Qantas flies from Dallas to Brisbane
 

While it makes sense to use a One World Alliance hub, no frequent flyer miles are awarded on this flight in economy. Many of the flights I have seen with Air New Zealand do not offer frequent flyer miles with the Star Alliance program. Continental will start flying from Houston to Auckland soon, but flying on Continental just isn't the same as Air New Zealand, IMO.

The flight from Dallas to Brisbane is 16 hours on a 747. The return flight is from Sydney but the wind helps.

Yup. Easily the longest routes on any 747 to date. QF finally finds a route "worthy" of their 747-400ERs, which only they have in passenger version. 6 aircraft, I believe.

I am a little confused by the comment that on the Dallas to Brisbane route no FF points are awarded.
I have just put in dates for May - when I understand this service will have started - and it indicates that point are awarded for the very low fare - this is as a Qantas frequent flyer.
This was for the 'Sale' price.

You can get Qantas FF points but not miles with American Airlines, another One World Carrier. Perhaps if you fly Economy Plus, Business or First you can. I didn't check.

Ok - thanks for that - I guess as I am a Qantas member I didn't think about American Airlines.
Does this happen on other code share services?
Qantas plans to use American for a lot of different routes within the USA.

Air New Zealand has been running a lot of great specials but the economy price does not include miles with Star Alliance carriers. Continental (A Star Alliance airline) plans to start flying to Auckland soon, but Air New Zealand has been considered the best airline to fly from LAX to London in coach.

It all depends on fare class.

Airlines post which partner fare class earn on their FF program, and how much. For example, for QF tickets/flights earning AAdvantage miles:
http://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/pa...tasAirways.jsp

For NZ tickets/flights earning Onepass miles:
http://www.continental.com/CMS/en-US...spx?ItemId=405

If the fare class is not listed, it earns nothing. Applies to many "lowest fares". If miileage earning is important to you, you need to check those, and often have to buy the higher fares - on most airlines' website, that is possible when you search for "flexible fares" or enter the specific fare class. Some sites are easier than others, of course; and sometimes you may book via phone or other means.

It's Qantas' "Q" fare that doesn't earn AA miles. However, for $40 more you can upfare to "O" which does earn AA miles, albeit at a discounted rate (as with many Qantas economy fares.)

You didn't mention it, but simultaneously while launching SYD-DFW-BNE-SYD, Qantas is discontinuing SYD-SFO, much to the consternation of many people who work in the software business. Now they'll have to get to LAX (which many transpacific commuters hate with a passion) in order to use Oneworld metal to Oz.

Thanks to all - good to hear an explanation.

Have never had a problem so far , and we fly a lot with One World partners, but now that I think about it we usually check when booking that the points will be OK.

And yep gardyloo - I know quite a few people who are not looking forward to SFO no longer being an arrival port - a number of them being family who are living in USA at the moment.

I'm planning a flight from SYD to SFO late this year, and it's much to my consternation that the route is no longer non-stop on QF. Hate the thought of schlepping through LAX.

We can use AA FF miles to book this flight--correct?

Jane - yes.

Don't you think that Qantas would be better off to have Boeing 777 service to Vancouver, San Francisco and Dallas instead of the 747's, which have been discontinued to Vancouver and now San Francisco. Just my opinion. When they flew up to Vancouver, they had to stop in San Francisco and the Canadians didn't like going through U.S. Customs, so I was told by several.

My understanding that there wasn't nearly enough O/D traffic in Vancouver to justify the route, and the same for SFO. As for connecting traffic ex-YVR, there aren't any Oneworld carriers that offer intra-Canada service (and AA can't do it via the US owing to cabotage restrictions) so YVR was a dead-end.

IMO AA and Oneworld have totally surrendered on SFO/SJC which explains not only Qantas bailing but also the big de-emphasis on other AA routes from SFO.

Also in my view pax wanting to go to/through SFO will be well advised to use V Australia/Virgin America (which now interline) as Virgin America's schedules and products ex-SFO are far superior to those offered by AA.

(Doh. V Australia doesn't fly to SFO yet, so it would still be via LAX and TBIT. Sorry.)

QF is a fairly conservative company, and with a big ETOP hole in the Pacific, they decided early on to stick with 4-engined aircraft for their longest routes. Which is why they were the only airline to have ordered the passenger 747-400ER. But that was when oil was cheap.

They later realized the benefits of the twins, and have significantly number of 330, along with 787 orders. Probably too late to add 77Ws now, which does put them in an operation disadvantage with other airlines with 777.

