QANTAS airlines are an Australian based airline. The acronym stands for Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services, in case you are interested. Their aeroplanes are easily recognised by their red and white kangaroo logo and the airline is based in Sydney. They carry a large fleet of well-known aeroplanes and jets and have many destinations in Australia, Asia, Polynesia, USA, Europe and South Africa, although Australia and South East Asia are where the majority of the routes are.
PERSONAL THOUGHTS:
Although I have flown with other well-known airlines in the past decade- British Airways, KLM, Virgin, American Airlines- this month saw my first opportunity to experience a flight with QANTAS. A ten hour flight across nothing but ocean is never a nice prospect. It's even worse when you know there's going to be another flight for your travelling pleasure immediately after it (a further three hour journey.) It gets worse again when your travelling companion (in this case, my
husband) hates the claustraphobia of aeroplanes and is going to moan about the lack of space for the duration of the flight. If there was an alternative, quicker means of getting from Honolulu to Sydney, I would gladly have taken it. Obviously, there was not, because on 30th November 2007, I found myself on board QANTAS flight QF4. Destination: Sydney.
QANTAS' airport and in-flight services were unlike any of the other airlines' I had experienced previously. At Honolulu, boarding was organised and swift. Families with children and persons who needed support were permitted to board first, followed by specified row numbers. What I liked about boarding was that the attendants called passengers clearly and were stringent in boarding in the correct order- from the back of the plane forward. If your row had not been called , you could not board, unlike other airlines. This made for an organised boarding and a prompt take-off.
No aeroplanes are spacious or have enough leg room, especially in economy class, however the staff at QANTAS tried their utmost to make everyone comfortable on this flight. Every passenger was provided with a fluffy pillow and large fleece blanket (not one blanket between two, like British Airways.) Headphones were provided at no cost, unlike on other airlines where you are charged a small fee. After take-off, cabin crew came around with hot towels to refresh us after our wait at the airport- an unexpected service which was thereefore much nicer. This was followed by ice-cold water an advice to those passengers who declined a bottle that it was necessary to stay hydrated on a long haul flight such as this. Shortly after this, a further drinks service was offered, a good selection of soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, coffee and tea (something that is not offered on American Airlines! No tea! Can you imagine!)
On this Boeing 767, the in- flight entertainment started quickly and was constant, there were no 1/ hour gaps between films. As expected, recent films were shown- Die Hard 4, Ratatouille, Evan Almighty. Unfortunately in the 767, there are no TVs in the back of the seats, just a big screen at the front of the cabin and smaller screens interspersed throughout the cabin. This was fine, as long as you weren't sitting directly under a screen. If so, you were in need of a neck massage before the first film ended. Whilst travelling from Sydney to Thailand in Decemebr, however, we had the pleasure of the in flight entertainment on a Boeing 747. This was a fantastic entertainment service- Tv and movies ON DEMAND. With screens on the back of every seat and personal remote controls, you could choose between a selection of 30+ movies, old and new, and 40+ TV channels and programmes, as well as the latest CD releases and 15 radio channels. This was an excellent facility and certainly helped the time pass on our nine hour journey from Sydney to Bangkok.
Back to the original flight (Honolulu- Sydney). Before lunch was served, cabin crew brought around individual menus. You could make your lunch choice before lunch as delivered. personally, I like the surprise though! Lunch was pretty good- tasty, arm, filling. And, only half an hour after lunch was cleared away, the staff were bringing us hot chocolate with marshmallows. What a lovely idea! It settled us down nicely, to tuck in under our blankets and watch the next film.
Drinks were available at the rear of the aircraft for the duration of the flight, which was much appreciated. You could fall asleep without being disturbed by an air hostess asking if you needed a drink. Although the menu stated that a snack would be provided later in the flight, when the snack arrived it was again a full meal. All in all, as you can see, there was plenty of food provided and a plethora of entertainment to kepp us, well, entertained during the flight. For those who enjoy duty free shopping, the catalogue is extensive and the prices are good. many of the items are unique to the QANTAS shopping brochure, so you can alays find a special present for a family member back home, or even as a treat to yourself. Duty ree shopping is available at any time in the flight and the purser will alert you wen shopping closes towards the end of the flight.
The staff were welcoming when we boarded the plane, giving each passenger directions to their seats, and their professionalness and cheeriness did not wear off as the flight progressed. Throughout the flight, the crew stopped to talk to most, if not all, passengers, played with the children when they had a spare moment and often cracked a joke when delivering food etc. Polite, cheery staff takes away the 'pain' of a ten hour flight somehow.
With regards to the price of the flights from Honolulu to Syney and from Sydney to Bangkok, I cannot be of much help to you. We bought a RTW (round the world) ticket from Travel Nation that included both British Airways and QANTAS flights- £1500 for seven flights, including the return flight to the UK. What I can tell you though, is that when researching flight prices at the start of the year, QANTAS was competitively priced and had lots of availability when booking in advance. We did havs ome trouble with availability when changing light dates close to Christmas, but this was understandable at such a busy time of year.
All in all, QANTAS provides decent food, up to date in-flight entertainment, service with an uninterrupted smile and those extra services that make it unique to oter large airlines. I, for one, will not hesitate to travel with Australia's Number One airline in the near future. In fact, I'm actually looking forward to the ten hour flight home next week! :)
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