Why anyone would book an international departure on Qantas out of Melbourne is beyond me? That's an honest question, I really don't get it? Is it some weird loyalty to QF? At this point that position is starting to look like Stockholm syndrome. Use SQ, Qatar, Emirates, Malaysia - any airline that...

The contempt that Qantas shows Melbourne knows no bounds.

Fair point. I guess I wanted to make more of a comment on the sydney-centric nature of international flights in and out of the country.

Why is Melbourne so overlooked for direct flights to Japan? I was looking to book ANA flights in July but ended up booking Singapore because I didn't want to transit in Sydney.