Qantas to pull out of Bangkok??

Yesterday Qantas announced a tie up with Emirates and today I read this "Qantas has however vowed to significantly improve its frequencies and connections between Australia and Singapore and Hong Kong, raising fears that for Bangkok the answer if you want quality and Qantas FF points will be Emirates, and if you want cheap and ghastly, it will be Jetstar, which of course it wonтАЩt be since the bargain hunting market will fill Thai International flights, which trade on a combination of full service no extras low fares in economy, a formula unknown to Jetstar."

[Hmmm]

The above quote was pure speculation from a commentator. While predicting Qantas behaviour is not easy, there does not appear to be any basis in the recent Qantas-Emirates tie-up annoucement to suspect that QF SYD-BKK-SYD will cease. Indeed Qantas said that there will be no changes in BKK (after the significant changes earlier this year when it ceased BKK-LHR-BKK) - see below.

http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airline ... es:lang:en (http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/qantas-and-emirates-partnership/global/en?int_cam=au:hcp:qantas-emirates:lang:en) ....

"12. If I am a Qantas customer flying internationally from April 2013 onwards, what does this mean for my travel?

If you are flying to North or South America, South Africa, Japan, Bangkok, as well as New Zealand, The Philippines, Jakarta, Hawaii, China or other Qantas codeshare destinations you are not affected at all by these announcements.
If you are flying to Singapore or Hong Kong, your flights may have a different departure and arrival time however you will still travel on the same day. We will advise you directly of any time changes to your itinerary.
If you are travelling to the UK or Europe from April 2013, your flight will operate via Dubai and then onward to your destination, subject to regulatory approval.
Options will also be available for customers who would still like to travel via Singapore or Hong Kong."


Emirates do fly SYD-BKK.

Qantas's LCC Jetstar ("Bogan Air") fly MEL-BKK-MEL.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogan

[aot871]

Any one got any ideas on the BA/Qantas code share , has it been cancelled ?

[Hmmm]

I have been following the details since the Qantas/Emirates announcement closely. There is no suggestion that the BA/QF codeshare will disappear. The complication is that BA and QF cooperation between London and Australia was the subject of BOTH their Joint Services Agreement AND their joint membership of Oneworld. So again it's largely speculation. The JSA (basically a route revenue sharing agreement as I understand it) is being dissolved. But QF and BA will remain Oneworld partners (unless something else changes). So they should continue to have codeshares just like each of them do with the other OW partners.

What is more likely to change is things like reciprocal lounge access (which BA was already playing hardball over for the last year or so) .. and the joint QF/BA lounges like the one in BKK. I believe that these have more to do with the JSA than with OW.

The Qantas love in with BA is all over red rover from next April - http://bit.ly/RNwxWB

As a mere observer - the way that article tells it, the Emirates tie-up makes complete sense for anybody flying fom Australia to Europe.

The ability to bypass London and to cut out at least one connection, should be great for those passengers flying into European or regional UK airports.

As a mere observer - the way that article tells it, the Emirates tie-up makes complete sense for anybody flying fom Australia to Europe.Not so fast Sunshine - http://www.smh.com.au/travel/blogs/trav ... 25nei.html (http://www.smh.com.au/travel/blogs/travellers-check/dubai-deal-shakes-up-qantas-network-20120910-25nei.html)

[aot871]

Friends of mine liked to take the qantas or ba flights when they visit australia , because they had a stopover , in bkk going 1 way , and sgn the other. After qantas change their routing next year that will only leave them with ba if they want to do a stop over. I cant see many people wanting a dubai stopover

[lonelywombat]

I am not sure why things have changed for your friends. Qantas still has the daily flight from Sydney to Bangkok daily If your friends have need for a stopover what is the problem

The flight leaves Sydney 5 hours earlier to cater for those who fly to other Thailand flights.

BA flights still leave the UK at the same time and arrive in BKK at 15.30 They have the choice of the stopover either way.

The inconvenience for through passengers from London to Sydney is the 6 hour gap in Bangkok.

I flew to BKK recently on a delayed flight and the drama of getting people to other internal flights, and for transfer to other airlines, was huge.

[fountainhall]

The inconvenience for through passengers from London to Sydney is the 6 hour gap in Bangkok.
That 6 hour layover seems to indicate the long-standing BA/Qantas tie-up won't last much longer. And with the Qantas/Emirates tie-up, who would not put money on Qantas leaving OneWorld in due course?

Plus there are now strong rumours that BA is courting a tie-up with Qatar, to my mind the best airline in the world at present. Frankly, if I was flying from Sydney to London, I'm not sure I'd be too pleased at having to change from an excellent airline to one that is now bordering on the third rate for the last sector. Indeed, I'd just take Qatar all the way. One bonus could be that Qatar might finally agree to join OneWorld.

