Qantas to start flights from Darwin to Singapore

[MEL_Traveller]

I wonder if they overnight in Singaore? If no one likes it, maybe they have to do a same day turn?

 

[Ansett Nostalgic]

And. Apparently the cabin crews absolutely hate this particular trip, no one is bidding for it and everyone is having to be rostered for it (allegedly)

Any idea what the reason is?

 

[nancypants]

I wonder if they overnight in Singaore? If no one likes it, maybe they have to do a same day turn?

Any idea what the reason is?

Yes the pilots overnight but the cabin crew have a same day turn, looks like they overnight in Darwin possibly only once. The flight I took today crew had done PER-DRW-SIN-DRW (I think), chap today DRW-SIN-DRW-BNE it seems

 

[Mattg]

Yes the pilots overnight but the cabin crew have a same day turn, looks like they overnight in Darwin possibly only once. The flight I took today crew had done PER-DRW-SIN-DRW (I think), chap today DRW-SIN-DRW-BNE it seems

I find it hard to believe the cabin crew would do DRW-SIN-DRW-BNE all in one go. @milehighclub do you know?

 

[dajop]

I find it hard to believe the cabin crew would do DRW-SIN-DRW-BNE all in one go. @milehighclub do you know?

Surely they’d hotel before the BNE flight though? It departs at 12:55pm some 11 hours after the arrival from SIN at 1:40am.

 

[nancypants]

I find it hard to believe the cabin crew would do DRW-SIN-DRW-BNE all in one go. @milehighclub do you know?

I’m definitely not 100% on that detail and didn’t want to ask too many questions!

 

[milehighclub]

I find it hard to believe the cabin crew would do DRW-SIN-DRW-BNE all in one go. @milehighclub do you know?

Definitely not. The crew overnight in DRW. SIN shuttle and then overnight again.

 

[nancypants]

Definitely not. The crew overnight in DRW. SIN shuttle and then overnight again.

Presumably it’s just the two nights in Darwin that put folk off then (I gather the generic east coast turns are not well liked by pilots either)

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Definitely not. The crew overnight in DRW. SIN shuttle and then overnight again.

Thanks.

Would crew prefer an overnight in SIN? I assume all the infrastructure is in place given the vast number of QF arrivals and departures. Or would crew rather be back in AU at the end of the day?

 

[wandering_fred]

Not willing to pay for QF premium class fares for my DSC usage, some exploration showed that PER-DRW-SIN flex Y fares were less expensive than PER-eastcoast-SIN and in many cases offered more SC/points and certainly shorter total times.
And while PER-SIN direct uses an A330, the current thoughts are that getting upgrade requests approved on QF71 are "scarce".
Still a month out my QF113 flight is showing JCDI9 so am hopeful of the upgrade "happening".
I was quite surprised at the "cooperation" of the QF phone desk in setting up the ticket using my "gift card". The pity is that QF has not set a standard fare for the routing and two economy fares are booked end on end. And this requires calling in to book.
While the transfer time is just over the minimum connecting time, a simple walk down and across the airside corridor means a very simple procedure with minimal wandering
Fred

 

[exLXCXFF]

Does anyone have any intel how this route is performing in practice in terms of loads?

 

[nancypants]

Does anyone have any intel how this route is performing in practice in terms of loads?

I’ve randomly looked up a few and they’ve been very full. The amount of awards available has also dropped off quite dramatically

It is dry season at present (it was the tail end of wet season when it started) but beyond that I don’t really know where the pax are coming from

 

[Chrizztofa]

Anecdotal data, but I've been on QF113 twice (in April and in June). The April flight was almost completely full in both J and Y. The June flight, strangely for dry season, was only half-full in J but mostly full in Y.

Boarding for the June flight was slightly farcical. The flight was delayed a couple of hours so the DRW international 'holding pen' had both passengers for the delayed QF and on-time SQ flight at the same time. Since DRW doesn't have the ability to handle unloading / boarding for more than one international flight at a time, they boarded SQ first and had to ensure passengers weren't boarding the wrong flight to SIN.

I was looking at some awards about six weeks ago and there was reasonable J availability during the build-up in Oct/Nov, but not much else. But I am not sure if that is due to low loads or if QF is holding back awards for a big release as they tend to do nowadays.

 

[rigram]

Anecdotal data, but I've been on QF113 twice (in April and in June). The April flight was almost completely full in both J and Y. The June flight, strangely for dry season, was only half-full in J but mostly full in Y.

Boarding for the June flight was slightly farcical. The flight was delayed a couple of hours so the DRW international 'holding pen' had both passengers for the delayed QF and on-time SQ flight at the same time. Since DRW doesn't have the ability to handle unloading / boarding for more than one international flight at a time, they boarded SQ first and had to ensure passengers weren't boarding the wrong flight to SIN.

I was looking at some awards about six weeks ago and there was reasonable J availability during the build-up in Oct/Nov, but not much else. But I am not sure if that is due to low loads or if QF is holding back awards for a big release as they tend to do nowadays.

There's no award later in the year - made a request for Platinum release in June - tried lots of dates - and although the sub-classes were there (and lots of seats), all came back declined. They are definitely releasing seats much closer to travel date.