QF to commence Santiago, Chile

[Keith T 2]

Still a long way to go but it'd alleviate the difficulty of finding awards on the popular SYD-SCL sector on LA. And depending on the seats offered on the route (hopefully a skybed equipped one or better), I might just use them on the way to EZE.

 

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0...5003402,00.html

 

 

Qantas to fly to South America

May 28, 2007 11:17am

 

 

QANTAS has increased its services to Los Angeles and South Africa and will fly to South America for the first time.

 

The national carrier announced today that it would start flying to Santiago, Chile in November 2008.

 

Three new weekly flights to Los Angeles will be added in March 2008 - taking the total number to 43 - plus an additional service to Johannesburg in November 2008.

 

An extra return service to Shanghai will be added in August 2008.

 

Qantas said more services to China will be offered for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Edited May 28, 2007 by Keith T

[S V Choong 4]

Oh, I take it that the Qantas and Lan Chile alliance will terminate once they use their own a/c to SCL?

 

I will be flying the LA800/LA801 service with LAN Chile in November going from AKL-SYD and back. LAN Chile seems to be quite popular!

[Guest Fendy]

enjoy your flight on LA, sv, they are a simply fantastic airline

[Keith T 2]

I wanted to do LA AKL-SYD to have a small taste of LAN on my DONE4 as they offer actual long haul seating compared with the Jetconnect 733 on WLG-SYD. But the LA flight departs AKL at OMG o'clock! And I'd need to reposition myself to AKL to catch the LA service. [Planned Southwest Pacific routing for my DONE4 is MEL-AKL/WLG-SYD-PER-CBR, taking into account both the nicer flights and the fare rules]

 

And no I don't think the LA/QF codeshare will terminate because there's already undercapacity on that route. LA's SYD-AKL-SCL route is usually massively overbooked - and they can get away with sky high fares as a result. The inclusion of QF on the route will alleviate the undercapacity rather than actually providing competition. And both of them are oneworld partners.

 

Who knows - they might even do a JSA like QF/BA for Europe-Oz if it gets past the ACCC. In fact BA was so unhappy about QF starting a HKG-LHR service (very competitive route in contrast with SYD-SCL) that QF was forced to include MEL-HKG-LHR (but oddly not MEL-HKG or HKG-LHR on their own even though it's the same flight, and the fact that BA were only unhappy about the HKG-LHR bit - QF29/30) into the JSA - the effect of doing so is giving up some of their revenue to BA.

 

And as previously expressed, the addition of QF on SYD-SCL will provide (marginally? ) more redemption options for oneworld awards on the SYD-SCL route as finding an award seat on the LA flight is like trying to retrieve a needle in a massively overflowing haystack at the best of times - they won't open up many discount seats, let alone awards, when they can sell the seats at full fares!

 

LA's SYD-AKL-SYD has plenty of capacity (along with the myriad of other flights on that route) - the problem lies in SYD/AKL-SCL.

 

Just a small quibble - but they're not LAN Chile anymore, they've renamed themselves LAN Airlines, or simply LAN. Some of their media even refer to the organisation as the 'LAN alliance' since LAN includes a lot of affiliate airlines like LAN Peru and LAN Ecuador, all of which joined oneworld as affiliate members.

Edited May 28, 2007 by Keith T

[S V Choong 4]

Thanks for the insight Keith and Fendy I am sure I will enjoy my flight with them. It will be served by the A340-313X too, I saw one of their birds in SYD a few days ago, CC-CQE I think it was, she wears LAN's new livery which looks rather awesome.

 

Very true, they are called LAN Airlines now. For some reason, my flight bookings still says LAN Chile in my itinerary!

 

Keith, I found one funny bits. I bought their AKL-SYD for NZD$115 per way incl. tax, which is the cheapest ever and I will be travelling in class O. Class O will still enable me to credit my miles in 100% to Asia Miles!! I only get 50% of QF's class V miles credited to my Asia Miles account, which is a bit of a bummer.

 

Well yes, Keith, I have to turn up to the AKL airport at 3:50am in the morning to catch LA801 to SYD. It was almost the same flight with QF40 from AKL-SYD anyway.

[Keith T 2]

Keith, I found one funny bits. I bought their AKL-SYD for NZD$115 per way incl. tax, which is the cheapest ever and I will be travelling in class O. Class O will still enable me to credit my miles in 100% to Asia Miles!! I only get 50% of QF's class V miles credited to my Asia Miles account, which is a bit of a bummer.

 

That is all dependent on how much the individual carrier is willing to pay CX to credit your Asia Miles account.

 

As you know I credit everything to AAdvantage - I don't get 100% miles on CX unless I book at least H class - almost full fare! Hence I don't really fly CX much if I'm buying regular return tix when I can buy discount World Traveler's Plus on BA (T class) for much much cheaper, in a higher class of travel, AND more miles + 1.5 Qpts/mile! Similarly K class on CX MEL-HKG gives me 50% miles/Qpts, but the same fare for the same route on QF gives me 100% miles/Qpts. And on QF - I don't get miles for N domestically while I get miles for O even though O is cheaper than N. Go figure.