On the issue of BA, one thing that has surprised me over the last decade is how the airline has drastically cut its Australasian operations. There used to be 16 BA destinations - now there are 7. Why it should have concentrated so much effort on the ultra competitive Atlantic routes which are not the most efficient for their long-range 744s and 777s and cut out routes to the expanding markets in Asia, beats me. Even much smaller European airlines like Finnair have been expanding rapidly with new point-to-point routes to Asia.

[Beachlover]

I usually fly Singapore Airlines via Singapore so it won't affect me too much but I do occasionally fly Qantas direct BKK to Sydney so I hope they maintain that route.

My Thai friends all seem to prefer Emirates on their BKK-Sydney trips for some reason. They don't like flying THAI.


The Qantas love in with BA is all over red rover from next April - http://bit.ly/RNwxWB
I reckon that's a good thing... Qantas has traded up.

Qantas is far from perfect but it does work hard at its product and I don't mind flying with them. BA on the other hand has a terrible product.

Thai boys in Australia dont wanna fly Thai airways because they think the snooty flight attendants who are only from the top 500 families all look down on them many Thai boys in Oz have told me that you must be easily pleased if you think Qantas flight attendants do a good job.

[lonelywombat]

Thai boys in Australia dont wanna fly Thai airways because they think the snooty flight attendants who are only from the top 500 families all look down on them many Thai boys in Oz have told me that you must be easily pleased if you think Qantas flight attendants do a good job.

There are many of us with FF points or Qantas club membership, to fly by choice down the back of the Thai plane. However I accept the old age pensioners that now service Qantas flight decks, were very handsome 40 years ago.

The equivalent with United and other airlines are also ancient with high salary packages.

BTW I don't get turned on by the Thai flight stewards,

[SoiVC Slut-old]

BTW I don't get turned on by the Thai flight stewards,

I bet they are breathing a sigh of relief. :glasses7:

Thai boys in Australia dont wanna fly Thai airways because they think the snooty flight attendants who are only from the top 500 families all look down on them ...

I did see on a TV programme recently that there is now a small Thai Airline - PC Air - which has taken the remarkable step of employing ladyboys as cabin crew.

But like you say with Thai Air, there seems to be a degree of snobbery in that employees have to be "high-class" ladyboys - no prostitutes allowed (I assume that doesn't apply to passengers!).

The selection process was tough if not stiff :evil4: "the airline said that the qualifications for the ladyboy flight attendants were the same as for female flight attendants, with the additional provisos that they be like women in how they walk and talk, and have a feminine voice and the right attitude."

Apologies if this is old news.

[youtube:uq6d0qqi]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxxAXImd0vQ[/youtube:uq6d0qqi]

[witchhunt]

BTW I don't get turned on by the Thai flight stewards,

I bet they are breathing a sigh of relief. :glasses7:

I went back and read your previous posts and am glad we do not fly or mix in the same circles.

I cringe at the thought of you groping the flight stewards.

[Yraen]

G'day.

These comments are from the viewpoint of a 35-year Qantas staffer (now almost 18-years retired). There are solely my 'take' on the ways things are going.

The QF/BA "love in" started when the then PM decided to sell some more of Australia's "family silverware". BA was the only company willing to stump up the money to buy a half-share in QF.
With the passage of time, "things" changed and the tail-of-the-dog (QF) was in the position of being able to acquire the rest of the dog's-body (BA) -- and didn't, which says a lot.
Many BA people also treated QF, and its staff, as (my quote) "that little colonial Antipodean subsidiary". My personal experience of this was during an IT contract negotiation in SYD where the BA rep (something of a Colonel Blimp-type with a hoity-toity accent) came out with "why can't you bloody colonials just do what you are told".
That the relationship is "all over red rover" (BrisbaneGuy) comes as no great surprise - it has been a fractious relationship at best, with a large organisation that has/had a lower quality product.

LonelyWombat says: " .... Qantas still has the daily flight from Sydney to Bangkok daily If your friends have need for a stopover what is the problem." IMO, the problem is that, only a short while back, QF had two 747s northbound and two southbound through BKK each day - almost 1,000 pax per day each way. That was reduced to one per day (just under 500 pax/day each way) and more recently the 747 was substituted with an Airbus 330 with seating under 300 pax/day each way.
This is now exacerbated by the advent of the A380 that can fly non-stop SYD to DXB. Singapore, KL and BKK could possibly decline in importance as hubs and, potentially, QF could become just a regional carrier doing only one-sector hops from Australia to wherever with on-carriage provided by third-party airlines.

