ADL - SYD Flight Diverted to MEL on 14 March due to storms in Sydney

22 replies

henri9

Member since 24 Apr 2018

Total posts 14

yes, do complain - call QF and demand apology and ask for compensation (at least the Valet $). They prob won't care too much but worth a try. In general, they need to be better organised with IRROPS

Complain ??

Whilst you're at it - demand an apology from the Weather Gods too - and then get Slater and Gordon to start a class action.

We landed in Melbourne (not in the middle of a war zone in Afghanistan...) as that was the safest thing to do under the circumstances - and the crew and pilots did a great job as always.

Sure, QF doesn't get it right all the time, but they sure focus on the right things when it counts, and we all got home without a scratch.

And, as a QF Platinum (how that has anything to do with things I simply don't know), I've spend enough time on aircraft to see the best and worst of QF. But in 100 years, they're still the world's safest airline so we all need to give them credit for that, and the way they handled Thursday night.

You want to go play in the deep end of the pool - I just did Air India SYD > DEL in Row 1 and had direct visual on the staff sitting near the door. Safety was abysmal, so many of the basics were not adhered too - like staff texting on take-off (should have taken photos).

Last edited by henri9 at Mar 18, 03.00 PM.

Are we patting Qantas on the back for not crashing the jet now? Are our standards expected to be so low that we aren't allow to offer feedback on anything as long as we didn't die?


Frankly, getting the plane on the ground when you can see a storm 400km out is kind of expected. Australia has never had a fatal passenger jet accident (any airline) so whilst it's great that QF hasn't either, it might be that QF benefits (as does Virgin and as did Ansett) from doing much of it's flying in what is basically a desert. Let's not let that get in the way of expecting decent service.

If Qantas wanted to bring in a few staff to a) supplement the existing staff or b) attend to the little things (water, snacks, skeleton staff the Qantas Lounge) they could. They just don't want to because of $. I don't have a strong view about that either way, but let's not pretend it isn't doable.

OP - if i were you i'd be attempting to get a decent number of FF points out of them as compensation. I wouldn't expect any more than that.


Last editedby henri9 at Mar 18, 2019, 03:00 PM.

Lmc

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 09 Nov 2018

Total posts 50

I had a flight canceled ex SIN on Qantas and they handled the situation perfectly. Picked up our bags, back through Imigration, into a taxi with a voucher and a night in the Sheraton. Breakfast buffet, $30 snack and a $50 dinner voucher each.

Landed back in Melbourne a day late...

robbo135

Member since 24 Jun 2015

Total posts 4

Hmm, interesting that Qantas even handed out accomodation vouchers. I was on a Virgin Mel-Syd 5.30pm last thursday and after holding around SYD for about 50 mins, we had to return to MEL as the pilot said SYD was closed to all traffic because of the storms. So a total of 3 hours in the air to only return to where we took off from. After landing at MEL, groundstaff said that as it was weather related we had to pay and organise for our own accomodation ( is this normally the case for weather related events?). Virgin provided no assistance in finding accomodation which was probably a blessing in disguise as I was able to find one within a few minutes on my app.


Ultimately apart from the inconvenience, no biggie for the accomodation as work would pay for the hotel anyway.

Was worried there would be no hotel rooms, but found a few options on the Accor app that were still sensibly priced. Although I could imagine as the night progressed, those rooms probably ran out pretty quickly.

Last editedby robbo135 at Mar 18, 2019, 09:42 PM.

John Phelan

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 28 Oct 2011

Total posts 261

Hmm, interesting that Qantas even handed out accomodation vouchers. I was on a Virgin Mel-Syd 5.30pm last thursday and after holding around SYD for about 50 mins, we had to return to MEL as the pilot said SYD was closed to all traffic because of the storms. So a total of 3 hours in the air to only return to where we took off from. After landing at MEL, groundstaff said that as it was weather related we had to pay and organise for our own accomodation ( is this normally the case for weather related events?). Virgin provided no assistance in finding accomodation which was probably a blessing in disguise as I was able to find one within a few minutes on my app.

Ultimately apart from the inconvenience, no biggie for the accomodation as work would pay for the hotel anyway.

Was worried there would be no hotel rooms, but found a few options on the Accor app that were still sensibly priced. Although I could imagine as the night progressed, those rooms probably ran out pretty quickly.
Last edited by robbo135 at Mar 18, 2019, 09.42 PM.

Yes, the airline is not obliged to provide rooms if the delay/diversion is caused by weather. Having said that, QF does provide rooms in this instance (if available); VA generally does not.

dvickery

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 16 Mar 2016

Total posts 2

I WAS ON THIS FLIGHT AND AGREE QANTAS COULD HAVE DONE A LOT MORE TO LOOK AFTER THEIR PASSENGERS.

AGREE NOT THEIR FAULT WITH THE WEATHER AND NO ROOMS AVAILABLE (YES I TRIED NUMEROUS HOTELS)

TRYING TO REST AIRSIDE WHILST THE LIGHTS WERE ON AND CONSTRUCTION WORK WAS DONE -JACKHAMMERS ETC WHICH DID DROWN OUT THE REGULAR PA ANNOUNCEMENTS WAS IMMPOSSIBLE. THE ONLY POSITIVE WAS THE THOUGHT OF A SHOWER IN THE LOUNGE IN THE MORNING. EVENTUALLY GOT IN THE LOUNGE AROUND 5.15AM AND TOLD THE SHOWERS ONLY HAD COLD WATER! NOT HAPPY AT ALL

Chris C.

Member since 24 Apr 2012

Total posts 1,116

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Himeno

Member since 12 Dec 2012

Total posts 295

A friend was on the VA PER-SYD flight Thursday evening last week (14th). They departed late after a tech issue, then due to the traffic and storms at SYD, they spent an hour over Wagga before diverting to MEL and landed at 1230am.
VA claimed no hotels in Melbourne and she was rebooked to SYD in the morning. First via BNE, then later via ADL.

Traveller14

Member since 17 Sep 2015

Total posts 73

Mark Sydney, did you receive a hotel room? Which hotel? Did you get there by bus, Uber or taxi?

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