Review of Qantas flight from Santiago to Sydney in Economy

Background Information

Ever since I learned about the existence of QF28 in 2016 or 2017, I have dreamed of flying it one day.  The allure of flying long-haul on-board a Boeing 747-400 and seeing some Antarctic sea ice was too great to suppress.  

Unfortunately, Covid came and Qantas retired their 747s, but at least QF28 still runs (now on Boeing 787-9).  To summarize my round-the-world trip, QF28 brought me to Chile and Sir Ernest Shackleton brought me to Punta Arenas.

For months I had been monitoring the Antarctic sea ice extent as well as cloud coverage (especially at the Amundsen Sea and Ross Sea sections), jet stream patterns, and the actual QF28 flight paths.  About one week before my scheduled departure date, I noticed that QF28 took a more northerly route.  That made me think to myself that I would miss the chance of seeing some Antarctic sea ice.  

But on 28 and 29 April 2026, QF28 again took a more southerly route!  Hope springs eternal, they say…but would my luck hold out for just one more day?

Without further ado, welcome to one of the rarest scheduled flights to be reviewed, and a first on this website.

D-Day (30 April 2026)

This was the day that I had been waiting for a decade!  I woke up at about 5 AM and fed the jet stream forecast from both windy.com and ventusky.com to Gemini AI, it predicted that my flight would fly to 70-72 degrees south! (sorry about the Indonesian language, though)…

I arrived at the airport before 9 AM and to my surprise, check-in desk would open at 9:10 AM (4 hours before the scheduled departure time).  Before the check-in desk opened, I asked a girl at the information desk about VAT Refund but there was none at this airport…oh well…

I had to try 3 different self check-in kiosk before I received my boarding pass and baggage tag.  Next, I exchanged some leftover CLP, cleared immigration and immediately got airside…

There was no VAT refund at the SCL airport.  

The flight would be operated by a Boeing 787-9, registration VH-ZNE, nicknamed Skippy and powered by GEnX engines.  I would be seated on 49A.

I checked flightaware.net and found that indeed, the flight plan would take us to 69 degree south!  But I would still have to contend with the cloud cover, though…

The boarding room looked bland and generic, nothing really piqued my interest.  There was nothing like the burgundy carpet tiles at Terminal 2E of Paris-CDG Airport, for example.

We boarded the aircraft through Gate 11.  Boarding was split into 6 sequences, and I was at sequence 5.  There was a secondary screening for liquids, aerosols and gels just after the gate…

Each container of liquids, aerosols or gels must not exceed 100 mL in volume, except for items bought at the duty-free store.  You may bring more than one container, though.

On-board

From seat 49A, I would be in charge of 2 windows

There was a pillow, a blanket, a water bottle, an amenity kit and a headset on each seat…

Meanwhile, there was an Atlas Air Boeing 747-8 F taxiing…

We pushed back at 13:27 PM and waited for 3 aircrafts to land and 3 other aircrafts to take off ahead of us…

At 13:55 PM we took off from runway 17R.  Goodbye, Santiago!

What did I need the precise take-off time for?  Read on…

Can't get enough of those photos…the passenger next to me on 49B also asked my help to take a picture on her phone…

We climbed to our initial cruising altitude of FL330 and headed south one final time, straddling the Chilean coastline.  This was the final confirmation that we would indeed fly a southerly route!

Then suddenly the lights were dimmed and the windows were darkened 1 or 2 level, and lunch was served.  Seriously?  You made us ate our lunch in darkness?  Me and my seatmates in 49B and 49C each turned on our reading lights while we ate.  For me, it was the worst-looking airplane meal I have ever had in my life, but at the same time it was also the most filling.

Next a dessert (ice cream) was served.  Meanwhile, we left Chile about 90-100 minutes after took-off.  We were somewhere south of Puerto Montt and above the Chilean Patagonia when the vast Pacific Ocean came into views…

About 4 hours after we took-off, I noticed the full moon has risen…and as I feared, the Southern Ocean was covered in clouds!

We also made our first step climb to FL 340…

I guess this was how it looked like with the windows at its brightest settings (at this point I still retained control of my windows)…

About 5 hours after we took-off, snack was offered.  At this point, the cabin crew locked the windows at its darkest settings, and that made my heart sank.  For that reason alone, I gave the cabin crews 0 points in the rating you will see at the bottom.

I spent the next 1 hour contemplating about what I would do…and when my seatmates in 49B and 49C went to the lavatory, I went to the galley to meet one of the cabin crew.  I asked him to unlock the windows, but instead he allowed me to see out from the dirty window at the left-hand side emergency door in the rear, for as long as I liked.  I thanked him for his kindness, but I saw nothing due to the persistent cloud cover…

Playback on flightradar24.com shows that my flight did enter civil twilight above the Southern Ocean…

The cabin crew who allowed me to stay in the galley said that the weather was indeed almost always cloudy.  I almost, almost gave up and returned to my seat, yet something somehow made me stay there, despite me unable to find a perfectly comfortable viewing positions there…

And boy, did my patience pay off!  At last I saw some sea ice!  I immediately called him to verify, and yes it was indeed sea ice!  First he captured it on his camera, and then I did too!  After it was confirmed, I couldn't control my emotions and I burst into tears of joy!  Oh…no words could convey how I felt!

It was very hard to distinguish the ice from the thick clouds, but the telltale sign was the black Southern Ocean…

I spent the next 3 hours looking out and chatting with a few passengers who stretched their legs in the galley.  That's what knowing the precise take-off time was for…I would know when to start looking for the sea ice and when to stop…

I guess there were at least 2-3 more sightings, but because it was hard to capture on the camera, I decided to just enjoy it and absorbed as much as I could into my memories.  I felt very lucky that my views were not obstructed by contrails, nor were there turbulence requiring me to return to my seat.  Cold sea + cold air = smooth flight, I guess

9 hours after we took-off, I returned to my seat, fully satisfied and with a "mission-accomplished" feeling.  There was still 5 hours to go…meanwhile, I noticed that we were already at FL 360, and had just crossed the International Date Line.

With nothing to see (darkened windows, thick clouds and flying above open ocean), I took a nap for an hour…

Two hours before landing, dinner was served.  This one looked and tasted better than the previous one.  I was still slightly full, thanks to a snack that I ate in the galley while looking for some sea ice, but still I decided to have a go.  At around this point we made our final step climb to FL 400…

We completely missed New Zealand…

Approach and landing in Sydney

About 50 minutes before landing in SYD, the windows were finally unlocked (or perhaps they were locked, but now at their maximum transparency).  Due to some delay at departure, the sun has almost set when we approached SYD…

The captain mentioned that we would approach SYD from the north…I was expecting to see the Sydney Opera House but probably it was visible from the right-hand side…

The full moon was out in its full beauty, and only the cabin glare stopped me from taking more photos…  What a beautiful approach and a great way to put an end to this flight!

As always, I asked for permission to enter the cockpit, and it was granted!  But I had to wait until the post-flight debrief…

…in one of their business class seat.  After a few moment, the cockpit door was opened and I was let in!

I asked the First Officer about the diversion airports for this route, he said we could return to SCL or continue to CHC, either way we would always comply with ETOPS-330.

I thanked him, left the aircraft, cleared the immigration and customs check without delays and was officially in the Australian soil!

My journey home would continue on the next evening, with Scoot from SYD to CGK via SIN.  But I will end the trip report for my round-the-world adventure with QF28.