The "accountant's mantra" of 'cut costs, cut costs' is not the best solution -- two cliches apply, "when the going gets tough, the tough get going" and "to make a dollar you have to spend a dollar". A third cliche of "cash is king" no longer applies because, in giving most of its profits to its shareholders, QF no longer has any chance of building good (Microsoft-like) cash reserves.

Beachlover said: "My Thai friends all seem to prefer Emirates on their BKK-Sydney trips for some reason. They don't like flying THAI." The reasons for that are (a) as described above by others, and (b) Emirates prices are (mostly) significantly cheaper that TG or QF.

Enough rambling, take care.

[fountainhall]

Yraen makes some very interesting points, but I donтАЩt quite subscribe to one of his comments. Qantas has for about a decade had the long range 744 in its fleet. This has a range of over 14,000 kms, whereas Sydney/Dubai is around 12,000 kms. The 777 can also very easily fly that distance, but then Qantas did not order any. So it didnтАЩt need the advent of the A380 to make that route possible. I donтАЩt know the ins and outs of any air services agreement between Australia and Dubai, but I donтАЩt think it would have been outwith the wit of the Qantas management to have substituted Dubai in place of BKK or SIN had it so desired.

My own view as a regular flyer is that the management of both BA and Qantas took entrenched and blinkered positions that flyers on the Kangaroo route would naturally prefer to stopover or interrupt their journey in BKK and SIN. Both failed to take sufficient notice of the emergence of the Middle East airlines, their ambition and their concentration on superior quality of service.

Yraen mentions Qantas reduction of frequency over time. BA also reduced its frequency as it used to have a second dedicated LHR/BKK/LHR service arriving BKK early morning four times a week. This made through transfers from BAтАЩs huge North American network vastly more convenient. When that was withdrawn, BA shot itself in the foot as few American travellers were thereafter prepared to suffer the ten and more hour transfer time at Heathrow waiting to connect to the BKK/SYD flight. Yet, Singapore Airlines still operates a very successful daily flight from New York to Singapore via one or more European cities (presently Frankfurt).

That, however, is in the past. By assisting develop Dubai as a Kangaroo route hub, Qantas can soon pull out of Europe altogether by dropping its passengers in Dubai. Presumably the airline expects demand for Asian destinations out of Australia to continue to be strong. Yet, as more low cost airlines emerge, I just wonder how long it will be before Qantas becomes basically a trans-Pacific airline.

[lonelywombat]

I am not sure that there were ever 2 flights from Qantas via Bangkok to London. There was a BA flight that came into Melbourne but via Sydney. Maybe going back to early 90's.

Getting a flight to Bangkok was always difficult as the airline always put through travelers ahead of stopovers in Bangkok.

A lot of demand for London flights has switched to the daily A380 flights from both Melbourne and Sydney, via Singapore. A superior way to fly and always in demand from all passengers whether short term or long.

Qantas now has 6 flights SYD/BKK pw, plus 3 Jetstar flights from Melbourne and 3 from Sydney each week. The capacity is similar but the standard of Jetstar is absolute crap.

BA still has the same flight times out of London to Bangkok, returning as usual timing. I assume the aircraft is parked in the airport for 8 hours.t

I cannot do more than guess that BA is also flying the A380 vis Singapore

As I had difficulty getting a Qantas seat my last flights SYD/BKK/SYD, I assume the aircraft are still paying their way.

I am not sure that there were ever 2 flights from Qantas via Bangkok to London. There was a BA flight that came into Melbourne but via Sydney. Maybe going back to early 90's.geez mate Im just amazed at how much misinformation you can come up every single post you make with there was a morning flight left Bangkok around 8am arrived Sydney and went on to Melbourne and an afternoon/evening flight but I think that went Rome-Bangkok rather than London-Bangkok however definitely two flights a day on Qantas aircraft and one on BA.

[fountainhall]

I cannot do more than guess that BA is also flying the A380 vis Singapore
BA has no A380s in its fleet. It presently runs two 744s on the LHR/SIN route, only one of which goes on to SYD. The airline has 12 A380s on order, the first of which should be delivered some time next year. Singapore is rumoured to be one of its destinations, along with Hong Kong, Beijing and New York.

[Hmmm]

It's been interesting to see the number of gay pax on the various flyer forums who've said they will not fly via Dubai.

Add to that the breeders posting about not being allowed to kiss or hold hands in public, the unmarried breeders worried about being arrested for snogging, women having to cover up, the restrictions on alcohol, and just the common Australian xenophobia about the middle east, it seems likely that SE asian transits and stopovers on the way to Europe will remain popular. If Qantas and BA decide to stop providing that option via BA codeshares, pax will move to other airlines.

