speedbird 9

[cooperplace]

was chatting to the father of my daughter's friend, complaining about how noisy some aircraft are, and he casually commented that you miss the noise when all engines stop. Turns out he was a business class passenger on BA9 on June 24th 1982. He made some interesting observations: he could see smoke coming from the flight deck and worried there was an electrical fire, was relieved this wasn't so; said that it glided for 20 minutes and they were lucky the engines restarted "we couldn't glide much longer". Very unimpressed with Indonesian ATC who took forever to appreciate the situation. The pilot had a quarter-inch wide strip of windscreen he could see through which made landing tricky. He had complete faith in the crew "obviously they knew what they were doing". He didn't hear any of Moody's famous announcements. He's a very calm person and is unruffled by it all.

 

 

[Pearo]

I am stuck in indo at the moment due to the eruption of Mt Agung. People are upset that they can't fly out because there is no visible volcanic ash on the ground at Denpasar. Being stuck here is a problem for my business, but I would rather be on the ground stuck in a hotel than in a plane that is digesting volcanic ash.

 

 

[Birdseye]

Not a dig at Pearo, but I'm astonished at the number of people that are bleating about not being able to GET to Bali at the moment. I'd bet that if asked, none of them would be able to give their contingency plan for getting home again. It will be "somebody else's problem".

 

 

[Pearo]

Not a dig at Pearo, but I'm astonished at the number of people that are bleating about not being able to GET to Bali at the moment. I'd bet that if asked, none of them would be able to give their contingency plan for getting home again. It will be "somebody else's problem".

Yup, mad. I was here before the nonsense started. If I were elsewhere right now, I would be planning to stay away unless you were willing to enter/depart from Surabaya or Jakarta (which is my exit strategy if I cant get out by end of the weekend).

 

 

[Birdseye]

Latest VA advisory is looking a little more promising, but the wind is fickle.

 

 

 

[boleropilot]

hey Pearo, sit tight m8, I'll come and get ya in my Drifter - by the time I get there, that ash cloud will be just a 'unfond' memory...

 

BP

 

 

[Birdseye]

hey Pearo, sit tight m8, I'll come and get ya in my Drifter - by the time I get there, that ash cloud will be just a 'unfond' memory...BP

All quiet at the moment.....

 

 

[wanabigaplane]

What's the problem - just get a boat ride over to Xmas Island. Plenty of people have done this before.

 

 

[Birdseye]

What's the problem - just get a boat ride over to Xmas Island. Plenty of people have done this before.

I shudder to think of the ticket price for a family of four flying from Xmas Island via Perth to Melbourne or Adelaide.

 

 

[Pearo]

I got home finally.

 

All days bar about 3 were clear of ash, both visibly and forecast by VAAC in Darwin (BOM). The first day it was clear, Jetstar and Qantas flew in all scheduled flights + 6 recovery flights. Not only did Qantas fly in scheduled flights, they flew in a 747.

 

The first day it was safe, I think virgin did no flights. The second day,. virgin flew 2 of 3 scheduled flights and no extra recover flights. Apparently all flights were recover flights.

 

The whole time, none of the Aussie fleets operated after dark, which I understand. Part of the VAA was based on PIREPS and no pilot in their right mind would fly in to Denpasar without seeing what the ash cloud was doing.

 

When I finally got a flight out with virgin, I had to fly Denpasar, Darwin, Sydney. Brisbane. I was business class, but apparently it was more important to screw me around so I remained in business than to put me economy direct Denpasar to Brisbane, even why I said I was happy to fly (and pay for) economy. Not bad when I am a frequent flier. Recently ,they even sent an email congratulating me on how many hours I have spent with them and offering a substantial discount on business, and even that email only had about 10% of the flights I had done with Virgin.. Pretty obvious to me now they dont give a flog about their big spend customers. What pissed me off even more, is when we got to Darwin, Virgin said (and I have it in email and SMS) that we would be cleared by customs in Darwin. Instead, we had to remove all carry on, get scanned into Darwin terminal and then get holed up for 5 hours before we could continue to Sydney. Virgin did not even inform their own staff about what was going, they had no idea.

 

I switched from Qantas to Virgin about 13 years ago, and have been pretty loyal since. I get airlines have issues, and I get environmental conditions. What I want put up with is rubbish service as a reasonably high paying client. It annoyed me enough that I am going back to Qantas. Its just a shame I now have to work up a decent status with Qantas, and I still need to use up my FF points with Virgin.

 

From Virgin, October 18:

 

SHARE YOUR STATUS

 

(Go on, you've earned

 

the right to brag)

 

I think I have earned the right to brag about how shitty the service was too.

 

Speedbird 9 had no idea. Virgin did.

 

 

[facthunter]

Once you get off schedule things go pear shaped. That's the way it happens. The airport could even run out of fuel and customs will work at their own pace and local staff may run short of legal hours (rostering etc) Another brand may have a priority at certain aerodromes.Nev

 

 

[NinjaNate]

I got home finally.All days bar about 3 were clear of ash, both visibly and forecast by VAAC in Darwin (BOM). The first day it was clear, Jetstar and Qantas flew in all scheduled flights + 6 recovery flights. Not only did Qantas fly in scheduled flights, they flew in a 747.

