perthite

They are all A320 flights that arrive at rather unsociable hours of the morning into DRW!

gvdIAD

Count me in. I wouldn't want to break my attendance streak. Of course now the challenge is finding NC availability on UA for next May!

falconea

Our flights are booked using the QF ASR - thanks for the heads up on this, serfty!

We arrive late Wednesday and leave lunchtime Monday. I have a cousin who lives near Darwin that I'll have to catch up with as well.

Audrey

ozstamps

And not just Asian flights?

That is my recollection of last few visits to Darwin .. a whole bunch of even domestic flights seen to be sked for 1am or 2am departure or so .. Sarah will know .. is that still the case?

Pretty funny to drop off a rental to a 100% packed terminal at 1am or whatever!

Glen

kamchatsky

DRW is obviously being Jetstarred at some weird hours! The only problem with DRW is the city is too small to sustain a premium international airline flying from Asia.

I noticed that there are 1 Crowne Plaza and 2 Holiday Inns at Darwin (all at 25K PC points redemption level). Given this is FT, I assume CP could become a central location hotel for this DO?

kamchatsky

Just looked at Darwin Airport schedules, I wonder why they schedule these flights at these weird hours? Is it because this airport is dual used for military purposes?!

Anyway I don't like the idea of short red-eye flight for DRW-SYD.

Itsalongwaydown

That is a possibility though one of the HIs is also pretty good (I'm told). I've only stayed at the other one!

ozstamps

Given the re-branding that takes place within a year, it might be anything come a year's time.

MargoOz

Too right!
Here's this mornings offering:

QF846 SYDNEY 2345 Landed
TT5566 MELBOURNE 2359 Landed
DJ459 BRISBANE 0045
JQ670 ADELAIDE 0155
JQ58 SINGAPORE 0235
JQ82 BALI 0305
JQ62 SINGAPORE 0430
DJ1457 MELBOURNE 0545

kamchatsky

Since when do they go on rebranding?!

flashware

*ahem* yes.. now that I know your alter-ego

ozstamps

Well in ADL many booked the HYATT including Diamonds like Tom911 .. closer to the event it became an Intercontinental as I recall, and there went al his free perks - like Free INTERNET and upgrades etc.

ozflygirl747

All international flights into DRW from Asia ie SIN, DPS & SGN arrive anywhere from 0230 to 0600 but as they continue on to cities down south it's more about arriving at a suitable time eg in BNE/SYD/MEL rather that what's suitable for pax disembarking in DRW.

The flying time is reasonably short though DPS(Bali)/DRW 2.5 hours, SIN/DRW 4 hours & SGN/DRW 4.40hrs so pretty much the same as a LAX/NYC flight duration on a JetBlue type airline & aircraft. The flying time is much the same from Asia to DRW as it is eg from SYD.

There are no international flights into/out of DRW on QF metal however as all JQ (Jetstar) flights have QF codeshare flight numbers it gives those the opportunity to redeem points for travel with ff programs who can redeem on "QF".

The only JQ flights that accrue f/flyer points on paid fares are JetFlex not the JetSaver fares most people would buy. It's certainly something to consider if people travel USA to SIN eg on SQ on a redemption then just purchase a SIN/DRW/SIN fare on JQ http://www.jetstar.com.

Crowne Plaza DRW is one of the hotels under consideration right now plus the Holiday Inn Esplanade (formerly Carlton Crest) both being centrally located but more on hotels in the near future.

ozflygirl747

It all comes down to 'fleet optimisation' ie airlines making money - profit is not a dirty word. Yes DRW is a dual airport for both civilian & RAAF. ATC is staffed by RAAF personnel not Air Services Australia. Due to there being no curfew airlines basically send some planes to DRW when they've finished with them for the day eg 1900 so they arrive late then depart after midnight to arrive down south just in time for the early morning rush.

It needs to be said that there are plenty of day time arrivals & departures to/from DRW from southern ports with QF flights from ADL/BNE/CBR/PER/ASP/SYD all arriving & departing between 1200 & 1600 so there's no need to think you'll be on 'red eye' flights.

Cheers

Oz

ozstamps

Qantas seems to have the far more sensible direct flight times from SYD.

"Sometimes" a 'group booking' offers pretty big savings.

Qantas "groups" are 10 minimum and we would be able to do that from both SYD and MEL I feel sure and maybe even BNE.

http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airl...uote/global/en

Be interesting if someone fills out the form above for eco/Premium/Biz quotes - who knows - it may be a decent rate offered?

AFAIK TIGER is not serving there yet, odd given their home base in SIN, but if they come on-stream at some point expect the others to drop prices a lot.