South African Airways (SAA), a Star Alliance member, has had this Perth/Johannesburg route on its agenda for a while but has recently tweaked the timings in response to customer feedback. The route is scheduled to commence on Sunday, 28 April 2024, with the first flight from Johannesburg to Perth. It...

Australian Airline domestic services are the best they have been since before COVID-19 and on time arrivals re matching that performance. In March 2024, 77% of domestic flights arrived ‘on time’ compared to 71% the month before, according to statistics release by the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics...

Remember the days when all fares were all inclusive? They all included meals and drinks and luggage. Call me a dinosaur, but I still remember those halcyon days. More choice, really? Presented as providing more choice, but really a way for AirNZ to make some more money, the airline has...

I’ve been wondering about Bonza Airlines for a while. Their email marketing campaigns seem to constantly offer AU$39 airfares or 30% off the cost of flights. These are bargains for customers, but does this look like an airline for the long haul? Many articles recently report that something is not...

Melbourne Airport is upgrading the security screening airport for Qantas Domestic passengers. But don’t hold your breath. Although work starts this week, it won’t be complete until December 2025. That’s more than 18 months away. The good news is that once implemented, passengers will no longer have to unpack their...

June will see the launch of a new route between Melbourne and Hangzhou, China by low-cost carrier, Beijing Capital Airlines. Hangzhou has a population of around 11 million souls, or about twice the number of residents of Melbourne. Routes between Australia and China have been slow to return to their...

For the first time, Valet Parking is available for travellers flying out of Adelaide Airport. Qantas customers used to be able to use a valet service provided by the airline up until 2020, when the pandemic put paid to that. “Our new valet at Adelaide Airport will offer a convenient...

South American airline LATAM is to return to four times a week direct flights between Sydney and Santiago, Chile flights from 28 October 2024. Currently, LATAM runs a Sydney to Santiago route via Auckland flight which surfaced in March 2022. The Flights The outbound flight leaves Sydney around midday, and...

Daily non-stop flights between Perth and London are being paused so they avoid Iranian airspace due to fears that the Islamic Republic is set to attack Israel imminently. Qantas is re-routing these flights to operate via a Singapore stop. This will be their route for the foreseeable future. It is...

Justice John Halley of the Federal Court has dismissed the invasive search case brought by five women against Qatar Airways. The lawsuit was launched in 2022, seeking damages for the alleged non-consensual intimate searches. And also for false imprisonment and their consequential mental health impacts. The strip searching of female...

Qantas is raising charges left right and centre at the moment. The latest increase is in baggage charges which joins increases in Qantas Club membership fees, charges for Row 4 seats as ‘extra legroom’, and we all hope finally, increased costs for points redemptions with the Classic Plus tier. I...

It looks like Qantas might be having some teething issues with its new Rewards booking engine, which is being used to accommodate the new Classic Plus bookings. I have been having a play with the booking engine in line with the ‘How To’ video Qantas has distributed. I keep coming...

No safety video was played on two Qantas flights in the last week. A recorded voice announcement of the safety instructions was delivered over the public address system. It was accompanied by a cabin crew demonstration of the procedures. Both flights were short-haul domestic between Adelaide and Sydney on Boeing...

Qantas doubles the points required for the new Classic Plus rewards redemption tier. But it quadruples the number of seats available. As previously reported, Qantas has introduced a new tier for flight redemption by frequent flyers using their accumulated points. The airline claims the change is ‘the biggest ever expansion...