QF to Europe returns to the Kangaroo Route (via SIN)

[RichardMEL]

Maybe F pax in SIN can use the BA (or EK?) lounge?

 

[lovetravellingoz]

As others have posted, the lack of connections to the rest of Europe besides LHR when going via SIN is what seems odd. so I wonder what will be planned as backtracking from LHR sucks.

Will QF have a closer links with its OW partners?

 

[Basalt]

I would have preferred MEL-HKG-LHR rather than MEL-SIN-LHR but one can't have everything.

Ditto! Especially if one is going to do a layover!

 

[mviy]

I think QF will take loads into account when deciding what to offer. Say there are 5 F seats booked only SYD to SIN that's potentially 5 seats that they could offer to MEL customers flying MEL-SIN-LHR rather than having to upgrade people or leave seats empty. If QF gets this right then upgrades to F SIN-LHR will become very difficult to get especially in peak times forcing those that want to fly QF F to pay cash for it which in turn would make it more viable for QF to continue to offer it and to improve the soft product.

My guess is they did the quick swap of SYD-DXB-LHR first on the online booking system and will work on adding connections to the SIN-LHR flight from e.g. MEL later.

 

[eminere]

Check the Travel Agent guide about the changes posted earlier by Brettmcg in post #41. Chauffeur drive will be available for MEL-SIN-LHR

It's a bit of a shame that Qantas doesn't offer Chauffeur Drive for passengers travelling solely between Australia and Singapore (or any other destination in its network). It's hard when you've been spoilt by Emirates!

 

[JohnPhelan]

As others have posted, the lack of connections to the rest of Europe besides LHR when going via SIN is what seems odd. so I wonder what will be planned as backtracking from LHR sucks.

Will QF have a closer links with its OW partners?

That's why QF continues to codeshare on a huge number of EK services to continental Europe. Unless the UK is your final destination, doing the codeshare via DXB remains the best option.

 

[mviy]

It's a bit of a shame that Qantas doesn't offer Chauffeur Drive for passengers travelling solely between Australia and Singapore (or any other destination in its network). It's hard when you've been spoilt by Emirates!

Especially if they're flying F.

 

[levelnine]

As others have posted, the lack of connections to the rest of Europe besides LHR when going via SIN is what seems odd. so I wonder what will be planned as backtracking from LHR sucks.

Will QF have a closer links with its OW partners?

I think the idea is that these people travel on EK via DXB for one-stop connections to Europe.

 

[Danger]

Interesting how they worded the press release - they are completely pulling out of DXB but you wouldn't get that from the title

That first sentence does make it sound like it's all about EK: "their cornerstone partnership".

So MEL isn't getting screwed after all. A choice of the A380 or B787 all the way.

And presumably no need to worry about losing the F lounge.

So more seats from MEL-LHR than SYD-LHR.
Who said QF was SYD centric

And a hub in Perth! Who knows? In 12 months maybe Sydney will just have 717s that ply the east coast.

The only downside, I can see, is whilst the QF SIN lounge is only a few years old since its refurbishment, it does not have quite the facilities and space as the EK ones do in DXB.

But nonethesss, SIN has the BA lounge available for OW flyers in addition to the QF lounge in terminal 1.

With all these F PAX suddenly in transit in SIN they might need an actual F Lounge again instead of that hybrid thing.

At the announcement of the QF-EK partnership (which I think was five years next week) Joyce was asked a question from the floor about the then refurbishments that were underway in SIN. I specifically and clearly remember him saying that the plans for the F lounge in SIN would remain. Of course, that never happened.

So looks like there will be 2x BA and 1x QF flights all operating SIN-LHR within a two hour period. You'd have to think they'll work towards a joint venture (or JV light) deal. I'm also assuming they'll get traffic rights from SIN-LHR?

There's a lot of animosity with BA, though.

My first thought too!

And mine, too. I genuinely couldn't believe the headline. There were no internet rumours about this that I'm aware of.

I wouldn't rule out QF services moving to T5 in LHR

As others have noted the lounge refurb in T3 would surely rule this out. And I'd be very surprised if BA would have them.

 

[mviy]

I think the idea is that these people travel on EK via DXB for one-stop connections to Europe.

Can't upgrade on EK using QFF points though. That and the lack of an announcement of the A380 moving to MEL-SIN or MEL-HKG were my biggest disappointments when it was announced that MEL-DXB-LHR would be scrapped. The MEL-SIN A380 service should deal with one of these issues if connections are appropriately allowed onto the QF A380 SIN-LHR service.

 

[codash1099]

If EK inked a new 5 year deal that didn't explicitly exclude QF working more closely with BA on flights to EU, then I would be surprised! Plus, the way BA unilaterally expelled QP members from their lounges without prior consultation with QF (the final push that presumably sent QF into EK's arms), is likely to still leave a bitter taste in many mouths.

/Cynic's hat on

I don't think that QF's level of concern for QP members is so great that they would give this move a great deal of consideration in something as big as the alliance with EK. What interests me is that a move of this magnitude comes after QF has been expounding the benefits of the EK alliance in its old form. What a difference a couple of years of profit makes.

/Cynics hat off

All that aside, this is a great move, especially for Perth flyers who (a) didn't like DXB and (b) weren't looking forward to 17 hour flights. All we need now id an A330 back on PER-SIN.

 

[justinbrett]

/Cynic's hat on

I don't think that QF's level of concern for QP members is so great that they would give this move a great deal of consideration in something as big as the alliance with EK. What interests me is that a move of this magnitude comes after QF has been expounding the benefits of the EK alliance in its old form. What a difference a couple of years of profit makes.

