Review: Qantas’ New Apia-Auckland Flight in Business Class

Last month, Qantas further expanded its presence in the Pacific with the launch of its second fifth-freedom route out of New Zealand: a direct service between Auckland and Apia, Samoa. This Boeing 737-800 flight now operates three times per week, supplementing Qantas’ existing Brisbane-Apia route.

I had never been to Samoa before but was keen to visit, so this route piqued my interest as soon as it was announced. When I dug a bit deeper, I realised that you could also earn a sizeable chunk of Qantas status credits by booking Qantas Business Class from Australia to Apia via Auckland – making this route great for Qantas status runs. So, I booked myself a round-trip Business Class ticket from Melbourne to Apia, via Brisbane and Auckland.

As part of this trip, I happened to be on one of the first ever Qantas flights between Apia and Auckland. I’ve flown Qantas Business Class on the Boeing 737 before, but wasn’t sure what to expect on this route. So, I put together this review.

Flight Details

Flight number	QF144
Origin	Apia (APW)
Destination	Auckland (AKL)
Aircraft type	Boeing 737-800
Class of travel	Business
Seat number	3F
On-time performance	We arrived on time
Star rating

The route

Flight Cost

In total, I paid $2,516 for a return Business Class ticket from Melbourne to Apia, via Brisbane and Auckland. (I added the extra stop in Brisbane for extra status credits, as it didn’t add much to the price.)

If you were to buy a one-way Qantas Business Class ticket from Apia to Auckland, prices start from AU$868. A round-trip Qantas Business ticket from Auckland to Apia starts around AU$1,280.

In theory, a Business Classic Reward seat from Apia to Auckland would cost 43,600 Qantas Points + taxes & carrier charges. However, I cannot currently see a single Business reward seat available on this route.

For what it’s worth, my Apia-Auckland flight was fairly full. Most passengers seemed to be travelling only between Apia and Auckland (and weren’t connecting onwards to Australia). There’s clearly demand for this route – and you can’t blame Qantas for wanting to poach some of that from Air New Zealand.

Airport Experience

Apia’s Faleolo International Airport is lovely for an airport that typically only handles a handful of flights each day. While the airport was buzzing with activity, it wasn’t crowded. The early Fiji Airways flight had already departed when I arrived to check in at 5am, so the Qantas flight to Auckland was the only remaining departure for the morning.

I particularly liked the open-air feel of the landside part of the terminal. There are no proper doors here, so the fresh, tropical air is allowed to flow into the building.

Check-In

In addition to the Economy counters, Qantas had two Business check-in counters open. I was promptly checked in by a very friendly staff member wearing a Samoa Airways uniform.

Before passing through immigration, everyone leaving Samoa needs to fill out a paper departure form. I appreciate that some countries still choose to use these, but there were quite a lot of questions and some of them seemed a bit redundant. I also didn’t love that this form asks you to provide your email address so that the Samoan government can send you surveys – without giving you the option to opt out of those email surveys.

Once airside in Apia’s airport, you’ll find a café, souvenir shops and a lounge.

The Faleolo Lounge

Qantas Business Class passengers flying out of Apia can use the Faleolo Airport Lounge, which is located near the departure gates.

There were only a few other passengers in this lounge at 5.30am. It was a pleasant enough space with a variety of seating options, and the lounge staff were lovely.

Toilets were located outside the lounge, and the Wi-Fi was shared with the rest of the airport. There would have been a nice view through the lounge windows, if it wasn’t still dark outside.

The highlight of the buffet was the drinks. There was a decent selection of bottled soft drinks, beer, wine (including sparkling wine) and basic spirits, as well as tea and filter coffee.

Unfortunately, to be honest, the food didn’t look all that appealing. The buffet had some packaged snacks, cereal, salad, yoghurt, cake, and bread that you could toast. But I decided not to eat any of the hot food because the party pies and sausage rolls in the warmer were barely lukewarm, and I’ll let this photo of the bain-marie contents do the talking:

Given the small number of flights out of this airport each day – which are spaced out throughout the day and night – I understand that providing a fresh, hot buffet is challenging. My suggestion to the lounge operator would be to remove the hot food from the buffet entirely, and instead offer a couple of à la carte dishes that can be freshly prepared to order.

Boarding

Boarding was done in groups. Once families and all the passengers requiring wheelchair assistance had boarded, the gate staff called forward Groups 1 and 2 at the same time.

Once boarding was finished, we were ready to depart slightly ahead of schedule – just as the sun was starting to rise over Samoa.

