Aussie Flyer

Just before Christmas I flew over to WA to fly on the Fokker 50 before they were retired from Virgin Australia's fleet. I happened to find myself in Geraldton, an interesting town with some interesting characters. Having flown 3 sectors on the F50 it was time to go back to Melbourne and I redeemed some Qantas points to do it. The routing was Geraldton-Perth-Melbourne and the first leg was on the Fokker 100. This would be a first flight for me on this aircraft type which has become the standard type in use in the WA mining market. It's an aircraft that is long out of production and most airlines have retired it (or are in the process of doing so) but it's somehow found a niche here in Australia and in particular, Western Australia. Flight : QF1619 (Qantaslink operated by Network Aviation) Route : Geraldton to Perth Aircraft : Fokker 100 VH-NHJ Departure : 08.40 AM Arrival : 09.45 AM Flight Duration : 1 hour 05 minutes Qantaslink recently stopped flying the...

I've covered most of my long haul premium travel for the year already (more content coming starting next week though when I travel again). So let's have a look at some of the other flights I've taken this year. I probably fly between 50 and 100 sectors a year, most of them don't ever make it to the blog as they are either repeats of flights I've already looked at or boring short haul domestic economy flights. Anyway, here is a quick look at Qantas flight QF706, the 6.45am service between Adelaide and the nations capital, Canberra. Qantas fly the route just twice a day, a morning and an evening service, focused on business and government travel. I was probably fairly out of place occupying seat 1A and travelling purely for leisure on this Tuesday morning in July. The apron at Adelaide on a winter morning

Over the course of this year Qantas have been progressively refitting the A330 fleet. The new business class seats they have chosen are lie flat pods in a staggered 1-2-1 arrangement, all seats having aisle access. Herringbone and staggered arrangements are the new world standard in business class and both have their advantages. This new seat whilst being an off the rack product, has been modified and 'Qantas styled' by their designer Marc Newson. To see what it looks like in its original form, you can see it at the Thompson website here . Earlier this year I happened to be flying on QF36, the overnight flight from Singapore to Melbourne. I was fortunate enough to try the new product. Close to half the fleet are now reconfigured as at the time of writing (September 2015). Upon boarding I was immediately quite impressed with the 'look and feel' of the cabin...

After arriving in Sydney from Melbourne  I headed to the Business Class / Platinum Lounge upstairs in T3. I flashed my boarding pass for the next sector QF864 to the Gold Coast and found a nice window seat. There is a reasonable view of the Qantas domestic ramp and when runway 16R is in use you can see aircraft landing. I went to the bar and ordered a cappuccino and checked out the buffet. There was a staff member making fresh chicken rolls so I grabbed a couple, and they were pretty tasty! Afternoon tea - chicken bread rolls with lettuce and mayonaise  I was watching the gate whilst I ate and noticed the aircraft operating my service arrive from it's previous sector:

Recently over a period of a couple of days had the opportunity to try 2 short haul Qantas business class flights, followed by 2 short haul Virgin Australia business class flights.  I thought I  would do a bit of a comparison  series of articles on both products. First up I flew on Qantas from Melbourne to Sydney and then on to the Gold Coast. Flight QF438 from Melbourne to Sydney is the 2pm departure and currently an A330-200 service on most days of the week. I arrived at the terminal and proceeded straight through security, making use of the Qantas business class dedicated priority security queue. Once through there I had lunch in the Business/Platinum lounge with good views of the tarmac. I grabbed my boarding pass at the customer service desk and headed in. A hot beef pie was on offer along with various salads, soups, sandwiches etc, I took the pie and I had a white wine with it (yes, I know it's not a good match!).

Following up from my recent post about the pre flight briefing for this flight, here is how I experienced it on the day. On Sunday 5 March after staying the night in a local motel my fellow #avgeek friend and I headed over to the local BMX skate park parking area just south of the airport. From this slightly elevated location we had a good view down the runway and would be able to see the aircraft approach as it headed towards us. The aircraft was due in at 7.47am and after a pit stop at McDonald's for breakfast we arrived at about 6.20am, and there was already more than 100 people at this viewing spot, with thousands of others gathering at other locations closer to the runway and on the other side of the airport.

