Round The World and other travels

A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries

This is: Round The World 2004

Flight Log 7 : QF678

Adelaide (ADL) - Melbourne (MEL)

Strange as it may seem, this was to be my very first flight with Qantas. I was happy to have been allocated 1A at check-in, but briefly went to "red alert" when I realised that a mother and baby were in 2A. In the event, although there was a bit of screaming and some unwelcome bumps on the back of my seat, it was nothing too drastic. I accepted the offer of a pre-takeoff glass of mineral water. We pushed back exactly on schedule at 1105 and I advanced my watch by 30 minutes to switch to Eastern time. At a relatively quiet airport like ADL, it was just a case of a rapid taxi to the runway, switching immediately to take-off thrust. We were airborne at 1111 local time.

The business class offering on the flight reminded me of a Scotland - London shuttle although, it has to be said, the beverage service was nowhere near as good. The food consisted of two sandwiches, one of roasted vegetables and the other chicken and egg (not a combination I've encountered before!), together with a small custard tart. With the tray itself came the offer of either mineral water or orange juice (and that was it!) and later there was the choice of tea or coffee.

It was interesting to compare some of the differences of detail between this flight and a BA domestic at home :-

  • First and most obviously, the two-class service.
  • Qantas provides in-flight entertainment, even on such a short flight.
  • Very restricted beverage service.
  • There's a table-height cover for the squashed seat B area between A and C in the business class layout.
  • A real detail, this, but I noticed that you're expected to insert your own Boarding Pass into the reader at the gate.

This really was just a short hop and by 1233 we were on the ground at Melbourne. We arrived at the gate well up on the schedule at 1238.

 



Date: Mon 08 Mar 2004
Aircraft : B737-400
Scheduled dep : 1105
Actual departure : 1105
Scheduled arrival : 1250
Actual arrival : 1238
Cabin : Business
 Seat : 1A





Next Flight

Previous Flight