1a - Even the Royal and Ancient can't answer this question.
Do you get a drop for a 747 on the fairway or do you have to play through?
In regard to the damaged wing spar question, the first TAA A300B4 VH-TAA was on gate 2 I think at Tulla during a Pilot strike not long after delivery. A new guy was being trained on loading the containers on a faulty forklift.
The inevitable happened and he lost control of the fork and punched a hole in the spar.
The poor rookie was distraugtht to say the least but the supervisor who put him on a faulty unit knowingly got a huge reaming.
Airbus then had no idea how to replace a spar but TN did the entire job. Brilliantly. They even manufactured from the ground up from what I recall.
Outsource your LAMEs and you can't do that. Hopefully this is a "heads up" for those at Qantas who want no employees.
Travel Agents can't even talk to anyone at Cathay these days. We avoid them. If you have an after hours client problem you have to email andd it is unlikely the will get back, Guess when most schedule related matters occur? Yep - back of clock. Res refuse to talk to you.
That is why my high care Corporates are directed to the Rat and similar carriers that will talk to you if something goes pear shaped.
How long that will last is anyones guess (he says as he applies the bag tag to his luggage after issuing it himself).
Best all.
EWL