Back in August 1989 Qantas took delivery of it's first Boeing 747-400, 'VH-OJA'. It was to be the first of 31  of the -400 series jumbo jets that Qantas would operate. But this was no ordinary delivery flight, it was a world record attempt, the first flight ever to fly London to Sydney non stop, and the longest ever flight on record. A record that still stands today. Now, 25 years later and after 13833 career flights, VH-OJA ' City of Canberra ' is making it's final journey, and probably the shortest flight it has ever made  too. Sydney to Illawarra Regional Airport (Wollongong), where it will be put on permanent display at HARS. It's all happening this Sunday the 8th of March and I'm going to head down there to see it. Some memorabilia from that day in 1989

Well we've known the B767 days were numbered in the Qantas fleet for quite some time now, but since Alan Joyce fast-tracked his turnaround plan for the airline, the day came somewhat earlier than many had hoped. December 27, 2014 was the final day of Boeing 767 passenger operations for Qantas, and indeed it would be the final flight of a Boeing 767 with passengers in Australian domestic service period.  The Boeing 767-200 and Boeing 767-300 have been an integral part of the aviation scene in Australia since about 1983 (with Ansett) and for many it was the preferred method of travel between the east coast capitals for decades. The type has been in service with Qantas for 29 years and was it's first twin engine aircraft. So it was with some sadness that I booked my seat on flight QF767 from Melbourne to Sydney to farewell what I think has been a very significant part of Australian airline history. Here is how I experienced the day....

Last month I decided I needed to satisfy my cravings to fly again so I planned and booked a very hectic 6 day trip from Melbourne including stops in Bangkok, Tokyo, Osaka and Hong Kong. This is my report of the flights I took on this trip. They include Qantas business class, Thai Airways first and business Class, Japan Airlines economy class, and EVA Air business class, including a Hello Kitty flight. This post is about the first part of my trip, the short hop between Melbourne and Sydney to connect up with Thai's 10am service to Bangkok. I have  done this a couple of times before and I always choose the QF400, 6am service.  It is almost always on time and leaves a nice 2 hour 30 min transit time in Sydney. The only downside is just how early in the morning it is. Since I was flying onwards in First Class from Sydney, it seemed only natural to fork out a few extra points and fly in business class on the first leg. Here is the review of this short flight: FLIGHT ...

Over the recent summer and school holiday period Qantas scheduled a Boeing 747-400 on it's Bangkok flight instead of the usual Airbus A330-300. I happened to be travelling the route during this time and although I was booked in economy I decided to do a points upgrade to try out the business class service on the jumbo! I received an sms to my phone confirming the upgrade. the day before and was able to select my preferred seat right away on Qantas.com.

Here is a quick report on QF790, the daily service between Sydney and Alice Springs. This is a Boeing 737-800 sector and on the  flight I took in January I was lucky to score one of Qantas' newer models with Boeing Sky Interior. It was VH-XZF, just 8 months old at the time of this flight. Here is the business cabin featuring leather seats and audio video on demand in all seats:

This is the continuation of my trip from Melbourne to London on Qantas' flagship Airbus A380, flight QF9. For part 1 go HERE . After landing in Dubai on schedule with 13.5 hours of flight behind me it was time to head to the Emirates First Class Lounge in terminal 3. This is the lounge which features direct boarding  to the aircraft, but more on that later. As I was among the first off the flight there was nobody waiting at transit security so I was through and up to the lounge in no time.  First up it's time for a shower since Qantas don't have them onboard like Emirates do!

