Flight cancellations, delays on the rise in Tasmania as travellers report bad airline experiences

A Tassie teen’s birthday trip to Brisbane was supposed to be stress-free but he ended up having a staggering four flights cancelled in one week. And he’s not the only one who has hit turbulence as the Christmas period approaches.

Virgin Australia passenger airliner at Melbourne Airport. Picture: iStock

James Hellqvist’s trip to Brisbane was supposed to be straightforward and stress-free but the 14-year-old ended up having a staggering four flights cancelled in the space of just a week, leaving his parents in disbelief and scrambling to remedy the situation.

And he’s not the only Tasmanian to be caught up in a recent spate of flight delays and cancellations, with increasing reports of travellers coming in and out of Hobart and Launceston being let down by unreliable airline services.

Hellqvist, who lives at Dover, was set to fly to Brisbane on a Virgin flight on Friday, November 24, to celebrate his birthday with his grandparents.

But his mother, Katie Stott, said this service was cancelled several hours before it was due to depart Hobart so he was instead moved to a flight about noon the following day.

This was also scrapped, even after Hellqvist had checked in at the airport.

Katie Stott and son, James Hellqvist, 14. Ms Stott says she and her son have been caught up in a spate of recent flight cancellations in and out of Hobart Airport. Picture: Supplied

“We ended up calling them and trying to get a refund on the flight. And we could only get a refund for the flight up to Brisbane and not the one back,” Ms Stott said.

“I didn’t quite understand that because we booked a return ticket and he [wasn’t] going to be able to get up there.

“We took the refund because we were a little bit frustrated at that point, and booked him onto a Qantas flight. That was due to leave on the Sunday [November 26].

“But that Saturday night, the Qantas flight cancelled, as well.”

Finally, young James made it to Brisbane, but only after his parents booked an indirect flight on the 26th, going via Sydney.

Virgin airplanes at Sydney Domestic Airport. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nicholas Eagar

After spending a week in Queensland, Hellqvist’s flight home on Sunday was also cancelled and so his parents made another flurry of phone calls and got him on a Virgin flight to Hobart via Melbourne later that day.

“From a consumer perspective, I’m thinking now when you’re booking a flight, there just doesn’t seem to be any guarantee that it’s a real flight. It’s a bit of a hit-and-miss kind of gamble,” Ms Stott said.

Tasmanian Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson, who is a member of the Senate’s Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee, said he and his colleagues had discussed the possibility of launching an inquiry into airline services and associated impacts on consumers.

Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson.

“It just feels like things have got much worse in recent months, especially the stories I’m hearing about flights in and out of Tasmania,” he said.

Senator Whish-Wilson had his own bad experience with Virgin late last month, after his 9.20pm flight from Melbourne to Launceston was delayed to 11pm, before being cancelled at 12.15am due to flight crew limitations, leaving the senator scrambling to find accommodation in the early hours of the morning.

“There’s a whole range of different things that are impacting services to consumers. But I’d like the Senate, specifically, to look at the [consumer protection] framework that other countries use,” he said.

It’s understood Virgin Australia’s recent performance has been affected by factors including aircraft maintenance, weather, air traffic controller shortages and crew resourcing.

A Qantas spokeswoman said 3.9 per cent of the airline’s flights to and from Hobart were cancelled in October.

“We have seen our performance on flights to and from Hobart improve in November with cancellations down further,” she said.