QF 9 between MEL and PER my thoughts

[PERLHR]

Well that was an experience. So no boarding card at MEL had to check in and go through T2 customs. Fair enough. Arrived PER early with announcement Perth customs busy (the majority by the way seem to have the sticker saying PER final destination. Sat on aircraft waiting to be released but actually one thinks that how can customs be busy at Qantas Perth. All they have is a Singapore flight isn't it and that later? So I guess they could not be bothered meeting a slightly early QF 9. Then it was a Q for a domestic arrival. Then it's ID. I'm sorry but I think as many others did this is just crazy. I did this flight as an experiment and spoke a length to CC on board. Learned a lot as they thought it not the easiest of flights and very expensive all the way to London. Even in extra leg room seats at 70 dollars a pop forget it. Everyone Qs for the loos as I experienced .in your feet space. Waste of time and money. Even the 737 service beats this hand down. Done it....and.never again. And the thought of going through this evrytine at PER from MEL to rejoin to London even on biz. Nah give me Qatar each and every time.

 

[TheInsider]

People connecting to LHR from MEL out of Perth, just go into the gate lounge. There is no customs process.

 

[PERLHR]

People connecting to LHR from MEL out of Perth, just go into the gate lounge. There is no customs process.

Yet ironically from MEL to PER you do clear customs. It's a joke.

 

[cove]

We had D stickers on our boarding passes. We had to wait almost an hour for our bags in Perth.

 

[Quickstatus]

It's a one stop for most people in Australia.
Whether via PER/SIN//KUL/BKK/BLR/DXB/DOH

Irrespective of where you start there is immigration outbound and inbound.

What is so special about a QF9/10 for people outside of PER? Salt and Pepper squid?. Meh

 

[PERLHR]

It's a one stop for most people in Australia.
Whether via PER/SIN//KUL/BKK/BLR/DXB/DOH

Irrespective of where you start there is immigration outbound and inbound.

What is so special about a QF9/10 for people outside of PER? Salt and Pepper squid?. Meh

Tbh not really bothered about the one stop if onward to London. Pay your money take your choice. It's the flaffing around if only on the MEL-PER sector. It's comical.

 

[Quickstatus]

I can't see any benefit in either a QF9/10 to/from LHR from the anywhere other than PER (as a starting and finishing point). Neither can I see a benefit for a MEL-PER QF9/10.

 

[cove]

We travelled as a group coming home to Perth in business class on that London bound plane. International lounge in Melbourne was ok but I was happy to get off in Perth. The baggage wait was awful because there were no seats and one in our group was abour 80 so the special treat for her was lost. We are now not rushing to go on that aircraft to London as we will stay flying with others.

 

[glasszon]

I can't see any benefit in either a QF9/10 to/from LHR from the anywhere other than PER . Neither can I see a benefit for a MEL-PER QF9/10.

I flew QF9 from MEL-LHR via PER. I would say the biggest benefit is because it's all on one aircraft, so you are not at risk of a misconnect due to flight delays.

Other than that you are right, PER-LHR in Y isn't ideal given the length of the flight.

 

[Lynda2475]

The benefit for QF10 is arrival time in east coast. In 2018 I flew in QF10 in Y LHR-PER then PER-SYD.

Leaving London early arvo was great wrt commute to airport, no overly busy terminal. Given you arent going to sleep in whY you arrive tired, but was through immigration and customs in 10 mins as so few arent continuing to MEL.

Straight to lounge, shower, refuel and stetch legs for a couple of hours (walk about terminal), before boarding flight to SYD arrive ~10:30pm (not a busy time), home by 11:15pm and straight to bed on normal timezone. No jet lag as wake up on right timezone.

Id never cosider it outbound, but homeward bound the timing is better than coming home via SIN where you arrive early morning then need to stay awake for another 16 hours or so to sleep at right time.

Now in J makes no difference which way you come home as you can lay flat and sleep but in Y or W there are definite advanatges to coming home via PER wrt to sleep upon arrival.

 

[justinbrett]

There's more QF flights to PER than there are to SIN. That is the advantage of an Australian stop.

The route seems to sell well.

As for MEL-PER only, haven't done it, I did MEL-DRW when it was operating via there - absolutely fantastic way to get to DRW. Wouldn't hesitate to book again, or use it to get to PER. Flounge helps a lot.

 

[jb747]

The route seems to sell well.

Running a flight from Perth to London made quite good sense. The issue was they destroyed the A380 Melbourne-London route. Whilst some of the traffic moved to the 1 and 9, overall the numbers went down dramatically.

 

[justinbrett]

Running a flight from Perth to London made quite good sense. The issue was they destroyed the A380 Melbourne-London route. Whilst some of the traffic moved to the 1 and 9, overall the numbers went down dramatically.

How were the loads out of DXB? It never went back to SIN, so I assume some boffin thought PER on a 787 was better than A380 out of DXB?

They definitely do charge a premium on the PER flights.

 

[jrfsp]

How were the loads out of DXB? It never went back to SIN, so I assume some boffin thought PER on a 787 was better than A380 out of DXB?

They definitely do charge a premium on the PER flights.

Purely anecdotal, but flying QF on the LHR-DXB sector a number of times, loads were good, but always seemed to have a lot of EK pax flying on codeshare connecting to EK, not sure how that translates for QF yield.

