We have spent much of today on the phone to QA, either on hold or being shunted between associates. Whilst very polite, it was made clear to us that we had to make our own way to and from Melbourne. As for being offloaded in Melbourne at 23:00 after our return flight from London, with no flights ...

JJ1, thanks for the info. We snapped up the release fares, which are now selling for around $17k. Unfortunately it would be in QA’s interest if we cancelled because they could then resell our J seats for much more than we paid. 

Right? These decisions aren’t taken overnight. And, despite QA’s claim in the above article, we’ve once again been advised they will not fly us to Melbourne on Virgin to meet the flight to London (or home again). 

In breaking news, I was verbally advised by Qatar this morning that operations into and out of Canberra have now been “suspended indefinitely”. We are booked from Canberra for to London in mid October and received a flurry of emails overnight about flight cancellations and change...

Great review, thanks. Have travelled in Q suites three times this year (backwards all the way!) and the same again for QF A380 J. There is simply no comparison. Even the Qatar lounge at CDG far surpasses the QF First Lounge in Sydney.