Whats your best experience on a delayed flight?

[kiwitripper64]

We have all been held up on planes going nowhere and it can suck.
After one late departure SYD-AKL we arrived very late and sat at the gate for 35 min because they could not get the air-bridge to connect. At 3am we were not amused.

But what about the times where a delay is unexpectedly good? When there is nothing you can do but sit back and relax? Last year I was AKL-IAH in J. We got a message that there was a delay of 4 hours so stayed at work, The we arrived at AKL about 5pm, got our boarding passes and discussed connecting flights with lounge staff. Another delay, then finally we boarded the flight and settled in around 8.30pm. We were probably not going to make the connection in IAH, but nothing more we could do now.
The doors closed, we were about to push back when the storm hit and we stopped. After 10 min the pilot came on and explained winds were too severe for take-off. The the seat belt sign came off and champagne brought out again. The storm continued and we received regular updates of " the forecast is for the wind direction to change and winds to reduce and we will take off soon." After an hour or so of this I suggested we could have the meal served so we could go straight to sleep after takeoff. And the crew agreed!! So, sitting on the runway, buffeted by wind we had our meals served. The weirdest part was we had unlimited bubbly but no red or white wine because the plane had not departed and the alcohol licence was bubbly only before takeoff.
While all this was happening the storm had blown a cart onto the runway and there was suspected damage to lights, but the winds were too strong to allow an inspection car to go out. So we sat, watched another movie and had more bubbles.......
At some point we were either going to take off or crew hours were going to be up, and about 1.30am we got the message the flight was off. Everyone de-planed and went home or to a hotel to try again the next day. Another first was going in and out of immigration without going anywhere. On the arrival card, the departure city and arrival city was AKL.
The next day we successfully took off around 2pm with no problems. A little late but lots of fun.
I know this is all in context. There will be people on the same plane who had an important deadline, or were in Y next to a screaming baby ( imagine having to do that twice ) but this is about the unexpected delays that were unexpectedly good, either in the lounge, on the plane or with a diversion.

Any other stories of joy?

 

[Forg]

First time I flew with my better-half after she achieved Platinum status with QF, and my first time in the SYD F lounge, and we were a bit later for the flight than I'd intended due to traffic/etc so I wasn't going to have time to enjoy the lounge experience for the first time … and the flight turned out to be about 90min late.

 

[TripleB]

I was flying SIN-SYD on Qantas with my family including a very young infant. QF had an A380 out of service so their LHR schedule was out of whack with a departure time of 8am ex SIN. We elected to stay in Singapore overnight rather than be moved to other flights (the three adults flying all had qf gold so I'm confident that we would have got on another flight had I asked) because we were in no hurry and had Qantas had a day flight I would have booked it.

Nice night in the crown Plaza (Qantas paid 80% or so of the room rates). Nobody at check-in the next morning. Empty Qantas club for breakfast. Empty gate area (so empty that we thought that we were delaying the flight).

The A380 left with just 30 passengers on board, including the 4 of us. Shortly after take off everyone in a premium cabin was moved to first and the rest of us to business. It was very pleasant indeed.

The icing on the cake was when the points posted as full fare economy rather than discount economy a few days later.

 

[BruceD1beach]

In 2010 my wife and I were flying Business class from London to Los Angeles to Sydney. We boarded the Qantas 747 in LA in our favourite seats - 16J and 16K. It was around midnight at takeoff. The female captain came on the intercom and said the flaps on one wing weren't working and so we'd be dumping 100 tons of fuel and returning to LAX. Due to no flaps we had a fast landing and the fire engines apparently doused the brakes due to the heat. The passengers were then taken in about 6 buses to a local Sheraton where 2 clerks struggled to check people in. My wife and I were at the front of the queue and went to our room and had a good night's sleep. When we came down for breakfast there were still passengers waiting to get a room - the queue had lasted all night! We then got on a replacement plane and flew home. Qantas mailed us 2 vouchers for $1000. So we had an unexpected night in LA and had the benefit of the vouchers. I did feel sorry for the passengers who stood in the queue all night.

