Qantas from Singapore to Australia: 787-9 Premium Economy & A380 Business Class

[yflyer]

On Friday evening, after a busy work week, I headed back to Melbourne Airport to catch a flight to Perth, where I would be spending the weekend.

My QF points upgrade for the MEL-PER sector came through, so this meant I would have access to the Qantas Domestic Business Lounge, located opposite the Qantas Club which I had visited earlier in the week...


By now, I was familiar with what the Qantas Club had to offer, but the Business Lounge was something else completely, with much nicer ambience and F&B...



I thought the decor here was far more stylish and elegant...



...with a range of different seating and lounging options...



Work area...



Bar seating...



Manned bar...



...with a decent liquor selection...



...and a nice selection of Australian wines as well...



I got right to work sampling some of the wines on offer...

Sparkling...



Some really good airside views to be had in this lounge...



Pinot Grigio...



Pinot Noir...

[yflyer]

I spent a couple of days in Melbourne.

While there, I did an evening run along my favourite route by the Yarra River...



This was a well lit route, and lots of fun to do at night...



I also could not resist a steak dinner at Rockpool Bar & Grill Melbourne...



...which to my tastebuds, is still one of the most flavourful steaks out there...

[yflyer]

I stayed at this DoubleTree property on 2 occasions on this trip.



On my 2nd stay, my room was a regular room, which was slightly smaller than the deluxe, and it did not have the same wonderful view, but it was still a very comfortable room to stay in.

[yflyer]

The lobby cafe...



Complimentary continental breakfast (i.e. cold items only) for Hilton Gold...



This could be upgraded to a full breakfast for A$10, which was great value, but I found the continental breakfast selection to be perfectly adequate...

[yflyer]

My hotel in Melbourne for this leg of the stay was the DoubleTree Hilton at Flinders Street.



This hotel had a wonderful location, in the heart of the Melbourne CBD, and right in front of Flinders Street Station.

The lobby had stylish decor, and a lively vibe which I quite liked...



I was given a warm chocolate chip cookie at check in, and as a Gold member, was also given a large bottle of sparking water (Still was also available).



As Hilton Gold, I was upgraded to a deluxe room...



...with a wonderful view of Flinders Street Station...



Writing desk, and large LCD TV...



Spacious bathoom with shower stall...





Minibar and in-room safe...



Open wardrobe. Not as much hanger space as I would have liked....



The next morning I woke up to wonderful views of the station clock tower...

[yflyer]

My flight was JQ579, a 5.55pm departure, with scheduled arrival time 8:20pm. The flight was operated by Jetstar Airbus A320, rego VH-VFV, a nine year old aircraft.



Inside, fairly tight seating, in standard 3-3 format. I normally prefer A320's to 737's, but I thought that my inbound QF 737 was just a little bit more comfortable.



Food for purchase on this flight...



I browsed the menu...



A decent selection of snacks and drinks was available...



There was no seatback video, but it was possible to connect via wifi to Jetstar's entertainment platform, which offered Jetstar content, but no internet.



Alas, this was a paid option.



A so-so selection of entertainment options...



I wondered what the point was for all of this. Why not just offer internet access?

At least the app also provided flight progress for free, so all was not lost.



We departed slightly late, and consequently landed in Melbourne at 9:11pm, almost an hour behind schedule.



When we deplaned, I was surprised to see a full load of passengers waiting to board the aircraft. The same aircraft would be operating JQ582 right back to Brisbane as soon as the aircraft was turned around!

[yflyer]

I caught the Airtrain back to Brisbane Airport to catch my 3rd flight in 3 days...



My flight to Melbourne was a Jetstar flight, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that as Qantas Gold, I was still eligible to use the Qantas Lounge.



Facilities-wise, this lounge was quite similar to the Qantas Club in the Domestic Terminal in Melbourne...



This was a large (and busy) lounge with ample seating and work tops...



There was an all-day dining buffet...



The day's menu...



DIY sandwiches, with a selection of fillings...



A manned bar, with self service wine, and bar service for beer and liquor...



Knowing that there would be no complimentary food on my Jetstar flight, I loaded up on Moroccan red lentil soup...



...and gulped down an ice cold G&T before heading to the gate...

[yflyer]

From the train station in the city, it was a short walk to my hotel, the Royal Albert...


I would characterize the Royal Albert as an older, budget-friendly hotel with large rooms, ideally located in the heart of the city.



It wasn't grand by any means, and some of the decor looked a little tired, but the rooms and suites were spacious and well equipped.

