Hello Flight-Report #Avgeeks. After a brief but enjoyable visit to Cairns it was time to make the slow and multi-stop trip back to the US, the wrong way of course. Originally this trip had almost a week in Australia, Cairns and Brisbane being the choice cities. My return home was on Singapore and ANA in first class using a no longer available 125K point redemption, which was a grand steal. When I booked it a year out there was rumor the new A380 would fly the SYD-SIN route. Singapore flies 2 A380s between these cities. BOTH were available when I booked it. But I picked the wrong one, and by the time I realized it, the new A380 was not available.
So for months that gnawed at me. Then SQ started publishing routes for their new B787-10. Reward Flying wanted to fly that plane. And I found Malaysia A350 too. And I found a waitlist on the new SQ A380. And I found space on Cathay's A350-1K. So I blew up the trip and ultimately had tickets on all these aircrafts.
Proud of my accomplishment I became tired just looking at the travel I was facing.
So I blew it up again. However all these aircraft are booked for travel in the next few months, as well as some others (hint: QR Qsuites, QR A350-1K, SQ URL) And the good news is CX swapped out the A350-1K on my flight and MH had an aircraft swap as well.
And in the end I lucked into QF's 787 plus an incredible dose of first class to return home.
KLM ORD-AMS B747-400 Business Class - click to view
KLM AMS-CDG B737 Business Class - no report
Qatar CDG-DOH B777-300 Business Class / Qatar CDC Lounge - click to view
Qatar DOH-SYD A380 First Class / DOH Al Safwa First Class lounge = click to view
Qantas SYD-CNS 737-800 Business Class - click to view
Virgin Australia CNS-BNE B737 Business Class - This Report
Qantas BNE-MEL B787-9 Business Class - to come
Qantas MEL-SYD A300-2 Business Class / MEL 2nd day open Business Class Lounge - to come
Singapore Airlines SYD-SIN Suites Class / SYD Krisflyer First Class Lounge - to come
Singapore Airlines SIN-PEK First Class / SIN Private Room - to come
Lufthansa PEK-MUC First Class - to come
Lufthansa MUC-FRA A321 Business Class / MUC First Class Lounge - to come
Singapore Airlines FRA-JFK Suites Class - to come
JetBlue JFK-ORD E190 Economy Class - no report
Cains has a quant airport. Both Qantas and Virgin Australia board front and rear which allows for super fast boarding. You can see the rear jetway in the photo above.
I was anxious to compare Virgin Australia 737 service to Qantas. Previous I had compared their A330 long haul domestic service and Virgin blew the doors off Qantas. A comparison was not worth writing about as in the end it was pretty equal.
Business Class seat in 737-800 operated by Virgin Australia.
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VA only has 8 seats up front. Row one leg room seems pretty good.
Row 2 leg room is fair, with the obvious extra room under the seat in front.
Northern Cairns area on departure.
Courtney was the upfront FA. She was extremely nice and had a bubbly personality. Shortly after take-off she presented this pork pie and salad.
The quality and presentation of the dish are superior to the lunch served by Qantas.
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I passed on dessert. (and the wine)
It was a beautiful day to fly. This is the Great Barrier Reef area.
And a cruise ship probably headed to Cairns.
Virgin uses Samsung tablets for entertainment. I tracked the flight.
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Overall I would rate this flight a bit better than the Qantas domestic to Cairns. The differences were the quality of food and the IFE on VA.
Hilton Cains
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Hilton View
Cairns
Click this link to reward flying to learn about redemption options for this reward
