Flight Review: Sydney (SYD) – Melbourne (MEL) in early 2016

Carrier: Qantas , Airbus A330 Business Class
Flight Duration: 1h
Price Paid: 60 EUR + 5.000 Avios (miles)

While being on a 5-week backpacking-vacation inbetween my studies I got the opportunity to fly from Sydney to Melbourne in one of their (at that time) newly remodelled A330´s. To book this flight I used my Avios (Miles) from my British Airways Executive Club account. So in the end a oneway-trip in Business Class cost me around 5000 Avios plus an additional 60 Euros in fees and taxes. The cost for this ticket without using miles would have been a whopping 900 AUD. So the use of my Avios wasn’t bad at all.

To get more information on how to earn and use miles just check out my beginners tutorial on how to plan and book your journey here!

So when I arrived at the airport in Sydney I checked in my backpack at the empty Business Class counter and proceeded through security. One of the amazing perks of flying Business Class are the lounges you are allowed to access before departure. And that’s exactly what I did. (I must admit, I did even skip having lunch in Sydney to come to the airport 2-3 h before departure to have it in the Qantas lounge).

Qantas Business Class Lounge

The lounge is spacious and there was quite a good choice of hot and cold food at their selfservice buffet. Complimentary alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks were available at the bar right next to the buffet. There is also the opportunity to have a quick shower in one of the lounge’s private shower rooms, which I didn’t take advantage of though.

For aviationgeeks this lounge features a fairly nice view onto the tarmac with a lot of qantas planes waiting to be boarded right next to the windows of the lounge.

Qantas Lounge food and view

After having a nice lunch -it was more like a brunch- I headed to the gates to board my rather short flight in Qantas’ new A330 Business Class.
I assigned myself seat 4A which is a window seat on the left side of the plane, obviously. Business Class is configured in a 1-2-1 layout with direct aisle acces for every seat. I really liked the level of privacy given on a window seat.

Qantas Business Class seat A330

For the first time in my life (yes, this was actually my first Business Class flight ever) I felt like being on a private jet. The seat certainly felt like it and also the service was amazing, especially for a short flight like this. Even though the flight-time was just under 1 hour the crew managed to serve a full meal in Business Class, which I wasn’t even expecting. The meal included a chickencornsoup, some bread (which unfortunately I ate before taking the picture), some sort of sweet cake for dessert, water and white wine.  I was quite impressed by that.

Qantas Business Class food and entertainment system

So despite this being an extremly short flight to fly Business Class on, it was definitely still worth using my avios for. I had a great experience flying their new product at that time but I would certainly not spend 900 AUD for a oneway-ticket. Though again, the option of using my avios made this a very reasonable and unique experience.