I was on that QF8 29th August, I thought the crew and Qantas did a pretty good job under difficult circumstances. The capt especially kept us pretty well informed and was highly visible throughout the 10 hours we were in Fiji.
They were attempting to extend operational hours so the crew could continue to Brisbane, which I think would have been the preferred option for everyone, but unfortunately this meant we were kept on board for 3 hours after landing. Also there was some uncertanity whether the airport could cater for 350 unscheduled pax - there were no/few outbound flights until later in the afternoon. There was talk of catering in a local hotel, but Sunday is changeover day apparently, and little room capacity due to it being peak holiday season.
A few whinges from some gold card holders that they couldn't get in the lounge, which I gather was restricted to F only, as it's not huge.
Catering in the airport was fairly limited, and the 40 (local) dollar voucher wasn't valid for alcohol...
The inbound Virgin plane with the replacement crew was late in, but we took off later for Brisbane, arriving after all the connecting flights had left - over 100 of us were accomodated in 2 local hotels with meal and phone allowances, finally arrived in Mel 30 hours late.
Not a great trip, but I thought quite well handled by Qantas.
Quick question - I thought they'd be able to put a 744 down at a major airport in 0 visibility these days, don't they have Cat 3 ILS on the Aus East Coast?
Cheers - SLF