Cathay Pacific will start direct flights from Hong Kong to Brussels, Dublin and Copenhagen from March next year. More choices for Australians going to different parts of Europe with only a short stopover in HK if you fly from Sydney and Melbourne in the afternoon.
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I’d rather do Dublin via London then direct.
United Airlines will launch an ultra long haul flight from Sydney to Houston from 20 Jan 2018 using a Boeing 787-9. It will be the 2nd longest flight by a Dreamliner.
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Virgin Australia’s Melbourne-Hong Kong service will increase from 5 times weekly to daily from November 12. Although departure times vary, the Friday flight from Hong Kong to Melbourne will be very popular because it is the only flight leaving at mid evening (8.45pm), with the Qantas service leaving at 6.05pm and Cathay Pacific departing at 7.05pm and 0.05am. All are Hong Kong times.
OK, so entered in the Comrades Marathon in 2018 but now that I know what to expect re:customs I’m looking to do something different to this year (arrive in Durban Thursday Morning, heading straight from airport to the event expo). So far my options are, keeping in mind I’ve booked the room in Durban on Wednesday (And this year the start line is in Pietermaritzburg and finishes at the Soccer Stadium about 2 miles from my motel)
- Depart Australia Sunday, trying to get to Cape Town on Monday before commuting to Durban
- Depart Perth on Monday, “overnighting” in Johannesburg (hard when you arrive at 4:50 AM I know) before commuting to Durban
- Depart Melbourne or Perth on Tuesday, connecting to Durban on the same booking without any overnight stopovers (Virgin FF, if I was a Qantas FF I’d depart ex-Sydney and go direct to Joburg), as per this year’s flight
- Depart from Brisbane and go via Singapore/Abu Dhabi
It is a long way out I know, but am interested in what may be the best option?
TIGERAIR Australia has announced a partnership with Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation to provide seat-back inflight entertainment across its entire Boeing 737 fleet. The deal, which also includes Fox Networks Group, will involve new slim-line leather seats with extra storage and a tablet/phone holder on the back of headrests. Recently released movies and TV shows will be provided on a pay-per-view basis, while other destination-based content and music will be free. Passengers will view movies on their own devices or laptops, using a Tigerair app
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Weird decision by VA considering they have no plans to implement seat-back IFE on its 737 fleet.
Strange for only the budget brand to get it, even if it’s just pay per view content.
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With only 3 737s in the fleet, it wouldn’t take long to fit out.
Spot the mistake/s on Google Maps - How many Isis Rivers are there according to Google? is this sort or error common? Note - I believe that only 2 of the labels are correct
Very common on Google Maps - it’s also extremely difficult to report mistakes these days and actually get them to act on it. A long way from the days where Google Map Maker existed.
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The first Qantas 787 was unveiled in Seattle on Monday (Tuesday morning in Australia). The plane has been named Great Southern Land and Iva Davies (lead singer of Icehouse which performed the song of the same name) was invited to the ceremony. The plane has no first class, and each economy seat offers an extra inch of seat pitch compared to the same class on Qantas A380.
The new 787 has larger windows with dimmer switches rather than blinds. Will this mean safety announcements need to be modified so passengers are asked to press the button to lighten the windows during take off and landing?
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No, the crew can control all of the windows from their panel in the galley.
Can passengers override the window controls? For example, during a long trip during daylight the crew wants to dim the windows but some passengers sitting next to the window want to have sunlight.
No. When you fly now they ask you to shut the blinds at certain times during the flight. The rest of the time they prefer you to leave them open.
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The crew controls override the individual buttons at each window.
But the good thing about the tinted windows is that you can just about see through them even at their darkest setting so on those long “overnight” flights which fly through daylight (like to/from the US) you can still enjoy a bit of the view without disturbing others who are trying to sleep. It’s not much but it’s still better than having a blank shade for 13+ hours.
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Future plans for Qantas
- Qantas has confirmed that the B747-400s will be replaced by the B787-9 on the Brisbane to Los Angeles and New York route during end of 2018.
- Daily telegraph told that Qantas would see ultra-long-haul flights connecting from the East Coast to Rio/New York in 2022. For an ultra-long-haul flight, Qantas will either use a Boeing 777-8x or the Airbus A350ULR.
- According to AusBT writer, David Flynn, he told that Qantas will fly from Perth to Paris somewhere in 2020. They will use a Dreamliner to connect from these two places.
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QANTAS has estimated that a direct Sydney to London flight (when it reportedly starts in 2022) would take 20 hours 20 mins.
I don’t think I could handle this… The longest direct flight I’ve done is Sydney to Los Angeles (both directions) at about 14 hours and that is painful enough.
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Cathay Pacific will commence A350 scheduled services to Perth this Sunday. This service will eventually replace the A330. It will be the first time that Perth will have A350 passenger services.
But on other hand, is there possibility that Qantas can revive Perth-HK flights in the future? I know that Qantas stopped flying Perth-HK in late Mar 2013 with the restructuring of the airline.
More chance of them expanding their Auckland (currently seasonal) & Singapore (daily, often running on 737s) services (let alone potential additional European services) before they consider returning to other asian locations that they flew to ex PER in the past.
Yep. Especially with Perth > London coming back in, Auckland makes a lot of sense to expand to year round.