VintageKrug - 12/12/2011 14:12 GMT
Experience the luxury of Qantas International Business with these great deals
What better way to celebrate the holidays than with some great Qantas International Business fares to Australia and New Zealand.
On our A380 flights to Sydney and Melbourne you'll find exceptional levels of comfort, innovation and style, the result of our experience, and Marc Newson's design flair.
Relax and recline in your fully flat Skybed, and enjoy our award-winning wine list and Neil Perry designed cuisine with flexible dining options to suit you.
These great International Business fares are available until 20 December 2011, unless sold out before. Availability is limited. Valid for departures from 23 December to 15 January 2012.
http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/international-flight-specials/from-london-heathrow/business/global/
Some nice F deals too = £4400 rtn
Great deals, indeed, VK.
But of far greater interest to the Forum is your coming out. Most posters have believed (erroneously, it transpires) that you work for or, indeed, run BA. Now, from this post, it is clear that you are a Qantas trolly-dolly , as your post waxes lyrical about "our A380 flights" and "our award-winning wine list". At least this should silence the doubters for once and for all.
So, maybe Vintage Krug is, in fact, Virgin from Kalgoorlie or similar.......
VintageKrug - 12/12/2011 16:30 GMT
Kalgoorlie. How very dare you.
*stomps off*
Tim2sms - 12/12/2011 17:33 GMT
VK - When is the next BA sale likely to kick in, and at what order of magnitude of annual spend does BA start giving deals to Corporate customers? Thanks.
Irons80 - 12/12/2011 17:35 GMT
I have to say, the Qantas A380 is one incredible aircraft. My business class trip LAX-SYD was a very enjoyable 16 hours indeed
VintageKrug - 12/12/2011 18:13 GMT
22nd December.
It depends. But nothing under £100k annually.
Explore www.ba.com/onbusiness if you run a SME which won't otherwise qualify for a corporate deal.
QF F is great; I especially like the personal ventilation, rather than having to rely on whole cabin air circulation.
Tim2sms - 12/12/2011 20:37 GMT
Thanks, have joined On Business and triple points for the first 6 qualifying segments gets the first free flights / upgrades surprisingly quickly. All good for a SME trying to stretch the travel budget.
VintageKrug - 12/12/2011 20:44 GMT
There's also an OnBusiness Amex which can be worth exploring further.
Binman62 - 13/12/2011 09:19 GMT
I would strongly suggest that if you wish to take advantage of QF luxury that you buy an upgrade at the airport and do not pay these fares. They are being offered as the premium cabins are not full and the slide in business class, (flat beds only on A380) are suffering very badly. The last BA sale fares on the JSA route (BA remember get half the revenue, which perhaps explains why VK is so very keen) were around these levels but only for the slide.
The A380 is popular but airport upgrades can be had for around £500.
As of march there are huge reductions in capacity as QF reduces services by 50% and drop LHR BKK and LHR HKG altogether. BA also end BKK SYD but take up the LHR HKG with a sensible and very welcome return of the lunch time departure and a day light flight home. QF dropped this service last year claiming no demand and moved it to compete head on with 2 x BA 2 x CX and 1 x VS in the evening. It was a disaster...... as was the decision to not put flat beds on 747s thus there are now 3 very different products in business class on the UK OZ route.
VintageKrug - 13/12/2011 09:26 GMT
Contrary to what is suggested, these are exceptional fares (many available on the fully flat bed A380) for the Christmas period (when high demand is historically typical) and in case some haven't noticed there's a global downturn happening, which is what's causing reduction in demand, coupled with a very high Aussie Dollar reducing demand for flights from Europe.
This sale has little to do with a retiming of flights.
Airport upgrades are certainly less easy to come by, can vary considerably in price and on such a lengthy flight are a riskier path than taking advantage of one of these competitive fares, which in some cases undercut the Premium Economy fare for the same dates, meaning you'd be barking to pay that and then take the risk of paying for an airport upgrade on top of that.
Senator - 13/12/2011 09:34 GMT
I fear we are in for a service reduction as premium cabins seem to be less than full.
BA tried to sell the same seats across to America three times; once from UK, then from the US and now from Europe. LH will have an offer tomorrow for one day, this time extending it to end of March.
I smell desperation; I wonder what the annual Boxing Day sale will yield this year.
"I smell desperation"
Very shrewd comment, I agree with you Senator and hope that we are not going to witness a spectacular failure in in the airline sector in 2012, although I fear we may.
