Oaklands to Brisbane 2nd to 4th of July

Thursday Oaklands to Canberra

I got away a little late from Oaklands. My intention was to make it to the Hume Highway before it was dark. I did make it to Wagga by darkness, so I was probably only about half an hour behind schedule (I couldn't find the USB charger for my mobile phone when packing).

The drive was really pleasant. I've been a little anxious about long night drives since hitting a kangaroo two years ago, however I had none of that anxiety on this drive. The Hume was quiet and felt safe and easy to drive on. The tiredness I'd experienced a week earlier didn't manifest - though I must admit I was a bit excited about my upcoming trip and so that probably kept fatigue at pay.

The Rydges Capital Hill hotel was very nice when I arrived there. They issued me with my Rydges membership card, though didn't give me the complimentary drink (though I wasn't worried enough to ask about it). I really enjoyed the hotel, it was very class and had a lovely enclosed area. I had paid for an upgrade which was wasted given I didn't get there until 9:30pm, though it would be fantastic for a couple of night stay (nice sized room with spa bath etc). Slightly dated, my only complaints were that it needed a little fixing up, eg. an old faceplate a little broken in the bathroom, a beside draw which you had to wrestle to operate etc). Check out was also very laboured but eventually got there.

Apart from traffic going very slowly in Canberra, I had a very smooth trip up to Newcastle the following morning.

Saturday Newcastle to Brisbane

I love Plane, Train & Automobile days and today was one. Drove to Newcastle airport, checked in for my Qantas flight and then got the train from Brisbane to Ipswich. I liked that the 11:35pm flight issued a sandwich as refreshment as it was lunch time in the middle of the flight and I was surprised to feel a little hungry. The flight got away five or ten minutes early, however Brisbane Air Control directed the pilot to go slow, so we only got in about five minutes early after all that. It was a very pleasant flight and I enjoyed the view from the window - the great advantage of the smaller Dash planes is flying lower and getting a better view of the ground.

Sunday Brisbane to Fiji to Los Angeles

I woke up early, eager for the flight and so ended up getting to the airport an hour before check in (apparently 2hrs 45min before the flight is due to depart). My punctuality anxiety kicks into overgear for international flights, so I can't help but want to be early and then have time to kill (hence the post I am doing right now). I spent the night in the Brisbane Ibis which was a comfortable basic hotel. I got the 15th floor, which is my record for highest stay so far - had a mildly good view from my window.

The queues at Brisbane airport were reasonable, so it did take a while to get through customs etc - a little disappointing since I don't remember ever having delays worth mentioning in Sydney. I was issued both tickets (BNE-NAN and NAN-LAX) so am ready for my flight. This is also the first time I have taken liquids onboard with me (deoderant and shampoo), probably overkill but after spending 24hrs in New York a few years ago with nothing like that and no doubt smelling, I am keen to have some basic provisions. Plus I am tempted to pay for the day access to the Air Pacific lounge in Fiji since I will have 5 hours to kill. The other benefit of using an internet terminal is that it gives my ipod a chance to charge up before the flight.

Qantas 13/4/2010 Newcastle to Albury (via Brisbane and Sydney)

Flight 1: Qantaslink Newcastle to Brisbane

• Checkin at regional airports always seems to go smoothly with virtually no line and this flight was no exception. Following the Qantas trend of late, the plane was also late to depart - not even arriving until a few minutes after we were supposed to have started boarding.

• Four star service seemed to be the name of the game too - perhaps because the Qantaslink planes are smaller and often a bit more expensive than the VirginBlue and Jetstar services which also service Newcastle (along with Aeropelican and Brindbella). I always find it a bit odd when called "sir" by staff, but it happened when checking in.

• Refreshments on the flight turned out to be a light lunch, with quite a nice corned beef and pickle sandwich. Softdrink and tea/coffee were supplied along with a Time Out chocolate at the end of the meal, cementing the trip as that step above VirginBlue.

• The Dash Q300 is a little smaller than the Q400 which services most locations these days. I'd deliberately taken a seat further back in the plane since Seat Guru (the best guide to seats on planes) had suggested I'd be out from under the wing. It wasn't entirely accurate, but the wing was much higher than on a normal plane so some visibility was available from all seats. Only about 75% full, there were a reasonable number of spare seats available.