 

[Nisho]

So we had an unexpected night in LA and had the benefit of the vouchers. I did feel sorry for the passengers who stood in the queue all night.

I imagine the Sheraton may not have had any rooms left to give, so lucky you. It would have been a very long and disgruntling night for those left outside.

I had a somewhat similar experience but in Queenstown.

Our flight back to Sydney was heavily delayed and subsequently cancelled due to an engineering issue upon landing. Apparently, the necessary parts were unavailable in a timely manner.

Overlooking the Gate area from the lounge, I saw the gate agent make a large"X" with her forearms [indicating the flight was cancelled]. Seconds later I was literally on my feet and heading out the door when the announcement came over the PA to let us know to proceed back past the Immigration counters, collect our luggage and line up again at the check-in counters. Being so quick, I was first in line and got accommodation at the absolutely stunning Millbrook Resort along with meal vouchers.

The following day, I once again arrived at the airport, where a quick chat with fellow passengers revealed only WE [my partner and I] got rooms for the night arranged by Qantas. It being school holidays at the time, rooms were at a premium. Qantas were having difficulty arranging rooms for their staff and thus told all other passengers to find their own accommodation and contact Qantas for compensation later.

If this wasn't enough, we later received $500.00 in compensation for "accommodation and taxi expenses." [Qantas had no idea we were already provided for as our details were written onto what seemed to be scrap paper at the airport - obviously, the note containing these details did not get too far].

All in all, a very good experience for a delayed trip!

 

[jakeseven7]

JQ after all their court fines and embarrassing media are very good with the old $50 voucher these days for delayed flights Got $50 per pax for 4 of us delayed by 4 hours, not ideal but $200 wasn't to be sniffed at (plus food vouchers).

 

[SponsorSFC]

I had booked a J reward home from MEL on VA in 2015.

The scheduled A330 had been struck by lightning and was replaced by a 737. Needless to say they were looking for volunteers.

I agreed to return to PER via SYD in exchange for a refund of points. Great deal. A fair delay all up but still arrived back same day.

Probably my only real "free" award flight.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Any other stories of joy?

Rainstorm in Sydney. Huge number of flights cancelled by all airlines.

So JQ flight delayed till next day.

Luckilyy I was quick to ask fora hotel room and got one. Many did not.

But the "joy" part was arriving at the airport the next day to find that my JQ flight was now on a then spanking brand new Qantas A380 to fly from MEL to SYD! Evidently JQ were allowed to borrow its capacity to help them catch up on the huge backlog.

Not only that but on boarding it turned out that only the economy sections downstairs were being used. Got friendly with a flight attendant and then hey presto had a private tour of the J and F sections upstairs.

 

[vetrade]

JQ after all their court fines and embarrassing media are very good with the old $50 voucher these days for delayed flights Got $50 per pax for 4 of us delayed by 4 hours, not ideal but $200 wasn't to be sniffed at (plus food vouchers).

Had a laugh to myself about JQ vouchers - about 10 years ago I got a voucher from JQ after they made a mistake with my baggage charges. The problem was that the voucher they sent me had a 3 month expiry which was useless to me. Have not, and never will, fly JQ again because of that.

 

[vetrade]

Had a similar experience to TripleB - we were flying Qatar J in a 787 from JNB - DOH - CDG at about 11.00am. After multiple false starts because of a wheel problem the flight was cancelled after midnight. They put us up at the Intercontinental across the road and gave us $40 food vouchers but the only J flight they could book us on was with Lufthansa via Berlin leaving in the middle of the next afternoon. We decided to go to the airport at about 9am the next morning to see if anything else was available and at the booking counter we happened to eavesdrop on the captain and crew from our cancelled flight talking about departing around 11.00. Introduced myself and after some calls we got the nod to fly on the same plane which had been repaired. It was due to return to DOH empty. Did a quick walk around and found a few other pax we knew had been on the same flight so they joined us. End result was that just a handful of us had the whole fully stocked plane to ourselves, with more staff in J than there were of us.

