The Qantas Business Lounge & Flight Review is part of the Trip Report: The $77,000 Trip Heard Round the World which covers 5 Continents, 13 Countries, and 17 Cities.
- Tokyo, Japan
- Melbourne, Australia
- Wellington, New Zealand
- Sydney, Australia
- Colombo, Sri Lanka
- Maldives
- Saigon, Vietnam
- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Hong Kong
- Cape Town, South Africa
- Knysna, South Africa
- Durban, South Africa
- Mauritius
- Johannesburg, South Africa
- Doha, Qatar
- New York, New York
- Helsinki, Finland
Find the nerdy planning here. Find the picture preview here.
As I discussed, I don’t think it’s worth 40k Avios for a round trip to New Zealand from Australia. It is better to pay cash for coach and save your points. Still, it was interesting to see what flying Qantas business is like. As a company, Qantas has had a rough time competing with Virgin, the ever expanding number of competitors flying into Australia, and discount carriers. Qantas’s prices are usually higher than their competitors despite nothing too special about their domestic product. I’m including SYD-MEL and MEL-WLG-SYD in this analysis.
Overall, this government subsidized airline needs to make serious changes in its operations if it’s going to remain a player in the future. It can’t just rely on its rich history and its past dominance to get it through the turbulent times. Qantas is a symbol of pride throughout the country though the people recognize how mismanaged the airline has become. In many ways it reminds me General Motors in the United States.
Here is the happier photo review:
<==Back to Wellington Travel Guide – Onto Park Hyatt Sydney==>
A little more recent information http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/qantas-is-making-a-killing-so-when-do-cheaper-fares-start/story-fnkgde2y-1227555342707
Interesting! So the prices are still high. The article doesn’t state how much Qantas’s long term strategy is based on oil options. Southwest made profits when no one else did because of their options strategy during high energy prices.
Can we say Qantas is now a good company like S&P states? GM has seen profits following the bailout but they are still poorly run.
I haven’t followed the company close enough to know if this a new Qantas or a momentary spike due to a number of factors including oil prices and collusion.
Thanks for sharing.
I flew from Wellington to Washington DC beacause they had the best price at the time but I hated the first leg WLG to SYD the legroom was awful and the IFE was not much better. There 737s are just like cattle class. The food was OK but I would rather had more leg room. The A380 from SYD to DFW was OK. The seat pitch could have been better the guy in front of had seat back the whole time it felt like he was sitting in my lap. To top it off they misplaced my bag for 2 days. Never again will I fly Qantas
737 whether it was Qantas or AirChina was no better than SWA which invented cattle class.
And every blogger boasts about long haul and Qantas but I’ve yet to fly. Guess I’m not missing that much.