 

The first day it was safe, I think virgin did no flights. The second day,. virgin flew 2 of 3 scheduled flights and no extra recover flights. Apparently all flights were recover flights.

 

The whole time, none of the Aussie fleets operated after dark, which I understand. Part of the VAA was based on PIREPS and no pilot in their right mind would fly in to Denpasar without seeing what the ash cloud was doing.

 

When I finally got a flight out with virgin, I had to fly Denpasar, Darwin, Sydney. Brisbane. I was business class, but apparently it was more important to screw me around so I remained in business than to put me economy direct Denpasar to Brisbane, even why I said I was happy to fly (and pay for) economy. Not bad when I am a frequent flier. Recently ,they even sent an email congratulating me on how many hours I have spent with them and offering a substantial discount on business, and even that email only had about 10% of the flights I had done with Virgin.. Pretty obvious to me now they dont give a flog about their big spend customers. What pissed me off even more, is when we got to Darwin, Virgin said (and I have it in email and SMS) that we would be cleared by customs in Darwin. Instead, we had to remove all carry on, get scanned into Darwin terminal and then get holed up for 5 hours before we could continue to Sydney. Virgin did not even inform their own staff about what was going, they had no idea.

 

I switched from Qantas to Virgin about 13 years ago, and have been pretty loyal since. I get airlines have issues, and I get environmental conditions. What I want put up with is rubbish service as a reasonably high paying client. It annoyed me enough that I am going back to Qantas. Its just a shame I now have to work up a decent status with Qantas, and I still need to use up my FF points with Virgin.

 

From Virgin, October 18:

 

SHARE YOUR STATUS

 

(Go on, you've earned

 

the right to brag)

 

I think I have earned the right to brag about how shitty the service was too.

 

Speedbird 9 had no idea. Virgin did.

Hi Pearo

Ive been a Virgin flier for the last decade or so and also do a far few miles each mth but i have recently switched back to qantas for similar reasons. I found the virgin service stds are nothing like they used to be and in comparison Ive been pleasantly surprised by the comparable levels on qantas.. even the meals seem better std and mlre generous.

 

Nate

 

 

[facthunter]

Qantas Must be a great Airline Just found out it's CEO gets 24 million dollars a year. Nuff said?

 

I do find THAT GROSS, but would I fly Qantas? YES. Nev

 

 

[Pearo]

Once you get off schedule things go pear shaped. That's the way it happens. The airport could even run out of fuel and customs will work at their own pace and local staff may run short of legal hours (rostering etc) Another brand may have a priority at certain aerodromes.Nev

I suspect its budget issues. I have noticed that they have progressively dropped all the decent lounges when flying international also.

 

Brave move though, piss off all your frequent flying and business customers.

 

 

[bexrbetter]

I have gone back to Qantas, much improved except the older female stewardesses are still b1tches. The stewards are great to make up for it though. Oddly they are now one of the cheapest carriers.

 

Upon saying that, I did just do a trip with Hainan Airlines, because it was a stupidily cheap price (and an A330) and I couldn't not take it ($550 Vs the next best at $790), but the service was just bad, not rude or anything, just unorganised and inexperienced, or bad training.

 

Oddly with Hainan being Chinese (which is ok for me because I speak Chinese) they had more leg room, and I confirmed that, 81cm Vs 79cm for Qantas.

 

 

[facthunter]

Possibly the Tec staff are just as badly trained as the cabin staff? What is YOUR life worth? Do you always buy the cheapest Car? Nev

 

 

[bexrbetter]

Possibly the Tec staff are just as badly trained as the cabin staff?

I live here, I know how where the bad service comes from and I have worked with hi tech people, I have no problems there.

 

And once again, a reminder that 5000 airliners are in the sky at any one time from all countries and airlines, they ain't dropping out of the sky, especially A330s, mind you I would rather walk than catch a plane with an African airlines. I am concerned of that point, I am due to be in Africa and travel internally in 2019.

 

What is YOUR life worth?

Obviously less than $790!

 

 

[Phil Perry]

I shudder to think of the ticket price for a family of four flying from Xmas Island via Perth to Melbourne or Adelaide.

Why's that mate ? surely Ryanair would do that route for $5 per person ?

 

 

[cooperplace]

I live here, I know how where the bad service comes from and I have worked with hi tech people, I have no problems there.And once again, a reminder that 5000 airliners are in the sky at any one time from all countries and airlines, they ain't dropping out of the sky, especially A330s, mind you I would rather walk than catch a plane with an African airlines. I am concerned of that point, I am due to be in Africa and travel internally in 2019.

 

Obviously less than $790!

first time I flew into Africa, the plane landed in Luanda and the runway was lined with crashed planes, about 6 on each side! Quite sobering. This was in 1994. They've cleaned them up now, obviously worried about the poor first impression.

 

 

[bexrbetter]

first time I flew into Africa, the plane landed in Luanda and the runway was lined with crashed planes, about 6 on each side! Quite sobering. This was in 1994. They've cleaned them up now, obviously worried about the poor first impression.

Google - 11 tourists killed in light aircraft crash in Tanzania - africanews

 

 

[farri]

The story of BA flight 009 and the words every passenger dreads ... | Daily Mail Online