Flights late after Jetstar forgets daylight savings

[David Ramsay]

From stuff.co.nz

Four Jetstar flights between Wellington and Auckland were delayed because the airline forgot about daylight savings.

The 8.15am flight out of the capital on Sunday was about an hour late while crew waited for the plane to arrive from Cairns.

Clocks went forward early on Sunday morning, but that wasn't factored into schedules. As a knock-on effect, three later flights on the route were delayed.

One disgruntled Wellington passenger, who did not want to be named, said: "We only found out when we got on the plane. They said, ‘The flight's been delayed because of daylight saving' - as if daylight saving was the problem."

It is understood schedules are configured by computer - but a further manual check was not made.

Jetstar provided a written statement from Australia.

"Our ground staff and cabin crew made sure passengers were aware of the delay and apologised for any inconvenience caused . . . The flight departed Cairns on time and was flying over the Tasman Sea when New Zealand's time-zone switched to daylight saving which meant the aircraft was late into Auckland."

It added: "Once Australia changes to daylight saving this week, any anomalies for trans-Tasman services will be eliminated."

[Guy W]

A few years back, our EK flight to CHC was delayed by an hour because the crew coach driver forgot about daylight savings time change. No hard feeling as I was sipping Moet while waiting thanks to an upgrade.

[Justin L]

One time at ADL a few years ago, the DJ self check-in kiosks didn't function from 5am when they were supposed to on the first day of daylight savings which made for a bit of a panic for those of us checking in for the 6am flights.