No First Class on QF-380 MEL-LAX ??

[jaffa]

I have just returned from the QF sales office in TSV, where l was intending to make a booking
on the 380 in Mar/April 09 from Mel-Lax r/t.

Whilst my date needs for travel was flexible, I was looking forward to giving the 380 a go in F.
I am also a WP.

The very nice guy who was looking after me and trying his best to give me some heads up, told me there would be no F/class on the 380

He would not go into any detail as he said an announcement was yet to be made. I replyed that l had seen the photo's of the new F and seen the complaints about the new cabin product and new damn well there was a F seat and cabin:evil::evil:

He relented and said that QF would be following a similar model to SQ 380 seat class system and pricing structure.

Does this mean that QF are changing there F/C cabin to some sort of individual suite system??

Or
Do you think they are going to do this Con Job of "better than First" with a new class code
for F therefore blocking F out of the picture completely.

This whole thing is making me angry as hell!! just how much do they think people are going to pay.
If QF did do this I think it will backfire on them in a big way.

On the other hand maybe they just don't give a rat's about my loyalty.

 

[futaris]

The fares are in testing at the moment. There was some talk about R class fares on QF A380, at flyertalk.

 

[jaffa]

Thanks Futaris,

I will go over and take a look!

 

[oz_mark]

He relented and said that QF would be following a similar model to SQ 380 seat class system and pricing structure.

Does this mean that QF are changing there F/C cabin to some sort of individual suite system??

Or
Do you think they are going to do this Con Job of "better than First" with a new class code
for F therefore blocking F out of the picture completely.

I'd be going with this suggestion....

 

[JohnK]

Why would anyone expect the new F suites to be priced the same as the old F? After all this is the same airline that is charging business class prices for premium economy.

 

[Keith009]

So does that mean zero A or P class availability MEL-LAX?? (since QF25/26 is 2 class)

And eventually....every route the A380 is on???

:shock:

 

[Keith009]

Went searching and found the fare on Sabre. It's posted in that FT thread but I thought I'd just post it here for easy reference:

26«
V FARE BASIS BK FARE TRAVEL-TICKET AP MINMAX RTG
26 R2RT R‡R 22380.00 ---- - -/12M PA07
PASSENGER TYPE-ADT AUTO PRICE-YES
FROM-MEL TO-LAX CXR-QF TVL-29MAY08 RULE-5024 IPRP/3
FARE BASIS-R2RT NORMAL FARE DIS-N VENDOR-ATP
FARE TYPE-FR RT-FIRST CLASS RESTRICTED
AUD 23340.00 CONS E23MAY08 D-INFINITY FC-R2RT FN-
SYSTEM DATES - CREATED 23MAY08/0032 EXPIRES INFINITY

...

- TESTING - SOUTH PACIFIC NORMAL AND ONLINE FARES FROM
SOUTH WEST PACIFIC TO THE U.S.A.
APPLICATION
AREA
THESE FARES APPLY
FROM SOUTHWEST PACIFIC
TO UNITED STATES.

...

THE FARE COMPONENT MUST INCLUDE TRAVEL BETWEEN
AUSTRALIA AND LAX ON
ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING
ANY QF FLIGHT
BY AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A380-800.

V large price tag.

 

[simongr]

Why would anyone expect the new F suites to be priced the same as the old F? After all this is the same airline that is charging business class prices for premium economy.

You business class compared to other airlines?

 

[Reggie]

You business class compared to other airlines?

I think you may be missing the word mean.

"You mean business class compared to other airlines?"

 

[jaffa]

Thanks for your responses everyone,

It does not bode well it seems.
I could understand a price increase with justification, but those prices are way over the top for anyone to understand.

It makes it even more irrational when l look back to QF boasting how the 380's running costs were going to be a saving of just over 20% on the 744.:-|

As a regular OW-RTW/F buyer everything seems to running against me now.
With the reduction in segments coming into force this weekend (paper tickets no more) and now the reduction of avail routes longhaul because of the 380 the options just get less and less.

With the upcoming QF announcement of international/longhaul cancelations and capacity changes and the QFF re-evaluation and changes due in July.

I cannot help but feel disheartend with the squeeze.

This all used to be fun and worthwhile.
Now its just all bad news after bad news.

My passion at loving to fly has been taking a bit of a kicking lately.

Thanks again everyone....

 

[NM]

I w0uld not be surprised if the lack of first class ATW available on the A380 is just a transition period issue. Once the A380 becomes ensconced in the QF schedules on multiple routes, things may well change. I expect they are startig out conservative and making sure they maximise revenue from the new product while its new.

 

[docjames]

It makes it even more irrational when l look back to QF boasting how the 380's running costs were going to be a saving of just over 20% on the 744.:-|

20% cheaper for them, not for you.........:idea:

 

[straitman]

20% cheaper for them, not for you.........:idea:

Why does the word enhancement come to mind :?:

 

[jaffa]

Do you really think people will actually pay, the new R class fares??

Looking at the difference between SQ R 380 and QF R 380, if l was going to spend that ludicrous amount of money l would prob take the SQ suites over the QF dentist chair, as l have seen it described.

Even the Emirates F 380 does not hit those pricing levels.
By this time next year, there will be quite few 380's in the air.

l agree with you NM this could not possibly last too long

 

[Dave Noble]

Do you really think people will actually pay, the new R class fares??

The people who are currently paying the F fares may well pay the extra

Looking at the difference between SQ R 380 and QF R 380, if l was going to spend that ludicrous amount of money l would prob take the SQ suites over the QF dentist chair, as l have seen it described.

One obvious issue is that SQ does not fly from MEL-LAX , so not exactly in competition with each other , plus not having seen the new QF product , hard to make a real decision on whether it is worth extra over the old 1st

The current published F fares on MEL-LAX r/t are $20,596 for the F2RT and $27,124 for the F fares (plus tax) . The R2RT ( as shown in the testing ) is $23,340 which is a 13% premium

I suspect that those already paying F2RTs may well be prepared to consider R2RTs

Those wanting to travel on it on the cheap on things like ACIR fares may be out of luck until all or most of QFs fleet have the new product or may if lucky , be able to pay a A380 surcharge in the way that there used to be a surcharge on the AONEs for travel on a Concorde

Dave

 

[NM]

The people who are currently paying the F fares may well pay the extra

I know of one person who buys F fares who would not contemplate spending anywhere near that amount. Then again, he does not buy his F fares on MEL-LAX route .

 

[Dave Noble]

I know of one person who buys F fares who would not contemplate spending anywhere near that amount. Then again, he does not buy his F fares on MEL-LAX route .

Different routes have different fares; would this person be prepared to pay a 13% premium over an F2 fare or take a 14% discount on an F fare to do an R2RT?

Dave

 

[NM]

Different routes have different fares; would this person be prepared to pay a 13% premium over an F2 fare or take a 14% discount on an F fare to do an R2RT?

Hmm, I will have to ask him .

 

[serfty]

I... hen again, he does not buy his F fares on MEL-LAX route .

wYYy is that?

 

[QF WP]

I can understand QF's justification for the initial price hike on the A380 (they want to re-coup the large spend on these aircraft over as short a time period as they can - given the interest, some pax will trump up with the $ for the bragging rights). Once more A380's come on line from Airbus, then pricing should drop.

I doubt there will be too many "specials" on the A380 in the short term