Qantas Frequent Flyer and Air NZ Airpoints both charge join fees in their home markets (and some other parts of the world).  They can both be avoided, at the moment.

View from the Wing refers to the Flyer Talk thread on signing up to Qantas via Woolworths Everyday Rewards, or having a US address (for example).

For Air NZ Airpoints, NZ residents can avoid the fee by using the code APFRIEND and signing up by 31 May 2010. Residents of UK (and some other countries) are not charged the join fee in the first place.

I’ve been fortunate enough to fly in business class on A380 on all the airlines which operate it excluding Air France. I think it may be useful having a comparison between the three products.

In each case, the A380 business class is the best business class offering of the relevant airline. Singapore Airlines even has restricted bookings in this class to require a surcharge on paid fares on many routes, double mileage cost in their Kris Flyer program and no awards for other Star Alliance frequent flyer programs (other than Lufthansa Miles and More).

Emirates between Auckland and Sydney

source: Emirates

Qantas between Sydney and Singapore

source: Qantas

Singapore Airlines between Singapore and Tokyo Narita for example.

source: Singapore Airlines

On the ground

On the ground treatment of A380 business class passengers is standard fare (for business class).  The only stand-out is Emirates which offers airport limo transfers at both ends for business class (and first class) passengers on most routes (including trans-Tasman).

Qantas in Sydney and Melbourne, and Emirates in Sydney, also have a priority security queue for first class, business class and frequent flyer elite passengers. At Singapore security is processed at the gate, and the gates used by A380 do not have a priority lane.

In air amenities

The treatment in the air is also standard for each airline’s business class. So pre-depature bubbles or water, nice food & drink, hot towels. Qantas offers pajamas on some longhaul flights. Qantas and Emirates have a full amenity kit while Singapore Airlines has socks and eyeshades (with other amenities in the bathroom). Note due to the short flight duration, my Emirates flights did not offer pajamas or the normal amenity kit.

On all three airlines noise cancelling headphones are used. Qantas hands out the headphones after take-off and also doesn’t switch on the IFE (except for the tail camera) until well after take-off, Emirates hands out the headphones before departure so you can start watching movies straight away, whilst Singapore Airlines doesn’t hand out headphones until after departure but the IFE is available to watch once the safety video has finished.

The seats

Emirates business class A380 seats are partially enclosed and in staggered layout. I found them claustrophobic (despite not having problems with the fully enclosed first class suites on a number of airlines) and also there is a tight squeeze for the table since it is not very adjustable.  The side table provides plenty of space. The seats are fully flat. Emirates has a business class bar where you can meet fellow passengers in some comfort while drinking or nibbling.

Qantas business class A380 seats are a slightly modified version of their skybed seats found on their other longhaul aircraft. The main difference is this version is fully lie flat whereas the other version (which will be phased out during 2011) is not. This means the seat in front is also further away.  As an added extra, Qantas has a small business class lounge (which doubles as an emergency bed) with large screen, some magazines and a comfy couch.

Singapore Airlines business class A380 seats are very similar to the “new” business class seats found on their 77W and A345 aircraft. The differences are trivial width and length differences. For those unfamiliar, the seat is rather wide for business class but with short pitch. The fully flat bed operates by bringing up a flat surface to the seat in front, with a cubby hole to put your feet in – the length of the bed is thus diagonal along the seat. There are cubby holes to put things and the tray table has generous dimensions.  The monitor is very large for business class, but some people find it too close (due to the shorter pitch).

How can you experience A380 business class for low cost?

Emirates flies A380 between Auckland and Sydney with business class fares under US$500 return when on sale. iscounted fare and award availability for business class is good on Emirates A380.

Qantas longhaul business class fares are rarely cheap. Look for British Airways Club World sales on the kangaroo route – thanks to the joint services agreement these fares are also valid on Qantas flights (on the BA codeshare).  Mileage redemptions generally require booking well in advance 330-360 days ahead of travel, or close to departure.

