Qantas to phase out A380s

[fletty]

When flying as a family I love SQ’s 777 F - we take the whole cabin, 2 flight attendants and 2 toilets for one family of 4.

Now this is the dream!

 

[jamesatfish]

Now this is the dream!

Even better is they still load the full stock of Cristal for 4 passengers…

 

[drron]

I prefer the SQ 777 F over their A380 but he reverse with the J cabin. I personally feel their 777 J seat is the worst I have experienced.
We only flew QF F on the A380 during their first 2=3 years and didn't find it that good.

 

[levelnine]

Obviously I have a soft spot for the 380, and will be sad to see it go, though time runs out for everything. But, through all of this my bet is that QF will end up with MANY fewer seats overall, which makes them an even more marginal choice. But, I guess that means they'll pay the CEO more.

Joe Aston wrote about this last month:

Soon, Qantas won’t own a long-haul aircraft with more than 170 seats in economy.

The entire point of having fewer seats is being able to charge higher fares, and that’s why the A380s plainly need to leave the network to drive the higher yields underpinning the Sunrise business case. The subtle but certain evolution here is the retirement of Qantas as a mass-market product and brand.

 

[arrow]

Joe Aston wrote about this last month:

That’s exactly the reason for the phase out. Sunrise doesn’t work if you have a large supply of seats on the A380 on overlapping routes dragging down yields. Qantas need to curtail the supply of seats to ensure Sunrise (with less seats) yields are high enough to justify the investment.

 

[Supersonic Swinger]

Joe Aston wrote about this last month: The subtle but certain evolution here is the retirement of Qantas as a mass-market product and brand.

Very interesting. Although how does this sit with the high margin growth needed from the 19m Loyalty customers? If the flying brand shrinks that much, how can Loyalty grow? Cheap redemptions on DeathStar or toasters can only go so far...

 

[Berlin]

Was never a fan of the 777 and even less the 787 which is an awful aircraft. Boeing had their time with the 767 and the 747 which were both great airplanes for their time. The A350 is fine (especially compared to the 787) but nothing will beat the A380 for me. Mostly traveling in J, that is- Eco is awful on any plane imho.

 

[kamchatsky]

I checked my flight record and found that I only have ever flown QF A380 once (most of my other experiences on A380 are on SQ, and EK once). It was in 2023 and on QFF Classic Awards for all 4 of us. This was my memory of it:





I will certainly miss the spaciousness of it. My other family members occupied 2A, 1K, 2K.

I just love A380.

 

[arrow]

Very interesting. Although how does this sit with the high margin growth needed from the 19m Loyalty customers? If the flying brand shrinks that much, how can Loyalty grow? Cheap redemptions on DeathStar or toasters can only go so far...

The plan is for smaller aircraft with more premium mix and higher yields. The loyalty program will have lots of earn opportunities and the burn opportunities I suspect will have to shift to non-flight redemptions like hotels / marketplace etc.

 

[kpc]

I checked my flight record and found that I only have ever flown QF A380 once (most of my other experiences on A380 are on SQ, and EK once). It was in 2023 and on QFF Classic Awards for all 4 of us. This was my memory of it:

View attachment 519351
View attachment 519352
View attachment 519371

I will certainly miss the spaciousness of it. My other family members occupied 2A, 1K, 2K.

I just love A380.

Back in 2017, all 4 of us flew OZ A380 F from Jfk-Icn....the look on the customer agent trying to shoo us away from the F boarding gate was priceless when I showed her our 4 F BPs!

PS: all 4 F seats were booked using Avianca lifemiles....oh the memories of yesteryear! I did do a TR here on AFF but the photos have all now unfortunately disappeared into the web space!

Thread 'A photo report of OZ (Asiana) A380 First Class from JFK to ICN...'

Jul 30, 2017

****WARNING…if First Class photos / reports annoy / offend you, look away now!****


Ok….I have a slight fetish...I admit it! I‘m trying to fly as many different A380 F class products as possible. So far I have flown QF, EK, EY, TG and SQ. Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to fly OZ (Asiana) F class product from JFK to ICN. OZ only flies their A380 F product to 3 cities from ICN, namely JFK, LAX and FRA so there are not many opportunities. Seasonally, OZ does fly the A380 from ICN to SYD but it does not sell the F class product on that route. With limited routes flown, my recent...

• kpc
• first class
• Replies: 21
• Forum: Trip Reports

• 

 

[Franky]

Very interesting. Although how does this sit with the high margin growth needed from the 19m Loyalty customers? If the flying brand shrinks that much, how can Loyalty grow? Cheap redemptions on DeathStar or toasters can only go so far...

