[Anonymous]

[Binman62]

Australian airline Qantas, the self styled “world’s most experienced airline” is in significant operational difficulty with its fleet of 3 A380s with which it is trying to operate to LHR and LAX. I need to tell them it is not working and for this passenger at least, the reputational damage is now such, that I will not fly again till it is resolved and the kangaroo route is a guaranteed daily operation.

Few if any Qantas A380 flights operate to schedule with delays in excess of 12 hours and more, now common on the kangaroo route. EG (QF32/12JUL STD 1215 ATD will be Monday around 1 or 2 am!!!!!

Flights in August which were due to operate with the A380 have now been downgraded to a 747 and Qantas refuse to accept that this is a downgrade of product, stating that the equipment can never be guaranteed. So when you book expecting a fully flat bed or suite what you might get is a business class slide or a worn out First cabin that looks decrepit.

Previous incidents on flights with QF in recent weeks have included no 2nd meal due to refrigeration problems on a SIN LHR flight, No IFE in Business on same flight for 13 hrs, and finally a 36 hour delay following an airborne return to London (2 hours out of LHR T4) due to undisclosed technical problems. SQ will not take endorsed F tickets on their services stating that their F product is significantly better (actually it is) than QF A380 and makes the 747 experience look amateur.

None of 6 recent A380 flights on Qantas has arrived or departed less than 90mins late.

Qantas view is that Airbus is to blame for not delivering on time and the delivery scheduled for August is now delayed till September. That’s all well and good but it now means that flights sold to a capacity of 460 seats are now being operated by aircraft with 60 or 70 less. Given the parlous state of airline finances, this means dozens of upgrades to business and first with premium ticket holders sitting beside passengers with £399 tickets. Good luck to them of course, but it does nothing for the few remaining passengers willing to pay J and F fares except perhaps to walk to SQ and EK who both seem able to operate their A380 without too many problems.

Today’s debacle is made all the worse by the fact that it is happening at Heathrow in the building site that is T4 and which tragically for all is operated by the ever incompetent BAA. They have refused to keep open passenger security beyond 10pm resulting in Qantas telling passengers initially that the flight would depart at 10pm in order to get the back to the airport at 8 or 8.30pm from the hotels they kindly provided. (Qantas have known since early am today the 12th July that the aircraft would not arrive before 11pm and that the earliest departure would be 1am or 2am on Monday morning.)

As I type this there are no shops open and you cannot even get a coffee. The lounges, with 6 services departing around 10pm are bedlam and look like the battle field of the Somme with not seat in site. It is great using Heathrow….

[VintageKrug]

A sad state of affairs; let’s hope things improve for Qantas soon. Are all A380 operators experiencing similar issues?

In other, paragraphed, news:

Qantas (along with British Airways’ SIN, BKK and SYD services) will be moving to LHR Terminal 3 on October 29, when the First Class section of the new BA Galleries Lounge will be opened to the public.

No more need for BA/QF passengers to endure the squalour of the T4 building site after that date.

http://www.ba.com/terminal3

[MarcusUK]

I have heard the same of the A380 with colleagues flying from MEL- LAX, though on passing through in Feb, boarding for this service was prompt & all left on time so far as i could see. Not so many passengers though…

T4 has been a building site for some months, nails boards building net hanging out everywhere, & no carpet only jack-hammered out lumps of concrete to walk through. Two weeks ago, there was no vehicale access to drop off or pick up AT ALL, to T4, only to the car parks! I come through every 2 weeks via KLM…

The Skyteam lounge area is terrific though, & visible changes to check in areas, security seems more spacious better organised. There are very few shops & facilities functional at present agreed..

However, since BA left, th crowding & endless queues for check in from BA (often queueing out of the terminal across the access for everyone else) have gone.
Benefits are starting to appear, though i would be very surprised if other Businesses would be allowed to operate with such risky & badly managed Health & Safety , dirty, public areas around?!!

[GuyBetsy]

Funny.. SQ has most of their A380 flights leaving and arriving on time…

[AdrianHenryAsia]

I’ve flown on the A380 a few times and each times its been delayed. Once from LAX – MEL where I had to wait an extra day and then again from SIN – LHR where the flight arrived nearly 24 hours late!!

Once on board though, the wiat was worth it and I think Qantas have done a great job with both the J and F cabins (although the lounge at the front is a bit pointless!)

Am flying F to SYD on the A380 over Xmas so hopefully they will have sorted out their problems by that point as I’ll not be happy if I’ve got to fly on one of their outdated 747’s!

[kiwiflyer]

Just flown the Qantas 380 in J: LHR – SYD return (August). Both legs on time . Crews great, bed fantastic, and the quietest aircraft I have flown on. I would not hesitate to fly again and woud choose over BA and Cathay 747s.

