L1011 From United States of America, joined May 1999, 1583 posts, RR: 10 Posted (13 years 3 weeks 6 days 4 hours ago) and read 791 times:
I just got back from a trip from Richmond, Virginia, to Australia. My US domestic flights were on Delta and my international and Australian domestic flights were on Qantas. I guess it is no secret that Qantas domestic flights are far superior to Delta domestic flights. On Qantas, I got a hot meal on every flight. On Delta, from CVG to LAX I had ordered a special meal, the cold seafood one. When they got to my seat, they tried to give me the ham and cheese sandwich that was the scheduled meal. I told the flight attendant that I had ordered a special meal that had been confirmed and was indicated on my boarding pass. He went to the back and got on the phone, then came back and told me that they gave my seafood meal away. He was sorry. So I had to have the dry ham and cheese sandwich. I reordered the seafood meal on my return Delta flight, and this time I got it. In fact, before takeoff, the flight attendant put a sticker on my seatback so they would know I had ordered a special meal.
On one of my Qantas 737s, when the flight attendant served me my hot meal, I told her that in the US, we would be lucky to get a bag of pretzels and a drink on a flight of that length. She asked me how many flight attendants there were on 737s in the US. I told her there were three on the Delta 737 I had. She couldn't believe it. She said she thought they needed one for each emergency door, and the 737 has four. I told her that in the US I thought the requirement was one flight attendant for every 50 seats. She said in Australia it is one per 36 seats. She said they used to have six on a 737, but they cut back to four to save money.
On all my Qantas flights, legroom was very generous. There were no seatback screens or phones on any of my Qantas flights. Flight crews were very friendly and seemed to enjoy their work. On my Delta 737-200, the seat pitch was so tight I thought I was on PeoplExpress.
Here are the planes I was on:
L1011 From United States of America, joined May 1999, 1583 posts, RR: 10 Reply 2, posted (13 years 3 weeks 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 672 times:
Yes, they do have the Air Show map on the 747s. I don't remember it on the 737s. By the way, Delta has it on the 737-800s. On the short flight from CVG to RIC we had it.
Macair SAAB From Australia, joined May 1999, 335 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (13 years 3 weeks 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 668 times:
The service on Australian flights is generally good, however it is not always on the mark. I was on a flight from Townsville to Brisbane with Qantas one day and the cabin crew were very cranky. They asked everyone forward of the emergency exits if they would like a drink with their meal, but everyone else had to beg for one. The excuse that the FA's were tired can not be used because I followed them down the road to the airport as they were comming from their hotel.
On the other hand, I hope you had an enjoyable time here and I hope I'll have the chance to visit the US someday.
L1011 From United States of America, joined May 1999, 1583 posts, RR: 10 Reply 5, posted (13 years 3 weeks 5 days 4 hours ago) and read 611 times:
A couple of things I forgot to mention.
I recently bought a small suitcase which was advertised as being within limits for carry-on size. Well, when I left RIC on Delta, it fit into their carry-on sizer with room to spare. But when I was about to board my Qantas flight from Melbourne to Perth, the agent at the gate told me to put my suitcase in the sizer unit, and it wouldn't fit, so they made me check it. I told him it fit in the sizer where I began my trip, and he said that this was a 737, and there wasn't much room for onboard luggage. My originating Delta flight was also a 737, and the suitcase fit into their overhead bin with no problem. So beware. Not all airlines allow the same size carry-ons.
My flight from Perth to Sydney was to be an hour and a half late, so when I checked in, the agent told me to take my boarding pass to the cafe, and I would be given refreshments. A very nice gesture, I thought.
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