Long thin routes like SYD-DFW are ideal for the 787-900s ordered by QF.

<I>Long thin routes like SYD-DFW are ideal for the 787-900s ordered by QF.<I>

I remain skeptical. You will have to drive some pretty big premiums to offset the poor utilization and high fuel costs. I have my doubts that this is achievable, particularly on routes to and from Oz.

SYD-DFW will work, and so will new UA's IAH-AKL. These are hub-to-hub routes among major alliances, and will generate enough business and high-fare customers. A SYD-DFW flight means you can get from SYD to almost any place in the US with a single connection.

I remain skeptical. There are, what, 35m people in all of Oceania? Just how much business travel is there? The poor utilization and efficiency hits you take on ULHs are nothing to sneeze at. And look at the recent price wars on LAX-SYD. Sorry, just don't see that many routes opening up. The IAH-AKL flight, especially, looks like a ridiculous stretch.

Right now, there's somehow enough business between SYD and LAX to have 6 flights a day, approximately:

QF - 744 and 388
UA - 744x2
DL - 77L
VA - 77W

How many of them actually going to Southern California only? A 787 that uses much less fuel than a 744 can definitely make a route like SYD-DFW works, since there are enough business and high-fare customers who will pay a little extra for a one-connection itinerary over a 2-connection ones.

Also, SYD-DFW isn't really THAT much futher than LAX. 1,100mi, or 15% longer.

The key is that QF knows exactly how much feed it's handing over to AA, and how many of those end up flying LAX-DFW on AA and then connect again; just as CO knows how much it is handing over to NZ. It's not like the execs just throw darts onto the map and see where they can go.

As for AKL-IAH, NZ now has 2x 744 daily to LAX, with one continuing to LHR. The US is a good place to connect from New Zealand to Europe, and CO already has non-stops to CDG, AMS and FRA, in addition to LHR.

A little off the subject, but have you noticed how airlines are now pushing their Alliances more. I saw several BA planes in London with "One World" painted on them. Also saw several Qantas planes with those words. Star Alliance is really strong now with the merger of Continenal and United you see "Star Alliance painted on their planes. On www.kayak.com, you can even click on the alliance you want to fly with when doing a price search.

<i>Also, SYD-DFW isn't really THAT much futher than LAX. 1,100mi, or 15% longer.</i>

Fuel burn doesn't increase linearly with distance. That 15% increase in distance is substantial in terms of costs.

<i>It's not like the execs just throw darts onto the map and see where they can go.</i>

No, but airline executives, particularly American ones, have a history of making significant mistakes in route planning and financial analysis.

<i>As for AKL-IAH, NZ now has 2x 744 daily to LAX, with one continuing to LHR. The US is a good place to connect from New Zealand to Europe, and CO already has non-stops to CDG, AMS and FRA, in addition to LHR.</i>

Let's not overstate the size of the AKL market. It handles something like 7m international passengers and 13m in total. It has absolutely zero service from European carriers and NZ serves exactly one European destination.

Yeah, I know they are both hubs and all, but MSP and CAN would be a bigger combined size, serving a bigger market, and serve more possible connections, yet I would still be skeptical of the viability of such a route.

<i>A little off the subject, but have you noticed how airlines are now pushing their Alliances more. I saw several BA planes in London with "One World" painted on them.</i>

With the growth of immunized JVs, the distinction between airline and alliance has become blurred. This is especially true in the TATL market. Delta literally doesn't care if you board a Delta, KLM, Air France, or Alitalia plane.

Yes, I know the fuel burn is not linear with distance, and personally, I am surprised myself about the new DFW with 744. But I am talking about it being a successful 787 route, with a much more efficient aircraft.

I guess we will just have to wait and see! Perhaps I'm just soured on the 787, given the continuous delays, the weight problems, and the almost certain 9-abreast squeeze in the back.

No kidding about the 787's delay. It's pretty amazing that a huge and "reputable" company with long history like Boeing could be so arrogant/naive with its original delivery schedule. I will tell you that even some of their best customers like Continental were totally disgusted by them.

One concern I have is that if you try to book American Airline tickets six months or more in advance, the prices can be extremely high; especially around holidays, and people often book flights to Australia six months in advance. I can fly to SFO or LAX for about $10 more than Dallas two months out, but six months out, it is often cheaper to fly to California from Florida. Also, as I mentioned earlier, if you book on United's website you will get FF miles but not with many of Qantas's coach classes.