Why does the LHR-Vancouver route suffer from so many delays?

I notice that since VS95 resumed operating in May 2013 there have been a number of significant delays on the route, eg todays (2/7) flight departed over 2 hours late presumably because it was was operated by G-VAIR which only landed back from Dubai at 15.04 some 40 mins before the scheduled departure time of the YVR flight. Does anyone know why this route suffers from so many delays? Does VS not have enough aircraft to operate all its routes? We are flying to YVR in a couple of weeks and hope that VS gets its act together by then! ? ?|

I am going soon on this route as well and I have been monitoring the flight times and

1) They seemed to be going all on time if not just before time.

2) They do seem to make time en route and land early than schedule time.

But agree its often too many routes and too few planes. One flight can know on to the next, as they say if the plane isn't in the sky its not making money.

Could be a knock on effect from the VS 7 being 8 hours delayed yesterday.

without knowing the circumstances of each delay it's hard to say why or even if one route 'suffers' more than another.

And whilst VS does run a pretty tight ship it does have enough planes to run its schedule. Where it goes wrong is that if a plane goes tech or there are delays due to e.g. weather then it has a heck of a job to catch up.

According to the June 2013schedule in the toolbox out of 17 flights recorded

9 arrived early or less than 15 mins (8 actually early)
3 arrived more than 15 but less than 45 (all 30 mins or less)
5 arrived more than 45 mins late

But it does seem that the Wednesday flight has the worst record of late arrivals.

That said, like the stock market, past performance does not predict future performance.

Interesting post.
I'm on it tomorrow !

Thanks for the comments. Of the 5 flights in June that were over 45 mins delayed 2 were over 2 hrs late, with the other 3 well over 1 hr late. I just noticed that there appear to be a lot of "red" in the June schedules and today's flight was not any better.

[honey lamb]

Thanks for the comments. Of the 5 flights in June that were over 45 mins delayed 2 were over 2 hrs late, with the other 3 well over 1 hr late. I just noticed that there appear to be a lot of "red" in the June schedules and today's flight was not any better.

Oh dear, time for a reality check! Now, I'll be the first to admit that my level of checking flight statuses before a flight verges on the level of OCD, but let's face facts - unless we are in the midst of some prolonged situation like the ash cloud or snow which can result in aircraft out of place in the four corners of the world, the reality is that on a day to day basis, it is difficult to predict whether or not an aircraft will be delayed. I have seen VS flights go out the day before mine some two hours late which has left me in a panic because I have an onward flight only to find that mine pushes back five minutes early. I have noted a pattern whereby the VS46 then morphs into the VS19 and have panicked when the 46 has arrived late only to find that VS have substituted another aircraft - perhaps the VS6. I have tracked flights from my local airport in Cork which have left perfectly on time every day for the previous week only to find that mine, the last flight of the day, has been seriously delayed because of thunderstorms in the afternoon at LHR which has resulted in my flight being diverted to LTN and a bus transfer to LHR arriving at 3.30am :0

I accept what you are saying about VS95 being late on a Wednesday in particular. Perhaps there were market forces operating in June which no longer pertain for July, but please be optimistic about your flight.

Also, be thankful that you are not booked on to my YVR flight. Seasoned V-Flyers will tell you that whither honey lamb goes, disaster follows and they are already rubbing their hands in anticipation of my flight to YVR in September ):

Just to update everyone, and confirm the previous message.
It's Wednesday and the Vancouver flight is delayed (they say 17.00) guess what I'm on it!
Will be making full use of the Clubhouse.

Thanks for the comments. Of the 5 flights in June that were over 45 mins delayed 2 were over 2 hrs late, with the other 3 well over 1 hr late. I just noticed that there appear to be a lot of "red" in the June schedules and today's flight was not any better.

