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#1
1st November 2011, 01:51 PM
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Trip Report: MEL-SYD-MEL - DJ B777-300ER Special Flight
Yesterday when Virgin Australia announced that they would be putting a Boeing 777-300ER on a Sydney to Melbourne leg, it was impossible to resist. So I used some of my Velocity points to book a return trip.
I booked the earliest flight up to Sydney, which was DJ803, leaving Melbourne at 06:00. I checked in online the night before, and selected seat 7F. I arrived at Melbourne Airport around 05:10. I had a quick snack in the lounge, before I proceeded through security. DJ803 was leaving from Gate 3, and I was one of the first to board. We had a slight delay, but soon we were rolling down RWY16.  Virgin Australia - Boeing 737-700 - VH-VBL (Melbourne Airport) Date: 1st November 2011 Route: Melbourne to Sydney Airline: Virgin Australia Flight Number: DJ803 Aircraft: Boeing 737-800 (VH-VUL) Class/Seat: Economy - 7F Distance: 705km Departure Gate: T3 Gate 3 SCH/ACT Departure: 06:15am / 06:10am SCH/ACT Arrival: 07:25am / 07:30am Arrival Gate: T2 Gate 32 The flight was uneventful, and went by very quickly. Soon we were touching down on RWY16R at Sydney Airport. We arrived at Gate 32.  Virgin Australia - Boeing 737-800 - VH-VUL (Inflight) by Oliver Gigacz, on Flickr After disembarking I went immediately to the check in counters, and checked in for DJ9502, the B77W flight to Melbourne. I had preselected seat 11K in premium economy, and was pleased to see it written on my boarding pass.  My Ticket For DJ9502 - Boeing 777-300ER - VH-VPE (Sydney Airport) I then went straight to the lounge and found myself a nice seat looking onto the apron. At first glance I saw my first Virgin Australia ATR-72, and Emirates' brand new A380 (A6-EDP). I also managed to get a few regos I had yet to record. I left the lounge around 09:15, and walked down to Gate 41. As soon as I got to the gate I noticed five buses ready to take us to our Boeing 777-300ER, which was being operated by VH-VPE. The staff were all trying to get things sorted for this very unusual flight, and they had a few hiccups with their system software.  Busses Await To Take Us To Our Boeing 777-300ER - VH-VPE (Sydney Airport) Date: 1st November 2011 Route: Sydney to Melbourne Airline: Virgin Australia (Operated by V Australia) Flight Number: DJ9202 Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER (VH-VPE) Seat: Premium Economy - 11A Distance: 705km Departure Gate: T2 Gate 41 SCH/ACT Departure: 10:30am / 10:42am SCH/ACT Arrival: 12:00pm / 12:07pm Arrival Gate: T3 Gate 12 Soon I was on walking onto Bus #1. It was only then that I realized that this flight was NOT going to be packed. It looked like there was only 100 people lining up, and in the end they got everybody quite comfortably into just two buses.  People Waiting To Get On The Ferry Bus (Sydney Airport)  Busses Await To Take Us To Our Boeing 777-300ER - VH-VPE (Sydney Airport) We were soon moving across the tarmac, getting very close to a QantasLink Dash 8 DHC-200 and a Qantas B747-400. We had to wait around five minutes for a Qantas B767-300 to taxi, but then it was a wide open road and VH-VPE was getting bigger and bigger.  Virgin Australia - Boeing 777-300ER - VH-VPE (Sydney Airport) The bus stopped right in front of the stairs and before I knew it, I was sitting in seat 11K with plenty of legroom. It took just five minutes to get everyone on-board and, of the 40 seats in Premium Economy, only 8 people, including myself, we're being seated there. In fact I had the entire row 11 to myself.  Boarding - Virgin Australia - Boeing 777-300ER - VH-VPE (Sydney Airport)  Premium Economy - Virgin Australia - Boeing 777-300ER - VH-VPE (Sydney Airport)  Premium Economy Legroom - Virgin Australia - Boeing 777-300ER - VH-VPE (Sydney Airport) We had to wait for around 10 aircraft to either take off or land, so we were on the ground for a good twenty minutes. Finally after Virgin Australia E190 cleared the runway, we were roaring down 16R, with some great wing flex.  Virgin Australia - Boeing 777-300ER - VH-VPE (Inflight)  Virgin Australia - Boeing 777-300ER - VH-VPE (Inflight) The self-serve bar was not in use for this flight, but they did offer us complimentary cheese and biscuits and bottled water.  Snack - Virgin Australia - Boeing 777-300ER - VH-VPE (Inflight) This was the first time on a Boeing 777 for me, and with basically no one around it was very peaceful and enjoyable. We were soon descending into Melbourne. We landed on RWY16 and taxied to Gate 12 at Virgin Australia's T3. This was the first time in a while (if not the first time ever) that a B777 had parked at this gate. The aerobridge was not used, as it isnt high enough.  Virgin Australia - Boeing 777-300ER - VH-VPE (Melbourne Airport) Overall I think the Boeing 777-300ER is an amazing aircraft, with a great inflight product. I am very grateful for Virgin for putting this aircraft on a domestic leg. P.S: I will have some videos ready by tomorrow. More photos can be seen here. Melbourne/Sydney Airport - 1st November 2011 - a set on Flickr
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Flown: AIB: 320 (200), 321 (200), 330 (200,300), 340 (200), 380 (800) ATR: 72 (500) BOE: 717 (200), 737 (300,400,700,800), 747 (400), 767 (300), 777 (300), 787 (8,9) DHC: DH3, DH4 EMB: E70, E90 FKR: F100 SWR: SW4 
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#2
1st November 2011, 02:41 PM
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Nice report Oliver. The 777 is probably my favorite aircraft.
