Qantas and the 787-900
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Over the Pacific??
NZ I think has the best product (EX BNE anyway), that is if you can deal with the AKL transit....
VA Product I think is a touch better, more comfortable as a bed.
I do think Delta's offering is better also - I am a sucker for aisle access.
Like I said though - nothing wrong with the refit QF cabins, I was just wasn't overly happy with OJM and the ancient product.
NZ I think has the best product (EX BNE anyway), that is if you can deal with the AKL transit....
VA Product I think is a touch better, more comfortable as a bed.
I do think Delta's offering is better also - I am a sucker for aisle access.
Like I said though - nothing wrong with the refit QF cabins, I was just wasn't overly happy with OJM and the ancient product.
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Originally Posted by ghyde
OGJ was purchased by Boeing on 23/01/2015 and the registration has changed to N324BC
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The over 60's will be watching closely what the policy announcements will be by the LNP Government regarding Super taxation. If some of the changes being discussed become legislation then the ramifications could be significant. 100's could resign creating a training and recruitment nightmare. This could easily become the single biggest recruitment driver in the next few years.
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The over 60's will be watching closely what the policy announcements will be by the LNP Government regarding Super taxation. If some of the changes being discussed become legislation then the ramifications could be significant. 100's could resign creating a training and recruitment nightmare. This could easily become the single biggest recruitment driver in the next few years.
I don't know what the government has planned, but they are certainly talking about superannuation since putting a 15% GST in the too hard basket.
One thing is for certain. If they do start tinkering with super, any changes will likely hit those with large nest eggs, and those with large incomes stuffing as much into super as they can before retirement, the most. Any change will most certainly not benefit this cohort.
If I were a couple of years out from retirement, I'd certainly be taking the bird in the hand.
If they do start tinkering with super, any changes will likely hit those with large nest eggs, and those with large incomes stuffing as much into super as they can before retirement, the most. Any change will most certainly not benefit this cohort.
C441 I'm with you . However I think the changes will have little effect on pilots with 2 to 3 years to go.
I was fortunate enough to travel JFK-LAX-BNE on OJM a few weeks back in J and it was very very average. Nothing wrong with 744, but the seats & IFE were rubbish.
At the end of our holiday, we travelled home economy on a newly refurbed QF747. For the week leading up to the flight, the kids were getting all excited about playing video games for 14 hours non stop on the way home. It's all they talked about the night before we left.
The look on their faces when they saw they saw the IFE and realised that there were no games was heartbreaking. First world problems I know. Very much so, but now when they flick through magazines and see an emirates tail, they talk about the fun trip. Not a peep when they see the roo tail. Advertising and experience starts young. (Shell and Lego anyone?)
In case you missed it.
Read more: What a 16-hour non-stop flight on Qantas's Boeing 787 Dreamliner will be like
Follow us: @executivestyle on Twitter | executivestyleau on Facebook
What a 16-hour non-stop flight on Qantas's Boeing 787 Dreamliner will be like
In a little over a year, Qantas will add the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner to its fleet.
And in as little as two years, business travellers could be flying the advanced jet on non-stop routes from Sydney to Chicago, Melbourne to Dallas and possibly even Perth to London.
Those flights will top the 16 hour mark, representing a dramatic shift from journeys broken by stopovers due to the limits of other aircraft, such as as the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747.
So what will it be like to travel in the Red Roo's new ride, and how bearable would those longer trips be?
Luxurious configuration
Qantas gave its first hints earlier this month, with CEO Alan Joyce promising the Dreamliner would see "a very luxurious configuration" to match its very long-range routes.
This doesn't necessarily mean showers, bars and spas at 30,000 feet. If you want that, you'd better pony up north of $350 million for your own Boeing 787-9, and that's just for the jet – fancy fittings are extra.
What Joyce has tipped will include "a big business class and a big premium economy cabin", with the airline's latest generation of seats.
At the pointy end of the plane that'll mean the airline's highly-regarded Airbus A330 Business Suite, which is already tick-tacking on Australia's east-west and east coast 'triangle' route as well as most flights to Asia.
Refined and redesigned
Expect a refined and slightly redesigned version of this seat, based on traveller feedback since the seat debuted some 18 months ago.
With its direct aisle access, ample storage space, lie-flat bed and large personal video screen this is going to put the 'Dream' into the Dreamliner.
It'd still be nice if the Boeing 787 allowed some social space where travellers could get out of their seat to mix and mingle en route, but the plane's relatively modest footprint doesn't permit such creature comforts as you'll find on the A380 superjumbo.
Premium pitch
Behind the business class cabin Qantas will fit a smaller premium economy section, and behind that lies economy – of which Joyce says "we will be giving some very good seat pitch for economy seats given the the lengths we'll be flying."
That's a good sign even if the seats themselves will be ranked nine-across, in a 3-3-3 arrangement which means three of those usually unwanted middle seats per row.
But smart developments in seat design are freeing up more room down the back of the bus.