So how many of the ‘19m Loyalty customers’ actually fly more than once a year perhaps????

 

[elanshin]

So how many of the ‘19m Loyalty customers’ actually fly more than once a year perhaps????

I wouldn't be surprised if theres many millions of fake accounts. QFF is apparently one of the FF programs used to scam other OW.

 

[fletty]

So how many of the ‘19m Loyalty customers’ actually fly more than once a year perhaps????

Or earn more than 10,000 points a year

 

[MG1]

I love the A380 esp the premium cabins. It is a shame just about every airline is retiring them except EK.

I have done A380 F on Sq, Ey, Ek, Qf, Tg and Oz...wonderful experiences

Similar with me (although I have only ever flown J or above in them, all bar one being a reward flight).
Nice list that you have there. My A380 list is as follows: QR, EK, NH, SQ.

I suppose I better get on quickly to try QF's version of an A380 before it's too late.
(Although the images put up by @kamchatsky do make the tv look on the small side (maybe it's just the photo).)
From what I can see, there are six routes where QF currently flies the A380 (4 out of SYD, 1 out of MEL, and 1 fifth-freedom). I should really start thinking about what routes to take for a OneWorld Classic Flight Reward.

 

[Spamam]

Without extra Heathrow slots, capacity to the UK will be cut by a third. 24 year old cruddy A330s can’t keep going. QANTAS is shrinking and it looks like the only new routes are going to Jetstar. Vegas is a temporary gimick. Can’t wait for the next twenty recycled sunrise announcements before it gets delayed again.

 

[SYD]

I wouldn't be surprised if theres many millions of fake accounts. QFF is apparently one of the FF programs used to scam other OW.

Umm, that’s VFF! Well reported here about peeps having QR flight miles credited elsewhere.

At $99 joining fee, not likely to be widely abused unless hackers go to one of the various ways to get the fee waived but that’s adding extra traceable steps?

 

[elanshin]

Umm, that’s VFF! Well reported here about peeps having QR flight miles credited elsewhere.

At $99 joining fee, not likely to be widely abused unless hackers go to one of the various ways to get the fee waived but that’s adding extra traceable steps?

It's common place for CX hijacked FF bookings to all be on QFF from what i read and a few of the other OW carriers. Probably because you can easily transfer the points and burn them. They don't really care about traceability since the name has to match the traveller and they're burning immediately the points with redemptions.

 

[SYD]

It's common place for CX hijacked FF bookings to all be on QFF from what i read and a few of the other OW carriers. Probably because you can easily transfer the points and burn them. They don't really care about traceability since the name has to match the traveller and they're burning immediately the points with redemptions.

Ditto on VFF.

Staying OT, 24 pages here…

B

Thread 'Fraud on Velocity Frequent Flyer accounts'

May 29, 2024

I just tried to log in to my account and got the following message:

"INACTIVE, SUSPENDED OR CLOSED ACCOUNT
The Velocity Membership number you have entered is associated with an inactive, suspended or close account. Please check that you have entered the correct membership details or contact the Membership Contact Centre for assistance."

Called up the contact centre - and they informed me that my mobile number, email and address had been changed on the account - and that a large number of points had been transferred out? My account is under investigation - and someone will contact me...

• bluemelbs
• Replies: 465
• Forum: Virgin Australia | Velocity

• 
• 
• 

QR eventually locked down MMB (to be incredibly frustrating). VA took longer to implement 2FA but the fraud dropped off.

I honestly can’t recall hearing or seeing anything about widespread QF accounts being used for fraud.

 

[elanshin]

Ditto on VFF.

Staying OT, 24 pages here…

B

Thread 'Fraud on Velocity Frequent Flyer accounts'

May 29, 2024

I just tried to log in to my account and got the following message:

"INACTIVE, SUSPENDED OR CLOSED ACCOUNT
The Velocity Membership number you have entered is associated with an inactive, suspended or close account. Please check that you have entered the correct membership details or contact the Membership Contact Centre for assistance."

Called up the contact centre - and they informed me that my mobile number, email and address had been changed on the account - and that a large number of points had been transferred out? My account is under investigation - and someone will contact me...

• bluemelbs
• Replies: 465
• Forum: Virgin Australia | Velocity

• 
• 
• 

QR eventually locked down MMB (to be incredibly frustrating). VA took longer to implement 2FA but the fraud dropped off.

I honestly can’t recall hearing or seeing anything about widespread QF accounts being used for fraud.

We're getting OT but yes there's a thread on FT's CX forums about it and the problem is always QFF. They suspect its part of the reason for the CX MMB changes as well.