As we reported yesterday, Qantas is changing the arrival and departure times of its daily QF9/10 flights between Melbourne and London from July 20.
The schedule reshuffle is intended to reduce the amount of time the route's Airbus A380 spends on the ground at Heathrow, freeing up one of the superjumbos to run on Qantas' Sydney-Dallas service from late September.
Here's how the new Melbourne-London timetable shapes up.
QF9 will now leave Melbourne at 10.55pm, some three hours later than the current 7.35pm departure, with its arrival into London shifting from 10.15am to 1.40pm.
The QF10 return leg will be wheels-up from London at 1.30pm, compared to 10.25pm evening flight, to reach Melbourne at 8.55pm rather than 5.25am.
So are these changes better for business travellers?
The new early afternoon arrival time into London is perfect for checking straight into your hotel, settling in and then meeting colleagues for dinner.
The revised stopover times in Dubai should also work better for connecting to Emirates flights to cities other than London, with QF9 now reaching Dubai at 7.05am and QF10 departing from Dubai at 1.35pm.
However, while Melbourne residents will probably appreciate the new evening touchdown of QF10, passengers with connecting Qantas or QantasLink flights to other domestic destinations will need to make an overnight stay and fly out of Melbourne the following morning.
Melbourne travellers: what are your thoughts on the new QF9/QF10 timetable, and will it be better or worse for your own schedule?
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Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.
28 Oct 2011
Total posts 650
land 8.55pm in MEL..a blessing i think...less busy at baggage/customs/immigration (no multiple morning arrivals mess)..less busy travelling home/hotel transfers (no peak hour)
and if your final destination is not MEL...take the SYD (morning arrival) flight for connections to your final destination....SYD transfer isnt really THAT bad...but of course cant please all the people, all the time...no matter what happens
note..ive lived half my life in MEL..and half in SYD..and traveled from/to both MANY times
21 Apr 2012
Total posts 3012
Absolutely! The point here is CHOICE!
It was absolutely barmy for two A380s leaving an hour off from each other.
So now if you wish to fly to European ports (non-London...duh *excuse the Ukip subtext*) you can fly via MEL.
And if you wish to fly to other AU capital citites/regional areas on the way back you can fly via SYD.
It's a win-win!
QFF
12 Apr 2013
Total posts 1518
Yep – IMHO it is better though I am not fan of Sydney transfer. MEL-SYD or SYD-MEL is easy enough flight and now we have choice of arrival time to LHR and return to AUS. I believe that current scheduler when both SYD and MEL flight came to LHR virtually at the same time is kinda stupid considering that both planes are A380
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
20 Sep 2013
Total posts 466
Why the heck would you wish to fly via SYD or MEL....may be sponge on points.
21 Apr 2012
Total posts 3012
Good catch Robert!
"via" was the wrong word to use in the case of outbound flights to Europe. It should instead be "from".
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
07 Mar 2014
Total posts 73
Great point UTR and TRB, one word "CHOICE!!" and having the options of your connections and timing.
Chris asked if these changes are better for business travellers and even though QF 10 may miss some connections on arrival back home, QANTAS must see some merit in economic hub to economic hub routes at the relatively minor expence of the regional connections.
If you take the example of the soon to be changed non-stop DFW-SYD flight and as much as I will miss my BNE-SYD QF 8 run you can't argue that they are bringing a fantastic international route for North Americans coming over in a single flight. In the end the more successful the airline will (hopefully) benefit us all.
Thumbs up! :-)
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
30 May 2013
Total posts 372
That is spot on. I live in Hobart so taking the late night departure ex MEL to arrive in Europe early afteroon is a much better option for me. However, I'd choose to come home via SYD in order to get an onward connection to HBA on the same day.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
22 Feb 2013
Total posts 4
Great news! Finally a QF day flights to Melbounre. CX, SQ and MH all do it. No more feeling second rate all day form a early morning arrival. No more hanging around LHR T3 waiting for QF check-in to open. About time!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
02 Jul 2011
Total posts 1378
While I agree its good for MEL passengers, my only concern is that with no connecting flights all connecting pax are forced onto the busier SYD flights and MEL suffers.
