Qatar Airways upgrades Melbourne flights to Boeing 777-300ER

Qatar Airways will upgrade its daily Doha-Melbourne-Doha route to a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft this week.

The new aircraft will take over from the current Boeing 777-200LR from April 1 on the daily QR904/905 flight, with the same number of business class seats (42) but room for an extra 76 passengers in economy, taking the tally to 335 passengers.

Travellers in the first seven rows of economy score a quiet mini-cabin, provided that the bassinets in row 10 aren't put to use.

Qatar Airways flies daily from Melbourne and Perth to its hub Doha and beyond, and as the airline is a member of the Oneworld alliance you can earn Qantas Points for the trip.

Just don't expect too many points: the earning rates for Qantas Points on Qatar flights are abysmally low, while the usual ‘cabin bonus’ of extra points for travelling in business or first class is absent altogether.

Even a fully flexible business class ticket won’t accrue one point per mile – and if you’re travelling in economy, you’ll perhaps be more excited about the status credits than the number of points earned.

Read: Qantas frequent flyer points – what you'll earn on Qatar Airways

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Chris C.

Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.