Singapore Airlines heavily restricts A380 business class from awards. Best option is to book the A380 flights between Singapore and Hong Kong on a paid fare.

Summary

I was very disappointed with the Emirates A380 business class (see also my trip report), but both Qantas and Singapore Airlines have great products.

Gary Leff on View from the Wing today wrote about transfers at San Francisco (SFO) or Los Angeles (LAX), and in particular about which is better for travellers flying to/from Australia and NZ.  This is a subject I am very familiar with, more than I’d like to be, since I travel between Australasia and USA and Europe several times a year – and SFO and LAX happen to be the most convenient gateways or transit points to use.  So I have lots of experience, but too much to put into a comment on Gary’s post. I hope he doesn’t mind this piggyback post.

Both Star Alliance and Oneworld have options for both SFO and LAX to both Australia and New Zealand – except there is no direct Oneworld flight between SFO and New Zealand. Skyteam only has the Delta flight from LAX to Sydney.

Why use SFO?

For me, the main reason for flying through San Francisco is the far easier immigration process for non Americans. While I have sometimes been stuck behind a few hundred others at SFO immigration, I have never waited more than an hour. At LAX, the immigration lottery sometimes sees well over a thousand people in the queue ahead of me and a wait at immigration alone of more than an hour with further lengthy wait at customs (those thousand people have managed to get their checked bags in the time you’ve been waiting).

If the connection is long then it is quick and very easy to hop on the BART and spend some time exploring the city, meeting friends or shopping.

Transfers are also fairly simple at SFO due to the design of the terminals and smaller size.  Even though some require going back through security this is generally quick in my experience. International connections within an alliance are straight forward (or rather as simple as any in USA – other countries which don’t require immigration for international transit are simpler still).  International to domestic connections or vice versa are also fairly easy.

Why use LAX?

As Gary writes, the main reason for transferring through LAX is the far greater flight options.  SFO has relatively few flights to/from Australia and New Zealand whereas LAX has plenty.  American and United both have lots of routes from Los Angeles.  Alliance partners also have more international flights at LAX than at SFO.  Not only are there more routes, but also more flights which means greater availability and more chance I can get a flight closely matching my preferred schedule. 

Note for both LAX & SFO there are the constraints that most USA to Australia/NZ flights leave late evening, most flights NZ to USA leave in the evening and most flights Australia to USA leave in the afternoon.  Taking Auckland to LAX as an example – there is a choice of an afternoon flight on Qantas, an early evening flight on Air New Zealand or a mid evening flight on Air New Zealand. If none of those times suit you can fly via Australia leaving NZ in the morning and arrive in LAX early morning instead of later in the day, or via Vancouver leaving NZ late evening.

The airline lounges at LAX are much nicer, at least for the airlines I fly. When I fly Air New Zealand or Air Canada there is the great Air New Zealand lounge in T2 – probably the best lounge of all at LAX and one of the best anywhere in USA.  American and Qantas have a great lounge in T4.  Star Alliance and Oneworld lounges in TBIT are average – not terrible, but not great either.  Compare this to SFO where both Oneworld and Star Alliance have very mediocre lounges.  Although the Singapore Airlines lounge at SFO is nice it is only open for limited hours (often not coinciding with flights Down Under).

Weather at LAX rarely delays or cancels flights, whereas I’ve had a whole day waiting in vain to fly to SFO when rain or fog closed the airport.

My choice

While the LAX immigration and transfer processes are downright unpleasant I almost always fly via LAX. The other advantages are just too good to outweigh the negatives. If SFO had nicer lounges and more flight options then I would probably switch.

In the meantime I’m also looking out for news on new routes between Down Under and airports east of California – Chicago or Dallas for Oneworld, Chicago or Houston for Star Alliance. They’ve been talked about for years but so far have not eventuated.

Qantas has advised of planned configuration changes to A380 and 747 aircraft between late 2011 and late 2013. Currently all their A380 and 747 aircraft have 4 cabins (first, business, premium economy and economy), except for 7 747 aircraft with 2 classes of service. There are 3 different 747 configurations. Ultimately there will be 2 A380 configurations and 1 747 configuration.

