Qantas does Vegas direct

[Spacetravel]

I hope the service is increased to full year round when they have more aircraft,, I'd love this service I visit Vegas in the NH summer time regularly.

Also I just noticed there is a Syd > Las sale right now $1000 return in economy.

 

[Flyfrequently]

MH via KUL?

QF to SIN then Vietnam Airlines @AIRwin also

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Well done on making that post. Where are the others? 'Lock the thread' ... 'fake news'. Delicious.

I said lock the thread in regards to the hysteria about the USA , which you were part of right? It wasn't that LAS was not going to happen. Think you are confused

 

[Quickstatus]

Are they even chasing the "winter traffic" (skiing) or just seasonal holiday traffic?

I'd suggest the "winter" traffic would be greater than the "holiday" Vegas traffic, given the large numbers of Aussies in the ski resorts in US and Canada.. They should be chasing the winter traffic - lots are travelling DL and UA. I think the reason Vegas is beckoning is because of the significant drop in visitor numbers and while winter traffic has also pivoted to some extent to Japan and Korea, the winter destinations remain strong.

 

[jrfsp]

My North American wish list would be daily to Vancouver or out of left field Calgary given the codeshare arrangement with WestJet. Could be a great option given how poor inter Canada connections are from YVR. With the AUD and CAD almost parity perhaps demand will pick up.

QF flew daily YVR for a short period earlier this year, but agree WS connections are pretty poor especially compared to ACs network / frequency (their arrival time into YVR helps too)

 

[levelnine]

I guess you're missing the core concept that those pax are all travelling at the same time for the single weekend event. +/- a week either side, any other pax will be coming in via LAX or other ports and/or other airlines.

Players and club staff don't fly on the scheduled services, they didn't even fly on the QF chartered services, the clubs charter their own aircraft.

As someone who's actually been to an NRL Vegas game and travels to Vegas multiple times a year I'll just leave you to argue with yourself as blind freddy can see QF needs more than the NRL to make this route a success.

Next time you go to one of those NRL games in Vegas, I encourage you to speak to some other people — anyone really. You'll come across people who have been in the LV region for multiple weeks, as I did when I was on a February flight to SFO last year and surrounded by people heading to the game 2.5+ weeks ahead of the match.

If you knew anything about how seasonal routes operate, you'd know they don't operate them for just the time period in which there is the most demand for the particular attraction on the other end.

You can't seem to stick to a single (incorrect) theory about what's driving this business decision.

First, you said it was NYE, CES, general tourism. That's wrong.

Second, you said it was Vegas handing out large sums of cash to Qantas. That's wrong.

Third, you said it was a speculative play to build up bilateral tourism between Sydney and Las Vegas....

Anymore you'd like to throw out?

 

[levelnine]

And for anyone who still thinks it could be general tourism to Las Vegas that's driving Qantas' decision rather than the NRL (which increased its Australian attendance by 42% in 2025), here's what Fairfax reported earlier this week:

'Rugby league is endeavouring to cash in on Las Vegas as the city endures a marked decline in tourism.

Visitor numbers last year fell 7.5 per cent from 2024, the most significant slide since records were first kept in 1970 aside from during the pandemic.'

Qantas would definitely decide to launch a non-stop route to capture the general tourist market of a region experiencing its worse decline on record lol.

 

[RooFlyer]

I said lock the thread in regards to the hysteria about the USA , which you were part of right? It wasn't that LAS was not going to happen. Think you are confused

We’ll, to be fair, your entire comment was:

yep, just lock it I'd say

The absolute didn’t indicate any qualification . But in any case I’d say more hyperbole rather than hysteria.

 

[justinbrett]

Next time you go to one of those NRL games in Vegas, I encourage you to speak to some other people — anyone really. You'll come across people who have been in the LV region for multiple weeks, as I did when I was on a February flight to SFO last year and surrounded by people heading to the game 2.5+ weeks ahead of the match.

If you knew anything about how seasonal routes operate, you'd know they don't operate them for just the time period in which there is the most demand for the particular attraction on the other end.

You can't seem to stick to a single (incorrect) theory about what's driving this business decision.

First, you said it was NYE, CES, general tourism. That's wrong.

Second, you said it was Vegas handing out large sums of cash to Qantas. That's wrong.

Third, you said it was a speculative play to build up bilateral tourism between Sydney and Las Vegas....

Anymore you'd like to throw out?

Lol, “wrong” from someone who called it a tournament. Clearly you have no idea, and my points are all in the QF PR. Dec is not Feb, 2.5 weeks is not 8,

250K Aussies a year is more than 20K a month on average, clearly a lot of general tourists going in the peak Christmas holiday season.

Almost certainly these two factors moreso than anything else. I would have thought it's not that hard to understand?

A seasonal flight at a time of the year when US carriers have multiple seasonal flights to Australia, it's not hard to comprehend QF doing one as well.

Exactly.

 

[levelnine]

Lol, “wrong” from someone who called it a tournament. Clearly you have no idea, and my points are all in the QF PR. Dec is not Feb, 2.5 weeks is not 8,

250K Aussies a year is more than 20K a month on average, clearly a lot of general tourists going in the peak Christmas holiday season.

Back to the general tourism point, are you? Try to make up your mind.

Qantas, a notorious risk taking airline lol, definitely decides to launch a new route to capture a market declining 7.5% a year, not the event increasing 42% a year.

