Qantas pay battle strands family and wrecks Fiji holiday

A report in The Australian says that instead of enjoying Fiji ‘s tropical breezes and the prospect of a Pacific cruise, the Hanson family were back in Melbourne’s chilly Ringwood yesterday, their travel plans irretrievably disrupted by industrial action at Qantas.

The Hansons began planning their long-awaited holiday in September, with Wayne Hanson, a draughtsman, his wife Diane and two sons Brenton and Mitchell meant to fly to Sydney from Melbourne, to catch a connecting flight to Brisbane and then on to Nadi in Fiji.

But they had to cancel their holiday at the last minute because of a “maintenance issue” on the Melbourne-Sydney flight.

“We had already boarded the plane and we were told a small thing had come up and to get off the plane,” Mr Hanson said. “We didn’t get to board again for another 45 minutes.”

The Hansons arrived in Sydney too late for their flight to Brisbane and Fiji . They were forced to cancel the holiday after they were told that the next available flight to Nadi had just one free seat.

“If we waited for another flight, we couldn’t make our cruise so we had no choice but to cancel the holiday and head back home,” Mr Hanson said. “We were on the plane all set to leave and excited about the holiday, and then for it to be delayed the way it was, it was just shattering.”

Fortunately their holiday was covered by travel insurance, and with a bit of luck they will be able to take their trip when conditions for tourism have improved.

Qantas blamed the Hanson family’s misfortune on the disruption caused by the industrial action.

It said more than 20 flights were rescheduled or cancelled yesterday after hundreds of engineers said they would strike over the airline’s refusal to meet the demands of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association for 5 per cent wage rise for its members.

Domestic tourism and aviation have suffered a difficult time as industrial action bites at home, the cost of fuel soars and the strong Australian dollar keeps foreign tourists away.

The rising cost of fuel has taken its toll, forcing Qantas and Virgin to cancel flights.  Qantas announced this month that it would axe 14 flights from Cairns to Japan, prompting tourist operators to predict 1200 local jobs could be lost.

Virgin said it would cut its weekly flight from Proserpine, in the Whitsundays, to Sydney to try to save up to $50 million.

The ticket prices of both airlines have also been increased to cover the extra fuel costs.

Six flights from Sydney to Melbourne were cancelled yesterday, and a further 18 Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane flights will be affected today.

A Qantas spokeswoman said the airline was trying to minimise the inconvenience to passengers.

“We’ve reaccommodated all of the passengers.”  “They have been booked on flights on other services that are within an hour of their original flights,” she said. “We’ve been contacting passengers over the weekend.”

But at Sydney airport yesterday, stranded passengers were irritated because they were not told flights had been cancelled until they arrived at the airport.

None of the stranded passengers The Australian spoke to had been told by Qantas they had been placed on another flight.

One woman said she had been forced to wait an extra 3 1/2 hours at the airport because Qantas had not called her at the weekend to tell her of the cancellations.

“I understand these things happen but it would have been good to get a call and avoid the wait,” she said.

A Report by The Mole from the Australian