Best carrier for a QF WP flying to London in Y

Status
Not open for further replies.

sudoer

Established Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2015
Posts
4,985
Qantas
Platinum
Virgin
Platinum
Star Alliance
Gold
Hi all,

I'm looking for some assistance choosing an airline for a trip to London mid next year in Y.

My travel dates haven't gone on sale yet, so price doesn't factor into the equation for now. Instead, I'm looking for recommendations on hard product (especially leg room), lounges, and recognition/perks of QF WP status. So far it looks like my best options are QF, EK, CX or JL. My findings..
  • JL looks have the best leg room in Y assuming the operating aircraft has Sky Wider seats.
  • EK, CX and JL all have excellent OWE lounges but CX probably wins this point on sheer variety at HKG. QF by far the worst of the bunch with the current SIN lounge situation.
  • Status recognition is hit and miss on QF. CX and JL tend to be better at this? I was surprised by the amount of attention I got flying JL J as a OWS over Christmas.
  • For SC earn, QF or QF-marketed EK wins. Then JL (QF to TYO a possibility), CX, and lastly EK.
  • I've already discounted BA and MH unless they end up significantly cheaper than the others.
A few questions I had..
  1. For seat selection, do any of these carriers offer preferential, free, or discounted seat selection to status pax?
  2. I've never visited the EK DXB F lounge, how does it compare with The Pier or Wing F lounges?
  3. I've read EK previously treated QF WPs very well but that's waned recently, is that correct?
  4. Should I be looking at any other carriers? AY possibly?
Appreciate any advice, and thanks in advance!
 
Your status will get you into any OW lounge if you’re on a OW flight, so you don’t need to factor that directly into your choice (other than the airline you choose determines which airport you’ll transit through I guess).
 
The Frequent Flyer Concierge team takes the hard work out of finding reward seat availability. Using their expert knowledge and specialised tools, they'll help you book a great trip that maximises the value for your points.

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

I reckon the EK A380 is as good as it gets in economy (though I haven't tried JL) and the DXB F lounges are worth a visit.
 
Cathay gives free emergency exit seats and bulkheads to any passenger with OW status (ruby and above).

JL seems a nice option with skywider.
 
Book an extra leg room seat? On the 380 there is a window seat behind the exit row seats that has no seat in front of it. Loads of space.

We’ve been very lucky EK QFWP flyers being upgraded several times. Haven’t flown with them recently though.

EK F lounge, the main one, is vast. Nice and quiet. An experience.

You could also look at Qatar? But no access to Al Mourjan unless in J.
 
Some other thoughts...

Your preference for aircraft type and schedule are probably two factors you should also consider if you're concerned about them. Do you want to create a daytime travel itinary, or just want to get the journey over with ASAP? EK and CX offer probably the most choice in that case.

The apparent QF SIN lounge issue is not a concern as you've others to choose from and in any case so far I've had one good experience and one bad one (resolved simply by moving to a different lounge).

EK has apparantly had reasonable op-up outcomes in the past, QF seems to be never any more. QF also seems to have fairly high load on QF 9/10 so limited opportunity to have an empty seat adjacent. Many loath transiting DXB which can have buses and long layovers (something I never saw when using QF on that route. Hong Kong has often yielded long transit security queues in my experience, detracting from what is otherwise a great airport. DXB can be the same. I've found the QF9 transit in PER to be great due to it being shortish and with no security to queue through, the lounge in winter is fine, but it is a dungeon and I think oppressive if it's daylight outside (and it's not a "First" experience).
 
Many loath transiting DXB which can have buses and long layovers (something I never saw when using QF on that route. Hong Kong has often yielded long transit security queues in my experience, detracting from what is otherwise a great airport.

With Hong Kong the key can be shopping around to find the transit security with the shortest queues. The ones by immigration can be very long. The ones in the piers can be empty.

Re DXB transits, EK's 777s are more than likely to get bus gates from what I've read. So if you stick to A380s it should be boarding from the lounge.
 
I reckon the EK A380 is as good as it gets in economy (though I haven't tried JL) and the DXB F lounges are worth a visit.

Appreciate the feedback on EK. Never flown with them so any feedback is useful!

Cathay gives free emergency exit seats and bulkheads to any passenger with OW status (ruby and above).

Really appreciate you mentioning this, I wasn't aware. Free bulkhead is a pretty big plus in my book.

Book an extra leg room seat? On the 380 there is a window seat behind the exit row seats that has no seat in front of it. Loads of space.

I'm open to this if the price is reasonable, but Qantas want an extra $280 for a bulkhead/emergency exit for Sydney-London which I don't think I could justify..

We’ve been very lucky EK QFWP flyers being upgraded several times. Haven’t flown with them recently though.

I've read this was the case but reports of this seem few and far between now.

You could also look at Qatar? But no access to Al Mourjan unless in J.

Fair call, I hadn't thought about Qatar - but the OWE lounge sounds dreadful and the SC earn on Qatar is pitiful too :( It looks like the hard product is very good though. I guess if the price is right I'd consider it.

Your preference for aircraft type and schedule are probably two factors you should also consider if you're concerned about them. Do you want to create a daytime travel itinary, or just want to get the journey over with ASAP? EK and CX offer probably the most choice in that case.

I'm not particularly fussy about timings or aircraft, but usually prefer night flights. Will take it into consideration - thanks!

The apparent QF SIN lounge issue is not a concern as you've others to choose from and in any case so far I've had one good experience and one bad one (resolved simply by moving to a different lounge).

The QF lounge overcrowding is spilling over to the BA lounge next door apparently - and they are my only options in T1. Either way, HKG, DXB and TYO all have dedicated F lounges which look much nicer.

With Hong Kong the key can be shopping around to find the transit security with the shortest queues. The ones by immigration can be very long. The ones in the piers can be empty.

Thanks for mentioning. I did a bit of reading the pier transit security points look great assuming I arrive during their operating hours.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top