Qantas further off the rails with Asia
Nov 23, 2014, 5:23 pm
#46
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Possibly worth considering that QF practically discouraged bookings ex China for many years by not offering an on-line credit card payment facility.
Passengers wanting to book flights originating in China had to present themselves within two days at the Shanghai office to have their credit card sighted, before the ticket could be issued. There was no facility to buy the ticket and have the credit card sighted at the airport.
Almost ok if you were living in shanghai, but if you were in any city outside you would have been in for an inconvenient journey. So why bother?
They have recently changed their policy, but maybe it's too little too late.
Passengers wanting to book flights originating in China had to present themselves within two days at the Shanghai office to have their credit card sighted, before the ticket could be issued. There was no facility to buy the ticket and have the credit card sighted at the airport.
Almost ok if you were living in shanghai, but if you were in any city outside you would have been in for an inconvenient journey. So why bother?
They have recently changed their policy, but maybe it's too little too late.
Nov 23, 2014, 5:58 pm
#47
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 100
Possibly worth considering that QF practically discouraged bookings ex China for many years by not offering an on-line credit card payment facility.
Passengers wanting to book flights originating in China had to present themselves within two days at the Shanghai office to have their credit card sighted, before the ticket could be issued. There was no facility to buy the ticket and have the credit card sighted at the airport.
Almost ok if you were living in shanghai, but if you were in any city outside you would have been in for an inconvenient journey. So why bother?
They have recently changed their policy, but maybe it's too little too late.
Passengers wanting to book flights originating in China had to present themselves within two days at the Shanghai office to have their credit card sighted, before the ticket could be issued. There was no facility to buy the ticket and have the credit card sighted at the airport.
Almost ok if you were living in shanghai, but if you were in any city outside you would have been in for an inconvenient journey. So why bother?
They have recently changed their policy, but maybe it's too little too late.
Cheers
Michael
Nov 23, 2014, 6:06 pm
#48
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Singapore
Programs: QF LTG, SQ EGTP, Bonvoy LTG
Posts: 4,847
Maybe QF could expand both China and South America and become a hub for travel between the two continents, but that would require significant investment, and be quite risky, probably something already suffering shareholders do not have an appetite for.
Nov 23, 2014, 6:22 pm
#49
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only applied to the Qantas website. You could use expedia (etc) to purchase the same ticket.
Nov 23, 2014, 6:23 pm
#50
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Perth
Programs: QFF WP
Posts: 560
Lounge access in regional China I can do without, slow WIFI no food no drink, no point!. In fact many regional airports such as CGO and TSN have cafes offering cheaper food and free WIFI.
In all though this seems to continue the QF strategy of trying to leverage their customer loyalty to another airline for the income stream without doing any of the heavy lifting. That is all well and good but that is the strategy then keep the carrot of points and credits available to make the fliers at least look at it.
I am going to take a CX flight with even a discounted earn over an MU flight with no earn any day.
Nov 23, 2014, 8:01 pm
#51
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 100
There is a slight difference (as in 300m people) between QF and AY. One suspects Finnair wouldn't offer so many Chinese destinations if its only proximous oncarriage destination beyond Scandinavia was a country with 4.5m people.
Maybe QF could expand both China and South America and become a hub for travel between the two continents, but that would require significant investment, and be quite risky, probably something already suffering shareholders do not have an appetite for.
Maybe QF could expand both China and South America and become a hub for travel between the two continents, but that would require significant investment, and be quite risky, probably something already suffering shareholders do not have an appetite for.
Cheers
Michael
Nov 23, 2014, 11:01 pm
#52
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Singapore
Programs: QF LTG, SQ EGTP, Bonvoy LTG
Posts: 4,847
Yes, investment in equipment, routes and ports would be needed = huge risk. Which leaves only NZ, Vic/Tas, SA, regional NSW & SE Qld to connect pax too .... a bit different to Finnair who can get people to/from Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain and various smaller countries.
Nov 24, 2014, 5:04 am
#53
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: London
Programs: AA Executive Platinum
Posts: 779
Possibly worth considering that QF practically discouraged bookings ex China for many years by not offering an on-line credit card payment facility.
Passengers wanting to book flights originating in China had to present themselves within two days at the Shanghai office to have their credit card sighted, before the ticket could be issued. There was no facility to buy the ticket and have the credit card sighted at the airport.
Passengers wanting to book flights originating in China had to present themselves within two days at the Shanghai office to have their credit card sighted, before the ticket could be issued. There was no facility to buy the ticket and have the credit card sighted at the airport.
So, that time when Qantas required a trip to their Manila office (which if you know Manila traffic is a full day event) to sight a credit card and issue a ticket and Philippine Airlines didn't require a trip to any office to sight any credit card and would just issue the ticket straight away from online credit card details..... guess which airline got the business?
Nov 24, 2014, 6:37 pm
#54
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: mostly MEL
Programs: QF WP LTG, HHonors Diamond, NZ Gold
Posts: 1,750
They used to do this in Manila too, infact last time I checked about a year ago they still had this requirement and maybe they do even today.
So, that time when Qantas required a trip to their Manila office (which if you know Manila traffic is a full day event) to sight a credit card and issue a ticket and Philippine Airlines didn't require a trip to any office to sight any credit card and would just issue the ticket straight away from online credit card details..... guess which airline got the business?
So, that time when Qantas required a trip to their Manila office (which if you know Manila traffic is a full day event) to sight a credit card and issue a ticket and Philippine Airlines didn't require a trip to any office to sight any credit card and would just issue the ticket straight away from online credit card details..... guess which airline got the business?
I called QF in Oz and was able to get them to ticket for the same price as if I'd purchased in Thailand .... probably been "enhanced away" since ...
Regards,
BD
Nov 30, 2014, 9:10 pm
#55
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: China
Posts: 1,552
Agree that developing a new route is a long game, but if a route isn't delivering and is losing money, and isn't looking like generating money, then you have to drop it.
Partnering with CX has often been seen as a saviour for QF, but given CX flies to pretty much every Australian city, it has told QF no chance.
The MU partnership potentially opens up PEK routes again if QF can get an MU codeshare on it (as I understand MU is prevented from flying this route via the Chinese no-competition policy) -- that said with no new longhaul aircraft on order by QF this is unlikely to happen in the short term unless other routes are dropped.
Partnering with CX has often been seen as a saviour for QF, but given CX flies to pretty much every Australian city, it has told QF no chance.
The MU partnership potentially opens up PEK routes again if QF can get an MU codeshare on it (as I understand MU is prevented from flying this route via the Chinese no-competition policy) -- that said with no new longhaul aircraft on order by QF this is unlikely to happen in the short term unless other routes are dropped.
Nov 30, 2014, 9:26 pm
#56
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 100
Just my 1c.
Cheers
Michael
Dec 1, 2014, 4:50 am
#57
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: London
Programs: AA Executive Platinum
Posts: 779
Dec 1, 2014, 5:50 am
#58
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As a direct comparison - for flights to China CA wins with their A332s over CX or QF. That may change on flights to PVG once QF introduces their new business class offering - but that won't be until 2015 sometime.
Dec 1, 2014, 8:46 pm
#60
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Sydney
Programs: QF Plat, HH Diamond
Posts: 183
For a day flight the mainland airlines makes little difference when comparing against CX.
The major difference comes with the fully flat bed and direct aisle access that CX offers when it comes to night time flying.
The major difference comes with the fully flat bed and direct aisle access that CX offers when it comes to night time flying.