Is the Qantas service from Canberra to Sydney the world's shortest flight that still serves a full hot breakfast? It's only a hot breakfast in business class but I am still impressed that they have maintained it even in these days of cost cutting. It is 147 miles or just 236 kilometres as the bird flies between the two airports: In economy a light refreshment is available but in business here is what I was served this month on the QF560 departing at 06.45am: It's a couple of poached eggs,spinach, tomato with feta and sausages. The juice which on longer sectors would normally be poured by the crew comes in a bottle on the tray, and there is a banana on the side. Perfectly adequate and a good start to the day. The crew on this Boeing 737-400 flight have to work VERY hard to get this  meal out to up to 20 business class passengers in a flight that can be as short as 25 minutes in the air, which leaves about 10-12 minutes to have the meal served, eaten and cleare...

This past Christmas I gave myself a gift. It was a first class ticket to London on Qantas and flying on Christmas day too! It was to be my first First Class experience on the Qantas A380 and I was looking forward to it for months. Did it live up to my expecations? Let's see....

It was a long time coming but finally I have flown on the Bombardier Q400 (also known as Dash 8-400).  This report covers my first flight on this high speed turboprop airliner and it is on a very interesting route, Brisbane to Longreach. Why is it interesting? Well Longreach is the original home of Q.A.N.T.A.S. The Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial service, which eventually become what we now know today as Qantas. So this Qantaslink flight on a very modern aircraft actually takes us to back in time to 1921 when the airline first commenced operations. The purpose of the trip was to visit the Qantas Founders Museum which I will cover in another post. Arriving at the Qantas and Qantaslink domestic terminal - Brisbane

Last month I had a look at the trans-continental business class offerings on Qantas and Virgin. This month I will be looking at the trans-tasman offerings instead! I took a quick trip to Auckland, going over on Qantas in Business and coming back on Emirates in First. As you can imagine there is quite a big difference between the two. Let's see what's on offer with Qantas. My B737 preparing for the hop across the tasman

After my recent experiment of flying both Virgin Australia and Qantas in business class on the trans-continental run between Melbourne and Perth I am going to discuss a few of the pros and cons of each. SEATS Winner: Virgin Australia Despite Qantas offering some flights with their international skybeds, the vast majority of services are operated by A330's with recliners with very poor pitch and some have seven abreast seating with a middle seat blocked for extra space. So this one is a very easy win to Virgin who offer either an angled lie flat seat or a very deep reclining international style business class seat with fabulous pitch. SCHEDULE Winner: Qantas Qantas have more options with more daily flights and almost all are A330s. On weekends Virgin has been putting in quite a few B737-800's with much lower standard seating. CATERING Winner: Qantas The overall catering experience with Qantas was better. I much prefer the proper table service with table cl...

PART 2 : QANTAS Following on from Part 1  this part shows the return to Melbourne, this time on Qantas. FLIGHT:                     QF772 ROUTE:                      Perth to Melbourne AIRCRAFT:               Airbus A330-200 VH-EBM SEAT:                          2A (Business Class) DEPARTURE:           10.00 (Scheduled)  09.55 (Actual) ARRIVAL:                 15.30 (Schedules)  14.55 (Actual) 35 Minutes Early!  VH-EBM at the gate Upon arr...

The recent change of Qantas' international strategy whereby they partnered with Emirates and changed their stopover point for London flights from Singapore to Dubai has seen many changes in the Qantas network. Before this year Qantas operated the A380 on the Melbourne to Singapore route and the aircraft continued on to London, the flight departed in the mid afternoon with a late arrival in Singapore. Now the flight ends in Singapore and is operated by the A330 and has a mid morning departure so people can continue on the same day to other Asian destinations (on other carriers like Jetstar Asia). As a result of this change there is no longer First Class or Premium Economy offered on the route, and the business class seat is the older skybed which is angled compared to being flat on the A380. This is disappointing but apparently the business class product on the A330's will be upgraded in the next 1 to 2 years. Whether this new strategy is going to be a success is yet t...

Over the past couple of days I have had another opportunity to visit the Qantas First Class lounges in both Sydney and Melbourne. As I have come to expect, both visits were spectacular. I just love these lounges and I think they are both definitely in the top 5 lounges on Earth! What makes them especially great is the terrific restaurant and great wine list. Here is a taste of whats on offer: SYDNEY FIRST LOUNGE - LUNCH Bollinger Champagne and San Pellegrino Water