Queenslanders who’ve set their sights on a trip to California now have an alternative to Qantas and its much-derided trans-Pacific A330, as United Airlines begins direct BNE-LAX flights.
There’s also added appeal for Velocity frequent flyers, with the partnership between United and Virgin Australia allowing earning and burning of Velocity points (as well as earning Velocity status credits) and enjoying some reciprocal status perks.
For example, under the terms of the Virgin-United alliance, Velocity Gold and Platinum members have access only to United’s own lounges, not those of partners – and as United has no lounge of its own at Brisbane, those high flyers are currently left loungeless before joining the flight to La La Land.
United Airlines is of course no stranger to the Sunshine State, with daily Brisbane to San Francisco flights also on the departures board.
United’s local boss Tim Wallis notes “Australians are in the top five sources for international visitors to Los Angeles just as Americans are for Queensland, and we’re happy to offer travellers, and our trade partners, even more choice”.
But it’s not just about visiting Los Angeles itself, Wallis explains.
“LAX Airport has undergone significant infrastructure works in recent times, improving the transit experience considerably for travellers with U.S. or Latin American connections.”
United’s current Brisbane-Los Angeles schedule has three flights each week:
- UA284 from Brisbane is wheels up at 12:45pm every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday, reaching Los Angeles at 8am the same day thanks to time differences
- UA283 then bids farewell to LAX at 9pm each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, arriving in Brisbane at 5:15am two days later.
However, United is starting the non-stop route as just a seasonal service through to March 29.
“We actively decided that we would make it a seasonal flight during the winter here, the summer in Australia, which is when demand is the strongest,” United Airlines’ Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Nocella tells Executive Traveller. “We’ll see how it does and decide how to bring it back.”
The Brisbane-Los Angeles flights are on a Polaris business class-equipped Boeing 787, which Executive Traveller has reviewed as “easily among the best from a US carrier”.
For comparison, Qantas flies an Airbus A330 between Brisbane and LAX, which is significantly older and noisier, and arguably much less comfortable, while also lacking many of the Dreamliner’s advanced passenger-friendly features such as lower cabin altitude (which diminishes fatigue and the effects of jetlag) and higher cabin humidity.
By Chris Ashton
Source ExecutiveTraveller.com
