It’s not turning out to be a particularly joyful Christmas period for Qantas after mechanical problems affected three long-haul flights.
Around 300 frustrated Qantas passengers were stranded in Los Angeles after two aborted flights, causing them to miss Christmas Day in Australia even though they had reservations to fly to Melbourne last week.
In a separate incident on Christmas Day, another Qantas flight to South Africa suddenly diverted four and a half hours into its flight as it approached the coast of Antarctica.
Emergency crews met the plane on the tarmac when it returned to Sydney Airport, where it had taken off, about nine hours later.
QF63, which is an Airbus A380, left Sydney for Johannesburg shortly before 10am on December 25, but returned to Sydney at 7.30pm after suffering an unspecified mechanical problem.
A Qantas spokesperson said: “The pilots followed normal procedures and returned to Sydney to have the plane checked by engineers.”
“Customers will be re-accommodated for a service tomorrow morning and we would like to thank them for their patience and understanding,” the spokesperson said.
No injuries were reported.
Emergency vehicles were called to the tarmac at Sydney Airport on Wednesday night when a Qantas plane was forced to turn around and return after leaving for Johannesburg in the morning.
The Qantas flight to Johannesburg on Wednesday was forced to turn around about four and a half hours into its flight.
Meanwhile, in the United States, QF94 was scheduled to depart Los Angeles International Airport bound for Melbourne on December 22 at 8:30 pm local time.
However, despite passengers boarding the plane shortly before its scheduled takeoff time, it sat idle on the tarmac for six hours, according to Perth-based sports podcaster Will Schofield.
“Qantas boarded all customers and kept them on the flight for 6 hours until finally disembarking everyone at 2am,” Schofield tweeted on Tuesday.
‘Several passengers have been stranded at LAX for more than 48 hours.
‘Qantas communication is exceptionally poor, at this stage it is still unclear how – 300 passengers will return to Australia. They missed Christmas Eve and Christmas.
Schofield said the flight was rescheduled for 10:30 p.m. on December 23, but again it did not fly.
“Approximately 30 minutes before departure, Qantas once again canceled the flight citing the same engineering issue,” Schofield tweeted.
‘Qantas knew it wasn’t going to fly. He sent text messages to passengers saying there was a 90 minute delay about 4 hours earlier. None of the crew came to the door.
‘SPIRIT OF AUSTRALIA?’
A Qantas spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday that the Boeing 787 Dreamliner due to fly on December 22 had suffered a hydraulic problem that engineers were unable to fix, meaning a replacement aircraft had to be brought in.
“We would like to sincerely apologize to all customers affected by the significant delay to our Los Angeles – Melbourne flight,” the spokesperson said.
‘We understand how disappointing and frustrating this experience would have been, especially for those missing Christmas Day with their loved ones.
“We are reaching out to customers to offer compensation and want to thank them for their patience and understanding.”
It is understood that Qantas offered accommodation, transfers, food vouchers and the possibility of choosing between frequent flyer points or a travel voucher as compensation for passengers stuck in Los Angeles.
After finally boarding a working plane, the rescheduled customers will arrive in Melbourne this evening.