• Views from the plane were exceptional on the way up, making it well worth the trip (I'd considered canceling the NTL-BNE-SYD leg and instead catching the train from Newcastle to Sydney). It was a fairly clear day and the lower altitude of the turbo prop gave fantastic views of the land beneath us and so wonderful viewings of clouds. I was really quite sad that I'd forgotten my camera for this trip. I counted 29 ships off Newcastle harbour, though most were further south compared to the last time I'd been in a good position to count them from the air.
  

Flight 2: Qantas Brisbane to Sydney

• Once again Qantas seemed to be running late. This time the plane was present for boarding well in advance (I'm fairly sure it was there before I arrived, more than an hour before the flight) and yet some of the flight crew didn't arrive until after boarding was supposed to have started.

• Reasonably full, I once again had a seat towards the back so I'd have a good view. The plane was about 80% full, with some scattered seats free (including next to me, which was the case on all three flights that day).

• Refreshments consisted of a drink (soft/tea/coffee) and a raspberry muffin and/or apple. Unlike the flight the week before, the flight attendant was offering people an apple even if they took the muffin, so I enjoyed both. The flight the week before had apples in a bowl but they were never explicitly mentioned and I don't think I saw anyone have one - on this flight probably a good 25% of people ended up with an apple - much better to have healthier eating encouraged on the plane.

• The views from the plane were almost as good as from the Qantaslink plane. I was actually wishing I had a video camera with me, as some of the mountains beneath us with their valleys etc looked like they'd be great footage.

Sydney Terminal

• Arriving in Sydney was pleasant enough. I stuck around in the dedicated Qantas domestic terminal for a while, as I was concerned that if I changed terminals that I'd have trouble finding a Qantas Web Connect terminal. This turned out to be the case - there seemed to be none in the general domestic terminal.

• Clearing security was a breeze, everything seemed to be flowing well. If I had a tight connection, one of the things which would bother me is that between changing terminals and going through security again you could easily lose a lot of time if things weren't flowing well.

• I made the mistake of stopping by one of the Wine Selectors displays and tried one of the samples. When I'm in holiday mode I can be pretty easily convinced, so signed up for the wine club... guess I'll see what the dozen is like and then decide between them and Cellarmasters who I am already receiving a dozen bottles from a quarter. I'm expecting the Wine Selectors will be a good notch better wine quality, but it will also cost me more and not earn any bonus frequent flyer points as Cellarmasters does (though wine has to be pretty poor to put me off and I'd be surprised if Wine Selectors had the bargain options at various times which Cellarmasters does - so it'll come down to choosing between quality and affordability I suppose).

Flight 3: Qantaslink Sydney to Albury

• Having done this flight a few times, it was pleasant to find out my memory wasn't wrong and the evening flight does provide a full refreshments service. The flight attendant was generous with the wine (ie. two trips offering it to you) and the snackbox had a tasty dip and chocolate within it. It was once again marking itself as a 4 star flight compared to the VirginBlue and Rex offerings which are 3.5 and 3 (that said, the daytime flights without the more generous refreshments are only rated 3.5).
  

• Despite it being dark by the time I flew out of Sydney, there were some nice sights of the city below until we rose higher and got past Sydney. This flight was about 75% full, continuing the trend of having a reasonable number of spare seats. It also actually left on time, making it the one Qantas(link) trip out of the four to do so successfully.
  

• I should have resisted the second round offering of a wine refill as it hits you twice as hard when at altitude and even though two glasses in an hour shouldn't have had me over the limit I was certainly feeling the effects for the next hour or so after touchdown.

Conclusions

• Despite my reluctance to do the NTL-BNE-SYD leg I think it was a very relaxing way to travel. I doubt I'll do the two positioning flights again, as the train to Sydney takes a similar amount of time and saves a fair bit of money.
  

• Window seats on domestic flights are fantastic when there are good views to be had. Someday I'll take the seaplane between Sydney and Newcastle to enjoy its views.

