Qantas A330 Business Class Cairns to Sydney
Qantas is once again flying it's larger wide-body aircraft on long flights, and with the state borders finally open has returned to offering hot meals and inflight entertainment. At least, domestically, with the A330s returning to Sydney, Melbourne, Cairns and Perth.
Prices are an absolute bargain.
So how much does a four hour Qantas Business Class flight cost? $122. That's Australian dollars, and was purchased online just two days before the flight, with a business class upgrade processed using Qantas points. I would describe it as one of the bargains of the year, but the flight to Cairns, while costing a whopping $600 for a Business Class ticket, came with a full serving of miles and status credits. Historically, that is also a very low fare.
With the huge pent-up demand post-Covid, those prices won't last long.
For some reason I couldn't check in online, so had to check in at Cairns Airport, which was very very wet: there had been almost a meter of rain in Northern Queensland in the past three days.
I went around the airport, where it was a surprise to see people wearing masks: after almost a year of no masks since the time of Covid, it was a shock to see they were still mandatory, except in the bars which were packed, and then some. Masks were required in the bars, unless you were drinking, in which case a good 50% of customers adopted the 'hang off one ear' style of mask wearing.
There is no Qantas Business Class lounge in Cairns, but thankfully Business Class gives access to Cairns Qantas Club, and just as I walked in, the first of the two daily A330s landed.
There are big windows at the Qantas club, and it was great to see this big birds land again.
Cairns Qantas Club
We went to extensive details in our Cairns Qantas Club review, and it has changed little since it opened.
What has changed is the plated meal service, rather than the buffet. The children's room is closed. And, errr, that's really about it.
It was packed, but if masks were down to 50% compliance in the public areas, I'd say it was down to 20% in the Qantas Pub, especially when the bar opened at midday.
The Qantasclub Cairns is decent, up on the top floor of the airport. In effect it is one large box shaped room, packed with chairs, and also people, with flights to Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne all departing at the same time, and shortly a flight to Darwin on Jetstar too.
It also has very good air conditioning, which in the wet weather was most welcome.
The bar and food areas are all along the 'inner' wall, while along the outer wall are by far the most comfortable areas to sit, with a great view of the vast palm tree lined bulk of Mount Whitfield, and the distant hangars.
The meal service has changed a bit in the Cairns Qantasclub.
Now, you have to stand in (what was quite a long) queue, which diverges into one line for hot soup and rolls, and another line for plated meals. The plates for the meals are variants of sandwiches, nachos in a glass, or cheese plates.
It's not exactly decent pre-flight dining, but it comes close.
Soon, boarding was called, and I left past the vast historical aircraft hall, which includes the propeller from the old DC3 that for many years was at the main gates to Cairns airport, until the sea air made it rot away.
What does Qantas business class include?
It may seem like old school - but you get the lot.
Qantas business class includes luggage, lounge access (with free food and drinks), much larger seats, inflight entertainment, and generally large hot meals on board, with a free bar.
At least, it does of this week: Just a couple of weeks ago, services were in Covid mode, but I was delighted to see we are back to normal. The only things really missing are the blankets and pillows, however headphones are back.
Even the inflight films and wifi streamed TV are back.
The Qantas A330 Business Class Cabin
Quite simply, this trip is all about the seat. While the Boeing 737s which also operate the route have a Business Class cabin with basic recliners, the Qantas A330 offers a brand new, state of the art, all-aisle-access Business Class cabin with a very good 1-2-1 layout, almost identical to those on the Qantas 787 Dreamliner, which we have featured many times in our trip reports Qantas Business Class London to Perth.
Even though you don't really need it on a short domestic hop, Qantas' latest generation business class seats converts into a fully flat bed 80 inches long, which is just over 2 metres.
Seats are arranged in what is fast becoming a normal 1-2-1 configuration, with one seat by a window, and the opposite staggered, so your feet fit into the hole created by the following cocktail table. This is great if you are on your own, as it gives one-step access to the aisle, however beware that all seats are not created equally! This is because odd numbered rows have their fixed table positioned between the seat and the window, while the solo seats in the even-numbered rows have the same table position between the seat and the aisle. Aisle side seats have an armrest which retracts to effectively add an extra 5cm to the total seat width.
Hence, the seats in the even-numbered rows a lot more private and ideal for solo travellers. However, nothing beats seat 1A, particularly on a domestic flight with a large cabin, where if you are at the back you'll get served drinks and meals much later in the flight.
The centre seats are pretty much the same with all 7 rows of the 28-seat Business Class cabin except again, the odd numbered seats are closer to the aisle. Also, do remember that the Business Class cabin is split into two, with a much smaller business class cabin at the back.
Every seat has a large L-shaped shelf with a side bar for stowing magazines, menus, and indeed the noise-reducing headphones which are on a hook next to the seat, along with an LED reading light, complemented by another light under the shelf. On the outside of the shelf are sockets for the headphones, USB and AC power.
