RIP QF67/68 PER-HKG and QF71/72 PER-SIN QFi Services

[Pleb Status]

QFi's abandonment of PER enters a new phase this weekend with the last PER-HKG service now in flight and one of the daily PER-SIN rotations disappearing on Sunday.

As a frequent traveller on the PER-HKG and PER-SIN QFi routes, I will miss QF67/68/71/72.

With the withdrawal of these services and the PER-NRT and PER-Indonesia services previously, PER is now down to a single daily QFi service (QF77/78 PER-SIN). It will be interesting to guess when this remaining QFi service will be 'enhanced' to the orange cancer, particularly now the QF/3K codeshare agreement has been approved.

With QFi reducing PER-Asia seats by almost 60%, it would be nice if QF would stop sending emails telling me how they have actually increased seats to Asia (which may be true if I want to fly via SYD, more than doubling my total trip time to anywhere in Asia).


OT - scheduled A330 services between PER-BNE (QF650/597) will also end this weekend, replaced by a fleet of very old 767 aircraft that were not suitable for PER-SYD/MEL services. QStreaming, along with very old programming seen months ago on other QF aircraft, is no replacement for the A332 in seat entertainment offered previously.

 

[vitagen]

I was on Qf 67 on wed. 2nd last service. Staff were quite sad... so was i.

Service was the best ever on a qf flight in Y. I can understand why they culled it though. Plane was so empty.

 

[mannej]

I was on Qf 67 on wed. 2nd last service. Staff were quite sad... so was i.

Service was the best ever on a qf flight in Y. I can understand why they culled it though. Plane was so empty.

The service was probably emptier than normal due to the culling of the route. I do agree it is a pity that the route is going.

In terms of the 330 moving off the BNE routes, the 767's are much better than the 737's I have endured on that route before. 5 hours in row 12 is not my idea of fun.

It is funny (off-topic) that EBO operated the PER-SIN rotation the other day. I would be mighty peeved if I was on that service...
[h=2]27th March 2013 - VH-EBO Operates QF71/QF72 Rotation.[/h]Domestic configuration A330-200 VH-EBO operated the QF71/QF72 Perth - Singapore rotation early this evening.

 

[vitagen]

The service was probably emptier than normal due to the culling of the route. I do agree it is a pity that the route is going.

In terms of the 330 moving off the BNE routes, the 767's are much better than the 737's I have endured on that route before. 5 hours in row 12 is not my idea of fun.

It is funny (off-topic) that EBO operated the PER-SIN rotation the other day. I would be mighty peeved if I was on that service...
[h=2]27th March 2013 - VH-EBO Operates QF71/QF72 Rotation.[/h]Domestic configuration A330-200 VH-EBO operated the QF71/QF72 Perth - Singapore rotation early this evening.

Ouch I would be fully raging out if I were in J.

 

[mannej]

Ouch I would be fully raging out if I were in J.

The original aircraft went tech. So I guess it's a choice of extended delay and original equipment or swap

 

[russianrob]

Spoiler Alert!
I am the original redroo, not the company employee.

Qantas International has abandoned Perth.
They always gave us the cough planes, even when we had some destinations to fly to.
Now even Singapore is only one flight, and before long they will cancel that for Jetstar Asia, who refuse to provide a plane with PE or J seats.
All QF numbers through Dubai are Emirates metal, so NO chance for points upgrades.
This sucks Qantas!

 

[jetlagger]

Slightly OT.
I viewed in awe the Qantas world route maps from a bygone era recently on a visit to the Qantas Museum in LRE.
QFi was once an impressive world wide route system covering most continents all on Qantas metal.
Sadly.. What a skeleton of its former self the QFi is in 2013.

 

[vitagen]

Wonder if pax get compensation for the dom A332

 

[mannej]

Wonder if pax get compensation for the dom A332

J Pax would be a possibility, not a chance for the Y pax as the product is probably better than the 333

 

[ermen]

I was on the last QF68 flight last night. J cabin was only around 60% full which was surprising for the Easter weekend.
I guess that's why they are canning this service...

 

[casanovawa]

Still pathetic... Perth is the closest city to Asia, large Asian population here with visitors, students and residents, economy booming, people streaming in and QF go and can all their flights to here except for one to and from Singapore...

 

[vitagen]

How was qf68? Agree the a333 ife is cough.... i didnt even use it. I love my note 10.1!

 

[Isochronous]

Were PER-HKG loads really that low? it doesn't make sense given how important PER is as a mining corporate centre, growing rapidly, and HKG as Asia's premier financial centre (capital markets volume has already overtaken NYC, I believe). And CX run multiple services daily too.

 

[Pleb Status]

Were PER-HKG loads really that low? it doesn't make sense given how important PER is as a mining corporate centre, growing rapidly, and HKG as Asia's premier financial centre (capital markets volume has already overtaken NYC, I believe). And CX run multiple services daily too.

Only operating three days a week, if you booked on QF between PER-HKG, you were forced to fly when QF wanted you to fly, not when you wanted to fly. Codesharing with CX so you could book one way on QF metal and one way on the CX codeshare flight would have helped increase loads/convenience. QF67/68 loads appeared to be healthy whenever I have flown them in the past. Loads were most likely lower in the past month or so due to the termination of the service.

QF should note that the 'retimed' PER-SIN flight (for better connections in Asia) does not actually connect to last 3K SIN-HKG service of the day. QF77 PER-SIN arrives at 15:20 and 3K695 SIN-HKG departs at 15:50. Even with hand luggage, you would need to be extremely brave (or stupid) to try that connection. I am trying the QF/3K combination next month to HKG but will stay overnight in SIN. When QFi axed the direct PER-HKG service, it would have been nice if the retimed QFi PER-SIN service was scheduled so you could still get to HKG the same day.

The direct CX service will be preferred in the future but is a bit expensive if you want to earn FFP/SC (sale fares do not) and you only earn 0.5FFP/mile in discount Y vs 2.0FFP/mile on QF/3K as a WP.

 

[Tom/PER]

I was on QF72 departing SIN on 27/3, which was delayed until early hours of 28/3 on sadly -EBO.

We were told J class pax would be offered compensation and the original aircraft had a windscreen de-icing issue.

Funny thing was it was a full flight not sure what would of happened if the scheduled QF international A332 -EBG, H, I or L operated the flight. Makes me wonder if the original aircraft did really go tech or whether the flight was overbooked.

Anyone know what the original aircraft was suppose to be??

 

[Daver6]

So really, if you live in Perth like I do, QF is just a domestic carrier now pretty much.

 

[mannej]

So really, if you live in Perth like I do, QF is just a domestic carrier now pretty much.

Even before the changes there wasn't much love for PER intl from the Roo.

 

[mannej]

I was on QF72 departing SIN on 27/3, which was delayed until early hours of 28/3 on sadly -EBO.

We were told J class pax would be offered compensation and the original aircraft had a windscreen de-icing issue.

Funny thing was it was a full flight not sure what would of happened if the scheduled QF international A332 -EBG, H, I or L operated the flight. Makes me wonder if the original aircraft did really go tech or whether the flight was overbooked.

Anyone know what the original aircraft was suppose to be??

if you are talking about J being overbooked, the 4 intl 332's have 6 more J seats than the 333's do, so it's really Y where it's an issue

 

[Tom/PER]

if you are talking about J being overbooked, the 4 intl 332's have 6 more J seats than the 333's do, so it's really Y where it's an issue

Was referring to Y class.

 

[chrisb]

Anyone know what the original aircraft was suppose to be??

The Perth spotters are saying it should have been VH-EBL but it went tech.