• I've now met the 4 qantas(link) requirement to go up in Qantas Frequent Flyer status, so I'm ready to gain silver on my July trip to the USA (and gold upon making it back to Australia).
  

Frequent Flyer Thoughts

Introduction

I blame United Airlines for getting me addicted to Frequent Flyer ideas. Until my flight last year which just happened to be during a DEQM (Double Elite Qualifying Miles) time I'd never worried about it much or the status which could be accrued. It was the investigation of what DEQM is an the benefits of status that got me somewhat addicted to the idea (plus I enjoy flights).

United

The DEQM bonus meant that my 2009 flight to the USA scored me the bottom rung of the "elite" frequent flyers with United. As a "Premier" passenger I avoid baggage fees for two bags, but the big benefit is the Economy Plus seating at no extra cost. It provides 2-5 inches of extra leg room over Economy but otherwise is exactly the same.

United actually impresses me the most nicely balanced of the various schemes I've looked at, but due to the limited opportunity to earn miles with them (ie. only with flights to/within the USA which will never be a huge amount) they aren't a real long term prospect. Without the DEQM bonus it would take two return flights to the USA just to maintain status. Other benefits include getting to check in at the level above Economy and bording a level before regular economy passangers (neither of which are a big deal to me).

United have recently introduced "Unlimited Domestic Upgrades" which means if they have spare seats in the First/Business classes they upgrade people in Economy a category. The status those flyers have determines who actually receives the bonus upgrade. Otherwise upgrades can be done using points or with special bonuses which only the very top level of flyers get (not worth thinking about in my situation). This upgrade system is built in to most US carriers domestic flights, but unfortunately doesn't exist in Australia in normal situations.

Qantas

The obvious choice for Australian flights, Qantas uses a Status Credit approach rather than qualifying miles as most other frequent flying schemes do. The silver level requires 350 points to qualify. A flight from Albury to Sydney earns 10 status credits, so you really do have to be flying a fair bit to actually move up a level. Even Sydney to LA only earn 45 status credits each way if you're flying on a cheap economy tickets.

Status provides benefits such as extra frequent flyer points from flights, access to business class checkin and the ability to pick your seat online much earlier and with better availability. Gold status gives the benefit of Qantas Club access which has free refreshments etc.

VirginBlue

Relatively new to the frequent flyer game, Virgin has some benefits and a simple formula of giving you points based on each dollar spent on flights. This makes it much more straight forward rather than the Qantas status credit approach which have ticket class on one axis and miles travelled on the other to determine how many you get. International travel with Virgin does have a different system again however.

Currently there is no lifetime status with the Australian Virgin Velocity scheme, which is one of those strange ideas that I find really attractive. Virgin has been rolling out lounges which can be accessed for a payment or for those who reach their top level.

Goals

Since I got a little addicted to the whole frequent flyer system, my goal is currently to gain Gold status (requiring 700 status credits in one year) with Qantas and work towards Lifetime Silver (7000 Status Credits total from all flights ever with them). This has led to some slightly odd bookings for my 2010 flights.

For example, I am flying AirPacific from Brisbane to LA (with a few hours stopping in Nadi, Fiji) because AirPacific doesn't have a Discount Economy level with Qantas. Thus for the same price as the best direct Australia to USA flight I was able to earn many more status credits (ie. 90 each way instead of 45).

While my original plan was to visit San Fransisco, Seattle and then go to Salt Lake City to spend time with my sister and he family, the discovery of cheap LA to Florida flights diverted my plans. Thus I am now spending two days in LA (since I'd always avoided it in the past and was due to check it out), then flying to Florida (via Chicago) for a few days before flying from there to Salt Lake City. The convoluted flights will earn me enough status credits that by the time I am home in Australia again I should have reached the 700 needed for Gold. When I arrive in Miami I should have reached Silver, which then gives me 25% more points over the remaining US flights (the bonus applies to Qantas and American Airline flights, but not AirPacific).

