The big switch: Qantas changes London stopover from Dubai to Singapore

you do not have to be a genius to figure out why the passengers preferred Singapore over Dubai.safe to get around,great sightseeing and the shopping to name but a few things.

If the aim is getting a good sleep on the return to Sydney, the Singapore option is better. The flights leave LHR in the late evening, and going the old Dubai route meant an interruption after 6 or 7 hours. Your body clock feels like it's 4am and its a horrible time for sleep to be interrupted.

The move couldn’t come soon enough!!

Would have preferred HKG due to the FLounges there.

the 787 via perth is mostly for business people or people who need to be in london urgently.i was just telling that to my brother the other day,he will if he has to go to london again stick with via hong kong(cathay)or jal via tokyo or going via singapore.the timings screw up your body clock.

I much prefer via Singapore except for the lounge experience. Yes its not a fair comparison against Emirates first class lounge but it was Qantas choice to return to Singapore, I fly to Singapore with QF regularly and I have seen nothing to indicate any changes being made to handle the vast increase in passengers, the lounge is already very crowded at peak times as is, and there is really nothing to make a first class passenger feel like they are first class in that lounge.

I don’t mind going via Perth from Canberra and the stopover fees will be so much lower than Singapore for QF and one fewer (and faster) transfer experience for quit a few of us.

Prefer to go via DXB. Timing on both sectors is good. Lounge in Singapore is going to be a challenge considering there are around 5-6 Qantas departures and other one world airlines leaving around the same time.

The other significant problem for QFFers who prefer to fly QF metal where possible is that flights to European destinations now require either a backtrack from QF1 into London or Emirates, Cathay or Finnair metal most of the way from Australia. When flying economy class on family holidays, Emirates is a dreadful comparison with the QF experience. Next economy trip to Europe is therefore with CX.

Understandably, some customers from the gay and Jewish communities never got comfortable with the Dubai routing.

I am looking forward to the return to Singapore, and at least the four major cities have two route options of going to Europe on QF metal all the way. And for ADL, CBR and DRW, brings bring one stop option on QF via PER with hopefully more european destinations to be added.

Whilst this change from DXB to SIN may be beneficial or preferred for many travellers, it still has some inherent failure points which are being ignored by many.

Think about why QF entered into the agreement with EK 5 years ago. Cost savings / better airfare pricing and improved access to European destinations were the two main criteria. Oh, and allying with your largest competitor.

For those venturing to Europe (other than the UK) we will now be resigned to either backtracking using QF/OW partners to get to destinations such as Greece, Italy, Turkey, Poland, Germany etc - not great when this can entail multiple additional hours of travel .. and adds additional cost. Further, for many QF passengers, the preference will then be to book with EK either on a QF codeshare basis or swing over totally EK permanently - which results in a loss or reduced revenue.

We all understand that QF has designs (eventually) to hopefully open PER-CDG and PER-FRA non-top services with further yet to be ordered B787-9's or possibly -10's. But how long will it be before this occurs?

To my way of thinking, it would be smart for QF to maintain the DXB rights .. and eventually to run a set daily SYD/MEL/BNE-DBX services on B787's which could feed into EK's European network. As the market increases in size over the next 5 years, this would preserve the SYD-SIN-LHR vv A380 route whilst allowing the [return to] Europe routes to develop incrementally over time.

Much of QF's plans for UK / Europe seem predicated on non-stop from PER to xxx which is fine for avoiding EK competition - but we are yet to see how successful that strategy is for LHR. Yes, it may work - but that doesn't guarantee that it will work for other cities in Europe such as CDG or FRA. I think the next few years are going to be particularly interesting.

I am a fan of Singapore and am happy with QF moving back there. This change ultimately provides more options and choices for us as customers. in saying that the lounge in Singapore is not a favourite spot to spend time. But in Changi there are many things to do and simply wandering around makes the time pass by very easily.

Kimshep, I agree with much of what you say. I would like to see QF introduce flights from PER to CDG, FRA and maybe FCO. It is easier and cheaper to connect from most Australian cities to PER, than to SYD. It makes a lot of sense to fly via Perth than Sydney. (I am in Brisbane, and it is around $100 to fly to LHR via Perth than Sydney). Not to mention shorter in travelling time.

