Qantas Project Sunrise goes ahead, 12 new A350-1000s ordered

[mjt57]

It'll be the new Panasonic Astrova system - hopefully Qantas options the 100W USB-C charging instead of the common 60W on those systems.

Any watt system, so long as it works, would be fine by me. Lost count of the times that my in-seat charger wasn't working.

 

[Quickstatus]

60W should be heaps for most devices.

 

[encryptededdy]

I thought it was already decided they're getting the ~60w version.

Well that's a shame, especially if they also remove AC power like the A321XLR...

 

[SYD]

Well that's a shame, especially if they also remove AC power like the A321XLR...

F and J seats will have AC outlets as well as USB-C and wireless chargers.

 

[elanshin]

Any watt system, so long as it works, would be fine by me. Lost count of the times that my in-seat charger wasn't working.

60w is about the minimum to charge laptops.

The trend lately is removing AC power in favour of having a higher powered USB C charging port (or 2). Not much of a problem for phones and tablets but a big problem for laptops.

 

[encryptededdy]

F and J seats will AC outlets as well as USB-C and wireless chargers.

Yep, but I guess this is a downgrade for (premium) economy if you do want to charge your laptop at 100W (I know the AC outlets are technically 75W but I've been able to charge at 100W ok on at least the 787 and A330-300 without tripping the breaker)

 

[mjt57]

60W should be heaps for most devices.

My iPad Pro 12.9 M1 charges just fine on a 15w charger. But I do use the one that came with it which, I think, is 20w.

But on a flight with IFE, I've never used it. I'll watch a few eps of the Big Bang Theory or a Marvel movie then I'm trying to sleep if on long haul. Short flights under 3 hours, who cares?

 

[Quickstatus]

60w is about the minimum to charge laptops.

Thats all most ever need.
Of course there are power hungry ones with fans running all the time for crypto mining.

I just got a Macbook Air 15in with the new M5 chip.
It comes with a 35W charger and 1.3kg
At less than 1.2cm thick it does not have any fan

 

[supersonic]

PER-LHR is commonly regarded one of the most profitable route QF fly. Seats are almost always full. Average flight load is 94% according to QF. I am sure they would not have axed the MEL leg of QF9/10 if it would have impacted flight load significantly.

It was just about impossible to get a J seat on QF9/10 to/from MEL and those that were available were sold at a much higher cost. Profit and filling seats was never the issue.

QF still start the PER and ROM flights in SYD.

They just don't care about MEL

Melbourne and Adelaide will become key 321XLR
destinations. Sucks I know but that’s just how it is.

I’d rather they not launch Melbourne sunrise flights to then cancel, readjust later on. I’d rather book the connecting flight myself if that’s the case and it will probably be on another carrier

I'd just like QF to resume MEL-LHR flights, with or without a stopover.
The current dom to PER or the appalling A330 to SIN are just not acceptable offerings.

Thankfully AY & BA are staring to fly ex MEL.

 

[supersonic]

Didn't QFi at one stage years ago have daily B747 flights via each of BKK, HKG and somewhere else to/from London?

It's a shadow of its former self, even with the eventual PS offering.

QF used to have 4 B7474/day to LHR: MEL via SIN; MEL via HKG; SYD via SIN.; SYD via BKK.
Now they have 1 A380 ex SYD and 1 B787 ex PER.
They cannot complain about lack of market share when they don't actually provide seats or routes.
Why would anyone fly dom to PER or the awful A330 to SIN when there are plenty of better aircraft and hard product that depart from other international terminals (and avoid the ME).

 

[supersonic]

Let me fill you in. There's these two countries - UAE and Qatar. They've developed a keen interest in aviation. Qantas changed their JV from BA to EK. Almost all of the European carriers stopped serving Australia - BA is the only one left with a single route.

However, things are changing again, with Qantas launching PS, TK announcing direct flights, BA adding a second route to MEL, and AY launching services.

except PS is not going to fly from MEL and my complaint to QF resulted in a 'no plans to increase flight freuqncy ex MEL' which should have been no plans to fly to LHR from MEL

 

[SYD]

The current dom to PER or the appalling A330 to SIN are just not acceptable offerings.

What’s wrong with an A330? If seated in whY, I’d take that over an A380 or B787. J is essentially identical.

Obviously no PE or F.

 

[moa999]

If seated in whY, I’d take that over an A380 or B787. J is essentially identical.

