creampuff

Okey, regular readers may know I'm planning a round-the-world trip using a One World Explore "DONE5" 5-continent business class with me + wife + daughter (child) + son (infant, on lap).

I'm going from Cape Town, South Africa to either Sydney or Melbourne. My options are:

Qantas: JNB-SYD
on a 747-400
(then later in the trip catch a QF domestic flight to SYD-MEL and also need to buy a CPT-JNB ticket)

Qatar: CPT-DOH, DOH-MEL
on a 787 followed by a 777
(then later in the trip catch a QF domestic flight to MEL-SYD)

What do you think? My understanding is Qatar has a better business class. OTOH it is more flying and I also like 747s. There is no difference in cost as I'm just paying for the RTW ticket.

The other thing is I've checked seat availability on ExpertFlyer and it is showing zero for all classes in all fare brackets?

Dave Noble

12,000 miles vs 7,600 miles would be a no brainer to me to take the QF option

og

IME, all zeros or all 9s on EF can be misleading. It may be the opposite. Availability depends on where the reservation is being made. I have seen a certain fare category having 9 on EF but my agent in Oz says its zero (and has shown me a screen shot of this).

As for going via DOH or SYD, you'll get better window views on the DOH flight whereas going via SYD will be mostly over water except for the Oz part. I wouldn't worry about the extra flight time - there are more important things to consider

Dave Noble

With a flight, I would class it as one of the most important

bensyd

With an infant I would class it as the most important. I wonder if Mrs creampuff has been told of the two possible routings and which she'd prefer.

Mwenenzi

CPT-DOH-MEL would take another valuable sector of the 16 sector DONE5 http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...l#post23709769
QF would be my choice and would not even consider QR. For DONE5 is DOH in Africa? (geographically ONE are different!)

pandaperth

creampuff

That's correct.

I will be buying somewhere between 1 and 3 one-way economy sectors on separate tickets. These separate economy legs will either be CPT-JNB or SYD-MEL-SYD or perhaps both. I'm up against the 16-sector limit on the (business class) RTW ticket already and so am reluctant to "waste" sectors on short flights where there is a cheap economy class option such as the 2 hr CPT-JNB or 1.5 hour SYD-MEL-SYD flights.

If I take the Qatar option, the RTW will start in Cape Town. If I take the Qantas option, the RTW will start in Joburg.

I guess what I'm really asking in OP question is:
"I've seen pics of Qatar business class and I think it looks nice, perhaps nicer than Qantas business class, although I do like 747s which Qantas flies on this route and I could get a seat on the top deck of the 747 if I chose Qantas. Either way I'll have to buy a separate ticket for one or more of my sectors anyway. What do you think?"

Also which version of the Qantas skybed is on the 747 JNB-SYD aircraft?

creampuff

Odd you mention that

Before I had worked out a good itinerary I suggested at one stage we fly from Cairo to London, transit in London, then on to Australia all in one 35 hour epic!

She didn't like that idea. But it's business class, how bad could it be?

pomkiwi

Having done my fair share of travelling with young children in the (now distant past) I would comment that it is the business of getting on and off the plane and through the airports that is the most stressful. Therefore I would always choose the most direct option if possible. If it was me I would be doing CPT-JNB, stopover, JNB-SYD, sstopover, SYD-MEL - assuming I had the time.
On my own I might be tempted to explore the Qatar offering (Mrs PK might not agree).

PaulST

I've just returned from JNB and we had old 747s both ways so expect a Skybed Mk1. Apparently they get refurbished jumbos infrequently.

If you've got a few days, spend them in Cape Town. It's a pretty city while JNB, in contrast, is quite a dump (apologies to anyone who lives there). There's heaps of cheap flights between Cape Town and JNB too.

On the topic of views, here's a photo I took from QF63 whilst flying over Antarctica. You'll be on QF64 but you should get the same view.


Edit: I've just posted a video on You Tube with video footage from the flight over Antarctica: http://youtu.be/UaIiw0uKE-s

Dave Noble

hmm... 35 hours vs 18.5 hours ; funny that it wasn't appealing

pandaperth

Wow. Great pic. But I had no idea QF63 might fly that far South; it's well South of the great circle between SYD & JNB

Flying Eastbound (QF64) I expect it less likely to fly far to the South - aren't the jetstream winds assisting that flight, and so a more Northerly flight path more likely?
I'm sure someone far more knowledgeable than I am will chime in

PaulST

Yeah I wouldn't have guessed it went so far south until I saw the flight path. Seeing Antarctica was honestly a highlight of the trip.

Here's a photo I took of the flight path during the flight. You can see the tip of Africa up the top-right with South America on the top-left. I imagine that the flight to Santiago must also head down close to Antarctica too.

pandaperth

I'm jealous!!

I might be flying JNB-SYD myself in January, so I'd be very interested from anybody in the know whether the Eastbound flight ever goes that far South

IIRC when QF flew SYD-EZE, the flights quite often flew close enough to Antarctica for it to be visible.