Qantas MEL-HKG QF29/30 Delayed; A380 for SYD-HKG route

[mariew]

I received notice yesterday that our Melbourne to HongKong return flights booked for early June, have been cancelled. We have been rerouted through Sydney. They have honoured our classic rewards business seats. Apparently the issue is insufficient baggage handlers in Hong Kong

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Hopefully they have given you a sane transfer time to get from SYD T3 to SYD T1, even with their inner road bus service.
PS: welcome on board, MarieW.

 

[mariew]

Hopefully they have given you a sane transfer time to get from SYD T3 to SYD T1, even with their inner road bus service.
PS: welcome on board, MarieW.

I actually had to call and request an earlier domestic flight as I would more than likely have missed the Hong Kong leg with what they gave me. The call centre consultant was extremely sympathetic and agreed that it was tight. Ps thank you

 

[jpp42]

Why wouldn’t QF sell the F seats rather than make them J service seats?
They would be plenty of QF fans that would happily pay top dollar for F so it seems like a strange move TBH

They are using an un-refurbished A380 for this service, right? So perhaps they feel the quality of the hard product doesn't match what people would expect at "F" prices? Although you'd think if they really cared about quality they'd not be re-introducing the droopy J seats.

They also need to worry about being able to load the correct catering for F at HK, and having the right staff trained to provide this service (noting they would also want FA's with the right language skills for this service).

With only one airframe allocated to the service (as I understand), it would be subject to replacement with a B787 or A330 at short notice, so this avoids having issues angry customers getting downgraded to J.

On another note, does anyone have an understanding of why they are using the A380 at all on this service when they are retiring A330's? Surely the A330 would be more economic.

 

[geezy90]

On another note, does anyone have an understanding of why they are using the A380 at all on this service when they are retiring A330's? Surely the A330 would be more economic.

I assume it’s a capacity issue for now, since they are routing all MEL pax through SYD to HK?

 

[jase05]

So perhaps they feel the quality of the hard product doesn't match what people would expect at "F" prices?

Since when has that stopped them

 

[kangarooflyer88]

I actually had to call and request an earlier domestic flight as I would more than likely have missed the Hong Kong leg with what they gave me. The call centre consultant was extremely sympathetic and agreed that it was tight. Ps thank you

If you are happy with the new flights, that's all that matters. Generally speaking in these schedule changes/cancellations, I'll do my homework to see what flights are available and rebook into the best possible one. Sometimes I will even use these schedule changes/cancellations to change the date of departure whilst I'm at it. All for free. It's one of the reasons why a flight cancellation or schedule change brings a big smile to my face!

 

[RichardMEL]

One reasoning they are not selling F is that this is only a limited time deal and so on. Plus, if they can sell 14 more J, they probably would like to get away with that. Additionally, iirc CX is not running a F cabin to SYD currrently (I know they had upgraded to 77W with F at some point pre pandemic, but doubt that's again the case) so there's no competition F on the route and a limited market.

they're flying this for capacity I think and the extra "effort" (yeah, there isn't much really with the way QF does F - extra beeding, some more exxy bubbles and a few extra dishes and pj's/amenity kits loaded is about it) is likely not worth it to try and run a F service.

 

[frodo]

With only one airframe allocated to the service (as I understand), it would be subject to replacement with a B787 or A330 at short notice, so this avoids having issues angry customers getting downgraded to J.

That's what the article suggests, but it's interesting that the seat map is showing the old config on some days and the new config on other days.

 

[nerdag]

That's what the article suggests, but it's interesting that the seat map is showing the old config on some days and the new config on other days.

Looks like A380 running on weekdays and A330 on weekends.

I have a weekend departure coming up, so very pleased to not be 'downgraded' to a 2x2x2 skybed.

 

[nerdag]

One reasoning they are not selling F is that this is only a limited time deal and so on. Plus, if they can sell 14 more J, they probably would like to get away with that.

They've never sold QF127/8 as F in the A380 era, even in the days of the 747 with the old F cabin on this route.

As you say, its all about capacity, and an extra 14 seats that can be sold as J reserved for WP and P1s is a bonus, in addition to the 64 business seats (vs 28 for the A330) is the priority. I suspect not many people pay revenue fares for F, and the extra effort to market it as such on some days and not others is not worth it for the temporary availability.

 

[funnybrus]

They've never sold QF127/8 as F in the A380 era, even in the days of the 747 with the old F cabin on this route.

As you say, its all about capacity, and an extra 14 seats that can be sold as J reserved for WP and P1s is a bonus, in addition to the 64 business seats (vs 28 for the A330) is the priority. I suspect not many people pay revenue fares for F, and the extra effort to market it as such on some days and not others is not worth it for the temporary availability.

They absolutely have done true F on QF127 - I flew in it early 2020.

 

[nerdag]

They absolutely have done true F on QF127 - I flew in it early 2020.

I stand corrected. Although the issue with the temporary availability of the A380 stands.

 

[sirhc8]

Looks like A380 running on weekdays and A330 on weekends.

I have a weekend departure coming up, so very pleased to not be 'downgraded' to a 2x2x2 skybed.

to clarify the above, 26MAR23 to 30APR23 A380 on a daily basis. Between 01MAY23 and 05JUN23, the A380 operates on 3 of 7 weekly flights (Day 1,3,5)

 

[TripTrap]

Just booked SYD-HKG on 30 April in Y. Still can't select the W seats as WP. Lady in the service center could neither. I look forward to hearing from other flyers, whether they could pick one or J pax getting an F seat.

 

[anyonebutqantas]

There was regular F when QF29/30 continued on to HKG-LHR but that stopped long ago.

 

[tassie6]

From this morning I can select Row 5 of the F cabin as an NB (and happily did!), looks like they have opened that row for selection across all the A380 QF127 flights (I looked up a few to check, cant promise its all flights), I would jump on for a look if you are on one of them!

 

[TripTrap]

Thanks! I was able to pick a seat in Premium Economy. Now I'm hoping my upgrade to business clears and once it does there is still a seat in F for me to pick.
According to the seat map they are operating a refurbished A380 on the date I fly, 26 April. Business is in 1-2-1 rather than 2-2-2 as with the sky beds. Am I missing something?

 

[tassie6]

Checking on expert flyer, that day must be getting flown by an upgraded A380. My flight on May 31 is showing 2-2-2 in J, yours is showing 1-2-1 and has the correct number of rows in business for the refurbed version

 

[hachoo]

Just booked a J seat on QF127 in May however the F seats looked to be blocked off according to ExpertFlyer. Have in the interim booked in the 2-2-2 config in the upper deck. Do I keep checking back as it opens up randomly or are they reserved at the moment for Melbourne flyers until closer to flying?