 

[Daver6]

IMHO, the biggest benefit of taking QF9 MEL to PER was is arriving into AU on an international flight you could just head straight to the lounge in MEL and clear immigration and customs in PER. Sadly, MEL airport, in all their wisdom, have now enforced that you have to clear that there. So nuts to doing that option.

The other thing I like about is if in Y, its only ~10k points to upgrade from discount Y to Y+. That's arguably a better experience than J on the 737 for a fraction of the points.

Also, as a WP, the F lounge is a million times better than the domestic J lounge in MEL.

 

[Andy72]

I can't see any benefit in either a QF9/10 to/from LHR from the anywhere other than PER (as a starting and finishing point). Neither can I see a benefit for a MEL-PER QF9/10.

significantly more status credits BNE -MEL PER LHR than BNE - SIN - LHR when I booked, but otherwise I agree

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

There is a benefit flying esp on the dom sector of QF9 MEL - PER only, or vv.
Granted some will say it a worthless way of getting flying kicks, but to me, its the best way of flying dom on an int flight.
With an Aust passport, or even overseas passport with Aust PR visa, if you are that way inclined, ie, like to fly, that sector is the best.
Haven't see any of the JQi dom pax on an int flights of late.
Presupposing that it does fly (QF9/10), and the plane used is a 787, and it does dep from MEL T2/PER T3.
Come on, "no benefit for a MEL - PER QF9/10"!
If for what ever reason, you can't fly too far internationally as of now, ($/time short), that short hop from MEL - PER does fit the bill of an quasi int flight.
One of these days, I will just do that MEL - PER/PER - MEL on the 787.
For now, I have flights to NZ, but maybe 2024, I might put my urge onto that MEL - PER/PER - MEL sector;

 

[jb747]

How were the loads out of DXB? It never went back to SIN, so I assume some boffin thought PER on a 787 was better than A380 out of DXB?

Dubai was a silly choice operationally. It was too far to be fuel efficient. There was too much holding. It might have made some sense to have run one of the flights (1/9) via Dubai, but not both.

 

[Cognac]

Well that was an experience. So no boarding card at MEL had to check in and go through T2 customs. Fair enough. Arrived PER early with announcement Perth customs busy (the majority by the way seem to have the sticker saying PER final destination. Sat on aircraft waiting to be released but actually one thinks that how can customs be busy at Qantas Perth. All they have is a Singapore flight isn't it and that later? So I guess they could not be bothered meeting a slightly early QF 9. Then it was a Q for a domestic arrival. Then it's ID. I'm sorry but I think as many others did this is just crazy. I did this flight as an experiment and spoke a length to CC on board. Learned a lot as they thought it not the easiest of flights and very expensive all the way to London. Even in extra leg room seats at 70 dollars a pop forget it. Everyone Qs for the loos as I experienced .in your feet space. Waste of time and money. Even the 737 service beats this hand down. Done it....and.never again. And the thought of going through this evrytine at PER from MEL to rejoin to London even on biz. Nah give me Qatar each and every time.

Qantas has been on record stating that the many people flying to/from LHR are starting/stopping in PER, so I'm not surprised that the majority of QF9 pax on the MEL-PER leg are actually domestic.

You have to clear customs in either direction if you're just taking the domestic leg (QF9 or QF10), but if you're a domestic passenger you don't need a passport. Just some form of ID. Not sure why that's controversial?

As for customs. Yep, you're absolutely spot on. Perth Customs just couldn't be bothered. I'm sure they were all sitting on the other side of the office door just playing cards instead of possibly working on the other side of the airport where the majority of international traffic in Perth is processed, and when QF9 was going to be early then scrambling to get available officers across to Qantas' special terminal.

As an opposite anecdote, I've used QF10 and QF9 domestically a few times mostly without issue. The Melbourne customs hall can sometimes be a bit of chaos, but overall I've had good experiences. I actually look to book these (and the QF5/6 equivalents with SYD) when I can.

 

[PERLHR]

Qantas has been on record stating that the many people flying to/from LHR are starting/stopping in PER, so I'm not surprised that the majority of QF9 pax on the MEL-PER leg are actually domestic.

You have to clear customs in either direction if you're just taking the domestic leg (QF9 or QF10), but if you're a domestic passenger you don't need a passport. Just some form of ID. Not sure why that's controversial?

As for customs. Yep, you're absolutely spot on. Perth Customs just couldn't be bothered. I'm sure they were all sitting on the other side of the office door just playing cards instead of possibly working on the other side of the airport where the majority of international traffic in Perth is processed, and when QF9 was going to be early then scrambling to get available officers across to Qantas' special terminal.

As an opposite anecdote, I've used QF10 and QF9 domestically a few times mostly without issue. The Melbourne customs hall can sometimes be a bit of chaos, but overall I've had good experiences. I actually look to book these (and the QF5/6 equivalents with SYD) when I can.

I'm sure you are right they were at the other side of the airfield and really who knows what they were up to and frankly as I pay the money to fly domestic why should I really care? I would just expect to get off a domestic flight if on gate without being told you are to remain on board while customs arrive. Don't you actually see the irony of this? It's a farce that on a domestic flight (where the majority were in indeed on for this flight) you have to go through a customs point Im not Australian and maybe you accept things like this more than other nationalities flying domestic. You may book this flight for this sector. I certainly won't be again. It's not really selling a good experience for Australia frankly.