It was good of Virgin to provide this extra flight and capacity, and it is a shame that the flight only had a 100 or so pax. But I suppose for the average flier, it would have just been a case of "Virgin have a 10.30 flight available" and if that time suited them then they were booked on it - none the wiser of the aircraft type. If they could get flights at other times - on either DJ, JQ or QF then I guess that would be their first priority - get the first flight possible.
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ABQ ABX ACV ADD ADL AKL ALB AMA AMS ANC ARN ATH ATL AUA AUH AUS AVL AVV AZA BCN BDL BFL BGO BGR BHD BHM BHQ BIL BIS BKI BKK BLD BLI BLV BNA BNE BOG BOI BOJ BOS BSB BTR BUF BUD BUR BWI BZE BZN CAI CBR CGK CHC CHS CLE CLT CMH CNS CNX COS CPH CPT CTG CTS CUE CUN CUZ CVG CXF CZM DAL DBO DCA DEN DFW DLH DOH DRW DSM DTW DUD DUR DXB ECP ELP EUG EWR EYW EZE FAI FAR FAT FCA FCO FLG FLL FNL FNT FRA FRS FSD FU'K FWA GCN GDL GDN GEG GGW GIG GJT GOT GRI GRR GRU GSP GTF GUA GVA GYE HAM HAN HBA HBE HEL HHH HKD HKG HLZ HND HNL HOU HRL HSV HVB IAD IAH ICN ICT IDA IND INV ISP IST ITM ITO JAB JAX JFK JNB JNU JOG JTR KEF KGC KIX KMI KMJ KMQ KOA KRK KTN KUL LAS LAX LBB LBE LEJ LFT LGA LGB LHR LIH LIM LIN LRD LST MAD MAF MAO MCI MCO MCT MCY MDE MDT MDW MEL MEM MEX MFE MFR MHU MIA MID MKE MNL MOB MOT MQL MRY MSN MSP MSY MTJ MTY MUC MVD MXP MZT NAN NAS NRT NTL OAG OAK OGG OKA OKC OMA OME ONT OOL ORD OSL OTZ OUI PAE PBG PDX PEK PER PHL PHX PIA PIT PLO PLZ PNH PSC PSG PSP PTY PVD PVG PVR PVU RAP RDD RDM RDU REC REP RIC RIX RNO ROC RSW SAL SAN SAT SAV SBA SBD SBN SBP SCK SCL SDF SDU SEA SFO SGF SGN SGU SHA SHV SIN SIT SJC SJD SJO SJU SLC SMF SMX SNA SOF SSA STL STS SUN SYD SYO SYR TIJ TLL TMW TPA TPE TSV TUL TUS TWF TYS VAR VIE VNO VPS WAW WDH WGA WLG WRG WVB XIY XNA YEG YHM YHZ YKM YOW YQB YQG YQM YTZ YUL YUM YVR YWG YXE YYC YYJ YYT YYZ ZRH Next Trips: 29APR SYD-LAX-LAS AA 02-05MAY LAS-ATL-LIT-LAS WN 11-12MAY LAS-DEN/CYS-DEN-LAS UA 18-19MAY LAS-DFW-BRO/HOU-LAS AA/WN 25-27MAY LAS-GEG/MSO-LAS WN/G4 31MAY-03JUN LAS-JFK-LAS DL/B6 08-09JUN LAS-PDX-LAS AS 21-24JUN LAS-GJT-LAS G4 04-08JUL LAS-SEA-ANC-ADQ-ANC-SEA-LAS AS 17-18AUG LAS-SEA-KTN-SEA-LAS AS 29AUG-03SEP LAS-MSP-TVC-DFW-LAS SY/AA 28-29SEP LAS-DEN-LAS UA 08-11NOV LAS-EWR/BTV-ORD-LAS UA
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#4
1st November 2011, 05:21 PM
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Nice report Oliver, I think I did see you onboard acctually
 Rather than doing a trip report of my own which would be exactly the same Il just throw a photo up which is relevent to the flight. I was in seat 3A Business Class today. A few nice sandwiches, tea & coffee were served along with all you can eat cookies which was awesome. Along with the Champers and Orange Juice before pushback. Suprisingly only 104 POB I think it was and all round great service as usual. I have flown J Class with VA a few times now and even short haul like today they really do step it up a notch. A really great day and flight to be apart of!
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#6
1st November 2011, 06:03 PM
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On the bus as we were waiting for so long everyone was using there phones or cameras, staff did not mind.
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Flown: AIB: 320 (200), 321 (200), 330 (200,300), 340 (200), 380 (800) ATR: 72 (500) BOE: 717 (200), 737 (300,400,700,800), 747 (400), 767 (300), 777 (300), 787 (8,9) DHC: DH3, DH4 EMB: E70, E90 FKR: F100 SWR: SW4
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#8
1st November 2011, 08:46 PM
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Was an awesome flight.. the only thing i didnt like was that it was too short! I just got comfortable and enjoying the 77W and it was time to get off
 Oh well, next Im on one, hopefully it will be to LAX
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