Spacious hallways leading to the rooms...



My room was a large suite, with separate living area, kitchenette, and bedroom.



Decor was very traditional, with dark wood tones and a large overstuffed sofa.



There was a writing table, LCD TV and separate dining area...



...with a round dining table that could comfortably fit 4 diners...



Full kitchenette. I found the microwave especially useful.



A comfortable bed...



Spacious bathroom...



...and even a washing machine...



This suite was probably overkill for a single business traveller, but would have been perfect if I was with the spouse and kids on vacation!

There was a restaurant/cafe at the hotel which served a decent breakfast.



I had breakfast at an outdoor table, enjoying the pleasant weather before heading out for my business meeting.

After that, there was just enough time for a short walk through Queen Street Mall, before it was time to head to the airport again for my flight back to Melbourne...

[yflyer]

My flight from Brisbane was QF630...a 2 hour flight operated by a Qantas 737-800.



This was a fairly full flight...



Complimentary hot refreshments and beverages (including wine or beer) were served...



I found the snacks quite tasty...



Final approach to BNE...



After landing, I caught the Airtrain from the airport to the city...



This was quite a comfortable (and quick) way to get from the airport to Brisbane city centre...

[yflyer]

Continuing with the TR...

After arriving in Melbourne that morning, I spent the day in the city before heading back to the airport that evening to catch my flight to Brisbane.



Prior to my flight, I headed to the Qantas Club in Terminal 1. This was the designated lounge for QF Gold and Oneworld Sapphire members.



I stepped in the Qantas Club...



This was a large lounge, with ample seating and table space, as well as a manned bar (Wine and liquor served from 12 noon onwards).



I settled into one of the bar stools by a high table...



...and ordered a G&T...



The all-day dining menu...



Not a huge menu, but the selection was tasty enough, and some dishes were quite substantial, including potato and chickpea curry and steamed rice.

The self service sandwich bar was popular with guests.



On a subsequent viisit to the same lounge later on in my trip, there was fried rice on the menu...



There were also shower rooms.

Overall, I thought this was a decent, if unexceptional, lounge to spend time in before a flight.

Just across from the Qantas Club was the Qantas Domestic Business Lounge, but to use that lounge, you had to be either flying business class, QF Platinum or Oneworld Emerald. What was that lounge like, I wondered....

[yflyer]

Thank you for always so kindly sharing your experiences with us, yflyer !

Thanks for reading, StarG!

I must say the PEY product seems very well designed - one of the prettiest PEYs out there.
Meal served seems yummy as well.

Yes, I was very impressed by the QF PEY service concept. The PEY seat itself on the 787 is excellent (The same PEY seat is on the refreshed A380 as well). As for catering, it is very similar to QF's domestic business class catering, with proper china and glassware.

[StarG]

Thank you for always so kindly sharing your experiences with us, yflyer !
I must say the PEY product seems very well designed - one of the prettiest PEYs out there.
Meal served seems yummy as well.

[yflyer]

The morning blue-hour was visible out the windows as we approached Melbourne...



Final approach...



On the ground in MEL...



Overall this was an excellent flight. Apart from the fact that our departure, and subsequent arrival, was delayed 30 min due to engineering requirements, this was a near flawless flight, with an excellent hard product, superb catering, and great cabin crew.

QF's new PEY seat is excellent -- as good as any I've tried, and preferable to SQ's A350 PEY seat, and about on par with SQ's A380 PEY seat. It's also better than ANA's 787-9 PEY seat which, while comfortable, looks a little dated. QF's IFE is very good too. The one missing thing right now is wifi on international sectors, which is planned for 2024.

As for catering, QF's PEY catering concept is effectively business-lite. It blows the competition out of the water.

Cabin crew on this flight were very warm, friendly and genuine. I felt well looked after.

A big thumbs up to Qantas on the first flight of the trip!

To be continued...

[yflyer]

I slept quite soundly in my PEY seat, and only awoke when it was time for breakfast, which was served 90 minutes before arrival...



Once again, this was an excellent breakfast spread on a single tray.



I finished breakfast quickly and went back to sleep...

[yflyer]

Before sleeping, I took a quick stroll around the cabin.

In the galley, snacks were laid out.



To use the restrooms, you had to go through the curtain into the Y cabin and go past a few rows of Y seats, but this wasn't too disruptive.



Some pax from the PEY cabin went forward to use the J lavs occasionally, but the cabin crew weren't too fussed about that on this occasion.