Bring it on!! I’m in SIN right now and it’s so much better.

Not sure why everyone just buries their head in the sand about a couple of points:

Have to laugh at the comment in the article about business travelers and a “2 day stopover to break their journey”.....if only this luxury was true, who has time for that today - really transiting an airport who cares where it is when you just need to get where you’re going, and for someone who is Plat with QF and Diamond with DL can’t say I’ve ever had a 2 day stopover just to break my trip. Both SIN and DXB are wonderful cities and airports, obviously both very different cultures but doesn’t make one worse than the other in my view

wont the overall flying time be longer now that it goes via singapore? i thought it was a lot quicker to go via dubai

I am in the minority but have grown accustomed to the DXB stop and the superb lounges there. There is so much hot air on these boards about how great Changi is. It is and I'm a regular to SIN. However we are talking about a transit. Those on Gold/Plat, Sapphire/Emerald (likely business passengers) just do not have the luxury of a two day stop to meander through Singapore. The DXB lounges are just bigger and better than the QF Singapore Lounge. Also the loss of connectivity into Europe by flying into DXB on QF and than EK elsewhere. Cest la vie

How about an alternative to both Singapore and Dubai?

The only thing I liked about DXB was the Concourse A lounges. The rest of the airport was terrible.

Will have to see if the PER-LHR works, or if QF goes back to having a stop over somewhere after a year or so.

The QF SIN lounge is going to get even more insane then it has been. It currently serves 1 737 (PER), 1 787 (JQ MEL) and up to 5 A330 (1 BNE, 2 SYD, 2 MEL). When that becomes 1 737, 1 787, 3 A380 (SYD, MEL, LHR) and 3 A330 (SYD, MEL, BNE)...

The main thing I liked about SIN before the EK agreement was the old QF32 times (lunch time LHR departure, morning SIN arrival). Gave me a chance to go into the city for the day before getting a late afternoon/evening flight to wherever in Asia my next stop was, or a flight back home. But QF2 uses the evening LHR slot and arriving in SIN in the afternoon :(.
QF10, with the lunch time LHR slot, worked quite well into DXB, but the LHR-PER route just doesn't factor in to my travel plans. :(

Time will tell what pax prefer, adjustments will be inevitable, DXB is now a QF adjustment, PER may well too. Interestingly for EK to LGW it is their third most popular route into LGW , and now QR are returning to LGW with 16 weekly flights. SIN just does not have the connecting network that DXB or DOH has, and five years ago when QF used SIN as a hub, you could not fly direct as you can today into various Asian cities from MEL and SYD. I'm not sure that SIN is as important for those reasons?

Third most popular route from PER into UK

What about the people who have to travel to the Middle East only?

I understand that after QF switches to SIN, people who want to travel to DXB from SYD have only EK metal to fly on. Given than QFF privileges still apply because all EK flights are QF codeshared, but doesn't the SYD-DXB route have demand?

Agree the change is welcome. Transiting DXB can be a challenge, especially for the elderly and incapacitated. Always a buzz flying into Changi.

The Change is well overdue.I have seen Ultimate Airport Dubai and the airport there is a maze to deal with.I have done the UK/Europe TRIP ONCE BEFORE albeit with Singapore Airlines via Singapore and it was way better.This time around I am on Qatar Airways to Budapest travelling through Doha and coming home from Munich same path.will be keen to see how that compares to Changi.

I'm usually the first one to praise QF... however, whilst SIN is certainly preferable to DXB, I'd much rather see them set up 'stop-over shop' in HKG. The lounges are far superior, the airport is just as efficient as SIN, and, most importantly, HKG is actually a place one may want to spend time in outside of the airport.

I like the longer leg from Dubai to Australia, and much prefer the Lounges in Dubai as the rare time I’ve been in the Singapore lounge its been overcrowded, noisy and lots of kids just running free. Poor food choices. It will need to improve a lot for F passengers.

About time !!! Dubai is a dump and a repressive society

Ok we are talking about the new route, not about been GAY (nothing against Gays) but seriously you all know what the Middle Eastern feel about that..

