Qantas passengers left seething after six-hour delay and flight cancellation: ‘I will not fly with Qantas again’
- Replies 1
Passengers on Qantas Flight QF93, bound from Melbourne to Los Angeles, are venting their frustration after enduring a gruelling six-hour wait on the tarmac, only to have their flight ultimately cancelled at 3 am.
The reason behind this decision was the determination that the aircraft was too heavy to safely take off due to strong winds.
Pip, one of the passengers onboard, shared their ordeal with a radio station, highlighting that the flight had already experienced prior delays, which only compounded the frustration.
'We got on, and there were just a whole lot of the usual delay announcements,' they said.
Pip recalled: 'At about 1:30 am, when everyone was getting quite frustrated at this point, we hadn't had any food offered, they basically said to us the flight is too heavy for the runway space or something like that.'
Passengers were initially offered the option to board the flight ahead of their baggage, but this offer was rescinded as the flight was cancelled. The airline also provided taxi vouchers for their journey home to assist stranded customers.
'This isn't their first rodeo. They didn't have any contingency plan, and they're never on the front foot,' she said.
'You've got to get on the phone to them, you've got to chase them up, you've got to be the one that tries to get your compensation or get your complaint in.'
Caitley, another passenger on the flight, mentioned that she had travelled five hours interstate from regional NSW to catch her flight.
She said: 'By the end of it, everyone was very frustrated. We just wanted to get off, we were tired, there was no water, we weren't even offered any food, we weren't allowed to get out of our seats.'
After waiting at the airport for an hour, she took a taxi to accommodation in the city, which the airline had arranged and paid for.
Pip and Caitley weren't the only ones experiencing difficulties with Qantas recently. Michael, another passenger on a different Qantas flight, even posted a video on social media vowing never to fly with the airline again after a similar incident.
He explained that the trouble began when his flight was delayed until after the longest runway, essential for long-haul flights, had closed for the night.
According to him, Qantas then decided to depart using a smaller aircraft, but they had to remove all the luggage to reduce the weight for takeoff. Hours later, when passengers finally boarded, 11 willing customers were asked to disembark as the aircraft was still too heavy to fly.
'This is about half past two in the morning. It just gets worse from here, to be honest,' he said.
Michael mentioned that the aircraft had been burning fuel for approximately an hour before the captain informed passengers about waiting until the heavy winds subsided.
Then, just before 4 am, the captain came on the intercom and explained that all the staff had exceeded their rostered hours, making it 'illegal' for them to continue the flight. So, they were just 'going to go back in'.
The passenger expressed his disappointment, noting that he received no assistance from Qantas except a taxi voucher to return home. He believed that the national carrier should have anticipated the situation, especially after the main runway had been closed.
'Sometimes these things happen, but I think that we could have seen what was going to happen from the very, very beginning,' he said.
'I don't think Qantas could care less what happened to people on that plane. I will not fly with Qantas again if I can go with anybody else because it was just a horrible, horrible experience.'
A Qantas spokesperson has already apologised for the inconvenience customers experienced.
'The aircraft arrived late in Melbourne following a weather-delayed departure from the UK and then faced further issues including runway works and bad weather which impacted take off,' they said in a statement.
'Passengers were provided refreshments on board, but further refreshments were not possible once the plane was preparing to take off. Qantas provided accommodation and transport for customers overnight, and they will board a new flight Tuesday night.'
This comes after Qantas found itself in hot water, facing a class-action lawsuit over travel credits issued during pandemic-induced flight cancellations.
The lawsuit alleges that Qantas breached Australian Consumer Law by not providing immediate refunds for cancelled flights and withholding customer funds.
For more information about this story, read the full article here.
Members, we're interested in hearing about your past experiences with Qantas. Have you ever encountered any travel issues while flying with them? If so, we'd love for you to share your stories in the comments below.
The reason behind this decision was the determination that the aircraft was too heavy to safely take off due to strong winds.
Pip, one of the passengers onboard, shared their ordeal with a radio station, highlighting that the flight had already experienced prior delays, which only compounded the frustration.
'We got on, and there were just a whole lot of the usual delay announcements,' they said.
Flight QF93 to Los Angeles sat on the tarmac at Melbourne Airport on Monday night before it was cancelled. Credit: Unsplash.
Pip recalled: 'At about 1:30 am, when everyone was getting quite frustrated at this point, we hadn't had any food offered, they basically said to us the flight is too heavy for the runway space or something like that.'
Passengers were initially offered the option to board the flight ahead of their baggage, but this offer was rescinded as the flight was cancelled. The airline also provided taxi vouchers for their journey home to assist stranded customers.
'This isn't their first rodeo. They didn't have any contingency plan, and they're never on the front foot,' she said.
'You've got to get on the phone to them, you've got to chase them up, you've got to be the one that tries to get your compensation or get your complaint in.'
Caitley, another passenger on the flight, mentioned that she had travelled five hours interstate from regional NSW to catch her flight.
She said: 'By the end of it, everyone was very frustrated. We just wanted to get off, we were tired, there was no water, we weren't even offered any food, we weren't allowed to get out of our seats.'
After waiting at the airport for an hour, she took a taxi to accommodation in the city, which the airline had arranged and paid for.
Pip and Caitley weren't the only ones experiencing difficulties with Qantas recently. Michael, another passenger on a different Qantas flight, even posted a video on social media vowing never to fly with the airline again after a similar incident.
He explained that the trouble began when his flight was delayed until after the longest runway, essential for long-haul flights, had closed for the night.
According to him, Qantas then decided to depart using a smaller aircraft, but they had to remove all the luggage to reduce the weight for takeoff. Hours later, when passengers finally boarded, 11 willing customers were asked to disembark as the aircraft was still too heavy to fly.
'This is about half past two in the morning. It just gets worse from here, to be honest,' he said.
Michael mentioned that the aircraft had been burning fuel for approximately an hour before the captain informed passengers about waiting until the heavy winds subsided.
Then, just before 4 am, the captain came on the intercom and explained that all the staff had exceeded their rostered hours, making it 'illegal' for them to continue the flight. So, they were just 'going to go back in'.
The passenger expressed his disappointment, noting that he received no assistance from Qantas except a taxi voucher to return home. He believed that the national carrier should have anticipated the situation, especially after the main runway had been closed.
'Sometimes these things happen, but I think that we could have seen what was going to happen from the very, very beginning,' he said.
'I don't think Qantas could care less what happened to people on that plane. I will not fly with Qantas again if I can go with anybody else because it was just a horrible, horrible experience.'
A Qantas spokesperson has already apologised for the inconvenience customers experienced.
'The aircraft arrived late in Melbourne following a weather-delayed departure from the UK and then faced further issues including runway works and bad weather which impacted take off,' they said in a statement.
'Passengers were provided refreshments on board, but further refreshments were not possible once the plane was preparing to take off. Qantas provided accommodation and transport for customers overnight, and they will board a new flight Tuesday night.'
This comes after Qantas found itself in hot water, facing a class-action lawsuit over travel credits issued during pandemic-induced flight cancellations.
The lawsuit alleges that Qantas breached Australian Consumer Law by not providing immediate refunds for cancelled flights and withholding customer funds.
For more information about this story, read the full article here.
Members, we're interested in hearing about your past experiences with Qantas. Have you ever encountered any travel issues while flying with them? If so, we'd love for you to share your stories in the comments below.
.png){kind=icon}
