Re: General Qantas Delays/Cancellations/etc. Discussion
flychrisfly, one disadvantage that SQ (for instance) has is that if passengers from Oz must transfer to a new aircraft for the run from SIN to LHR, that means a different gate number and hence potentially more chance of transit passengers becoming 'lost' or 'confused', however unlikely that might be for experienced travellers like yourself.
In both airports, transit passengers must go through security although the arrangements differ between DXB and SIN.
All I was doing was comparing a delayed QF flight (not QF10, but QF9) that had every incentive to make up time with the existing fastest point to point schedule for a MEL to LHR (in that direction) flight, which as far as I can see just happens to be SQ, which many travellers continue to regard as the world's best airline, even if the latest Skytrax award for that went to CX.
For time poor businessmen and women, going via SIN is faster and as a number of AFFers have pointed out, more pleasant. QF did not design the DXB airport but it is inferior to SIN, ICN or HKG to name three in Asia that beat DXB. In the latest Skytrax best airports list voted by travellers, DXB did not even make it into the top 10 despite its incessant self promotional hype. As our parents told us - 'self praise is no....'
The delayed QF9 flight did make up some time as I explained, but this still was not sufficient to make it a faster overall trip compared to the everyday timetables of SQ.
To top it all off, unfortunately QF9 has a history of being unreliable in its timekeeping, not helped by the difficulty that DXB appears to be having in coping with so many flights that are now A380s. While it is great to see QF using its multi-hundred million dollar assets more intensively, the downside is that the frequent delays to many of its long haul flights cost business and leisure travellers alike time that they could use better in a meeting, on a flight or train with which they were originally scheduled to connect or at an hotel.