Review of Qantas flight Sydney → Singapore in Economy

G’day everyone and welcome to another trip report. Today I am presenting to you a recent trip I took on Qantas, as a codeshare flight as part of a booking I made with Finnair to take me from Sydney to Chicago-O’Hare via Singapore and Helsinki in three flights. I booked this ‘long way round’ as it was the absolute cheapest way to get from Australia to the United States during peak season. 

In this itinerary, the latter two flights were operated by Finnair and the Sydney to Singapore leg operated by Qantas. Given the bad press surrounding Qantas lately and hearing bad reviews from my friends about the airline, I went in with considerably low expectations but came out of the experience pleasantly surprised and definitely willing to fly Qantas long-haul again, however domestically I still think their competition such as Rex and Virgin Australia have the edge in terms of value-for-money. 

CHECK-IN:
As I had arrived off a connecting domestic flight from Terminal 2 on the other side of the airport (used by all domestic airlines except for Qantas and QantasLink), I arrived at the International Terminal 1 on the free transfer bus which operates every half an hour between the domestic and international terminals. The journey takes about 10 minutes, however the bus is very crowded so if you don’t like tight spaces l or have a lot of luggage I would recommend booking an Uber or taking the train. 

Arriving at Terminal 1 I got off the bus and proceeded upstairs to the huge check-in area which is dominated by Qantas, meaning that there are plenty of places to check-in for Qantas flights. Because of Covid-19 related travel restrictions, all passengers to check-in internationally are funneled into one line where two staff check you have the correct documents for your destination before directing you to check-in as normal using a kiosk and automated bag drop facilities, however there are plenty of staff available to help if you need it, however the helpfulness of the staff can be a bit hit and miss. 

I had a little bit of trouble with my documentation because I was travelling to the USA and needed to complete a USA Attestation Form to confirm my vaccination status, however this can only be completed less than 24 hours prior to arrival into the USA and at the time of check-in I was around 30 hours prior to my scheduled arrival time into the USA. It took the check-in staff about 30 minutes to figure out how to override the system but eventually I dropped my bag and was on my way to passport control. 

Unfortunately, as this was a codeshare flight and my booking was made through Finnair and I was unable to select a seat on the Qantas-operated Sydney to Singapore leg of the flight until check-in, but at the time of check-in there were no more window seats available and I was forced to settle for aisle seat 35G. 

After check-in, I proceeded to security and passport control which were a breeze and I passed through in less than 10 minutes. After this, it was onwards to my boarding gate which was a short five minute walk from the security and customs area. Sydney Airport has good signage and you should have no trouble locating your gate when you use the facility.

Arriving at the boarding gate I was greeted by the sight of former Jetstar Airways VH-EBS, a 10-year old Airbus A330-200 which would take me to Singapore on this day, the aircraft had arrived from Jakarta earlier that morning. 

BOARDING:
After about an hour of waiting at the gate, boarding time came and went. Around five minutes after the scheduled boarding time, the gate agents made an announcement to let passengers know the aircraft was waiting on catering and there would be a fifteen minute delay to our boarding and departure times, however the estimated it would not affect our arrival time into Singapore. 

Around twenty minutes later boarding commenced with special assistance passengers, followed by Business class passengers and then economy. As Australian airlines like Qantas do not boarding in groups like those in other countries, the economy class boarding can become a bit of a free-for-all and in this instance that definitely happened with crowds of people trying to get through the boarding gate in no particular order. However, soon enough the gate agent scanned my boarding pass and bid me farewell. 

ONBOARD:
In the aerobridge, the queue continued for around another five minutes. It was a cold day outside and thankfully the aerobridge was heated so it was not really a problem. Eventually, I was greeted at the L2 door by the purser and directed to my seat 35G in the forward economy class cabin. 

Stepping onboard, I was pleasantly surprised by the age and good condition of the cabin, I also noted the cabin was spotless, at least where I was sitting anyway. Arriving at my seat, I found a pair of Qantas-branded headphones, a pillow and a blanket, both of which were of good quality (unlike those provided by Finnair on my later flights). 
 

