Quick Trip Report - BNE/SYD/BNE - QF & DJ

[Joe Frampton]

28 July 2012
Qantas QF509
Boeing 767-338ER VH-OGS “Roma”
BNE-SYD 0825/1000
Seat 45A
Quick weekend trip to Sydney started with a visit to the Brisbane Qantas Club, where people were glued to the plasma screens with the Olympics opening ceremony. Good breakfast selection of juices, yoghurts, toasts, yummy pancake machine and barely passable coffee (but why no Barista Qantas?). Very nice way to wait for the flight, which operated about 10 mins late due to inbound aircraft delay. Southerly takeoff on 19, and straight on track towards Sydney with no loops or stacks along the way. Looked like 100% full, with loads of international connection pax through Sydney. Trusty old 767 but comedies played continuously on main screens and (my 2nd!) breakfast served – OJ, muffin, yoghurt & apple. Very hardworking crew on this short sector, and they were still collecting meal trays well into descent. Down onto 16L and up to the terminal quite quickly. Loads and loads of QF 747’s sitting around various parts of the airport, almost looked like the whole fleet was on the ground at Sydney! BNE-SYD is getting more and more like an express bus all the time, and the points plus tax price was really reasonable. No complaints from me. No trains running this weekend so got a free bus to Central...

29 July 2012
Virgin Australia DJ977
Boeing 737-8FE(WL) VH-YID “Rainbow Beach” (so shiny and new)
SYD-BNE 1830/2000
Business Seat 1C (moved to 1F)
Haven’t been on Virgin since it was Virgin Blue, and the Borg cleaned up the whole act. From those early casual DJ days, and my last trip on them (severely delayed and disappointing), Virgin Australia seem like a totally different airline now – both in crew & aircraft. I believe (and hope) they can still be thoroughly professional without going too much further in the loss of the spirit that started them off in Australia. Certainly the whole “casual” approach has been snuffed out by the Borg, and the similarities to Virgin Atlantic and Virgin America are now quite striking indeed. First experience for me as a J Class pax was a trip to the “Lounge” at Sydney Airport which was quite nice, but not as refined as the Qantas Club, especially in quality of fit-out - although they did have a Barista (I’m happy now), and I enjoyed the whole sandwich bar setup too - plenty of food out for hungry punters. Boarded on-time, allocated into 1C but moved to 1F as there were only 4 pax in Business Class. This is a really nice fit out on the shiny new VH-YID – large & comfortable business class seats, but no electronic seat controls or IFE. Purple glass screen dividers between business and economy creates a mini business zone, with awesome purple mood lighting, just like the Virgin America A320’s. Offered a glass of water or orange juice before takeoff. The cabin crew uniforms have changed too, all red much like Virgin Atlantic. This aircraft and service was totally unexpected for me. Automated cabin announcements used for many of the standard announcements, taxied out to 16L, with a very quiet take-off towards the south (maybe quiet because I don’t often sit this far forward!). Service started quickly and for some reason I’d imagined a sandwich or something for this sector, but we were offered a full meal choice of meat or vegetarian dishes, and I had: mixed leaves with Luke Mangan balsamic & olive oil dressing, crusty soy & linseed roll with butter, chicken coq au vin with potatoes, Luke Mangan premium toffee roasted macadamia nut coated in smooth chocolate and sparkling water. All presented on a purple plastic tray with nice heavy silver cutlery and white cloth napkin. Also offered a limited selection of wines. This was the best meal I’d had on a SYD-BNE flight in a long, long time and obviously a massive focus on food & beverage (& purple theming!) by Virgin Australia. Quick flight with perfect flying conditions, 1h 5m and approached BNE 19 over Straddie & Moreton Bay, landing towards the city, 100% on time. Took a look in economy on VH-YID too, and I swear the seat pitch looked better than the awful Jetconnect 737-800 we came back from Auckland on recently, packed so, so tight. A really nice flight to finish my weekend in Sydney.

A few pics...


VH-YID


Business Class on VH-YID


Business Class on VH-YID


Nice Meal Tray


Yummy Chocolate


Coq Au Vin


Luke Mangan Napkin Cover


Mood Lighting

[Dave Dale]

Good trip report Joe. Some good pictures there.