What is happening at Tullamarine???

[Woomera]

Word doing the rounds is Tullamarine is currently closed and Qantas and Virgin flights to Melbourne are being held.

Anyone know what is happening at Tullamarine??

:confused:

Woomera



Latest information: Virgin terminal has been closed down, allegedly eleven staff members have been taken to hospital and seven treated on site. The Fire brigade appear to be finding the source of "something" in the airconditioning.

Check ins at International have been closed.

Rex and Virgin are diverting flights to Essendon.

[Tagneah]

7 News reported that there was a "gas" leak in the DJ terminal that has caused around 11 people to be taken to hospital with Nausea and Breathing dificulties. The terminal has been evacuated. There was no mention of QF being affected at all.

Tag

[lambsie]

Radio news just reported that the Virgin terminal had been evacuated due fumes from the aircon. Some people taken to hospital. No mention of QF.

[jetblues]

Smells suspicious (excuse the pun).

[Woomera]

Latest Sky News. Domestic terminal now shut down.

Thirteen being treated at hospital.

Believed to be a chemical spill.

[Raider1]

ABC news is reporting that after 7 hours DJ terminal still closed, Fire Brigade unable to find source of fumes, Problem restricted to DJ terminal.
DJ hopes to operate first flight about 2000 tonight.
If terminal is not cleared plans are in hand for DJ to use international terminal tomorrow.:D

[Ultralights]

i have heard a chemical spill is responsible!

good to know all the pax are safe being screened for nailclippers and toothpicks and the like! :mad:

[Flirt Attendant]

Numerous pax, security staff and DJ ground staff collapsed and were hospitalised throughout the day. No fumes or odours were detected by anyone inside the terminal. Authorities are yet to state what the cause was, however it has been deemed safe for staff to re enter!!!!

By 1830 this evening the terminal was opened, with DJ staff back on deck at 2000. With 15 aircraft on the ground it is going to be a long night.

Funny how Patricks are trying to take over DJ last week, then this week there is a major 'breakdown' in operations.....does anyone else sniff a rat?? (Pardon the pun)

[Ultralights]

it wouldnt surprise me.

[OZBUSDRIVER]

Union Plus 4 = Zero:}

[Buster Hyman]

Ahhh, a clear case of Reg's Revenge!

[Howard Hughes]

Also of note this evening, Thai Inter Md-11 returning at around 1900 after dumping fuel.

Anyone got any info?

Cheers, HH.

:ok:

[Eastwest Loco]

Landed 1936 - at terminal 1949 HH.

Only thing mentioned in TG flifo was aircraft defects - well - durr!!

Now scheduled to redepart at 2300. Is there a question of crew hours here?

As for the gas leak, hopefully all the DJ/ZL people, security and passengers will be OK.

Maybe they scattered Sir Peter Scuzzball's ashes in the aircon. Now THAT would be totally poisonous, not to mention noxious.

Best all.

EWL

[Capn Bloggs]

One of Ozjet's 146s secretly doing engine runs with donks pointed towards the terminal aircon inlet...

[wirgin blew]

EWL hope you got home tonight mate. I think it is more a matter of finding some crew willing to do your flight.

This brings me to the question is this sort of bad publicity actually good for the brand name? The saying is that any publicity is good publicity but Im sure after today we have lost a few to J*.

Also while Im rambling the emergency services thought it was so dangerous they only closed 1/3 of the terminal in MEL for 8 hours, surely they should have shut down the whole airport while things were being investigated?

[Mud Skipper]

It sounded to me, as I listened to ABC Radio throughout the day, that the security personal were the first to notice the 'fumes' and made up the bulk of casualties.

Funny I thought it was also the security group who were on strike, in the last week or so, for more pay? Obviously just a coincidence as I'm sure this would not be an industrial action. Funny again though the emergency personal tested the air for hours and could not find even a trace of anything?

I'm certain someone will be able to come forward and advise they were personally affected by something in the air, ..... stop my dark thoughts.......any one.......some one........ gee I have trouble trying to conjure up nice thoughts about the security people.:}

Speedy recovery for all I hope.:hmm:

[Howard Hughes]

It will be interesting when they find out exactly what it was.

More to the point if they find out who actually caused the alleged leak, can you imagine the size of the civil damages case?

