Air Austral

[maureeng]

Has anyone flown with Air Austral and if so how was it. We are flying from Sydney to Reunion and Mauritius and have been told this is the only airline that will go direct.
I had never heard of them before.

 

[ejb]

I believe they are a LCC who know how to pack the pax in. They are the airline who have ordered A388's with all economy seating.

I have never flown with them but I am also led to believe they ae the only way to Reunion direct.

ejb

Just checked seatguru.com and they don't appear on the list.

 

[maureeng]

I believe they are a LCC who know how to pack the pax in. They are the airline who have ordered A388's with all economy seating.

I have never flown with them but I am also led to believe they ae the only way to Reunion direct.

ejb

No J class lol. My husband is going to love this

 

[ejb]

No J class lol. My husband is going to love this

It appears that they do have J on this service.

Check this lnk for details.

Air Austral - Fleet - Long Haul

They operate a B777-200 on this service so J/Y+/Y.

ejb

 

[jsd]

They are the airline who have ordered A388's with all economy seating.

Cramped Much, 853 sardines all cramped into an A380 on a long haul flight, needless to say it would be most unpleasant if you were seated next to a P.O.S


Josh

 

[samh004]

Cramped Much, 853 sardines all cramped into an A380 on a long haul flight, needless to say it would be most unpleasant if you were seated next to a P.O.S

That’s not the worst of it, just think how long boarding would take… getting to the airport 3 hours before just might not be enough time to load them all in, and sucks to be you if you’re the last one off…

 

[limlib]

Why don't you fly Air Mauritius? They fly direct from Perth to Mauritius and on to Reunion according to their route map they fly from sydney too. I have only heard excellent reports of their airline from friends. This sounds a better option judging from the comments on Air Austral.

 

[BAM1748]

The lack of responses from people who have flown Air Austral would seem to speak for itself.

Matt

 

[JohnK]

I believe they are a LCC who know how to pack the pax in. They are the airline who have ordered A388's with all economy seating.

Correct. Sardines anyone? Around 840 of them. :shock:

Airline to turn A380 superjumbo into sardine can

 

[ellen10]

Had a young friend who flew to Paris with Air Austral via Reunion.

The plane was a 777. She said she sat down and started looking for the personal In flight entertainment unit and nearly died when she realised it was one of the old overhead screens. She is quite tiny and craned her neck over seats to try and view a very old grainy film and gave up in disgust. She said it was a very long uneventful flight.

But she did make it safely

 

[PineappleSkip]

it was one of the old overhead screens ... a very old grainy film

Sounds like air niugini IFE. At least you are never compelled to spend more than 7 hours with them

cheers skip

 

[dajop]

Cramped Much, 853 sardines all cramped into an A380 on a long haul flight, needless to say it would be most unpleasant if you were seated next to a P.O.S

It may sound really horrific. But probably not terribly different to the A380 whY cabin today, and certainly no worse than being crammed into an A320 or 737 with 30" seat pitch.

If you look at either the SQ or QF seat maps for the A380, replace the J, F (and on QF) the Y+ cabins with economy seating, it doesn't take long for the numbers to add up. Just look at upstairs rear of the aft emergency exit - SQ have 88 Y seats in this space. QF have 48 seats (8 J, 32 Y+, 4 crew rest seats). On the upper deck alone you could probably fit 42+ rows of 8 abreast Y (at the same seat pitch), that's 336+ seats currently in the space currently taken by 108.

As for disembarking - at single/dual airbridge locations what a nightmare! For triple airbridges (like at SIN), that's about the same number of pax per airbridge (280) as a small 777 or 330 at a single airbridge location. Not great, but not terribly different to what is seen today.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Has anyone flown with Air Austral and if so how was it. We are flying from Sydney to Reunion and Mauritius and have been told this is the only airline that will go direct.
I had never heard of them before.

I guess it depends on which day you are flying but Air Mauritius also flies direct from Sydney to Mauritius (with onward connections to Reunion).

Air Mauritius has lie-flat (at an angle) seats in business class, Air Austral has reclining seats (at least for the dummy dates I looked Air Austral was flying the 777-200, only the 777-300 seems to have semi-sleepers).

 

[maureeng]

Why don't you fly Air Mauritius? They fly direct from Perth to Mauritius and on to Reunion according to their route map they fly from sydney too. I have only heard excellent reports of their airline from friends. This sounds a better option judging from the comments on Air Austral.

Ill look at that option today. Thanks

 

[jsd]

It may sound really horrific. But probably not terribly different to the A380 whY cabin today, and certainly no worse than being crammed into an A320 or 737 with 30" seat pitch.

If you look at either the SQ or QF seat maps for the A380, replace the J, F (and on QF) the Y+ cabins with economy seating, it doesn't take long for the numbers to add up. Just look at upstairs rear of the aft emergency exit - SQ have 88 Y seats in this space. QF have 48 seats (8 J, 32 Y+, 4 crew rest seats). On the upper deck alone you could probably fit 42+ rows of 8 abreast Y (at the same seat pitch), that's 336+ seats currently in the space currently taken by 108.

As for disembarking - at single/dual airbridge locations what a nightmare! For triple airbridges (like at SIN), that's about the same number of pax per airbridge (280) as a small 777 or 330 at a single airbridge location. Not great, but not terribly different to what is seen today.

Point taken but how long would meal service take ,and then imagine if it was a BoB service and you were seated up the back


Josh

 

[dajop]

Point taken but how long would meal service take

Sorry I'm going to be a killjoy again .... depends on crewing and when the crew rest breaks are. For safety reasons there are usually minimum passenger to crew ratios. On an all Y plane, it actually could (in theory) be quicker, as you get to spread that crew across the whole Y cabin, whereas when there are J & F cabins, once in the air the ratios get skewed, being lower number of pax per cabin crew member in J &F and higher in Y.

But I am sure some operators would find a way to make the meal service longer than ever :!:

 

[markis10]

Point taken but how long would meal service take ,and then imagine if it was a BoB service and you were seated up the back


Josh

Why would it be any different, there is a set ration of cabin crew to pax. There is no difference between service times on a Dash * compared to a 767 for instance, or a 747!

 

[parksie]

Well my feeling is that if they are a bit on the nose - then maybe they should be re-named Air Nostral!

 

[trooper]

That was terrible!!!! :shock: (But of course I laughed!!)

I am always amazed at stories of folks who book/pay for travel on a Loooong-haul flight... and afterwards say they were "suprised" by various things... with lack of IFE/AVOD or having to buy alcoholic drinks being perhaps two of the more common...

No way would I consider a long flight without researching what the in-cabin facilities and service were going to be!!! :mrgreen: