Review of Qantas flight from Sydney to Melbourne in Business

Introduction

Welcome back to another flight report. Today we’ll be flying on business class on a Qantas Boeing 737-800 aircraft from Sydney to Melbourne.
We arrived at Sydney’s domestic 3 terminal, which is a terminal operated by QANTAS. 
Check-in here is simple: simply scan your frequent flyer card or passport to obtain your boarding pass. However if you have an international connection later on, you‘d have to visit the check-in counters.    

after security

As this is an early morning flight, the terminal is pretty empty, and I went through security in less than 5 minutes.
This is an overview of the terminal after security. It was 5 am and all the shops were closed. 

lounge

As I was flying on business, I visited the QANTAS lounge, which is just next to the security and opposite to gate 4. The lounge is also available for Gold, Platinum and Platinum One frequent flyers; as well as member of Oneworld Sapphire or above.   

The lounge itself is quite modern and new. The lounge opens one hour prior to QANTAS’s first service, which is 5am for the one in Sydney. It features a workstation, ordinary seating, buffet section, barista coffee, as well as an a-la-carte menu. 

I got myself a cup of cappuccino, some scrambled eggs, sausage and some selections of pastry.  

the flight

Boarding was through gate 3 for today’s flight. There are 2 boarding lanes, one for economy passengers and the other for business passengers, QANTAS gold, platinum and platinum one memebrs; as well as members of Oneworld sapphire or above. 
 However, as usual, QANTAS didn’t make any priority boarding for business or higher tier flyers, which is a major disappointment. You’ll see economy passengers boaridng through the business lane WITHOUT being rejected by ground staff.

We‘re on one of the older cabins on QANTAS’s Boeing 737-800, which doesn’t have any inflight entertainment system. However, passengers can choose to download QANTAS’s entertainment app and connect to its onboard wifi for movie streaming. 

Here are the seat functions, basically a footrest, back support and seat recline. However, I failed to figure out how to use them. It wasn’t a long flight so it wouldn’t bother me.  

We made a long taxi down to runway 34R, which is at the very pointy end of the airport.  
We then made a steep right turn after takeoff, and aimed for Melbourne.  

A view from above during our climb. 

If you don’t have a device with you, or simply don’t have the QANTAS entertainment app, news played on old-school overhead TVs are also available.  

Breakfast was being served shortly after takeoff. There was a choice of omlette with spinach and pork sausages or a muesli bowl, I picked the former as I’m not a huge fan of healthy food. It tasted very nice

As for the drinks, you can choose from orange juice, apple juice, tea and coffee. 

Just a random shot - the Qantas logo facing the main door.

We then made our descent into Melbourne just shortly after I managed to finish off the meal. 

A cloudy sky welcomed us  

Melbourne’s ATC tower 

gAnd here we are at Melbourne airport terminal 1, landed according to the schedule time.
Hope you’ve enjoyed this flight report. See you next time.