 

[elanshin]

Self fulfilling prophecy, only offer LCC direct from Aus and you attract that crowd. Vietnam is on my list but I have no interest in slumming it, so have to factor in an extra day or 2 to go via HKG.

Not so much as self filling but honestly just not enough people with money willing to go there yet to warrant full service. Heck even Korea can't sustain QF and became full JQ. I'd argue that Korea is one of the hottest rising destinations in asia that isn't Japan as they continue to rapid export KPOP.

 

[elanshin]

Regarding LAS itself, it's interesting to consider. Ultimately it comes down to price. If SYD -LAS ends up routinely cheaper than LAX, it may just prove to be a better starting point for inbound tourism as well. You're not just going to Vegas when tou visit US West Coast.

Theres other events that are big as well. F1 Vegas (although that's $$$$$) is also usually in November. Perhaps thats also what QF is considering - that J and PE will be much more in demand on this route than Y will be.

 

[DejaBrew]

Heck even Korea can't sustain QF and became full JQ. I'd argue that Korea is one of the hottest rising destinations in asia that isn't Japan as they continue to rapid export KPOP.

Could Korea genuinely not sustain QF? Or QF simply decided to make it a LCC destination? I would have thought with the merger of KE and OZ that there would be more opportunity for QF to run flights. Whilst it may not have happened yet, I'm assuming that the merged KE/OZ will not send the same volume of flights to/from Australia each week.

 

[Quickstatus]

it may just prove to be a better starting point for inbound tourism as well.

I dont think it is enough of a hub for me to consider LAS as a jumping point to other places especially when it is seasonal ands not a daily flight.
If I want to go West coast , Ill go non stop west coast.

 

[elanshin]

Could Korea genuinely not sustain QF? Or QF simply decided to make it a LCC destination? I would have thought with the merger of KE and OZ that there would be more opportunity for QF to run flights. Whilst it may not have happened yet, I'm assuming that the merged KE/OZ will not send the same volume of flights to/from Australia each week.

Have to imagine that Y was doing well, but cash J might have been weak in demand. In which xase shifting to JQ would make morse sense with PE and Y offering. It's a young people destination and I'll be honest I took a lot of JQ to Japan during my uni days.

 

[Aeryn]

OT but more Aussies visit Vietnam each year than South Korea. I was lucky to fly QF to ICN last year before it was discontinued. If i decide to return i will go via HND via QF/JL, HND-GMP is cheap and only 90 mins.

Vegas is very expensive to stay in over a weekend, hotels Fri-Sun can be 4x cost of staying Mon-Thurs as Americans love a weekend in Vegas.

Saturday departures from SYD to US are most popular with Leisure travellers as you still get whole weeekend upon arrival. But if you are budget concious youd want to delay arrival into LAS until Monday.

Similarly Fri depatures from US are super popular as you get home Sunday morning and can go back to work Monday.

Not sure of schedule but id imagine on Frridays LAS-SYD would be more popular (i.e. checkout before hotels become unaffordable) than SYD-LAS.

 

[justinbrett]

Back to the general tourism point, are you? Try to make up your mind.

Qantas, a notorious risk taking airline lol, definitely decides to launch a new route to capture a market declining 7.5% a year, not the event increasing 42% a year.

I never left it. I said it was a list of reasons, one of which was the NRL I have always been sceptical that the route is viable.

People can make up their owns minds, I think it’s pretty clear people don’t fly to Vegas 8 weeks before a single NRL match.

Tell you what, I’m probably going on the inaugural flight on 29th Dec. I’ll do a quick survey of my fellow pax and see how many are staying for the game, and then we can pick this up again.

 

[jase05]

Regarding LAS itself, it's interesting to consider. Ultimately it comes down to price. If SYD -LAS ends up routinely cheaper than LAX, it may just prove to be a better starting point for inbound tourism as well. You're not just going to Vegas when tou visit US West Coast.

Just had a random look at some dates in January
SYD-LAS direct J return $19751
SYD-SFO/LAX-LAS J return $11,612

If I wanted to stay with OW then AS has SYD-HNL-LAS J return for $11407

 

[Quickstatus]

But if you are budget concious youd want to delay arrival into LAS until Monday.

If budget concious reconsider even going to LAS. As I understand it, the place is going upmarket wihc is one reason given for the drop off in visitor numbers into LAS
Based on QF long thin routes, i cant imagine QF-LAS being competitive on price.

 

[levelnine]

I never left it. I said it was a list of reasons, one of which was the NRL I have always been sceptical that the route is viable.

People can make up their owns minds, I think it’s pretty clear people don’t fly to Vegas 8 weeks before a single NRL match.

Tell you what, I’m probably going on the inaugural flight on 29th Dec. I’ll do a quick survey of my fellow pax and see how many are staying for the game, and then we can pick this up again.

Are you aware it's not a 'single NRL match' lol? I thought you said you'd been before.

Pick up some spectacles while you're over there, and re-read my repeated posts where I tried to educate you on how a seasonal route operates.

The more interesting question is how many regular people (ie non-av geeks who flock to inaugurals) will be on that flight. If my theory about seasonal routes is correct, it'll be moderately (at best) loaded. If your theory that NYE in LAS is part of the reason for the route, it'll be fully loaded. Let's chat about that post 29 December.