Merged: QF Delays/Serviceabilities - Add entries here
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Aren't delays a normal part of airline business. In order to ascertain if the LAME's dispute is causing extra delays I suggest we start posting Virgin Blue, and Jetstar delays. I'll start with some of yesterdays DJ flights(just between Brisvegas and Sydney):
DJ284: 5 minutes late
DJ212: 10 minutes late
DJ222: 35 minutes late
DJ226: 15 minutes late
DJ232: 15 minutes late
DJ242: 35 minutes late
DJ246: 15 minutes late
DJ205: 35 minutes late
DJ207: 5 minutes late
DJ213: 50 minutes late
DJ217: 20 minutes late
DJ221: 20 minutes late
DJ223: 25 minutes late
DJ237: 40 minutes late
DJ241: 10 minutes late
DJ247: 40 minutes late
DJ249: 55 minutes late
DJ284: 5 minutes late
DJ212: 10 minutes late
DJ222: 35 minutes late
DJ226: 15 minutes late
DJ232: 15 minutes late
DJ242: 35 minutes late
DJ246: 15 minutes late
DJ205: 35 minutes late
DJ207: 5 minutes late
DJ213: 50 minutes late
DJ217: 20 minutes late
DJ221: 20 minutes late
DJ223: 25 minutes late
DJ237: 40 minutes late
DJ241: 10 minutes late
DJ247: 40 minutes late
DJ249: 55 minutes late
Join Date: Apr 2002
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Today's QF40 ex AKL was cancelled, it went mechanical. I'm not too sure what the problem was. The problem with the flights to/from NZ is that when one goes wrong, a lot of the day across the Tasman is affected.
Join Date: Jan 2005
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Definitely not gossip and definitely not only Bangkok, Tech crew are being paxed all over the place at the moment on Emirates (first Class) and numerous other carriers to replace crews all over the world for the horribly delayed flights.
OK, the EBA says so but why FIRST Class? With flat beds available in BUSINESS Class on most quality airlines, why weren't they acceptable to these Qantas employees? Little wonder the pilot group is not held in high regard by many of its colleagues and the travelling public.
Join Date: Feb 2001
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Today 10:30 ElPerro
Aren't delays a normal part of airline business. In order to ascertain if the LAME's dispute is causing extra delays I suggest we start posting Virgin Blue, and Jetstar delays. I'll start with some of yesterdays DJ flights(just between Brisvegas and Sydney):
Aren't delays a normal part of airline business. In order to ascertain if the LAME's dispute is causing extra delays I suggest we start posting Virgin Blue, and Jetstar delays. I'll start with some of yesterdays DJ flights(just between Brisvegas and Sydney):
Optus cable fault causes widespread outage | NEWS.com.au
Join Date: Sep 2005
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as lhcc i have paxed a number of times in first class. it was extremely difficult to resist the urge to offer my seat to a j class ff but somehow i managed though. the bile in my throat certainly didn't help the taste of the single malt scotchs i consumed. b a lert, if u haven't figured it out this is a windup (the part about the bile). you're starting to sound like management.
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Why need flat beds at all? Why not economy? 
... Because you're not off on a holiday, or even a 'business trip'... you've been called off standby with an hour notice to get to point B instead of point A. It's not a one-off junket -- it's your life, out of the same old suitcase, in the same old places.
Of course, the cost would be of lesser burden if the disruption was not present in the first place.
... Because you're not off on a holiday, or even a 'business trip'... you've been called off standby with an hour notice to get to point B instead of point A. It's not a one-off junket -- it's your life, out of the same old suitcase, in the same old places.
Of course, the cost would be of lesser burden if the disruption was not present in the first place.
The Qf 40 ex Auckland had a rudder trim problem. Despite managment pressure the Captain refused to operate it. On his return to Sydney it was tea and bisciuts with management for one hour. Not pleasant by all accounts. However his stand was vindicated when further investigation discovered a faulty actuator. One was robbed from a Sydney aircraft and it will be back in service ex Auckland today. I dont think he will get an apology or thank you.
Join Date: Oct 2005
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Must Read
Received this the other day……..
