"Qantas Throws Towel In" and matches $1199 to LAX

[AlphaVictor]

Took em a while, welcome to the war QF. Their fare is actually $1209 to LAX and $1309 to SFO, slightly cheaper through OTAs

Only basic info so far.....

Valid for departures from March-May 2009 - sale ends 12th of January 2009! From Sydney and Melbourne. Slightly cheaper from Melbourne




You will fly with Qantas from Australia to... Los Angeles - San Francisco.
One stopover is permitted free of charge. Another is permitted at a cost of $100. Stopover Cities will depend on your final flight routing.
The maximum stay away is 1 year.
Please note that some flight restrictions may apply.


Further details pending - fares loaded on QF website

 

[Iza]

Awesome deal - I haven't ever seen fares this good from QF! Just did a search for MEL-LAX and it comes up with $1145. Good buying at this price. Now...if only the AUD would get back up to a decent level again

 

[schomers87]

Advantages of more open skies.

 

[oz_mark]

Advantages of more open skies.

More open skies where? From a regulatory standpoint nothing has changed recently.

 

[serfty]

The stopover can be useful to save costs.

e.g. Departures after June 1st are charged from ~$2250 return, but costs are based on the first international segment date.

I did a multi stopover of MEL-AKL in May, AKL-LAX and LAX-MEL in June and the cost was $1191.

Now AKL-MEL(May) MEL-AKL (June) can be purchased for NZD403 (~AUD345) so if you have the time there's more than one way to utilize this.

 

[crazydave98]

More open skies where? From a regulatory standpoint nothing has changed recently.

Umm... yes it has. Without Open Skies we would have been limited to four frequencies a week to the US which is plainly not commercially viable and we would not have gone on to this route under those conditions. I can't recall offhand how many frequencies for US-designated carriers were previously available but would not be surprised if Delta's commencement of services is also being made possible by Open Skies.

 

[oz_mark]

Umm... yes it has. Without Open Skies we would have been limited to four frequencies a week to the US which is plainly not commercially viable and we would not have gone on to this route under those conditions. I can't recall offhand how many frequencies for US-designated carriers were previously available but would not be surprised if Delta's commencement of services is also being made possible by Open Skies.

But that change was getting on to a year ago now. While I can understand that V Australia being new and all would take a while to get going, it has been a while before existing carriers announced anything.

 

[anat0l]

Interesting tack. Good fares, however.

I know some people who will still fly with V Australia anyway because they will be operating new 777 aircraft compared to the more dated 747s of QF. (Yes, there is the A380 for QF, but demand....and also that's only 3 days of the week...)

For these "some" people, the media has a heavy influence, and they are not as "seasoned" nor caring of flying as the calibre of this forum.

 

[oz_mark]

I know some people who will still fly with V Australia anyway, forgoing a "free" meal, because they will be operating new 777 aircraft compared to the more dated 747s of QF. (Yes, there is the A380 for QF, but demand....and also that's only 3 days of the week...)

I thought meals were included in the ticket cost?

 

[anat0l]

I thought meals were included in the ticket cost?

Whoops! My mistake. They are indeed, across all classes.

Oh well, now that's giving QF a real run for it's money. Notwithstanding that VA J has full lie flat seats, so that directly heads up against QF 747's J SkySlopes.

Hmmm...all of the sudden the Transpac route has just got a whole lot more interesting.....

 

[comint]

Whoops! My mistake. They are indeed, across all classes...

anat0l, did you originally think that V Australia was going to offer an economy service/product level more similar to JQi than QF?

If so, how do you think it came about - that you formed such an opinion?

 

[serfty]

The stopover can be useful to save costs. ...

The following fares return to LAX ex SYD are advertised:

• 01JUN-16JUN: $2223
• 17JUN-17JUL: $3240
• 18JUL-31OCT: $2750
• 01NOV-09DEC: $2169
• 10DEC-10JAN: $3240

So, if you wish to travel in late June, a side trip to AKL coupled with this fare can cost $1550, saving $1690!

 

[crazydave98]

But that change was getting on to a year ago now. While I can understand that V Australia being new and all would take a while to get going, it has been a while before existing carriers announced anything.