They really need some connecting flights to spread the load on the return services.
27 Dec 2012
Total posts 3
...er what about connections thru Dubai to Manchester ? Can you do a story on how that is effected ?
24 Oct 2010
Total posts 2555
Headancer: No.
21 Apr 2012
Total posts 3012
Headancer,
I'm pretty sure the North-South divide doesn't have the same resonance in this forum ;)
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
19 Feb 2014
Total posts 444
What's so good about Manchester? EK doesn't just fly DXB-MAN you know!
14 Jun 2013
Total posts 353
I agree, we need an article on how the Dubai-Manchester connections are affected, also connections for Dubai to Birmingham, Gatwick, Glasgow, Newcastle, Dublin, plus all of Emirates' dozens of other European destinations, oh and maybe Africa too. It will be much easier than expecting readers to do their own work and look up the timetable at Emirates.com.
28 Oct 2011
Total posts 650
easy peezy...take the QF1 TO DXB...you're not gonna get much sympathy from OZ based travellers..distances between all the major UK ports that offer 'connections to the world' are miniscule compared to the distances OZ based travellers have to travel just to get to an airport that offers international flights...OZ is 31 times larger than the UK..the state of Victoria is roughly the size of the UK..Victoria has 1 international airport (2 at most)...the UK has at least 5...and lets not forget the massive population differences between OZ and the UK... 'apples and oranges' on all fronts!!.. and you get no empathy from me regarding you being too lazy to search your own travel patterns!! expecting someone else to do your work!!
22 Jun 2013
Total posts 96
Can someone please explain to me how it will now arrive into London at 1.40pm and yet simultaneously leave London some 10 minutes earlier at 1.30pm?
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
19 Feb 2014
Total posts 444
QF9 arriving into LHR will operate QF2 on the way home.
QF1 arriving into LHR will operate QF10.
28 Oct 2011
Total posts 650
spot on Chris_PER
28 Oct 2011
Total posts 650
just a footnote to my post...I was replying to the articles note on the bottom ...asking 'what Melb travellers thoughts are....' hence my focus on the Melb end of things
28 Oct 2011
Total posts 650
...but the DXB AND LHR end of things has its benefits too...as others have pointed out :-)
01 Dec 2011
Total posts 29
Much better for me. On the rare occasions I fly to UK (last time was 2 years ago and next time possibly next year) I'd prefer to arrive at 1.40pm and get a connecting flight to MAN with BA, or a train direct to Yorkshire. On the return trip, I stay overnight in MEL before getting the train to country Vic, so I wouldn't need to hang about till my room was ready.
British Airways - Executive Club
15 Apr 2013
Total posts 6
One of the much-touted virtues of the QF routing through DXB has been connectivity to UK regional and European destinations. This change to the Melbourne schedule effectively rules out passengers connecting sensibly to a range of UK and Irish destinations - morning flights to Birmingham, Dublin, Glasgow, Manchester and Newcastle all leave before the arrival of QF9 into Dubai or very soon after (between 20 and 55 minutes). This basically requires opting for EK metal all the way through or accepting a 7 or 8 hour layover in Dubai. Attractive?
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
20 Dec 2012
Total posts 40
I'm pretty happy about the new timetable. It now gives a greater choice and flexibility over landing times at LHR. It means I can leave Australia a day earlier and be able to go straight to central London and check into my hotel or arrive very early on the morning I need to be there and utilise the AA arrivals lounge.
It was always a madness IMHO for QF to have two flights to LHR from the Australian East Coast and the same time.
09 Mar 2015
Total posts 3
What are the wait times in Dubai either way there or back? QF9 / QF10.
Wondering if there is enough time to enjoy the lounge or not. Thanks
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