Visitor author and gun Andrew Curran returns to DMARGE along with his month-to-month round-up of unmissable ideas and tips for Australian travellers.
New flights to South America, ANA confirming its summer season return to Perth, lounge information out of Cairns, elevated charges for Qantas passengers, airways quickly to exit the Star Alliance program, and a neat standing match problem from Hilton are amongst current adjustments and gives available on the market which might make life simpler for frequent flyers.
LATAM Resumes Nonstop Sydney—Santiago & ANA Again To Perth This Summer season
LATAM will resume nonstop Sydney–Santiago flights on October 28, 2024. The B787-9 operated flights will depart Sydney at lunchtime on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. The providers are along with the present six occasions per week by way of Auckland flights and complement the LATAM-operated thrice weekly roundtrips between Melbourne and Santiago.
LATAM’s fares between Australia and Chile are competitively priced in comparison with codeshare associate Qantas, who fly between Sydney and Santiago 3 times per week utilizing a B787-9. Nonetheless, LATAM’s 2-2-2 enterprise class seat configuration is way inferior to the Qantas 1-2-1 providing.
In the meantime, ANA All Nippon Airways has lastly confirmed it can resume its seasonal three-times-per-week Tokyo Narita—Perth flights on October 29, 2024, after just lately suspending providers for the Australian winter. ANA, a Star Alliance member, will function the flights with a B787-9.
The airline gives the all-important and extremely underrated 1-2-1 seat configuration in enterprise class. It’s the solely airline working on town pair, and its tie-up with Virgin Australia means its frequent flyers can use Velocity factors for redemptions.
Virgin Australia Lounge At Cairns Airport Stays Closed Whereas Reef Lounge Reopens
Sources at Cairns Airport have scotched rumours that Virgin Australia will reopen its lounge there. The airline typically has over a dozen departures a day from Cairns however completely closed its lounge at first of the pandemic. Whereas there was some current buzz that VA had determined to reopen the nonetheless unutilised area, this isn’t the case.
Nonetheless, the Reef Lounge is reopening on the Cairns Worldwide Terminal, primarily to serve Singapore Airways departures. The airport can be contemplating extending the opening hours to cater to different worldwide departures. The lounge used to accommodate paid walk-ins. Whereas that association isn’t but restored, it’s believed to be on the playing cards.
Modifications To Qantas Lounge Membership Charges And T80 Rule
In mid-April, the one-year price for brand spanking new Qantas Membership members elevated from AUD699 to AUD828 (together with the AUD129 becoming a member of price). The price of an annual renewal additionally rose from AUD540 to AUD629. There are methods to mitigate this.
Holding Qantas Gold or Oneworld Sapphire standing opens up lounge entry, rendering Qantas Membership membership out of date. Qantas Factors Membership Plus members additionally obtain complimentary lounge entry. For lesser standing passengers, company schemes and counting on single-use passes are various methods.
Qantas has additionally elevated the price of its additional legroom seats. The airline has raised the value from AUD15 to AUD20 on sub-600-mile sectors corresponding to Sydney-Melbourne. On lengthy flights corresponding to Sydney-Johannesburg, the price of additional legroom seats has elevated from AUD180 to AUD195.
Qantas has additionally rejigged its fashionable T80 ‘free legroom’ rule, which allowed a passenger to relocate into any seat within the cabin class for free of charge 80 hours earlier than departure. The airline has decreased this to 24 hours earlier than journey (when check-in opens).
Till then, apart from Chairman’s Lounge and Qantas platinum members, additional legroom charges will apply for the very best seats. Nonetheless, 24 hours earlier than departure, the charges will vanish, so the T80 rule turns into the T24 rule.
SAS Scandinavian And Asiana Getting ready To Exit Star Alliance
Star Alliance will lose two member airways within the subsequent 12-24 months. SAS Scandinavian is exiting Star following the airline’s acquisition by an Air France-KLM-led consortium.
In the meantime, Asiana Airways will give up Star as soon as Korean Air will get the okay from regulators to purchase that airline. SAS Scandinavian will be part of SkyTeam, Air France-KLM’s alliance, and the Asiana model will stop to exist. Korean will seemingly switch Asiana’s frequent flyers into its SkyTeam-affiliated frequent flyer program.
The SAS swap to SkyTeam ought to occur later this 12 months, and the Asiana swap someday in 2025. These adjustments pose a quandary for Star Gold members in each applications, particularly these with future bookings. Will current bookings made by current Star Gold members anticipating Gold grade perks be honoured below the brand new preparations?
Hilton Standing Match Problem
Hilton is operating a standing match problem focusing on members of rival applications. Below the problem, Hilton routinely grants Honors Gold standing to candidates for 90 days. Honors Gold is an honest standing degree as a result of it supplies complimentary breakfast (or a credit score in North American markets) and room upgrades.
You’ll have to keep eight nights inside these 90 days to retain gold standing via March 31, 2025. When you keep 14 nights inside these 90 days, you’ll rating an improve to Honors Diamond, which, other than breakfast and upgrades, grants lounge entry.
Hilton has accommodations in all of the mainland Australian capitals. Though none of them are the premier accommodations on the town, you’ll be able to anticipate strong, well-located, and cozy properties. The Honors program gives a bankable suite of advantages that may add actual worth to a keep.