For example, advanced materials and manufacturing allows for seats to be thinner without sacrificing comfort and all-important lower back support, while the pocket for the safety card, magazines and barf bags can be relocated higher up the seat.
Such tweaks can easily add more than than inch around the knees – and that's where passengers find it's needed the most.
Add the Boeing 787's other passenger-friendly traits – clearer air, higher cabin pressure to provide greater humidity and oxygen for reduced inflight fatigue and jet-lag, and an overall smoother ride – and that 16 hour flight may not be quite the torture chamber that you'd think.
In a little over a year, Qantas will add the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner to its fleet.
And in as little as two years, business travellers could be flying the advanced jet on non-stop routes from Sydney to Chicago, Melbourne to Dallas and possibly even Perth to London.
Those flights will top the 16 hour mark, representing a dramatic shift from journeys broken by stopovers due to the limits of other aircraft, such as as the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747.
So what will it be like to travel in the Red Roo's new ride, and how bearable would those longer trips be?
Luxurious configuration
Qantas gave its first hints earlier this month, with CEO Alan Joyce promising the Dreamliner would see "a very luxurious configuration" to match its very long-range routes.
This doesn't necessarily mean showers, bars and spas at 30,000 feet. If you want that, you'd better pony up north of $350 million for your own Boeing 787-9, and that's just for the jet – fancy fittings are extra.
What Joyce has tipped will include "a big business class and a big premium economy cabin", with the airline's latest generation of seats.
At the pointy end of the plane that'll mean the airline's highly-regarded Airbus A330 Business Suite, which is already tick-tacking on Australia's east-west and east coast 'triangle' route as well as most flights to Asia.
Refined and redesigned
Expect a refined and slightly redesigned version of this seat, based on traveller feedback since the seat debuted some 18 months ago.
With its direct aisle access, ample storage space, lie-flat bed and large personal video screen this is going to put the 'Dream' into the Dreamliner.
It'd still be nice if the Boeing 787 allowed some social space where travellers could get out of their seat to mix and mingle en route, but the plane's relatively modest footprint doesn't permit such creature comforts as you'll find on the A380 superjumbo.
Premium pitch
Behind the business class cabin Qantas will fit a smaller premium economy section, and behind that lies economy – of which Joyce says "we will be giving some very good seat pitch for economy seats given the the lengths we'll be flying."
That's a good sign even if the seats themselves will be ranked nine-across, in a 3-3-3 arrangement which means three of those usually unwanted middle seats per row.
But smart developments in seat design are freeing up more room down the back of the bus.
For example, advanced materials and manufacturing allows for seats to be thinner without sacrificing comfort and all-important lower back support, while the pocket for the safety card, magazines and barf bags can be relocated higher up the seat.
Such tweaks can easily add more than than inch around the knees – and that's where passengers find it's needed the most.
Add the Boeing 787's other passenger-friendly traits – clearer air, higher cabin pressure to provide greater humidity and oxygen for reduced inflight fatigue and jet-lag, and an overall smoother ride – and that 16 hour flight may not be quite the torture chamber that you'd think.
Read more: What a 16-hour non-stop flight on Qantas's Boeing 787 Dreamliner will be like
Follow us: @executivestyle on Twitter | executivestyleau on Facebook
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Thanks for that, 73291.
Who is David Flynn - the 'writer' of that article? Never heard of him.
Bears a very close resemblance to a particular QF press-release, it does.
Who is David Flynn - the 'writer' of that article? Never heard of him.
Bears a very close resemblance to a particular QF press-release, it does.
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Neither does mine at all but when your shoulders don't fit within the seat width is pretty hard to get comfortable. At least with a bit of width you can semi rotate to get comfy...
Neither does mine at all but when your shoulders don't fit within the seat width is pretty hard to get comfortable. At least with a bit of width you can semi rotate to get comfy...
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Onya, mcgrath.
Except ... in my case at least, now that I've retired, I can no longer pressure the bean-counter into Business Class tickets on the company account.
So, if I need to go somewhere at short notice, cattle-class it is.
The real point about seat-width is that, while you yourself might be of relatively slim build, the persons either side of you may not be.
Because of this, you'll find that your corpulent fellow travellers invariably spill over into your allocated seating space.
It can thus be quite unpleasant - particularly when many overweight people can also tend to be malodourous.
The sympathetic looks on the faces of the cabin crew don't really help much.
Except ... in my case at least, now that I've retired, I can no longer pressure the bean-counter into Business Class tickets on the company account.
So, if I need to go somewhere at short notice, cattle-class it is.
The real point about seat-width is that, while you yourself might be of relatively slim build, the persons either side of you may not be.
Because of this, you'll find that your corpulent fellow travellers invariably spill over into your allocated seating space.
It can thus be quite unpleasant - particularly when many overweight people can also tend to be malodourous.
The sympathetic looks on the faces of the cabin crew don't really help much.
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How do Qantas manage to get the 787-900 to travel the non stop distance between Perth and London. I thought the normal range was much smaller? Did they forgo some cargo for larger fuel tanks?
Are you sure about that?