What does "flight closed" mean?

[Warks]

JQ introduced allocated seating around October 2006.

No wonder after what I saw! Haven't flown with them since!

 

[medhead]

Don't you find if you leave it as late as possible to board that there is no room for your carry on baggage? That's the reason for all the jockeying in the US I thought!

I don't find this a problem at all, because usually the people be fore me haven't at all made best use of the space when putting their cough in. There is usually a laptop bag there laying flat, and it is a simple matter to stand it on end and then my carry on fits. In fact, there are often a number of bags that just need to be re orientated to "stand up" rather than "lay down" to make heaps more space.

More tetris practice I say....

 

[straitman]

Also worth noting different indications at different airports in different countries, in SIN for example it generally progresses from "Gate Open" to "Boarding" to "Last Call" to "Gate Closing" to "Gate Closed" ... which can be a problem if travelling with someone who doesn't know the jargon:!:

In AKL Int QP a few months ago and watched the monitors count down but no announcement. After the 'Gate Closed' sign had been up for a few minutes I asked I was told 'don't worry about them as they are fully automatic and we will call when it really is time to go'.

20 or 30 min later they called and we hurried to the gate only to find a lot of people still waiting to board :!:

 

[JohnK]

Interesting events before my BNE-SYD flight last Friday.

I got to the airport a little late but still before cutoff for checked baggage. Flight scheduled to depart at 18:45 with boarding at 18:25. Got through security and up to the lounge and order a drink. Look up at the monitors to see flight is boarding at 18:17. I take no notice and have another drink and look at the board again to see flight is now Final Call at 18:21. I go to the front desk and ask what is happening and was told that a slot opened up in SYD and they were leaving early as everyone checked in. Grab another drink and on my way.

Everybody had boarded and the crew were standing around fiddling their thumbs. An announcement by the first officer at 18:31 said we cannot push back as they have orders from SYD ATC that any flight to SYD cannot leave before scheduled departure. So we sat around for another 14 minutes doing absolutely nothing when I could have been in the lounge relaxing with a drink.

Not falling for the same trick next time....

 

[oz_mark]

Everybody had boarded and the crew were standing around fiddling their thumbs. An announcement by the first officer at 18:31 said we cannot push back as they have orders from SYD ATC that any flight to SYD cannot leave before scheduled departure. So we sat around for another 14 minutes doing absolutely nothing when I could have been in the lounge relaxing with a drink.

I wonder what its got to do with ATC. If there is a slot, there's a slot.

 

[JohnK]

I wonder what its got to do with ATC. If there is a slot, there's a slot.

I think that the first officer was relating the right story while the Qantas Lounge was making up a story, perhaps on instruction from gate staff, to get passengers to board early.

It is not the first time I have heard a totally different story to the actual story from the Qantas Lounge/gate staff....

 

[markis10]

I wonder what its got to do with ATC. If there is a slot, there's a slot.

ATC control the slots, there is every likelyhood a slot opened but the A/C was unable to push back to meet the slot, so things reverted to the original plan.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Flight closed in Altea happens at minus 15mins before departure. This means no more pax can be accepted for checkin even with carry on luggage only. It would depend on each port however I would expect that a final call would not be made unless there were only about 30-40 pax left to board.

As for the departure/arrival screens in the airport terminal & the status showing eg flight closed, departed etc, it depends on who controls those. Eg in SYD & MEL domestic terminals QF own these and are responsible for the departure and arrival screens versus DRW it's a common user terminal with airlines such as QF, JQ, TL, DJ, XR paying rent to Darwin International Airport Authority.

As the departure/arrival screens are controlled by a third party eg DIA they are generally on auto-pilot and not necessarily in sync with the airlines system. As a result if you have a delayed flight sometimes the flight will drop off the screen once it passes it's original departure time resulting in heaps of pax asking staff what happened to their flight & if it's been cancelled.