Review: Qantas Business Class, Melbourne to Sydney

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After visiting the Qantas Business Lounge and enjoying a cup of coffee, I headed to my gate, which was about a 10 minute walk away from the lounge, so it was good that I left a bit early.

The boarding gate was located at the far end of the terminal, and when I arrived, I could tell the flight load would be very light. Actually, there were only a handful of people sitting in the departure lounge, which I thought was odd for a mid-day hub-hub route like this. In any event, boarding was commenced shortly after I arrived beginning with Business Class, and followed by Economy.

Stepping onto the plane, it was the same configuration as my earlier Brisbane to Melbourne flight. Business Class took up the front three rows of the cabin, set in a 2×2 configuration. Each seat had a leg and foot rest, and featured a decent amount of recline. For a more in-depth look at the seat, look at my review from Brisbane to Melbourne. After settled settled I was offered a glass of juice or water.

Boarding finished up within about 10 minutes or so since this flight was anything but full. The door was shut quickly, and we taxied out to the runway, only to find a bit of congestion which put us back on schedule, if not a few minutes late.

The cabin manager for this flight was a middle aged gentlemen, who was nothing but a pleasure to have. He really knew his stuff. After we leveled off at our cruising altitude, he prepared the meal service and beverage cart. For lunch on this flight was an offer of cauliflower soup, a spanakopita, or some type of beef salad. Being Greek, I chose the spanakopita which was actually really good for airplane food. In fact, the guy next to me had the soup and then asked for the spanakopita since it looked so good. For dessert, there was a vanilla cupcake which had to have been one of the best desserts I’ve ever had – airplane or not.

This flight was pretty quick – timing in at around an hour and a half, so by the time meal service had completed and I had watched an episode of Shark Tank on my iPhone, we were in our descent for Sydney.

My Take

I think Qantas has a terrific domestic Business Class product. Sure, the hard product isn’t a lie flat seat, but I think the service and food really set Qantas apart when it comes to domestic travel, especially if you’re comparing it to what flights are like in the United States.