Departure should have been 08:30 but due to heavy fog in MEL the inbound service was delayed. At 08:45 a Qantas B763 arrived at the gate. As T3 is only used for domestic flights, arriving pax leave the A/C in the same area as departing pax. 30 mins later boarding was called. No priority boarding for business class with only one jetway. For some reason Qantas dont split your boarding card as you enter the jetway so you end up with your full boarding card. This was the same when I travelled with Qantas 6 years ago.
I had been assigned seat 2A in the business cabin which had 5 rows in a 2-2-2 config with 2 senior cabin crew working the business cabin. The seat was quite old fashioned looking with the usual business class seat features including leg rests, lumber support and quite good leg room. 2 IFE TV screens fixed into the cabin roof in each aisle. There were only about 10 pax in business class.
Once all the economy pax had gone through the cabin I was ofered a drink (juice or water) followed by hot towels and newspapers.
We pulled back from the terminal and taxed towards the runway. It was pretty busy so we had to wait 15 mins to take off. Captain came on and said it would be a 65 min flight to MEL. After about 10 mins the seat belt sign went off and the cabin service started. Qantas have a policy where you have to keep your seat belt on all the time when sat in your seat (although you are allowed to move around the cabin when the seat belt sign is off)
As this was an early morning flight breakfast was on the menu. You could either have cereal or a cooked breakfast. I went for the cereal which also included a small bowl of fruit and toast. Coffee/tea was then served (in a mug for a change [:)]). Metal forks and spoons with a plastic knife were used. Service was very good throughout the flight.
There were news programs on the IFE but I just listened to my iPod.
Before long I was asked to remove my head phones and prepare for landing in MEL. Seat belt sign came on and we decended through the now-lifting fog into MEL. We arrived into the domestic terminal so again we exited the jetway through departing pax. My bag came off almost straight away so priority baggage works on Qantas [:w].
Maybe VS need to start doing what many other airlines do and that's place a 'Priority' or 'Business Class' cardboard tag inbetween the baggage bar code tag.
Exited the terminal and jumped on the SkyBus service which takes you to the main bus/train terminal in the city for Au$15. You can then get on a free mini-bus directly to your hotel.
Overall a good business class flight. It's just as cold here as it was in SYD (about 10'C)
Spending 2 nights in MEL before catching a DJ flight back to SYD.
Regards
Regards
James Mitchell
James Mitchell
