quantas
 

hi all

just wondered on your views, what are they like compared to cathay pacific & singapore airlines?

was all ready to go with CP but found another deal with quantas with 23kgs not 20kgs, not much extra but 'every little helps'


cheers

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Re: qantas
 

Personally I find them very slightly better than Cathay, but not a lot in it.

(there's no "U" in Qantas, by the way. :) )

Re: quantas
 

I agree with Polly - they are all on a par really and even though you will hear scare stories about them I must say that I have never had a bad flight with them - although there will always be a first time I guess as I have had bad flights with some of the Asian airlines over the years.

Re: qantas
 

I would say Qantas are are par with BA. Very average.

Re: quantas
 

When I flew Qantas we ended up on a BA plane, something about combining flights, it was the worst long haul I have ever been on. Some people however love Q but IMO Cathay were much better. Also have you checked out Emirates?

Re: quantas
 

If luggage is your concern Emirates and Singapore (on an unused visa) will offer a by far superior deal. And frankly, a far superior service in the case of Singapore Airlines - there is good reason they are ranked so highly by many site posters as the airline of choice.

Re: quantas
 

Suffice it to say we received compensation for the dreadful treatment which Qantas meted out on my wife and children. They literally reduced her to tears, and only then did she get the slightest bit of assistance from the miserable stewardesses.

Buzzy

Re: quantas
 

However everyone's experiences are different. My experience flying with them has always been good.

Re: quantas
 

After years using Singapore my parents in law discovered th Qantas do a premium economy which I'm not sure if available on many other flights?

It means a little extra space, leg room etc and since finding it they haven't looked back (when you're over 70 you can be quite fussy so I'd say it'd be good!):D

Re: quantas
 

This is true. Premium economy is usually priced way lower than business class btu does offer a bit more space and food. Qantas and Virgin Atlantic are about the only airlines with a regular PE cabin.

Re: quantas
 

BA also has World Traveller Plus.....vastly inferior product to Qantas PE though so definitely one to look out for if on a QF/BA codeshare as the fare would be the same for either product normally.

Re: quantas
 

You are of course quite right. To be honest its been years since I stepped foot on BA metal.

Re: quantas
 

I would choose Singapore Airlines over Qantas any day! My friend just flew to Australia at Christmas with Qantas and they lost her bags for a week and told her they had disappeared and that it wasn't their fault!? Her bags miraculously turned up after she rang them every day for a week demanding they do something about it and threatening to get legal advice!:eek:

Re: quantas
 

Bags can go missing with any airline. And your friend's bags did not "miraculously" reappear because she rang every day ... are you seriously suggesting they were hiding them for a laugh and if she hadn't of phoned she would not have got them back. :rolleyes:

Re: quantas
 

Just be really careful with your weights, I flew here with Qantas last year and they were EXTREMELY vigilant - charging everybody full dollar who was over the weight limit, myself included!! I think it cost me about $400 - not a good start to the journey. I think the old days of getting off with a few kilo's over are long gone. I must buy a set of those little luggage scales before March.

Barb

Re: quantas
 

I know that it can happen with any airline, I was just saying that was my friend's latest experience with Qantas. I have no idea what happened to her bags but she was told straight away that they were gone and they weren't able to find them, it was not until after she rang every day for a week and threatened to ring a lawyer that it was taken seriously and the day after her bags turned up. What I meant was that they obviously gave up on the search until they realised she wasn't giving up.

Re: quantas
 

I think it's fair to say that generally you will have a pleasant flight regardless of which airline you are on (assuming they have AVOD). However, the chances/frequency of an unpleasant flight are greater on some than others - so more people report an unhappy experience on (say) BA than SQ.

In general I think it is fair to say that you have a greater chance of an unpleasant flight on QF than on CX or SQ. CX and SQ themselves are similar - perhaps SQ just a small degree better.

Re: quantas
 

Singapore every time.

Re: quantas
 

Deffo.

Re: quantas
 

hi if your going one way, air newzealand are good we had 32kgs each bag and had four bags

Re: quantas
 

....only if you're going via LA...not Hong Kong where they also now fly.

Re: quantas
 

Qantas whatever their failings may be will give you the advantage of a fistful of QFF points for that journey.

Of course other airlines have their loyalty schemes too - but QFF points are the ones you're more likely to be able to accrue via hotels, hire-cars, business trips, domestic flights and supermarket shopping etc etc in Australia.

The right credit card can see you getting a return trip to the UK every few years (assuming you put every cent you spend through the CC and spend enough). QFF redememptions however, can be a bit of an art and require either precision planning and booking 330 days before you want to fly, or extreme flexibility in terms of schedules! (and QFF redemptions are 'free' you still pay taxes so a UK return costs something in the region of $400)

Re: quantas
 

True. Although strangely I have found Virgin Atlantics Flying Club to be OK because it collects on Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Blue domestically, Singapore Airlines and most Star Alliance Carriers. VS themselves only fly ex SYD internationally for a redemption flight but in a comparison they are a lot less points for an award than QF.

My wife recently used her VS status to get priority waitlisted on a Virgin Blue plane after the entire last flight bar one for the night was leaving SYD to BNE. Suffice to say about 180 other people were not so fortunate that evening.

