The Qantas 2011 swansong

January 25, 2012 1 Comment

 

Originally wrote this as my final number for 2011 but events over took me and I just found the draft so I thought I would put it up anyway.

I was going to be melancholy about my final week on Qantas this week as this is my last week of travel for the 2011 calendar year.  I was going to talk about the good things Qantas do, the massive infrastructure and the employees who in their own ways go out of their way to help hapless travellers, such as my self.  I could talk about the magnificent engineering facilities that the Sydney Qantas Club overlook but at 7:20 this morning (Dec 12, 2011), that all turned to dust.  Someone had fed the Gremlins again after midnight and after closing the door, giving us the safety demonstration we were back at the gate where we sat.  Some time after 8:00 AM we were herded back to the Qantas Club for more coffee for which I have had so much this morning, I am starting to show the early symptoms of caffeine poisoning.  We then sat in the club while the next flight for Canberra left – allegedly no seats but I could not happen to notice that Joe Hockey and Malcolm Turnbull who were on our original flight were no where to be seen on the later flight.  So much for no seating on the later flight.

What irks me more than anything else is the contemptuous way in which we get treated.  If I am 5 seconds late for a flight I have pay additional fee’s or in some cases, purchase a new ticket.  If Qantas screw up, we, as passengers still get messed around.  Their is no come back on the airline as the provider of the service.  Today is an annoyance and I will miss an important meeting with my client and this equates to a economic loss for me as I bill bill by time and sitting in airport lounges is not a productive use of my time as this equates to non-billable time.  A few weeks back Bruce, a colluge of mine in Canberra, had a booking for Qantas to Sydney the Jetstar to Maroochydore.  The Qantas flight from Canberra was cancelled, so Bruce was bumped to the next flight.  This caused him to miss his connecting Jetstar flight.  Do you think Jetstar could care.  No, he had to purchase a new ticket yet it was Qantas (who by the way own Jetstar 100%) who caused him to miss his flight.  Good one Alan!

IMG_0172

Filed under Flying, Frequent Flyer, Travel Tagged with , , , , ,

Why airlines make you turn off your mobile phone

December 14, 2011 Leave a comment

They may seem like silly rules – turn off all mobile phones and electronic devices during takeoff or landing of a plane. And, no mobile phone use during the flight.

Those are the rules 30 Rock star Alec Baldwin was accused of breaking when he was kicked off an American Airlines flight after refusing to power down. The actor vented on Twitter that he was berated by a flight attendant for playing a game while the plane sat at the gate not moving.

But why all the fuss?

Decades ago the US Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Communications Commission determined that electronic devices could send signals that would interfere with the equipment on a plane, officials said. Therefore, all electronic games, MP3 players and laptops have to be turned off until the plane gets above 10,000 feet.

Mobile phones are not to be used for calls or Internet use on a cellular network anytime the plane is in the air, though they can be used in “plane mode” for such activities as playing games or updating one’s calendar.

Brent Bowen, the head of the Department of Aviation Technology at Purdue University in Indiana, said there is little research to show if personal electronic devices actually cause a problem. But that doesn’t matter.

“It’s a federal air regulation, and the crew is responsible for enforcing it,” he said. “These rules apply to all airlines in America and all airlines operating in America.”

FAA officials would not discuss the use of electronics on planes but instead sent a fact sheet explaining the rules.

According to their written explanation, there are too many unknowns about the radio signals that hand-held electronics and mobile phones give off. At lower altitudes, any interference could be more of a safety hazard, since the pilot and cockpit crew need to focus on critical arrival and departure duties, the FAA said in its statement.

As for Wi-Fi systems now available on some flights, manufacturers must obtain certification from the FAA showing they do not interfere with the plane’s systems anytime during flight, the FAA said.

Bowen said there have not been enough studies to determine whether the ban on electronic devices during takeoff and landing should be relaxed, and further studies are unlikely, because of funding.

“Why should we spend millions of dollars in research when you can just cut it off for 10 minutes?” he said.

from The Age Newspaper: Why airlines make you turn off your mobile phone.