 

Well yes, Keith, I have to turn up to the AKL airport at 3:50am in the morning to catch LA801 to SYD. It was almost the same flight with QF40 from AKL-SYD anyway.

 

But there is only 1 LA flight daily, while there are other QF flights later in the day with nicer schedules. You probably had to fly QF40 because you're connecting to QF127? Same reason why I wouldn't fly QF26 AKL-MEL (also an OMFG?! o'clock departure) even though it has skybeds vs the more sociable departure later in the day operated by a 738. My WLG-SYD on QF37 departs at a slightly more civilised time of 0915, connecting very nicely to QF583 SYD-PER with mood lighting and Dreamtime seats on the upper deck of a 743 (*crosses fingers in hope of no equipment swapping*).

Edited May 28, 2007 by Keith T

[Pieter C. 5]

I bought their AKL-SYD for NZD$115 per way incl. tax, which is the cheapest ever and I will be travelling in class O.

 

Amazing a Chilean airline has full-traffic right between AKL and SYD

No wonder they can offer these damn cheap fares !!!

[Keith T 2]

Amazing a Chilean airline has full-traffic right between AKL and SYD

No wonder they can offer these damn cheap fares !!!

 

Any airline has 5th freedom rights across the tasman. Other airlines other than Australian and NZ carriers operating trans tasman routes include Emirates, Aerolineas Argentina, Royal Brunei and as mentioned - LAN. Past players in the trans tasman market have included Thai Airways and MAS.

Edited May 28, 2007 by Keith T

[Keith T 2]

From: http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/hol...0205167482.html

 

Relevant bits quote below:

...

 

It comes as Premier Steve Bracks and Qantas prepare to announce today that Qantas will begin two flights a week from Melbourne to Shanghai from March next year. Qantas has been slow to service the Chinese market, which has experienced 21 per cent growth in Australian passengers travelling to and from China since 2001.

 

Qantas will also provide an additional service on its Sydney-to-Shanghai route from August, which will increase the number of services to five a week.

 

Qantas will also offer a direct service from Sydney to Santiago from November 2008, after noting growth in passengers to South America. It is not known yet how many services it will operate per week.

[S V Choong 4]

Keith, good luck with your jetconnect 733 flight. Found that Jetconnect is always running late in their domestic run. Hope this usual practice of theirs do not extend to the trans-Tasman flight. Luckily I do not travel on domestic NZ flight much this year. Feel sorry for my wife however. Air NZ seems to be running late in their domestic run too.

 

I know I should have taken QF26 to MEL and then off to HK, it could have been a B747-438ER too. As I have been to Melbourne before, I hope to go to Sydney for a visit. Will "publish" a trip report on QF's service and pics taken from SYD airport end of next week when I have handed in my homework for my course.

 

Perhaps you could avoid the LA AKL-SYD red eye flight, but take their SYD-AKL flight, which timed in a more civilised hour of the day.

Edited May 29, 2007 by S V Choong

[Keith T 2]

Keith, good luck with your jetconnect 733 flight.

 

Yeah hopefully -but knowing the clientele on the WLG routes I'm sure Jetconnect would behave itself.

They'd get me to PER for free in the class of travel I paid for if they are delayed anyway - all on one ticket.

 

I know I should have taken QF26 to MEL and then off to HK, it could have been a B747-438ER too. As I have been to Melbourne before, I hope to go to Sydney for a visit.

 

I think SYD would've been a better choice for you - MEL would have meant you'd need to spend the whole day in MEL. Flying QF26 means you arrive in the early morning. Unless of course you fly the 738 (QF134 I think it is?) later in the day. Also, the MEL-HKG flight (QF29) does not depart until 2359 and arrives in HKG at the crack of dawn when hotels might not want to check you in until official check in time in the arvo. QF26 is not a 744ER - it's a 2 class 744 like QF127 and is sometimes even replaced by the 743s, meaning Dreamtime seats instead of Skybeds for people on the long LAX-AKL-MEL run!! QF29 could very well be a 744ER though as it's a 3 class LHR flight - but I thought all the 744ERs would be reserved for their transpacific flights since those are longer and there aren't stops along the way? We used to have a very nicely timed MEL-HKG turnaround flight (similar timing to QF127 but operated by a 333) when QF29 operated from SYD, but that's now replaced by the MEL-HKG-LHR through flight.

 

Perhaps you could avoid the LA AKL-SYD red eye flight, but take their SYD-AKL flight, which timed in a more civilised hour of the day.

 

But doing SYD-AKL would mean I have to reposition myself to SYD. Either have to overnight there or leave MEL at an equally uncivilised time anyway. I got QF25 across to AKL which leaves at a very good time - about 1050 or thereabouts, and has skybeds.

 

Too many factors to consider hey.

Edited May 29, 2007 by Keith T

[Isaac 0]

I will be flying the LA800/LA801 service with LAN Chile in November going from AKL-SYD and back. LAN Chile seems to be quite popular!

