Qantas now flying non-stop from Melbourne to Dallas Fort Worth
The Flying Kangaroo is now just a single hop from over 200 destinations across North America.
By Staff Writers, December 5 2022
Grab your cowboy hat and boots, Victorians. Qantas’ non-stop route between Melbourne and Dallas/Fort Worth has finally left the departure gate, with the new thrice-weekly connection unlocking greater access to the United States via codeshare partner American Airlines.
Clocking it at an impressive 17.5 hours and nearly 14,500km on the return DFW-Melbourne leg, the route is the fourth longest in the world. With that in mind, the lie-flat business class beds on the red-tailed Boeing 787 are sure to be a hot commodity.
Melbourne-Dallas/Fort Worth is one of eight new international routes announced by the Red Roo since borders reopened, joining the now-flying Sydney-Bengaluru and upcoming Sydney-Seoul, scheduled to take off on December 10.
Pushing back from Melbourne every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, QF21 takes off at 2pm and arrives 15 hours 45 minutes later at 12:45pm.
On the return, QF22 sees wheels up at 7:10pm on the same above-mentioned days, with the 17 hour 35 minute flight touching down in Melbourne at a cheery 5:45am two days later.
Qantas Domestic and International CEO Andrew David describes the new route as a big win for both travellers, with the Texan hub less than four hours from every major city in the United States and providing over 200 connections across North America.
“We’ve already seen a great response to these flights since they went on sale, not just from those wanting to visit Dallas, but for travellers wanting to take advantage of the excellent connections to popular destinations like Orlando, Miami and Boston,” he adds.
Dallas Fort Worth is the home base for Qantas’ Oneworld partner American Airlines, and a great halfway point across America if you’re travelling on to other southern destinations, headed up to Chicago or New York, or bound for Florida, where Miami is the starting point for many cruises.
Depending on your final destination, it also makes your next flight a fair bit shorter, compared to transitting via Los Angeles and facing an extra five hours or so in the air to reach the east coast.
Qantas’ three-class Boeing 787 offers 42 business class lie-flat berths at the pointy end, 28 reclining premium economy seats and 166 economy perches for the trip to the Lone Star state.
Like all of Qantas’ international aircraft the Boeing 787 doesn’t have inflight WiFi, so you’ll need to settle in with a book or have a few seasons of your favourite TV shows ready to go for the trip.
And while the Boeing 787 lacks a first class cabin, it has superior seats to those older aircraft, while the lower cabin pressure, increased humidity and oxygen saturation means you’ll emerge in Dallas feeling fresher and ready for an authentic Texan rodeo.
Qantas is gradually rebuilding its US route network, having resumed flights between Sydney to Los Angeles in November last year and ratcheting these up to the A380 in January.
Airline CEO Alan Joyce has grand plans for Qantas in the US, revealing non-stop flights to Chicago and Miami could be one the cards in the near future.
05 May 2016
Total posts 616
The biggest problem with the 787 is that with fewer seats there's less capacity and with less capacity the chance of upgrades, classic reward seat availability are likely to be lower. A big stack of points is not much use if there's not the availability there to use the points.
Qantas
19 Apr 2012
Total posts 1429
Actually it is a greater chance of an upgrade given the premium heavy seating, and less chance of economy classic rewards, more in premium classes.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
06 Oct 2016
Total posts 175
They will only release 2 seats per flight though, until the last couple of weeks, so a bit of a gamble
I did some searches on random dates and my god, this must be the highest price single leg in the world (J), despite Q launching a US "Sale", If going to New York it is cheaper to go via SYD the fly A380 in F... SIA F via FRA was only about about $3k more
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
29 Nov 2013
Total posts 475
That's pretty impressive utilisation of the fleet - it's literally on the ground for just under 7 hours at each end...
21 Aug 2019
Total posts 64
My favourite US airport. DFW is just superb. Arrive at midday. Nice and quiet and out of Terminal D in 30 mins or onward to another flight using the air link to another terminal.
28 Aug 2020
Total posts 1
In wouldn’t put a ton of faith in this route. We were scheduled on QF22 (DFW-MEL) today and the flight was cancelled on short notice. Was told over the phone (I called Qantas, not the other way around) that it was due to an engine issue AND staff shortages. Particularly frustrating as our Economy => J upgrade was confirmed the night before! Alternatives given are:
1) Cancel for a refund and book with another airline (yes, that was Qantas’ first solution out of the gates),
2) Wait 2 days for the next QF22
3) Fly LAX-SYD-MEL. We have regrettably had to settle for Option 3
We often had the same issue pre-pandemic where Qantas would simply cancel SYD-DFW if the flight was undersold.
Until this route picks up more demand, I’d steer clear and fly via LAX. Suspect there will be plenty more “engine issues and staff shortages” until it does.
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