Qantas Sydney-San Francisco flights to go daily

. . . . which arguably represents the most comfortable option to SFO from Australian cities other than Sydney, in premium cabins at least.

Here's hoping this increase in capacity ex-SYD will improve the competitiveness of AirNZ J fares to SFO . . .

They have been pretty competative every time i have had to use them. Usually able to fly over for 5500-6000. 

We've always taken Air NZ to SFO every year for the last 6 years, and found them to be competitively priced for Prem Econ from BNE to SFO.  I also like their spaceseats in the 773.  But in the last few years we found it very difficult to find a good deal with Air NZ.  We really hate connecting through LAX, I'd much rather do it at this end, so from now onon we will be taking Qantas via SYD to SFO.   I hope that one day Qantas will fly direct BNE to SFO. 

Awesome job Qantas for resurrecting this service!  You've got us back.

yeh buy who wants to fly anywhere via fricking awful SYD !!!

And even also they are reducing the 747 SYD - LAX QF17/18 service to 3 a week overall services will be up from 44 too 52 a week. 

That's including the ANA service so it's only 45 but still an improvement. Now AJ order those 787!!

HA... You and your B787's

What are you trying to say?

Light hearted comment Christopher... That's all

oh yes,  I remember. A with this extra fleet utilisation and the reduction of 747 Mekbiurne and Sydney flights  to LAX do you see Qantas able retire any more 747s? Do you reckon they've changed their mind on getting to 9 by mid next year? They were planning to retire 1 747 from the 1HFY15 results in the second half of this financial year, but how?

I suspect the non-refurbished 747's will fly until they each are due for major maintenance. When those checks are due, they will fly to the desert.

Only way they can reduce current 747 flying to retire aircraft would be the 747 HKG and TYO flights going to A330 (or pulling out of routes)

I think this route will force the hand for a decision (announcement) on the dreamliners. It's clearly a business sector with demand for a premium service, not a tired old 747.

They mention the onward connections to SFO. I wonder what percentage of the 12 first suites connect onwards on the LAX A380 service?

I suspect the recent A380 out of action really forced the issue of QF's aircraft availability and they accelerated the discussions to get help from a partner with their routes.

Why no new routes from MEL?  I find it hard to believe that the demand isn't there.  Transfering from domestic to international and vice versa in Sydney is a no-no due to the rediculous amount of time required.

I know right!

One good alternative would be to have flights departing the Intl. terminal in MEL which are timed well enough so passengers who are continuing onwards to the United States can have a smooth transfer. I won't complain if they did that.

so like if QF had a dedicated international service to connect to any international flight out of sydney.  Even if just a couple of 738s a day. But that won't happen.

I remember flying SYD-MEL on a Jetstar A330 which left from the international terminal at SYD.  I believe it was a tag onto an Asian flight, although I can't remember if it had arrived from overseas into SYD or was continuing on from MEL.  At check-in at SYD I was given a sticker on my boarding pass that let me bypass customs/immigration at the international terminal.

Perhaps they could come up with something similar at MEL.  Fly MEL-SYD using the international terminals at both ends with some method to allow domestic passengers on that leg.  Time it so it connects to the major international flight bank out of SYD.  Maybe even fly an international-config A330 on MEL-SYD-MNL/HKG/etc. to allow a nearly seamless connection to a destination QF doesn't currently serve from MEL.

at MEL and SYD with some method for allowing domestic passengers on the MEL-SYD leg.  It could be timed to connect to the big international

Sorry, seem to have doubled up my text there while editing.  Is there some way to erase those last three lines?

And PER-AKL

True, although PER - AKL has been around for a bit

I doubt I would consider 1 B737 per day PER-SIN  6 days per week great, compared to what's being offered by others.

Better than nothing 

QF's lack of frequency is why I chose SQ for europe trips and have stuck with SQ ever since

AA 789 LAX or DFW-AKL-MEL?

yes - thank you! I forgot about the DFW-AKL possiblility. In fact I think that sector would be a better business option than LAX-AKL since DFW is a major AA hub. That makes more sense when one sonsiders NZ plans to start their Houston-AKL soon!

Which means LAX-AKL on QF metal would be a distance possibility then???

QF73/74 was profitable when it was canned in 2011. The route was transfered to DFW because they thought DFW would be more profitable then SFO.

Me too! I gave up flying QF when they pulled out of SFO last time and switched to NZ for this route and VA in general. 

Damned if I'm gonna start from the bottom and earn QF status though.

Me three!! ugh..completely let OneWorld go and am Gold Elite with Air NZ..hmm..wonder if Qantas will invest in a decent lounge for SFO!

Qantas should absolutely do a status match for former customers who really had no choice but to fly United or Air NZ once SFO was ditched for DFW. Qantas needs to pick and stick with San Francisco. The airline has a long and impressive history with the Bay area, it is a super important city in the new economy for Australia, a great holiday destination, and has one of the best airports in the US. Deserves Qantas investing its best product. Should be the first port for a 787-9.

well to say the least there is still the DFW option

Only $2200 return when I checked...

That price was buisness. 

cleaning and refueling 

Also since it's one flight the same crew would likely be used so a minimum rest period might be required or alternatively they would need to get crew to fly in from Lax to take over but that would leave a crew in sfo waiting for another aircraft or require them to be transferred somewhere 

Wow surely not the same crew there and back!

why not...14hrs is a decent amount of time for stopover

It would really only be about 10 hrs by the time you entered the country rested then got back to the airport on time?

Correct.

WOW!! That is surprising! And Alan joyce is always talking about how Qantas has been using fleet utilisation to keep aircraft in the air and not on the ground to cut costs

Qantas does maintenance on the aircraft while they're on the ground in LAX – they could also do this at SFO or position the aircraft to LAX for maintenance before returning to SFO to operate the evening flight.

I strongly suspect it will go to daily yr-round after 789 starts to join QF fleet fm nex yr.  Strong corp traffic demand as stated in the story is 1 of the motive to improve frequency as a priority above say, gauge capacity(i.e.vs larger 744 @ fewer frequency).

Across QF Int'l network, long Trans-Pcf missions such as SYD-SFO will be where QF can realize the maximum savings in fuel burn 789 vs 744 even in a low oil price environment.