Qantas: Brings forward international flying to 14 November

Following the Prime Minister’s announcement today, that international borders would open in ‘weeks’, Qantas has interpreted this as meaning borders will be open from 14 November. And let’s face it, Alan Joyce is more likely to have a direct line to Scotty from marketing than I am.

Qantas will start with 3 weekly return flights from Sydney to London, and 3 from Sydney and Los Angeles, both using Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners. More will be added, as demand most certainly increases. And you may get to go via Darwin since WA still has closed borders.

If I was Qantas, just like Qatar, I’d be planning on getting those A380’s out of desert storage sooner rather than later.

Points Planes

All the flights and all seats in the first week will be able to be accessed as Classic Flight Reward seats. You can access them as regular flight bookings, but hey what else are you going to do with that package of points you’ve been saving! Mind you in my quick search – trying to get a Classic Flight Reward seat on the way home was almost impossible – well to London at least.

Booker beware

Just remember that the 14 November date has not been confirmed, so until it is – you are potentially risking points and dollars, mind you Qantas is being fairly flexible about this with fee-free date changes, but with the proviso that you will need to meet any change fare charges

Only the vaccinated

Remember that Qantas is a Vaxed Only airline – you need to be double vaccinated and be able to prove it to board. Don’t forget you will need to home quarantine for 7 days at least on return back to Australia if the current trials are approved, or as determined by Federal and NSW governments. If you need to head interstate from NSW – then you will need to obey whatever state border restrictions are current, and that could mean double quarantine.

December is ‘as you were’

Bookings and routes from 18 December 2021 stand, but additional routes may be planned especially if other states change their border and quarantine requirements.

“We welcome the Federal Government’s decision and the work by the New South Wales Government to facilitate the home quarantine approach that makes this feasible. We look forward to other States and Territories getting on board.

“We’d already sold out some of our international flights for December and seen strong demand on flights to and from London and Los Angeles, so we’re confident there will be a lot of interest in these earlier services.Alan Joyce Qantas Group CEO

Prices and eligibility

You will need to be an Australian citizen, or a permanent resident or immediate family or some visa holder classes to travel, and SYD-LAX will set up back AU$1,662 for economy and for SYD-LHR – AU$1,869

Fares are now on sale for Australian citizens, permanent residents and their immediate families and some visa holders. Fares start from $1662 return for Sydney-Los Angeles and $1869 return for Sydney-London.

2PAXfly Takeout

This is another timely reminder to wear your seatbelt when seated. Holding you close to your seat will protect you from the sort of injuries sustained on this flight, when unsecured passengers flew to the ceiling of the aircraft, and then came crashing down once the ‘drop’ ceased.

The hope will be that this is an anomaly – a ‘freak accident’ in casual parlance. If it is a systemic error either mechanical or electronic, then this is a larger concern for the airlines that fly Boeing Dreamliner 787 aircraft. Let’s hope it isn’t. If it is, it will pile on the woes to Boeing’s existing stack.

Be still my beating heart! This is great news. But, does it mean I’ll get to New Zealand in November?

I better bone up on testing and entry requirements for the USA and UK too. As of 4 October, as long as you don’t come from a RED listed country and Australia isn’t, all you need is a pre-departure COVID test, and a test within 48 hours of arrival in the UK and to fill in a Passenger Locator Form!