Wow, finally. Take lots and lots of picture

 

[Pieter C. 5]

Australians Rate Qantas Lowest

 

May 29, 2007

Qantas is known as one of the world's top airlines, but many Australians rank their national carrier the worst they have flown.

 

A survey by Australian consumer magazine Choice found Australians ranked Qantas, which sports the kangaroo as its iconic emblem, the worst airline for international travel and second least satisfactory for domestic travel.

 

Yet Australians still choose to fly Qantas due to its safety record and frequent flyer scheme, said the survey of 4,000 Australian air travellers.

 

"It saddens me to admit that as an Australian, I would prefer not to fly with our national carrier if I could reasonably avoid it," one consumer, named Michael, told Choice.

 

But Michael said that because of Qantas' significant market share: "I will continue to remain a reluctant captive consumer of their meagre product offering".

 

Qantas, the recent target of a failed $9 billion takeover bid, said it was surprised by the poor ranking, saying that for the past 2 years it had been voted one of the world's top airlines in the Skytrax World Airline Awards.

 

Qantas said it ranked number two in the world in 2005 and 2006, adding the awards surveyed 13.6 million travellers in 2006.

 

Qantas told Choice that the difference in survey results may be due to the Australian focus of the local survey, with Australians having "high expectations of their national carrier".

 

Choice asked consumers to rate airlines on value for money, booking processes, convenience, check-in procedure, in-flight service, including food and entertainment, as well as seat comfort, legroom and cleanliness.

 

Qantas was ranked last in all but check-in and entertainment and scored the lowest overall satisfaction, 63 percent, compared with 78 percent for Singapore Airlines, which was voted top international airline in the Choice survey.

 

(Reuters)

 

Keith,

 

Your reaction, please ?

 

[Keith T 2]

Not the best - but hardly the worst either!

 

Sample size of 4000 (of their own subscribers!)- hardly representative. Factor in an inevitable portion of first time or infrequent flyers.

 

And after reading the choice quotes in the same article on the Sydney Morning Herald - I think these are the same type of consumers who'd bag out SQ if they lived in Singapore, MAS if they lived in Malaysia, Cathay if they lived in Hong Kong etc, and would gladly sing praises of Air Asia or revere Virgin Atlantic cattle truck. Think the kind of comments on skytrax.

 

And also - rather important to note that QF has 15 cabin crew members on the 744 compared with SQ's 17. So the blame ought to be directed at QF bean counters for any lapse in efficiency - I personally think QF cabin crew members are fine. The stress is apparent however on a fully loaded 747.

 

By the same token, go fly SQ on a regional config 2 class 772s (and they do go to long haulish places like BNE, ADL, KIX etc) where they now only have 11 crew (previously 13) - 4J/7Y to serve 30J/293Y pax and you'll also notice a discernible drop in efficiency due to poor crew:pax ratio.

 

Whilst QF is definitely not in the league of SQ's, I personally think that they are a decent alternative and a great 2nd or third choice along with BA for my personal needs.

Edited May 29, 2007 by Keith T

[S V Choong 4]

I wouldn't think they are the worst. They are much better than Air NZ in fact.

 

My recent experience with QF long haul is that their service is pretty good. However, I find the IFE a bit of a let down. On their IFE frontpage, they explicitly claimed that QF's IFE is "world's best inflight entertaiment". Well while it may be true in some ways, but it is not entirely true in many ways. If you are looking for Asian and non-English (American, UK, Aussie and etc) movies on their long haul service, forget it. My fllight was a QF 747-438 from SYD - HKG and vice versa, there isn't any Chinese movie or Japanese movie. The only Japanese movie I can find was "Letter from Iwo-jima" which in turn was a Hollywood production. I wouldn't class this as an international movie or Japanese movie in this regard. The IFE menu however have the function of changing the whole user interface to your native language. I tried to change the language to Chinese (both simplified and traditional) and Japanese, it seems to work pretty well.

 

There are some Chinese and Japanese music onboard, but not available for their on-demand system. Under their entertainment guide, the Chinese and japanese songs are not even listed fully - only the DJ's names were listed. Qantas is not very sensitive in this regard or could it be their "I don't care" attitude, something that they may need to ask themselve. Onboard the SYD-HKG and vv. flights were some 80% of Chinese or ethnic Chinese Australians onboard. A figure that does not warrant Chinese entertainment? In this regard I find CX, SQ and MH much better.

 

Their crew is not attentive at all. Pressed the crew button for many times and nobody showed up after 30 to 60 mins. I finally figure the best way to get in touch with the flight attendants is to walk to the galleries.

 

Their food portion in Y is small and food is only adequate compared to CX, SQ and MH. On the SYD-HKG flight, I had the sweet and sour pork and it was the worst I have ever had. On the way back from HKG-SYD, food was better as I believe their HK partners prepared it.

 

The IFE on their aging 767-338ER is lacking somewhat. The large and small screens means that you only get to watch what they play. Due to the hours of the flight, I was sleeping most of the time on the AKL-SYD and vv. runs.

 

Would I still fly QF? Well yes, I still think they are much better than Air NZ and like many Australian, I will go for the almost flawless safety record.

Edited May 30, 2007 by S V Choong