Qantas to fly MEL-SFO with 787

[Danger]

Exciting news. I probably would have preferred a brand new city in the US but something is better than nothing.

According to AusBT, Qantas's Alison Webster stated:

"We’re proud that with the new San Francisco route too, it will strengthen tourism and trade links, particularly with Silicone Valley." [emphasis mine]

Are we sure it is flying to San Fran and not Los Angeles??

Screenshot from AusBT

View attachment 112576

The text on the Qantas website says "Silicon" so either a) AusBT retyped with an error or b) Qantas fixed it.

It's not the only typo in the release:

 

[dajop]

Interesting move. I am surprised that UA haven't started this route already, given that SFO is just as big (if not bigger) hub for them as LAX.

 

[kermatu]

Nice. An evening departure would be fun. Hope the FLounge is open for this flight.

I had confirmation this week from F lounge staff that it will remain open in the evenings courtesy of QF95. No decision on the spa though - which makes me suspect it will not be available in the evening. Just my guess though.

 

[jb747]

Could be as Joyce has long talked about Melbourne to Dallas flights.

Well, if we think that Perth to London could be problematic with regards to fuel, then Dallas Melbourne is much more so. It's about 20 km shorter, but with winds that are almost always quite adverse. I was told that it was looked at, but they'd have to leave the luggage behind on most days.

.....although with so many legs through Melbourne, seems weird the base isnt there.

The initial 787 crew bases are Melbourne and Perth, with Brisbane to follow. Sydney is the one missing out at the moment.


Great Circle Mapper ✔ Flight Distance ✔ Flight Time ✔ Aviation Database

 

[wannabeinvestmentbanker]

Exciting news. I probably would have preferred a brand new city in the US but something is better than nothing.:

Agreed. Whist its a painless arrival connections aren't amazing

Would like to see something like San Diego, Pheonix or Seattle first.

 

[Danger]

. . . Sydney is the one missing out at the moment.

They are words I would never have associated with Qantas.

 

[dairyfloss]

My QF corporate rep passed on the release and further details of this one, this morning... AusBT were fairly close, but a little more of the 787 to SFO than LAX is what will happen. Good news for some, either way, I suppose:

QANTAS’ MELBOURNE – SAN FRANCISCO FLIGHTS OPEN FOR BUSINESS

Schedule extracted here, below (apologies for formatting):

Qantas’ Melbourne – San Francisco and Melbourne – Los Angeles schedule*
Fares are available via qantas.com and through Travel Agents progressively from today.

Route            Flight      Dep Time^    Arr Time^    Frequency                   Aircraft

MEL-SFO          QF 49       2140**       1900         Wed, Thu, Sat, Sun          B789
MEL-LAX          QF 95       2140**       1900         Mon, Fri                    B789
MEL-LAX          QF 93       0905**       0635         Daily                       A380
SFO-MEL          QF 50       2200         0630+2**     Wed, Thu, Sat, Sun          B789
LAX-MEL          QF 96       2355         0825+2**     Tues, Fri                   B789
LAX-MEL          QF 94       2255         0750+2**     Daily                       A380

* Subject to government and regulatory approvals.
^Times above are local.
** 1 hour later in DST

Cheers,
Matt.

 

[mviy]

Nice. With those dates I should be able to choose either via SYD or going direct to SFO. I hope the extra capacity to SFO will help me keep my perfect record for upgrade success to/from SFO intact.

 

[dajop]

So reading between the lines, the sales to LAX on the extra daily 787 service were well below expectations ... Good that this transformed into a new opportunity rather than removal of the extra US service out of MEL.

 

[coriander]

Thanks for posting this. Mrs C and I had J awards on QF73/74; I jumped on the phone just now and transferred our bookings to QF49/50...... QF didn't charge any points for changing as they hadn't ticketed the previous booking.

 

[mmchow]

The announcement of QF49 came right on time as SFO is our preferred destination. Was initially booked in on QF93 but got cancelled to accomodate QF49. Made the changeover and got refunded $0.30 each.