Anyone flying Qantas recently would have a good chance of suffering delays and cancellations. I would like to apologise on behalf of the engineers for the delays caused by our “go slow campaign”, but I can’t. Because it is not true. I can however, apologise on behalf of Qantas for the lies of a few who slander the 1,500 engineers who have been working harder than they ever have to keep aircraft flying safely.
Someone in Qantas management has authorised the distribution of letters and notes to affected passengers accusing us of a “go slow campaign”. The truth is that we are not working overtime on our days off, and we are fully complying with the policies and procedures written by Qantas Engineering management, which actually adds to our workload.
Unfortunately, Qantas Engineering has become overstretched. The last few years has seen the closure of Sydney Heavy Maintenance and the slow bleed of highly trained engineers through numerous rounds of redundancies, leaving Qantas Engineering with about 20% fewer engineers. Yet in the same time the fleet has expanded by about 20% - a clearly massive increase in productivity per engineer. Yet the current Qantas Engineering management (many of whom have no prior aircraft engineering or aviation management background) have introduced new policies and procedures that make it increasingly difficult to do our core job of fixing aircraft in a timely manner.
There have been repeated changes in organisational structure; a sharp decline in the number of spare parts held and an inadequate distribution of the remaining spare parts; outsourcing of numerous component repair functions that were once done in-house to unmatched standards of both turnover time, quality and reliability; a proliferation of lower and middle management roles; more engineers involved in “special projects” and other frivolous and unnecessary tasks rather than actually working on aircraft… the list goes on.
Over the years our productivity has increased despite these new policies and procedures. This is because in the past we worked around, massaged, bent and stretched them and sometimes outright ignored the sillier ones. We made do with the little we had left. We worked overtime on our days off and after our shift ended, and worked through our meal-breaks. We risked dismissal for violating company policies and procedures as we worked around the shortages of equipment caused by constant cost-cutting and the failures, impracticality and lack of common sense inherent in those policies and procedures. Why? To get the job done, because that’s what engineers do. It’s in our blood. We have made many representations to management in order to streamline the processes but they have not been implemented because the ideas are not their own. Decades of experience in the industry are systematically ignored by inexperienced managers.
And then there is the issue of training. We know all about Office Ergonomics, Diversity, Hearing Conservation and Fatigue Management. We have seen every tier of management and supervision pass through leadership training at a forest retreat at a cost of thousands per head, only to see the managers ignore everything they've learned and particiapate in a "buggery campaign" against the people they are supposed to lead. But the really important stuff has been lacking the last couple of years. Like being trained on the aircraft types in the fleet that we're supposed to work on, approvals for running the engines, tug-driving, operating heavy equipment, first aid and fuel tank entry to name a few. We're now in the ridiculous situation of not actually having the trained people to do the job we're there to do. Over $300 million has supposedly been invested in Qantas Engineering, but little of it has reached where it is needed.
The Sydney Heavy Maintenance engineers were promised that when the Avalon (Victoria) Heavy Maintenance facility opened, only “overflow” work would be sent to Avalon. Then they closed Sydney Heavy maintenance. We were assured that when Sydney Heavy Maintenance was closed down, only 5% of heavy maintenance would be outsourced offshore. Well now it’s running at over 20%, with aircraft being sent to Malaysia, Hong Kong, the Philippines, New Zealand and the USA for critical maintenance and still requiring work to be finished or redone when they arrive back in Australia.
The company has been crying poor since the Asian Economic Crisis, when we accepted a lower than standard pay-rise. We accepted a 30 month pay freeze after September 11 and the SARS outbreak. At the time we were promised to be "looked after when times were good again." Then came bird-flu. Now it’s “fuel prices”. Now, we haven’t received a pay increase since January 2006. Our enterprise bargaining agreement has been under negotiation for over 18 months! This equates to a 1.7% per annum pay-rise over the last 10 years. That is a long-term decline in anyone’s language, considering the RBA’s “target band” for CPI is 2% - 3%. All the while, Qantas profits have increased and management have received obscene pay-rises and bonuses off the backs of our sacrifices, losses of terms & conditions and hard work. Just how good does it need to get before we're "looked after"?
