[Anonymous]

[Bullfrog]

Qantas now use Dubai as their stop over for their flights to London from Sydney and Melbourne, rather than Singapore. I realise this has connectivity to the Emirates network.

Could operate West Coast USA to London ? in similar way to Air NZ ex LAX.

How great to have passengers from Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne being able to visit West Coast USA and continue to Europe via London from either SFO or LAX.

[AMcWhirter]

Qantas would say that its One World partners already carry out this function !

But seriously though, wouldn’t the A380 be too large for a fifth-freedom route (i.e. LAX-LHR) when Qantas would have little market identity ?

And how easy would it be to obtain the necessary traffic rights ? Note that “open skies” applies only to airlines based either in the EU or in the USA.

[canucklad]

Wouldn’t it be great if all airlines thought out the box. If I was off to Oz on leisure I’d like to book a schedule that looks like this…..

EDI – HKG – MEL –YVR – EDI . ……

And having the ability to stop ,just for a couple of days to break my long journey to Down Under would increase my chance of visiting that beautiful country substancially more than I do just now. .
Unfortunately, airline execs and their marketing people put the bottom line ahead of the experience. In other words they make us pay to jump through their hoops rather than allow us to still pay the same fare, but accommodate our hoops !!

And if you’re a leisure or even a business traveller flying at the back, those hoops are now ringed with fire and there is more of them !!

[Bullfrog]

The A380 may be too large for a U.S. to UK route, but the 787 stretch or 777 would be ideal.

I am happy to route through Asia, en route to Australia / NZ but Dubai is of no interest.

[LetsFlyNow]

@ Bullfrog
I don’t the A380 is too large with local pick up rights from US to UK. LH doesn’t have problems filling it’s A380 from LAX or SFO and even SQ has excellent loads on its FRA-JFK routing.

[AMcWhirter]

Yes, I agree. A smaller plane would be handier.

However, Qantas believes in using 4-engined aircraft for these long transpacific flights which take place mainly over water.

Currently it uses both the A380 and the B747-400 across the Pacific. But the B747s are being phased out.

Qantas has no B777s in its fleet. And it has no plans, at present, to acquire any of them.

It has ordered a number of B787s for delivery in the future but, at the time of writing, it has not indicated whether or not it will deploy these on the transpacific.

[TheRealBabushka]

Qantas charges a premium across the Pacific. It does not make sense to erode that premium on carry traffic, particularly when the yields across the Atlantic is not super, given the intense competition.
If one does wish to travel from Europe/UK to Australia via North America, one can always travel with AA, where the Pacific sector is operated on QF metal. It is a fantastic option to fly Qantas, yet avoiding DXB.

[conc001]

Would be interested to know if anyone has done this if so how long did it take and what sort of fares can you obtain compared with the usual route.

[TheRealBabushka]

I do it all the time. Total travel time is longer than the traditional kangaroo route via the Far East/Middle East by about 6h – 8h across the Atlantic, 4h across continental USA and 14h across the Pacific (or 10h LHR/LAX and 14h across the Pacific but this option includes a longer layover in LAX). All up, including transit of 30h. Fares in Economy range from £950 to £1,300, depending on departure points. I found ex-DUB to be very competitive. Fares on the traditional routes are lower but you earn significantly more miles/avios this way.

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