Massive Delay on the VS 601 (JNB) tonight - 4/8/06

I am on the VS601 to JNB this evening and heard from a friend at 7.45am that the JNB would probably be delayed to 03h00 tomorrow am!!!.[:(!] I spoke to the Premier Team at 9.00am who said that they had not heard anything - and then said "hang on, something has just come through!". Oh -yes it will be delayed but no time has been given - there will be an up date at noon".They said they would probably call me after noon.

Then i was told at about 11.00am (not by VAA) that it will now probably depart at 08h00 tomorrow am. A 13hr delay!! [V]This buggers up some plans but then i suppose it does for about 300 odd others too!
Does anyone know any more info?.
I suppose some people have already making their way to LHR from further afield. What are the alternatives? Will VAA try and re route passengers or does that not come into the equation?
Any ideas guys??

Cheers

Zambandit

Hi Richard, looking at LHR flight arrivals the inbound 251 from Shanghai is mega delayed - from 16:15 to 01:23, and that's still estimated looking at flight status on va.com. Sounds like they can't lay on a substitute aircraft if Premier Team are saying the JNB flight will be subject to a delay?

VS have issues with a lack of metal today!!

This mornings 201 from HKG/SYD is not due back to LHR until 2250 tonight.

G-VWKD is still parked at HKG out of action, Today's inbound PVG sector is running approx 10 hours down as previously said.

Feel sorry for you Zambandit but I cannot see you going anywhere until tommorrow morning. [:#]

Hi James
I suppose there is plenty of juggling around of aircraft - the VS 200 is delayed a couple of hours outbound, but a 13 hr one on the JNB is a bit steep! I wonder why logistically, they can't pinch an aircraft -say the VS17 to Newark as they have more than 1 flight a day there, and delay that one!!! I'm just being greedy i know, as i want to get there with less of a delay!!!
Maybe one of the V-Flyer logistics guys can enlighten me.

Cheers
Richard

I'm guessing that this all has to do with the Typhoon in HKG yesterday.
HKG flight diverted to PVG and sat there for a long time. SYD Flights cancelled and so, including the aircraft still in engineering (I think) in HKG there must have been about 4 or 5 A340-600s stuck at various destinations (PVG/HKG/SYD) for a considerable time with nothing anyone could do for moving them.

Its likely that flight planning would delay the flights with the lightest loads and most chance of re-protecting passengers onto other airlines... but its August and most of our routes are packed, as are all other carriers.

At the moment informations likely to be a bit sketchy until final decisions have been made and arrival times for the incoming delayed aircraft have been confirmed.

Of course I could be totally wrong... but thats my educated guess.

Cheers Ben

I suppose all the loads are high at present - looked at the JNB loading yesterday and economy was full, PE full too and UC had 10 spare. There were some waitlisted passengers so this flight looked quite full too.
I will wait for info from VAA - if and when the phone.
Cheers
Richard

Oh and I've just heard the Diverted 2 Aug LHRHKG which went to PVG, spent rest hours in PVG then took off again has had to divert a second time to PVG due to further worsening of weather at HKG.

Not terribly nice for the passengers and crew!

The obvious flights to try and cancel in order to release an aircraft are the JFK flights, assuming they aren't fully booked, and there's space available to re-accomodate the displaced pax.

There's a lot of flights to JFK these days on VS, most of the JFK flights are also on A340 equipment (which is what there's a shortage of), and JFK is likely to have a high proportion of O&D pax (than EWR, say).

You've also got a lot of BA and AA flights that may be able to take up some slack, if you want to re-protect people on other carriers.

From a crewing point of view, they are probably also the easiest to "normalise", in that they are only an out-and-back, with one overnight stop, rather than a multi-sector, requiring multi-night rest, or a "W".

Having a whole string of aircraft stuck at various down-line destinations is a genuine problem, especially for a tightly resourced fleet such as VS, and I'm not trying to second guess the flight ops guys!

Cheers,
Mike

I would imagine that rerouting a JFK a/c gives VS less options than the JNB flight due to the difference in the time away from base. The JNB flight return flight is 36 hours (including time on the ground) whereas a JFK flight is only away about 16 hours. As a result you would need to cancel two JFKs for the loss of only 1 JNB.

I would imagine the Ops guys are doing their job in trying to minimize disruption and figure a JNB delay makes more sense than a JFK cancellation.

Phil FM

It appears there have also been very poor weather conditions in NYC as well, with long delays at JFK for departing aircraft which has also caused more problems for the JNB flight. (one JFK Flight left 4 hours late last night due to ramp congestion).

Hi All
Since i had no call from the Premier Team yet, since my 9.00am call to them - i decided to follow up.
As far as they are aware it is scheduled for an 8.00am departure tomorrow. There are no other flights to put us on in the mean time - or so i am told.
I will be immensely peeved if they end up cancelleing this flight - i have this sneaky suspicion it won't go at 8.00am (gut feeling and my past 4 flights in the last 3 months with VAA have all been delayed for various reasons).

Today's LHR-JNB sector is scheduled for an 08.00 departure tommorrow morning. It will be operated by G-VATL which is currently inbound from PVG - Due back at LHR at 02.45 tommorrow morning.

Make sure they keep the CH open all night Zambandit... [}:)]

This really is the season for delays. VS16 is showing a 22 hour delay.

As I went through security yesterday at LHR I got talking with some Austaralians who had an overnight delay on their flight becasue fo the Typhoon and the late arrival of the inbound Quantas fligth from Singapore - thy had had hotels for the night

Since Zambandit has not updated you/us on his travels since 13.00 on Friday 4th, I can give you a little update on his flight.

VS601 on Friday 4th actually departed at 04.00 (-ish) on Saturday 5th.

(Some of my colleagues loaded the aircraft, and they were back in the car-park at 04.15, having worked overtime since 23.00 the previous evening. FWIW, the evening Cathay flight was also delayed, and didn't leave until nearly 01.00 on Saturday morning).

Hi Biggles
Sorry for the long delay, but only got back from SA this am.
Actually, the flight left at about 9.15am on Sat 5th August.
We were informed that it would be an 08h00 departure - so arrived at around 05h00 to empty desks - which opened at 06h00.... anyway no one around to inform us at check in but we managed to get through after a bit of hassle (more to follow on a update later).
We arrived in JNB at around 20h00 on the Sat 5th.
I have had no miles for the trip credited yet nor any info on if a 13hr delay warrants any type of compensation? (maybe some miles!!) Anyone to give me info if we are entitled to anything (2 x Z class seats)

Cheers
Richard

I'd check your travel insurance as our insurance covers us for some compensation for the delay. Even the insurance we have with our plat amex offers money if the delay goes over just a few hours.