Mamma Mia! New direct Perth-Rome route

[Notyourbag]

I'm interested to know if any of the cabin crew were Italian language speakers?

I know one is semi fluent who was crewing the inaugural flight.

 

[Lynda2475]

Where on earth would they find Italian language speakers in Sydney to roster for the flight?

Not sure if this is a serious question or sarcasm, but there are plenty of Italian speakers in Sydney (Leichhardt/Haberfield/Five Dock are known as Little Italy) and in fact there is a Italian Bilingual School in Leichhardt.

It used to be a requirement if you were a FA on a QF international route to speak a second language. One of my friends was a QF FA whose second language was Spanish, she mostly flew the SYD-SCL-SYD route before taking a voluntary redundancy when on maternity leave. Although would also occasionally would do SYD-AKL/WLG/CHC/NAN. SO I would have expected when the new route launched, for those FAs who already speak Italian to have been targeted for those flight or for them to recruit accordingly.

 

[Franky]

They may be crew based in PER or MEL...

More like Fremantle...

 

[jrfsp]

More like Fremantle...

Or LHR?

 

[Franky]

I'm interested to know if any of the cabin crew were Italian language speakers?

There may have been, but the same crew member who gave us the cards stated that as all seats were booked on points, they decided to make announcements only in Engish.

 

[Cognac]

I thought FAs normally have any additional languages indicated on their name tag. One who spoke both Italian and German on a QFi leg a couple of years ago certainly had this.

 

[Jacques Vert]

Not sure if this is a serious question or sarcasm, but there are plenty of Italian speakers in Sydney (Leichhardt/Haberfield/Five Dock are known as Little Italy) and in fact there is a Italian Bilingual School in Leichhardt.

The emoji would suggest it was sarcasm.

 

[Mattg]

According to the Qantas website, eligible passengers flying ex FCO can use the Plaza Premium Lounge in Rome. Has anyone tried out this lounge?

 

[Franky]

According to the Qantas website, eligible passengers flying ex FCO can use the Plaza Premium Lounge in Rome. Has anyone tried out this lounge?

Yep - last week prior to the first flight going out. It's up near the BA lounge. I wasn't after alchohol that early in the morning, but those that were were seemed to be paying for spirits. Wasn't too busy, views of the airport fairly limited. I would just call it a lounge.

 

[AIRwin]

787 between SYD and PER

@cosi has posted a trip report:

Travelling Domestically on QF6 Per-Syd & visiting the Transit Lounge

My son and I were travelling together at the end of June to Sydney to attend a family funeral. He was keen to travel on the Dreamliner and use points for a potential upgrade to PE. The QF6 Per-Syd Domestic sector was also the cheapest option for the day of travel and I knew we could both...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[AIRwin]

Mamma Mia! Here we go again...

https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/media-releases/qantas-to-say-buongiorno-again-to-rome-in-2024/

 

[anyonebutqantas]

There may have been, but the same crew member who gave us the cards stated that as all seats were booked on points, they decided to make announcements only in Engish.

The means by which a ticket is purchased should have nothing to do with the service provided.

 

[Franky]

The means by which a ticket is purchased should have nothing to do with the service provided.

That's what I thought at the time. We still have the special tickets issued for the inaugral flight, signed by you know who, which looks more like a post card than a boarding pass...

 

[CaptJCool]

what a civilised time to be leaving Sydney 1820

3 hours of Flounge !!!

what an uncivilised price for & ($514 or 575) despite there being a Red Tail sale

 

[AIRwin]

what a civilised time to be leaving Sydney 1820

3 hours of Flounge !!!

Or more given all day check-in?

 

[AIRwin]

3 hours of Flounge !!!

It may be 3 hours after all:

Check in Syd international - all day?

Hi - I recall that Qantas used to have all day check in at Syd international. I am flying on QF5 to Perth (ie only the domestic leg) and wanted to maximise my time in the first lounge. Is all day check in still available or has COVID brought an end to that? Thanks

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[bussyboy]

what a civilised time to be leaving Sydney 1820

what an uncivilised price for & ($514 or 575) despite there being a Red Tail sale

And are the business reward seats being blocked from the domestic leg?

 

[Melburnian1]

The AFF article claims QF5/QF6 are "extremely popular with Aussies."

But as international flights go, it's a small capacity aircraft - a maximum of 236 seats, probably fewer due to crew requirements (and perhaps to reduce weight at least one way given the length of the PER-FCO sector).

If it's 'so popular', how come QFi doesn't operate it all year round, and daily, as many competitors do with their flights into and out of FCO?

It's testimony to QFi's weak, and fast declining, international brand that it can't maintain a daily frequency 365 days a year to the major tourism destination of Italy. The 'Sunday Herald Sun' had commentary yesterday on celebrities going to Italy: a few may have travelled on QFi if they lacked private jets, but try to travel in March or April with QFi and it's an indirect journey via LHR or elsewhere.

It'd be interesting to know QFi's annual market share of Australia-Italy air passenger journeys.

QF5/QF6 would have seen an increase, but with competitors such as SQ, EK, QR and numerous others offering either one-stop or two-stop flights to and from Italy, overall its percentage may well be quite low.

 

[cowombat]

Note that QF uses the Plaza Premium Lounge at FCO for J passengers. We used it a couple of weeks ago and it proved to be very underwhelming. Arriving at the entrance there was a queue of unhappy priortiy pass members being refused entry because it was full. As OneWorld Emerald we were allowed in, but yes, it was full. One guy kindly moved along at one table and we managed to find another chair in which to squeeze both of us. Limited and unattractive menu. But hats off to the happy staff. One guy in particular wanted to be sure we got good Campari spritzs and hurried off for more ice and opened a fresh bottle of spumante. Then cut up an orange for garnish. This was the only highlight of the lounge! I whole bunch of airlines use this lounge, including Qatar. These airlines should be pushing for a better offering.

 

[kpro]

You could use the BA lounge as an alternative, it looks to be open from 5:30 am.

Having said that, I've tried both the BA and Plaza Premium lounges when flying out of FCO on BA. They weren't really much different, though the BA lounge does not have bathrooms. There's limited à la carte options in the BA lounge, but the buffet in Plaza Premium seemed more then adequate for breakfast. Plaza Premium has barista made coffee.

Assuming the same level of crowd, I'd probably opt for Plaza Premium over BA's offering.