/Cynics hat off

All that aside, this is a great move, especially for Perth flyers who (a) didn't like DXB and (b) weren't looking forward to 17 hour flights. All we need now id an A330 back on PER-SIN.

Like anyone I hate longhaul flights in Y - but would people seriously prefer to route through SIN - when SIN-LHR is 13.5 hours anyway? For the sake of an extra 3-4 hours you can go direct - saving quite a few hours and the need for a stop. I could kind of understand if the stop was halfway (say DXB) but with SIN so much closer to PER I just don't understand why anyone would do that. It's kind of like flying SYD-LAX via AKL. Yeah a 17 hour flight sucks but so does a 13 hour flight - especially when you have to transfer to another 5.5 hour flight.

 

[mviy]

Like anyone I hate longhaul flights in Y - but would people seriously prefer to route through SIN - when SIN-LHR is 13.5 hours anyway? For the sake of an extra 3-4 hours you can go direct - saving quite a few hours and the need for a stop. I could kind of understand if the stop was halfway (say DXB) but with SIN so much closer to PER I just don't understand why anyone would do that. It's kind of like flying SYD-LAX via AKL. Yeah a 17 hour flight sucks but so does a 13 hour flight - especially when you have to transfer to another 5.5 hour flight.

Which is exactly why there doesn't seem to be much if anything in premium seats available as reward seats PER-LHR. When there's no competition for non-stop there's not as big a need to release seats. For those in MEL however MEL-SIN-LHR would be a lot better than MEL-PER-LHR imo.

 

[Himeno]

Just saw an email about this after getting home from work. Going over all the details now. :shock:

Putting A380 back on MEL-SIN accounts for the "spare" A380 left by the QF9/10 change (assuming SYD-HKG is confirmed A380 year round). That would mean 3 A380 from MEL (LAX, SIN) and 8 from SYD (LAX, SIN/LHR, DFW, HKG) with 1 at MNL during off peak.

So QF will pull out of DXB? I wonder if that means any changes to EK lounge access.

re the QF Club BA issues, that happened before the EK tie up. BA changed the name of their lounges, the QF Club access agreement used the old name, they didn't change the contract and BA blocked QF club members without saying anything to QF. The recent change for access at LHR likely has more to do with the lounge locations and the soon opening QF operated lounge.
QF might move into LHR T5 at some point, that was the long term LHR redevelopment plan (the "toast rack" with T2 and T5 between the 2 runways. They were meant to complete the build out of T5 [All 3 existing T5 concourses are shorter then what was planned] and a T5D is planned. All of oneworld was meant to move into T5 as T5 and T2 expanded into the foot print of T3 as it shut down). The plan had been to close T3 by 2019. But with a number of airlines investing in new lounges in T3, it appears that may have been delayed.

 

[mviy]

Himeno you may find the Travel Agent guide linked to in post 41 useful.

I don't think there are any changes planned for lounge access with EK except of course with no QF1/2 going through DXB there'd be no access for OneWorld elites in DXB as there'd be no longer any QF operated and marketed flights going through there.

 

[Pushka]

Well the population in ADL is shrinking. Hard to justify extra services with a shrinking population.

You could choose to continue that population trend and move to SYD/MEL if this is a big enough concern for you.

We've partly moved to MEL for work but home is in Adelaide. Qantas shunted us from international departures before the downturn.

They will have to significantly improve the ground facilities for F pax at SIN IMHO. The current CL/P1 tables will absolutely not cut it.
I'm ambivalent about this. On the one hand I love the longer leg into LHR on arrival but I will miss the DXB Flounge. It's far, far superior to the QF SIN Lounge or the BA one.

I was thinking exactly the same. The Qantas lounge in SIN is crowded and noisy with kids and that was before this latest change.

 

[Danger]

Himeno you may find the Travel Agent guide linked to in post 41 useful.

I don't think there are any changes planned for lounge access with EK except of course with no QF1/2 going through DXB there'd be no access for OneWorld elites in DXB as there'd be no longer any QF operated and marketed flights going through there.

Oneworld elites in DXB can access other lounges operated by oneworld carriers (eg. BA). Oneworld elites never had access to the EK lounge; only QF elites.

 

[calmelb]

Oneworld elites in DXB can access other lounges operated by oneworld carriers (eg. BA). Oneworld elites never had access to the EK lounge; only QF elites.

OW elites had EK lounge access whenever they were flying QF (both code & metal). As of course QF is a OW airline. However only QF elites got EK lounge access when on EO with QF code

 

[mviy]

They will have to significantly improve the ground facilities for F pax at SIN IMHO. The current CL/P1 tables will absolutely not cut it.

I hope I'm wrong and that QF opens a FLounge in SIN but I'm not holding my breath.

On the one hand I love the longer leg into LHR on arrival but I will miss the DXB Flounge. It's far, far superior to the QF SIN Lounge or the BA one.

The things I like about the DXB J and FLounges are the boarding gates within the lounge and the generous size of the toothpaste in the bathrooms. I've found the food to be very inferior to what's offered in the QF FLounges. Typically there's not long in DXB so a meal is rushed and no time to have a shower as well.

 

[moa999]

That's why QF continues to codeshare on a huge number of EK services to continental Europe. Unless the UK is your final destination, doing the codeshare via DXB remains the best option.

Unless you want to use points to upgrade