Will they hold my flight?

[clipped_wings]

Love this thread and the knowledge it imparts!

I have a rather dull question, but it could drastically affect our upcoming family holiday and I read a recent post where it actually occured and the poor VA member had a sad outcome*.

My scenario: 8 family members booked to fly VA925 SYD-BNE (09:00 departure and 09:30 arrival respectively). Then, BNE-LAX on VA7 at 11:05. Husband and I are in J and our kids are all Economy X for all flights. We booked many months ago and originally chose an 08:30 flight from Sydney, which was then cancelled. So they put us on the later VA925. I rang and expressed concern at the short transition to INTL, but they assured me VA7 wouldn't take off without us. And according to the VA website - VA925 is the last dom flight offered for a same day VA7.

My question is this: I've checked today and apart from 2 other passengers - our family appears to be the only people on VA925 to BNE (mid January). Is there a chance this flight will get cancelled due to lack of pax? And if so, what happens to us? Do they put us on the next flight and hold VA7 till we get there?

*Or is it "tough cough folks...we'll get you on a new flight later this week." Which means we lose booked US internal flights as well. (as per above member experience).

To clarify - it is one single itinerary for all passengers. Unless we pay substantial charges, VA won't move us to an earlier flight which at the very least - appears to have a decent loading already, even though the kids will lose Row 3 (not an issue for us).

Reason I am asking the question to a pilot? I think they will have more of a legitimate answer when it comes to protocol and delayed flights, than a VA representative - who may be more obliged to simply placate my concerns with a standard response.

Thanks for your advice

 

[mannej]

Are you using the seat map to gauge the load for the flight?

 

[jb747]

Love this thread and the knowledge it imparts!

I have a rather dull question, but it could drastically affect our upcoming family holiday and I read a recent post where it actually occured and the poor VA member had a sad outcome*.

My scenario: 8 family members booked to fly VA925 SYD-BNE (09:00 departure and 09:30 arrival respectively). Then, BNE-LAX on VA7 at 11:05. Husband and I are in J and our kids are all Economy X for all flights. We booked many months ago and originally chose an 08:30 flight from Sydney, which was then cancelled. So they put us on the later VA925. I rang and expressed concern at the short transition to INTL, but they assured me VA7 wouldn't take off without us. And according to the VA website - VA925 is the last dom flight offered for a same day VA7.

My question is this: I've checked today and apart from 2 other passengers - our family appears to be the only people on VA925 to BNE (mid January). Is there a chance this flight will get cancelled due to lack of pax? And if so, what happens to us? Do they put us on the next flight and hold VA7 till we get there?

*Or is it "tough cough folks...we'll get you on a new flight later this week." Which means we lose booked US internal flights as well. (as per above member experience).

To clarify - it is one single itinerary for all passengers. Unless we pay substantial charges, VA won't move us to an earlier flight which at the very least - appears to have a decent loading already, even though the kids will lose Row 3 (not an issue for us).

Reason I am asking the question to a pilot? I think they will have more of a legitimate answer when it comes to protocol and delayed flights, than a VA representative - who may be more obliged to simply placate my concerns with a standard response.

You’d be better off, and get better answers, if this question were in the VA or general questions area. You’d be surprised at how little pilots know about the various vagaries of passenger booking and loadings.

One thing I will say though, is that the comment about the aircraft not taking off without you is almost certainly incorrect. Aircraft may be held for large groups of passengers, but a family of eight almost certainly does not qualify. Even then any delay would be held to a few minutes at the most.

At this time of year, thunderstorms and general delays are common at both Sydney and Brisbane. Even your original booking time would have made me uncomfortable.

Would a mod care to move this to a more appropriate forum...

 

[straitman]

W

Love this thread and the knowledge it imparts!

I have a rather dull question, but it could drastically affect our upcoming family holiday and I read a recent post where it actually occured and the poor VA member had a sad outcome*.

My scenario: 8 family members booked to fly VA925 SYD-BNE (09:00 departure and 09:30 arrival respectively). Then, BNE-LAX on VA7 at 11:05. Husband and I are in J and our kids are all Economy X for all flights. We booked many months ago and originally chose an 08:30 flight from Sydney, which was then cancelled. So they put us on the later VA925. I rang and expressed concern at the short transition to INTL, but they assured me VA7 wouldn't take off without us. And according to the VA website - VA925 is the last dom flight offered for a same day VA7.

My question is this: I've checked today and apart from 2 other passengers - our family appears to be the only people on VA925 to BNE (mid January). Is there a chance this flight will get cancelled due to lack of pax? And if so, what happens to us? Do they put us on the next flight and hold VA7 till we get there?

*Or is it "tough cough folks...we'll get you on a new flight later this week." Which means we lose booked US internal flights as well. (as per above member experience).

To clarify - it is one single itinerary for all passengers. Unless we pay substantial charges, VA won't move us to an earlier flight which at the very least - appears to have a decent loading already, even though the kids will lose Row 3 (not an issue for us).

