big_matt

Hi everyone,

I'm doing my annual trip home next month and for the first time ever its on Qantas. With all their problems recently my partner is getting a bit nervous about flying with them. I see yet another of their 747's was grounded at heathrow today for a damaged rudder, and that their flight crews may strike over safety concerns.

I booked through expedia.

a) Do I have any grounds to ask for our carrier to be switched?
b) Are we worried about nothing?

Cheers

scrappyhappy8

think you worrying about nothing

MarkandS

I hope so as we are flying with them in Jan. Am looking at the recent 'problem' will actually make them safer as they will have had to inspect all their aircraft thoroughly.

Mark

big_matt

Yea hope its worrying about nothing.

SACA have said they will investigate QANTAS safety in the next few weeks. Will see what the outcome of that is. There have been 8 incidents now in last two weeks so although the media maybe exagerrate them its not what you want to hear when you are about to spend 50 hours on their planes!

Mitra and Ahura

big-matt, I understand your concerns, I would be worrying too especially as its such a long flight. I cant beleive that 8 incidents have happend all of a sudden! whats going on with them!! But if you think about it in a more positive light, Quantas is the ONLY airline in the world that has had no fatalities (except one man who died on the ground from a refuling incident!) Do you remember the scene in Rain Man when Dustin Hoffman wouldnt fly on any other airline because he would only trust Quantas as it was the only airline whith no fatalities? Well after 20 years its still hasnt had any major crashes and not one person has died as a result of a crash.

I would say to your self that even though these planes have had these problems, they all have still managed to land safeley and thats quite reasurring. So I think there is nothing to worry about. The chances of anything happening is so rare. Hope you enjoy your visit

Amazulu

Worrying about nothing. Think about it. They inspected the plane at Heathrow, found a fault with the rudder and did not fly.

Sounds safe to me.

big_matt

Thanks for the replies everyone - very reassuring.

Expedia have said to me that I cannot change carrier so will have to go qantas regardless. They also said most of their calls today have been people cancelling qantas flights!

Cheers again for the responses.

nickyjohnt

I think all the publicity Qantas have had recently is due to them wanting to take job's overseas. Every other Airline and business looks at the finicial side of things but it doesn't meant short cuts on the safety side.
The media jump on this and blow it out of proportion. When was the last disaster where an aircraft dropped out the skies? It does happen and thankfully not often. Faults do occur and every company do what they can to rectify this if this means grounding an aircraft surely this is a good thing.
Don't worry as they wouldn't want more bad publcity the planes will be fine enjoy your flight

John

Maple Leaf

very true!

i have had delayed flights due to an inspection finding something that needed attention.

better that we know they are doing them and fixing things than not doing them and not fixing them.

i am a bit of a nervous traveller as it is. however! i would be more thinking that Qantas is stepping up even more so now.

by the time you take your flight, you will probably be on the safest plane in the world.

oh an another word of comfort. i used to work at sydney airport and was told more than once by engineers there, ' do not worry as we are so far away (aussie land) from the rest of the world airlines send their top of the fleet planes on these long distance flights' when my eyes popped at that ...hehee i was then told, think about it..if you had 2 cars ..one was newer and had air conditioning, cd player etc etc..and the other still ran well but was a little older which one would you take...

Centurion

I've just flown back from Los Angeles with Air New Zealand and had a change of plane and 2 hour delay in Aukland thanks to the aircraft not being serviceable.

Couple of months back same thing with Singapore Air. I've actually been delayed more than a day with Emirates.

My point is that technical problems happen every day to every airline.

anawanahuanana

CASA are indeed investigating QANTAS at the moment, but any adverse findings will probably never see the light of day in the public domain. The relationship between the two is very close, and many in the industry feel it is too close for CASA to really regulate and oversee QF effectively.

While it may not have had any fatalities in the past, that by itself does not make it a safe airline in the future. British Airways has not killed any passengers for a very long time (1976 was the last time in a mid-air collision) and I would rather fly on them ahead of QF any day. QANTAS should have had the 747 they crashed in Bangkok in 1999 scrapped but in wanting to keep their untarnished reputation for never writing off a jet aircraft intact, they paid more than it was worth to put it back in the air.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but I can assure you that this is not true in my experience. Airline Operations departments have a list of aircraft types and they know which types are suitable for which routes in terms of range, payload etc. Aircraft routings are created to take into account maintenance and operational requirements, but nobody makes sure they put the better condition aircraft on the "Aussie" routes. Unless the aircraft is already carrying a specific defect, all of the same type are treated exactly the same regardless of if they are 2 months old, or 20 years old. Besides, how would anybody really know if one aircraft was better than another? You can have lots of problems with a brand new one, and yet one which is 15 years old could fly for weeks without any problems.

Absolutely correct. Unfortunately for QANTAS (and fortunately for Virgin Blue I guess) the press have decided to hit them hard. They have no more technical issues with their fleet than any other large airline. It's just the good old Aussie media having a go at the "big guy" because that is what they like to do best. They'll move on to some other company (probably Virgin or Jetstar!) soon enough.

As to the OP; Fly on QANTAS and be happy that you are going to get to your destination in one piece. The most dangerous thing on a long haul QF flight are the cabin crew

mr mover

Talking to a friend that is in the business, he tells me that QANTAS engineers are reporting every "little " thing they can find wrong with a plane, stuff they would normally sign off on' and get done during general mantenance.
This is due to pay and condition disputes they are having with Qantas, and the fact that a lot of maintenance is being done off shore, hence the sudden increase in shut downs, once reported an event has to be acted on.......mm

themerlin

There is a bit of a witch hunt with Qantas here at the moment.
All airlines have these sort of problems but you normally don't hear about them.
But at the moment if a cup of tea is spilt on the flight it's front page news.

Still would fly Qantas though, but thats due to the fact that the competition is better

CH33ZEBURG3R

Well we are flying with Qantas next month (23rd) so great if everyone is cancelling their flights that means more room for me right??
Just think i may even get to sneak into Buisness class

DunRoaminTheUK

I think the Australian press are having a 'feeding frenzy' with Qantas at the moment and this is the result. I wouldn't worry too much.