Some A380 to keep first class, some configured with 3 class seating

The existing 6 A380, plus the next 6 to be delivered, will continue to have all four classes of service. However there will be less business class seats and more premium economy and economy class seats. Exact configuration is yet to be disclosed.  These 12 aircraft will operate exclusively on the following routes:

• Sydney to Los Angeles
• Melbourne to Los Angeles
• Sydney to London Heathrow via Singapore
• Melbourne to London Heathrow via Singapore

The extra 8 A380 will have no first class cabin. The new seating configuration is yet to be disclosed.

All 747s to be 3 class

The current fleet will eventually be reduced to 9 aircraft, all of which will have no first class cabin.

Other changes include a switch to the new version of business class seats (same as those already installed on A380) to be fully lie flat instead of the current flat on an angle, upgrade to inflight entertainment system (presumably to the same software as is on the A380), and changes in the number of seats. There will be a reduction of 8 business class seats, an extra 4 premium economy seats, and an extra 78 economy class seats.  The changes in seat numbers are all relative to the current 747-400ER seating configuration since these are 6 of the 9 aircraft which will remain in the fleet.

Routes that lose Qantas first class service

The following routes either currently have first class service and will lose it some time in 2011, 2012 or 2013; or used to have first class but with a current suspension:

• Sydney to London Heathrow via Bangkok
• Melbourne to London Heathrow via Hong Kong
• Sydney to Buenos Aires
• Sydney to Hong Kong
• Sydney to Johannesburg
• Sydney to New York via Los Angeles
• Sydney to San Francisco

Significant reduction in premium seating

Premium cabin (first and business class) awards and points upgrades on Qantas flights will be tougher. Operational upgrades should also be less likely.

The changes will see the end of the current practice whereby on certain routes seating is in a higher cabin but with the service for the cabin you pay for.  Eg some passengers seated in premium economy seats with economy service, others seated in business class seats with premium economy service, and others seated in first class seats with business class service.

Positive aspects

The news is not all bad for frequent flyers.

Business class will be lie flat on 747.  IFE improvements are always welcome. More premium economy and economy class seats means potentially better fares and more sales to keep them filled.

There may be some opportunities during the transition period to improve your seating, at least if you have Oneworld elite status. This is because first class will have to be discontinued for sale ahead of when the seats are removed in order to avoid costly disappointment for passengers paying many thousands of dollars for first class travel.

The other day a friend was commenting to me on how much his flying patterns had changed in the 8 months since Qantas was replaced with their low cost subsidiary Jetstar on New Zealand domestic (and some trans-Tasman) routes.  Like me, he was on the final Qantas domestic flight last year.  Well over 80% of his (extensive) domestic travel has switched to Air NZ.

It is not hard to understand why there is a big change. The domestic airline lounges are closed and replaced by pay per use lounges. The great Jetconnect crew are gone. The simple fares are replaced with a lower base fare and a vast array of surcharges and fees. The flight schedules are still not great. Customer service is poor, with many reports of passengers denied boarding due to check in queues, passengers misconnecting with Qantas international flights and left to buy a new ticket, difficulties in obtaining refunds, and so on.

I had a look at my own travel record and noticed I’ve not only flown much less Qantas group flights within New Zealand but also my international travel with Qantas has similarly mostly switched to other airlines.  In the 3 years prior to the change, I flew 325 Qantas flights with a mixture of domestic, trans-Tasman and longhaul flights; and also a mixture of all cabin classes (almost all business or first class for the international flights).  In the past 8 months I’ve flown just 7 Qantas group flights. Even if I add in the 4 Qantas flights I will take over the next 4 months, my Qantas group travel has dropped from over 9 flights a month to under 1 a month – a 90% fall.

It seems I’m far from the only passenger to switch loyalty. The few times I have flown Qantas internationally the lounge at Auckland has been almost deserted. Elite and premium passengers within and to/from New Zealand have deserted in droves.