Qantas Will Fly To Chicago & San Francisco From Brisbane In 2020

by Zac George
a large white airplane on a wet runway

Qantas have just announced two brand new long-haul routes that will further connect Brisbane to the United States of America. Currently for passengers wanting to depart Brisbane and fly to the U.S non-stop, the only city you can fly into is Los Angeles, where as Sydney holds a bigger variety. This is fantastic news and extremely exciting to see a completely new destination for the airline, Chicago.

Qantas will of course be using their 787-9 Dreamliners on both of the routes. The aircraft features a total of 236 seats, Business class have 42 suites, Premium Economy have 28 seats, and Economy have 166 seats.

qantas-new-business-class-suites

Qantas ‘New Business Class Suites’

Brisbane – San Francisco (Service commencing 9th February 2020)

QF59 will depart Brisbane airport at 8:05pm and arrive into San Francisco at 2:15pm local time. Qantas will be operating this flight every Tuesday, Thursday & Sunday.

QF60 will depart San Francisco airport at 10:15 and arrive into Brisbane airport at 6:00 + 2 am local time. Qantas will be operating this flight every Tuesday, Thursday & Sunday.

Brisbane – Chicago (Service commencing 20th April 2020)

QF85 will depart Brisbane airport at 2:30pm and arrive into Chicago airport at 4:40 pm local time. Qantas will be operating this service every Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday.

QF86 will depart Chicago airport at 9:50pm and arrive into Brisbane airport at 6:00 +2 local time. Qantas will be operating this service every Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday.

qantas-787-dreamliner

Qantas 787 Dreamliner

Booking these flights

By the time you read this post, Qantas will have put these fares out on sale available for booking. If you weren’t wanting to book a revenue ticket and wanted to know what points to use, I’ve compiled a small list of the best programs to use (In no particular order)

  • Qantas Frequent Flyer – 41,900 points one-way Economy, 72,000 points one-way Premium Economy, 96,000 points one-way Business.
  • American AAdvantage – 40,000 points one-way Economy, 80,000 points one-way in Business.
  • Alaska Airlines – 42,500 points one-way Economy, 47,500 points one-way Premium Economy, 55,000 points one-way Business.
an aerial view of a runway and a body of water

Brisbane Airport (Image – BAC)

Overall thoughts

These routes have been rumoured for quite sometime and with the addition of the JV between American and Qantas being approved, it was only a matter of time before they were officially announced.

It’s great to see these routes come to fruition and It’ll be a really fantastic opportunity for passengers. Gone are the days where you’d have to transit a larger airport like Sydney or Melbourne, Brisbane is becoming the key player, especially with the ever growing expansion and growth.

Passengers prefer to make their journey as seamless as possible without the extra stops, Qantas have really hit the nail on the head with these routes and I’m sure they’ll be extremely popular.

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