Aussie Flyer

Singapore is one of the destinations that saw the introduction of Dreamliner service in 2015 with Etihad Airways, previously the Airbus A330 operated on this route. This review is of flight EY473, a 7.20pm departure from Singapore. Firstly, the lounge. Well it is a massive disappointment. The lounge is the Terminal 2 SATS lounge, which is a generic lounge used by various airlines (including TIGER AIRWAYS...  yes that's right, Etihad First class passengers are using the same lounge as Tiger Airways). There is a very small area reserved for First Class passengers, separated by a few pot plants from the rest of the lounge. The 'First Class Zone' in the SATS lounge

FLIGHT EY131 AIRLINE Etihad Airways ROUTE Abu Dhabi to Washington Dulles GATE DEPARTURE 10.55AM GATE ARRIVAL 5.25 PM FLIGHT TIME 14 hours 30 min AIRCRAFT Boeing 787-9 (A6-BLA) There has been a lot of hype from Etihad about their new Business Studio seat so earlier in the year I decided I had to try it! I was heading to New York but since the business studios only feature on the A380 and B787-9 Dreamliner, I decided to fly via Washington. Washington is the first long haul destination Etihad served with B787 equipment and is the only USA destination not served with Etihad B777's currently.

I recently flew to Bali and back and took advantage of a super cheap airfare Jetstar offered last year when Indonesia Air Asia X announced plans to fly direct to Melbourne from Bali. Here is a quick report of my experience on the flight. For Melbourne to Bali (Denpasar) I was booked on JQ35, departs at 5.15pm, arriving Denpasar 6 hours later at 9.15pm. The flight today was operated by VH-VKB, it was 18 months old at the time of the flight. Check-in was available at the automated kiosks with automated 'do it yourself' baggage tags and baggage check-in. With that done I headed off to the Qantas first class lounge for a while, and then to the gate at about 4.45pm where boarding was just getting under way. I had selected a window seat towards the back hoping for a vacant middle seat. Unfortunately thing's didn't go to plan when a woman with a baby was occupying the middle seat next to me. However as the flight was not full the crew found her somewhere more comforta...

Earlier this year Air New Zealand announced the retirement of it' Boeing 747-400 fleet. As part of the farewell celebrations they scheduled a one off Auckland-Sydney-Auckland service, and as a fan of the Jumbo Jet, I booked a ticket. Sadly about a week before the flight the airline cancelled the service with no explanation. It was quite disappointing. However, the replacement aircraft was the brand new B787-9 and that would be a new type for me so I decided to go ahead and fly anyway. I managed to snag a seat in the Premium Economy cabin for a small surcharge, but please be aware that whilst I had a premium economy seat, ANZ do not offer a premium economy service on Trans-Tasman flights. So the soft product that you will see on this review is identical to the basic 'Seat Only' economy class service. FLIGHT NZ104 AIRLINE Air New Zealand ROUTE Sydney to Auckland DEPARTURE 12:30 (Scheduled) / 12:28 ...

A few months ago I was looking for interesting ways home from Europe when I discovered award availability on Qatar Airways business class from Munich to Doha. Since the flight was with a carrier I had never flown before but heard great things about AND on the Boeing 787, I jumped at the chance and booked right away. I used Qantas frequent flyer points for this booking, which was possible since Qatar Airways have joined the oneworld alliance. FLIGHT: QR58 DEPARTURE: Munich @ 16.35 ARRIVAL: Doha @ 23.05 CLASS: Business Class AIRCRAFT: Boeing 787-8 PASSENGER LOAD:  18 out of 22

Jetstar are slowly changing the long haul fleet over from the Airbus A330-200 to the Boeing 787-8 and so far they have 4 aircraft in service. I recently took a ride on VH-VKE which was just 2 weeks old at the time. I rode on it between Melbourne and Sydney, which was a domestic tag for a flight that originated in Phuket. As such it departs from the international terminal but they do sell tickets for domestic passengers too. VH-VKE at the gate