Get the right plane syd-mel !

[broombroom]

hey guys, I've been lurking for a while and now i've got the nerve up to ask a question.


i often fly mel- syd and back again, as do thousands of other business travellers, and i notice sometimes i'm on planes with sweet usb chargers and great IFE, and comfy seats. and other times i'm on narrow one aisle planes.

now my return flights are often flexi so i can select which flight i want to be on- but i was wondering- can you tell from the flight codes which plane its going to be? i'm happy to hang around the airport waiting for the nice plane...

any advice would be appreciated!


broombroom.

 

[pshepvic]

Qantas or Virgin?

General answer though - there is no easy way to know. When you book it will say in both QF and DJ cases the aircraft type, however in both situations a 737-800 could be new with in seat power (although no IFE on Virgin) or they could be older ones (which on Virgin may actually have LTA IFE but on QF would be the TVs in the ceiling).


Sent from my iPhone using AustFreqFly app

 

[fbrimfield]

In business or economy? If you're travelling in business then perhaps you're referring to QF467 or something similar? That's A330 services with Skybed Mk1.

In economy you're probably on of QF's newer 737-800's.

 

[markis10]

You need to look at expertflyer for the seat maps on the day to determine which are A332s etc, QF487 SYD MEL today is a 332 for instance. With the newer 737s there is no way of telling, they are interchanged with the older ones. Just relying on the same flight number every day is also not going to work, it can change, even at the last moment, I had a 767 become a 734 with two hours to go.

 

[broombroom]

wow thanks for all the great replies everyone !

sorry missed some deets- yes Qantas is the one i was referring to, would've helped to mention that! and flying in economy.

so the only way to tell on the day (with the ticket booked by an agent days before) is to go into the seat selector and make an educated guess?

 

[simongr]

Ahead of time you can tell by the seat map whether it is a 738 (single aisle) or a 767 (twin aisle) - so if you want a better chance as at having good seats then avoid the 767. However you could still be swapped into a 767 for operational purposes. Also even if you are in a 738 there is no way to tell whether it is an old or new 738...

 

[ReLoad]

Welcome aboard Broombroom.

The 330 is your obvious choice. A couple of things to do to maximise your chances.
How late do you leave your bookings? or do you book well in Advance? Do you book Flexi fares? what FF Status are you?

There is quite a few flights which you can take Ex MEL to SYD that rarely change aircraft types, flights that are ongoing to Perth for example, as a 330 something really wrong would have to happen to have that plane rescheduled.

QF 408 is my personal choice ex Melbourne, its just about always a A330. (no such things as a guarantee though)
Coming home try grab a hold of:
QF 467 again based on the schedule, this is also mostly a A330.

Of course, that's all great in theory, so YMMV.

There is also this other thing that gets in the way; its called Life! work and home life often mean that whilst you want to get on those planes, sometimes they just don't match schedules, its just not worth waiting around SYD airport for an extra 2 hours just to watch re-runs of Joanie loves Chachie on the plane. :shock:

 

[Febs]

After doing 6 months of weekly SYD-MEL-SYD last year, the ONLY time I ever got a nice new 737 (inc in-seat power, USB, large LCD, great IFE etc..) was late at night (8:30pm onwards). Almost all my flights were typical Mon-Fri peak business traveller flights (i.e. ~7:30am SYD-MEL, ~6pm MEL-SYD) and I never once got a newer cabin.

I took QF497 this week (~10pm SYD-MEL) and again got a new cabin (I'm now up to date with the Office ) so yeah...based on my experience, you've got a much better chance later at night. Or maybe that's just luck.

Cheers,
- Febs.

 

[pauly7]

I like the 930 Syd - Mel A330 service, doesn't seem to change!

The next gen QF 73Hs seem to pop up (for me) on the slightly longer routes, I've scored them mostly on Syd-bris flights and Hba-Syd myself.

 

[broombroom]

thanks all for your replies. i leave melbourne in the mornings, and come back from sydney at nights. its all booked by an agency so i don't really have control over departing flight but the return flight is normally flexible in case the work goes over. i'm going up next week so i'll see if i can try to catch the QF 467 or QF 497 and see how that works out