SYD-CBR - Business class on Dash 8

[Skoogle]

I am looking at flights from Sydney to Canberra this weekend, Sat-29 and returning Sun-30.

I noticed that Qantas are selling business class seats for $411 on the DHC-8 400 Series aircraft.

I confirmed with Qantas that it is valid (call centre chick did a booking herself and confirmed it was booking in J but seated in Y), and there is a warning during the online booking that travel will be in Economy.

Could this be a mistake or a weird way to capture more up-market bookings?

 

[Travel Guru]

Not sure whats up there, but there's definately no J seating on the Dash.

TG

 

[Hvr]

Maybe if you're desparate for SCs but no other reason to pay above the odds for whY class travel.

Still you should get the pick of the plane when choosing your seat.

 

[oz_mark]

But it will be cheaper than flying in one of those noisy jet things (except if the noisy jet has D available which it sometimes does).

 

[serfty]

If you look really closely on Saturday/Sunday, you can see a few 'noisy jets' with D availability for $305 each way!

 

[Yada Yada]

Maybe if you're desparate for SCs but no other reason to pay above the odds for whY class travel.

Flying on a QF Crash-8 is desperate in itself. Those aircraft are loud, buzzy, they vibrate too much, the view out most of the windows is hindered by the wings/propellors, and I dislike having to get off and get onto a bus for a 200m ride to the terminal in SYD.

I'd rather fly on Virgin Blue's Embraers any day.

 

[oz_mark]

Flying on a QF Crash-8 is desperate in itself. Those aircraft are loud, buzzy, they vibrate too much, the view out most of the windows is hindered by the wings/propellors, and I dislike having to get off and get onto a bus for a 200m ride to the terminal in SYD.

I'd rather fly on Virgin Blue's Embraers any day.

or the QF 737's. Which, IME, are pretty empty on the weekends.

 

[Skoogle]

If you look really closely on Saturday/Sunday, you can see a few 'noisy jets' with D availability for $305 each way!

That is what mainly caught my eye.

 

[Arthur Hodgson]

Flying on a QF Crash-8 is desperate in itself. Those aircraft are loud, buzzy, they vibrate too much, the view out most of the windows is hindered by the wings/propellors, and I dislike having to get off and get onto a bus for a 200m ride to the terminal in SYD.

You didn't also mention that crash 8's have a serious design fault that causes their undercarriage to collapse from time to time (just ask SAS).

And why would anyone pay out of their own pocket to fly from the ACT to Mascot in Sydney, when they can catch a Murrays bus for $15 and get there quicker too.

Some people must like paying through the nose for really very little.

 

[straitman]

You didn't also mention that crash 8's have a serious design fault that causes their undercarriage to collapse from time to time (just ask SAS).

Arthur Hodgson,

I would happily ask SAS why they are alone in having u/c problems and why the rest of the world manage their maintenance for the u/c to function normally.

As I've posted previously this really sounds like a maintenance problem with one airline rather than an aircraft design problem.

 

[Commuter]

Arthur Hodgson,

I would happily ask SAS why they are alone in having u/c problems and why the rest of the world manage their maintenance for the u/c to function normally.

As I've posted previously this really sounds like a maintenance problem with one airline rather than an aircraft design problem.

Didn't ANA have problems as well?

U/C problems aside, I'd rather choose the flights to avoid any turboprops if possible, but hey, Q400 is still much more comfortable than a bloody sewer pipe, aka Metroliner.

 

[thadocta]

You didn't also mention that crash 8's have a serious design fault that causes their undercarriage to collapse from time to time (just ask SAS).

And why would anyone pay out of their own pocket to fly from the ACT to Mascot in Sydney, when they can catch a Murrays bus for $15 and get there quicker too.

Some people must like paying through the nose for really very little.

Aww, I dunno, I (and a non-flying guest) can drink more than that in the QP prior to departure and (alone here of course) after arrival, and after you factor in the miles and the SC's, it can be worthwhile....

Dave

 

[Dave Noble]

You didn't also mention that crash 8's have a serious design fault that causes their undercarriage to collapse from time to time (just ask SAS).

