Qantas under fire after more than 200 passengers travelling to Sydney were stranded at a US airport for almost 24 hours – Sky News Australia

by | Jun 18, 2022 | AKT Engineering, Engineer, Engineer Sydney, Sydney Engineer

Hundreds of Qantas passengers were forced to either sleep on the floor of a US airport or find their own accommodation after an “engineering issue” on their plane left them stranded.
Qantas has come under fire after almost 200 passengers were forced to sleep on the floor or find alternate accommodation after being left stranded at an airport in the US state of Texas for almost 24 hours.
The Boeing 787-9 flight from Dallas Fort Worth Airport to Sydney was cancelled at 2am on Wednesday night due to an engineering issue, the Australian airline said.
But it was compounded further after it took longer than expected to fix, leading to the replacement flight being delayed for a second time due to curfew restrictions in the Harbour City, a Qantas spokesperson told SkyNews.com.au.
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The airline attempted to secure accommodation for the almost 200 passengers but a lack of hotel rooms and transport issues forced many to make their own arrangements.
Passenger Eleanor Gordon-Smith said while the airline promised to reimburse travel and accommodation fees, the closest hotel was a $100 Uber trip away.
Ms Gordon-Smith said they were told to check-in again at 9am the next morning, however, there were no ground staff when they arrived.
“Qantas cancelled QF8 at 2am. 300 people in an airport,” she said in a tweet which has since been deleted.
“OK, it happens. Then ‘we have no plan for hotels, keep your receipts’, so the people with liquidity took a $100 Uber to the only hotel. The rest slept on the floor.
“By this point it is Lord of the Flies. A planeload of people is at check in with nowhere to go and no guidance, the Qantas desk isn’t just unmanned it has become a Lufthsana desk, and 300 people have checked bags to nowhere.
“9am when we’d been told to check in… no Qantas staff came.”
One Twitter user expressed concerns for her “hysterical” teenager who was travelling with her elderly grandmother.
“Qantas can you give me an update on the QF8 leaving Dallas for Sydney tonight?” she tweeted.
“Is it true that it’s delayed until 1am? I have a hysterical 15–year-old travelling with her elderly grandma and neither of them know what’s going on with their flight.”
@Qantas can you give me an update on the QF 8 leaving Dallas for Sydney tonight? Is it true that it’s delayed until 1am? I have a hysterical 15 year old traveling with her elderly grandma and neither of them know what’s going on with their flight…
@QantasUSA @Qantas @9NewsAUS @10NewsFirst @7NewsAustralia
The mess we call Qantas flight from Dallas yesterday. Sleeping on the floor of the airport was not the problem it was no communication and no access to food as we couldn’t get past security without a boarding pass.
Another passenger said staff were doing their best to accommodate during the first instance but backed comments there were no staff when they turned up for the flight the next morning.
“Staff of course were doing their absolute best in awful circumstances last night, but there just aren’t any staff on the ground today to update/assist people stuck at the airport?” she tweeted.
“Feel sick for the family with four kids under six. Just awful.”
One traveller complained about the lack of communication and access to food as the airport closed for the night.
“Sleeping on the floor of the airport was not the problem, it was no communication and no access to food as we couldn’t get past security without a boarding pass,” another tweeted.
A Qantas spokesperson said they understood it was a “difficult situation” for our customers and apologised for the inconvenience.
“Our team at Dallas Fort Worth Airport provided customers with assistance after the initial delay and again ahead of the delayed departure,” the spokesperson told SkyNews.com.au.
The airline said they will be in contact with all passengers from the flight that landed in Sydney on Friday morning.
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