Reason I am asking the question to a pilot? I think they will have more of a legitimate answer when it comes to protocol and delayed flights, than a VA representative - who may be more obliged to simply placate my concerns with a standard response.

Thanks for your advice

What date is the flight and how are you gauging the load?

 

[Quickstatus]

That’s mighty close with minimal wiggle room even for an 0830 departure to 0900 arrival.

Remember the DOM-INT transfer at BNE requires a bus. Theoretically the bus arrives every 10minutes and the ride takes 10min.

So at worst the bus ride takes you 20min.

I Note that VA7 departs at 1105. However boarding for that flight commences at approx 1020.

So you arrive at the gate at 0930. You get off the aircraft at 0935, you arrive at the bus stop at 0945. Takes 20min worst case. You arrive at INT at 1005, then queue for immigration and security, then go to gate.

All that is doable. But it requires that you do arrive on time and the younger your kids, the larger the group the slower you all are. You are as fast as the slowest in the group. The bus could be full and only take 3-4 instead of 8 (these buses are often at standing room only). passport control holds up 1 person. 1 person loses something or 1 person is busting for the loo....,

The other way to look at it is to see what VA recommends for checkin times at BNE for an LAX destination. The recommendation is you should be checked in 120min before departure. You arrive at BNE checked through 1hr 25min before departure. So you are already behind the 8ball.

Never believe what an anonymous customer service agent tells you. There is no transcript of conversation, no receipt of conversation. I reckon the agent said they will hold the flight just to get you off the phone.

I would have arrived the night before. But that’s just me. I’m guessing it’s a holiday and I would prefer to start it stress free

In your case I would “HUACA”- hang up and call again. Maybe another agent can put you on an earlier flight.

Will they hold your flight?. Don’t count on it.

 

[AviatorInsight]

Love this thread and the knowledge it imparts!

I have a rather dull question, but it could drastically affect our upcoming family holiday and I read a recent post where it actually occured and the poor VA member had a sad outcome*.

My scenario: 8 family members booked to fly VA925 SYD-BNE (09:00 departure and 09:30 arrival respectively). Then, BNE-LAX on VA7 at 11:05. Husband and I are in J and our kids are all Economy X for all flights. We booked many months ago and originally chose an 08:30 flight from Sydney, which was then cancelled. So they put us on the later VA925. I rang and expressed concern at the short transition to INTL, but they assured me VA7 wouldn't take off without us. And according to the VA website - VA925 is the last dom flight offered for a same day VA7.

My question is this: I've checked today and apart from 2 other passengers - our family appears to be the only people on VA925 to BNE (mid January). Is there a chance this flight will get cancelled due to lack of pax? And if so, what happens to us? Do they put us on the next flight and hold VA7 till we get there?

*Or is it "tough cough folks...we'll get you on a new flight later this week." Which means we lose booked US internal flights as well. (as per above member experience).

To clarify - it is one single itinerary for all passengers. Unless we pay substantial charges, VA won't move us to an earlier flight which at the very least - appears to have a decent loading already, even though the kids will lose Row 3 (not an issue for us).

Reason I am asking the question to a pilot? I think they will have more of a legitimate answer when it comes to protocol and delayed flights, than a VA representative - who may be more obliged to simply placate my concerns with a standard response.

Thanks for your advice

15mins late from the scheduled departure time is still counted as on time so the maximum time we would wait would be 14mins. The same has been true waiting in LAX for DL connectors to arrive.

Ultimately it’s up the operations controllers. T-60 is the latest a connection time that will be able to be booked for international (and domestic?). But, if they’ve cancelled the 0800 already, I would be very surprised if they also cancelled the 0900 one too.

P.S I’ve already checked and I don’t have any VA925 flights in mid January.

 

[juddles]

As per above, things will be tight, and anything a VA rep says on the phone is just a platitude.

As AviatorInsight says, it would be improbable that they cancel the second flight having canned the other already.

Regarding loads, if you are looking at seats that are already allocated, this will not reveal in any way the actual amount of pax booked, especially for a domestic flight. Many people do not actively seek seat allocation before the day. You can look at things with something like Expertflyer, but that is limited to telling how many seats are available to a max of 9 - ie you cannot tell if there are 9 seats or 109 seats still available.

I understand your reluctance to spend more money to change flights - especially given there are so many of you. All I can advise is that you follow up with your concerns directly with VA closer to the flight date - say a week or two in advance.

And if you stay on the current flights, do two things:

(1) research really well how to do the transition in BNE - in my experience the buses are very frequent and reliable, but make sure you know exactly where you have to go to do this.

(2) Have a Plan B thought out in case you miss the connection in BNE. Research hotels / alternative VA flights / etc. It is a worst case scenario, but having a plan reduces the pain a tad

 

[albatross710]

The good news is that BNE is not LAX.

For sure you will make it and have a great holiday.

 

[clipped_wings]

Merry Christmas and thanks everyone for your input. Expert Flyer was my reference for loads. I do understand completely why an internation flight would not wait for 8 pax on a domestic transfer for more than a reasonable period of time - I am feeling more inclined to contact VA and see if we can get on an earlier flight to BNE.