Future of QF27/28 travel post covid

[Shinkz]

QF website is now showing QF27 as available from November onwards

Are these flights already mostly sold out?

 

[Lynda2475]

Nov - Mar is peak season for visiting southern South America it is the best time to go to Patagonia and the period in which Antarctic cruises leave and with limited ability to visit over last 2 years imagine also pent up demand for family visits.

 

[levelnine]

Are these flights already mostly sold out?

I'm seeing plenty of availability in November on qantas.com

 

[baarg]

Thanks to everyone for the (always) helpful insights Great forum.
Lots of food for thought!

@Mattg I am currently in contact with someone at Flight Centre, based in Sydney. Unsure of her competency yet. If you or anyone know of a good agent/agency, I welcome suggestions.

@levelnine I'll check Expert Flyer again. If Qantas flies to SA late in the year, I hope that by then they have their act together! If so, I'll be happy to fly with them.

@Lynda2475 I will have a play around with the options. It does seem like LA-MIA is the quickest route, if not going with Latam.

EDITED: I had a look in Expert Flyer and QF27 shows availability but only rows 40 to 59 in economy show as bookable. Qantas website shows this route as well (e.g. 04/11) but QF28 is 0ed out in EF for (e.g.) 26/11. And if I go to the same date on Qantas website QF28 is not for sale. So Qantas is still playing games it seems.

Thanks again.

 

[Mattg]

QF website is now showing QF27 as available from November onwards

This is not new - QF27/28 has been available to book from the end of October for months.

 

[justinbrett]

This is not new - QF27/28 has been available to book from the end of October for months.

It wasn't when I was looking a couple of weeks ago. Perhaps it was temporarily zeroed out until they confirmed they wanted to continue with the route.

 

[Mattg]

Thanks to everyone for the (always) helpful insights Great forum.
Lots of food for thought!

@Mattg I am currently in contact with someone at Flight Centre, based in Sydney. Unsure of her competency yet. If you or anyone know of a good agent/agency, I welcome suggestions.

I probably wouldn't use Flight Centre as my first choice but if you do, I'd want to make sure they are competent before booking. Hopefully they are good.

EDITED: I had a look in Expert Flyer and QF27 shows availability but only rows 40 to 59 in economy show as bookable. Qantas website shows this route as well (e.g. 04/11) but QF28 is 0ed out in EF for (e.g.) 26/11. And if I go to the same date on Qantas website QF28 is not for sale. So Qantas is still playing games it seems.

Thanks again.

Some of what you describe is normal as QF & LATAM have block codeshares.

It wasn't when I was looking a couple of weeks ago. Perhaps it was temporarily zeroed out until they confirmed they wanted to continue with the route.

OK, weird.

 

[jpp42]

Qantas Is Putting Santiago Back On Its Route Map

Qantas is finally restoring its popular Sydney - Santiago flights, with the first flights due to take off on October 31.

simpleflying.com

 

[justinbrett]

Qantas Is Putting Santiago Back On Its Route Map

Qantas is finally restoring its popular Sydney - Santiago flights, with the first flights due to take off on October 31.

simpleflying.com

This is not new - QF27/28 has been available to book from the end of October for months.

So either this was actually new (or re-added), or simple flying is using AFF for content!

 

[baarg]

I hope this is true this time. There's also another article (but I'm sure you can google )

Qantas plans to resume flights to Santiago de Chile

As a result of COVID-19 and its restrictions, Qantas operated its last flight between Sydney and Santiago de Chile in March 2020. Services were carried out on B

www.aviacionline.com

 

[Mattg]

So either this was actually new (or re-added), or simple flying is using AFF for content!

I suspect it's the latter. (And the subsequent article linked above probably used Simple Flying as its source.)

The article contains no confirmations from Qantas - it just talks about what is "scheduled" and reports that as fact. We know from experience that what Qantas schedules ~6 months out isn't necessarily what ends up operating. (Anyone remember last year, when Qantas was scheduling more flights than it possibly could have operated with the long-haul fleet they had available?)

It wasn't that long ago that Qantas was selling tickets to SCL from April this year. We know how that ended.

That said, I do hope the SYD-SCL relaunch does actually eventuate in late October. At least it does seem more likely this time.

 

[baarg]

Yes, it pays to be suspicious and skeptical given the lack of fact check that exists.
Having a quick play, Qantas seems to only offer tickets to SCL but not to EZE or AEP on QF27/28 around Nov 22. Unless, if true that they will relaunch this route, they're preparing connections. My knowledge is very limited, so I guess there must be a good reason for Qantas to fly to SCL rather than to Buenos Aires non-stop, but since Latam already goes to SCL, it's a shame no airlines go directly to Bs As. I remember taking those Qantas flights a few times many years ago and although the EZE-SYD leg was painful at 14hs, it was great to get there and back so quickly. Ah, those were the days!

 

[justin23]

I've got a booking in J on the QF3877/3876 codeshare flight. My concern is right now my departure date is Oct 19..... on a Monday..... that currently has no QF or LA flights scheduled. My thinking was QF would either reintroduce flights in time for the busy part of the year or LATAM pick up the slack. I'm going to antarctica on one of the first ships via the Chilean fjords. So I'll be in Antarctica early Nov.

But these flights sure do cause me a fair bit of anxiety, more so than Covid issues.

