Are you due to board a flight soon, or planning to pick someone up from the airport? Before you leave home, it’s always worth checking to see if your flight has been delayed or cancelled. After all, there’s nothing worse than arriving at the airport, only to find that your flight isn’t set to depart for another 12 hours!
Luckily, that’s largely a thing of the past, as these days, it’s easier than ever to check your flight status online. Don’t know where to turn? No worries! We’ll help you to find the most up-to-date information about your flight status, by pointing you in the direction of several helpful resources. There you’ll find plenty of information on arrivals, departures and delays. Of course we can’t prevent cancellations and setbacks from happening, but we’re here to help you be as prepared as possible.
It’s important to understand that Australian airlines don’t guarantee their timetables, meaning that the airline’s contract with you is essentially to get you from A to B. How and when that happens, is up to the airline. In many respects, Australia lags behind countries such as the USA and the UK when it comes to clear guidance on compensation for delays, which means that you should always read the terms and conditions before booking tickets.
Not everyone realises that if the airline doesn't get you to your destination at the time specified on your ticket, and as a result you miss your connecting flight - they won't necessarily take responsibility. As such, it's vital that you check your flight status before leaving home, so that you can respond to changes as quickly as possible.
The best place to look up the flight arrival or flight departure status of any flight in Australia is by heading to your airline’s homepage. To make it easier, we’ve listed the links to all the various flight checkers for all of Australia’s major airlines, from Qantas, to Jetstar, Tigerair, Rex, and Virgin Australia, in the section below:
You can track real time flight information for Qantas, QantasLink, and codeshare flights on the airline’s website, either by route or by flight number. You can access the Qantas flight status check tool by clicking on the link, and sign-up for flight notifications over email or mobile.
The Qantas network (Qantas and QantasLink combined operations) typically record an 86.1% success rate for on time arrivals, and 87% for on time departures, based on the latest BITRE report. If there are known delays, Qantas will typically let you know within 30 minutes of when they find out about the wait. In the case of extended delays, it’s not unusual for Qantas to provide hotel accommodation or up to $200.00 in credit per night, to be used towards a hotel stay. Should you miss your flight, the airline will assist you in booking onto the next available flight, however charges may apply.
When it comes to Jetstar flights, you can head to the Jetstar flight status page to check for delays and cancellations, check in online, ask for assistance if you’re affected by a delayed or cancelled flight, or make an insurance claim. Jetstar typically informs passengers about delays via text, so make sure you provide your mobile phone number when you book.
Jetstar recorded an 80.6% success rate for on time arrivals, and 78.5% for on time departures, making it one of the poorest performers recorded. The airline will notify customers directly when there are changes to upcoming flights, and advise with regard to their available options. It’s worth noting that you’re only entitled to a cash refund if your flight is cancelled due to events within Jetstar’s control, and when you have not been provided with an alternative flight, or, if the next flight is 3 hours before or after your originally scheduled departure time.
Tigerair maintain their own flight status check on their website, which can be used to search for updated flight information based on number, route, or airport. The Tigerair flight status tool might be a little simpler than those offered by rivals, but it will do the trick. The airline has not updated its travel update page very often in recent months, so we advise that you use an active email address which you check regularly, when booking your tickets. Tigerair typically communicates schedule changes via email, but say that they’ll make a ‘reasonable’ effort to contact passengers by phone.
We don’t have any data on Tigerair’s success rate for ontime arrivals and departures, so make sure you access live flight information from the airline, to ensure that you save yourself an unnecessary trip to the airport. According to the airline’s terms and conditions, they are prepared to compensate you up to $120.00 per person per night, towards accommodation costs, if you are delayed overnight and not at your home port.
Regional Express or ‘Rex’ displays flight disruption and cancellation information on its homepage, although only for the present day and the day after. You will need to enter your flight number into the Rex flight status checker - it’s not possible to search via airport or route, but once you’ve done so, you can sign-up to receive text message flight updates by entering in your number.
Rex recorded an 84.3% success rate for on time arrivals, and 87.2% for on time departures, meaning that more often than not, your flight will take off and land within 15 minutes of the scheduled time. If your flight is cancelled by Rex, the airline will search for an alternative means to get you to your destination, which could include an alternative flight on the same day or another day, an alternative means of transport such as a bus, or a flight to the nearest alternative Rex airport. The airline will not, however, bear the cost of a hotel room stay, taxi fares etc. in the case of a cancellation, delay, or diversion.
You can check the status of your Virgin Australia flight on the airline’s website, by flight number, route, or port. Virgin Australia’s flight status tool has plenty of information in regards to recent flight arrivals and departures, up to three days in advance. While most flights depart and land without issue, delays and cancellations can happen due to the weather, the national aviation system, air carrier delays, or security issues.
Virgin Australia typically records an 82.8% success rate for on-time arrivals, and 85.1% for on time departures. In the case of delays, the airline has its individual policies. Virgin Australia will pay for airport transfers provided that the cost is reasonable, and then pay up to $220.00 per room per night for hotels, and up to $50.00 per person per night for meals. At the same time, the airline will make every effort to put you on the next available flight if you’re delayed for more than two hours or issue a refund if they cannot make suitable alternative arrangements.
You can find the airlines' conditions of carriage below, which outline how they will manage delays and cancellations:
Qantas' policy for delays and cancellations
Jetstar's policy for delays and cancellations
Tigerair's policy for delays and cancellations
Rex’s policy for delays and cancellations
Virgin Australia's policy for delays and cancellations
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The goal of this article is to help you become more informed, and to help you save time by providing you with an overview of popular online flight status tools. Flyparks does not accept responsibility or liability for the use of any websites mentioned.
