Perth to Sydney in Domestic Economy

It was another beautiful day in Perth (roasting hot I might add) and after a nice breakfast we headed off to the caravan park where my Mum and step Father had stored the caravan over Christmas and helped them set it up. Not an easy task to manoeuvre a 20ft caravan into a tiny space a few metres from the other vans. Once everything was set up we went to a rather nice local pub, the Rose and Crown Hotel in Guildford. I was quite keen to get to the airport, so it was a bit rushed.

Mum dropped me off outside the terminal at about 1.15pm, two hours before the scheduled departure time. I’d already checked in online, securing seat 23A, the same as on the way out, however, it was a different aircraft, minus the mini-cabin at the front, so not quite as exclusive.


Perth Domestic Terminal

I entered the terminal building to find it pretty busy. I guess that people were heading back home after Christmas (and before New Year). In front of me where the now familiar ‘Self Service’ check in machines. I was determined to get it right this time around, after making a bit of a mess with the baggage tag in Sydney.

Unlike the spacious terminal in Sydney, the Perth Qantas terminal is a much smaller and rather dingy affair and with the check in area so busy, I felt like I wanted to get into the lounge as quickly as possible.


Self Check In Machines

I approached a free self check in machine, entered by PNR and then indicated that I was checking in a bag. The baggage tag was printed out and as hoped, I got it on pretty easily. I made my way over to the bag drop, scanned my BP and then placed my bag on the belt. The machine took my bag away into the depths of the terminal and I made my way to security. All in all, 3 minutes, from start to finish. Not bad for my 2nd time!


Bag Drop


Bag Drop

Security was very quick although I was selected for an explosives test (I must have a dodgy face). The lady was very friendly and out of curiosity I asked her what would have happened if I’d gone to a firing range the morning before my flight (as I was thinking of doing). She said that I’d have been taken away to a little room to have a nice chat with the Australian Federal Police, oh dear . It is not illegal to fire guns in WA and she said that as long as I could satisfy the AFP that the reasons for showing up with gun residue on my clothing were innocent, I’d be on my way. Still, I don’t think I would risk it!

After security I made my way into the main departure area. This is where the airport redeemed itself, it was very spacious and bright. Very nice indeed, much better than Sydney or Melbourne’s long dark corridors, although nothing will beat Adelaide as the nicest domestic airport in Australia (in my opinion).


Departure Area

The departure area had reasonably good views of the aircraft that were heading off to all parts of Australia, including some small mining towns.

There was a particularly good view of a Qantas A330, gleaming in the sunlight which caught my attention as it was just about to push back.


QF A330


Attracting Attention


I don’t think that he is pointing at me….

After a quick nosey around, finding nothing much but the usual places to eat and a souvenir shop I made my way up (literally) to the Qantas Club Lounge to which I am entitled access due to my BA Silver Card (Oneworld Sapphire).

The QC is located on the upper level and is reached by an escalator, through an archway with the QC logo on it. It felt a little weird, rising above all of the people ‘below’ me to ascend to a higher place, figuratively and literally. No doubt, status snobs will like that .

At the entrance to the QC were a row of self check in machines again. At the time I couldn’t think what they could be for, given that you’d have probably already checked in if you got to the this point, but afterwards I realised that they were most likely for passengers connecting through Perth, or for people that wanted to amend their seat or flight.


Entrance to the QC

The lounge dragon checked my BP and then invited me to enter the lounge. Wow, first reactions were very good indeed. This was easily the best QF domestic lounge that I’ve ever been to, in no small part due to the fact that it has recently been refurbished. I only hope that the SYD lounge will follow suit soon.

The lounge is long in shape, matching the curve of the departure area and it is very spacious. There are two main seating areas, left and right, with the left most area seemingly busier as it is located nearer to the bar and food area. There is a large work bench with power ports for laptop users as well as a separate area with Mac computers and a printer/fax machine. The bar is fully serviced, with a rather attractive and friendly bar maid serving passengers a wide range of drinks. The food on offer was very similar to that which I encountered in the MEL lounge, soup and sandwiches.
Overall, the lounge is very bright and airy and has great views of the runway.

In short, I was very impressed!
I’ll let the pictures do the talking now…


The rightmost seating area, looking into the lounge


The rightmost seating area, looking towards the end of the lounge


The work ‘bar’, looking back towards the centre of the lounge


The bar


The leftmost seating area and food bar


The leftmost seating area and food bar

During this photo taking session, one of the servers stopped me and asked what I was doing. I told her that I like to photos of the lounges, for my own use. She didn’t seem bothered by this but advised me not to take photos towards the runway or airfield, as I was being watched on the CCTV cameras and would be stopped by security upon leaving the lounge. This very much annoyed me and I was a bit scared about what would happen when I went to leave to catch my flight. It is interesting that they were concerned about people taking photos, but not concerned about checking the ID of passengers, since not once did I have to provide any form of photographic ID from check in right through to boarding.

What is with this ‘war on photographers’? It would seem that anyone with a camera is up to no good in the eyes of the authorities. We are either terrorists, perverts or spies. Google maps and streetview have more to answer for than the average tourist. I’ve been questioned in London by the police for taking photos of Piccadilly Circus, although the officer was incredibly good about it. He said that he just wanted to know what I was up to, and even complimented me on my photos, then he moved onto my safety and told me to watch out for people trying to steal my equipment. Overall a positive experience, however, all encounters are not like this.

I found a spot in the quieter area located to the right of the lounge entrance, settled my stuff down, including putting my camera back in it’s bag and then made my way to the bar for a drink. I had to have something fizzy of course, so opted for the sparkling white that was on offer, and rather nice it was too.


Sparking Wine

At this point I noticed that there was a rather large family located by the windows, unfortunately, taking up all of the window seats, so there was little chance of getting any views of the runway from my seat. I also noticed that the baby clearly needed a nappy change. Nice.

I spent the next hour or so watching more videos on my iPad before boarding was called at about 2.50pm, 25 minutes before the scheduled departure time.

I made my way out of the lounge, sheepishly, expecting two big security guys to suddenly appear and block my path. Luckily nothing of the sort happened.

I found that the gate for my flight was right by the exit to the lounge (gate 14), which was convenient.