Singapore airport is a little outdated but very functional. Singapore lounge willl not cope - was there last week and imposible to find a seat. Also food is pretty average compared to EK first class lounge in DXB. Whilst Singapore is a brilliant stop over, getting to any European destination was easy from DXB now you’ll have to fly EK and not QF If your looking for that.

I'm happy for this change as vodafone does not have the $5 per day plan in Dubai and I was charged for data - wait for it - $380.00!!!!! to post my location on facebook. I travel via Dubai this week and won't even turn my phone on. I trael back via Singapore which is part of the $5 per day plan, so bring it on!

No more of that clinical over priced city, Dubai, and its cold soulless F lounge and an airport that I don't find nice at all. Welcome back Singapore.

Let's remember a couple of things. Qantas will still offer its customers DXB via codeshare for those going to Europe at odd times of day or to secondary EU cities. But DXB is too close to Europe to offer a full sleeping leg for its breakfast arrivals into London (ie QF1), but the legs are perfect for lunchtime arrivals into LHR (ie the soon-to-be ex-QF9 and EK flights out of MEL and SYD late at night). QF via SIN will offer the best chance to sleep into Europe (the new QF1), and with some re-timings it could offer good one-stop links from all Australian secondary cities. QF via PER offers a good new option for a lunchtime arrival into Europe, and with better timings down the track will also offer more one-stop connections from ADL, BNE and even SYD. All the while QFFs can still book on codeshare via DXB, albeit without the upgrade ability. It adds up to a win-win-win for flyer choice in my opinion. If the PER hub takes off and BNE to Paris and SYD to Frankfurt are added soon the QF network will offer great customer flexibility without crippling QF with the costs of its old network where SIN and HKG were hubs.

Ecstatic! For women, Dubai was a complete pain. Nothing wrong with QF's current Lounge in Changi, but it will not take Qantas long to secure a lounge for First Class/ Platinum to ease crowding.

It's not just the LGBT thing in Dubai. Any place where you can be banged up without trial for years on end for any relatively minor infractions should be avoided like the plague. I even heard a story about a guy who was sent to jail because somebody took offence to a breast cancer awareness shirt that he was wearing when he was transiting through DXB.

What if like me you have a Qantas booking for May that goes through Dubai on my return to Perth from London and also goes through Dubai on the Singapore London - will this change to the new arrangements?

Based in Brisbane and never fly to London/Europe, only to SE Asia so this is good for me. The A380 is a nice option to get to Singapore. For my sake I hope that QF won't start retiming QF 35 and QF 51 to link up to the London flight. Pre-2013 this made it a real pain to connect intra-Asia, as it often meant an overnight stop.

This is all will happen again and again. Earlier it was Bahrain now it is DXB going out. When the QF/BA partnership was terminated QF married EK and said many things and lots of publicity was given saying that was thee thing forever. QF even stopped Frankfurt and said will carry passengers to DXB and the EK world of europe was thee thing as passengers can travel easily out of DXB. So now DXB is dropped means EK onwards has not paid off.

There are some very precious folk on the board or folk who simply have not travelled. Certainly the UAE has laws that are repressive in our eyes. However what about the death penalty that Singapore has. Same for the USA. These breach human rights somewhere and yet we think nothing of travelling to both. The reaction to the switch to SIN is a bit OTT. Unless stopping for a day or two we are talking about a pit stop for 120 minutes to take fuel and food on board. Changi is magnificent as is DXB. Do i go to either for the shopping? No. Straight to the lounge. Freshen up and onward.

I am surely many of you have covered this already, however, whilst I do like Singapore as a hub, the problem to me is the total lack of Europe destinations being restricted to London only, if you want to stay true to QF hardware. Dubai has been an amazing pivot point allowing us to pretty much get into any major city in Europe. To a point the 5 year diversion to Dubai has made Emirates even stronger, as many loyal QF patrons have been exposed to the more lavish pointy part of the Emirates fleet. No doubt QF will provide code shared flights via Dubai to their clients, which will further cement the passenger-Emirates relationship but will also remove any upgrade options as upgrades are not enabled on non-QF hardware.