There is indeed an art to frequent flyer programs and I would agree with marrying up to a credit card of choice to maximise points amongst other things. The only thing I can't do is double dip on the Woolworths Reward points but I get 1.5 points per dollar on Amex.

I'm going to stop rambling now before I sound too much like the frequent flyer nerd that I am.

Re: quantas
 

my mum has just booked to visit us here in oz through quantas, can she get these frequent flyer points and what can we use them for?

Re: quantas
 

Yes she can get them - she will need to sign up and add her frequent flyer number to the booking. Should earn about 20000 pts - roughly enough for one Brisbane - Sydney return. There are many other things the points can be used for other than flights so best to sign up and take a look.

Re: quantas
 

do you mean the card that you get in woolies, can she get one even though she lives in ireland? sorry bit slow on it lol

Re: quantas
 

Used Cathay on our reccie ok - much more prefered Qantas and route, we booked through the people on the visa, then you get 40kg each hold luggage if it's your migration one way trip, they were cheaper than booking direct. It's payable in US dollars so if dollar is week you win there as well.

Re: quantas
 

No she can go to the qantas website and sign up - if using an overseas address joining is free - for some reason they charge Aussie residents (not if done through the woolies card though). Once signed up the booking can also be accessed online and the frequent flyer number added.

Re: quantas
 

We flew PE with BA and it was pretty bad. There is extra legroom but beyond that, I didn't think there was enough to justify the substantial increase in fare from economy. Very disappointed.

Re: quantas
 

WTP offers wider seat and more legroom than economy...that is all...oh and 46kg baggage allowance. Cabin service is the same as down the back...same food etc.

You could pay for exit row seating in economy & an extra bag and get essentially the same thing at a fraction of the cost!

Qantas PE is more like an old style business class service.

Re: quantas
 

BA let you pay just £32 for an additional 23KG of baggage. So with BA you can get 46KG!

http://www.britishairways.com/travel...c/public/en_gb

Re: quantas
 

I would certainly recommend Singapore Airlines over Qantas, I have done the UK - AUS flights three times with them.

Last time we flew Emirates who were also sensational, their service was second to none in my opinion.

I flew Qantas once to the uk and it was honestly that bad i change my return ticket to an alternative carrier (2002).

This was before qantas upgraded their planes which i believe they did recently.

Re: quantas
 

Sorry - I'll take your FF nerdishness and RAISE you! - I checked Virgin v QFF points before and unless you can find ALL your retailers taking AMEX without charging you the maths simply didnt add up - it cost more $$$ (of credit card spending) to earn a SYD-LHR return on vrigin than $$ for SYD-LHR return on QF.

1.5 points per $ sounds good until you realise that most vendors wont touch Amex.
Try paying childcare fees - nope
Try paying $5 for a roll of sellotape from the newsagent - nope
Try paying $5 for a screwdriver from Bunnings - nope
Try paying your council rates - nope
....

ergo QFF points at $1 per point work out best. $128K of spending for a return to UK (from anwhere not just SYD)

Re: quantas
 

Well I suppose it depends on your spending habits - I wouldn't be relying on personal credit card spending to earn me return trips to the UK! If however you are able to put thousands of $'s of work expenses through a personal card every month - with vendors who universally accept AMEX like airlines, hotels, the majority of restaurants, car hire etc then that extra 0.5pt per dollar starts to seem worthwhile.

Personally I find QFF to be a very unexciting program - the airline itself never has any sort of promos in terms of ways to earn extra points. In the past with BA and bmi I've made a killing on promos.

...and we can pay our rates with AMEX if we go down to the council office and pay via the eftpos machine.

Re: quantas
 

Why not? Buy everything (and I mean everything - $1.18 on a roll of Mentos using fast checkout this lunchtime) on your credit card, pay it off every month and after some months get a free return flight to Europe for not much trouble.

Easy peasy japanesy.

Re: quantas
 

I put everything I can on credit card - but I still wouldn't be expecting to put through $85k - $128k of personal spend in 'some months'.

Re: quantas
 

Fair enough, I obviously spend a lot more than you! I've been doing QFF for nearly 4 years and in that time:
1 business class flight to South Africa
1 economy class return to Sydney
3 economy class returns to NZ
1 economy class SIA flight from South Africa using Citibank rewards

and still have plenty of points left

Re: quantas
 

I'm not quite in that league, but I have to agree that QFF points do add up quite fast if you always fly with them AND use a card that gets points. I use my Earth card for virtually everything and have been surprised how fast the points build up, compared to people in other programmes like Krisflyer.

Re: quantas
 

I flew with Cathay recently and struggled with the 20Kg allowance. They also wanted to charge me for my golf clubs, so I ended up not taking them. My previous flight was with Emirates with 30Kg allowance and golf clubs free. Emirates entertainment is also much better, and they are more generous in dispensing drinks. Cathay's seats don't recline, and are very uncomfortable. Qantas are also under-rated.

Re: quantas
 

Talking of drinks......I flew Malaysian a few years back, the first drink offered after take-off was beer or orange juice. I asked for a glass of wine instead and the air hostess looked aghast LOL!! I got the feeling as a woman I was supposed to want the orange juice...........:thumbdown: