QF133 MEL-AKL B73H VH-ZQB
I was challenged to make this sector interesting.
Hah. As if. It has about the same excitement level as a domestic flight from Kansas City to Buffalo. If in fact you can fly from Kansas City to Buffalo. And without the foreboding of wondering whether you will be nude-o-scoped by TSA on the way through, or whether the Midwest will be under an ATC slowdown, or whether the pre-departure beverage will in fact be served in a glass cup or a plastic one.
The Tasman routes used to be great for sampling some long haul equipment. Not even ten years ago QF and NZ were both regularly flying long haul fitted 747s across the ditch. This was back when fuel for the flight cost something less than the aircraft’s weight in gold. And the concept of single aisle twin jets flying across great expanses of water still made airline executives and civil aviation regulators nervous.
Nowadays? You’re lucky if you get a 767. Actually, for your run of the mill flyer, you’d be unlucky if you got a 767. They’re the ones which look like they haven’t been refitted since they entered service. Air New Zealand’s A320s, on the other hand, have had seats ripped out and reinstalled more times than the delivery schedule of the A380/B787 (delete as appropriate depending on your manufacturer loyalties) has been pushed back.
Qantas preferred the 737-800, and bought seven new ones for Jetconnect to replace their rather maintenance-prone 737-300s and -400s which they were shuttling back and forth across the Tasman. Actually they bought eight, but the final one is still being built in Boeing Field somewhere. Or China. Wherever they make them nowadays.
Anyway. Here’s a picture of the Business Class product on the Jetconnect 737-800s.
37 inches.
Now I know that for many of you accustomed to flying domestically in the US that 37 inches is pretty standard. Of course, on my understanding of how US airlines manage their domestic premium product, no one ever actually pays for it. But I realise it’s on par. And I also realise that a product like this (and in the US) is actually looked upon in envy by those joining us from Europe, who have to put up with the indignity of the convertible euro economy seat. And that there are worse things in the world. Starving children in Africa. Oil polluted lakes. A 31 inch seat down the back. Etc.
We were treated to a lovely view of the sun setting over Melbourne as we pushed back and taxied out to the active.
We had a 75% load on this flight up front which meant, thankfully, an empty seat next to me. 1F in front of me was also empty. At least it was, until the stupid woman in 1D decided to move over to the window seat. And then promptly reclined.
This would have annoyed me more had the recline actually been anything substantial. Instead, there seemed to be less recline in these beasties than your standard economy class seat. I’m not even sure the seat back, when reclining, would manage to clear the seat back of the adjacent seat in an upright position. It was pretty pathetic.
All of Jetconnect’s new birds are fitted with AVOD in both economy and business. The selection was less than that on the A380 (less hardware space?) but there was enough stuff I hadn’t seen before that kept me busy for the short three hour hop over to Auckland. The PTV came out of the armrest, which made it easy to use the touchscreen function.
Drinks and nuts heralded the start of the dinner service. I went for another Solo.
No menus were loaded on this flight, whether by design or accident I didn’t know, but it meant that our flight attendant, oops, team member, had to come around and describe the starter to everyone. This was something like “smoked salmon with pesto, cucumber, pickled onion and lemon wedge”.
I’m not too sure on the choice of grey plastic for the trays. They rather look like they were rescued from a local hospital authority rummage sale.
The mains were lamb something, duck something or vegetable something. I went for the duck something, which upon first sight I regretted.
Dessert was a rather boring choice between cheese or passionfruit ice cream.
About a week after I got back to Auckland I had to fly to Sydney. On Jetconnect. In Economy. The price was about a quarter of the lead in Business Class fare. The meal served in Economy was a side salad, a choice of chicken and rice or spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, a drink, a small Cadbury chocolate bar, cheese and crackers and an ice cream bar. Looking back I actually think I got more food down the back than up front.
The rest of the flight passed in unremarkable darkness, though it was a bit odd to still be able to pick out familiar landmarks from the twinkling lights of Auckland as we circled in our approach from the east. It felt like I’d been away for a couple of weeks rather than a year. Especially when I walked into the airport terminal to find very little had changed. The primary processing area was still an awful walk from the pier where most of the gates are, the most direct route is still by barging through the duty free shop and there are people who still don’t know how to use SmartGate.
Sometimes I really do wonder whether anyone has ever done a study to investigate whether being in an airport increases people’s collective stupidity.
This sector marks the end of the first portion of the AONE4, except I’ve taken so long to write it that it’s actually almost time for me to embark on my second portion. So the next sector will be leaving New Zealand, but to where? And on what? Thankfully, not Jetconnect.
Until next sector...