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.

To get news like this delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter:

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.

To get news like this delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter:

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.

To get news like this delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter:

Emirates will cut yet more of its Australian services, with the confirmation today that its daily Sydney-Bangkok-Dubai flight (EK418/419) will be cancelled effective 31 May 2019.

This news comes just a few months after the airline downgraded the aircraft on this route from an A380 to a Boeing 777.

Emirates has operated this route since 2005 and it’s a shame to see it go. The Sydney-Bangkok flight was one of my favourite ways of travelling to Thailand and it was also one of the most accessible ways to experience Emirates’ business and first class products using Qantas Points.

Emirates will continue to operate three daily Sydney-Dubai services.

In other news, Emirates will also slash the number of flights between Perth and Dubai. The airline currently operates two flights on most days of the week, but as of 31 March 2019 this will be reduced to just one daily service. Fortunately it will be on an A380, and I expect that will be the current EK420/421 flight.

Award seat availability used to be better from Perth than other Australian cities, but sadly that will likely change now.

Affected passengers will no doubt soon be hearing from their airline or travel agent.

To get news like this delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter:

Singapore Airlines has announced a number of changes to its KrisFlyer frequent flyer program, which happens to be one of my favourites.

There’s both good news and bad news for members. Much of the commentary I’ve seen has focused on the small increase in the points required for an award seat, however that’s balanced out with some adjustments that are positive for customers.

Let’s dig in.

‘Double upgrade’ from economy to business class

Customers can now upgrade direct from economy to business class on aircraft that feature a premium economy cabin.

The number of KrisFlyer miles required for an economy to business upgrade will be the same for aircraft with or without a premium economy cabin.

Improved calendar search function

From 31 January 2019, you’ll be able to view available redemptions on the KrisFlyer website across a seven-day window.

By clicking the ‘Flexible travel dates’ box during a redemption search, availability will be shown for flights three days before and after the selected date.

Certainty for waitlisted redemptions

Singapore Airlines allows you to go on a waitlist in some cases if no award seats are available at the time of searching. Right now, you can be waiting until almost the time of departure to hear whether you got a seat.

From the second quarter of 2019, customers will be informed of the outcome 14 days before the flight. This will remove uncertainty and provide time to make alternative travel plans should the waitlist not be successful.

This sounds sensible, but I hope it doesn’t mean the airline will be more stingy with granting those waitlisted seats.

Waitlists for upgrades will continue to be available up to the point of departure.

Discounted redemptions for last minute travel

Due to popular demand, KrisFlyer Spontaneous Escapes will be made a permanent program feature from February 2019.

This initiative offers significant discounts off Saver redemption rates each month to selected destinations across the Singapore Airlines and SilkAir network, for travel the following month.

Revisions to Singapore Airlines and SilkAir Award and Upgrade Charts

This is where the bad news lies. More points will be required for award seats and upgrades in first, business and premium economy classes from 24 January 2019.

The changes aren’t huge – mostly 5-10% – but they’re still annoying to see, especially since there was a KrisFlyer devaluation less than two years ago.

There will be no changes to economy award pricing.

The new award chart is available here while the new upgrade chart is located here.

To get news like this delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter: