Flight test: Qantas economy, Melbourne to Wellington

Sunday, 17 March 2024

The route

Melbourne to Wellington.

The plane

Boeing 737-838. Registered as VH-XZH, the jet is 10 years old. It was a particularly full flight with many appeals from ground staff to passengers to place any carry-on bags in the hold for free, or ensure that all smaller hand-held items were stored under the seat and not in the overhead bins.

The seat

I was seated in 13C, which is in the exit row in the economy cabin. The extra legroom is always handy. The seat had a standard 76.2cm pitch with a width of 43.7cm. There were no hidden nasties or rubbish in the seat pocket.

Time in the air

One of the only times I can remember when a flight pushed back at exactly the time advertised on the ticket - 8am on the dot. It should take just over three-and-a-half hours but we arrived into Wellington nearly 25 minutes early.

The entertainment

A good selection of movies, TV, audio and games is rather let down by a very unresponsive, or at times, too responsive touch-screen TV. Clearly years of sticky fingers have affected the screen performance. It resulted in a somewhat frustrating scroll through the menus. I did end up sitting back to watch all of Wonka and half of Next Goal Wins.

The food

This was the breakfast flight so the options were scrambled eggs with sausage, hash browns and tomatoes, or a fresh fruit platter. I chose the former, which everyone else around me also did, so I have no idea how the platter looked.

The breakfast was a tad disappointing with a sausage putting up a good battle as I tried to slice it in the intimate confines of an economy seat. It was tough as old boots. The rest was helped by a good sprinkling of salt and pepper. There was also a pretty tasty muffin. Later, a small bag of chocolate biscuits were handed out and were gobbled up quickly.

The service

The Qantas crew were all smiles and full of charm throughout the flight. The service was unobtrusive and I didn’t spot any niggles. Top marks here.

The verdict

This was a perfectly good, dare I say it, boring flight. Not every trip has to be full of drama. The flight did all the things mostly well, and got us into Wellington ahead of time with little fuss, which is probably all that anyone can ask.

The frequency

There is a daily Qantas flight between Melbourne and Wellington, leaving Australia at 8am (local time), with the return flight at 2.40pm.

The essentials

Flights from Melbourne to Wellington are around $500 one-way (economy). For more information, see qantas.co.nz.

The writer travelled courtesy of Jetstar.