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!

HOTEL REVIEW - The Shakespeare International Motel - Mackay

The Shakespeare International Motel a four-star motel located (not surprisingly) on Shakespeare Street in Mackay. The motel is just minutes from the central business district, offering deluxe accommodation, in either one-bedroom deluxe rooms, or two-bedroom executive suites.

I have stayed in both standards of room, and they are as equally high standard, and are complemented by the Motel's style and service. The Motel offers full room service, as well as a fully licensed restaurant and bar, which serves a delicious menu, as well as offering a daily buffet breakfast.






All rooms have a newly-installed free high speed ethernet internet access, as well as all the usual features such as air-conditioning, large-screen television - with free cable-tv channels, mini bar, tea/coffee facilities, as well as a sitting area. The larger Executive Suites also feature a kitchette.

Other facilties at the Motel include a salt water pool, guest laundry, drycleaning service, fax/photocopier services, and undercover parking for about half of the rooms.



In all, the Shakespeare is a delightful and very friendly place to stay. The facilities are a little dated, but the owners/management of the Motel have endeavoured to give the Motel a modern feel. If you can actually find a room in Mackay, I would recommend the Shakespeare as being high on your list of options!

TRIP REPORT – Mackay to Brisbane – Alliance Airlines for QantasLink – Fokker F-100

Trip Report – Mackay to Brisbane – Wednesday 4 January 2012 – Alliance Airlines for QantasLink – QF2513 – Fokker F-100 – VH-XWR

Being the school holidays, I headed off for yet another interstate plane spotting trip. Due to the lack of cheap and timely flights out of Proserpine / Whitsunday Coast Airport - a 30 minute drive from the in-laws – I decided to take a flight out of Mackay Airport – unfortunately, a one and three-quarter hour drive from the in-laws.

I decided to fly with QantasLink - it was the cheapest - and it also allowed me to fly on an Alliance Airlines Fokker F-100. Alliance Airlines has been operating most QantasLink flights between Mackay and Brisbane - and also Rockhampton and Brisbane - although soon QantasLink will be operating Boeing B717-200 aircraft on these routes (see CQ Plane Spotting Blog Post HERE).

Alliance Airlines has been around since 2003, and grew out of the ashes of Flight West Airlines. Today, Alliance Airlines is one the largest fly-in fly-out (FIFO) and general charter operators in Australia.


After a very early start, I arrived at a pretty quiet Mackay Airport. Left the car in the open-air carpark - there is also undercover parking – long term - which is good considering it is storm season!



Into a pretty quiet check-in area, and shortly after, I had my boarding pass and bag checked in. I was actually flying through to Melbourne, and had my bag tagged all the way through to Melbourne, via Brisbane.

Through security to the redeveloped waiting area. There is a nice cafe and bar, as well as a “Relay” shop selling books, magazines, and other things such as clothes.

Last time I was at Mackay Airport, this new area had just opened up, and unfortunately the outdoor eating area/observation area hadn't reopened. Today it was open, and so I purchased some breakfast and a much needed coffee, and parked myself outside to wait to my plane to arrive.

This observation area has a similar problem to the area at Rockhampton Airport in that there is a lot of glass between the spotter and the aircraft - hence photography is limited - but there are spots along the fence-lines on the outside of the terminal at either end of the terminal building, with the best views near the freight sheds.



After enjoying breakfast and coffee, I went back inside and took a seat in the redeveloped sitting area. Again, this area wasn’t complete last time I was there, but now has a lot more seating – including table and chairs - as well as five passenger boarding gates. The area has, however lost its kiosk, and the upstairs waiting area was closed, as I suspect that this was to become part of the new Virgin Australia Premium Economy Lounge, which opened early in the new year.





Alliance Fokker F-100 VH-XWR finally arrived to take us to Brisbane. VH-XWR is a fairly recent acquisition for Alliance, who have been taking delivery of quite a number of second-hand Fokker F-70 and F-100 aircraft from overseas.

Boarding commenced on time and soon after I took my seat at 11A, which is the first of two exit rows on the left side of the aircraft.



I noted that these aircraft are in a 2X3 configuration, and have comfy, though a little dated, leather-look seats. Inside the cabin there is also a clock at the front the plane which shows Eastern Standard Time - I believe this is a feature in every Alliance aircraft!



The front door was closed and the Tay engines were spooled up. Soon after, we taxiied away from the terminal pretty much right on time. A quick back-taxi down the runway had us soon taking off from Runway 14 for Brisbane.

Some nice views out the left side over Dalrymple Bay and Hay Point coal ship loading terminals, before a layer of cloud blocked the views for most of the flight.




The seatbelt sign stayed on for about 20 minutes after we took off - the climb out was smooth though. Cabin service was then in full swing with a typical QantasLink snack breakfast pack distributed to each passenger, followed by tea/coffee and cold drinks. The breakfast pack had a nice scone and some butter, as well as something and yogurt.


Rubbish was cleaned away giving us a chance to sit back and look at the inflight magazine. Some nice views of Rockhampton, but soon after the cloud outside had blocked the views again.




After about an hour, we commenced our descent into Brisbane. Descent was long and smooth with some nice views over the Sunshine Coast hinterland, Caboolture, and then Redcliffe.



We made an approach and landing via the “Hornibrook Viaduct” and onto the shorter runway at Brisbane - Runway 14.




The one-hour and twenty minute flight had literally flown by! Although, the long taxi to our gate which was surprisingly at the recently opened centre finger area of the Brisbane Airport Domestic terminal. Out the front stairs onto the apron, and up the stairs at Gate 29 and into the terminal which is now looking quite nice!



A long walk into the main terminal and off to the Qantas section to wait for my next flight.

In all, it was a nice flight with some lovey service from Alliance Airlines. The flight was clearly branded as a QantasLink flight, including the in-flight morning snack which was served in QantasLink packaging. The flight attendants and their cabin service was purely Alliance - and it was very professional and very friendly. I doubt that Alliance will start flying commercially themselves in the near future, so it was a good opportunity to fly with a company that I may not get the chance to do with again.