Passengers on eight-hour SYD-MEL flight left waiting again
Article from:
Patrick Horan
June 18, 2009 10:09am
YESTERDAY, it took them eight hours to fly to Melbourne from Sydney ... and this morning, the travel nightmare continued.
After their bizarre diversion to Brisbane yesterday, around a dozen passengers were again left waiting for a seat to return to Sydney this morning.
Booked on a 6.10am flight from Avalon - scheduled to arrive in Sydney at 7.30am - Jeffrey Waters is still in Melbourne and is unlikely to see Sydney before noon.
"I've had quite an eventful trip," Mr Waters said this morning.
Mr Waters said passengers were boarded onto this morning's flight at Avalon before being told to disembark due to foggy conditions.
After being left in a lounge for an estimated 45 minutes, passengers were informed the flight had been cancelled and they would be bussed to Tullamarine.
"We were told we were booked on a Qantas flight to Sydney at 9.30am," Mr Waters said.
"I went to ask at the desk and they said 'we know nothing about you'."
Eventually, Mr Waters was booked onto a 10.30am flight to Sydney, with an estimated arrival time close to noon, more than four hours after his scheduled arrival time.
He said there was around a dozen "familiar faces" in a similar predicament, who had also spent eight hours getting from Sydney to Melbourne for last night's Australia v Japan match at the MCG.
"I came down for the game, I might think twice about coming down again," he said.
"I just hope there was no FIFA officials on the flight."
Yesterday's routine Sydney to Melbourne flight turned into an eight-hour, 3700km journey for about 130 Jetstar passengers.
Avalon bound flight JQ603 was due to arrive in Melbourne about 8.30am yesterday, but because of heavy fog the plane was diverted 1400km north to Brisbane.
It arrived there at 11.15am and did not depart until 1.15pm, finally reaching Avalon at 3.30pm.
All but 18 of the passengers, many travelling south to watch tonight's Socceroos match, had to sit in the A320 Airbus for more than eight hours.
Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway said thick fog meant the pilot could not land at Tullamarine or Avalon, and after circling for an hour the aircraft was ordered to Brisbane.
"It's quite unprecedented circumstances where both airports were fogged out," Mr Westaway said.
He said the decision to fly to Brisbane was to try to get that aircraft back on track, as it was scheduled to fly to Brisbane after its planned Melbourne landing.
"It was going to go Sydney-Avalon then Avalon-Brisbane.
"So what we've done is isolated the issue on to the one aircraft line."
Sydney couple Maureen and John Hildred, on their way to watch the World Cup match at the MCG, said passengers were grumbling when they were told they would be heading to Brisbane, and then were not allowed off the plane.
"We could have flown to Singapore in the same amount of time," Ms Hildred said. "And we were only given a roll and drink as compensation."
Ian Donaghy and his father Keith were also headed to the match.
Mr Donaghy said they were not happy, but were just glad to have arrived.
"It would have been quicker to drive," Mr Donaghy said.
About 18 passengers are believed to have disembarked in Brisbane after its arrival there at 11.15am and caught flights back to Sydney, abandoning their Melbourne trips.