| Qantas faces $200,000 bill for passengers
Wed "Courier Mail"
Qantas faces $200,000 bill for passengers
Renee Viellaris, Peter Morley and Jennifer Dudley
30jun04
QANTAS will pay more than $200,000 to passengers who were this week burdened by one of the longest aviation delays in Australia's recent history.
Analysts and sources believe Qantas's 35-hour lay over at Brisbane International Airport was one of the longest by a local carrier in Australia.
The direct Brisbane-to-Los Angeles flight left on Monday at 10pm, but had been scheduled to leave on Sunday at 11am.
More than 400 passengers were sent to motels while crews worked to fix the Boeing 747's cargo door.
A passenger, who does not want to be identified, said Qantas apologised on flight to its customers and offered $500 compensation.
On the other side of the Pacific, Qantas passengers leaving Los Angeles for Brisbane on Monday were stranded for more than 10 hours because of the Queensland lay over.
They arrived yesterday at 4.20pm.
Passengers Debra Cole and her three children Sarah, Joshua and Victoria said they waited in line for two hours before being told there could be a delay to the flight, and were then booked in to a hotel for the night.
"(Qantas) did everything to try and make it better but travelling is hard when you've got children and then having to travel all day," she said. "We were very disappointed because we wanted to be sleeping on the plane rather than in the hotel. We've lost a day of our holidays. Every day is precious."
A Qantas spokesman told The Courier-Mail another aircraft was called in to Los Angeles Airport to minimise further delays.
He said passengers who were stranded in Brisbane would be given an undisclosed cheque for goodwill, and many would make claims on their travel insurance.
"Delays of this duration are extremely rare," he said.
"There was no replacement aircraft available. We are in a busy school holiday period and the use of any other aircraft would have had a significant impact on other services and passengers."
One source said it was unusual for international flights to be delayed for so long, especially when they were "effectively on their own home turf".
Col Williamson, executive director of Synergi Travel Australia, a major corporate travel agent, said he would not consider the Qantas 35-hour delay a normal occurrence.
How Qantas recovered with certain passengers would determine if it suffered from long-term business damage.
Mr Williamson said the money would not appease everyone.
"You've got to be able to communicate and show you mean it (apology)," he said.
Another source said the wait was long but not rare.
In late 2002, Brisbane passengers aboard an Auckland-bound Air New Zealand Boeing 767 were stranded for more than 24 hours when an engine failed.
The plane returned to Brisbane and passengers had to wait a day for a replacement aircraft.
A Virgin Blue spokeswoman said its carrier had several contingency plans for delays.
In the past, flight times were re-scheduled, planes were re-directed or passengers were booked on different carriers to get them to their destination.
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