QANTAS B737 LAX-AKL-SYD ???

[G&T ice n slice]

Anyone out there got any idea why my computer insists on telling me that QANTAS are operating a B737 nonstop LAX-AKL ?

baffled

[Capetonian]

'Your computer' isn't telling you anything. What are you accessing to obtain this wrong information?

QF schedules show this as a 330-200 configured 36/199

[G&T ice n slice]

being a freight person I'm actually looking at the QF schedules for freight
Welcome to Qantas Freight (http://www.qantas.com.au/qfreight/qfe/home/au/en)
& fill in the flight information boxes with from = LAX and to=MEL
and you get 1 x A380 plus 1xB737-800(winglets) daily

[SpringHeeledJack]

Must be a discrete VVIP flight making sure all the Aussie actors in Hollywood are kept supplied with tinnies of the homeland brews ;)



SHJ

[MidlandDeltic]

The 737s show one stop - suggest it is widebody LAX-SYD, then connecting 738 to MEL. Presumably specifies 738 due to cargo size constraints.

MD

[woollcott]

Actually, its a brand new 737-800 on its delivery flight. I beleive it is VH-VZT or close to that.
Of course it is not direct - it stops at HNL and Nandi and somewhere else on the way.......

[G&T ice n slice]

I've been jiggering about with their system & come to the conclusion that it's one of these computer-generated virtual flights & yes, the system pulls in the "smallest" aircraft type. So it actually involves a trans-shipment but is being presented as a direct flight.
Which for cargo is a silly way to present things, cargo doesn't walk itself from one aircrft to another.

[MidlandDeltic]

I've been jiggering about with their system & come to the conclusion that it's one of these computer-generated virtual flights & yes, the system pulls in the "smallest" aircraft type. So it actually involves a trans-shipment but is being presented as a direct flight.


Not sure I follow. If there are size/weight constraints on cargo for one sector of a journey, it makes sense to highlight that in the planning stage - therefore specifying the most restrictive aircraft for the whole route. Therefore, it is a sensible way of specifying it for cargo, as the end user does not need to know further information.

Which for cargo is a silly way to present things, cargo doesn't walk itself from one aircrft to another.

Don't understand this - the airline moves it from one aircraft to another. For the customer, they may choose an altwernative flight to reduce / avoid risks of trans-shipment (damage, missed connections etc).

MD

[G&T ice n slice]

Sorry, perhaps not well put

Example
I'm in LAX, my client is in MEL, I need to get a spare part to him.

So I put it on the QF26 LAX-MEL.

It gets off loaded at AKL, transhiped to the connecting flight AL-MEL
All's well, everyone happy

In Real Life: 55% of the time the above is what happens
in the other 45% : (a) the flight leaves LAX late, arrives AKL late
pax connection probably works, cargo connexion doesn't, everyone unhappy
(b) everything on time, snafu with the connection, cargo sitting at AKL should be at MEL, everyone unhappy. (c) etc etc etc

i.e. with cargo don't show "virtual" direct services when there is in fact a transhipment/change-of-guage.

[MidlandDeltic]

Yep. As I said therefore, if the customer is worried about this s/he chooses the no stop option. No tran-shipment issue. Problem solved!

[G&T ice n slice]

arrrrrrr weeerrllll

perhaps if you read my 1st post, you would have realised that what their automated system shows is that the QF26 runs LAX-MEL direct, which it doesn't, but you have to spot that there is a change-of-gauge.

rather than 2 lines
(1) LAX-AKL QF26
(2) AKL-MEL (jetconnect flight number)

I doubt that this transhipment would actually work for cargo

[MidlandDeltic]

Yes, but it tells you there is one stop which is a trans-shipment (as most people ivolved would understand a 737-800 would not make tha journey). If you don't want that, you book on QF94, which makes no stops. That is the point I was making.

[G&T ice n slice]

play around with their system for a while....

transhipments show up as 2 different lines - 1 line origin to transhipment point and 1 line from transhipment point

in their system schedule selection screen there is also a 'tick' box for "direct flights"
So, you fill in origin/destination as LAX-MEL and you tick the direct flight box
and you are presented with the QF26 LAX-MEL as a direct flight

not an indirect flight as a transhipment, not 2 lines showing the route with the changes

presenting a direct flight which is a transhipment - which is rubbish.

but when it's the end of a long day, the reaction is "good grief a 737 with 1 stop to MEL?"