QF International via Darwin

[Mrmaxwell]

From my knowledge of DRW airport, it won't be that great of an experience...

"We will give Qantas every reason to keep this route beyond April" - Michael Gunner (NT Chief Minister)

Does that involve an Airport upgrade?

Also interesting the comment on Darwin PAX being able to join the flight when it starts next month from Melbourne ie. QF9/10 only?

 

[emilbulls]

With the change to DRW, the departure and arrival time of Qf9/10 has changed as well.
This leaves me now with a transit time of -35 minutes in London according to the Qantas app
As everything has been booked on one ticket, does Qantas automatically rebook the BA connection flight? According to the app, I need to call for further information.

Return flight to MEL has only 50 Minutes transit time, but both flights should be in T3.
Is 50 minutes below minimum connection time in LHR?

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Sad face emoji, as to your situation, in #62.
Best of luck you get a QF agent who knows what they are doing, when you call.

 

[justinbrett]

With the change to DRW, the departure and arrival time of Qf9/10 has changed as well.
This leaves me now with a transit time of -35 minutes in London according to the Qantas app
As everything has been booked on one ticket, does Qantas automatically rebook the BA connection flight? According to the app, I need to call for further information.

Return flight to MEL has only 50 Minutes transit time, but both flights should be in T3.
Is 50 minutes below minimum connection time in LHR?

5 > 3 and 3 > 5 is 1:30
3 > 3 is 1:00

At least that's how I read the tables

 

[OATEK]

Got notice of a change to QF1 leg in March. Takeoff back an hour at 18:00, and going via DRW not SIN now. QF2 in April shows return via SIN.

 

[ozflier]

It would be interesting to see what flight options would be available for non NSW / VIC passengers to connect at DRW.
BNE-DRW is scheduled as a 737 for early next year .
Maybe 12 business class seats would be enough for the front end punters wanting to travel just to DRW plus those continuing onto LHR.
Maybe these flights could be upgraded to a A330 but from what I've read , come february / march 2022 , with all the services starting up , QF is going to be short of the bigger capacity aircraft so the a/c may stay as 737s,

 

[OATEK]

It would be interesting to see what flight options would be available for non NSW / VIC passengers to connect at DRW.
BNE-DRW is scheduled as a 737 for early next year .
Maybe 12 business class seats would be enough for the front end punters wanting to travel just to DRW plus those continuing onto LHR.
Maybe these flights could be upgraded to a A330 but from what I've read , come february / march 2022 , with all the services starting up , QF is going to be short of the bigger capacity aircraft so the a/c may stay as 737s,

If QF flights can return in sufficient number, then they will have to depend on the A330s to provide cover for routes that would perhaps be served by B787s if the A380s were in service.

 

[justinbrett]

It would be interesting to see what flight options would be available for non NSW / VIC passengers to connect at DRW.
BNE-DRW is scheduled as a 737 for early next year .
Maybe 12 business class seats would be enough for the front end punters wanting to travel just to DRW plus those continuing onto LHR.
Maybe these flights could be upgraded to a A330 but from what I've read , come february / march 2022 , with all the services starting up , QF is going to be short of the bigger capacity aircraft so the a/c may stay as 737s,

More importantly, how do you get back to Queensland on the way home?

 

[ozflier]

Good point and thanks for rubbing it in .
It is hard to believe that the "Three Stooges" running the Qld Government at the moment will keep us locked out of international destinations for more than another six months!
But who knows?

 

[Vic]

I'm not sure ANC is considered a major PAX hub any more, those days are gone. Certainly still a freight hub.

The hub and spoke model is dead - especially now with covid. DRW is a massive detour for most long haul routes except Europe.

Massive detour... seems a bit of exaggeration. Compared to what? Perth? Darwin-SYD-SIN?

 

[justinbrett]

Massive detour... seems a bit of exaggeration. Compared to what? Perth? Darwin-SYD-SIN?

View attachment 261903

I guess you missed the "Except Europe" part of my post, and/or you didn't read the post I was replying to.

Majority of QF long haul goes to the Americas. OP was suggesting DRW could be used as a hub for all long haul, including travel to the Americas.

 

[mt4789]

Is it likely that Qantas will drop in some more domestic flights to connect to the Darwin service? Coming from Brisbane, we either have to change in Sydney or have a connection time of 12 hours in Darwin, would be quite nice if they retimed / added another Brisbane -> Darwin flight.

 

[Ade]

another Brisbane -> Darwin flight.

Why fly direct when you can connect

Welcome to AFF, @mt4789

 

[Vic]

That was pre Delta. No movement on SIN opening to Australian visitors yet. Australia not opening to SIN visitors either. Singapore is also having lots of cases now too.

The priority really is the UK because of the huge number of Australians there and people in Australia with ties to the UK. With an election coming, really need to sort that country out first.

The elephant in the room is travel insurance.
Australia has reciprocal medicare with the UK. In terms of not getting hit with a massive, medical bill if you get Covid while travelling, UK is the only viable option.

 

[Vic]

I guess you missed the "Except Europe" part of my post, and/or you didn't read the post I was replying to.

Majority of QF long haul goes to the Americas. OP was suggesting DRW could be used as a hub for all long haul, including travel to the Americas.

The reality is Darwin is only a decent hub for Oz to europe or asia, which seems to be exactly what the post you replied to said.

As a hub for asia, again I'm not seeing a massive detour. A bigger problem would be infrastructure at darwin to support numerous additional flights, for mine

 

[justinbrett]

The reality is Darwin is only a decent hub for Oz to europe or asia, which seems to be exactly what the post you replied to said.

As a hub for asia, again I'm not seeing a massive detour. A bigger problem would be infrastructure at darwin to support numerous additional flights, for mine

I suggest you re-read the post - " and then the reduced distance to North America and Europe could make DRW an ideal International Gateway for an Australian carrier."

My point is for the majority of QF long haul, which goes to North America, DRW is not suitable. DRW is further from LAX than SYD (so OP's claim is factually wrong, it's an increased distance).

That is the massive detour I refer to.

 

[emilbulls]

With the change to DRW, the departure and arrival time of Qf9/10 has changed as well.
This leaves me now with a transit time of -35 minutes in London according to the Qantas app
As everything has been booked on one ticket, does Qantas automatically rebook the BA connection flight? According to the app, I need to call for further information.

Return flight to MEL has only 50 Minutes transit time, but both flights should be in T3.
Is 50 minutes below minimum connection time in LHR?

Just received the automated rebooking of my BA flight. Instead of arriving in VIE at 10:25 with a good 2 hours layover in LHR it changed to a 7 hour layover with arrival in VIE at 17:55 (total travel time increased to over 32 hours).

Anyway, will have to call them and discuss my options but with the late arrival of QF9 in LHR you can’t connect to the morning wave anymore.

Just curious, anyone experienc if Qantas rebooks on other one world airlines? Or would be a refund my only option?

 

[Mattg]

Just received the automated rebooking of my BA flight. Instead of arriving in VIE at 10:25 with a good 2 hours layover in LHR it changed to a 7 hour layover with arrival in VIE at 17:55 (total travel time increased to over 32 hours).

Anyway, will have to call them and discuss my options but with the late arrival of QF9 in LHR you can’t connect to the morning wave anymore.

Just curious, anyone experienc if Qantas rebooks on other one world airlines? Or would be a refund my only option?

Yes, I think giving Qantas a call is a good idea.

I don't think Qantas would just rebook you for free onto any other Oneworld airline, but you may be able to rebook onto an Emirates codeshare (with QF flight number) to Vienna via Dubai.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Just received the automated rebooking of my BA flight. Instead of arriving in VIE at 10:25 with a good 2 hours layover in LHR it changed to a 7 hour layover with arrival in VIE at 17:55 (total travel time increased to over 32 hours).

Anyway, will have to call them and discuss my options but with the late arrival of QF9 in LHR you can’t connect to the morning wave anymore.

Just curious, anyone experienc if Qantas rebooks on other one world airlines? Or would be a refund my only option?

Agree with Mattg - give QF a call. They could always put you on the 2 hour connection and if you miss that BA will accommodate you on the later flight anyway.

 

[mt4789]

Why fly direct when you can connect

Welcome to AFF, @mt4789

Would love them to dust off an E190