We are now insensitive to the years of threats to outsource maintenance overseas, because it’s already happened by stealth - and the process continues at an increasing rate, with the lapses in quality regularly making the news! We now choose not to work on our days off. We now choose to work strictly within the company policies and procedures, no matter how stupid, short-sighted, time-consuming, impractical, restrictive and inefficient.
Why? We have been abused for doing our jobs to the utmost whilst at work and refusing to work on our days off; we have been unable to take leave for months; we have been insulted with an inadequate pay offer; we have been lied to and threatened over outsourcing; and our improved efficiencies and attempts to further improve them have been ignored. We are tired of being under-trained, under-equipped and under-resourced, and yet we're still expected to work miracles daily by a disengaged yet desperate management. Our families suffer our absences through long nights and weekends, school holidays and public holidays, but they accepted it as par for the course. Now they suffer more hardship as the bread-winners' work-loads, stresses and pressures build, leave is cancelled or denied, fatigue mounts and prices rise. Unfortunately, most of us are NOT earning $130,000 per year as claimed by our CEO. Since January 2006, CPI has risen over 4.2%. Cheaper imports and a stronger dollar have masked the real inflation in the essentials of life, like food and mortgages. All we want is respect, and a fair pay-rise that reflects a community standard of well above 3%. Qantas sells itself as the Spirit of Australia, yet there is a telling absence of that most Australian spirit, the spirit of the fair go.
Next time you fly Qantas and your flight is delayed and you receive a note accusing us of “industrial action and a go slow campaign”,
Anyone flying Qantas recently would have a good chance of suffering delays and cancellations. I would like to apologise on behalf of the engineers for the delays caused by our “go slow campaign”, but I can’t. Because it is not true. I can however, apologise on behalf of Qantas for the lies of a few who slander the 1,500 engineers who have been working harder than they ever have to keep aircraft flying safely.
Someone in Qantas management has authorised the distribution of letters and notes to affected passengers accusing us of a “go slow campaign”. The truth is that we are not working overtime on our days off, and we are fully complying with the policies and procedures written by Qantas Engineering management, which actually adds to our workload.
Unfortunately, Qantas Engineering has become overstretched. The last few years has seen the closure of Sydney Heavy Maintenance and the slow bleed of highly trained engineers through numerous rounds of redundancies, leaving Qantas Engineering with about 20% fewer engineers. Yet in the same time the fleet has expanded by about 20% - a clearly massive increase in productivity per engineer. Yet the current Qantas Engineering management (many of whom have no prior aircraft engineering or aviation management background) have introduced new policies and procedures that make it increasingly difficult to do our core job of fixing aircraft in a timely manner.
There have been repeated changes in organisational structure; a sharp decline in the number of spare parts held and an inadequate distribution of the remaining spare parts; outsourcing of numerous component repair functions that were once done in-house to unmatched standards of both turnover time, quality and reliability; a proliferation of lower and middle management roles; more engineers involved in “special projects” and other frivolous and unnecessary tasks rather than actually working on aircraft… the list goes on.
Over the years our productivity has increased despite these new policies and procedures. This is because in the past we worked around, massaged, bent and stretched them and sometimes outright ignored the sillier ones. We made do with the little we had left. We worked overtime on our days off and after our shift ended, and worked through our meal-breaks. We risked dismissal for violating company policies and procedures as we worked around the shortages of equipment caused by constant cost-cutting and the failures, impracticality and lack of common sense inherent in those policies and procedures. Why? To get the job done, because that’s what engineers do. It’s in our blood. We have made many representations to management in order to streamline the processes but they have not been implemented because the ideas are not their own. Decades of experience in the industry are systematically ignored by inexperienced managers.
And then there is the issue of training. We know all about Office Ergonomics, Diversity, Hearing Conservation and Fatigue Management. We have seen every tier of management and supervision pass through leadership training at a forest retreat at a cost of thousands per head, only to see the managers ignore everything they've learned and particiapate in a "buggery campaign" against the people they are supposed to lead. But the really important stuff has been lacking the last couple of years. Like being trained on the aircraft types in the fleet that we're supposed to work on, approvals for running the engines, tug-driving, operating heavy equipment, first aid and fuel tank entry to name a few. We're now in the ridiculous situation of not actually having the trained people to do the job we're there to do. Over $300 million has supposedly been invested in Qantas Engineering, but little of it has reached where it is needed.