 

[danielc]

Great news and flight timings for me. Can now get to SF from country Victoria all in one day in both directions. No more overnight hotel stays after the VLine portion. I figure this will save me 4-5 hours travel time in each direction on my twice-a-year trips. Goodbye to that hellhole at LAX!

 

[serfty]

(apologies for formatting)

reformatted with code tags ...

 

[mbell1510]

My QF corporate rep passed on the release and further details of this one, this morning... AusBT were fairly close, but a little more of the 787 to SFO than LAX is what will happen. Good news for some, either way, I suppose:

QANTAS’ MELBOURNE – SAN FRANCISCO FLIGHTS OPEN FOR BUSINESS

Schedule extracted here, below (apologies for formatting):

Qantas’ Melbourne – San Francisco and Melbourne – Los Angeles schedule*
Fares are available via qantas.com and through Travel Agents progressively from today.

Route            Flight      Dep Time^    Arr Time^    Frequency                   Aircraft

MEL-SFO          QF 49       2140**       1900         Wed, Thu, Sat, Sun          B789
MEL-LAX          QF 95       2140**       1900         Mon, Fri                    B789
MEL-LAX          QF 93       0905**       0635         Daily                       A380
SFO-MEL          QF 50       2200         0630+2**     Wed, Thu, Sat, Sun          B789
LAX-MEL          QF 96       2355         0825+2**     Tues, Fri                   B789
LAX-MEL          QF 94       2255         0750+2**     Daily                       A380

* Subject to government and regulatory approvals.
^Times above are local.
** 1 hour later in DST

Cheers,
Matt.

So according to that are they planning on keeping a Dreamliner on the ground overnight in LA? Looking at that it arrives into LAX at 1900 and doesn't leave again until Tuesday at 2355? Surely that is a typo? Not good for fleet utilisation or is LAX planned as a maintenance hub for the Dreamliner like the A380?

 

[Must...Fly!]

So according to that are they planning on keeping a Dreamliner on the ground overnight in LA? Looking at that it arrives into LAX at 1900 and doesn't leave again until Tuesday at 2355? Surely that is a typo? Not good for fleet utilisation or is LAX planned as a maintenance hub for the Dreamliner like the A380?

Perhaps a clue about what is happening with the Brisbane based 787s.

 

[Ekka]

The 3rd and 4th 787 will also be based in MEL to allow MEL-LAX-MEL-PER-LHR-PER-MEL. It won't rotate through BNE

Aircraft 5 and onwards will go to BNE and will do BNE-LAX-JFK-LAX-BNE, with another route to be announced next year

No surprise there; Joyce would no doubt dearly love to remove Queensland completely from Qantas' overseas schedules. I don't think he knows what the Q in his airline's name represents.

 

[Must...Fly!]

No surprise there; Joyce would no doubt dearly love to remove Queensland completely from Qantas' overseas schedules. I don't think he knows what the Q in his airline's name represents.

Flights to LAX, SIN, NRT, AKL, CHC, HKG, POM...most of those daily...two one-stop QF metal options to LHR from March...what is missing exactly?

 

[Franky]

No surprise there; Joyce would no doubt dearly love to remove Queensland completely from Qantas' overseas schedules. I don't think he knows what the Q in his airline's name represents.

Meanwhile, Perth has for their overseas schedule a once a day 737 tube of torture to Singapore!

 

[mviy]

Meanwhile, Perth has for their overseas schedule a once a day 737 tube of torture to Singapore!

Perth’ll soon have a 787 direct non-stop service to LHR something which QF has never done before. The first city in AU to get such a flight. If it does well they may well get some more PER to Europe services.

 

[Franky]

Perth’ll soon have a 787 direct non-stop service to LHR something which QF has never done before. The first city in AU to get such a flight. If it does well they may well get some more PER to Europe services.

Without wanting to appear ungrateful, from what I've read, 9 abreast in Y for 17 hours PER/LHR is only slightly more bearable compared to 5.5 hours to SIN in a 737..