Oh dear, time for a reality check! Now, I'll be the first to admit that my level of checking flight statuses before a flight verges on the level of OCD, but let's face facts - unless we are in the midst of some prolonged situation like the ash cloud or snow which can result in aircraft out of place in the four corners of the world, the reality is that on a day to day basis, it is difficult to predict whether or not an aircraft will be delayed. I have seen VS flights go out the day before mine some two hours late which has left me in a panic because I have an onward flight only to find that mine pushes back five minutes early. I have noted a pattern whereby the VS46 then morphs into the VS19 and have panicked when the 46 has arrived late only to find that VS have substituted another aircraft - perhaps the VS6. I have tracked flights from my local airport in Cork which have left perfectly on time every day for the previous week only to find that mine, the last flight of the day, has been seriously delayed because of thunderstorms in the afternoon at LHR which has resulted in my flight being diverted to LTN and a bus transfer to LHR arriving at 3.30am :0

I accept what you are saying about VS95 being late on a Wednesday in particular. Perhaps there were market forces operating in June which no longer pertain for July, but please be optimistic about your flight.

Also, be thankful that you are not booked on to my YVR flight. Seasoned V-Flyers will tell you that whither honey lamb goes, disaster follows and they are already rubbing their hands in anticipation of my flight to YVR in September ):

Don't think that I have a case of OCD. By chance I just happened to notice that Tuesday's (2/7) was quite late and checked back to see what happened in June and noticed a lot of red & yellow ink with only 53% of flights leaving on time on this route. This appears to be somewhat worse than VS's other flights to N. America and was wondering if there was any specific reason for this poor performance (eg using older A343's which may be more unreliable)?
I have flown with VS many times without too many problems and have no worries about my next flight. Hope that your flight to YVR in Sept goes well but will keep an eye on V-Flyer just in case!

Seasoned V-Flyers will tell you that whither honey lamb goes, disaster follows and they are already rubbing their hands in anticipation of my flight to YVR in September ):

that couldnt be related to the consumption of shall we say a few G&Ts would it? lol

[honey lamb]

Seasoned V-Flyers will tell you that whither honey lamb goes, disaster follows and they are already rubbing their hands in anticipation of my flight to YVR in September ):

that couldnt be related to the consumption of shall we say a few G&Ts would it? lol

No! G&Ts don't cause such things as water tanks leaking on the morning of departures, thunderstorms in LHR which result in planes coming to Cork to take me to LHR being seriously delayed, BA serving raw sausages on an ex-AMS flight or floods of biblical proportions engulfing one's home.

No! G&Ts don't cause such things as water tanks leaking on the morning of departures, thunderstorms in LHR which result in planes coming to Cork to take me to LHR being seriously delayed, BA serving raw sausages on an ex-AMS flight or floods of biblical proportions engulfing one's home.

wow that is trouble lol
well hope your next flight goes smoothly.

...and was wondering if there was any specific reason for this poor performance (eg using older A343's which may be more unreliable)?

All VS planes are maintained to the highest standards and I do not believe there is a general issue with mechanical issues against the age of the planes causing any greater reliability issues over the 747s or the A346. Even the A330's go tech and they are only a year or so old.

Just look at the Dreamliner - a brand spanking new plane that has issues a plenty. Just reading today that LOT are cancelling flights on the Dreamliner even after the recent battery fix.

As I have already said, VS works its fleet hard and all it takes is for one plane to be delayed for it to have knock-on consequences on the schedule.

Those delays can be for all sorts of reasons - yes occasionally mechanical but more likely to be weather related, ATC or even due to passenger action (medical and yes even diversions for bad behaviour). I read in an earlier post that the flight from DXB generally forms the YVR flight once it arrives at LHR and I know that there are runway restrictions at DXB at the moment so that may be causing problems as well.

These happen to all airlines and I honestly don't believe that these affect VS anymore (in proportion) than say BA ( but I don't think VS have left an engine cowl unlatched or had a spanner sucked into an engine on the ground like BA have had), DL, LH, QF and even FR !

That said perhaps VS should look at the timing of the YVR flight if the inbound that appears to be the plane for it is often late from its starting point and adjust it accordingly to provide a more realistic schedule. Now some might think that is simply massaging the schedule to make the on time arrivals look better but surely the issue is having a realistic schedule that people can rely on.