QANTAS Airways, The Spirit of Australia. I recently enjoyed another fantastic flight on the national carrier. I was travelling on one of QANTAS’ Airbus A330-300 of which they own ten, this particular aircraft, registered VH-QPG, named Mount Gambier, entered service with the carrier in 2004.
Read about my visit to the QANTAS International Business Lounge prior to my flight HERE
It had been over a year since I’d flow QANTAS Internationally. This refreshed 13 year old aircraft had been retrofitted with 269 slimline economy seats in QANTAS red and dark grey cushions invoking excitement, sophistication and a sense of calm. I didn’t find the 17″ seat width much of a bother but the 31″ pitch did feel a little tight after a few hours. Placed on each seat was a comfortably sized pillow and a decent, QANTAS branded, headset – so great I saw a few people still wearing them in the Singapore immigration line!
The large AVOD screen was responsive and featured around 20 new release movies as well as several old favourites. T.V shows, documentaries and games were also at my fingertips. You could also set your own playlist and stop and resume your chosen program at any time.
Below the screen was a rather handy retractable pocket to place smaller items such as your phone or a headset. For safety purposes, the pockets were not to be used during take off or landing. Interestingly, the crew also announced that if anyone misplaced their phones to immediately alert crew before reclining the seat to recover them. This announcement, while may surprise some, was due to and incident in June of last year where a passengers device slipped between the seat and when he tried to retrieve it using the recline mechanism, it caught fire.
One of the crew came through the cabin to hand out menus prior to take off – I find it such a delight to receive a menu in economy, and QANTAS details the the whole dish and what it is served with, its no “chicken or beef ” scenario. There were 3 choices of mains on todays flight. The choices were:
✈ Thai beef salad with vermicelli noodles and chilli lime dressing.
✈ Tandoori vegetable biriyani with basmati rice, fried onion and naan.
✈ Peri peri chicken with roast potato wedges, zucchini and mint.
I had already seen the choices available online through QANTAS Menu Select. But wait, there is actually a FOURTH main meal choice, and I am not talking about special dietary or religious special meals, its from the Online Select menu.
I had already perused the above menu choices above via the online Menu Select feature which also includes an Online Exclusive:
✈ Barramundi with lemon dill sauce and roast winter vegetables. This was not available to select on board. I truly was the envy of my seat neighbour.
You can read more about my pre-ordering QANTAS Menu Select experience HERE.
Fancy a refreshment? There was an extensive drinks menu featuring tea, coffee, juices, and soft drinks. Australian sparkling and red and white wines and Premium Australian beers plus a selection of spirits. I certainly didn’t go thirsty!
Snacks and fruit were available throughout the flight and it was never a problem to request another drink from one of the crew. At one stage, they handed out these delightful coconut and raspberry bars and they really hit the spot.
Prior to lading there was an offer of stir fry noodles with vegetables and honey sesame dressing. Although a little on the small side, it was really yummy and I could have gone another couple of these delicious snacks.
We flew into Singapore over the ever amazing flotilla of cargo chips that litter the coast around the nation, a little behind schedule due to heavy air traffic in the region. Again, it was another comfortable flight with great crew and lovely food on QANTAS Airways, the true Spirit of Australia.
FreakyFlier paid or his own ticket independently as part of a FINNAIR round the world ticket.
Matty Somewhere 