The Sydney Heavy Maintenance engineers were promised that when the Avalon (Victoria) Heavy Maintenance facility opened, only “overflow” work would be sent to Avalon. Then they closed Sydney Heavy maintenance. We were assured that when Sydney Heavy Maintenance was closed down, only 5% of heavy maintenance would be outsourced offshore. Well now it’s running at over 20%, with aircraft being sent to Malaysia, Hong Kong, the Philippines, New Zealand and the USA for critical maintenance and still requiring work to be finished or redone when they arrive back in Australia.
The company has been crying poor since the Asian Economic Crisis, when we accepted a lower than standard pay-rise. We accepted a 30 month pay freeze after September 11 and the SARS outbreak. At the time we were promised to be "looked after when times were good again." Then came bird-flu. Now it’s “fuel prices”. Now, we haven’t received a pay increase since January 2006. Our enterprise bargaining agreement has been under negotiation for over 18 months! This equates to a 1.7% per annum pay-rise over the last 10 years. That is a long-term decline in anyone’s language, considering the RBA’s “target band” for CPI is 2% - 3%. All the while, Qantas profits have increased and management have received obscene pay-rises and bonuses off the backs of our sacrifices, losses of terms & conditions and hard work. Just how good does it need to get before we're "looked after"?
We are now insensitive to the years of threats to outsource maintenance overseas, because it’s already happened by stealth - and the process continues at an increasing rate, with the lapses in quality regularly making the news! We now choose not to work on our days off. We now choose to work strictly within the company policies and procedures, no matter how stupid, short-sighted, time-consuming, impractical, restrictive and inefficient.
Why? We have been abused for doing our jobs to the utmost whilst at work and refusing to work on our days off; we have been unable to take leave for months; we have been insulted with an inadequate pay offer; we have been lied to and threatened over outsourcing; and our improved efficiencies and attempts to further improve them have been ignored. We are tired of being under-trained, under-equipped and under-resourced, and yet we're still expected to work miracles daily by a disengaged yet desperate management. Our families suffer our absences through long nights and weekends, school holidays and public holidays, but they accepted it as par for the course. Now they suffer more hardship as the bread-winners' work-loads, stresses and pressures build, leave is cancelled or denied, fatigue mounts and prices rise. Unfortunately, most of us are NOT earning $130,000 per year as claimed by our CEO. Since January 2006, CPI has risen over 4.2%. Cheaper imports and a stronger dollar have masked the real inflation in the essentials of life, like food and mortgages. All we want is respect, and a fair pay-rise that reflects a community standard of well above 3%. Qantas sells itself as the Spirit of Australia, yet there is a telling absence of that most Australian spirit, the spirit of the fair go.
Next time you fly Qantas and your flight is delayed and you receive a note accusing us of “industrial action and a go slow campaign”,
Join Date: Jul 2002
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That would be funny if it wasn't indicitive of the serious safety issues arising from sending our maintenance offshore. The press should get hold of that because it's something the public can understand and visualise.
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Just want to thank Qantas for doing away with the Australian to Los Angeles direct flights and returning to the multi-stop Pacific crossings.
Is the problem that it's harder to fill the fuel tanks with dearer fuel.
Is the problem that it's harder to fill the fuel tanks with dearer fuel.
Is the problem that it's harder to fill the fuel tanks with dearer fuel.
It what the customers wanted.
Just another day in the life of the White Rat!
QF522 outta Sydney for Brisbane was about an hour late in departing today! As I understand it, a trolly dolly got a zap from something in the galley and there was also a problem with the nose wheel - didnt catch the detailed of the latter!
Here was me thinking that they had held QF974 outta BrisVegas for Townsville just for me (it was due to depart at 14:00 - the same time as we eventually arrived) - but No! Apparently it also had an engineering problem and departed about 20 min late.
So I got the Townsville about 16:10 - and my bag arrived a couple of hours later.
