]

Hello Melburnian1
It's a new tech and flight deck crew only (i.e. Pilots x2 and engineers etc) at this stage - apparently the cabin crew are within their hours....

OK, thanks.

It will be interesting to watch what occurs in the next couple of days to see if there is a delay due to a flight crew needing more rest.

 

[chocsaway]

And the QF website has the delayed flight at 55 minutes faster than the scheduled time of the original flight. We'll see

The original flight was due into London at 2.10pm and the latest is 7.10pm so here's hoping the 7.10pm is correct!

 

[chocsaway]

OK, thanks.
It will be interesting to watch what occurs in the next couple of days to see if there is a delay due to a flight crew needing more rest.

Very true ....
Selfishly I don't have to worry about it for 3 weeks ....

 

[Melburnian1]

And the QF website has the delayed flight at 55 minutes faster than the scheduled time of the original flight. We'll see

In the last couple of days, from departure time to landing time (which is not arrival at gate - we need to allow more minutes for that) QF9 has taken seven hours 20 minutes and seven hours 27 minutes between DXB and LHR so the seven hours 10 minutes (1500 to 1910, adjusted for the three hour time difference) may be possible. However it's not now departing at 1500 but 1545. The way QF9's (not) going, a departure delay to QF2 tonight (Sunday 30 April) in LHR is practically guaranteed.