Qantas to Norfolk Island

[justin23]

Great to see QF operating NLK for the foreseeable future anyway. I'd prefer to visit the island with QF as it makes for an excellent FF redemption.

yes it does although having been once and as good as that was, i'm not racing to get back. Its a nice place and worth visiting, but after a week, you've probably exhausted everything, unless you just like to sit and do little.

 

[ole nimeton]

Booked a couple of Canberra to Norfolk Island (via BNE on the way there and SYD on way back) business reward flights for late April for a long weekend and really beginning to regret it now.

Today Qantas changed the flight from BNE to Norfolk to earlier in the morning, meaning that our 6am connecting flight from CBR wouldn't get us into BNE on time, arriving 15 minutes after the Norfolk Flight is due to take off. After several hours on hold with Qantas as a WP, I was offered a connecting flight to Norfolk either a day later or a day before with an overnight stay in BNE because nothing would connect on the same day. I opted for the day before because the day after is pointless when you're going somewhere for a long weekend (and have already booked accomodation)... I asked about options via Sydney - there were none, apparently.

You'd think this is all slightly inconvenient so far but doable, however, Qantas wouldn't pay for a hotel overnight at BNE so I'm $300 out of pocket for that. Separately, I had a seperate booking from ADL-CBR on the same day that I now have to fly out of CBR to BNE so I have now had to change that flight to earlier in the day at a cost of $300 (again, no interest from Qantas in waving the fare difference as it was a seperate booking).

So basically, an already an expensive trip ($900 in fees on the reward flights plus points) has turned into a very expensive trip with an extra $600 of expenses because Qantas decided to schedule a flight that wouldn't connect and then wouldn't offer any reasonable remedy to deal with the situation.

Doesn't exactly encourage me to book with them in the future, though on this route there are obviously no alternatives

 

[Tiki]

SBS On Demand

Nice doco on Norfolk Island including footage of the highly endangered Green Parrot about 30 minutes in and again towards the end. You can also see Margaret the birding guide showing some more birds.

 

[AFF Editor]

The Australian government is now completing an open tender process to find a new long-term partner to service the Norfolk Island routes.

Qantas was initially awarded the contract until 30 June 2022, but Qantas will continue to fly from BNE and SYD to NLK beyond this date under the current short-term arrangements until a new long-term partner (which could be Qantas, Air New Zealand or another airline) is selected by the Department of Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications.

Air New Zealand was previously awarded the contract until August 2023 but has not operated any flights to NLK since March 2021.

Air New Zealand May Not Return to Norfolk Island

Air New Zealand may not resume serving the routes from Brisbane and Sydney to Norfolk Island, despite the Australian government initially granting Air New

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[kpc]

SBS On Demand

Nice doco on Norfolk Island including footage of the highly endangered Green Parrot about 30 minutes in and again towards the end. You can also see Margaret the birding guide showing some more birds.

We saw Ray Martin and Ken Duncan filming all over the island when we went in Easter 2021

 

[kpc]

The Australian government is now completing an open tender process to find a new long-term partner to service the Norfolk Island routes.

Qantas was initially awarded the contract until 30 June 2022, but Qantas will continue to fly from BNE and SYD to NLK beyond this date under the current short-term arrangements until a new long-term partner (which could be Qantas, Air New Zealand or another airline) is selected by the Department of Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications.

Air New Zealand was previously awarded the contract until August 2023 but has not operated any flights to NLK since March 2021.

Air New Zealand May Not Return to Norfolk Island

Air New Zealand may not resume serving the routes from Brisbane and Sydney to Norfolk Island, despite the Australian government initially granting Air New

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

For personal selfish reasons, I hope QF get the tender so I can use my Qf points to go NZ fares were quite expensive even in Y and almost impossible to get award flights on them. Bet you the NZ tender is cheaper than the Qf one though....

 

[justin23]

For personal selfish reasons, I hope QF get the tender so I can use my Qf points to go NZ fares were quite expensive even in Y and alomsot impossible to get award flights on them. Bet you the NZ tender is cheaper than the Qf one though....

Look its the reason i went in 2021. The fares are not that cheap on QF either, but these kinds of flights are great for award bookings if you can find them. Recommend a visit, its Australia, but also not really.

 

[Bindibuys]

We saw Ray Martin and Ken Duncan filming all over the island when we went in Easter 2021

We fly to NLK on the 20th, watched this programme, going to take my camera tri-pod with us now.

 

[Zanzara]

Wonder if VA responded to the tender. Would put the cat amongst the pigeons...

 

[Hux]

Travelling back to NLK in August to see family. Will be my first NLK trip on QF, requested an upgrade so fingers crossed.

 

[jakeseven7]

Wonder if VA responded to the tender. Would put the cat amongst the pigeons...

Don’t have enough planes

 

[Bindibuys]

Travelling back to NLK in August to see family. Will be my first NLK trip on QF, requested an upgrade so fingers crossed.

On NI now, flew over on Monday, we were the only pax in J.
About 50 in Y.
After finding out that QF is subsidised for this flight, now not as worried about it being cancelled. Tho it was about 3 hours late in departure.

 

[Scarlett]

Sounds like a better route for a 717 or E190. I wonder if QQ would bid to service it themselves?

 

[SYD]

Sounds like a better route for a 717 or E190. I wonder if QQ would bid to service it themselves?

Discussed earlier in the thread, there’s a significant freight requirement that better suits a 737/A32x size aircraft.

Plus, you need to be able to get to AKL or BNE if diverted!

 

[henrus]

Discussed earlier in the thread, there’s a significant freight requirement that better suits a 737/A32x size aircraft

This was a big reason why Air NZ held the contract. Their A320s offered superior performance and freight capacity to the island.

I guess moving forward they could end up with a smaller aircraft but only if this is supplemented with more Toll 737 freighter services.