Also rumoured, QF Melb ticket counter sold $60,000 of tickets in 1 hour. Not bad for 3 or 4 people!! Bet they needed a bex and a good lie down at the end of the day.

Cheers, HH.

:ok:

[Flirt Attendant]

Mudskipper, I was taken away on a stretcher, oxygen mask on after nearly collapsing. I saw 6 pax get taken to hospital by 11am, numerous DJ ground crew and lots of security staff followed.

The area near the security point outside the newsagaent is where a lot of people collapsed.

At one stage we thought it was a drill by Mel airport to see how DJ would cope in the event of such a thing happening.

FYI Group 4 went on strike for 2 hours last week as they have not been paid properly for 6 weeks! It is internal and was not a DJ related dispute.

[Douglas Mcdonnell]

Bad press all round. The article on chanel 9 news really stuck it to virgin. Good luck to the staff left to clean up the mess.

DM

[wirgin blew]

Its now been 24 hours since this mess started and I still have seen any VB management on TV or heard them on the radio.
At the end of the day the business (VB) is going to suffer, not MEL airport corp over this and by not coming out and giving statements to the media it is making VB look :mad: in the eyes of joe public.
So come on management lift your game and the publics perception or we will lose alot more than the 10-20,000 guests that have been disrupted so far.

[boomhauer737]

I really wish we would stop calling them guests,can't remember ever charging a guest in my house for a coffee..

I know,totally irrelevent and useless statement from me....you could say i'm having a hard day...:mad:

[Don Esson]

You're right, boomhauer737! I don't know what's wrong with the good old term 'passenger' or, at a push, 'customer'. Hotels have guests (or patrons) but they do know how to charge, and that is expected at a hotel.

Most organisations carrying people refer those carried as 'passengers'. Why a low cost airline should call them 'guests' is difficult for the mind to get around. Have they taken their cue from the hotel industry where, as we all know, one pays for every little thing except for the miniature bar of soap?

Hope your day gets better. :O :p

[MIss Behaviour]

I heard a DJ spokesperson (Heather Jeffrey I think) on the John Laws radio show this morning. JL had received many complaints from DJ pax who would not be given a refund, but instead a credit to be used within 12 months with was not satisfactory to a lot of people.

Every time JL asked her why DJ wouldn't refund she answered with the same stock standard answer (in dull monotone voice) of refunds have not been DJ's policy being a low cost carrier etc etc and it was not their (DJ's) fault re the gas leak.

At the end of the interview Lawsey said he didn't know what position she held at DJ but he hoped it wasn't in the public relations department, which I think it might have been! :{ :{

Well it was not the fault of the DJ pax either and DJ must take ownership of the problem and act immediately.

QF refunded in full any pax who had bought tickets to Jakarta and no longer wished to travel in light of the latest DFAT travel advisory to Indonesia. The T/A wasn't QF's fault however they still offered a full refund to pax.

Why did DJ not offer to put some people up in hotels ie those whose home base was not Melbourne? Why no food and beverage vouchers given out? Any why can't pax be given a refund if DJ were not able to deliver what pax had paid for???

It appears that at the end of the day the DJ staff (with all due respect) don't have as much experience as QF (which now includes a lot of ex-AN staff) in delay management and at times like this it shows when an airline is put under the microscope.

It doesn't help when newspapers show photos of mums and babies with no money for accommodation and without anyone to stay with in MEL.

Clearly DJ staff (if not already incapacitated) did their best given the difficult circumstances despite very little, if any direction from 'management' who when the going gets tough, head for the boardroom.

[Buster Hyman]

The area near the security point outside the newsagent
:eek: That's right above the old AN staff canteen!!! Sorted!:ok:

Well, I had to laugh at all the quotes from the punters..no refunds..no meal vouchers..WTF do they expect for $39?:rolleyes: People voted with their feet when they had a choice way back when and the $$$ won that time.

It's about time they realised what exactly their air fare buys these days! Welcome to the NWO people. Stop whingeing & queue up again!

[gaunty]

What chance have you got when you have brain dead passengers like the young lady who says, something like

"They just turned my fairy tale wedding today into a nightmare"

Of course Virgin arranged to personally p!ss her off, by sabotaging the aircon in the terminal they rent from the Melbourne Airport people.

