worth asking Qantas for a refund?

[dundas]

Been watching a bit too much Today Tonight perhaps

I actually think the Qantas reputation for maintenance is just that - a reputation, and I'm always interested in the substance that ultimately underpins the reputation. I don't get to watch Today Tonight, but I know that CASA are currently reviewing Qantas maintenance because of what CASA termed "emergent problems" and the standards of maintenance falling below the company's own benchmarks.

And CASA have gone on public record and said that. It isn't a beat-up.

But to answer the question I asked originally ...

I checked with Qantas and found that for $275 I could change the ticket to other flights. Problem solved.

Thank you everyone for your contributions

 

[MEL_Traveller]

For what it's worth I can see the original poster's point. Old planes clearly have more chance of things going wrong. The more flights they take the more chance for inherant or latent defects to cause catastrophic problems.

Lets look at some examples:

• JAL 747 loses tail and all hydraulic control after rear pressure bulkhead fails... cause - incorrect repair carried out years earlier
• China Airlines 747 suffers catastrophic inflight failure... cause - incorrect repair carried out 20 years earlier
• United DC10 centre engine shatters causing loss of all hydraulics... cause - miniscule bubble of air in fan-blade which caused cracking and subsequent failure. Bubble of air was in part at time of manufacture, took years to manifest as a problem.
• TWA 747 explodes on just after take-off from Kennedy and plunges to Atlantic Ocean... contributing cause - old wires short circuit in fuel tanks

The argument that pilots won't fly a plane if they feel unsafe only partly holds weight. Of course they won't fly a plane they know or suspect is unsafe (the known knowns and unknowns so to speak). It's the unknown unknowns that cause the biggies and the pilots just aren't aware of them. Noone could have suspected an oxygen bottle would explode on the Qantas aircraft recently, but it did. I'm quite sure the pilots felt absolutely safe taking that plane off from HKG.

Certainly if I turned up at an airport in Australia to find a 737-200 substituted for a newer jet I would ask for a transfer or refund.

Regards

MEL_Traveller

 

[thadocta]

I actually think the Qantas reputation for maintenance is just that - a reputation, and I'm always interested in the substance that ultimately underpins the reputation. I don't get to watch Today Tonight, but I know that CASA are currently reviewing Qantas maintenance because of what CASA termed "emergent problems" and the standards of maintenance falling below the company's own benchmarks.

And CASA have gone on public record and said that. It isn't a beat-up.

Some selective quoting there - CASA also said that Qantas standards are amongst the highest in the world, and that whilst they were currently performing below their own standards, this did not amount to a safety issue (at the moment).

I see you have failed to address the points I made about the different operating environment between daily SYD-PER-SYD-PER-SYD and MEL-AKL-LAX, and how the different operating environment affects reliability and maintenance issues.

Dave