I am scheduled to fly from AKL to WLG at 7am tomorrow morning on Jetstar. There have been a few news reports today about an incoming "big storm" with mentions of 140km/h gusts expected in Wellington area. Now as I am about to go to bed I see that AirNZ have already cancelled all their AKL-WLG flights for tomorrow morning .
So what would others do if I get to airport in the morning and Jetstar haven't decided to follow suit? Trust that the weather hasn't turned out as bad as forecast and give the rollercoaster a go, or give it a miss? My boss won't care at all if I cancel flights but I do have a customer meeting in Wellington which is fairly urgent.
Despite Jetstar normally being my preferred intra-NZ airline, last year I was on the opposite end of this situation, when flying AirNZ AKL-WLG. I was waiting at the airport as all AirNZ flights before mine from AKL-WLG were cancelled due to weather there, but mine kept getting pushed back. In the end mine was the first one not to be cancelled (about 4 hours late). We got on the plane and then the captain announced that we couldn't leave as Wellington airport had been struck by lightning and the runway lights had gone out and they had to call a technician in to reset them (it was about 9pm at this stage!). 30mins later the Captain came into the cabin to say it had been fixed and they were planning to go. He then asked if anybody would prefer to get off before we left... not something I have ever experienced before or after! I would have jumped at the chance to get off, but as luck would have it I was seated next to an important customer (purely by chance) who was offloading heaps of useful info, so it seemed rude to chicken out. When we got down to Wellington the Captain announced that there was a storm cell over the runway so we circled for about 15mins (through what felt like another storm cell!) then we finally made an approach. Quite near the ground the plane dropped suddenly and the Captain executed a go-around and then headed straight back to Auckland as had no fuel left for another attempt. Why do I tell this... well during the whole afternoon on FlightRadar I watched as all the Jetstar flights between AKL and WLG completed their trips on schedule with no missed approaches etc.
Can two airlines operating domestically in the same 1st world country really have such different go/no-go standards? And should I be worried?
Maybe this should be in the Ask the Pilots Thread?
So what would others do if I get to airport in the morning and Jetstar haven't decided to follow suit? Trust that the weather hasn't turned out as bad as forecast and give the rollercoaster a go, or give it a miss? My boss won't care at all if I cancel flights but I do have a customer meeting in Wellington which is fairly urgent.
Despite Jetstar normally being my preferred intra-NZ airline, last year I was on the opposite end of this situation, when flying AirNZ AKL-WLG. I was waiting at the airport as all AirNZ flights before mine from AKL-WLG were cancelled due to weather there, but mine kept getting pushed back. In the end mine was the first one not to be cancelled (about 4 hours late). We got on the plane and then the captain announced that we couldn't leave as Wellington airport had been struck by lightning and the runway lights had gone out and they had to call a technician in to reset them (it was about 9pm at this stage!). 30mins later the Captain came into the cabin to say it had been fixed and they were planning to go. He then asked if anybody would prefer to get off before we left... not something I have ever experienced before or after! I would have jumped at the chance to get off, but as luck would have it I was seated next to an important customer (purely by chance) who was offloading heaps of useful info, so it seemed rude to chicken out. When we got down to Wellington the Captain announced that there was a storm cell over the runway so we circled for about 15mins (through what felt like another storm cell!) then we finally made an approach. Quite near the ground the plane dropped suddenly and the Captain executed a go-around and then headed straight back to Auckland as had no fuel left for another attempt. Why do I tell this... well during the whole afternoon on FlightRadar I watched as all the Jetstar flights between AKL and WLG completed their trips on schedule with no missed approaches etc.
Can two airlines operating domestically in the same 1st world country really have such different go/no-go standards? And should I be worried?
Maybe this should be in the Ask the Pilots Thread?
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