Qantas A330 Business Suite to Auckland

[NSun]

We all loved flying Emirates A380 service between Sydney and Auckland. Even if one was in economy the sheer thrill of being on an A380 was a great reason to pick it. If in business or first (which if paid is a great status credits booster) you could enjoy Emirates' service (the inflight bar, fine wine and shower) without having to fly to Dubai.

However in May this year Emirates cancelled the Sydney-Auckland legs of EK418 and EK419. In its place, Qantas upgraded two daily services to the A330 - sporting their new Business Suite. I had to try it out, I had flown QF business before in the 737 and A380 but never in the A330. I managed to book a return trip for just under A$1200 due to a sale. I booked a flight over on a Thursday afternoon and a return flight on a Saturday morning with the leg over being a 737 and an A330 on the way back. Then a week before departure, my Thursday flight got moved to the morning and that flight was upgraded to an A330 so I had it both ways!


I should note NZ start daylight saving 1 week before Australia so for one week NZ is 3 hours ahead of Sydney. This week was it. Leaving early did allow me to adjust to the NZ time zone (i.e. waking up at 4am was actually 7am Auckland time). Our inbound aircraft (VH-EBO) was late in from Singapore so we left an hour late and only got in 20 minutes late.

Before takeoff we got a printed menu and a glass of champagne (we were offered water, orange juice or champagne and I chose the latter). From this menu I choose the Greek Style yoghurt and Bircher museli.

Our orders were only taken after takeoff - at which point we were also offered hot towels. You get a full table service, but once the tablecloth is set, its from an economy-style trolley. We were offered a more extensive range of drinks and I opted for cranberry juice. I was also offered sourdough bread to accompany the meal but I declined. I enjoyed the yoghurt and muesli - although I should note I have got slightly bigger portions of yoghurt in economy flying SYD-MEL. However I already had some yoghurt in the lounge before so I'm not really complaining. I got the 'cookie' after I had finished the main courses.



A highly publicised aspect of the A330 is the seat can be partially reclined for takeoff. Here it is in the position (pre-takeoff with my glass of champagne). If you're sitting in the seat you do feel a difference but it would be easier to sleep fully flat (which it goes).



After the meal I realised I'd forgotten to bring a pen to fill the NZ immigration card so asked for one. When I offered to hand it back they let me keep it. How nice!

I settled back and watched some TV. I fly about every 3 weeks and try and watch something new. However I'd gotten into Veep on my last flight so I watched mainly that. As I settled into watching some episodes, I ordered a hot chocolate and received it quickly.



Qantas' entertainment overall is great - I appreciate how they have it on shorter flights (i.e. Q-Streaming through QF entertainment App on 737s and 717s - even iPads on 717s SYD-CBR). But in some instances choices depend from aircraft to aircraft in terms of choices. However, the layout on the A330 was very positive, in that you could move the film with your finger instead of having to 'fast-forward' and stop at the right moment. And in the middle of a movie you could quickly bring up and flight map and put it down again.



Normally, Auckland has only one season all year around, cool & windy. Basically like Melbourne except without any summer days above 30 degrees. Although it was a mild 17 degrees on landing there was beautiful blue sky. We pulled up at Gate 15, one of 2 'remote' gates at Auckland Airport - other being Gate 16. Remote in the sense they were far apart from the other terminal (but not in the sense you had to pull portable stairs up and catch a bus to the terminal as can happen on 737s). They're capable of handling A380s and we pulled up next to one of Emirate's ones.



Having no checked baggage, nothing to declare and having an Australian passport I was out of the terminal in 10 minutes. To save money, I caught the 380 Bus to Onehunga and then catch the train to Britomart. Just over 40 hours or so of catching up with family awaited.

 

[NSun]

As much as I would've loved to have stayed longer I had a wedding in Sydney on Saturday so had to be back early. So after waking up at 4.30 NZDST (1.30am Sydney time - Argh!) I caught the Skybus to the Airport for Qantas' 7.50am flight to Sydney. I was once again on an A330, this time VH-EBS. The aircraft had come over from Sydney the evening before but had been delayed so it only arrived at Auckland at 2.30am in the morning. I had a family member who had caught the evening flight on Thursday and it had been similarly delayed too. So I'd gone to bed at 10.30pm knowing I'd be woken up by them entering my hotel room but this didn't happen until 3.30am and I had to get up to let them in because the card was not working!

