Just to update BA have already agreed to pay full £520 EU261 for the BA206 delay on March 20th as we missed our ABZ connection and arrived 6 hours late.

 

that was QUICK! I’m watching loads of people on the BA “X” (formerly Twitter) account who say they’ve been waiting months for responses. “We’re extremely busy” seems to be the most popular reply.

 

Got lucky today with the 193 which experienced a hydraulic failure on approach to DFW. The 192 is delayed for 4 hours so far.

Update: Now cancelled.

 

The BA192 for today was just cancelled.
Looks like no fix tonight for G-XLEG.
BA193 still scheduled to fly out tomorrow, G-XLEF.

 

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know what BA will do in a situation like this?

G-XLEF is en route to DFW and G-XLEG is already at DFW. Two A380s at the same airport that is not a hub.

Will they send one back to LHR empty or does it go somewhere else for repair?

 

I’m not sure but have been thinking about it as am on the 192 this evening. I was considering that a hydraulic issue would probably require some kind of a fix in situ before it can fly anywhere. There is also a crew (flight and cabin) out of position. Loads don’t seem particularly heavy at the moment so my thought was that they would probably fly it empty back to LHR as soon as they can.

 

It looks like they are getting ready to push G-XLEG out of the way for when G-XLEF arrives. From what I can see one of the landing gear doors in front of the left inner main gear has failed to close after the gear locked down which I suppose fits with a hydraulic failure.

Perhaps some hard-working, tired engineer is flying out on BA193 with a spare part as I type! At any rate I wouldn’t say it’s looking too hopeful for BA’s A380 fleet operations at the moment.

 

Yep. My cancelled flight last September was only refunded in January!

 

LEG has suffered a Y HYD system quantity loss/leak. It will be repaired there as it can’t be flown until fixed.

 

Thanks for the update Sigwx.

It was indeed towed to the remote area where the QF planes stay when they are between flights. The cabin crew on board were the ones who flew the leg that had the issue and they told me that the leak occurred over the Atlantic and they had to drop the gear early (was it therefore a gravity drop?) and prepare for a longer landing roll-out than normal (lack of brakes other than air brakes and reversers?).

Anyway, all sounded very professionally handled by the crew, as you’d expect. My 192 was lightly loaded so all of the crew and most of the passengers from the cancelled flight are apparently on board.

 

I was on that 193 and didn't notice anything at all except for a somewhat longer and less steep glide slope and the captain mentioning the airport fire engines following the plane when it was taxiing. No noticeable difference to me on landing apart from a longer period of reverse thrust which did not seem particularly unusual. Some understated comment from the captain about a hydraulic leak and Dallas SOP following the plane looking for spills on the tarmac. Delay on disembarking due to an ill passenger needing paramedics and the top deck cw had to go down the a380 front stairs as the upper bridge was not connected.

Massive immigration queues and security lines in DFW, would not have made my 90 minute connection without HBO, global entry and tsa pre...

 

We were also on the flight and agree with everything you said here. Definitely nothing massively unusual about the approach other than the FO saying “approximately 20 minutes to landing” which seemed unusual combined with the medical emergency.

OT​​​​​: ​​I understand there are CBP staff shortages (the agent doing my wife’s GE interview was on his 3rd consecutive forced overtime shift) but DFW needs to work on their immigration area. Even with GE it is worst arrival experience in the US.

 

WIth all the issues with the A380, would you book a trip to DXB on the A380 or the B788-10? This would be a 1st class return as part of a AONE3 during Oct.

 

I think it would depend on your attitude to risk to your schedule in terms of a last minute cancellation. £520 compensation won't get you far if you are booked on separate PNRs for example.

 

For travel in Oct I wouldn't base my itinerary/choice of flights on certain aircrafts you see now. Can change until Oct and hopefully the current issues have been solved well before Oct.