QANTAS Airways – Airbus A330 – Cairns to Sydney.

After another wonderful stay in Cairns, the city that feels like my second home, it was time to head back to Sydney. For this flight I chose Qantas Airways for three key reasons: first, the chance to fly on a widebody Airbus A330-200; second, I grabbed a seat with points (or miles) that was quite…

Visiting the Qantas Club in Cairns.

Another lounge visit, this time at the Qantas Club in Cairns. Normally, I’d fly Virgin Australia since I hold Gold Status, but with no lounge there, I used points to fly Qantas. Conveniently, my Qantas credit card included a lounge pass, perfect timing! I genuinely share my loyalty between both airlines. This post may contain…

Virgin Australia Melbourne to Sydney Business Class

After visiting the Virgin Australia Lounge, I took a relatively short flight of just 58 minutes (versus the usual slotted 1 hour and 30 minutes) back to Sydney. Virgin Australia pulls out all the stops on this quick high traffic route. The corridor between Melbourne and Sydney is one of the busiest air routes in…

The Virgin Australia Lounge – Melbourne

The Virgin Australia Lounge in Melbourne offers a relaxed, modern space with plenty of seating, work areas, and tarmac views. Guests enjoy a self serve buffet, barista made coffee, and a selection of beverages, ideal for unwinding before a domestic flight. This post may contain affiliate links, to read more click here. Virgin Australia domestic…

QANTAS Airways Business Class – Christchurch to Sydney.

For my journey back to Australia from New Zealand, I scored a great deal combining Air New Zealand and QANTAS flights. The first leg was a short Economy flight with Air New Zealand from Dunedin to Christchurch, followed by a Business Class flight on QANTAS to Sydney. Full disclosure, this post contains affiliate links which…

LATAM Airlines Premium Business – LA800 – Sydney to Auckland.

I was heading across the ditch—as we like to say in Australia and New Zealand when hopping between the two countries. The flight from Sydney to Auckland is a short one, blocked at just over three hours, but when I spotted a business class fare for only $200 more than economy, I was instantly sold!…

Qantas Airways – Perth to Sydney Business Class

‘Well at least there’ll be no delays with the way they serve the nuts’ I thought to myself referring to nutgate. I was travelling back from Perth after experiencing the new Qantas Business Suite and was a little disappointed that my return flight had the older recliner style seat in Business Class. Thats ok, the flight…

China Airlines Sydney to Auckland Business Class – Airbus A330-300

Question: China Airlines comes from what country? Answer: Taiwan (Republic of China) Bloody Mary. People often think China Airlines is from mainland China (The Peoples Republic of China) but its not, it’s Taiwan’s (Republic of China) national carrier and largest airline based the country’s capital Taipei. Now I’m not going to go into the how, why and…

One Day In November – A FreakyFlier Day Trip

Let me take you on a day trip, its not your regular outing but for an aviation enthusiast its going to be a freaky good day! Late last year, when Jetstar received its first Boeing 787 Deamliner, they offered a few sectors domestically to ‘break-in’ the new aircraft and give the Australian travelling public a…

Review: QANTAS AIRWAYS – Gold Coast to Sydney, Business Class

“Why do you want to fly Business Class?” my friend Liz asked me the other day. “Huh? Did you seriously just ask me that?” I replied, stunned. Obviously Liz hasn’t flown Business Class very often. Even though this was a short 1 hour 25 minutes sector, one of the many benefits of flying Business Class is lounge access and with…

Introducing Australia’s First Dreamliner – Jetstar’s Boeing 787-8

I was excited when I saw the first 787 Dreamliner on the ground at the Boeing factory in 2009 and equally delighted when I saw an Air India Dreamliner take off as the first commercial 787 in Australia, so you can imagine how thrilled I was to get up close, really close, and tour Australia’s newest aircraft before it…

Review: Lufthansa German Airlines – Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur Business Class

Fifth Freedom rights – where an airline travels from its own country to another and onto a third having the right to sell tickets and transport passengers between the latter two ports. In this case Lufthansa flew from Frankfurt, Germany to Bangkok, Thailand, where I boarded, and onto Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – two countries completely…

Review: Scoot Airlines Sydney to Singapore, ScootBiz

Fees. It can sometimes be all about fees and ancillary charges with low cost carriers, but only if you decide to pay them or if you’ve done something wrong, wrong as in not followed the conditions of the ticket you have purchased. I’ve flown low cost carriers and budget airlines, with their ‘user pays’ systems…

Review: Vietnam Airlines Sydney to Ho Chi Minh City, Business Class

Flight date: 15 July 2012 Aircraft: Airbus a330-200 Flight Number:VN772 Flight Time: 9hrs Class: Business Class Seat: 4c For me, a big part of the excitement of long-haul travel is the unknown. I’m not talking about where I’m going and what cultures, foods and history I will encounter, that surely is an exciting part, but my experience of getting there….

Review: Vietnam Airlines Ho Chi Minh City to Dong Hoi

Flight date: 20 April 2012 Aircraft: Airbus a320-200 Flight number: VN1400 Flight time: 1hr 40mins Class: Business Seat: 2F It was a quick check-in at the Vietnam Airlines counter at the sometimes chaotic Ho Chi Minh City domestic terminal, not only because of no others in the Business Class line,  but also as I was travelling in a…

New Chinese airline arrived in Sydney this morning

Today marked the start of another Chinese carrier serving Australia. Hainan airlines (HU) will fly an Airbus A330-200 three times a week between Shenzhen and Hangzhou and Sydney. Shenzhen, located on mainland China near Hong Kong and Hangzhou, also on the mainland near Shanghai are both important financial, trade and industrial cities and with populations…