Anyway...the brief spell of sunshine in Auckland was over. I'll say less about this flight because it was quite similar. The key difference was that it was a choice of water, apple juice and champagne pre-takeoff and I went for the apple juice. The menu was very similar but not the very same as on the flight over.




From this menu I choose the yoghurt and crepes. I was also offered a croissant and a 'berry juice energiser' - both of which I accepted. The latter was really a 'strawberry smoothie'. It was OK but it wasn't perfect like the 'blueberry smoothie' I'd had two months ago in Business class from Hong Kong.







I ate the crepres but did not finish the apricots. I watched the Wizards of Aus and Wham Bam! Thank you 'Mam. I got to see a lot more because the food service was faster and the flight took half an hour longer. Oddly air Traffic control had us come in from north (i.e. Central Coast) turn south over Campbelltown, go out to see then land on 16R/34L. Last time I flew this route with Emirates we came into the Illawarra then made a sharp left turn towards there. I did get good views, including a contrast between the city covered by cloud and the Illawarra basked in sunshine.





Strangely we came in at Gate 10 right next to America's 777 and a Qantas A380 (VH-OQA - its first one, and the one involved in the 'Singapore incident' back in 2010). Strange in the sense that Gate 10 is normally only used for larger aircraft.

We were not given inbound Express path cards. They've been useless to me in the past, in that you still go first to the 'Green' or 'Red' queue and 90% of people are at the 'Red' queue even during mornings - yet found it odd I didn't get one. In Auckland I was offered priority security screening, although instead of a whole card, just a miniature stamp on my passport which led me to a queue where my passport was manually inspected, when I could've just used a SmartGate and would've taken just as fast at that time of day, 5am on a Saturday morning.

When out of the gate, I saw a Chinese gentlemen trying to use the machines that give tickets to the SmartGate and was clueless as to why his passport wasn't working. An airport staffer came and told him in English 'This machine only accepts Australian passports' and walked off. Obviously he had no grasp of English because he kept looking around. I tried to help him by pointing him towards the arrivals hall but he shook his head and pointed to the gate and held up 3 fingers in his other hand - implicitly he had other people back down the plane. I speak little Mandarin, being as tired as I was all I could remember was 'sheh sheh' - thank You; which he mouthed to me and I returned that greeting. In retrospect I could've pointed to the machine and said 'Aodailya' then pointed down the hall and said 'Zhonghua' but now I'm talking 'What ifs'. It was tough to walk away. I've never been caught in such a situation overseas, particularly in Hong Kong and China. Not everyone there speaks English but everyone who is expected to interact with people who speak it well - that includes airport staff. Doesn't seem to be the case here. Being fluent would be too much to ask given how difficult it is to learn, because of the difference tones make to words, but staff should for general purposes. I mean, we're building a casino in Sydney just for visiting high rollers! Yet it seems at Sydney airport the only people who speak Mandarin at Chinese New Year - and are predominantly volunteers (I've considered signing up but decided against it as I didn't know enough Chinese).

Anyway, I was overall impressed by the flights. I had been mourning the loss of the Emirates A380 on this route. The A330 does not have the same prestige, to me, as the A380 but service wise was great. I fly this route 5 times a year and will defiantly pick the A330 over 737 flights where possible. I am keen to try a later flight and see what lunch or dinner is like.

 

[kermatu]

Thanks for the write-up. I do this sector regularly and am enjoying the A330s. I usually take the 7pm (ish) flight out of Sydney and the mid-afternoon flight out of Auckland. Obviously the food is different for these dinner sectors but they are almost always the A330s too.

 

[LadyC]

Nice report - thanks for posting.

 

[TomVexille]

Thanks for sharing. That's a nice write up.

 

[OZDUCK]

Thanks for the TR.

 

[Bindibuys]

Thank you, we were booked on the Emirates A380, Syd- Akl, but now on the QF flight. What time was your flight out of Syd?

 

[NSun]

Thank you, we were booked on the Emirates A380, Syd- Akl, but now on the QF flight. What time was your flight out of Syd?

My flight out of Sydney (QF141) was 7am but normally that service is a 737 - it had been changed due to fuel shortages. Normally the morning A330 flight out is QF143 and departs around 10am, the same time EK418 used to. QF149 is also operated by an A330 - leaves Sydney around 6pm and gets into Auckland around midnight.