Qantas partner and oneworld member Qatar Airways will bring its award-winning business class product, Qsuite, to Perth later this year.

In a recently filed update to its schedule, the carrier has swapped the A380 currently operating on the Doha-Perth route daily to a Boeing 777-300ER with Qsuite from 12 September to 12 December 2019. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this extended into 2020.

While this does mean the loss of first class, which is available only on the A380, it’s more than made up for with Qsuite. Widely regarded as the world’s best business class, the Perth route will become the second in Australia to host the product, after Sydney.

Qsuite features the first-ever double bed in business class …

… as well as private cabins for up to four people that allow passengers to create their own private “room” – a first of its kind in aviation.

These features provide the most customisable travel experience you can have in the air.

Qatar Airways is also well regarded for its service and dining on board.

Unfortunately I can’t see any award seats available for those looking to book with points, but it’s something to keep an eye on moving forward.

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The global airline alliance oneworld, which counts Qantas as a member, is celebrating its 20th birthday, and one of the announcements made around the festivities is the roll out of alliance-branded and managed airport lounges later this year.

Collectively, oneworld member airlines offer more than 650 airport lounges worldwide. All of these lounges are currently owned, branded and operated by member airlines individually or by third-parties on their behalf. At some airports, several member airlines offer multiple lounges, even in the same terminals, all accessible to the alliance’s top-level customers.

oneworld CEO Rob Gurney added: “By working together, it may be feasible at some locations for our members to offer customers improved facilities – bigger and better lounges than they could justify individually.”

A number of airports are now being considered for the development of the first lounge to be branded as “oneworld” and managed by the alliance on behalf of its member airlines with the location of the first due to be unveiled later in 2019.

In the meantime, the number of critical co-locations projects at key airports worldwide being managed by the alliance is increasing. These include:

• Beijing:  oneworld member airlines are evaluating options to operate from the new Beijing Daxing International Airport with a goal to achieve a much higher level of colocation. Ten alliance carriers – American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, S7 Airlines and SriLankan – currently offer around 175 flights a week at Beijing
• Sao Paulo:  All five oneworld member airlines serving GRU are working with the airport authority there with the aim of co-locating all of their domestic, regional and international operations in the new Terminal 3A, which is slated to open in the mid-2021. Five alliance carriers operate there – the airport’s biggest home carrier LATAM, plus American Airlines, British Airways, Iberia and Qatar Airways – offering nearly 1,000 departures a week, with services split between two different terminals.
• London Heathrow:  With 12 of oneworld’s 13 established member airlines operating there, LHR is the alliance’s biggest connecting hub worldwide. Because of the size of their operation and the nature of the airport, they are currently based in three of its four passenger terminals. With plans for a third runway, oneworld and its member airlines are progressing discussions with the airport operator to strengthen the alliance proposition there. Meantime, enhanced alliance facilities are being rolled out at Terminal 3, where nine oneworld airlines operate, including improved check-in, along with better shared self-service kiosks, plans for e-gates and facial recognition technology.
• Frankfurt:  With the new Terminal 3 scheduled to open in late 2023, the 10 oneworld airlines currently flying there are in discussion with the airport authority on potential alliance opportunities.  At present, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, JAL, LATAM, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian and S7 offer 175 flights a week from the airport.

The new oneworld lounges will presumably be accessible to Qantas gold and platinum status holders as well as passengers travelling in business and first class.

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As I suspected would happen, Qantas has today confirmed that customers booked on a Qantas Points award ticket in business or first class for a flight operated by Emirates will no longer be eligible for Emirates’ complimentary chauffeur drive service from 1 March 2019.

Emirates recently axed the service on its own award tickets and upgrades.

This has been one of the key perks of flying Emirates business and first class. The complimentary chauffeur drive to and from the airport has been a very comfortable way to start and finish a trip, and much more convenient than having to worry about taxis or other transport options, especially when landing somewhere new.

I’ve enjoyed Emirates Chauffeur Drive many times when booking with Qantas Points. To me, this perk has helped offset the very high taxes and fees imposed on Emirates award tickets.

Qantas will honour all car bookings made on or before 1 March 2019 for travel on Emirates flights to 1 March 2020. If you have an eligible flight coming up, make sure to book your car by 1 March 2019.

Qantas’ own chauffeur service for select Qantas operated flights is unaffected.

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