 

[justinbrett]

Yes, it pays to be suspicious and skeptical given the lack of fact check that exists.
Having a quick play, Qantas seems to only offer tickets to SCL but not to EZE or AEP on QF27/28 around Nov 22. Unless, if true that they will relaunch this route, they're preparing connections. My knowledge is very limited, so I guess there must be a good reason for Qantas to fly to SCL rather than to Buenos Aires non-stop, but since Latam already goes to SCL, it's a shame no airlines go directly to Bs As. I remember taking those Qantas flights a few times many years ago and although the EZE-SYD leg was painful at 14hs, it was great to get there and back so quickly. Ah, those were the days!

Because not everybody is going to Argentina.

Last time I came through I was off to Colombia. Had another booking (cancelled due covid) to Rio. A lot of people go to Peru (Machu Picchu etc)

SCL still makes sense as it's the main hub for LATAM, the only major carrier in the region. It's also closest to Australia so the least amount of back-tracking for connections.

If any airline is going to do EZE-SYD or EZE-AKL, I'd say Aerolíneas Argentinas is in the best position for that, but NZ dumped the route so probably not viable at the moment. They don't really have the aircraft for it anyway.

QF has floated the idea of seasonal flights to GIG. I'd be up for that.

 

[baarg]

Because not everybody is going to Argentina.

Last time I came through I was off to Colombia. Had another booking (cancelled due covid) to Rio. A lot of people go to Peru (Machu Picchu etc)

SCL still makes sense as it's the main hub for LATAM, the only major carrier in the region. It's also closest to Australia so the least amount of back-tracking for connections.

If any airline is going to do EZE-SYD or EZE-AKL, I'd say Aerolíneas Argentinas is in the best position for that, but NZ dumped the route so probably not viable at the moment.

QF has floated the idea of seasonal flights to GIG. I'd be up for that.

Yes, although Buenos Aires looks like a good connection to Brazil, apparently the non stop flights to Buenos Aires were never that successful. I also hope Aerolíneas does this route, but given the state of Argentina's economy, I'm not very hopeful.
Pre covid there were always a few options. Now, for me, looking for flights is a constant source of anxiety and disappointment!

 

[jpp42]

My knowledge is very limited, so I guess there must be a good reason for Qantas to fly to SCL rather than to Buenos Aires non-stop

I don't know much about the commercial aspects of operating into Chile vs Argentina, but from a purely geographical sense, it makes sense for the first/only flight from the airline to be the closest large port on the continent, with connecting flights available to onward destinations. Obviously EZE is a big destination, but there are plenty others throughout South America (GRU, GIG, BOG, LIM all come to mind) . For comparison, LAX is Qantas' largest US destination because it's closest large city in the continental US - while flights to DFW will resume, it's way down the list after first beefing up LAX flights. For Africa, QF has always flown to JNB, not CPT, despite a large proportion of South African visitors wanting to visit CPT too. In addition, the great circle route from SYD to EZE goes further south than the route to SCL. This might affect the flight time for a 2-engine plane, because ETOPS certification requires alternate airports and there's not much between NZ and South America. So the result is likely that it will have to fly further north than would be ideal. If it means that the flight to EZE is an hour or two longer than SCL, this can have a big outcome on the profitability - carrying that extra 2 hours of fuel for the whole 12 hours across the Pacific takes additional fuel itself, and can reduce the payload (amount of cargo/passengers carried). For some routes like PER-LHR this is worth it for Qantas, but I suspect South America is a lot lower yield on premium fares and they need to make sure every seat and cargo space is sold.

 

[baarg]

Thanks. A good source of mine who worked for Air NZ told us that Air NZ had plans to cancel the AKL-EZE route before covid due to not filling enough business class seats. And I recall taking a flight with Qantas from Syd to Buenos Aires in 2010 which was empty. I had 4 seats to lie down!

 

[justin23]

es, although Buenos Aires looks like a good connection to Brazil, apparently the non stop flights to Buenos Aires were never that successful.

I flew this route back in 2010. I suspect the most likely new South american route may be one to Brazil, with the new sunrise spec metal, although it will be down the pecking order, but I'm assuming it will link to a OW served Brazilian city ie Rio or Sao Paolo. But that could be 2030 ish.

 

[Supersonic Swinger]

Yes, it pays to be suspicious and skeptical given the lack of fact check that exists.
Having a quick play, Qantas seems to only offer tickets to SCL but not to EZE or AEP on QF27/28 around Nov 22. Unless, if true that they will relaunch this route, they're preparing connections. My knowledge is very limited, so I guess there must be a good reason for Qantas to fly to SCL rather than to Buenos Aires non-stop, but since Latam already goes to SCL, it's a shame no airlines go directly to Bs As. I remember taking those Qantas flights a few times many years ago and although the EZE-SYD leg was painful at 14hs, it was great to get there and back so quickly. Ah, those were the days!

Whether SCL or EZE, most people will be transiting to another destination in South America. Especially now that LAN Argentina is no more, SCL is so much more practical for that.

Still, it is odd that QF seems to offer LAN codeshares to smaller cities in Brazil like Florianopolis but not to Buenos Aires.

It wasn't when I was looking a couple of weeks ago. Perhaps it was temporarily zeroed out until they confirmed they wanted to continue with the route.

Even with it back, I'm a little hesitant to book just yet.

 

[Shinkz]

These flights at the end of the year have most of economy and business blocked out currently