SFO routes dropped?

[AFF Editor]

This actually might be a good one for the AFF team to take to QF for an official response.... I just don't know who to page, there are so many of them

@AFF Editor @Mattg ? I can never remember who does what

It would be good to know or hopefully they make a call soon so there is room on alternative routes/flights etc! also makes it hard to plan and book accomodation.

I've asked Qantas if they're able to provide an update and will get back to you if I hear anything.

As far as I can tell, they've now removed all SYD-SFO flights from sale up to 30 January and from 30 January until 24 March 2023, only J/W/Y/B/H fare classes are being sold. This would indicate to me that Qantas has not fully committed yet to operating those flights and doesn't want to sell too many seats. It's business as usual from 26 March 2023, but that could also change.

Personally I would not be booking any SYD-SFO flights on Qantas until they provide a firm commitment on a start date. I've now lost count of the number of times they've progressively pushed back the restart date on this route.

 

[SYD]

There are / were quite a lot of award seats from late March onwards for a couple of months.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

For those affected, does QF reroute via LAX? If so, does that include rewards, or do they just refund the points?

 

[HS-TQE]

Qantas has now formally filed changes to the GDS and has zero-ed out SYD-SFO until 1 February 2023, the tenatative resumption date.

Qantas Continues to Revise Sydney – San Francisco Service in NW22 — AeroRoutes

Published at 1600GMT 23AUG22 Qantas in the past two weeks continue to update planned Sydney – San Francisco service resumption for Northern winter 2022/23 season. As of 23AUG22, reservation between 02DEC22 and 31JAN23 is no longer available. First flight available for reservation is now schedule

www.aeroroutes.com

 

[jrfsp]

For those affected, does QF reroute via LAX? If so, does that include rewards, or do they just refund the points?

For Revenue they will provide onwards connections to SFO.

I think for rewards it is dependent on connecting reward seats on AA (for example), if none available they will offer a flight to nearest destination (ie LAX)

 

[SYD]

Qantas has now formally filed changes to the GDS and has zero-ed out SYD-SFO until 1 February 2023, the tenatative resumption date.

Qantas Continues to Revise Sydney – San Francisco Service in NW22 — AeroRoutes

Published at 1600GMT 23AUG22 Qantas in the past two weeks continue to update planned Sydney – San Francisco service resumption for Northern winter 2022/23 season. As of 23AUG22, reservation between 02DEC22 and 31JAN23 is no longer available. First flight available for reservation is now schedule

www.aeroroutes.com

So consistent with what was reported above. I might book a contingency LAX-SFO flight…

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

So consistent with what was reported above. I might book a contingency LAX-SFO flight…

Thinking I should do the same with my internal flight to position me at LAX rather than SFO. At least it appears they've been giving pax booked on a reward the option to change to LAX and opening up space.

Only hiccup in my case is that I'll be originating in a very small city where there's only one game in town, so booking the contingency to LAX would result in a duplicate booking on the first sector, and Delta's system doesn't like those.

Time to make a gamble.

 

[SYD]

We’re at least booked on QF12 home and may well do a road trip finishing at LAX’s new rental car facility!

The outbound to SFO is currently one of the first dates in the more likely start date range at the end of March. Fingers crossed!

 

[kreuky]

I had award seats and i did not give up until they put me on SFO to LAX and vice versa. Be persistent (i only managed to do it when talking to HBA call centre) - even if AA/AS do not have award seats avail, they put me in E class which i gather is some employee fare class (in business too).
Waiting for my Dec 1 SYD SFO to get cancelled now.

The one time i booked LAX SYD (in J) and had a separate ticket SFO to LAX (in Y), AS would interline the baggage for me (after some convincing that it could be done) but argued with charging me US$70 for two bags. I wasn't gonna win with them so i gave in and paid, but wrote to complain and they refunded it to me.

 

[jakeseven7]

For those affected, does QF reroute via LAX? If so, does that include rewards, or do they just refund the points?

I’ve had two points bookings in the past affected this way and both times QF have re-accommodated (I’m WP unsure if that helped).

First booking was only QF metal so was easy they just made inventory available, second involved other carriers that Qantas managed to get award seats released / or something to complete the booking. That took a couple of days to fix up.

As someone else said just be politely persistent.

 

[kreuky]

Also they let you change the date you wanna fly (within reason) and doesn't even have to be award availabilty (on QF metal) - they can and will open seats for you. Eg..i really wanna fly Dec 4, so when they cancel my Dec 1 SYD to SFO, ill just change it to Dec 4, SYD-LAX-SFO. YMMV of course

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

Also they let you change the date you wanna fly (within reason) and doesn't even have to be award availabilty (on QF metal) - they can and will open seats for you. Eg..i really wanna fly Dec 4, so when they cancel my Dec 1 SYD to SFO, ill just change it to Dec 4, SYD-LAX-SFO. YMMV of course

Thanks - super helpful. My faith that my SFO flight will be operating in mid-March is near nil. I booked what I could get, but otherwise would have chosen LAX a day or two before. Sounds like I might be able to if this inevitably goes the way most think it will, so I think I'll go ahead and get an internal flight booked for one of those days as I can use Delta points and their reward tickets are totally flex.

 

[Mattg]

Qantas has now removed all SYD-SFO flights from sale until 26 March 2023.

 

[jrfsp]

Hopefully they will cancel the flights soon so rebooking can begin

 

[HS-TQE]

Qantas has now removed all SYD-SFO flights from sale until 26 March 2023.

Flights available from 27 March 2023 onwards (all subject to change o.f.c).

Qantas 2022/23 San Francisco Service Adjustment – 27AUG22 — AeroRoutes

Published at 1900GMT 27AUG22 Qantas this week continues to adjust planned operation for Sydney – San Francisco route. As of 27AUG22, first available flight for reservation is now scheduled on 27MAR23, in all fare classes. Previously, the airline’s service between 01FEB23 and 26MAR23 was availabl

www.aeroroutes.com

 

[SYD]

They opened a bunch of award seats from 27 Mar. I hope more apologies aren’t required….

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

Well, there's the final nail in the coffin I needed to rebook my positioning flight to LAX next March rather than SFO for my reward ticket.

The next question of course is whether Qantas will have the decency to admit the cancellation and rebook me in a timely manner or if I'll get to wait several months to get it sorted.

 

[Mrmaxwell]

Qantas has now removed all SYD-SFO flights from sale until 26 March 2023.

Insane! So many of my colleagues are now flying UA because this - having to run the gauntlet at LAX is a nightmare especially when on right turn around for business!

 

[jakeseven7]

Insane! So many of my colleagues are now flying UA because this - having to run the gauntlet at LAX is a nightmare especially when on right turn around for business!

Yea it’s a real bunmer, being relegated to literally last choice UA on these direct routes is highly irritating, and via LAX isn’t always feasible as the QF LAX fights are absolutely jammed.

I bet QFi would dearly like the 2 brand new 787s just parked waiting to be rubber stamped sent across ASAP, and also all the A380s back too!

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

I bet QFi would dearly like the 2 brand new 787s just parked waiting to be rubber stamped sent across ASAP, and also all the A380s back too!

So do I, but these rolling schedules and cancellations that aren't really cancellations that entitle you to make the changes you're going to have to make are terrible business practices and very much a choice. They know exactly what they're doing, and they continue to choose to do it.