What's up with Qantas?

[fairhsa]

Was supposed to be flying to Launceston today. After sitting around for hours, they CANCEL the flight just a few minutes before boarding is due to start, citing "engineering issues". Another affected lady says they do this ALL THE TIME for launceston. Earlier this week, I flew from Hobart to Melbourne - TWO HOURS LATE (much less than the actual flight time). Does Qantas just not understand that people from Tasmania also have connections and a life? For this Launceston, flight, they put me on Jetstar in FIVE HOURS TIME. I have since changed to Hobart where my husband will pick me up and we will drive. Perhaps it will save an hour. Perhaps not, since the Hobart flight likely to be delayed too. What a complete clusterfuck. Why did the Government bail on enforcing compensation for these kind of delays and who can I write to suggesting they rethink this? Unless someone sticks a bomb up their backside, they are not going to change.

 

[Melburnian1]

Was supposed to be flying to Launceston today. After sitting around for hours, they CANCEL the flight just a few minutes before boarding is due to start, citing "engineering issues". Another affected lady says they do this ALL THE TIME for launceston. Earlier this week, I flew from Hobart to Melbourne - TWO HOURS LATE (much less than the actual flight time). Does Qantas just not understand that people from Tasmania also have connections and a life? For this Launceston, flight, they put me on Jetstar in FIVE HOURS TIME. I have since changed to Hobart where my husband will pick me up and we will drive. Perhaps it will save an hour. Perhaps not, since the Hobart flight likely to be delayed too. What a complete clusterfuck. Why did the Government bail on enforcing compensation for these kind of delays and who can I write to suggesting they rethink this? Unless someone sticks a bomb up their backside, they are not going to change.

In a timely release, October 2025 punctuality statistics have been issued by BITRE today for domestic airlines.

These disclose that from Melbourne to Launceston last month (in that southbound direction), 40 per cent of QantasLink flights were 15 or more minutes late arriving at the LST gate.

Comparable figures for Jetstar were 37 per cent and for Virgin Australia, 22.1 per cent.

In addition, QantasLink cancelled five MEL-LST during October (a cancellation rate of 4.2 per cent), Jetstar cancelled two flights (1.3 per cent) but Virgin Oz didn't cancel any of its 95 October southbound flights on the route.

Melbourne-Hobart was (perhaps surprisingly) even worse with QantasLink flights being officially late 43.9 per cent of the time in October 2025. For Jetstar, it was 31.6 per cent and Virgin Oz, 29 per cent.

The whole Australian domestic aviation sector has a poor punctuality record. In October 2025, almost 26 per cent of nationwide commercial flights arrived 15 or more minutes late at their destination's airport gate, and many delays were well in excess of this.

There are numerous reasons: air traffic control being insufficiently staffed, ageing domestic fleets (Qantas' median fleet age across QFi and QFd is 16), mechanical and other problems with aircraft such as you've experienced today, crews being out of position, weather such as thunderstorms and strong winds, turnaround times at airports not being met from factors such as passenger(s) failing to board and hence luggage ideally ought be removed from the hold, holding patterns for aircraft as they approach an airfield, staff members occasionally falling sick...not a complete list.

Being 'at the end of the line' it's probable that locations such as Hobart and Launceston on balance are likely to suffer even more, because there typically are not flight deck or cabin crews based in these cities. And if there are mechanical or electrical problems with aircraft, an engineer may have to be flown in, usually from MEL to fix.

Very recent travels in Europe and the UK reminded me that airlines have EU261 compensation laws that apply to them, and what can be a major competitor, railways have 'delay repay' schemes in the UK as well as similar passenger compensation rights in much of Europe.

Australia, as usual, is well behind the pack, and the current Federal government seems most unwilling to ensure individuals like you receive a fair deal when flights are delayed or cancelled due to the airline's fault.

While unfortunately it's no solution for Hobart or 'Lonnie', building an east coast network of high speed railways is the only solution that will advance Australia and give businesspeople and leisure travellers alike a much better deal.