[fountainhall]

Seems these complaints are from people who must be considering a few days in Dubai. Why anyone would object to a couple of hours or less layover for a plane change beats me. Dubai airport has tons of things to do. Its restaurants and bars include speciality top-of-the-market champagne bars and one of the best wine bars in any airport. Even if you are stopping over, the duty free allowance seems to be 2 1/4 litres of spirits or wine, and can be purchased on arrival.
http://www.dubaidutyfree.com/content/up ... wances.pdf (http://www.dubaidutyfree.com/content/upload/documents/September%202012_duty%20allowances.pdf)

Plenty of toilet action is there I got sucked off by a Malay guy at changing airport during a stopover.

.... Dubai airport has tons of things to do. Its restaurants and bars include speciality top-of-the-market champagne bars and one of the best wine bars in any airport....

This is news to me - I have transited through Dubai several times and (other than the business/first class lounges) I have not found anywhere to sit down and have an alcoholic drink other than the "Irish Pub" :dontknow: I will have to get a map and find these champagne and wine bars.

The other thing to be said about DXB is that if you feel like having a seat in the public areas then forget it, there are so few seats there are lots of people sleeping on the floor - and if you feel in need of a piss or crap, be prepared to wait ages in a queue.

Yes DXB looks impressive, but in my opinion it is severely lacking in certain basic facilities - it's all fur coat and no knickers.

:occasion9:

[Hmmm]

Seems these complaints are from people who must be considering a few days in Dubai. Why anyone would object to a couple of hours or less layover for a plane change beats me.

If nothing else, perhaps principle ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_right ... ates#Dubai (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_United_Arab_Emirates#Dubai)
http://www.detainedindubai.org/Detained ... Dubai.html (http://www.detainedindubai.org/Detained_In_Dubai/Gay_in_Dubai.html)

[lonelywombat]

my official reply from Qantas. Of course then the longer non stop flights to Hong Kong replaced the via BKK flights they were reduced. Thats history.

By the way I can remember the DC3 flights Melbourne to Sydney, but that does not impact the flying arrangements now. Flights improve.

quote
ln the late 80s or early 90s Qantas used BKK as its Asian hub.
This was also the time when QF was flying to Rome.So yes the flights went SYD-BKK-FCo twice a week.As well as the regular flights to LHR via BKK.
Now as you know it is via SIN and soon to be DXB
end quote

[aot871]

I agree with Scottish guy , 100% about Dubai, the lack of seatting , its one of the airports faults, even the business lounge, is not big enought. Also another point is the law on taking in medcine with out a prescription , Last year a british lady was arrested for having paracetamol in her handbag

I have searched the internet and all I can find is this. Maybe you read it last year but it happened in 2008? The problem in this case is that everyone is saying paracetamol but the actual charge was that the paracetamol was a heavier drug and contained codine and it was not in a prescription bottle. I apologize in advance if this was not the one but would like it if when these incidents are reported that they come with the article or story to back them up.

Prescription Drug Arrest in Dubai! тАЭ

Feb 08, 2008, 4:58 AM





Just a word of caution,




I am sure most people are aware of the caution needed when taking rescription drugs and even over the counter painkillers into Dubai, and I dont want to scare monger or insult anyones intelligence. But I thought it may be worth mentioning this for those who have never been to dubai before or has not read 'Know before you go' on the UK gov website.




I have heard on the news this morning that a lady just 5 miles from me has been imprisoned in Dubai for having painkillers on her, these painkillers contain codine and are perfectly legal in the UK. According to the media and if I have heard it right, she has been held for 5 weeks!




I guess, it would be wise not to take anything and buy from a chemist when you are there, or if you have to take prescribed drugs ask your Dr for advice!

[fountainhall]

Very useful advice. This is what Emirates has on its website about medications -


Carry your regular medications in your hand luggage making sure you carry your prescriptions with you and a letter from your family doctor stating that you are on the medications for medical reasons. This is to avoid problems at Customs.

Check that there are no import restrictions on your particular medications in the country you are visiting (e.g. , codeine when entering the UAE or stimulants such as pseudoephedrine when visiting Japan).
http://www.emirates.com/us/english/plan ... leave.aspx (http://www.emirates.com/us/english/plan_book/essential_information/health_and_travel/before_you_leave.aspx)

I hope Qantas re flag the same warnings on their site! But who is going to get a prescription for over-the-counter medications like panadol that you might need on the plane?

[ceejay]

And, while you are at it, make sure you don't eat a poppy seed bread roll at Heathrow. I quote from the link:


One man has even been jailed for possession of three poppy seeds left over from a bread roll he ate at Heathrow Airport.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z27PyOS0y5 (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-512815/Briton-jailed-years-Dubai-customs-cannabis-weighing-grain-sugar-shoe.html#ixzz27PyOS0y5)