Every Business Class seat has a 16 inch video screen, with AV on demand. Pressing the airplane button at the bottom of the screen brings up the usual moving map. The screens are touchscreens, but also work with the older controller under the flap.
The A330 Qantas Business class seat slide out tray is large - very large - and rotates out from under the side table.
Qantas IFE in Covid
Qantas' Q streaming wifi system is back on again now that Covid is almost over, which means you can watch inflight films and TV programmes from a tablet or smartphone, along with viewing the inflight map.
However, I was amused to the see the film selection was identical to what was loaded in March 2020, when the system was turned off and the aircraft put into the storage. The film selection may take another few weeks to update to this year.
Having said that, if it were 2020, the film selection would be quite good, although with a couple of box office bombs like the last Star Wars and Terminator as the main 'headliners' in the Movie selection. The 'recurrent' movies were of a somewhat higher ranking, and indeed the TV series pretty good too.
Of note are the very good quality noise cancelling headphones, and the chunky 16 inch video screen. I really couldn't fault the HD video quality, which was as good as watching on a decent laptop at home.
Qantas Business Class service in Covid
Qantas now operate a full service Business Class up the front of the plane, but still in what can only be described as a 'degraded mode'. Now, things aren't nearly as reduced as they were a couple of weeks back, when all you received was a small bento box with a sealed sandwich (the sandwich is hermetically sealed in plastic, it isn't made of seal) but it's still not the full five course meal with 'avec' and all the trimmings you might have been used to.
Never the less, the crew were delighted to be able to offer hot meals again, and there was that familiar clanking of the galley as the crew readied the trolley.
Sadly, there were no printed menus; a Covid measure we were told.
A curious feature came to the fore: a few of the passengers asked for drinks as soon as we were in the cruise, and why immediately became clear; the rules are you have to wear a mask in the cabin unless you are eating for drinking, and sure enough, in the Business cabin, you can have a beer on demand, hence the masks come off. As always, Aussie love rules, but there are ways around them.
The meal service is now back to a trolley service, front to back, one per aisle. Each trolley is back to full sized bottles of wine, bread in a basket, and hot meals on trays.
There were two hot meal options: roasted lamb on the bone with veggies and mash in gravy, or chicken salad.
I went for the lamb, and it was deliciously tender, falling off the bone, with great veggies too.
You can select bread from a basket, with sourdough, wholemeal, or white on offer, with butter.
There are no longer any side salads in Business Class during the remains of Covid, although hopefully they will reappear when Qantas start operating normally, although that could be as long away as the (southern) spring in late September.
Alas, a curious failing, is that there are no desserts loaded, and the crew confirmed it may be a few weeks time until they are back when service levels return to normal. Oddly, on our trip to Canberra yesterday on Virgin, again Virgin were offering hot meals but no desserts either.
Of course all masks were off in the cabin once the meal service began, and didn't reappear until we landed and taxied to the gate.
Qantas Business Class drinks and bar service in Covid
It's great to see both hot meal options, and the IFE return now Covid precautions are winding down, even if they aren't quite at full strength as yet.
Equally, the bar is not only back, but better than it was before; Qantas on domestic is using up wine it bought a year ago for long haul international services. And some of it is very good indeed. However, unlike normal services, there is just one white, one red, and one beer on board. It obviously takes some time to restock.
The Sparkling Wine is in miniature bottles, and it is a Grant Burge Pinot Noir Chardonnay, having a decent nose of strawberry, stone fruit and a slight note of biscuit. Quite a richly flavoured creamy feel and crisp finish.
For a white, there was a Coldstream Hills 2018 Chardonnay.
Beer is of course in cans, and comes with James Squire Fifty Lashes.
However, it was the red that was the best. The Bethany First Village Shiraz Cabernet 2017 is superb, and retails for about $45 a bottle down the local bottlo. The crew confirmed that it was the long-haul wine, showing me the J/C label, and left me a bottle at my seat to enjoy in the last hour of the flight.
Qantas Business Class Covid review
It really is a joy flying this way, and right back to how flights should be, with a decent service, and most of the trimmings.
Once out of the remains of the cyclone in Cairns, the skies were clear over the reef, and the countryside wonderfully green.
We arrived at the gate on time, and in only 20 minutes I was out of the airport, and at Circular Quay.
It was thoroughly enjoyable, and a great trip.
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Lux-traveller paid its own way for this Qantas A330 Business Class Cairns to Sydney, and travelled incognito.
| Qantas A330 Business Class Cairns to Sydney | |
|---|---|
Lux-traveller.com rating:8 out of10  | |
| Seats: | 8 - Long Haul business class seats with lots of space |
| Food: | 7 - Hot meals are back, and tasty |
| Service: | 8 - Exceptional |
| IFE: | 7 - Good quality, so so selection |
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