TRIP REPORT - Hamilton Island (Great Barrier Reef Airport) to Sydney - Virgin Australia Airlines - Boeing B737-800 VH-VOO

TRIP REPORT – Hamilton Island (Great Barrier Reef Airport) to Sydney – Wednesday 14 December – Virgin Australia Airlines – VA1280 – Boeing B737-800 – VH-VOO.

Having spent a couple of nights at the lovely Reef View Hotel on Hamilton Island, it was time to depart and head to Sydney for a week or so.  This would be the first time I’ve flown out of the Hamilton Island (Great Barrier Reef Airport) - I flew into Hamo Airport from Melbourne some time ago - so I thought I’d share this experience.

Mini-bus transfer from the Hotel to the Airport was a little chaotic with people and bags and then mini-busses everywhere but eventually we found a seat and travelled over to the Airport which is only about a 5-minute drive on the other side of the Island.

There is also a dedicated ferry terminal at the Airport for passenger transfers from and back to the mainland (Airlie Beach or Shute Harbour).

Bags collected off the bus and into the nearby check-in hall – almost all major Australian airlines fly into Hamo except Tigerair – and all have dedicated check-in counters and contacted staff.

Check-in was reasonable quick with the ‘usual’ problem of some tourists having to shuffle items from and to bags if they were overweight.   We were assigned the pre-booked exit row 13 with a window and centre seat.

Meanwhile, outside of the terminal, the high tide was VERY high today and the water level was rising into the carpark and onto parts of the Airport, including a taxiway used by smaller passenger charter aircraft from the mainland.

Through security and into the modest terminal.  One food outlet and a general retail outlet along with toilets.  Nice views through louvred windows to the aircraft parking apron and out to the Runway 14/32.

Our aircraft was Boeing B737-800 VH-VOO (ex ZK-PBA with Pacific Blue) named “Peaceful Bay” and it arrived from Sydney pretty much on time.

Soon after the bags were being removed and much to my surprise a pre-boarding call of 5-minutes was made.  This is a very quick turnaround and the ground crew were certainly working hard!

Virgin Australia Business Class passengers boarded first followed by the main cabin.  I saw our bags heading onto the plane as we lined up to board somewhere near the end of the queue.  Out onto the tarmac and up the steps to be greeted on board and directly to our seats.

Plenty of legroom – well worth the extra money to be paid for this 2 hour and 10 minute flight.

Today’s flight was probably about two-thirds full – plenty of spare seats – and quite a few people looking to swap seats to have more room!

Front door was closed, engines started and we commenced taxiing for Runway 14.  Holding for the Qantas B737-800 from Sydney before we back-tracked and lined up just as the safety demonstration finished and the crew was seated.

Quick departure with spectacular views out of both sides of the plane over the sunning Whitsundays.

We flew overheard Mackay and then West of Rockhampton before we levelled and set-course for Sydney.

Cabin service started with all crew providing a muesli bar as a snack along with a drink.  Certainly a nice change for Virgin Australia offering a complimentary snack.  They still have menu items available for purchase and so feeling a bit peckish (it was lunchtime after all) I also purchased a wrap with an extra drink.  Good value and a good lunch.

The rubbish was collected and we sat back for the remainder of this pretty uneventful flight .

In terms of in-flight entertainment, this flight had none – unless you have a smart phone/device and downloaded the special Virgin Australia in-flight entertainment app.  There is Wi-Fi on board to connect your device to the app only and the app provides a substantial range of entertainment options including movies, TV shows, music and games to mention a few.

We started descending into Sydney and were advised that we were running 10 minutes early!  On the downside though was the strong Westerly winds passing through Sydney and that there may be turbulence.  We continued flying South until pretty much overhead the Sydney Harbour Bridge when we made a 90 degree left-hand turn – what turned out to be downwind for landing on Runway 25.

No major turbulence and after a long-final approach we landed and exited Runway 25 on the taxi along Taxiway ‘Golf’ back to the Sydney Domestic ‘Terminal 2’, crossing the main Runway 16R/34L along the way.

Fairly long walk to the baggage collection area from the end of the Virgin Australia terminal pier, followed by another wait for our bags to come out.  Eventually bags were collected and we were on our way from the terminal around 15 minutes after landing.

Overall, a good flight.  Very friendly and professional crew.  Glad there was additional items from the menu available for a decent lunch – the ‘snack’ is certainly not filling.

