Qantas to ground some US flights

[Mrmaxwell]

Qantas to ground some US flights

QANTAS is expected to axe flights between Los Angeles and New York as part of cuts to its route network aimed at stemming losses from its international operations.

Also;

Although Jetstar, Qantas' budget subsidiary, has flown to Hawaii for the past five years, it has long toyed with plans to fly to the US mainland. San Francisco has been touted previously as a destination for Jetstar, but taking over from Qantas on the Auckland-Los Angeles route is considered the most likely option.

Interesting times ahead.

 

[Sprucegoose]

I have a return ticket back to JFK. Offload onto AA. Makes AA. Program more attractive now!

 

[cove]

Reductions in QF international flights are definitely coming so code share partners will get a boost. It is tough losing 4 million a week and the QF Board of Directors will find life wasn't meant to be easy for them.We don't want to fly JetStar on long haul as a family as it is just too squeezy and cheap.I feel it is ok to go short runs like to Tasmania or the Gold Coast from Melbourne but 10 hours or more would be tough.

 

[Sprucegoose]

That's when we switch to CX or SQ I guess.

 

[dfcatch]

That's right. All well and good for AJ to switch routes from QF to JQ. But it will also result in pax now choosing to fly a non-QF Group airline.

I for one have been happy choosing QF, but if the only choice is JQ on a route. Then I will preference NZ/DL/VA/UA all before choosing JQ.

Unless of course the ticket is sub-$500 return to US

 

[awilcockson]

I for one have been happy choosing QF, but if the only choice is JQ on a route. Then I will preference NZ/DL/VA/UA all before choosing JQ.

Too bloody right. The only way you'll get me near a JQ flight is JQ35. Wouldn't even consider them for long haul. Bad move Qantas, bad move.

 

[simongr]

Sadly people get what they want and by people I mean people in general - not us frequent flyers. People want cheap and they are getting both what they wanted and what they deserved.

My preferred route to the US was always CX or AA (if I could get a SWU) rather than QF.

 

[oz_mark]

If they do cut the LA-NY route, then of course they would also look at whether they need to fly an A330 across at all. Maybe they will keep that part, but if not, then we lose a widebody trans-tasman (SYD-AKL) as well.

 

[richie9x]

I am pretty certain that New York will be dropped. Based on the hints about unprofitable flights being taken over by partners. I think flying to JFK is more of a prestige thing for Qantas rather than being a profitable route.

It looks like it was part of the reason DFW was brought in so that if passengers are flying to JFK then a greater fraction of the flight can be done by Qantas than if going by LAX.

And given that the plane from AKL to LAX usually goes on to do the NYC run it is natural that that route is also in question. It is logical to speculate that will be axed as well. But taken over by Jetstar? I wonder how that would work. Would Jetconnect now start doing widebody flights? or would it be done by an Australia based Jetstar crew?

 

[psi999]

I am pretty certain that New York will be dropped. Based on the hints about unprofitable flights being taken over by partners. I think flying to JFK is more of a prestige thing for Qantas rather than being a profitable route.

Perhaps JQ picking up this route is part of the plan with JQ looking at running from SIN to Athens/Rome when/if their new 787’s get delivered ~ 8 hr hop from Rome to JFK.

Jetstar plans to base more wide-body Airbus A330 aircraft in NZ | The Australian

So with appropriate govt approvals could fly MEL/AKL-SIN-ROM-JFK-LAX-AKL-SYD all on JQ…. Interesting thought anyways.

 

[serfty]

JQi already fly 332 SIN-AKL so there is a natural extension to head off to LAX from there.


FWIW, I have not flown QF25 out of MEL since in went to an OMG hour departure.

 

[dajop]

Is it just me, or is the SMH headline once again misleading? There's a big difference between "grounding" (with its safety implications) and "axing" flights.

 

[JB expat]

I'm a long time lurker but this is my first post (I don't have all the lingo down). Does anyone know when this is suppose to happen? I fly Melb to JFK 1-2 times per year (business class for work) and always chose to fly on a Qantas jet all the way through. I'm an American living here in Aus and I avoid US airlines as much as possible so I'm pretty bummed about this. I'm due to fly to JFK in Sept and am currently booked on Qantas planes for the entire round trip. If I end up having to go AA from LAX, then rather than go to JFK, I'm going to go to Newark (EWR) - the only reason I don't is to stay on a Qantas plane as the traffic to/from Manhattan is usually less from EWR than from JFK. OH - and what if anything does this mean for the A380 Melb to LA route - are they going to cut the A380? Does the A380 fly into Dallas? How are the Dallas connections to the NY airports - maybe that's the way to go. I hate having to walk from the International Terminal to the Domestic terminal in LA anyway.

