Well, a nice early 0330 wake up call. Not sure why I even bothered going to sleep as the 3 hours of sleep I had did nothing for me except make the beers I had the night before taste a lot worse than they did going down. Dragging myself out of bed and stumbling to the shower saw me eventually leave the house 10mins behind schedule, but at this hour I don’t think traffic was going to be a problem. The boring 50min drive ended with me finding a parking spot right at the front of the long term car park. No buses in sight, so time for my yearly exercise and I made my way to the terminal by foot. A good way to freshen up on this cold, cold morning.

QF010
STD/ATD: 0625/0623
STA/ATA: 0745/0736
747-438
VH-QJQ
Arriving at the QF counter, I found the First/Business/Qantas Club line unattended so I had to do battle with the economy line, which today stretched to 3 people. The formalities were over in about 2 minutes and I was on my way through customs/immigration (QF010 is a continuation of the LHR-SIN-MEL flight). With all that done I made my way to the QF Club to find it wasn’t open till 0515. Well, with 10 mins to spare I decided I would take a walk around the terminal and see what was around. Hmmm, nothing happening here, so back to the QF club to wait for it to open. Finally in the club, after having the machine at the entrance ate my boarding pass i sat down with some breakfast to watch the rest of the Olympics opening ceremony. Adding to my otherwise fragile state was the fact the countries were not entering the stadium in order, but later found out it was in order according to the Greek alphabet. Enough of that!! Boarding was called and by the time I got to the gate, boarding of the 137 pax for this sector was mostly completed. I took my window seat to discover there was in fact no window  I’ll survive. Departure was to the east and with a light load we rotated very early and were above the clouds very quickly. The IFE was turned on, but there wasn’t much point watching anything, as by the time you get into it, it is time to land again anyway. I settled to listening to one of the music channels with flight path displayed on my screen while I picked over the breakfast which was cereal, muffin and orange juice/coffee. Descent was soon upon us and at about 6000 feet I finally got some sleep. This wasn’t for long though as I was soon woken by our arrival on 34L at YSSY. No waiting for our gate this morning and I was out of immigration/customs and on my way spotting within 10 mins.

A day of spotting with Norbert Genci and Sam Chui around YSSY followed. Thanks for your help guys.

QF188
STD/ATD: 2045/2046
STA/ATA: 2215/2212
A330-300
VH-QPG
Another international flight for my journey on what would be the newest aircraft in the QF fleet saw me returning to the international terminal. After enjoying some fine dining with Norbert (McDonalds) on the observation deck, it was off to the QF club again. This time it was actually open, but no idea why as when I entered I found myself the only patron. More beer for me then!!! A few drinks from the self serve bar and a few snacks and before long it was again time to make my way to the gate. Our A333 was waiting at gate 30 along with most of the 87 pax who would make the journey down to MEL tonight, with some continuing onwards to HKG. My seat in row 23 was a bulkhead so had more than the usual leg room. Only problem with the seat was the lady over the aisle. Not only did she complain to the F/A that she had asked for a seat with extra legroom, and as she could touch the bulkhead she wanted an upgrade to J, she then proceeded to take of shoes/socks and scratch her feet with a safety card. Tip for everyone out there, NEVER TOUCH THE SAFETY CARD IN 23F ON VH-QPG!!! With that outta the way we started our taxi for rwy 25 for our departure. Maybe when Airbus delivered this aircraft to QF, they should have supplied a screwdriver as the whole galley rattled with every bump we hit. I liked the aircraft, just a bit noisy for my liking. When we had taken off, it was more than OK. The IFE on the A333 is slightly different than on the 744, with the biggest disappointment was the fact that there were no games. A light snack was served, with LIGHT being the word consisting of a couple of crackers with cheese and some nuts. At least there was a drinks service!! Arrival into MEL was from the north on rwy 16 and a quick exit saw us with a very short taxi to the gate.

Well, another trip to SYD over. Also once again some great service from QF reminds me why I fly them (that and the free beer in the QF club). It was nice to ride the A333. Would have liked a longer flight, but the short sector at least gave me a taste. I was quite impressed to say the least.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers

MELflyer -
The 333s will initially have a slightly different IFE offering than the 744s. I think this is to help minimise the impact of IFE unservicabilities the Airbuses at QF are famous for. Also due to software issues. The main differences was games and something else... Can't find the Cabin Crew News that stated what the differences were - Sorry.

I believe eventually the IFE will be brought inline with the 744s.

nice report!

jeremy

I'm surprised that you were on a flight that was an international flight when you were only traveling domestically. What sort of procedures are required for that?

Booking of the flight is the same as for any other domestic flight, via the QF website. When you check in at the international terminal, they place a orange "D" sticker on your boarding pass. You only have to show your drivers license or other acceptable photo ID. You do not need a passport. When heading out through immigration there is a separate line for those only travelling domestically. You are not entitled to buy any duty free though once into the terminal. Upon arrival you once again use the separate "D" line at immigration. Heading through customs you simply go through the green channel and show them your boarding pass, which they take from you. You dont need to go through any of the regular checks here.

It quite a simple procedure. I usually only do it when i do not have any luggage. The wait for luggage can sometimes be a little longer when on the international flights.

Cheers

Hey
I was on your flight MEL-SYD on saturday.
I was actually surprised that there were quite a number of pax on this sector, as I have done this before a few times and normally it is really empty.
Was surprised that the flight only took 48 minutes.

And thanks for the registration, I forgot to take note!

I did the tarmac tour a few hours later which was great. Did you do that?

Brendan,

Those are very good trip reports and glad you went to SYD for visit some of your friends. Where you will may go on the next trip? How you would like flow on the B744 aircraft? This is your first ride on the B744?

Regards

Excellent report! Glad to see QF is doing its job outstandingly! Appearantly the A330 has 18 video channels for both J and Y, while i believe that the B744s in Y have only 12. Did you notice a difference in the screens between the two A/C? Are the B744 ones larger?

Regards Qanatsflyer

Thanks for the replies guys.

Gardermoen:
Its a small world hey. In answer to your question, no i didn't take the tour. I did however see you bus when it pulled up in front of the control tower mound. It's pretty pathetic that in all the trips i have done to SYD, that i have yet to do the tour. Will get around to it one day no doubt.

ScottysAir:
No, this was not my first ride on a 747, i have done so many times before.

Qantasflyer:
I didn't notice a difference in the size of the screens. There may well be a difference, but if there was i wasn't paying enough attention to notice.

Cheers

Just a quick note though, when flying domestically on an international flight, you are still subject to the same search procedures from Customs and Quarantine officers. It rarely happens, but they reserve the right to do so.

After all, it wouldn't be too hard for a smuggler to slip some contraband to a 'D' passenger whilst on board the aircraft, would it?

Dave