Enjoyed passing through Hamilton Island Airport, and especially enjoyed the views from the plane on departure!

TRIP REPORT - Brisbane to Melbourne - Qantas Airways - Boeing B737-800 - Business Class

TRIP REPORT – Brisbane to Melbourne – Wednesday 4 January – Qantas Airways – QF617 – Boeing B737-800 – VH-VXH.

This trip was my opportunity to see how the upper class live! I've always travelled in the Economy Class section of an airplane - although I have recently travelled in Virgin Australia’s Premium Economy section (Trip Report HERE) – and I've always thought that the Brisbane-Melbourne sector would be about the right flight time and cost to try a Business Class flight. Looking online, I was very pleasantly surprised to see that for around 20000 Qantas Frequent Flyer points - yes I know that is a lot – plus some payment for taxes - I could see what travelling in Business Class is like.

Overall, I was quite impressed, but was consistently thinking that on the whole, the cost - about 8 times a standard economy fare on this sector - is probably a little steep for the overall experience.


I had earlier flown to Brisbane from Mackay on an Alliance Airlines operated QantasLink flight (Trip Report HERE), so had my boarding pass for this flight and thus simply walked through the Brisbane Domestic terminal to the Qantas section. The departure gate was down the end of the Qantas Domestic terminal in the CityFlyer section.


I was assigned seat 2F. The Business Class section of the Qantas B737-800 has 6 seats in a 2x2 arrangement. At first glance, the seat is very spacious, and it is a lot wider, especially when compared to the seats in the economy cabin of a Qantas Boeing B737-800 - which are in a 3x3 arrangement. Legroom was quite ample as well.




The other passengers in Business Class were a mix of crew, older people, and one famous cricketer who happened to be sitting next to me!

Push back started a little late due to late bags and connecting passengers.



Taxi was via Bravo and as we followed a B777-300 out, Air Traffic Control (ATC) made us taxi all the way to the end of Runway 01 - so it was a longer taxi than normal.




Cabin service started as we taxied, with a glass of water or juice offered in a glass actually made of glass! Then a hot towel was offered. The rubbish was collected and we strapped in for departure to Melbourne off Runway 01 at Brisbane.


After the usual series of right-hand turns that is the Laravale SID out of Brisbane, we were over the Southern suburbs including Brisbane City and Archerfield, where Brisbane’s general aviation Airport could be seen. A lovely clear day!






Wine and nibbles came out next, with the choice of red or white wine. I went with the red - a nice Shiraz - and apparently a new addition to the menu. One good thing about this glass of wine was that it was 'bottomless' with the two cabin crew assigned to Business Class constantly on call and refilling nearly empty glasses! Bottles of water were also offered.


After a couple of glasses of wine, lunch was served with the choice being a salad with prosciutto or chicken and cous cous. I went with the hot chicken meal which was accompanied by a slice of fresh sour-dough bread and a mini-muffin for dessert! See picture below.


This was a lovely meal and certainly different to what was being offered up in economy – which looked like a simple muffin snack and the usual tea/coffee service.

I settled back to complete a bit of work on my laptop while my glass of wine was still being refilled! There were also some nice views of rural New South Wales and Victoria.





Descent commenced into Melbourne Airport and the captain came on and stated that we had made good time and would land about five minutes early. It seemed like a long slow descent with only a couple of right-hand turns before we turned left and thus were established onto finals on Runway 16 at Melbourne.



Off the runway, past the crossing runway, and then taxi to the Qantas terminal past the Virgin Australia terminal and International terminal where most of the afternoon heavy jet departures were parked.








Being up the front of the aircraft, I was off the plane fairly quickly. The Qantas terminal at Melbourne consists of two terminal fingers, and our arrival gate was about half way down the Western finger. At the end of the finger, there is an exit and so I proceeded downstairs to collect my bag, which, even though it had business class labels and tags, still was one of the bags to come out last! All up I waited about 15 minutes. I also collected my hire car from the nearby desks.



As I said, in all honesty, I probably can’t justify paying the substantially more money to fly Business Class, unless of course, it is a special occasion to take the flight! Sure, the service, and the food and drink are of a lot higher standard then what I would normally receive in the economy class section, but I question whether it is worth the extra money? Business class would of course be much nicer to take on longer and overseas flights, of course, I would much rather sit in a Business Class seat and receive much nicer meals over a 4 or more hour flight than I would have received in Economy Class!