I think the Dubai route for a day flight to Europe ex Perth is a better experience. Whilst is a 6.00am start, you can have a full day experience on the flight, short changeover, then fly on the most places in Europe arriving early evening, a good sleep that night refreshed for the next day and in the timezone straight away.

The new route means a day flight to Singapore, then an extended wait, then a night flight (assuming it will be ex Singapore midnight or thereabouts) getting into western Eurpoe 1st thing in the morning. A long day ......

Been thru DBX twice. Once with a stopover, once in transit.

There are a couple of things people are forgetting here as to why Singapore is so popular

I don’t understand the irrational unjustified fuss about the SIN lounge.

the only real advantage with Dubai is for people flying with EK from places within europe or the uk straight through to adelaide,perth,melbourne,sydney and brisbane and are not starting in london.i would rather fly via dubai although singapore is my preferred stopover of choice if flying straight through and be home the next day the following evening.

Have to say I am very happy with the move back to SIN. After many years of transit in Dubai being the only QF option I am pleased that now I am offered both. QF codeshare via DXB (at least I hope there will still be on the ex ADL flights!

Which ever way you look at it I still think it’s a shame that QF is losing a fairly major global city from their online network.

Refer tje other thread on QP lounge access in DXB. It will be interesting to see if QP members in Y retain lounge access in DXB. If not that will be very unpopular given the EK tie up is all about getting QF passengers one stop access to more of Europe.

I for one love DXB. I worked there for 11 years and I have to say that all the armchair experts out there about safety/lgbt treatment/treatment of women do not know the place. Armchair experts. Yes Emiratis can sometimes be aloof but I worked with many of them and I find them to be good people with attributes that many of we Australians should aspire to.

Contrary to misguided belief expressed here, there are many Australian businesses thriving in the UAE, particularly in Dubai. Official stats show that Australians are a significant and growing proportion of tourists visiting the Emirates.

On a personal note, I much prefer DXB terminal 3 concourses to the shabby and dated offering in Singapore, where I often stop on my way to the UAE, Africa, EU and USA. The only really good part of Changi is the Emirates lounge.

Also I'm delighted that ultra shabby and rude Qantas will no longer pass through Dubai. As an airline that has consistently disappointed me in the past, I will never step inside Q metal again. And I have many a belly laugh when I read the constant carping about poor Qantas behaviour by self-confessed Q frequent flyers. Wake up people!

Yes Emirates is certainly not perfect. Some things definitely need improvement. CR in particular, but Qantas is equally woeful there.

The best thing about Qantas no longer using Dubai is that there will be less QF plats cluttering up the superb F lounges in concourses A and B. Another punishment of loyal and misguided Qantas FFs who will only fly QF metal. Good luck I say. I'm EK platinum and the treatment EK gives its premium passengers is much better than the poor Qantas effort. I certainly don't miss what Qantas does to its misguidedly loyal customers

What this as codeshares via dubai with emirates gave us was one stop access to a lot of europe that required backtracking in the old days due to qantas quietly dropping the ports during the late eighties and early nineties.will be missed.i look forward to reading up on any reviews on the qf9/qf10 via perth to see how that stacks up with any singapore,dubai or other intermediate stops on the way to the continent as it's a trip one of the admins at my old high school has done quite a bit over the years.

great move but for this to work is to maybe reinstate the adelaide to singapore flights.bring back the soon to be axed QF5/QF6 services from Sydney to hub via ADL on their way to Singapore say four to five times a week to link onto the QF1.via Perth is not for everyone and unless you are one of those people who works a full day to say 3pm and does that then choose a QATAR OR EMIRATES late night service out via DUBAI OR DOHA to London due to prior commitments to be over there the following day mid afternoon,than time this dependent on time of year leaving between 1:30pm and 3pm ADL-SIN connecting with a great connection to the UK.Currently QR/EK aside the existing other connections are just terrible.8 to 10 hours in transit in HKG,KUL,SIN with all of their competitors is not pleasant even if one can get a transit hotel any price.

Has anyone has flown this week on recently changed QF1 route via SGN to LHR and how was the Qantas lounge? was it as crowded as the concerns raised on here by some? Did they provide a segregated area for First Class; or direct them to another One World lounge? flying in two weeks and keen to see some reviews... cheers