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Old 9th February 2016, 09:24 PM
Alex S Alex S is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2016
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Default Qantas QF576 Perth - Sydney on a 737

Good day everyone. After a good flight onboard Qantas flight QF485 & staying in Perth for four nights, it was time to begin the next phase of my interstate trip. This leg would see me fly from Perth to Sydney, again with Qantas. The flight I choose was QF576 which was operated by an Airbus A330 and had an early afternoon arrival into Sydney. Unfortunately the mid-year schedule change meant that the flight was downgraded to a Boeing 737 while the A330 would be used on flights between Sydney & Brisbane.
See: http://www.ausbt.com.au/qantas-trims...t-a330-flights
Flight Details:

Date: 22nd January 2016.
Flight: QF576 Perth (YPPH) to Sydney (YSSY)
Plane: Boeing 737-800 VH-VXB
Class: Economy.
Seat: 19A
Flight time: 3 hours 33 minutes.

On arrival on Perth on the 18th I caught public transport to my accommodation in Thornlie. I'm a public transport enthusiast so I don't mind riding it even though it does take longer. Being an early morning flight though, PT wasn't an option. For the first time in my life I booked a taxi to take me to the airport. I had no problems with the taxi itself; however a closed section of the Tonkin Highway meant taking a detour to get to the airport. Despite this I still arrived at the airport in good time, pays to get to the airport early.



Like in Melbourne I used the kiosk to complete my check-in. I already checked in online using the Qantas app so I only had to print off my bag tag & boarding pass. Unlike in Melbourne I had no issues using the self-serve baggage drop.



I had no issues with security & proceeded towards the Qantas terminal. I haven't got any photos of the concourse but there were some planes around so I took some happy snaps. First we see an Airbus A330-200 VH-EBP operating flight QF574 to Sydney. Considering my flight got downgraded I wonder if in hindsight I should have went on this flight instead. If I had no checked luggage I could have easily have made this flight as boarding hadn't even started. Maybe I could have gone on this flight in an alternate universe but not today.



Off it goes.



And then by chance Retro Roo rocked up.



I'm not the biggest aviation buff around but I'm happy to get a shot of Retro Roo. I later showed that photo to some of my aviation friends and they were quite jealous (they haven't got photos of it yet). I noticed it was heading towards my gate so i was hoping it would be operating my flight. Sadly it went into the gate next to mine. It operated flight QF1350 to Ginbata, one of the many mines in rural Western Australia.

Here we see a Boeing 737-800 VH-VYA, probably being prepped up for the day.



Another A330 at the gate.



Unfortunately by this point the sun rose up meaning that I couldn't get any more photos without getting sun glare. Why oh why did I leave my long lens in the checked luggage? By this point I decided to get something to eat. I ordered a chicken baguette (which could have tasted nicer) and sat down. A positive feature about the Qantas terminal is that the eating areas have power points inside the tables meaning you can charge your device while you eat. Because it was early morning the terminal was rather quiet so there was plenty of power points to choose from.



I spent some time on the tablet until it was time to board. My flight was operated by VH-VXB which is the second oldest 737-800 in the Qantas fleet (although I didn't know it at the time).



Considering the (scheduled) four hour flight ahead of me I was hoping to get one of the newer 737's with seatback IFE or one of the refurbished 737's with Q Streaming IFE. Whether you get a 737 with proper IFE or not is a bit like the lottery, you literally don't know what you're going to get. I had my boarding pass scanned and boarded the plane. Would I get the 737 that I wanted? I immediately found the answer when I walked though business class.



Bollocks! Millennium interior configuration! No (proper) IFE! Oh well considering the lack of likeable content I had with Q Streaming on the A330 maybe it wasn't that big of a loss. While I was seated some of the passengers were commenting that this flight should be operated by a larger aircraft. I then told them I booked this flight back in July and that it was initially supposed to be operated by an Airbus A330. I’d estimate that the load factor on this flight was at least 90%.

Another view of the seats.



My seat by the window. You can tell this plane was supposed to be delivered to American Airlines by looking at the wall pattern.



Flying has made me realize that there is one advantage of being a small person, always good legroom on planes.



Seat comfort was good for the 4 hour flight but back support wasn't as good as it was on the A330.

I recorded the safety briefing which was relayed on the pop down screens and takeoff:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D14bGMlDyU
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