 

[Andz]

Virgin UK, Delayed Athens 1997, ice cream

 

[serfty]

Extremely (!) Strong Winds in Auckland were causing all sorts of delays and cancellations.

I was booked on a 6:30pm flight QF MEL to AKL in Economy. I had a separate Business class fare booked AKL-BNE-LAX leaving 7am the next day.

I received a call from the MEL Qantas First lounge around 3pm to advise my AKL flight was delayed and would be departing around 9:30pm.

So I took some extra hours before heading to the airport, getting there around 7pm. By that time, the delay was now to 11pm and my flight unlikely to arrive before 5am.

On arriving at the Qantas First lounge, I told the extremely helpful agent of my situation who kept my BP and said she would keep an eye on the situation.

An hour later the agent found me while having dinner giving me a new BP for 1F (replacing my 4c).

After I had eaten I retired to await my flight - around 10pm the agent found me again to advise of a further delay and I would likely miss my ongoing flight. She offered to re-book me in Business on QF93 departing the next day and would provide cab fares to home and back.

I accepted this, had another glass of bubbles before being escorted back landside.

The next morning I was unable to OLCI before heading to the airport. On arrival and when checking in at the Airport was given a BP for 5A (!?!). Yes, First Class.

So, a champagne dinner followed by a champagne breakfast and a champagne flight to LA.

I did not even need to ask for ORC.

(I suspect they were really short of Trans Tasman seats that night and were happy to free up one each way.)

 

[harvyk]

Perhaps the "best" delay I had was a couple of years ago, CBR-xBNE-LAX. Long story short the plane for the BNE-LAX sector broke down, but they msg'd me a day earlier to let me know. I was able to arrange to meet up with my sister / brother-in-law for an unexpected breaky.

Unfortunately for me the delay turned into a 27 hour one, so whilst there was a somewhat charm in simply sitting in the BNE International lounge for a full day drinking free booze, there was a slight annoyance factor about missing my day in LA (I ended up only have a single day there and missed catching up with a friend over there, so you win some and lose some).

 

[dajop]

A couple of (very different) stories:

First, US domestic on CO (STL-EWR)-> SQ international (EWR-JFK). Delayed by about 3 hours out of STL, leaving one hour to connect. Upon leaving the gate, the aircraft then went to the other side of airfield where we sat and waited, for an hour. During that time, messaged our team assistant in SIN, who booked me into New York Hilton, and moved my flights 24 hrs later. Always a bonus to have a day in New York. Was on business travel, but even then, I have no hesitation in taking things into my own hands and sorting out my own arrangements outside of the airport service desks. In this case company paid for the hotel (about $200), but if it was personal travel my (self) insurance would have covered it, without any hassles claiming

Second, JQ delay out of SIN from 9pm to 6am. We took the decision to still go the airport, to use the QF lounge, and enjoy some coughtails, because having to get up at 3:30am anyway, would mean only half a night of broken sleep anyway (no doubt waking up every hour in anticipation of waking early). At checkin they offered us a taxi and night at Grand Mercure (which is <10min drive from home), which we declined. I don't think they looked at the address on our booking. But they did give us food vouchers without being asked. As luck would have it QF1 to LHR was also delayed - to around 5am, so we spent most of the night in the QF lounge, and were even brought blankets and pillows for rest in between the coughtails

 

[Forg]

Why are so many of the delay stories involving JQ?!

