A380=disrupted travel

[whanafi]

Just back from a really bad set of A380 flights.

SQ346 to Zurich departing on Sep27. Go around on final approach into Zurich, which was a first for me on A380. Pilot was pretty good about explaining what was going on. Aircraft ILS failed on approach, and the fog was too heavy to see the runway.

We ended up circling around for a while, and then he made the decision to divert to Frankfurt. Landed in Frankfurt, but then taxied to cargo area, so it was pretty clear they were not intending to let us off plane. Sebastian Vettel was on board BTW.

After a couple of hours on the ground, it was announced that we were flying back to Zurich. Had missed the meeting I had flown over for, but glad to finally get off plane. As we taxied, pilot announced that the ILS failed again during approach. Luckily he could land VFR.

My return was on Oct5 out of LHR on SQ321, the night flight. At 14:00 got a call from SQ London operations saying that the flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems, and that it would leave the next morning. I called SQ reservations to try and get an alternative routing home through Frankfurt, which was refused, or Munich the next morning, also refused. It was clear they wanted to keep people on the original flight. I finally insisted that without any evidence the plane was actually on the way to London, I wanted to be booked on the scheduled morning flight, SQ317, which I managed to get a seat on.

So for a very expensive business class ticket, I ended up with a missed meeting and an extra night in a hotel. No communication from SQ re expenses incurred.

I miss the 747

[SQ228]

What I've always seen as a drawback of the A380 is that when they fail, there's nothing even close to their capacity to replace them, except maybe a 747, which SQ now have none available, and those they do are also playing up. I suppose eventually they may have a surplus A380 ready for redeployment with a little juggling, but they don't exactly have a price tag which makes them a cost-effective decoration on the tarmac.

The other problem when they fail is that instead of handling 300 passengers needing accommodation, rebooking or refreshment, they can now have almost 500. An unexpected arrival of 500 people is a situation that any hospitality operation would struggle to handle well. I really feel for the staff who have to contain such a situation.

[UMD]

First of all, welcome to SQTalk, whanafi!

I do empathize with you about the disruption to your travel that caused you to miss your meeting in Zurich but I think it is not fair to sum it all up as A380 = disrupted travel.

I have travelled a lot of times on A380 especially during the early days of introduction by SQ and as late as 3 days ago and never once had I experienced any disruption to any of my A380 flights. I have also enjoyed every single flight I have had on it and believed it is one of the most comfortable aircraft to travel on.

All aircraft go tech once in a while and maybe it was your luck to experience it twice in a row with the same type of aircraft.

[cscs1956]

What I've always seen as a drawback of the A380 is that when they fail, there's nothing even close to their capacity to replace them, except maybe a 747, which SQ now have none available, and those they do are also playing up. I suppose eventually they may have a surplus A380 ready for redeployment with a little juggling, but they don't exactly have a price tag which makes them a cost-effective decoration on the tarmac.

The other problem when they fail is that instead of handling 300 passengers needing accommodation, rebooking or refreshment, they can now have almost 500. An unexpected arrival of 500 people is a situation that any hospitality operation would struggle to handle well. I really feel for the staff who have to contain such a situation.

How can we say "An unexpected arrival of 500 ....".
When SQ get A380, they should already plan for unexpected.

[benlee]

I only experienced one outage of the A380 and that's for a morning flight departing SIN to HK, apparently some kind of electronic communication problem. After they couldn't fix the problem, SQ de-plane the passengers and swap with another A380. Total delay time about 3 hrs. Not much a hassle for me except it's kind of strange to have breakfast items during early afternoon.

However, I always feel the A380 seems to experience turbulence more frequently than other aircraft types. It's kind of "shake" more often. Not sure if it's due to the size. Some of our forum members who fly more often can perhaps enlighten on this point.

[kelvgoh]

How can we say "An unexpected arrival of 500 ....".
When SQ get A380, they should already plan for unexpected.

Hi - may I ask whether you have actually ever flown an A380 before?

Perhaps then you may realise that it's not like, well, for example, driving a taxi. Can't just flag down another taxi to pick up your passengers if you need to pull over along the ECP/PIE or whatever road in Singapore.

[SQ_fanatic]

Hi - may I ask whether you have actually ever flown an A380 before?

Perhaps then you may realise that it's not like, well, for example, driving a taxi. Can't just flag down another taxi to pick up your passengers if you need to pull over along the ECP/PIE or whatever road in Singapore.

As a fair statement, I guess they should have had a contigency plans in place. Maybe not in the sense of pulling an aircraft to 'take over' but managing the customers (hotel accomodation, change of flights to other carriers, etc). IMO, in such situations, SQ should have the resources to manage it well. If SQ cant do it then who else can do a better job?

[Jumbojet Lover]

However, I always feel the A380 seems to experience turbulence more frequently than other aircraft types. It's kind of "shake" more often. Not sure if it's due to the size. Some of our forum members who fly more often can perhaps enlighten on this point.

