The Australian airline industry has become like a giant game of chess. Virgin Australia 18 months ago, upped the ante with a dramatic series of movies including new planes, refurbished cabins, a business class product and expanded lounges. These changes began in tandem with new partnerships with Delta, Air New Zealand, Singapore and Etihad which plugged the airline into a worldwide network for a much reduced cost. The aim was to poach as many of Qantas customers as possible. Qantas responded by forming a major alliance with Emirates. This threw the gauntlet down again. I have been…
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Qatar joins One World
To no one’s surprise, One World announced today that British Airways will sponsor Qatar Airways as a full member of the Alliance, a process that is expected to take between 12 and 18 months. This news is an interesting addition to the One World. The 13 airline strong alliance will count amongst its membership three five star airlines (as measured by Skytrax) : Cathay Pacific, Malaysia Airlines and Qatar compared to Star Alliance’s two: Asiana and Singapore. One World lost two members when Malev collapsed in 2012 and Mexicana was grounded in 2011. Kingfisher, a would be One World members has had significant financial woes – to…
Mid East Air Alliances: Emirates, Etihad, Qatar
The recent Qantas -Emirates partnership agreement seems to be having a flow through effect with two major announcements today. One World Alliance has been set for a week now to announce a “significant membership development” today in NewYork. The alliance includes American Airlines, British Airways/Iberia, Cathay Pacific, LAN and Royal Jordanian. The shortlisted options are: Qatar Airways or Emirates. In the meantime, Etihad snuck in their own announcement today with a wide sweeping relationship with Air France-KLM. Etihad’s a major code-sharing arrangement is between itself and 30% owned Air Berlin (itself a new member of One World with Air France-KLM), a Skyteam founding member The code-sharing agreement is seen as…
Trip Report: Qantas 93: Melbourne to Los Angeles
Booking 8 out of 10 I actually started my flight in Auckland, New Zealand. The fare for Auckland-Melbourne-Los Angeles-Melbourne-Los Angeles was actually $A1000 less than the fare for Melbourne-Los Angeles-Melbourne. Combining two New Zealand trips in was easy for me. The Qantas website easily worked out the multi city fare and came up with a better fare than Expedia.com or Webjet or Kayak could find. Sometimes looking at the airline’s website can be a bonus. Trying the same search with Virgin Australia online was not possible. Seat selection was easy. All the preferred seats were gone, These included the…
Crazy Week
Two things about this week: The first is I have a crazy schedule: five US cities in five days with flights from Auckland, New Zealand to Melbourne, Australia. Will be flying Qantas, United, Delta, JetBlue and Southwest. The second is that I will fly the 900th flight of my life! Sadly, not a very exciting flight on a Delta connection to Richmond, Virginia. Check out my flight memory which tracks where I have flown. I have now flown over two million kilometres (1.2 million miles). That is almost 53 times around the world! Related Posts Two Million…
Croc on the Plane
In the 2006 film, snakes are deliberately released on a 747. en route to Los Angeles. On Monday September 17, a baggage handler in Melbourne, Australia upon opening the cargo door of a Qantas passenger flight found a small crocodile loose in the hold. The reptile had escaped from its container during the two hour flight from Brisbane, Australia. The reptile was safely re-captured without a problem and no baggage handlers lost a hand or finger. The airline and cargo handling company Australian Air Express are investigating how the crocodile got out of its cage. Related Posts Stop…
My 888th Flight
This week I fly my 888th flight. It is a standard run of the mill Melbourne to Wellington with Qantas (it will be my 255th flight with Qantas). I would have liked to have made the flight more special in some way. For example, it would have been nice to have made flight 888 first class on an ANA 787 but that is not going to happen! I need to get better organised for my 999 and 1000th flights! Open to any ideas to make those flights amazing! Related Posts 787 times in the air &…
Qantas Loses Money and Cancels 35 787-9s
At a Qantas media conference today, the public were informed that the group made a statutory loss after tax of $244 million. Its first loss for 20 years. The group had a $95 million profit before tax. Again, Qantas shareholders will receive no dividend. Record high fuel costs of $4.3 billion, up $645 million made a major dent. We also found out the cost of the industrial action and grounding of the Qantas fleet ($194 million). What we didn’t find out was the actual cost of the industrial action versus the grounding. Of the industrial action, some cost the company nothing (for…
Qantas Gold Frequent Flyer-again
Quiet week here with no travel anywhere! Qantas sent me through my new Qantas Frequent Flyer card last week. My Frequent Flyer membership ticked over July 31, 2012. I have retained Gold status for another year.I had contemplated a last ditch Platinum run but resisted it. I also have some points with Emirates, JetBlue, Southwest and United. My other two main Frequent Flyer programs are with Virgin Australia (Platinum Status until December, 2013) and Delta (Silver Status until January). I also reached 7000 vists in July which was a new record for me. 80 per cent of you are regular visitors…
280 times at MEL
I fly for the 280th time through Melbourne (Australia) airport! This is the airport I have used the most through my life. 280 check ins! Altogether, that is a lot of time in the security lines, shops and lounges! As of today, my ten most visited airports are: Melbourne, Australia (MEL): 279 times. 4.3 out of 5 Sydney, Australia (SYD): 248 times. 3.0 Los Angeles, USA (LAX): 89 times. 1.8 Auckland, New Zealand (AKL): 69 times. 3.2 Adelaide, Australia (ADL) 69 times. 4.1 San Francisco, USA (SF): 46 times. 4.0 London Heathrow, UK (LHR): 41 times. 2.6 Wellington,…
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