Agree. In Y the 330s are much more comfortable aircraft, moreso once the refurbs start

QF used to have 4 B7474/day to LHR: MEL via SIN; MEL via HKG; SYD via SIN.; SYD via BKK.

Different world.
How many daily flights into Australia by the ME or Chinese or even SQ back then.

 

[supersonic]

What’s wrong with an A330? If seated in whY, I’d take that over an A380 or B787. J is essentially identical.

Obviously no PE or F.

J seats are smaller than on the A380 (I'm not making this up, I've seen the specs and know the differenece when flying on both aircraft on the same day)
no coffee maching in J only muddy plunger coffee
IFE is much more limited (I know it's mostly rubbish on QF anyway) as the capacity to store stuff is inadequate
only 1 (slimline) loo for all of J
no F
to start
I cannot comment on Y

 

[supersonic]

Agree. In Y the 330s are much more comfortable aircraft, moreso once the refurbs start

Different world.
How many daily flights into Australia by the ME or Chinese or even SQ back then.

Chinese airlines have not reverted to pre-CoVID schedules.
Many are avoiding the ME 3.
Big gaps in seat availability that BA and AY have seen, but QF pulled out of MEL. Makes no sense
Also the reason so many flew the other airlines was that there were just not the seats on QF out of MEL

 

[TheInsider]

except PS is not going to fly from MEL and my complaint to QF resulted in a 'no plans to increase flight freuqncy ex MEL' which should have been no plans to fly to LHR from MEL

They will be flying MEL-PER-LHR as the QF9/10.

 

[moa999]

Chinese airlines have not reverted to pre-CoVID schedules.
Many are avoiding the ME 3.

Qantas last flew four daily flights to LHR in 2012.

In 2012, Qatar only served MEL and PER. Other ports didn't commence until 2016. Etihad was still in a ramp phase with the Nicole Kidman ads coming in 2015. Only 3 Chinese airlines flew to Australia, now 9.

 

[LondonAussie]

J seats are smaller than on the A380 (I'm not making this up, I've seen the specs and know the differenece when flying on both aircraft on the same day)
no coffee maching in J only muddy plunger coffee
IFE is much more limited (I know it's mostly rubbish on QF anyway) as the capacity to store stuff is inadequate
only 1 (slimline) loo for all of J
no F
to start
I cannot comment on Y

To me the seat is more or less identical and I’m not changing airlines or routes over a cup of coffee or the number of movies offered.

I do agree about the toilet situation though. But that was originally meant to be the domestic A330 configuration, before they switched them to International flights.

 

[supersonic]

QF used to have 4 B7474/day to LHR: MEL via SIN; MEL via HKG; SYD via SIN.; SYD via BKK.
Now they have 1 A380 ex SYD and 1 B787 ex PER.
They cannot complain about lack of market share when they don't actually provide seats or routes.
Why would anyone fly dom to PER or the awful A330 to SIN when there are plenty of better aircraft and hard product that depart from other international terminals (and avoid the ME).

I forgot to add the daily flights to FRA, and frequent flights to several other European ports. One of the LHR flights contuinued to MAN.
All aircraft were B747.
Pax clearly did not mind a transfer or refuelling stop as this is required with all the competitors' flights.
QF lost out because of a lack of seats, poor quality hard product, too much reliance on misplaced loyalty and charging premium prices for a subpar product.
Then there was the nonsensical tie up with EK and Joyce's attempt to turn QF into a virtual airline thus giving pax even less reason to stay loyal when QF did not actually offer seats in its own metal.
Just wondering when Joyce wil phoenix ar EK.

 

[supersonic]

To me the seat is more or less identical and I’m not changing airlines or routes over a cup of coffee or the number of movies offered.

I do agree about the toilet situation though. But that was originally meant to be the domestic A330 configuration, before they switched them to International flights.

The A330 was always intended for shorter int flights.
It used to have 2 loos for J: Joyce removed one (just as he cut the number on the A380): he probably said this was based on customer feedback i.e. we didn't need loos on long haul flights.
I agree that any one of the items I listed is not a reason to change airlines or routes but it is the overall package that makes the difference.
As the the QF schedule (apart from no longer flying to/from MEL) the very early morning arrival at LHR and on flights to AU via SIN is really bad for jet lag. QF has 2 slots with jet lag- friendly arrival times but do not use most of them (the QF10 is the only good slot they use). Other airlines offer really good arrival times for jet lag, an important reason to not fly QF.
I know the cabin crew are ambarrassed to be working on these aircraft they are so far below par.