QANTAS launches 2 new international routes, roars back to NZ as Virgin Defers until November

[jakeseven7]

Qantas roars back to New Zealand with 122 flights a week and launches two new routes​

Qantas and Jetstar will operate up to 122 return flights per week across the Tasman when the quarantine-free bubble starts.

Qantas will also launch two new routes into Queensland - Auckland to Cairns and the Gold Coast - a move that will see first international service from the Gold Coast for the carrier

While Qantas has surged back, Virgin Australia has canceled a return to the Tasman from June to November.

Qantas Frequent Flyer will also boost the number of Classic Reward seats for frequent flyers, making all seats in all cabins across Qantas and Jetstar flights for the first three days available as a Classic Flight redemption.

For the remainder of 2021, frequent flyers will also enjoy access to 50 per cent more Classic Flight Reward seats on Qantas' trans-Tasman routes.

Bubbling up: Qantas roars back to NZ, adds two new routes

Qantas has also opened up two new routes to Queensland.

www.nzherald.co.nz

 

[justinbrett]

Enough of all this - tell me what I really want to hear - when is the Flounge opening?

 

[jakeseven7]

A lot of wide body A330 flights as well loaded for QF which is a very welcome event!

I wonder if they got a slight heads up from the government....

 

[justinbrett]

A lot of wide body A330 flights as well loaded for QF which is a very welcome event!

I wonder if they got a slight heads up from the government....

They didn't get the exact date, but were told to prepare by the NZ government

 

[jakeseven7]

Enough of all this - tell me what I really want to hear - when is the Flounge opening?

Tell me about it!

Start buying up the squid Qantas

 

[Berlin]

Enough of all this - tell me what I really want to hear - when is the Flounge opening?

Good question. But I am generally curious how all this will go once the Trans-Tasman flights are open: I've booked a return straight away in the first week of course and cannot wait to finally fly on the roo again after being stuck here in NZ for over a year (and the coughpy Economy only selection of Air NZ or Deathstar). Any thoughts from you guys on the following:

• I assume no lounge in Auckland- is the International Business lounge in Sydney open at least (I'm not having high hopes about the Flounge tbh)- and if so, will they somehow manage to separate the "Green" NZ travelers from anyone else?
• How strongly will crew enforce those damn masks in flight if you're in J... How is this handled domestically currently? I mean, I easily manage to eat and drink pretty much non-stop, especially on a short hop on the 'triangle" so in practice no masks for most of the flight?
• Will I get champers (I mean proper, not that Grant Burge cough)? Those flights were expensive enough...
• What about food- are they going to give us the usually Neil Perry stuff?
• No Entertainment still I assume?

 

[Virgin Bart]

How strongly will crew enforce those damn masks in flight if you're in J.

Fingers crossed very strongly.

 

[Berlin]

Fingers crossed very strongly.

Good luck with that! Here in NZ where it's Economy only, it has grown into a sport for certain people to draaaaag out that cup of water and cookie with it for the length of the entire flight and I've never seen crew complain. Also very common, even among the crew themselves, the ever fashionable "wear the mask on the chin" look...

 

[henrus]

I assume no lounge in Auckland- is the International Business lounge in Sydney open at least (I'm not having high hopes about the Flounge tbh)- and if so, will they somehow manage to separate the "Green" NZ travelers from anyone else?

Given Air NZ is re-opening their intl SYD, MEL, PER*, BNE, AKL, CHC and WLG lounges (* WA pending state opening borders) I'd expect Qantas to do the same otherwise they'd be losing out to Air NZ.

Those transiting through AU/NZ airports shouldn't have access to the departure lounge so there shouldn't be any mixing of green zone and transiting pax.

Now I say shouldn't because airports like AKL and BNE have published on their website this isn't the case. I'd have assumed SYD is the same but this video from someone in January shows them clearly in the departure lounge in SYD (~4:28). They were on SQ288 the SIN-SYD-BNE service:

So I hope the NSW gov/SYD airport has fixed this now.

How strongly will crew enforce those damn masks in flight if you're in J... How is this handled domestically currently? I mean, I easily manage to eat and drink pretty much non-stop, especially on a short hop on the 'triangle" so in practice no masks for most of the flight?

Given it'll be the same crew who operate QF domestic flights operating the 737/A330's across the Tasman you can expect the same level of enforcement.

No Entertainment still I assume?

Recent videos from late last month show the screen working again so who knows:

Qantas officially says it's still not offered but I guess time will tell. BYO entertainment just in case.

