AFF Review: Qantas Boeing 737-800 Business Class (WLG-MEL)

[AFF Editor]

Qantas 737-800 Business Class Review (Wellington-Melbourne) is an article written by Matt from the AFF editorial team:

Qantas 737-800 Business Class Review (Wellington-Melbourne)

We review the Qantas Boeing 737-800 Business Class experience on a trans-Tasman flight from Wellington to Melbourne. How does it stack up in 2025?

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

 

[Murmal]

Graeme is consistently a Qantas star employee at Wellington. Always cheery, gives every departing traveler personal best wishes leaving the lounge and at the gate.
WLG & CHC immigration/security services are often an annoyance, not open continuously and if you arrive early have to join a lengthy queue waiting for the staff shift to open up.
Once through, the lounges are excellent. Also at Queenstown. Manaia do a great job.

 

[cqtiger]

I have flown business class a few times recently and being a reward flight ended up in Row 3
Each time there was a run on a specific meal type and I ended up with the unpopular meal choice(s)
On one occasion the steward offered me her meal.
You'd think in this day and age that it would be pretty clear what meals were statisticly popular and stock them accordingly.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I have flown business class a few times recently and being a reward flight ended up in Row 3
Each time there was a run on a specific meal type and I ended up with the unpopular meal choice(s)
On one occasion the steward offered me her meal.
You'd think in this day and age that it would be pretty clear what meals were statisticly popular and stock them accordingly.

You’d think!

I just have to take my chances and try and move up as soon as they throw seating open 80 hours before departure… anything but row 3!

 

[Princess Fiona]

I have had the pleasure of meeting Graeme at Wellington he really is an absolute super star !!

 

[jswong]

Agree with the comments re Graeme. Pre covid he was an excellent QF FA as well so we are glad that he was kept on in this current position

 

[dmgale]

Graeme’s excellent service aside, this doesn’t sound like anything special?

 

[johnmpenney]

Qantas 737-800 Business Class Review (Wellington-Melbourne) is an article written by Matt from the AFF editorial team:

Qantas 737-800 Business Class Review (Wellington-Melbourne)

We review the Qantas Boeing 737-800 Business Class experience on a trans-Tasman flight from Wellington to Melbourne. How does it stack up in 2025?

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

I heartily agree Graeme is awesome - worth his weight in gold to Qantas! He defines customer service! As a Kiwi can't help but comment that the superior customer service both in the lounge and in the air was delivered by Kiwi staff

 

[Senrab]

Graeme is consistently a Qantas star employee at Wellington. Always cheery, gives every departing traveler personal best wishes leaving the lounge and at the gate.
WLG & CHC immigration/security services are often an annoyance, not open continuously and if you arrive early have to join a lengthy queue waiting for the staff shift to open up.
Once through, the lounges are excellent. Also at Queenstown. Manaia do a great job.

Graeme should be on Qantas' assets register.

 

[Beano]

Great read Matt! WLG is my home airport. Graeme is a stalwart of Qantas. I first met Graeme when he was an FA and he showed just the same enthusiasm in his cabin announcements. On one occasion he almost escorted me into the Y cabin but said I was in J. Strange because they should know where passengers are sitting. He is usually at check-in before the lounge opens and is very helpful with passengers. A few years ago he helped my wife and me check in (mixed carriers on a long haul to Europe so couldn't check in on line) and load luggage on the conveyor. My wife was very impressed! He greets me when I go past check-in but I suppose he does that to several passengers. These days when I travel we have a quick chat and exchange info, incoming passengers allowing. He even announce the arrival of aircraft and when they get to the gate, which you can see from the lounge.

I agree that the food and drink choices could be better. That has been up and down over the years but I see signs of improvement though I haven't seen sushi for a while. Kapiti ice cream and Panhead are a great resource.

Travelling WLG-MEL in just over a week with a connection to PER. The flight can sometimes be excruciatingly late so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[ronlon]

Hi all.

Matt's review included the comment : " the crew had armed everyone in Business Class with an express card for customs". I also flew into to Melbourne international recently (with one of these cards for the first time ) and was looking out for signs regarding express customs but could not see anything. As it turned out the arrival experience regarding customs was not good.

Did I miss something ? Was I meant to flash my express card somewhere ? My declaration card was viewed at least 3 perhaps 4 times at different points within the luggage arrival hall by customs staff.

 

[SYD]

Been a while since I last flew out of WLG but I read here a while back that they’d stopped using the direct boarding from the lounge…. That used to be a nice little perk of the lounge.

 

[Beano]

Gone for a while now. It only worked for one gate anyway.

 

[Beano]

They would

Hi all.

Matt's review included the comment : " the crew had armed everyone in Business Class with an express card for customs". I also flew into to Melbourne international recently with one of these cards ( for the first time ) and was looking out for signs regarding express customs but could not see anything. As it turned out the arrival experience regarding customs was not good.

Did I miss something ? Was I meant to flash my express card somewhere ? My declaration card was viewed at least 3 perhaps 4 times at different points within the luggage arrival hall by customs staff.

They would give these to premium flyers and I asked for one coming into BNE two weeks ago when travelling Y. BNE has an express lane but it looked barriered off. The regular queue was horrendous so I snuck round the tapes. A security guy on the other side didn't bat an eyelid.

I am sure there is a crew/express late in MEL.

 

[SYD]

Gone for a while now. It only worked for one gate anyway.

WLG-SYD mainly and that was all I was interested in!

 

[Beano]

So

WLG-SYD mainly and that was all I was interested in!

Sorry, haven't been in SYD for a while. Mostly MEL and BNE.