I've taken the A380 a few times and it actually feels very stable compared to smaller aircraft. And it isn't because I sit at the wing area. I always sit near the aft of the aircraft.

About delays, I've only experienced it once, NRT-SIN. it was a 3-hour delay. Think it was some electrical or air-conditioning issue.

[cscs1956]

Hi - may I ask whether you have actually ever flown an A380 before?

Perhaps then you may realise that it's not like, well, for example, driving a taxi. Can't just flag down another taxi to pick up your passengers if you need to pull over along the ECP/PIE or whatever road in Singapore.

Frequent enough. You comparison is fuuny and looks childish? You are compare multi million $ operation with a small little taxi? However, you point out a very important point. Yes, we can always flag down another taxi when taxi failed. This show how important to make sure these multi million $ equipment(s) perform what they are suppose to other desruption is going to be great.

In Aug/2011 alone. There is at least 3 delay from Hong Kong back to Singapore. I am on 2 of them (my relative on the other one). May be you would like to refer to other website on report of these delayed.

I do hope SQ is doing their best to prevent these delay as it seem some same problem is reported on most of them. For your infor, these delay is not just happening on SQ. So AirBus should be very worry and trying to find way to fix these issues right now.

I am sure passenger deserved to have some compensation for the dalay. Same for SQ to Airbus company.

[cscs1956]

As a fair statement, I guess they should have had a contigency plans in place. Maybe not in the sense of pulling an aircraft to 'take over' but managing the customers (hotel accomodation, change of flights to other carriers, etc). IMO, in such situations, SQ should have the resources to manage it well. If SQ cant do it then who else can do a better job?

You have speak right to the point.
We all know new equipment may subject for problems. This is where the value of a company on how to recover from it.

Otherwise what makes SQ different from other A380 operator? Is it the attitude of other operator also sufer the same problem ?

[9V-JKL]

Welcome to SQT, whanafi!

All aircraft go tech once in a while and maybe it was your luck to experience it twice in a row with the same type of aircraft.

+1. I too think you were most unfortunate.

[scooby5]

I only experienced one outage of the A380 and that's for a morning flight departing SIN to HK, apparently some kind of electronic communication problem. After they couldn't fix the problem, SQ de-plane the passengers and swap with another A380. Total delay time about 3 hrs. Not much a hassle for me except it's kind of strange to have breakfast items during early afternoon.

I had exactly the same problem (performance computer failure), more than once but on the way back from HKG. The first time it was just a delay of half an hour but the second time also resulted in de-planing and, for us, re-booking on UA some hours later (yuck).

That second incident also had the aircraft without air conditioning on the tarmac so two problems at one hit.

In Aug/2011 alone. There is at least 3 delay from Hong Kong back to Singapore. I am on 2 of them (my relative on the other one). May be you would like to refer to other website on report of these delayed.

Maybe I was on the same one as you then too



The A380 in SQ hands does seem to be causing problems and it would be interesting to compare daily issues with the others using A380 (obviously discount the Qantas incident of BANG). I like the aircraft itself though, reasonably quiet and airy.

[kelvgoh]

Frequent enough. You comparison is fuuny and looks childish? You are compare multi million $ operation with a small little taxi?

Wow.

http://www.sqtalk.com/forum/showpost...6&postcount=20

Back on point though, and in defence (and not blindly so) of the A380 - I've flown on the A380 22 times this year, both on SQ and Emirates. I've only ever had a delay once - which was due to air traffic congestion on the inbound flight. Every other time I have had a smooth flight, quiet and comfortable. Which is why I have no qualms choosing to fly the A380. If one doesn't feel comfortable doing so, then there are many other aircraft/airlines operating on SQ's chosen routes (often at cheaper prices). I don't see the point in being angry or confrontational when the easiest option is clearly to "walk away".

Remember the furore over the GE engines when the 77W first entered into service? Shrugs.

I'm sorry that whanafi really had the short end of the stick on his trip, and perhaps SQ London could have handled it better. But I do know a lot of other airlines that do not give you 8 hours notice that your flight is not going to be on time and thus try to avoid going to the airport.

The interesting thought though is whether passengers on the rescheduled SQ321A got service recovery options on the delayed flight - perhaps by flying on 317 you may have missed out on it?

[sqdazz]

and one time I was delayed 4 hours on a 747 flight due mechanical problems. shocking isn't it

[Audio]

I too have flew on the A380 many times before and I am happy with the performance.....quiet and spacious.

I did encountered a delay once....in Paris last year where we were put on-hold at the boarding gate for some 6 hours. The defect was a fuel leak.

They took us back to the city of Paris and put us into Le Meridian for a night. Provided us a good dinner and breakfast before ferrying us to the airport again to take the flight home to Singapore.

They could have risk it and fly us home but they didn't and play it safe....and incurred all the expenses to keep all the passengers happy...i cannot ask for more.


(Audio)