Yannie

I am travelling with my 2 children (very frequent travellers - please don't come at me with the children shouldnt be flying in business class opinions). We usually fly cx back to australia but qf is much cheaper this time. We are flying hkg-mel but looking at the seat configs it seems the a380 to syd might suit us better.

Can anyone advise whether a direct flight to mel on an a330 or via syd on the a380 would be better? I believe the a380 is still the unrefurb config so 2-2-2, which means i could block my youngest in against the window without having to worry about him falling out into the aisle while asleep (which happened on a qatar flight recently even with the seatbelt on...). A direct flight would be more convenient without any need to transfer in sydney, however I read that the middle partition on an a330 doesn't lower which would make it difficult for me to reach over.

Thank you!!

Koru Flyer

If it stays as a 380 and most likely will be old config, then in my experience the 380 will be best. Although you will have you other child in a 2 seat to manage. The business seats in the 330 are quite difficult to manage with young children due to (a) the high walls and (b) the rows are out of sync. If you check the seat map you will see the adjacent window is a different aisle number to the middle seats (why?). Irrespective there is a slight offset to help with privacy.

It on the 330, the middles are not centred, due to the footwells of the pax behind. So you could chose where the child is closer to the centre with the high shelf between them and the aisle, and then yourself on the middle that is closest to the aisle and the other child on your window. That high shelf should stop the child from falling into the aisle. It is pretty similar to QR but without the door.

take a look at the map and some online pics and should help your decision making.

KF

Guvner067

No contest. Go direct.
I wouldn�t even contemplate an extra 4 hours or so of travel, plus the ridiculously convoluted and often lengthy Int>Dom transfer at SYD, because a seat divider on a direct flight may or may not be an issue. The A330 also has sash belts which may prevent anyone rolling in the aisles.

Dave Noble

No brainer - as per Guvner067 , take the non stop flight. don't make the kids do a minimum of 3 hrs 10 minutes extra travel for no reason.

Koru Flyer

Agree - I was discussing the seats and missed the SYD connection detail (pick up bags, recheck bags, go through security, wait, catch often crowded bus and then wait and fly an up and down flight). I would only do that if you were in need of some SCs or there was a relative reasonable cost saving - probably neither applies here. If travelling with young kids, I would go direct.

Yannie

Thanks all! I think we'll take the direct flight. The cost difference between flying direct or via sydney is negligible...and we've maintained ow sapphire for another year so no need for the sc run! Now it"s just down to choosing the right seating arrangement.