Silver also provides OneWorld status which would then give me free luggage with American Airlines if I needed it. The USA is the best place to earn Status Credits as flights can be booked which reward you with as many as one status credit for every two dollars spent - in Australia it is hard to do better than five dollars for each status credit on flights (and closer to ten is often normal). Qantas is a bit unusual in reducing the requirement to keep status once you have it (ie. 350 to earn Silver, 300 each year after to keep it). They also have a "soft landing" where you only drop one level each year (so if I make Gold this year, I can have silver the following year even if I fail to get anywhere near 300).

Ideally you earn your status credits/miles by flying to locations you want/need to go to. Fortunately my holiday was able to pull that off with a few minor changes (ie. San Fransisco becoming LA and Seattle becoming Miami). A mileage run (MR) is a trip conducted for the sole purpose of earning miles/status. I was lucky that AmericanAirlines had a promotion happening so that upgradable bookings would cost the same amount as regular economy flight when going from LAX to FLL (ie. the ticket automatically goes from economy to the next higher seat - which is fantastic as it then earns the benefits of flying as a business/first class passenger).

Websites

If you're interested in reading more, the following are two of the best websites:

The Australian Frequent Flyer Online Community - this site is good from an Australian perspective and is helpful as it also has areas for credit cards which earn points etc.

Flyer Talk - has areas for all the airlines and can be a great place for finding out more information. It has many more postings to their forums than the Australian site above.

Jetstar 8/4/2010 Brisbane to Newcastle

• Check in went smoothly, though I couldn't do OLCI since booking with Qantas meant I never got a number to use with the Jetstar system. I've learnt now that multi stop flight bookings are best avoided if the flights are on seperate days.

• The single aisle 3-3 arrangement of the plane meant it was fairly crowded and definitely getting close to "cattle class". That said, for a one hour flight it was very tolerable.

• Bording was a bit odd, with the front half bording via aerobridge while the back half had to go down stairs to the tarmac and then up another set to board via the rear of the plane. It would be interesting to know if they abandoned this in rain or if they just made passangers get wet.

• The whole Jetstar experience feels a little drab compared to other airlines - even compared to VirginBlue who is supposed to be its Low Cost Carrier competitor. Staff don't seem quite as professional, the interior of the plane feels a bit faded and so on.

• My fears of becoming an airline snob proved unfounded as I found the flight more than adequate and will definitely keep Jetstar in mind where they have noticable price benefits over their competitors.
  

• Qantas has service benefits (and frequent flyer) overVirginBlue, however the better operation and newness of VirginBlue planes keeps it well ahead of Jetstar as preferred carrier.
  

Albury to Sydney Airline Comparisons

With the arrival of my flight in to Sydney I felt I was able to do a comparison of the three flight options from Albury to Sydney. I'd flown VirginBlue about a month earlier to Sydney with a Rex flight back, so with my April holiday flight it meant all three were fresh in my mind.

Regional Express (Rex)

• Rex has the benefit of flying small propeller planes that actually feel like you're really flying. They are also the only carrier to fly out of Albury to Melbourne (Brindabella flies to Canberra from Albury, but nowhere else).
  

• As smaller flights with a 2-1 configuration it means it is good for couples to get two seats together but also good for single travellers (as I usually am) to sit without a stranger beside you. Seats on the plane also felt the most cramped out of the three carriers.
  

• Refresments are minimal, with it basically being a tea/coffee service with a small packet of something to nibble on. I can't even remember if softdrink was available or not.

• The noise inside the plane is the biggest disadvantage of flying Rex. Admittedly I was mentally drained before my flight, but I had a headache working up to become moderately painful by the time my flight arrived.

• Bording the plane is straight forward in Albury, but in Sydney it is a very odd gate arranagement which I discovered on a flight last year when it reached the stage of my name being called out of the PA system because I was sitting upstairs in the seats there rather than downstairs at the gates you actually head out through.
  

• Overall Rating: 3 stars.

Virgin Blue

• The larger plane that Virgin Blue flies between Albury and Sydney helps make them the quietest of the three options.

• There are no refreshments onboard VirginBlue unless you purchase them, but for a one hour flight that isn't really a concern.

