Qantas / Emirates tie up (Partnership inc. Codeshare, Status)

[tm.smile]

I think the sponsorship may have been when they were negotiating the alliance with MH, which later fell through, so probably it was too late or too embarrassing to pull out from the sponsorship for QF?

I do believe that even though the negotiations fell through, they are still friendly...

 

[cmon0005]

I do believe that even though the negotiations fell through, they are still friendly...

I wasn't saying they aren't friendly, but my guess is that the plan would have been to use KUL as the Asia hub and to codeshare on all the Asia routes with MH.
But now they are stuck in SIN, and have an alliance partner in another country away that they can't connect to.

It'd be like Melb airport saying they've done a deal with Sydney's Air Train, pretty useless when the Air Train is at a different airport and won't connect pax to Melb Airport directly.

 

[anat0l]

Just thinking about the timing of flights for the new flights going through DXB.

Take for example SYD-DXB followed by DXB-LHR. The flight leaves in the afternoon and arrives just after midnight. Then the next leg leaves in the wee hours of the morning and arrives early in the morning.

The service appears to be Dinner / Refreshment, followed by Refreshment (or Supper) / Breakfast.

I'm sure most people will eat Dinner and Breakfast, but what do you all think about the Refreshments which are in the middle?

Anyone who has flown EK on the same kinds of timing have a comment about meal timings on these flights?

 

[simongr]

Although still nine months out we are already thinking about how we will work this with a 4 1/2 year old boy on the flight. We are only going as far as DXB though. Leaving the house around 1PM will likely result in sleeping boy by the time we get to the airport. Then some lounge time and food before boarding. I reckon dinner will be served on board about 6PM so maybe around 7:30pm the little guy will fall asleep. Then maybe some sleep for him whilst I finish the port. I will try and get about six hours sleep which will have us awake about four hours before landing - which stuffs us up for arriving at 00:30 and being at the hotel by 2AM where we should go back to bed for a few hours...

It actually isn't well timed for us...

 

[ozmille]

The timings as they stand at the moment are not really ideal, hope they might change a bit, we are booked to arrive at 0030 stay a couple of days and then leave on a 0205 to LHR :shock:

 

[Fruitcake]

General consensus in my workplace is that all London travel will now be on CX (which most prefer to fly with anyway) due to the chance for a good night's sleep on the HKG-LHR leg before a full day of work in London. No-one seems keen to transit DXB at 2:00am, getting at best 4-5 hours sleep and then trying to jump into a day of work.

 

[Must...Fly!]

I had always been rather neutral with the change in flight timings and the effects it would have on PAX but I never really thought of the sleep-before-work scenario. The interruption is rather major when put in that context.

 

[ozmille]

General consensus in my workplace is that all London travel will now be on CX (which most prefer to fly with anyway) due to the chance for a good night's sleep on the HKG-LHR leg before a full day of work in London. No-one seems keen to transit DXB at 2:00am, getting at best 4-5 hours sleep and then trying to jump into a day of work.

I have the same issue with coming back to SYD via SIN, I can never get enough sleep on the second leg to be well rested to go straight to work. I am thinking going to LHR via SIN coming back via DXB sounds like a good plan from now on

 

[Fruitcake]

I have the same issue with coming back to SYD via SIN, I can never get enough sleep on the second leg to be well rested to go straight to work.

We must be spoilt, most London/Europe trips here are for a week ie in Monday morning, out Friday afternoon. Sounds like doing outbound via Asia and inbound via DXB is the way to go though if you are arriving on a business day into SYD.

 

[browski]

I have the same issue with coming back to SYD via SIN, I can never get enough sleep on the second leg to be well rested to go straight to work. I am thinking going to LHR via SIN coming back via DXB sounds like a good plan from now on

It is a good plan..........but Qantas have indicated that their flight timings to/from SIN will also be changed; so look out for that.
Also, for those desiring a good sleep........wouldn't you just take the EK (QF codeshare) departing SYD at 6.00AM and arriving in DXB at 1.20pm?
For those travelling onto LHR, you would then connect with the 4.30pm flight arriving into Heathrow at 8.15pm. Then you would have a bit of dinner, drink a few beers and get a lovely night's kip before work the next day.

 

[Fruitcake]

Then you would have a bit of dinner, drink a few beers and get a lovely night's kip before work the next day.

My employer's post-GFC travel policy is that where arrivals lounge access is available, Sunday night hotel stays are not covered. So unfortunately it's not ideal for all.

You'd also trade off a Sunday at home.

 

[browski]

You'd also trade off a Sunday at home.

Either way, you still lose your Sunday.

 

[Fruitcake]

Either way, you still lose your Sunday.

Depends how close you live to SYD I guess (where I'm based). Departing on CX100 at 3:40pm gives you a fair bit more of your Sunday at home than departing on EK415 at 6:00am.

 

[ozmille]

It is a good plan..........but Qantas have indicated that their flight timings to/from SIN will also be changed; so look out for that.

I might have to look at BA options

Also, for those desiring a good sleep........wouldn't you just take the EK (QF codeshare) departing SYD at 6.00AM and arriving in DXB at 1.20pm?
For those travelling onto LHR, you would then connect with the 4.30pm flight arriving into Heathrow at 8.15pm. Then you would have a bit of dinner, drink a few beers and get a lovely night's kip before work the next day.

I don't fancy a 6am departure, checking in at 4am fills me with dread :shock:

Had some colleagues that took that flight and they said even the cabin crew don't like that flight because of the hideous departure time which resulted in awful service in J

 

[Awesom Andy]

At 9 hours for HKG-SYD/MEL, it's still possible to get a reasonable amount of sleep on CX/VS. The 7.5 hour SIN-SYD/MEL is just a little bit too short for my liking though.

 

[Danger]

Page three of today's Australian Financial Review has an article on the ACCC. Two paragraphs refer to the QF/EK proposal:

The ACCC chairman also said that the regulator was close to a draft decision on the proposed 10-year strategic alliance between Qantas Airways and Emirates.

"We are concerned that a reduction in competition on certain routes will result in consumers paying more," he [ACCC chairman Rod Sims] said. "There aren't large benefits from the transaction, I know Qantas and Emirates talk up the benefits but it is all about the [level of] consumer detriment," he said.​

Does not sound positive.

 

[simongr]

Not good at all... And my flights to DXB have just been booked...

 

[Must...Fly!]

so what happens if it doesn't get approved, do qf go crawling back to ba...

 

[k3nnis]

Maybe do a deal with MH

so what happens if it does get approved, do qf go crawling back to ba...

 

[anat0l]

so what happens if it does get approved, do qf go crawling back to ba...

I assume you meant does not get approved.


Well for a start there will be a handful of people here who will gleefully be shoving the "Told you so" or "Good riddance" cards in many of our faces.


But more pragmatically I think QF will be rather royally screwed if this approval doesn't get up. They've worked quite a bit to get to this; it's going to be months of wasted work (time and money), and I'd harbour that the market is not going to like this and the share price will go through the floor.

To be honest, I'm not sure where competition will actively decrease due to this alliance (or at least decrease to the point of being severely detrimental). Even if there were some sectors that could have been questionable, why can't those be done on a case by case basis rather than a blanket 'no'. The ACCC could even put tough conditions on as a condition of approval.

The wording of the phrasing from the ACCC chairman sounds like he has an axe to grind with Qantas and/or Emirates, i.e. he is more keen to see them fail than to pursue an equitable result.