Is It Perth Airport Or QANTAS?
 

I don't want to get into a Q bashing exersize but this one seems like a strange one. Feel for the punters and the person who made the "let em stay" call. Wonder if they'll be working next week.


No Qantas staff so passengers left on plane

26th May 2008, 6:00 WST The West Australian newspaper


Qantas has apologised to more than 200 passengers who were forced to wait on a plane on the tarmac of Perth Airport for nearly three hours early on Saturday morning because no staff were on duty at the terminal.

The delay was made worse because the passengers had already had to wait eight hours to board the plane because of a mechanical fault.

One passenger, who asked to remain anonymous, said by the time people disembarked just after 4am, most had been awake nearly 24 hours.

“There were no apologies,” the man said.

“There were no additional staff to handle the problem.”

A Qantas spokeswoman said the flight had been scheduled to leave at 4.15pm on Friday, but was delayed for mechanical reasons.

It eventually departed at 1.20am on Saturday, but returned to the terminal before take-off because of further mechanical issues.

“At that stage and late hour, all customer service and engineering staff had departed for the evening,” the spokeswoman said.

“It was decided that all customers and crew remain on board until 4am Saturday morning when Qantas staff resumed duties.”

A replacement aircraft was used to take passengers to Sydney later in the morning.

KERYN McKINNON

Surely QF could have put the pax on connecting flights with JQ or something

Just another QF cluster f#&k.

From someone who bears the brunt of passenger anger and dissatisfaction I find it implausible that no apology was forthcoming from the cabin crew involved as QF's operational performance has made them experts in their delivery.

For the last few years cabin crew have been calling QF, "apology airlines".

Quote: Surely QF could have put the pax on connecting flights with JQ or something
 

At what time are these supposedly operated connecting Jetstar or something flights operating flyer? Maybe you should do some research firstly on the times of the other flights and who flies them and secondly if these flights have any availability on them which generally out of perth dont have many spare seats on them especially on the 2 jetstar flights that operate out of perth which dont even operate to Sydney which is where that broken jumbo was heading.
The Qantas spokeswoman needs to do some more research herself before she starts making statements that are totally out of left field. There are engineers on duty 24/7 at perth airport but its generally not the same for customer service staff as they would need to stay back on overtime which none of them are prepared to do at 2am. Would you like to stay back for a few extra hours of crap pay at such an ungodly hour of the night? Years ago they may have stayed back on that crap money for the sake of the pax but just like the engineers they to themselves have lost all good will towards Qantas.
The reason why the pax had to stay on board is because there was no security staff available in the terminal until 4am which by the way is a contracted security company for Qantas.
End result was due to more outsourcing by Qantas to save money i.e. contracted security.

Ah, the naive mind of a 'J' Curve flyer. We don't have the luxuries of the East Coast.

Besides, if there were ground staff to unload/load bags, frieght and pax, plus security and terminal staff, they would of disembarked in the first place.

And it was up to the night shift Engineers, Flight & Cabin crews to watch over the stranded passengers :D
until MANAGEMENT came to the rescue after their good nights sleep :uhoh:
eXcel awards to all, yeah right. Like that will happen.:sad:

p1ss poor excuse! If having already screened pax going into the sterile area was such a concern, what was wrong with getting them off the aircraft by other means and escorting them landside via the Qlink or other exit?

LCC???
 

Looks like Qantas is a low cost airline.

Islander jock

I hope your comment is directed toward the "wonderful management team that has done more than any bloody union"
and is responsible to see pax onto & OFF their flight (and subsequently failed)! not toward the flight & engineering crews who have nothing to do with the mess QF allowed to happen AGAIN!!

Start a class action for being held hostage!!!


I'm goin'

Maybe Qantas spent all their money on advertising with WAC as they are the proud sponsors of The Qantas Lane (taxiway) at Perth instead of people power.

Qantas spin
 

“At that stage and late hour, all customer service and engineering staff had departed for the evening,” the spokeswoman said.

all customer service. NO, International staff available

engineering staff . NO, full crew on duty

security. NO, staff stationed at closed domestic security screening area

Keep the spin going.:D:D:D:D

Short Circuit,
My post was in no way intended as a slight against any of the crews. If this is QF managements example of how they deal with a difficult situation, god help us should the sh1t really hit the fan one day.
I've not had experience on the ramp at Perth but surely it would have been possble to offload the pax by mobile stair unit and usher them outside. Rather than leave them for hours on board getting more and more p1ssed off.
And just where does the "screening" come into it? They were arriving pax not bl00dy departing. Spokeswoman clearly only trained to talk to idiots.

OK, I just read the article again and it is not very clear about whether aircraft was arriving or departing. If it was departing then I guess it gets more difficult.

The aircraft was departing. There was nobody left to look after the passengers. Surely the engineers should look at the defect and not be GD's babysitters.

I'd love to hear from a crew member or pax. 3 hrs stuck in the seat on the ground after waiting for 8 hours there must have been some seriou abuse going on there.

So captain calls ompany and company says "nope sory no can do"... is that what happened?

WAs it the 743?

Bit of a side topic, but Muttley, too true. The WAN was recently told to lift its game by the state govenment. We all know the journalistic flair of the papers, but none are as cringe worthy as the Westaustralian.

A few months ago there was a story of a DJ 737 as it aborted its landing seconds before impacting the earth (a go aound from 300'). They questioned a GEL lady who claimed it was the scariest moment of her life. It may well have been, after all, a go-around is not a normal sensation for the average pax, but they did not interview the crew, any other pax or the airline. They did however hang ATC out to dry because they blamed it on another DJ 73 landing on a crossing runway.

What is the complete saying, .......(something) Judge and Jury :ugh:

How's this for a nightmare for a Jetstar passenger (a friend of a colleague)from last night and this morning (admittedly weather related)...

Flight departs Sydney for Avalon but due to fog, aircraft is diverted to Hobart. From Hobart, aircraft then returns to Sydney. Pax overnight in Sydney. Next morning rebooked to depart for Melbourne on the big Q, but apparently can't get room on any direct service so pax routed on a connecting flight via Canberra...

I think the most seasoned flyer would be sick of aircraft after all that!!!

Airlines can sell you a ticket but not the weather. Get over it!

Common sense?
 

I worked at an airport a while ago. It wasn't in Oz but it was a LCC hub so they wern't keen on spending money on service staff if they didn't have to. When the last flights of the night left, (in winter as in summer it was open 24/7) a few staff from each airline had to hang around for half an hour in case something happened. I saw planes taxi out, go U/S and return to the stand. Also had a plane come back with a medical emegency within 10 minutes of take off.
I can just imagine the Q staff smiling at the last passenger as they walk through the gate and then sprinting for the door at olympic speed to get back home. I dont blame them either.

I'm sure management could find staff something to do? I know they don't want to be there any longer than they need to but who is running the place? The Accountant or the Service Manager? No surprise for the right answer! As most of the threads have already stated. Q service is rubbish and was made that way by present management.

How can anyone possibly buy the excuse of "everyone went home". You are Australia's National Carrier, not a scenic charter business. Shame!!