Qantas Dreamliner to Perth

wdeguara. By the time ET staff worked out the restrictions and border closure details for each State it would all have changed again such is the volatility of Covid and the differing thoughts of State Premiers of just how to try and control this bug. Nice thought but it would need updating daily if not several times daily.

One thing and one thing only will allow some sort of normality to return and that is vaccinations for all.

If you're Plat or Gold don't bother wasting points upgrading to J. If you choose 787 flights you will have access to premium economy which is more than enough for a day flight-probably even better than J on the 737 for that matter - without the cost(and terrible noise that is the 737 and Boeing planes in general).

PS if you're Gold you will only have access to last row in premium.

You're very right about that - in the lead up to Christmas holidays last year, I published a list of where travellers from each state and territory could visit, alongside the paperwork they'd need to complete both for their arrival, and their return home.

Within hours of publishing, the advice changed - and then changed again the same day, and then once again the following morning, so it's not really feasible for us to keep a published, up-to-date list.

That said, I tend to share updates for QLD travellers via my personal Twitter (often before QLD Health or the QLD Premier tweet the formal announcement – most recently, that a QLD 'hotspot' was coming for Victoria about 16 hours before it was announced), but monitoring travel restrictions these days is a full-time job in itself, so I personally focus on my own backyard in that regard.

Chris. This whole border issue is an absolute shambles even the Premiers don't know don't seem to know just how and when it should be applied. It's a dreadful mess in NSW when one considers that Gladys has told everyone to stay home unless it's for an urgent/ essential reason yet some upmarket retail stores remain open and have lots of shoppers in them. Obviously buying that " essential handbag ".Unfortunately for the Domestic Airlines this is not a very good time to risk flying Interstate.

The only safe travel seems to be OK within each State and that's lucky for Queenslanders who have plenty of nice warm destinations to go to within the State.

I feel so sorry for those affected by the blatant disregard for Covid safe practices by just a very small minority which has caused nearly all if not all of the current outbreaks.

Until the vast majority of Australians are vaccinated border closures will remain just like they are, Volatile, unpredictable and changeable by the minute.

Would anyone know if/how frequently QF are switching their aircraft and downsizing to B737s on routes where A330s/B787s scheduled.

I flew Dreamliner Mel to per. Nothing like QF used to be, pre COVID. Staff inattentive, poor service, they seemed to be disinterested and over being on the flight. Happy to get together in the galley and socialise with each other but. Not a good look when so many happy and great Qantas staff have been stood down.

Off topic maybe, but I can’t wait for these border lockdowns to be a bad memory…

Have you actually done PER-LHR on the 787?

We have ended up the dreamliner in October in business, was originally fry out of ool but flight to Syd cancelled, we used point and $ originally, QF did a straight swap, unfortunately at this stage a 737 back ....... of course if the border isn't open then more credits

Yes, I have flown this flight, back in Oct 2019, upgraded to Business when I made the lowest points bid, when invited to, on a full fare economy, 1A. Not bad, wasn’t expecting it but as it takes longer to fly East-West, it helps the hours pass. I flew the 787 quite a few times in 2019 between Perth and Melbourne, enroute to San Francisco, and back again, usually economy, but I did get upgraded to Premium Economy once coming back from Melbourne to Perth due to a another PER-MEL flight being cancelled for some reason, and the 787 chokkas, very help Club staff there in Melbourne. Now Premium Economy felt a bit more gimmicky, not as relaxing as Business and everything felt explained, like you were all Business class in training flyers. Still darn comfy though...

Highly recommend the MEL - San Francisco 787 flight, it was fast, usually ahead of schedule with strong tail winds over the Pacific.

Hope it is all good one day.

Back to the question, yes, hey it’s pretty comfy, aircrew were great, but if you have breakfast in the Club beforehand you can then skip the meal on board, but hey, sometimes you want to have second breakfast if you are on Perth time still.

Surely there must be some of our fellow travellers who have flown on the B787 recently or is it not being used as much Transcontinental by QF as we thought.

I see from Qantas web site the flights to Perth are mainly B737 but on quite a few days the A330 does a 0700 hrs departure so there is a chance of getting a wide bodied flight.

The return for a wide body also has an A330 at 2300hrs so one can get wide body flights BNE-PER and return but not a very flexible timing.

Anytime on an A330 is better than on a B737 !! Particularly in J Class.

Might give QF a go next year , always preferred VA but wide body appeals to me for comfort and now that VA does not have the A330 it looks like QF is the go albeit a bit more expensive.

Main point, is that if you make that booking, for flying the QF A330 Aust domestic, esp PER to the east coast/vv, there is quite a large chance/high likelihood that the plane might change to a 737 closer to the date of departure.

MEL to SYD/vv used to have a lot of 330s at one time, I had made a booking a long time ago, for a J on the 330 MEL - SYD, 3 times, the flight time got changed from the 330 to a 737, and 3 times, I had to phone up QFF to change the time of a flight, to that 330.

Seeing the 787 will now go via DRW instead of PER, on the way to LHR, QF might put more emphasis on a 737 on the PER to east coast flights.

Best of luck in getting your 330 though, esp if your aim is to try the J seat on the 330.

I have just booked a J flight overnight back to Melbourne in the 330 using points from Finnair for late May.

Does anyone know if they are still using the A330 from Per to Mel?

The computer says they have 3 flights out of Per using the A330.

Thanks