"The way I see it is, and I might be wrong here, what was a very troubled carrier just two summers ago, being the worst for delays as I remember it, is now a completely transformed carrier, with a much brighter future."
Not sure what happened to a couple of posts I made on this topic, but I hope this is still relevant:
Two weeks ago, I flew LGW-ANU (via SKB) on G-VKNG, which left LGW "about an hour late", due to a technical issue.
Didn't think much of it - XL still have a reputation for delays round here, but the price was too tempting to ignore. The next day, I took a flight out of ANU at 6AM - the aircraft, which should have left the previous evening at 20:05, was still on the apron.
I've heard that it eventually got back to LGW about 24 hours late, having been routed up the US East Coast, and via a tech stop in KEF. This sounds like it wasn't allowed to fly ETOPS, but I presume it is still SOP to carry passengers when there is a tech issue, even though this will have been known about before take-off?
Just hoping for an event free flight tomorrow, but would have serious concerns if I was heading out in the other direction, and had a cricket match to get to!