[Binman62]

Despite warning them, some friends of mine attempted to travel on the Qantas A380 on Friday 6th November. I say tried, as it was delayed from 11.05 on Friday until 0215 on Saturday morning. The main issue however was the rather deceitful way in which Qantas have tried to cover this up and the subsequent deplorable service suffered by the unsuspecting passengers at the hands of the airline and the BAA at Heathrow.

First, they checked in online and had their suites allocated and passes issued the night before. They then checked the web site and no delay. On arrival at the airport they were told that it was now a 747 and not an A380. After a bit of investigation it was clear that the inbound aircraft had been delayed in Sydney but due to the shocking operational performance of this aircraft, Qantas decided that it was better to swap the aircraft rather than take yet another delay on the QF32 at 11.05. This service, the only one operated by the A380 has had an appalling operational record since it was launched.

When staff were asked about the aircraft they said that it was rarely on time, but even when it is, much of it does not work. They cited issues with catering, in flight entertainment even the seats. The handling agent staff (who look like Qantas staff as they wear that uniform) at check in were quite demoralized having to face yet another plane load of disgruntled and unhappy passengers.

So the A380 was going to operate later that night. As the passengers were going to Sydney they asked to move to the A380 later that night. This was done but now things got interesting….

No hotel or any other support as it was now a voluntary delay!! Their flight number was leaving on time and the A380 now operating a different flight. They still elected to remain wishing to use the A380 aircraft.

Departure time was confirmed as 23.45 and they told to be back at 22.00.

This they did and while dropping the bags discovered that over 50 passengers had been involuntary offloaded from the original flight due lack of seats following the aircraft type change. All were given hotels, meals and calls but from talking to one or two no EU compensation

For the passengers this turn of events was irritating but they had volunteered and they remained sanguine about things. However, they were then told that their flight was not operating to Sydney but to Melbourne and then Sydney via Singapore and was not now operating till 01.30. They asked why they had been told to be back at 10pm and were advised that after this time there was no security open and that the BAA would now allow passengers to access their flights after this time, no matter how long the delay.

This is the very issue I had encountered in T4 which originally kicked off this forum and it is one that has clearly not been resolved by the move the T3. It surely now must be considered the policy of the BAA to not operate LHR as an airport at all but rather a shopping mall with specific open and closing times with the inconvenience of aircraft. On getting airside only 1 coffee shop was open with cold food and 1 member of staff dealing with up to 450 people. Why they are allowed continuing to embarrass this country by making the experience of flying so appalling is a mystery to me. It really is shocking just how bad they are at running an airport.

They went to new galleries lounge but were thrown out at 0045 as BA staff were going home.

The flight finally boarded at 0145 and departed at 0215, the further delay being caused by the crew being unable to get to the aircraft.

The flight crew, via the PA, told passengers that the BAA had refused them access airside via normal crew routes as they had baggage and that the baggage system had been closed down…they were at pains to say Qantas had staff ready and willing to handle the bags if the airport owned and operated system had been switched on. They were taken by bus from the front of T3 around LHR and through a road side security point. Here they were subject to a complete search as the staff had little experience and it took the BAA 50 minutes to process them at 12.30am.

The last text I got was when the aircraft pushed back which read…”on our way at last… wish we had listened to you…never again”

You do have to wonder what is going on with this aircraft and what on earth Qantas are doing trying to operate to LAX and LHR daily with just 4 x A380. It is a recipe for disaster and it is clearly not working.

Equally it is clear that Qantas management in London have either no operation experience, no contingency for delays, and certainly no engagement with the BAA to ensure that when delayed they can still offer their long suffering passengers some kind of service. I cannot imagine how their staff (some of the most approachable and professional I have ever encountered) feel at this time.

Others will have their own views. I was a fan, but in recent months things have slipped very badly operationally and their on board experience has been eroded via inappropriate costs cuts and a frankly pedestrian offering in First.

[PerthWA]

Just found this ‘blog’ or whatever it may be called… thought you would like to know binman62 that as you were writing your note on 7/11/09… I was on the A380 QF32 London/Singapore/Sydney…. in economy (sadly I work for a company that thinks economy is fab for everyone except the boss).

All I can say is, it left LHR on time, arrived Singapore early and again departed on time to arrive Sydney – early. That was my second experience with QF32, I’d done Singapore/Sydney in early September and same thing – no departure problem and arriving at Sydney – I couldn’t believe it took just 20 minutes from plane to cab.

Mind you, I had managed to score an upgrade on that leg 🙂

[continentalclub]

Well, either Qantas is having a run of seriously bad luck at the moment, or they’ve really upset someone in the media who feels the need to report every last lavatory blockage.

Sadly, today brings another story of Antipodean Uglybus Woes:

http://bit.ly/adMUCk

[Author]

Posts