I always knew there was a catch. 

Considering that Qantas probably doesn't codeshare on all the flights with Emirates, one might just earn status credits for AUS to DXB and then left with just points on the 2nd sector.

Flights marketed under QF will probably be slightly more expensive than buying straight with EK.

I think you will find that QF will have quite an extensive number of codeshare flights on EK - That is part of the idea for this deal.  

But the convenience is still to be determined once the flight schedules have been put in place as the biggest bank of departing flights to Continental Europe are in the morning from DXB.

In relation to fares it it still too early to predict what the outcome will be, but as they have mentioned in press releases they will coordinate fares and so it would be a competative disadvantage for QF to sell higher on the same flights.

Great news. Can Skywards tier miles be earned on QF flights?

As expected and almost identical to what was in place with BA. Any ideas as to when schedules will be released and flights bookable, and what flights will be codeshare? Is it just ex Australia or flights such as SIN-DXB etc?

Not quite - one clocks up tier points on BA metal whereas no tier points will be awarded on EK metal!

Not quite true... As stated, you will get tier points on EK metal if it has a QF flight number, which is likely to be quite a few of the flights to Europe.

The only reason tier points are awarded on all BA flights is because they are part of OneWorld... You get tier points on all OneWorld carriers.

In terms of prices, one can check out codeshare flights for Sydney - Santiago as an example. QF codeshare on LAN Airlines metal tend to be more expensive. It's great for people who can afford it. For leisure flyers like myself, if I can save a dollar or two, it's a win already.

Good compromise, better than what I expected! 

The next question is what flights will be code shared. E.g. I imagine NY to Dubai or HK to Dubai would not have any code share, but perhaps all the Dubai - Europe flights?

The other revelation I had was that Dubai is classified as "Europe" in the oneworld RTW ticket "zones". Now that Qantas is flying direct to Europe without going through Asia, this could potentially change the economics of many RTW oneworld tickets. E.g. a 3 continent RTW fare use to be unavailable to Australlians because it wasn't possible to go around the world from Australia only touching 3 continents - the minimum was 4; e.g. Aus, Asia, Europe, US (weirdly there are no flights from Africa to the Americas, else that would have worked). Alternatively I can buy a 4 continent fare and cover Europe, US, and South America. Wonder if oneworld will change to rules to make Sydney - Dubai an exception, otherwise this will be really interesting... 

Excellent news, thanks for chasing this up, AusBT!

Sorry to disappoint but the only carriers permitted on oneworld explorer fares are those operated and marketed by oneworld member carriers (exception is JQ metal QF marketed), so QF codeshare on EK operated flights won't be available on this fare, unless EK joins oneworld....I think not. 

Global Explorer doesn't offer QF/EK codeshare relief either however, there are currently several non-oneworld metal codeshare exceptions so a change could be implemented here. 

Hope this helps. 

Adam, thanks for your reply, sorry didn't see this until now.

QF will be flying from Sydney to Dubai, then I can fly BA from Dubai to London. Then I don't need to be on any EK flights.. oneworld metal only ??

Access to Emirates lounges in Europe on return legs?

We are currently booked on a Qantas flight from Frankfurt - Singapore - Brisbane in May 2013.  I am a Qantas Club member.  On previous similar trips we have used Japan Airlines lounge in Frankfurt as the Qantas entitlement in Frankfurt.  We then used the Qantas lounge in Singapore.

I assume that, all things being equal, we will fly Frankfurt to Dubai and then to (hopefully) Brisbane.  Both flight will (again I assume) be at least QF code shares.

We can use the Emirates lounge in Dubai.  However, surely the situation would not be that we were barred from the Emirates lounge in Frankfurt before we depart.

Any thoughts or information on this?

yeah... it makes sense... that's why qantas wont let QF frequent flyers to gain tier status when flying on Emirates (without QF codeshare).  It isn't fair and is mean!  What about if Emirates is gonna join AA and other oneworld airlines, it will change soon.

They may well provide status credits for code shared flights; but in doing so I'm sure you'll be paying alot more via Qantas.  For example a Biz class flight to London with Qantas is about $4000 more than Emirates.  I've been a loyal qantas (platinum) customer,  but a number of recent changes, in particular changes to their asia network (e.g. singapore and bangkok) have just about lost me. 

Would be great (when available) to get a list of all the codeshare routes. E.g. will Dubai - Cairo or Delhi, or Cape Town. Thanks :)