I'm not surprised that a good number of the people I saw on TV were having trouble breathing.

There would also be a fair chance that they do not find anything much at all but a good dose of mass hysteria with the media pouring fuel on it.

The emergency services MUST respond and act on what they see and are told first, then go find the real facts after.

[DeltaSix]

And they still think WE are the threat by charging us $200 for security check.........

I just hope this is not a trial run for a chemical attack on civilians.

Otherwise, if it was for real then our security system has failed.

[Ty Webb]

Rings of TJ esk, Scabotage.

No mention today in press about the $500/ 1 way fares to SYD,charged by the oh so generous opposition.

By the the way, VB have vast pools of highly experienced staff possessing a work ethic you wankers at QF could only dream of.

[Howard Hughes]

Ty Webb,

No mention today in press about the $500/ 1 way fares to SYD,charged by the oh so generous opposition.

It could just as easily have been a leak in the Qantas terminal, do you think that VIRGIN would have been giving punters cheap fares? NO WAY, they would have been charging their normal walk up rate!! Which I suspect would be almost exactly the same as Qantas.

By the way $500ish is a business class fare to Syd, maybe that is all the seats that were available. Normal economy is more like $380ish.

Cheers, HH.

:ok:

PS: Do you think there are no spankers at Virgin? HAVE A GOOD LOOK AROUND!! All companies have them!!

[tinpis]

Maybe they scattered Sir Peter Scuzzball's ashes in the aircon. Now THAT would be totally poisonous, not to mention noxious.

EWL dont think so mate .
There would have been a mass breakout of scabs.

:hmm:

[DutchRoll]

'the oh so generous opposition'?

Since when has it been QF's responsibility to bail DJ passengers out of trouble for free? It wasn't a flood or earthquake, and they hadn't gone broke leaving passengers stranded indefinitely. Are QF supposed to be running a charity?

What really cheeses me off is the quote by a lady (DJ passenger) in the Age:

'And all we got for free was a bottle of water!'

Well what did you want after buying your no frills ticket lady? A friggin new car?

[flugenluft]

I have worked today and I have seen the entire company rally around this extraordinary event. VB Staff from all levels and all areas have reported for duty to make good the consequences of this event which, when all the dust settles from the pack mauling, will be recognised as entirely beyond Virgin Blue's control.

Others in this forum may think we suck (KMA) but I'm proud to work there today.

[speeeedy]

Whilst I realise this was in no way Virgins fault, I can understand why people are upset. I was wondering when people would wake up to the fact that Virgin are in no way obligated to provide accommodation under any circumstance.

This is not the case with QF because of the rules of IATA membership of which Virgin is one of the few sizeable airlines not to be a member.

Basically QF have to, and will, provide accom (where at all possible) but Virgin do not have to. In the past with minor issues as a PR issue they have, but as soon as the cost outweighs the perceived PR benefit they shirk what most people thought was a basic obligation of an airline.

Some people will say you get what you pay for, except that if you bothered checking you could have got QF for the same price in most circumstances…. Check for yourself on the web.

[wirgin blew]

Why should airlines provide anything but a ticket for the next available flight and a refund for the flight that was missed. It is beyond me why accomodation is given at all, regardless of who is to blame.

If my Ford Falcon breaks down by the side of the road I dont ring Ford and ask them for a room for the night and a meal voucher and drink voucher.

Modern man/woman expects way too much.


:mad: :mad: :mad:

[TurbineDreamer]

I think Virgin pax's are very confused. You get what you pay for today, this is not the good old days of QF / AN duopoly. I miss the old days.
You are flying on a LCC, not a full service airline. Stop bitching about the service, you didn't pay for it, you are not going to get it.

[Zigzag]

Is it just me, or does BG look like he's aged 10 years in about 1?

[Buster Hyman]

That's the difference between Bratt deciding when HE wants the cameras & when the media just turn up!:rolleyes:

[Howard Hughes]

Why should airlines provide anything but a ticket for the next available flight and a refund for the flight that was missed. It is beyond me why accomodation is given at all, regardless of who is to blame.

Well Wirgin Blue,

I would expect that somewhere around 50% of Virgin "Guest's" would not be in their home city!! Perhap's that's a start.

Other's may have been travelling for in excess of 24 hours and in desperate need of rest and a shower!!