Qantas also left a bottle of water at each seat which I thought was a nice touch, a long with an actual hardcopy in-flight magazine titled ‘Qantas’. Unfortunately, in-flight magazines are a rarity after the Coronavirus pandemic as a cost-cutting measure. 

Sitting down in my seat, I took the chance to check the legroom which I found to be perfectly average for this 8 and a half hour flight but nothing excellent. 

I also used the time while other passengers boarded to have a look through the in-flight entertainment system which was stacked with movies and TV shows, as well as a few Qantas infomercials. However, to my disappointment Qantas has removed all music from their in-flight entertainment offering.  

DEPARTURE:
Soon enough, the cabin doors were closed and pushback commenced. It was at this time the iconic Qantas ‘100th anniversary’ safety demonstration video played on the IFE screens. The video is definitely unique and interesting compared to other airlines safety videos but drags on for eight and a half minutes which is an excessive amount of time in my opinion. 

We then taxied for about 10 minutes before lining up and departing from Sydney’s Runway 16R, the longest runway at the airport before making a few right hand turns after takeoff to pick up our track for Singapore-Changi. We departed a little late, however the captain assured us in his after-takeoff announcement that we would arrive in Singapore right on time, which turned out to be true.

IN-FLIGHT SERVICE:
Around 40 minutes the cabin crew kicked off the in-flight service with a savoury snack and a drink, something which I appreciated as other airlines like Finnair and Singapore Airlines just jump straight into the main meal for economy class passengers.  I chose Coca-Cola as the drink for my snack service and was pleased to be given the whole can, rather than be poured a half-full cup as some other airlines do. Boy, flying economy has gotten my expectations low.

The snack service was followed by a lunch service, consisting of three choices (including a vegan option), my choice was the. tasty beef dish with vegetables and mashed potato shown below, as well as a fresh, warm bun and another drink. Qantas serves its economy class meals on a reusable tray which is also a nice touch as it is environmentally friendly.

Around 30 minutes later, after the meal trays had been cleared. The cabin crew came through the cabin offering a dessert in the form of a Paddle Pop ice-cream, a favourite for many Australians including myself. I chose the chocolate flavour.  

After I had eaten my dessert, I went for a walk to the rear economy class lavatory at the rear of the aircraft to stretch my legs and complete the obligatory loo-review. The lavatory was relatively clean and stocked with all the usual economy class amenities, however it was not sparkly clean as I have seen on some airlines like Lufthansa. 

I then returned to my seat and watched the new Batman movie on the Qantas in-flight entertainment system which I I enjoyed. As I was watching the film, the cabin crew maintained a prescence in the cabin offering water or other beverages to passengers. 

To my surprise, about half an hour later the cabin crew returned with a basket of Tim-Tam’s, another classic Australian snack and began taking hot beverage orders. I ordered a coffee which was delivered to my seat a couple of minutes later. I quite like the red Qantas-branded cups, which stand out from the white cups used by most other airlines.

However, this was not the end of the snack services for this flight as the cabin crew again came through the cabin another two times prior to the second meal service offering drinks and snacks to passengers which thoroughly exceeded my expectations. The snacks I chose are shown below:

I spent the remainder of the cruise portion of the flight reading articles in the Qantas in-flight magazine (shown above) and watching some episodes of a TV series on the in-flight entertainment system. Around one hour prior to our arrival into Singapore, the second meal service began with two choices of hot snack. I chose the Honey Mustard Chicken, shown below, which was quite nice.

With the second meal service concluded, the cabin crew did a final rubbish collection and the captain and chief purser each made individual announcements giving the usual thankyou’s and arrival information for Singapore.

ARRIVAL INTO SINGAPORE:
Shortly after the announcements were made, we began our descent into Singapore touching down right on schedule and arriving into the gate two minutes after our scheduled arrival time. As I had a connecting flight in Singapore, I was let straight back into the departures area where I paid a visit to the pay-per-use transit lounge in Terminal 1, the terminal in Singapore-Changi used by Qantas and Finnair.