And why would anyone pay out of their own pocket to fly from the ACT to Mascot in Sydney, when they can catch a Murrays bus for $15 and get there quicker too.

Some people must like paying through the nose for really very little.

Only the Q400s have had this issue at SAS anyway

Murrays have only a handful of services a day with the 1st one from SYD-CBR at 9 , then the next at 12... hardly the most useful of schedules , especially given the 3.25 hour journey from T1 - Canberra ; also there are not many $15 fares around and the price is , ime, typically $25 to $35

I cannot see how 3.25 hours is quicker than 50 minutes

Dave

 

[swissbignose]

I cannot see how 3.25 hours is quicker than 50 minutes

You're not looking at it from the same departure/arrival points.

Centre of Canberra to Centre of Sydney.

For Coach:
3 hours, 15 minutes.

For Dash8:
20 minutes from centre of Canberra to airport.
30 minutes pre-boarding.
50 minutes flight.
30 minutes cab to centre of Sydney.

2 hours, 10 minutes.

Assuming you don't have delays in getting cabs to or from the airport, and there's no adverse delays due to weather/ATC/Santa Claus.

On some days, the time could be the same.

 

[simongr]

But that assumes zero time getting to the Bus depot, no traffic delays, no time at the bus depot waiting to board, no waiting old people with their zimmerframes and where you want to be in Sydney.

I am always amused by these comparisons where Air travel always has the buffers built in but other forms of travel are seamless and instaneous...

 

[swissbignose]

The argument was not necessarily that the non-air travel was instantaneous and delay free, merely that it wasn't a case of comparing bus travel time, and flight time.

(I'll ignore the quandry I faced about mounting a Dave Noble-type argument against a Dave Noble post)

 

[simongr]

The argument was not necessarily that the non-air travel was instantaneous and delay free, merely that it wasn't a case of comparing bus travel time, and flight time.

Noted - I agree. And it's not just about travel time - I would much prefer 2 hours on a plane to 90 mins on a bus personally. Although at least then I could carry nail clippers...

 

[Dave Noble]

You're not looking at it from the same departure/arrival points.

Assuming you don't have delays in getting cabs to or from the airport, and there's no adverse delays due to weather/ATC/Santa Claus.

On some days, the time could be the same.

The 3.25 hours was the journey time of Murray's from Sydney Airport to Canberra, not from Central to Canberra , so the time to get to the airport at Sydney should not be counted since regardless of whether going to fly or not, the journey is scheduled to go via the airport at Sydney

This reduces, based on the time given, by 30 minutes

Also, for the Dash-8s ( which are the main aeroplanes on the route ) boarding is at T-15, not T-30

This in itself reduces the time to 1hr 25mins vs 3hr 15mins but also assumes that one would get to an airport before departure but get to the coach at the time it goes


I would also say that in my experience, it does not take 20 minutes to get from CBR to Civic

Key aspects, imo, are the much higher frequencies of the flights, especially in the morning travelling to Canberra from Sydney. With the 1st departure of Murray's being at 09:00 from Central / 09:15 from Airport with an arrival at Civic at 12:30, that has a big impact to its usefulness imo; even more so with the following being at 12:00 ( 12:15 ex SYD) , with a 15:30 arrival into Canberra. Compare this against the departures on QF of 06:00, 06:45, 07:20, 07:40, 08:10, 08:45, 09:20, 10:20, 11:25, 11:55 etc. Departing Sydney Airport at 11:25 , the arrival time into CBR is 12:15 and should be in civic ony minutes after the 09:15 departure of Murray's from Sydney Airport. The 14:35 departure should enable getting to Civic by 15:45 vs 12:15 for 15:30 arrival

Dave

 

[QF WP]

Well, my Crash 8 flight CBR/SYD yesterday certainly reminded me why I like the noisy jets versus the reberverating Crash 8's...

 

[simongr]

I have never had a problem with the Dash-8's - flown many times to Wagga, Dubbo, Broken Hill, Mildura... in fact one of the nicest snacks I have had in flight was on a Dash-8 - Maggie Beer pate