Why would existing carriers announce anything until the competition actually showed up and started selling seats? Open Skies led to new competition entering the market led to incumbants lowering their prices.

 

[oz_mark]

Why would existing carriers announce anything until the competition actually showed up and started selling seats? Open Skies led to new competition entering the market led to incumbants lowering their prices.

By existing carriers I meant the likes of Delta etc. If the route was such a gold mine, one would think they would have moved quicker than they did.

Qantas obvioulsy just had to sit around waiting for something to happen.

 

[oz_mark]

If so, how do you think it came about - that you formed such an opinion?

This is an interesting question - as I have had to correct people on V's service offering several times, so I suspect that perception is widespread.

 

[SeaWolf]

This is an interesting question - as I have had to correct people on V's service offering several times, so I suspect that perception is widespread.

I actually had one person make a similar comment to me about Virgin Atlantic as well! They had no idea that Virgin Atlantic was a full service carrier and assumed it was much like Virgin Blue. I don't think they even realised they were a separate company.
I think it's largely to do with Virgin Blue pushing the LCC concept when they first started. It's stuck ever since and while we're all well informed about what's being offered by V Australia I think most people in Australia just see the Virgin brand and think "cheap", which is good in some ways, but a problem in others.

 

[codash1099]

I'd happily fly V Australia but I avoid DJ. The difference lies in the availablity of J.

Perhaps it's time for DJ to think about adding J instead of Premium economy and leaving it to JQ and TT to fight for the LCC market.

 

[anat0l]

anat0l, did you originally think that V Australia was going to offer an economy service/product level more similar to JQi than QF?

If so, how do you think it came about - that you formed such an opinion?

I have to concede that the reason is already reported here...the widespread knowledge of DJ (especially as one of the most successful LCCs in Australia for a long time) then streaming into a Transpac concept never really clicked properly that VA was going to be full service. Of course, when I read the information that there were going to be three classes, I thought that places VA on odds with JQi, except a step up (i.e. JQi only has Y and *C vs. VA with Y, Y+ and J). (To be completely fair, however, QF still sends 2-class Y/J aircraft across the Pacific.)

It was a serious misconception, but so there - I found out the truth (with a quick check of the website, at that). VS, on the other hand, I know is full cost for a fact, but that's because I knew of VS before DJ came along. VS is not completely pedestrian either, offering only Y, Y+ and J, although Upper Class seems to earn a reputation of F- (or even F) rather than J.

So to summarise, call it a misguided hasty assumption.

 

[Mrmaxwell]

If the route was such a gold mine, one would think they would have moved quicker than they did.

Qantas obvioulsy just had to sit around waiting for something to happen.

It has been reported numerous times how much profit QF sucks out of the transpac route alone - do you think they would lobby the Govt year after year to keep competition at bay the way they have if it wasn't a cash cow?

And do you think we would be seeing sub $1200 airfares from QF without the likes of VA and Delta coming along? No way...

It made me sick to see QF spruiking US$380 airfares LAX-SYD when I was in LA back in July...where was our AU$380 promo fares SYD-LAX? We have been getting ripped on transpac airfares for too long - Viva la Competition!

 

[crazydave98]

By existing carriers I meant the likes of Delta etc. If the route was such a gold mine, one would think they would have moved quicker than they did.

Lack of right equipment and a US west coast presence.

Only aircraft that can fly trans-pac (to Australia not NZ) with viable payload are B747-400 (preferably ER), B777-200LR, B777-300ER, A340-500 (and the 600 if in very premium/spacious configuration). Most US carriers just don't have these. I think only Northwest operates B747-400s other than United, and Delta's B777-200LRs are relatively recent acquisition and so they went to higher priority routes first (Delta is not as strong as UA or AA on US west coast).

So NorthWest was the only real contender but it had previously tried and failed in the 90s (as did CO and AA which instead came to an agreement with QF). But NW would be competing against UA with same equipment, equally cough product onboard, and nowhere near the strength in distribution and network as UA in LAX and SFO.

While Qantas has been gouging on the trans-Pac route over the past 10 years, for a long time there (as in decades) they did not make great returns.