AuzzeeOne

AA73 LAX-SYD encountered an extensive delay last night:
Scheduled: 10.30pm Jan 28
Delayed: 9am Jan 29

This then in turn, delayed AA72 SYD-LAX for ~11 hours. Now, tonight’s AA73 is delayed again until tomorrow morning at 9am. EF shows that they are delayed because of the initial AirCon repair that needed to be done last night.

Question - how long does it typically take to catch up? I’m already seeing a delay for tomorrow nights flight too, although it’s only 45 minutes. I’m flying this route on Sunday, and just curious as to how long it could take to catch up?

Thanks in advance for any insight!

shd9

First, a quick clarification: A/C on EF probably means AirCraft, vs Air Conditioning, so it could be any sort of maintenance issue.

LAX isn't a particularly large 777-300ER (the plane type that operated to SYD) station now. It is down to 1x LHR and 1x SYD for international operations, and perhaps some aircraft rotation flights from DFW or MIA. If the airframe in question has issues, there are likely little swaps they can do. However, it is highly unusual if AA uses the exact same frame back and forth to SYD, so it is not likely that your flight will suffer from a downstream impact from this delay (but AA's 77Ws aren't exactly that reliable these days, at least not reliable enough to do back-to-back ultra long hauls with no subs)

If the delay is very long with a controllable reason (like Maintenance), AA will probably be happy to put you on QF if there is space especially since you are EXP. Not sure how I feel about that rebooking

AuzzeeOne

Thanks shd9! I was aware of the low inventory of the 777-300er’s, which is why I’m concerned. However it does appear that they are using the same frame over the last few days, hence all of this domino delay effect, but hopefully they throw another one in there in the next day or so.

I flew on the QF A380 last Feb in J and it wasn’t terrible, so if we get bumped over to QF (in J as currently booked), then at least it gets me there!

Mwenenzi

• SYD has a curfew 23:00- 05:00/06:00
• Politically determined limit on take off's/landings per hour
• SYD has been having some issues due to lack of staff for air traffic control

So any long haul flight delay to/from SYD can take days to recover. QF also has this problem.

AuzzeeOne

Understood - however in this case the original arrival time was 09:00 and the new arrival times were ~19:00 which don’t affect the SYD curfew in any way. Your other points however are valid.

Mwenenzi

Crew rest ~ rotation may also be a consideration.
As can time to turn around the aircraft.

AKLifetimeFlyer

My friends family was supposed to be on this flight Monday, but FA is showing it was cancelled. Can anyone see the reason, and more importantly, when they actually announced the cancellation? It early enough, it seems AA should have reaccommodated them on QF12 or QF18, that departed Monday evening. Now, AA73 on Tuesday night is showing delayed. Seems like there is no recourse at the moment unless they can ask to switch to QF12, which is scheduled to leave slightly early and is not delayed.

rktsci

After two cycles of delayed flights looks like they cancelled AA73/72. I was on AA72 on Jan 31 and thankfully got moved to QF11.

Last year the planes were cycling between LHR and SYD but lately they’ve just been going back and forth on one city pair.

AuzzeeOne

😳 So glad to hear you got rebooked on QF. I assume you get the same class of travel that you were booked in? We got upgraded today from J to F, so curious if we get bumped to Qantas, which class we would get. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Mwenenzi

Whatever AA agree to pay QF for. Suspect that will be the class you purchased. QF will fly with unoccupied first - business class seats.
AA & QF do not have a cross airline upgrade scheme
With QF only the A380's have first class. The B787's do not have first class. QF11/QF12 is usually the A380

AKLifetimeFlyer

Seems like AA is bringing a 77W from DFW for the LAX-SYD flight tonight. My friend’s family was rebooked on QF12… sadly only non-contiguous middle seats were available.

AKLifetimeFlyer

Now QF12 is delayed… something about the PA system not working

AuzzeeOne

Thankfully only a minor delay….so far….

AKLifetimeFlyer

Still delayed. Reportedly there is a mistagged piece of luggage that was loaded, and needs to be found and accounted for. Initially there was a bag checked in with no matching passenger name, and they had to find the passenger, which they did.

rktsci

My original AA72 booking was in first on an award ticket, and AA found me a matching seat in first on QF11. I would have accepted a downgrade to business to stay on schedule.

Flight departed about an hour late (seems to be typical for that flight) due to a maintenance issues. It was perfectly acceptable flight - service decent but seat space was huge and quite private (seat 5A). Slept great and appreciate more the difference between QF and AA first. If not for no WiFi currently on QF long haul, I’d push for that every time in biz or first.