UncleDude

As it seems that the final BA moves to T3 are delayed, does anybody know if QF will still move in Late Jan to T3 as planned. Or is the A380 going to have to use T4 with no A380 facilities?

Globaliser

No, it won't be Jan 2009. The T4 -> T3 move will happen at the same time as BA's - it doesn't make any sense otherwise. There was a post on the BA board a week or so ago saying that it wasn't now going to be until October 2009. But T4 does have A380 facilities - that's all been put in place, apparently.

number_6

BA has delayed the move from T1 to T3 by one month (from Jan 27 to Feb 25 2009). These are the IB and AY codeshares, so not directly relevant to QF (but indicative of the slippage).

BA is showing T4 in use for QF flights through Nov 2009 but has not announced an official schedule. It does look like it is a year away (judging by the progress in T3).

T4 does have 2 gates that are A380 capable (and 4 remote stands for A380). I think it is by Gate 6. The baggage carousel has been extended (to 90m) to accomodate A380 arrivals in T4. VS/SQ had a new wing built in T3 (ready 2006) which holds 4 gates that are A380 capable. Rather ironically the brand new T5 has a mere 4 gates for the A380 -- the satellite will have to be modified to add more A380 gates. The T4 upgrade was essential as VS was planned to move to T4 from T3 (and had paid for part of the cost of the new A380 gates in T3). I suppose this takes some pressure off QF and BA for moving from T4 to T3, esp. if the T3 facilities are strained (baggage handling is a big problem there for the next year at least). I'd say there is a good chance that it will be 2010 before QF moves into T3.

serfty

THE BA SIN/BKK and QF flights were originally scheduled to move late next month.

This has now been put back to Oct next year at the earliist.

number_6

Best I can tell BA has not announced any dates; QF certainly has not. So the Oct 2009 date is pure speculation (perhaps informed, perhaps not). I guess T4 will start to improve now (the construction of the new check-in area was just capped off, so the interior work can start). By the time QF leaves T4 it will start to be a nice terminal (and then QF moves to the shambles that T3 will then be). QF really got the raw end of the deal with BA at LHR this time round.

Globaliser

The date comes from this post by a BA insider who IIRC has been the first to give us information about things that have subsequently been officially confirmed.

It's definitely a bad deal for QF in this. But if October 2009 is confirmed, one hopes that they might push for some interim improvements; some of the facilities might have been tolerable for a couple of months but not for a whole year. The main consolation is that BA's premium passengers on these routes are suffering from almost exactly the same problems, so it's not like QF is being specifically picked on (other than that incomprehensible carve-out for Arrivals Lounge access).

serfty

See the following post:As far as I can tell, xxxxx is a Heathrow/BA insider who's information is very reliable.

So I would say - informed!

AusEuroFlyer

I'm considering routing all my LHR-Australia flights via NRT (BA/QF or BA/JAL) to avoid using T4 because I would much rather use T5 than T4.

thadocta

There is also the option of HKG, using BA or CX LHR-HKG.

Dave

number_6

An excellent suggestion; SYD-HKG-LHR is off the great circle route by just a few miles (surprisingly), so it is actually a better way to go than the traditional kangaroo route (via SIN or BKK). The only reason it wasn't always used was past geopolitics. Now the sanest routing is via HKG and you do get the choice of CX HKG-LHR (better onboard) or BA (T5 arrival vs. T3). NRT is a lot further and a worse airport.

AusEuroFlyer

A good suggestion, although I was thinking of NRT because I can do a few days' stopover and pop into Tokyo to catch up with some friends.

I might well try the HKG option though, thanks for reminding me.

TIMP

I personally perfer the HKG option as if you get the flights right from MEL you arrive at a VERY civilised time at LHR as opposed to OMG o'clock in the morning.

AusEuroFlyer

LOL @ OMG o'clock in the morning!

I quite liked arriving at those hours when I had a meeting on the day of arrival and could access the Arrivals Lounge because I could have a shower, get changed, have my clothes pressed, have a breakfast and then head off to a meeting directly from the airport.

Nowadays, I'm not-so-keen on those OMG o'clock in the morning arrival.

QF Flyer 84

Leaving London mid-Dec had to be one of the easiest, best experiences ever.

No waiting to check in, no lines at security, didn't even have to visit the lounge as they started to board.

The Qantas staff and the systems they have in place now are much better than when BA was there and handling their operations. The longer they are in T4 by themselves the better.

serfty

Note that BA still operate out of T4 so it's not all Qantas.

In fact, during the evenings BA fly BA9, BA11 and BA15 to Asia, while Qantas operate QF2 and QF10.