On my recent visit to Australia, I purchased some domestic travel.

Sydney-Gold Coast on Ansett
Gold Coast-Sydney-Canberra on Qantas
Canberra-Sydney on Ansett (carried by Kendell Airlines)

So four flights in total. I used my international visitor status to buy flights at a special price. MINTL fare class gave me economy class but with good flexibility. Pretty well unrestricted too. AUD 590 for the 4 flights.

On my first flight I was upgraded to business on the Ansett 767 Sydney to Gold Coast. Thank you Star Gold status. Quite a short (around 1 hour) flight but I thought Ansett's business class was quite good. 2-2-2 configuation of the seats. Quite good pitch. Quite a good lunch served. Salad from the trolley followed by grilled salmon. Nice wines and excellent staff. Far better than first in the USA in my experience for a one houre flight.

It was a 1:30pm flight and I was on vacation. I went to the Golden Wing club and that was good too. Curiously the bar did not open until 3 pm. Still at 12:30 pm, when I arrived, they served a reasonable cold lunch.

I did not get upgraded on my QF flights but they were OK for economy. I only took Qantas to help with my try for the oneworld 100K bonus.

But my last flight on Kendell Airlines deserves a special mention. Kendell is 100% owned by Ansett and operates most of the AN flights between Sydney and Canberra. It's only a short flight. Around 50 minutes even on propeller aircraft.

Kendell use SAAB 2000 aircraft for this route. The flight are all economy class. I've travelled on these planes before and they are fine for short flights. Kendell have each seat covered in sheepskin which was very nice. And then they served a meal. That was a prawn (shrimp) salad with fresh fruit and a dessert. All was on china and with metal cutlery. And also there was complementary wine or beer on offer. Splendid for such a short flight on such a small aircraft and for economy class. A real example to me of how things can be done if an airline chooses to do it.


[This message has been edited by Austman (edited 11-07-1999).]