James & Vilija

QF029
MEL-HKG-LHR
ETD - 8/9/2006, 23:00

Having returned to Australia unexpectedly, our flying trip was over when we headed to Melbourne Airport to fly back home. We originally thought that our flight went through Singapore we quickly found out that it was actually through Hong Kong. Oh well, no duty free shopping for us we thought and what another great opportunity to appreciate Renzo Piano’s architecture again.

Everything went well, we had secured emergency aisle seats and quickly boarded. Sitting there we introduced ourselves to our row mate and chatted as you do when waiting for the flight to leave. We were advised by the captain that we were slightly delayed because of a slight “engineering problem”. This was soon sorted out and we continued to wait for the final bags to be loaded.

Then all of a sudden, the internal phone that the Air Crew use sounds a lot and there was a lot of commotion around the middle of the cattle class cabin. After another extended period of waiting the Pilot announced that a passenger had had a severe medical problem and was in extreme pain. An ambulance was called for and the passenger was offloaded. He was very fortunate that we were not in the air at the time.

As he was leaving the flight, his bags had to follow so we were grounded again whilst the baggage handlers found his bags and offloaded them. Once found we were good to go…

Or so we thought, the pilot then came on the PA system and announced that the part that was broken and was fixed, was now broken again. Well, better to break on the ground. The ground crew were working on the problem but it was not long before it was determined that this part was not fixable and required replacement.

The part, however, was not in stock in Melbourne and had to come down from Sydney. Being after midnight at the time this meant an indefinite delay as nothing comes in/out of Australia’s “Principle” Airport between 11pm and 6am. A few loud sighs were emitted at this news. We still remained patiently on the plane.

The next announcement made was that the Ground Engineers had managed to repair the part (is there anything engineers can’t do????? ), we were ready to depart. Engines were started, we pushed back from the gantry and were on our way.

Or not. As soon as the pusher tractor disconnected the pilot came back on the radio and informed us in a very sympathetic tone that the problem that had been a problem, then was fixed, only to be a problem again and fixed again, was a problem once again. At this time we were also informed that the flight would have to be rescheduled till the next day as the pilots would exceeded their mandatory maximum awake time if the flight was to proceed with anymore of a delay.

Back to the gate we went. At this time the crew knew as much as the rest of the passengers and we collectively felt like pack mushrooms. It was close to 1am by this time.

The night continued to go downhill from here as the mammoth task of placating irate business and first class passengers as well as organising transport and accommodation for a COMPLETELY full Boeing 747-400 (~380 people) began.

We were held on the plane as my wonderful (sic) friends at Australian Customs and Immigration wanted to keep the recently arrived Emirates flight and us separate. (Check back soon for an open letter to Customs and Immigration).

We were eventually cleared, only to enter another queue with red eyed, exhausted Qantas staff sorted out transport and accommodation for everyone. A confusion with the organised buses later, we arrived at the Rydges Melbourne hotel at 4am with a smile, room key and the news that the busses would be leaving for the Airport at 7am the next day. Some sleep is better than none.

It is worth mentioning here that throughout this ordeal, the entire Qantas air crew was brilliant. Fielding the same questions from tired passengers over and over again and trying to look after those that needed more assistance. With the exception of being severely understaffed in the airport (not surprising given that we must have been the last Qantas flight out that evening and were scheduled to depart over 3 hours earlier) nothing more could have been done.

This morning we reluctantly rose and made our way back to the airport to try again. At the airport we were greeted with the biggest check in queues at Melbourne Airport I have ever seen. At the time I counted 6 Qantas flights departing within 1.5hours of each other and all using the same check in counters. This roughly equates to 2000+ people. It turns out that we were not the only flight to be cancelled the night before and Emirates also had a rescheduled flight. Consequently the airport was a mess and we were delayed for a further1.5 hours from the originally anticipated departure time as the baggage system was overloaded. (I think Melbourne Airport might have a de-briefing meeting on Monday morning to work out why it didn’t cope…)

After one of the slowest and most excruciating takeoffs I have ever experienced, we must be an extremely heavy lot today) our trusty old 747-400 lumbered into the air and we are now on our way to Hong Kong, London, Milan then home :-D.

For those curious, I am just too tired to sleep.

P.S: Another delay and brief hotel stay at Heathrow and an hour+ late train leaving Milan sees us finally on our way home…

P.P.S: We have arrived!!!! Time, Sunday Afternoon, 3:10pm (11:10pm Melbourne Time). Total door-to-door travel time 51hours…

Tags: qantas, travel

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