 

Commuterflyer: The other side of the coin is safety.  If something goes wrong at 50,000 feet, your are a whole world of trouble,  If something goes wrong on take off or landing and you survive the initial impact, then you have a chance of getting out.  To increase the odds, the airlines have you all sitting in neat rows with no distractions so if you do get the signal, you re ready to run.

Filed under News, Travel Tagged with , , , ,

Jetstar botched landing at Melbourne Airport | Pilot pressure caused errors

December 13, 2011 2 Comments

Andrew Heasley – December 13, 2011

A JETSTAR Airbus A320 slipped to within 51 metres of the ground during a botched, aborted landing at Melbourne airport, as pilots fumbled with wrong flap settings and a cacophony of cockpit alarms, Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigators have found.

A sequence of mistakes on a July 28 evening flight from Newcastle to Melbourne left the pilot flying the plane – a cadet recruit with just 300 hours Airbus flying experience – overwhelmed. The captain sitting next to him was so busy trying to recover the situation that his capacity was also compromised.  On landing approach the plane was variously descending too fast, the flaps weren’t extended properly and an altitude alert went unheard by both pilots.  The first officer may have experienced ”cognitive overload”, Jetstar told investigators.  The captain reported a ”high workload” in supervising the first officer, ”reducing his cognitive capacity and situation awareness of the aircraft’s configuration”, the airline said.

At 75 metres, the captain realised the plane wasn’t configured properly for landing, just as the ground warning system sounded and a message on a screen flashed: ”Too Low Flap” – the flaps were on the wrong setting.  The captain called off the landing and the first officer throttled the engines to climb as a second terrain warning sounded.  Mentally overloaded, the first officer failed to reset the flaps, leaving it to the captain.  Compounding matters, another alarm went off due to an air conditioning fault.

The Australian and International Pilots Association had warned a Senate inquiry this year about the risk of fast-tracking inexperienced pilots to airline cockpits.  But a Jetstar spokeswoman yesterday defended its methods.  ”Any pilot who sits behind the controls of a Jetstar aircraft has the skills and qualifications to be there,” she said.  ”Go-arounds [aborted landings] are not uncommon and are a part of our systems of checks and balances for safe operations.”

In a separate incident, two Jetstar pilots made separate engine power calculation mistakes prior to take-off from Darwin for Bali on June 12.  The first power calculation was made with the incorrect aircraft weight, then with the wrong length of runway, compounded by a pilot short-cut to bookmark the wrong data table for cross checking the calculations by the second pilot.  Jetstar later told all pilots that take-off calculations have to be checked independently and the practice of bookmarking data tables ”must cease immediately”.

via Jetstar botched landing at Melbourne Airport | Pilot pressure caused errors.

Filed under News, Travel Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

And on the 8th day, God created airline Baggage Services.

December 10, 2011 Leave a comment

The good lord must have been bereft of ideas by that time. What have we done as a society to have Qantas Baggage Services foisted upon us?

Those of you who regularly read this, you know who you are, are quite au fait with my feelings on most things Qantas and the general state trashiness that “the spirit of Australia” has become. Well, have I got news for you, The mess of Qantas in the club lounges and cabin is nothing compared to the mess with Baggage Services. These people know how destroy self esteem. This all started when the automatic bag tags were not recognised by the auto check-in luggage machines – bad start as it was going to involve human interaction. We stood in line at the Qantas Club and Status traveler counter for what seemed like an entirety. The baggage woman then looks up ans walks off leaving 6 or 7 people just standing in the line. Nice. Finally we get to the counter and the second person with a minimum of fuss checks our bags. This was the opening to the total failings at Sydney airport.

Sydney baggage hall. At first I thought I must be standing at the wrong luggage carousel. All the priority luggage came out, then all the rest came out. I thought I was standing at the wrong carousel. No I could see people from the flight near by. When the bags finally arrived, 4th from the end, I said to my daughter, so much fro the priority tags and the guy standing next to me, who I have never seen in my life before, joined in complete agreement. I kid you not, the clowns in baggage services have no idea. Thank you Qantas for being treated so well. It’s the final parting shot as you leave the airport. A two fingered salute to say thank you for flying.

In hindsight, at least they didn’t loose the bags!

Filed under Flying, Travel Tagged with , , , ,

← Older posts

Newer posts →