There were some brief but ugly crowd scenes at Qantas domestic check in at Perth this morning seven hours after a red eye flight to Melbourne, QF648, an Airbus A330-200 had been cancelled because it had been struck by lightning shortly before arriving from its previous flight from Sydney.
The problem was caused by a delay in making compulsory inspections of the skin or window area of the cockpit followed by the need to make some repairs.
But matters were made much worse by poor communications and inadequate alternative arrangement planning by Qantas, which put the ground staff in the firing line of verbal abuse and led to the Federal Police ‘calming things down.’
Here is one passenger’s account of trouble-at-airport:-
I was flying to the National Conference of the Australian Society of Music Education in Launceston, Tassie. It starts this afternoon…
I checked in last night (Thursday) at about 1120pm.
I found out more about what happened last night listening to the radio on my way home than I heard all night in the terminal.
1st we were told that due to the storm, no one was working on the tarmac. At least until it passed. Fine. Then 45 or so minutes later, the plane had been struck by lightning and needed to be checked. Fine. With the history of these planes falling out of the sky, this was OK by me. After another hour or so we received the update that the engineers needed another hour or so (this took us to about 3am). At this point we were offered a voucher for refreshments. $10 doesn’t buy you much in the airport.
Between 3am and 6am or so we received virtually no info. On the rare occasions someone actually spoke to us, it was usually to say that they knew nothing. There was something vague about phoning France (Airbus) for advice, and something about waiting for people in meetings. I was assured that they would simply put me on a later connection to Launceston.
After 7am someone announced another voucher for breakfast. Again $10. Again, no info on our flight or the likelihood of it going. At this point we were offered the choice of cancelling our flight. As I have to be in Launceston today, and there was no implication even that the flight would not eventually go ahead, however late, I chose to stay.
Finally at around 730 or so, the flight was cancelled and I was told to go home, and wait until 10am to call and arrange a new flight. Whilst all of this was happening I watched several flights go to Melbourne…
I understand safety issues. I understand that there may not have been much information to pass out. However:
1. Communication was rare, and appeared to often be reluctant at best. Sometimes it was hostile. Some passengers were getting hot under the collar, after no sleep and frustration and knowing nothing. The customer ’service’ response of this company was to react with hostility. This is absolutely unacceptable from any customer service operator. If something like this happened, I would have my best people out there, I’d have lots of them, and I would move around the terminal and defuse the situation as best I could. We knew it wasn’t their (the ground staff’s) fault, but they were being hostile and unhelpful for the most part.
2. At which point did it become apparent that this plane might not go? Surely it wasn’t at 730? If so, why did this company not have some sort of plan enacted before 730? This could have included redirecting a different plane or bringing in the extra staff needed to rebook us all on site rather than sending us home. What is the system for such events? Who thought about sorting out contingencies sometime before the flight was cancelled? It all appeared very haphazard in the end.
3. Why am I not able to ring this company before 10am to sort my problem out? I have been in the terminal since 1130 last night- how is it possible they weren’t able to help me there?
4. Will Qantas cover my accommodation cancellation for tonight, the money I spent on the conference opening dinner, the money I spent on the taxi last night? I don’t get travel insurance for domestic travel, and this is the first time in many years of flying that I have needed it. I feel that travel insurance gives the airlines an out for their responsibility. If Qantas knew they had to put 300 or so people in a
hotel, and then pay all the costs for cancellations etc., I reckon we might see a little more intentionality in their response.
In my work over the last 14 years with my music group, being toured all over Australia and the world, I have done a LOT of flying. I was a gold frequent flier at Qantas for a significant time (possible when someone else pays the bill!). However, of all the airlines in the world, only BA has worse service than Qantas. I want to stay loyal, but they just keep pushing me away.
I could write more, but I need to get ready to get on the phone and try to get myself a blinkin’ flight.
cheers
It wasn’t until this afternoon Perth time that passengers were flown to Melbourne on Virgin Blue and Jetstar flights, although room for some may have been found on other Qantas services.
Perth has been a black hole for Qantas customers for more than a year now, because of the time taken to get relief aircraft to the city, and an apparent reluctance by the airline to go to the expense of flying a nearly empty jet across the continent if it can get away with rebooking displaced customers across whatever empty seats exist on other flights sometimes turning a four or five hour flight into the sort of epic endured by those booked on QF648.
