Rusdude

If you aren't flying a plane with a new QR product, my vote would be for SQ.

Also, are you doing one-way or round-trip? Doing a NYC-MEL search on ITA for Jan. 2016 round-trip results in Etihad being the lowest ($7167; going through AUH). That may be a very good option as JFK-AUH should be EY's next A380 route (rumored to be end of 2015/early 2016).

Yet another wrinkle to consider would be American Express IAP (i.e. 2-for-1) if you have a Platinum/Centurion card. Per this page (http://iap.americanexpress.com/fligh...urne-australia), you have an option of EY, EK, QR.

Usually IAP is only good for round-trip tickets (depends on airline though) and they are of course not always the lowest-priced tickets. Still, if there are two of you, it's certainly worth a 5-10 minute call to check it out. The Platinum Travel number is 800-525-3355.

Good luck!

jeffers

Thanks for the advice Rusdude. Is that Amex deal only for US residents? Should've said, I'm actually UK based (at least at the moment).

I searched through all options on the route and Etihad was an option, but the flight that we'd need to take was the late JFK departure, which is the 9W config.

If we are able to eek out slightly more time off that'd be a definite third option for the 1 stop, but right now the best flight timings are QR and SQ.

Rusdude

Oh, I see. I guess you'd need EY100 but that one switches to 9W in August...

The link I used was for US cardmembers and couldn't find any UK IAP mention

tboons

wait for promotion, QR tends to have those good global sales, and there is a chance that they will fly one of their new planes to JFK, or add frequency to JFK by late 2015.

SQ hardly have discount on J fares.

jeffers

Interesting, thanks for that. Dunno how long I can wait though

tboons

Jan 2016, so promotion likely to be in May-July 2015

Anyway, unless there is promo fares now, no hurry to get the tickets since expensive fares are quite available.

corrad

OP, are you using VS miles or purchasing using cash?

thought no one can redeem SQ 777-300ER unless it's SQ miles?

jeffers

Cash booking. I do have over 150k VS miles and will have more soon, would love to use them but as you say can't get the best product on SQ with them

weero

Did QR improve so quickly? They used to be the ultra-cheap Biz fare LCC ex Europe for years. And only a year ago when they joined OneWorld, we tried them as their Biz fare was in the coach range of other carriers.

It's not a terrible airline and it definitely was worth the price. But I'd never compare it to an SQ longhaul product. The fares went up and I never looked at them again. But I find it hard to believe that they would have improved so much within a year.

One thing that scared me somewhat on QR is that if you are downgraded on SQ you end up in the best coach product in the skies whereas on QR you'd be in the LCC seat configuration designed for tiny ladies exclusively ... shudder.
And the lack of non-halal food options also did not impress me.

mitwg

To me, this really sounds like you either haven't flown QR anytime within the last 3 years or you have some prejudice against QR and/or ME carriers, based on your halai comment (there are clearly western options available on the menu, if you bothered to look).

Due to my family living pattern, I've been flying SQ at least few times a year since I was 6 (I'm getting close to 30 now so that's almost 25 years). I've no doubt I really love the airline and I still think it’s the best in the world.

But to say that QR is nowhere near SQ is just a blind lie. SQ certainly also has 'inferior' products such as the 330/773 J config even on some long hauls so SQ does not hands down win in this category either.

Not that there's significant meaning on Skytrax, but QR's been voted the worlds best airline for 2011 and 2012, along with winning several other categories throughout the past 5 years. As far as this particular award is concerned, they've probably been the most dominant airline as of recent. Hardly the trait of an ‘LCC’ as you describe.

I’ve perhaps had the same prejudice against ME carriers previously, but after having flown on QR for the past few years, there are some areas where they are ahead of SQ.

Music4u

Since this post was addressed to "all" I would like to respectfully respond that
perhaps many of the "ALL" have no clue what "SQ v QR for JFK-MEL in J" Means.

Perhaps in the future an explanation for the rookies might be helpful. Perhaps
it would be a bit more inclusive and widen out the responses.

Just saying.

GRUflyer

You are aware that QR sends A320 and A321 with recliners that match those of Domestic US seating on 5 hours missions, right?

Not to mention the horrible lie flats on the A330s and A346.

Apart from the 788, A380 and A350, the Biz seat on QR is horrible.

While they certainly are a nice product if the price is right - like TK as well - they are quite inconsistent across the board.

And that is why I mentioned to the OP if he was a regular J flyer, he should go for SQ.

I absolutely detest inconsistency in any service I hire or pay for.

jeffers

Their 777 seats, whilst quite old, are still pretty good though, right?

I am, and I am definitely leaning in that direction.

380Flyer

Seats in JCL on the A380 and majority of the old 77W fleet are looking aged and the catering is declining from my recent experience.

For what you pay, SQ is simply not providing the value for money anymore.

mitwg

Yes I agree this definitely is not ideal and I wouldn't fly on QR where they fly those aircrafts for any decent longhauls.

But to point that out and simply conclude that QR is more inconsistent overall than SQ, IMO, is not looking at the full picture.

What do you say to SQ's redeye J intra-Asia services, for example something like SQ603? Departing at 12am and then leaving the cabin light on until well into 1am to serve dinner to only those that have it, only to turn it on again in the morning at 4am to serve breakfast. Hardly a 'sleeper' service and I always feel horrible getting off from 603.

The lack of meal choice (if you wanted to eat) also applies to redeye F services of similar length. The argument is that you are supposed to eat at TPR prior to boarding, but given that it's F, you shouldn't really be forced on that decision if you wanted to eat on board.

So on these routes, just like how I avoid QR with those A32x products, I try to avoid SQ as well if there is a better alternative.

Essentially if we add both of our posts together (without thinking of other aspects for now), the combined conclusion is that SQ offers a more consistent hard product while QR offers are more consistent dining experience.

Overall, I still think that SQ offers a more consistent service (say if you can break down every experience of a flight into separate components and give it a mark out of 10, SQ would come up with a higher overall mark than QR) but to pick out particular routes and use that as an example to compare the entire experience of an airline vs. another, I think that is just being too biased towards the one or the other.

Essentially to stay on topic, what we should really be looking at is the experience the OP will get on the specific route he/she has chosen for this to be a fair comparison. What is the likelihood of getting a A321 on that? A big fat red 0.