Unacceptable QF Communication, Mismanagement and Question on Customer Rights (QF1 23.12)

Seriously, please... Al Ain is a largish city of 650k people on the Oman border. The airport caters for some 4000pax/week flying mostly to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. It would be like landing at Alice Springs on a long weekend after a big night out...no one home, least not serious ground support. Everyone is alive but a little creased and suffering a first world problem, not somewhere on time. Breath-in and breath-out. Ahhhh, so much better now... :)

Now that I have said this I bet that I end up somewhere similar in Jan on the way to London on QF1...!!!

After being in numerous similar situations (stuck in LA after A380 grounding, stuck in HK due to typhoon, diverted to Wuhan due to weather in Shanghai and spending 7 hours on the plane before being sent to a hotel) i sympathise with your situation. Unfortunately as i discovered on a diverted Thai Airways flight that there is not a lot the airline can actually do. They are often merely conveying the vague information that they have received themselves. I suspect that this is part of the reason why Qantas is leaving Dubai. The airport is so far over capacity that any incident causes chaos. I am much happier that they are returning to Singapore. Far less conjestion and less issues.

"basically totally ruined Christmas" is drawing a very long bow, and the 10+ hours without food myth has been debunked by qantas.

People, Just as a fact: on that day 2 other aircrafts were diverted to AAN: An Air France B773 (AF662) and a Kenya Air B788 (KQ310).

In the Crown Plaza DXB on Xmas eve my wife met some pax from the affected AF flight: well guess what: AF organised busses from Dubai to pick up all Pax (incl luggage). AF pax had to remain in plane for “only” 2.5h before brought safely to Dubai Hotel. AF made clear that pax will have to stay overnight and be put on flights on 25.12 - just a reminder: QF pax had to wait for 9h on the plane, then let off, food was then available FOR PURCHASE (not provided as QF claims) and 5h later they flew to DXB where only then and there pax received news that they would have to stay overnight in Dubai. Why couldn’t QF notify pax earlier? Clearly the lady on QF hotline knew this already hours before, as she told me.

Although resources are understandingly extremely limited at AAN for such emergency, generally speaking QF knew long time before QF1 was actually diverted to AAN that there would be possible trouble as planes were circling around DXB for hours before QF1s actual landing. How come AF can manage and QF not??

It’s pointless to argue now about the “could haves & should haves” - please let let it be.

Bottom line it comes down to 3 things:

1) resources: how many resources is an airline willing to allocate to troubleshoot unexpected situations? QF did in this case (for QF1 and QF2, 9 and 10) a horrible job, and clearly prioritises “no expenses & no responsibilities” before “customer first / help” (just read recent Qantas Twitter replies about HOW MANY passengers are frustrated with QF’s incompetency - waiting for 5h at LHR no info whatsoever from ground staff)

2) communication: QF should have tweeted or informed the public in some other way, in a PROACTIVE and TIMELY fashion that flight was diverted and long delays are to be expected. I think people would have still been angry but at least could adjust their expectations & hopes that they will miss Xmas (it’s called “expectation management” btw qf); and

3) Apologetic: it would go a long way to send at least an automated email to affected pax with something like: “we sincerely apologise for the experienced delay / flight cancellation, but unfortunately it was outside of our control. We would love to greet you on board soon!”

In summary Qantas has failed completely in managing this situation and showing decency. Proactive communication and an apology would have cost QF 0 cents but would have helped tons. IMO QF is too arrogant to take responsibility, communicate clearly and show customers respect. If this would happen with some ultra low cost carrier I would not complain but I really find it unacceptable from an airline which charges a premium.

I and approx 1000+ other pax simply feel let down by Qantas. At least this has been mentioned on the news. Lets hope QF (and the airline industry) learns from this fiasco and we don't ever have to see a person with Parkinson's disease being trapped on a plane for 23hrs+

There are two crews on an a380! One lot surely would have been resting. Why could they have not let dubai passengers off and continued on to London? Thats why planes have rest areas - so crews can rest!

Also couldnt the new crew taking over in Dubai come by road and fly plane on to London

I feel for the PAX after being stuck on A VA flight last month from LAX to MEL with virtually inedible food for 15 hours due to (well discussed) catering issues at LAX. We weren't told about the problem til locked in and pushed back.

The only international services al ain gets seems to be air India express and some other regional carriers - I doubt their ability to handle an a380 hence why no one could be offloaded and processed through immigration - I doubt customs would even be open if it landed at 1am.. Would they even have gates/stairs for an a380? I wonder where Emirates diverts there a380s. Was wondering why QF would divert to Al ain. They could have done Abu Dhabi or Doha even?. Had similar situation with Cubana diverting to regional airport in Mexico due to MEX intl airport closed for fog. Sat on plane for 4 hours - compensation? Haha yeah right. Food - forget it - wouldn’t want to eat it anyway there’s a reason they were in top 6 worst airlines!

If you want compo read your travel insurance policy about flight delays..

All of this could have been prevented had a few things been in place.

Originally Posted by Doubleplatinum

I have kids and don't feel I deserve special treatment, but would love for you to sit next to my three year old when she is Hangry!

Interesting thread and undoubtedly there is room for improvement when it comes to Qantas communicating with its customers (generally, I find this to be where QF has the greatest issue). I've been stuck on a plane on the ground for a few hours and it is pretty horrible...