The Flight
Boarding soon commenced and was boarded by row numbers, which I’m not sure many people payed attention to. I arrived at my seat at the last row of the forward cabin and stored my bag in the overhead locker a few seats forward as the bins at the last row was filled with blankets.
My seat
Legroom and seatback shot
The seat itself was comfortable and legroom was sufficient. Domestically re-configured A330’s don’t have inbuilt IFE in economy, but instead iPad Mini’s are provided with a mount on the seat back capable of holding any tablet up to an iPad Air. (The iPad 2 probably won’t fit, as it is a bit wider then the iPad Air, which only just slotted in)
My view out the window
Qantas’ special 95th anniversary inflight magazine featuring Qantas ambassador Hugh Jackman
We pushed back about 20 minutes late due to paperwork from an earlier tyre change. The safety demonstration does not stream to the iPad’s and they cannot be used mounted in the seat back for take off and landing.
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A Jetstar 787 and FedEx MD 11 at a remote stand
It was a very short taxi to runway 16R and after waiting for a couple of landing aircraft we blasted off for Perth. Linked below is a video of the take off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLSJtxdhbeQ
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Blue skies and patchy clouds above the outskirts of Sydney
Breakfast service soon started. Menus are not distributed in domestic economy. Service was relatively fast, as food boxes are now used on domestic routes instead of meal trays. This simplifies and speeds up the service and is very useful on shorter sectors.
The options for breakfast were muesli or a hot breakfast. I selected the hot breakfast, accompanied with an orange juice.
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Box closed
Box opened
The hot breakfast contained scrambled eggs, bacon rashers, two hash browns, a sausage and a roasted tomato. Overall it was a decent meal and the eggs unexpectedly were not rubbery. My only complaint with the meal was the hash browns, which were very soft and kept breaking apart.
Heading out to sea
Up to this point the iPad’s would not connect to the network and it really showed the shortcomings of the “Q-Streaming”. The cabin crew finally fixed the problem after multiple resets and apologised over the PA. I would think that having an IFE installed into the seat or having content installed directly onto the iPad wouldn’t cause as large a disruption as each seat can be reset individually or swapped out for a spare iPad. I would also like to see a flight map on the iPads, something I missed from traditional IFE systems.
The selections of movies and TV shows were also vastly different to the international aircraft and there was a smaller selection. Headphones also connected directly to the iPads, which unlike traditional armrest ports causes a small inconvenience when letting someone out from the middle or window seats. The iPads were also relatively unresponsive and slow compared to a normal iPad.
Midway through the flight a small snack was offered, consisting of a chocolate and oat bar. Drinks were also offered and I opted for an apple juice.
A very small snack
Back over land
A quick walk around the cabin indicated that the load was good with only a few empty seats scattered around the back. Seat 39K is the last row of the forward cabin, with the lavatories directly behind. The constant flushing isn’t too annoying during a daytime flight, but may be disturbing on a night flight especially when trying to get some sleep.
Banking over the dry western lands
As we started our descent, the captain informed us that we would be slightly delayed due to high traffic at Perth. The ride became rougher as we flew lower and on final approach the gusty winds were very apparent. Linked below is the video of the landing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa-4koNy7aM
Exiting the runway
Pulling into our gate at the Qantas domestic terminal
After The Flight
Exiting the aircraft was an orderly affair and I was soon inside the terminal. Having never been to Perth before I looked around any quickly found my way out. As you exit the airside area there was a sniffer dog to detect food, plant products, animal products and fruits and vegetables. Many agricultural items from other states and territories cannot be carried into Western Australia and some are only allowed with a permit.