VintageKrug - 13/12/2011 10:36 GMT
It's just yield management; similar sales were held prior to the last recession; I went to Cairo in Club World in 2009 for less than £500 rtn and these prices are much higher than that.
It's much cheaper to reduce prices than furlough/reduce capacity, and especially over holiday periods business people simply don't purchase the expensive fully flexible premium fares which fill the cabins. Hence the premium leisure market focus.
I'd be more concerned about profitability if these sales weren't happening.
Binman62 - 13/12/2011 13:11 GMT
It is not so much desperation as frankly blind panic. Ex UK fares have been hiked so much in the last 18 months that the chickens have finally come home to roost for greedy airlines.
Nor is the QF reduction in capacity a retiming issue, it is a deliberate manoeuvre allowed by the JSA that permits BA and QF to collude on fares and schedules and which has also allowed this massive reduction in capacity from next March. As a result there will be further upward pressure on ex UK airfares especially in premium cabins. Economy fares will see little change thanks in part to EK and others now offer sub £800 fares to OZ again.
BA and their iniquitous fuel surcharges need to wake up.
Sales will be spectacular next year but not from BA who are stuck in Olympic Year thinking that will mean a bad year for redemption bookings and a great year for staff travel.
The Boxing Day sale will probably start early but will be yet more of the same with club to JFK at £1600 Cairo and at £999 and the Maldives at £1499 and VK having kittens about how wonderful it all is and just how many seats he has bought at these amazing fares.
There will be Avios promotions a plenty and the opportunity to buy shed loads of points that few mere mortals can actually do anything with.
The fares may be attractive but as it is BA you will need to travel at a moments notice, no planning is allowed, on wet Wednesday in February and only if there is a full moon and no light drizzle at LHR.........credit card fees and other charges will apply!.
Happy Holidays....
Hippocampus - 13/12/2011 13:23 GMT
"Greedy airlines"?
Have you seen the fuel price and rates of APD lately?
I fail to see how an industry that struggles to get operating margins anywhere near to double digit figures could be characterised as "greedy".
Reproduced from Pixelmeister post another thread
"'The airline industry’s (DAL) profit next year will fall 49 percent, or $1.4 billion more than predicted earlier, as the sovereign-debt crisis in Europe hurts economic growth, the International Air Transport Association said.
Net income will drop to $3.5 billion in 2012 from $6.9 billion this year, with the profit margin narrowing to 0.6 percent of sales from 1.2 percent, IATA Chief Executive Officer Tony Tyler told reporters in Geneva."
So, yes, it is yield management, but it is also desperate.
For the avoidance of doubt, I am talking about airlines generally, e.g. Senator's comment about the LH sale.
VintageKrug - 13/12/2011 13:24 GMT
We apologise for that breakdown, normal service will be resumed shortly.
Senator - 13/12/2011 13:57 GMT
Now, I am merely speculating here as I don't have any inside information. But reading the "Armageddon" like headlines in papers, it is not outlandish to believe corporate spending is down, or people downgraded. The Wall Street and City banks seem to be shedding staff again and we know these are big buyers of premium cabins.
LH rarely put premium cabins on sale. Now, we will have two within six weeks. BA seem to have a sale on monthly.
I agree with VK that deals in 2008 and 2009 were spectacular and better than now. I can also see the yield management around the holiday season being an issue. However, capacity has increased since the aftermath of the Lehman crisis, so obviously reduced bookings would now have an immediate effect on profitability.
I will leave my final verdict for the BA sale (which has been pulled forward pre-Christmas if I understand correctly) from Boxing Day
2009: ARN-NYC was 12.000kr (£1.200)
2010: ARN-NYC was 14.000kr (£1.400)
2011: ARN-NYC was 16.000kr (£1.600) summer sale
Sorry to say, but it does continue to feel like desperation and with all the sales prices abound, people will merely wait to book as a new sale is right around the corner any time.
VintageKrug - 14/12/2011 07:53 GMT
...but I think that is the case; people have less money, and we all thought we turned a corner in August, but starting with the US failure to sign off their budget, and then spreading contagion in Europe saw the extreme danger of a double dip.
I don't think it's desperation limited to airlines - it's a global phenomenon in an industry which is highly cyclical - and designed to have mechanisms, such as price reductions, to deal with the cycles.
Investment continues in anticipation of the upturn - you only have to see the aircraft order books to see that.
"I don't think it's desperation limited to airlines - it's a global phenomenon in an industry which is highly cyclical - and designed to have mechanisms, such as price reductions, to deal with the cycles."
Agreed.