 

[Mattg]

Good question. But I am generally curious how all this will go once the Trans-Tasman flights are open: I've booked a return straight away in the first week of course and cannot wait to finally fly on the roo again after being stuck here in NZ for over a year (and the coughpy Economy only selection of Air NZ or Deathstar). Any thoughts from you guys on the following:

• I assume no lounge in Auckland- is the International Business lounge in Sydney open at least (I'm not having high hopes about the Flounge tbh)- and if so, will they somehow manage to separate the "Green" NZ travelers from anyone else?
• How strongly will crew enforce those damn masks in flight if you're in J... How is this handled domestically currently? I mean, I easily manage to eat and drink pretty much non-stop, especially on a short hop on the 'triangle" so in practice no masks for most of the flight?
• Will I get champers (I mean proper, not that Grant Burge cough)? Those flights were expensive enough...
• What about food- are they going to give us the usually Neil Perry stuff?
• No Entertainment still I assume?

I'm not sure about the lounge situation, but on your other points:

• The wearing of masks is enforced reasonably well on most of the domestic flights I've taken lately. You can expect to have to wear one, and for other pax to also be wearing them. There are regular announcements and crew have been reminding pax to put their masks back on after the meal service is over. I have spotted a few crew who don't wear them properly, but this is becoming rarer.
• They are just doing Grant Burge sparkling wine on domestic J at the moment. Not sure if they will bring back champagne once international returns.
• The quality of the J meals has declined slightly in recent times, and the same meals seem to keep popping up indicating to me that they are making fewer different types of meals and doing them on a mass scale.
• No IFE at the moment but wifi is available on mainline domestic flights. The screens will still work but only display a moving map. Occasionally the crew forget to turn off the IFE, so will work in this instance but it's not supposed to because QF hasn't paid for the content.

 

[Berlin]

Thanks a lot guys for the info. Just hoping I'll get some proper champers on the trans Tasman

 

[Berlin]

Given Air NZ is re-opening their intl SYD, MEL, PER*, BNE, AKL, CHC and WLG lounges (* WA pending state opening borders) I'd expect Qantas to do the same otherwise they'd be losing out to Air NZ.

Thanks for all this info. Hope you are correct about the International lounges- it would really suck to not get any lounge to access after paying a full fare J class return ticket.

 

[Kiwi_Flyer]

I expect we'll get an update fairly quickly as @Berlin isn't the only one to be flying the first week.

 

[Vic]

Recent videos from late last month show the screen working again so who knows:


Qantas officially says it's still not offered but I guess time will tell. BYO entertainment just in case.

The system and movies are all their available, but the crew just turn that functionality off. Had this on my last flight, started watching a movie, 3 minutes in the movie stopped and disappeared. Asked the CSM about it, and he said he'd just forgotten to turn off the movies, but they're not allowed to be used. This was December 2020

The guy in your video just got lucky.

I'm not sure about the lounge situation, but on your other points:

• No IFE at the moment but wifi is available on mainline domestic flights. The screens will still work but only display a moving map. Occasionally the crew forget to turn off the IFE, so will work in this instance but it's not supposed to because QF hasn't paid for the content.

I haven't been able to actually connect to the internet with the wifi. Can certainly connect to the wifi, but with no connection to web. If this has changed - great.

 

[jinks485]

Hopefully Amex and Priority Pass lounges will also be opening soon - but wouldn't be surprised if they wait for more travel bubbles to launch.

 

[milehighclub]

The system and movies are all their available, but the crew just turn that functionality off. Had this on my last flight, started watching a movie, 3 minutes in the movie stopped and disappeared. Asked the CSM about it, and he said he'd just forgotten to turn off the movies, but they're not allowed to be used. This was December 2020

This is correct and is still the procedure. The IFE can't be turned off (its connected to emergency announcements) but as the IFE resets after every flight, the entertainment has to be regularly disabled.

 

[jakeseven7]

Couple of interesting and related articles to QF's new trans tasman schedule....

I'll be interested to see how many people take the plunge.

Reward avail in J is very good.... tempting.....



----

Qantas to poach Air New Zealand frequent flyers with switch offer

The Australian airline has made an audacious pitch to woo Air New Zealand frequent flyers by allowing top-tier members to be fast-tracked onto its own loyalty scheme.

australianaviation.com.au

Qantas to operate 83% pre-COVID capacity to New Zealand

The airline group also said it would launch two new routes from Auckland to Cairns and the Gold Coast alongside restarting all its traditional routes.

australianaviation.com.au

 

[henrus]

The guy in your video just got lucky.

I haven't been able to actually connect to the internet with the wifi. Can certainly connect to the wifi, but with no connection to web. If this has changed - great.

Cheers, good to know it was a mistake rather than the norm.

Regarding the wifi, I've used it a few times on the 737's and it works quite well although it's worth noting that the NBN satellites don't work off the coast of Australia so AU-NZ flights won't have wifi.

 

[blackcat20]

Pity they haven't improved the Mel-chc schedule. Early AM flight is not appealing, either you lose half of Saturday if going for a weekend or need to take Friday off work.

 

[Berlin]

Reward avail in J is very good.... tempting.....

Indeed- I applaud Qantas for this. I had feared that all their blurb about making reward seats available once we can fly again would be the usual Marketing bs but nope- they've kept their word, for now at least!