Also, one of the reasons I always ask work to book me on Qantas is to accumulate points to upgrade the non-work trips I take home - most of my upgrades have come through so it works for me. If this change means that I have less chance of being able to upgrade, I'm going to reconsider my focus on earning Qantas points. Does anyone know how the Virgin LAX connection to NY is? Is it timed well so that there's not a long layover. I have never flown Virgin within the US - is it decent? How is Virgin in terms of upgrades for their FF?

As an aside, has anyone noticed that the movies shown by Qantas are not as "good" as they used to be? In the past, I felt like almost all the movies were new or even not yet released in Australia. Now I'm finding that there are few first runs and a lot of repeats packaged in a way to make you feel like you are getting something good (like "Academy Award Best Pictures) but what you are getting is not as good as it used to be (this is my experience based on my last 2 long hauls to the States as well as looking at the upcoming entertainment). This is true even on the A380 with the many channels.

 

[serfty]

Welcome to AFF JB expat]

Currently Qantas fly 5 (almost) daily services to LAX.

• From SYD direct (388)
• From SYD direct and then on to JFK (744/330)
• From BNE direct (744)
• From MEL direct (388)
• From MEL via AKL (738/330)

The article suggested that the MEL via AKL and the LAX-SYD be cancelled.

That still leaves 388's to LAX, but you would be SOL for LAX-JFK.

Such changes and any detail thereof will apparently not be made public until August 24th.

 

[richie9x]

Does anyone know when this is suppose to happen?

The article is basically speculation based on information from unnamed insiders. It might accurate or it might not be. Qantas have a big announcement scheduled for a months time (24 August). Which Alan Joyce has mentioned will include cuts to some international routes. I would suggest waiting until then. Even if it is decided the route is dropped it might some time before they actually do it.

 

[harvyk]

Ignoring the terrible headline which they posted this "news" item under I hate that they are acting authoritive in that article despite the fact that they have done no better than an AFF post.

I personally think that US is one area (with the other being UK and a stop inbetween) which they will continue doing flights to under their own brand.
Everything else will be scraped or handed over to JQ. I don't see them "handing" over routes to other partner carriers (even OW ones), as they help each other out where appropriate, but they are still two competing companies.

 

[JB expat]

thanks...I will wait until Aug 24th to find out...

 

[drron]

Welcome JBexpat.QF may be doing you a favour.Your J ticket will book into F on AA so more SCs than if you were on QF.
But why EWR?Wouldn't LGA be better?Unless of course you are catching the train.We always go into LGA-taxi is $35-40 with tip to the centre of Manhattan.Traffic usually not a problem.
From LAX I would suggest you fly LAX-DFW-LGA on AA-Gives you 240 SCs,480 all up for LAX-LGA-LAX.

 

[JB expat]

Didn't realize that about AA booking me into 1st - although do they have lay flat seats - it's the LA to NY leg that I find harder than Melb to LA for some reason.

EWR for 2 reasons - the first being that on this trip, I'm taking a few days off before my meetings and staying with a friend in New Jersey for a few days; the second is that I'm staying in lower Manhattan and it should be much quicker to get from there to Newark than to LGA. However, if AA, I'd pick LGA over JFK any day of the week. I have had some nightmare trips from NYC to JFK - taking almost 3 hours in standstill traffic and thinking I was going to be blocked from checking in.

Can someone tell me how they've found immigration/customs in DFW and the transition to domestic - is it a better system than LAX? do you need to change terminals? is there a train/people mover or is it like LAX...a chance to stretch your legs whether you want to or not...

 

[serfty]

DFW is a different world to LAX; while there are reports of occasionally longish immigration/customs queues waits, once airside it's quite simple to navigate between terminals with a train and long moving 'sidewalks'.

It is a very a large airport.

American Airlines Terminal Map - Dallas Fort Worth International Airport On AA.com