• Seating space felt larger on this flight than either Qantas or Rex and wins easily on the comfort count. An oddity was that premium seats are available at the front of the plane yet I've never seen them being used. A check in option of $10 or $20 extra to try them out would have been very tempting and saved the seats going to waste - unless you were a seven foot tall basketballer there is little incentive to pay the much greater cost for the premium seats when only flying for an hour.

• Overall Rating: 3 1/2 stars. The flight is a bit quicker and comfort better than the alternatives. Cheap fares are also sometimes available.
  

Qantas

• Qantas is my preferred option because I really enjoy the feeling of being on a prop plane (as opposed to the jet that VirginBlue flies) and I'm working on QFF points/status credits currently.

• The refreshments are marginally better than Rex provides - though nothing like those which I used to enjoy on the Narrabri-Moree-Sydney Qantaslink flight - they really did make you feel well looked after (especially in the evening flights when you sometimes were offered three rounds of wine).

• Check in is quite pleasant, though for some reason the Qantas tickets specify 45 minutes before departure. Fortunately I had completed online check in and fortunately they accepted my luggage at closer to 30 minutes before departure than 45.

• Seats seemed a little less spacious than on the VirginBlue flight but better than the Rex. Noise was also in the middle of the alternative carriers, I do wonder if I'm growing more sensitive to it or whether it is just the comparison with the larger jet that makes it feel more substantial.

• Overall Rating: 3 1/2 . A little less spacious than VirginBlue and with moderate cabin noise, its basic refreshments all combine to keep it from being a 4 star service.
  

Qantas 7/4/2010 Albury to Brisbane via Sydney

First flight: Qantas Dash 8 400 from Albury to Sydney

• The plane was late to arrive in Albury, not arriving until about the time it was due to be departing for Sydney.

• About half full, there was plenty of space left onboard. Seats were a 2-2 configuration which is always nice.
  

• Refreshments were two tasty gourmet biscuits (later seen for sale for $3 in the Jetstar inflight refreshment menu) and a choice of tea/coffee/water or softdrink in mini (250mL cans).

Second flight: Qantas 767 from Sydney to Brisbane

• I'm more familiar with the Sydney domestic terminal now after having to change terminals between the two flights.

• The dedicated Qantas terminal was a bit of a surprise as it felt a little run down compared to the other multi-airline terminals I've been in of late.

• This plane was also about ten minutes late to depart. It did make me glad I was all on a common ticket and luggage was interlined. I am mildly concerned about my return flight from the USA in July, if the United flight from San Frascisco to LA is delayed by more than about half an hour I'll have a tough time collecting my luggage and getting it to AirPacific to check in on time for my flight back to Australia.
  

• The only Inflight Entertainment (IFE) was radio and small ceiling mounted tvs showing some short infomercials and mini tv shows. I did enjoy watching the plane on the map but that didn't last too long at the start and never returned before touchdown.

• Lunch smelt delicious, but consisted of a small quiche - quite tasty, but also quite small. Drinks were the same as on the Dash 8, though there was an option to buy an alcoholic beverage to have with the meal (for those in economy, it sounded like those in business class got one complementary).

• The flight was about 90% full in economy, not many spare seats and the overhead storage bins were pretty full too. Economy seats were a 2-3-2 configuration which made it harder to have a poor seat (enabling nearly everyone to have an aisle or window seat).

• Seated in the front small area of economy it felt less crowded and more pleasant than it probably was in the back economy segment.
  

Conclusion

• Overall I enjoyed the flight, it felt very efficient to get to Brisbane in that amount of time. The hour of time between flights passed very quickly by the time I changed terminals and founded the new gate. Fortunately the security checks were going quite quickly as I ended up with only about 20 minutes to wait until bording time (which was then delayed, so I had more time up my sleave anyway).

• Online Check In (OLCI) was nice to do and I did it almost exactly 24 hours before my first departing flight. It was good to be able to select my seat and sit a little further back so I could enjoy a window seat.
  

Welcome to g'Flight Log

G'day.

I decided to set this up as a blog to record information about my flights and experiences on planes. It will be interesting to compare things over time and my different views. With over a dozen flights booked for the year, hopefully I can come up with some kind of interesting comment about each one.