/RhetoricalQuestion

 

[juddles]

Just again a different experience - or rather experiences. I used to travel "regularly" BNE-SYD-SCl-LSC - this flight sequence always involves being stuck in Santiago for about 4 hours after arriving from Sydney on QF27 before being able to get the next Latam flight up to La Serena ("home" ) - and to me this stopover was always sheer torture. The domestic side of Santiago airport is shiite - there are no lounges (except one of those "we accept any card / priority pass / etc and you can enjoy having a coffee or a warm beer" sort of things) And coming off the long haul, time change of almost exactly 12 hrs, it is always a horrible few hours.

But frequently QF27 would get delayed a bit - an hour or two - which meant that for every minute it was delayed, it meant me being in the Flounge for another joyful minute in Sydney and happy and drinking, rather than another painful minute in that forlorn post-long-haul state in shiite Chile.

I cannot express how much I really really liked those late departures. Even studied up on voodoo to add certainty to the delays

 

[travelnutjohn]

if im on the way to a holiday, and im not meeting a person /drvier/transport or have a place to be , a 1-2 hour delay for me, if im in the lounge is very relaxing and it just emphasies my excitement

obviously 3+ hours becomes a nusiance

 

[Mattg]

Flying DFW-SYD on QF8, the flight was delayed overnight due to a very late inbound aircraft. Most of the passengers were rebooked onto other flights via LAX, so the late QF8 departed with only ~100 pax on board. I was seated in row 80 on the A380 and was one of only 3 passengers in the rear cabin.

Which such a light load, everyone had a row of seats to themself and the service was exemplary. A couple of the FAs in particular were very good and got us amenity kits etc. from J. And to top it off, it was a day flight so lots to see out the window and much better timings all round as far as I'm concerned. We landed in Sydney at sunset and the crew were saying how strange it felt as they normally arrived at sunrise.

 

[Bundy Bear]

If you really want to be somewhere and the flight is delayed it can be very frustrating.

The problem with a delay is when you won't know what time you will get going.

Probably best delay was last year ex Auckland flying back to Brisbane on the Emirates A380 in business class.

Flight boarded then pushed back from the gate then we sat there for 3 hours then they went back to the gate, biggest problem was the previous nights flight had also had a problem and had been cancelled so the staff were trying to get passengers from our flight to the new flight, hard when its 2 A380s.

I was lucky that I have relatives in Auckland so once we were allowed off the flight I phoned them and said if we don't get on the next flight I would come and stay with them for the night. I was in no hurry to get on to the next flight.

Now getting out of an airport at 11pm when you are in departure areas with airport staff who don't know the procedure took about 30 minutes.

Got taxi vouchers from Emirates stayed with my relatives, had lunch the next day. then had some hours in the Emirates lounge and then had a good flight home.

I got points and SCs for the flight that didn't go and I might have got points for the flight on the next day.

My flying companion got some bonus points for his cancelled flight enough to upgrade a long haul Dubai Brisbane flight a few months later.

 

[parsonstrish]

QF8 went tech, it was obvious it wasn’t going anywhere when pilots came off plane. It took awhile for staff to organise accommodation, travel. Once sorted the bus I got on was what I named a ‘boy band bus’-black leather seating in horseshoe effect. There was a bar, unused. The others on this bus appeared relaxed about the whole thing. I forget the name of the chain hotel but the driver took us initially to the wrong hotel. I think we traveled for about an hour. When we got to the correct hotel, buses were continually arriving. Probably 20-30 minutes to get checked in. The look on the sole bartenders face as we kept arriving was priceless. I learned later he had been about to finish for the night before we arrived. I shared a table with the ‘boy band bus’ group, it was great fun. The bartender was great, didn’t seem to get flustered. The kitchen was open, I don’t think we had to pay for the food. Think I got to bed after 3:30am. The next day, again, breakfast was free. There was a meeting with all of us & details of which 2 planes we would be on were given out. T/port back to airport, I went to lounge until departure. Don’t know if food vouchers were given out. On my flight it was fairly empty in economy, I was in PE, had empty seat next to me. Crew were from flight from original flight, very friendly.
Qantas did a fantastic job. Didn’t mind the experience at all.