The backpacker types on the way back from the holiday of a lifetime, (albeit on a budget) may not have even 50c left in their pocket.

Do you need anymore reason's?

If your going to call them guest's, maybe you should start treating them that way!!

Cheers, HH.

:ok:

[Eastwest Loco]

Hopefully that is not the mindset of the entire Airline wirgin.

If so then "victims" may be more appropriate than guests.

Any overnight accommodation, meals etc would surely be reclaimable from the Airport Authority, as it was their facility leased as an operational and safe entity that appears to have failed.

I personally think that being provided with the service was paid for with good money in good faith withing the conditions of the contract that was entered into is not too much to ask, and if the service is undeliverable for whatever reason that compensation and or accommodation be provided until such time as the service can be delivered. Weather delays are another consideration entirely, however unservicability of facilities and/or aeroplanes is the direct resposnsibility of the carrier.

If your Ford, Nissan, Holden etc breaks down and is in warranty with a roadside assist program, then you get help. If you have bought from Shonky Brothers on the cheap with self trained mechanics and a backyard accounting system, then you are on your own. What image does DJ want?

Oh, and here is a little gem - let's see if any journo worth his salt picks up on it. Virgin Blue has kindly offered to hold monies for non-deliverable services for passengers to use later on future flights, but NOT refunds. Bollocks. All the passenger has to do is call the credit card company that they used to pay for the fare and have the charged cancelled. Service not delivered - charge not valid. I hope someone does pick up on that, as it is a right that not many are aware of. tens of millions were recovered that way in the Ansett collapse.

Making the air fair?

bite me!:E

EWL

[wirgin blew]

BTW guys and gals just my opinion on the accomodation.

EWL: other reporters have said credit shell or full refund. So I think until you talk to res you wont know exactly what is what, everything else is speculation. Also being a TA I think, what coverage do people have with travel insurance???
Also I would assume that as they cannot determine what exactly happened that neither the airport or the airline are willing to assume responsibility to compensate the "victims" of this. I hope this doesn't turn too many people off airline travel all together. For many this will be one holiday that they dont forget for quite some time.

[Eastwest Loco]

wirgin - Insurance would cover any added costs due to non delivery of service, depending of course on the level of cover taken. Those on 12 month corporate wordwide policies would have the best cover which would include replacement staff if someone was called in to cover their absence along with compensation for lost wages. Not many take the domestic policies these days. They are offered, but generally refused. understandable with the lower fares and 24 hour flexibility at a cost, but not wise. The comprehensive domestic policies, while not overly expensive also have provision for travel delay due to such occurrences. We would have sold 3 in the last 12 monts - max.

In a good few cases when loads are high, DJ can be more expensive than QF, so the LCC model is a very moveable feast.

What I was told today was future credit, which requires activation through the good people at the call centre. This may be an early call that was later revised, as things were obviously bedlam today for good reason.

The scary thing is that they stillhave not put a finger on the cause. That is a bigger negative for DJ and Rex than anything. When will it rear it's ugly head again? Is it a Radon leak, fumes ingested from the tarmac? Something has done this and it needs to be found.

Best regards

EWL

[Non Normal]

Being a devil's advocate:

How do people actually establish the cause of these illnesses when there is no toxicological evidence found (at least so far)? Without establishing the cause, how do they hold any organisation accountable for their losses?

What if it turns out to be a mass hysteria?

I have just been speaking to someone who has been in the middle of a bunch of people having mass hysteria and he thought that this terminal incident might possibly have been another case of it, hence this devil's advocate of a question.

[Flirt Attendant]

How on earth was DJ supposed to put up "some" people in hotels? On what basis do you choose those worthy of that?? There would have been a riot between the have and have nots.

DJ has stated today that credit shells or full refunds will be given to pax who contact us.

As for the comments on DJ staff being not experienced etc....we are a 4 year old airline, how can you compare it to QF? We have many ex airline staff amongst us and yes there are lots of young faces there too, however to imply that we are not capable etc is utter rubbish and rather insulting.

My collaegues did their best given the limited information that was offered by Melbourne Airport and the Emergency Response teams. This thread has focused much of the blame on DJ when in fact Melbourne Airport is the culprit.

I worked all day today and apart from a few angryheads our pax were fantastic. They had been stranded, delayed etc yet as a whole they were great. Restored my faith in mankind!!!