Dr
Here was me thinking that they had held QF974 outta BrisVegas for Townsville just for me (it was due to depart at 14:00 - the same time as we eventually arrived) - but No! Apparently it also had an engineering problem and departed about 20 min late.
So I got the Townsville about 16:10 - and my bag arrived a couple of hours later.
Dr
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Incident: Qantas B743 near Auckland on Aug 13th 2008, one engine rolled back to idle on approach
By Simon Hradecky, created Wednesday, Aug 13th 2008 21:22Z, last updated Wednesday, Aug 13th 2008 21:24Z
One engine of a Qantas Boeing 747-300, registration VH-EBX performing flight QF25 from Melbourne,VI (Australia) to Auckland (New Zealand), rolled back to idle without being commanded while approaching Auckland. The crew restored power and landed without further incident.
The onward flight to Los Angeles had to be delayed however until a faulty fuel flow regulator could be replaced. As of current, the airplane is scheduled to depart Auckland for Los Angeles with a delay of 15 hours.
By Simon Hradecky, created Wednesday, Aug 13th 2008 21:22Z, last updated Wednesday, Aug 13th 2008 21:24Z
One engine of a Qantas Boeing 747-300, registration VH-EBX performing flight QF25 from Melbourne,VI (Australia) to Auckland (New Zealand), rolled back to idle without being commanded while approaching Auckland. The crew restored power and landed without further incident.
The onward flight to Los Angeles had to be delayed however until a faulty fuel flow regulator could be replaced. As of current, the airplane is scheduled to depart Auckland for Los Angeles with a delay of 15 hours.
The Aviation Herald
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Has the CEO fallen asleep at the wheel?
I can tell you, if it was my company and it was featuring as front page news on all the major Aus News websites EVERY DAY due to one or more NEW engineering problems, I dont think I'd be holding back from a BIG engineering management clean-out.
In fact I'd probably go to someone like, perhaps, Lufthansa, who still manage to do engineering fairly well, and poach some managers.............
I'd certainly be kicking the CEO's butt for not fixing the problem!!
I can tell you, if it was my company and it was featuring as front page news on all the major Aus News websites EVERY DAY due to one or more NEW engineering problems, I dont think I'd be holding back from a BIG engineering management clean-out.
In fact I'd probably go to someone like, perhaps, Lufthansa, who still manage to do engineering fairly well, and poach some managers.............
I'd certainly be kicking the CEO's butt for not fixing the problem!!
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'The Professor Says'
"I look out my window every day and see planes of all airlines aborting take-offs and landings," Borghetti says. "But that never gets reported."
Just how much damage the Qantas brand has suffered in recent weeks is open to debate, but each passenger delay, cancelled flight and report of planes flying with outstanding maintenance issues will continue to create a perception the airline might find hard to erase.
Another advertising executive who has spent more than a decade working hand-in-hand with the brand admits it is impossible for there not to be fallout from recent reports, but it is not terminal.
"I think there is a short-term hit," he says. "But the brand is still pretty strong and Australians love it."
The very image of an ageing plane with a gaping hole in its side sits as a constant reminder of how close the airline came to the ultimate disaster.
But Monash's Morrison says now is the time for Qantas to get on the front foot and start speaking to the public.
"There has not been much comment coming from Qantas to smooth things over," he says. "They are trying to continue to live on reputation and that is dangerous."
Then go and explain it to your engineers, they await you with baited breath.
Just how much damage the Qantas brand has suffered in recent weeks is open to debate, but each passenger delay, cancelled flight and report of planes flying with outstanding maintenance issues will continue to create a perception the airline might find hard to erase.
Another advertising executive who has spent more than a decade working hand-in-hand with the brand admits it is impossible for there not to be fallout from recent reports, but it is not terminal.
"I think there is a short-term hit," he says. "But the brand is still pretty strong and Australians love it."
The very image of an ageing plane with a gaping hole in its side sits as a constant reminder of how close the airline came to the ultimate disaster.
But Monash's Morrison says now is the time for Qantas to get on the front foot and start speaking to the public.
"There has not been much comment coming from Qantas to smooth things over," he says. "They are trying to continue to live on reputation and that is dangerous."
Then go and explain it to your engineers, they await you with baited breath.