Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus - Anyone in MEL tonight suffering long delay of TG982?

I have a friend on TG982 MEL-BKK tonight, which was due to depart at 16:05. A 5.5 hour delay was announced (now is 21:30) just before boarding. TG has given AUD 15.00 vouchers to Y class pasengers. Well it's something I guess. What AUD 15.00 buys at MEL these days, I'm not sure. It wouldn't buy even 1 course in most restaurants in Melbourne city...

Would the Air New Zealand lounge (that TG uses) even stay open for Business and Star Gold passengers considering the next Star airline departs at 23:30. I'd have my doubts, but perhaps.

Any experiences or anyone in the same situation?

Quite unusual for TG to be delayed out of MEL. They have almost 4 hours after coming in from Bangkok to get ready for the 4pm departure. According to Amadeus the delay is caused by 'aircraft defects'

21:00 Estimated time of departure Melbourne, Australia - Tullamarine
Delay aircraft defects Melbourne, Australia - Tullamarine
21:03 Left the gate Melbourne, Australia - Tullamarine
21:25 Took off Melbourne, Australia - Tullamarine
03:54 Estimated time of arrival Bangkok, Thailand - Suvarnabhumi International

I notice the aircraft used into MEL was an older 777-200, HS-TJA (the one that has gone U/S). This aircraft would normally return as TG982. Now I have just discovered that TG982 back into Bangkok tonight is ops by HS-TJS a B777-200ER which operated the daytime service into Melbourne. So they have done a swap - with both Thai aircraft on the ground at the same time in Melbourne.

I hope they fix HS-TJA quickly - otherwise TG980 is going to be delayed also.


as for AUD15 compensation - a coffee and sandwich would be about what you would get.

as for the lounge - I have no firsthand experience, but I would ASSUME it would remain open

EDIT: HS-TJA has left on schedule as TG980

Hi Austman, lousy luck, TG usually are very good out of MEL, I can only reall being delayed once in all the years, dazz81 has the details on this one and Melbourne airport shows all TG flights now back on time. The ANZ lounge is contracted on a per person basis to handle departures and will or would have stayed with the passengers. As I say only delayed once but it took me a couple of months to get over it, throws your schedule out, messes with your time clock and I held a grudge against them for a month and flew SQ to teach them a lesson. Since then, all my flights have been on time, so it worked ;), regards bkkrop

Luckily they can swap the aircrafts hence minimize the operational impact.

Thanks for the intersesting info. With TG 999 arriving to MEL at 20:00, I suppose that's how they could predict a delayed 21:00 departure of TG 982 to BKK after the a/c swap. MEL airport info then showed the departure as 21:30.

I suppose Thai knew the work on TG 982's original a/c would take longer than 5 hours but hopefully less than 7.5 hours ... (when TG 980 was due to depart at 23:30). So maybe the a/c swap was a smart move to minimise delays.

Thanks for the intersesting info. With TG 999 arriving to MEL at 20:00, I suppose that's how they could predict a delayed 21:00 departure of TG 982 to BKK after the a/c swap. MEL airport info then showed the departure as 21:30.

I suppose Thai knew the work on TG 982's original a/c would take longer than 5 hours but hopefully less than 7.5 hours ... (when TG 980 was due to depart at 23:30). So maybe the a/c swap was a smart move to minimise delays.

It certainly appears that way Austman, and it seems to have worked out on this occasion. Still, I'd be very frustrated at the delay, I wonder what specifically went wrong

So was there 2 TG aircraft at MEL at the same time? Soon the aircraft will change to 777-300's! :)

So was there 2 TG aircraft at MEL at the same time? Soon the aircraft will change to 777-300's! :)

Chai! and Chai again!