[Buster Hyman]

How on earth was DJ supposed to put up "some" people in hotels?
They simply ask...and if you can't tell how to distinguish between a local & a non local then you are not capable.
On what basis do you choose those worthy of that??
Who has fed you this rubbish? 4 years or 40, its called Customer Service. There's more to it than selling a packet of chips on a plane.
My colleagues did their best given the limited information that was offered by Melbourne Airport and the Emergency Response teams.
Firstly, when do you ever get ALL the information in a delay? Secondly, nice use of the company line & sticking the boot in elsewhere. Heaven forbid that a DJ "pit crew" member dropped something toxic near an inlet!:rolleyes:

Bottom line, its called DRM (please tell me you know what that means:eek: ) and it looks like DJ need to work very, VERY hard on theirs.

[SkySista]

slightly off topic, but...

was anyone else here Pi*sed off by that stupid woman on TV going on about "we were 2 minutes until we took off and then they told us the flight was cancelled because the pilots had to go home. I will never fly Virgin again.... blah blah... disgrace.. etc etc"

HELLO? I don't see any reports saying WHO was the cause of this "leak", how the hell can that make you not want to fly the carrier again? What if it were Qantas? I hardly think she'd be saying that, for some reason..... and I haven't seen anyone saying the same thing about Rex either.... perhaps said lady would consider taking a bus to Sydney next time she wants to fly anywhere and catching a flight from there... I mean God forbid if she had to fly out of Tulla's terminal when it has had a gas leak :E

Oh, I nearly forgot. When she wanted above-mentioned flight to depart anyway, i sure bet she'd have relaxed with an in-flight drink, knowing her flight crew were over legal duty time and now flying both illegally and against safety procedures....:rolleyes:

C'mon, it's about time the flying public showed a bit of sense instead of just complaining about everything that comes their way.... if a tree branch fell on their heads I bet they'd run to mummy and sue the local council.......

Sky

[gaunty]

SkySista

not off topic, you hit the nail right on the head:{

I mentioned earlier about the woman complaining that VB turned her fairytale wedding into a "nightmare".

An astute social observer might draw a different conclusion to the "gas leak" theory. Mass hysteria would be a good start.

Yes, there may well have been and I guess we'll hear the results of the the tests soon, but I'm not sure I'd be taking any bets on it turning out to be the cause, catalyst maybe.

It is not possible to overestimate the dumbosity of the public, and when you aggregate a large number of the dumber in the sample in a confined space, why would you be surprised at the reaction.

Stand at the exits of QF, VB and Jet* carriers and then tell me if they are carrying the same type of pax.

Politically inmcorrect this is but you can't fight the facts.

IMHO MORE specific training for the staff and more experienced FA's and a higher ratio of staff and F/A's in this mode of travel is required not less.

[pug munter]

Now maybe its all a bit unfair at this stage to suggest the following but after a quick google on 'mass hysteria' brought up this link to a reuters article:

http://www.healtoronto.com/hysteria.html
other similar links are produced.

quick precis

"In a study of a November, 1998, outbreak of illness at Warren County High, School in McMinnville, Tenn., Timothy Jones of the Tennessee Department of Health and his team found no evidence of any medical or environmental cause for the sickness, which affected about 186 people in two incidents.

The first incident started when a teacher at the school reported a "gasoline-like" odour in her classroom. Shortly thereafter she became sick. Other students also got sick and were taken to the hospital. The school was then closed.

Symptoms included headache, dizziness, nausea, drowsiness, vomiting and many others. They were reported by students all around the school.

A second rash of cases occurred a week later, a day after the school reopened, again resulting in the closing of the facility. After the second incident, an extensive environmental and epidemiological investigation was launched.

While Dr. Jones and his team emphasized that the symptoms reported by victims were no doubt real, they still said they were probably a case of mass hysteria.

[Ty Webb]

Supprising to see the "Mass Hysteria" caused by the very mention of the "Mass Hysteria Theory"????

Just the very notion seems to have convinced some sheep it must be true!

And Sir Howard Hughes is this all good therapy for you? Is it giving you time away from your own internal problems?

Because by the time Dicko has finished with you Knobs you`ll be chewing on Camp pie instead of fillet steak.:uhoh: