Originally Posted by
ZenFlyer
I'm guessing they may be testing the waters regarding demand. If you live in the middle or south of the country, the west coast connections to Australia require a lot of lead time, making DFW a much more attractive routing. (I paid a premium last year to fly STL-IAH-SYD in lieu of STL-SFO-SYD on UA, and it was worth every cent). From my research last year it seems a lot of people flying to Australia these days are willing to invest in a business ticket due to the length of the flight, even on leisure trips. SYD is a pain for intl - to - domestic transfers (I understand MEL is much better), and BNE is a prime tourist launching pad for exploring the Great Barrier Reef. So this route has a lot of "pull" factors going for it imho. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see the fares drop too, but $1400 also does not seem "sky high" to me. The prospect of better routing already has me thinking about another trip sooner than I might have otherwise.
ETA: When I was at SYD last year waiting in the long line for an airside bus transfer from the international to domestic terminal, the Aussie behind me sighed loudly and said "this is what I get for not flying into Brisbane . . . "
Can confirm. Just did SFO-LAX-SYD-BNE and the SYD Intl-Dom transfer is absolutely woeful and stuck in 2005. The agents are generally good for getting you rerouted on earlier flights at no fee though.
Security just awful, the machines are very old and need about 6 bins if you have any sort of electronics (cf. the new SYD Dom checkin in T3). Escalators not working, so having to walk up stairs with cabin bags. No booze in the lounge until 12pm. Flying direct into BNE is so much better for these reasons.
I'd rather backtrack through the continent from west coast US and fly via DFW than LAX-SYD.
Eventually we're going to have to follow the US model and combine DOM/INT with swing gates.