The Aircraft & Seat

Qantas uses a narrow-body Boeing 737-800 for its flights to and from Samoa. This is an aircraft many Australians will be familiar with, as it’s the workhorse of the Qantas fleet.

This aircraft has three rows of reclining leather Business Class seats in a 2-2 layout. These seats are wider and offer more legroom than Economy seats. On this flight, each Business passenger was also provided with a comfortable pillow and blanket.

However, when I tried to nap during the flight, I found it a bit difficult to truly get comfortable. The fold-out leg rest and footrest is rather useless if you’re over 5 feet tall, and I didn’t really have anywhere to rest my feet comfortably.

Short of installing lie-flat Business seats on this aircraft – like Singapore Airlines has done – I think a simple foot net under the seat in front could make a big difference.

Unfortunately, the cabin could probably also have been cleaned a bit better during the aircraft’s night stop in Apia. My seat had a stain on it that looked like someone had spilled gravy during a previous flight, which had then been allowed to dry onto the seat.

Entertainment and Wi-Fi

On this Qantas Boeing 737, a limited selection of in-flight entertainment is available to watch on your personal TV screen, with additional content available to stream to your own device.

Although free Wi-Fi is officially available, it only worked during the second half of this Apia-Auckland flight.

Qantas Meals on Flights from Apia

Unfortunately, the meal service on this flight wasn’t great.

There was a small bottle of water at every Business Class seat when I boarded. No other pre-departure drinks were served.

After take-off, the cabin crew offered breakfast. There were two meal options: take it or leave it. Every passenger received the same tray of cereal with long-life milk and sugary, shelf-stable snacks.

This came with a choice of drinks including water, juice, soft drinks and Lombard champagne, which were all served at room temperature. The crew also offered tea and coffee a bit later.

Look, this isn’t the worst breakfast I’ve ever had. But when you’re paying a lot of money for a Business Class ticket, it’s a bit disappointing.

Unfortunately, Apia is one of the airports in the Pacific without an established caterer, so Qantas chooses to double-cater this flight. In practice, this means that all the food is pre-loaded onto the plane the previous evening in Auckland. Since the Boeing 737 doesn’t have chillers that can keep all that food cold for an extended period, Qantas has chosen to only serve food that doesn’t need refrigerating. In other words, predominantly packaged junk food – which really isn’t what I feel like eating for breakfast.

For what it’s worth, I asked the crew what they were serving in Economy and they brought me one of the Economy snack bags for comparison:

As another point of comparison, this was the much better Business Class meal that I received on the inbound Qantas flight from Auckland to Apia a few days earlier:

The cabin crew were apologetic and were well aware that this was a sub-standard Business Class breakfast offering. In fact, they actively encouraged me to write in to Qantas to complain. Unfortunately, they can only work with what they are provided and Qantas has chosen not to make the extra effort that would be required to offer better meals on this route.

For what it’s worth, Virgin Australia serves a hot frittata for breakfast in Business Class on its flights from Apia to Brisbane. It does this by loading the frittatas onto the inbound plane in Brisbane the day before, and using dry ice to keep them cold until they’re ready to be heated and served. Perhaps Qantas could consider doing something similar, or even sourcing 12 fresh Business Class meals each morning from a hotel restaurant in Apia.

The on-board service

The Brisbane-based Qantas cabin crew on this flight were all friendly and professional. They came through the cabin regularly to check if anyone wanted anything throughout the flight, and took good care of an elderly passenger who needed assistance during the middle of the flight. But if I’m really honest, they seemed tired.

I totally get it – they would have been working right in the middle of their circadian low, having flown in a day earlier on the red-eye flight from Brisbane. Their sign-on time for this flight would have been around 2am, Brisbane time. So, this observation is intended in absolutely no way as personal criticism. In fact, I really appreciate that the crew still turned up and did their jobs to the best of their ability, even when they would no doubt have rather been sleeping!

Arrival Experience

I stopped over in Auckland on my way back to Australia. One of the advantages of arriving in Auckland around 10am is that there wasn’t a single other flight arriving at the same time. We parked at a gate quite close to the immigration hall, and I was literally through passport control and customs (with hand luggage only) within 5 minutes.

For passengers connecting straight through to Australia, you need to clear transit security at Auckland Airport. Again, there was no line for this at this time of the morning. After a quick security check, you’re in the international departures area and free to head to your next boarding gate (or the new Qantas Auckland Lounge, if you’re in Business Class).