[Flight Review] Qantas QF71 Perth to Singapore (Economy)

On By Satu KosongIn Airlines, Australia, Holiday, Perth, Qantas
Grabbed from Qantas’ official site

OneWorld Sapphire Fun-venture

Summarizing my thoughts about Qantas in general in this post as I was pretty sick ex-SIN so couldn’t review anything else.

So the background was that I had expiring Qantas points to use which otherwise cannot be used for anything else. I only deliberated a little bit as the only direct flight was of crappy timing for departing SIN (landing after midnight) but I decided I could deal with it in the end. Thank goodness the return flight timing was a lot more reasonable.

[Some pics used here are a combi if what I took for my depart from SIN before I fell sick]

  • Flight Timing – QF71 Depart SIN 12:40 arrive SIN 17:55
  • Duration – 5hrs and 10mins
  • Aircraft – Airbus 330-200
  • Seat – 29G
  • Cost – SGD$563 for a return ticket on Economy after offsetting 16,500 Qantas points in my account. For the same date, the budget sibling Jetstar was charging $510ish so it was a decent deal I thought.

Checking In – checking in was a very bumpy affair haiz. We used the business lane eligible with my OWS status but the experience was nothing ‘elite’:

  • One of our tickets had an issue with the first/last name so it took a station manager to come by to clear us. However, he adopted this rather condescending tone with us and made us feel like he was lecturing us about how if we are heading to US he would not let us on. Being on the receiving end of that attitude was not fun – and it was not our mistake as tickets with other airlines were booked in exactly the same way plus no issues at boarding ex-SIN.
  • Despite us being in the Business line, our luggage were not tagged with the Priority tag which caused a longer wait on arrival at Changi Airport.
  • We wanted to change seats and asked if there was any available seats near me which was a priority section. We were told the flight is full but on boarding, there were 2 empty seats beside me!

I put it down to the unfortunately circumstances of meeting a lazy check in agent who didn’t want to be there. Haiz.

Boarding – we were denied priority boarding despite showing my JAL Sapphire physical card. The system beeped an error message and the gate agent simply said asked us to wait since “your boarding zone is not opened yet”. So when I finally boarded, all I could do was this shot.

Seat – Seat 29 is an aisle seat in the centre row of 4 and I thought it was okay for the 5hrs, with padded headrest and decent space to not feel crazy squashed. Legroom was of course not fantastic but for the 1.6m me, it was tolerable. Seat controls were located at the side arm rest and looked pretty aged.

Pillow, earphones, blanket, and a bottle of water were placed at each seat on arrival.

In-flight Entertainment

I actually never experienced an ipad IFE so the suaku me took a while to figure out how it works. Basically the ipad is placed at every seat pocket which you can mount / clip onto the panel in front. The USB charger can be used after takeoff and before landing, and the earphones jack needs to go into the side of the ipad (NOT the inserts at the arm rest!) before the audio for the entertainment can be activated. Movie selection was average but one can definitely find someone to watch for this flight duration.

In-flight Meal

I probably had the worst in-flight meal experience of my life when the food cart came by about 1.5hours into the flight. (snack pack was served prior). I was watching movies all this while and when the crew came by, the male attendant asked if I’d like anything to eat. I said yes sure and asked what are the options available.

The male attendant then chose to respond in the most sarcastic tone ever, loud enough for people around me to listen in: “Oh you mean you didn’t hear our announcement made just two minutes ago??”

I used the next 5 seconds to take that all in, then calmly reply, “no sorry I didn’t”.

Said crew then repeated the options verbally and I picked the beef which he served with thankfully no further sarcasm. But wow, was that un-called for. In my opinion, he had deliberately chosen to openly embarrass a passenger for what I think is a simple situation which was a little crazy, isn’t it?

The meal itself was fine as it did what it did.

Lavatories – forgot to take pics of it but it was okay for a short flight and not dirty at least.

Service – other than the sarcastic male attendant, I also faced the longest wait for the crew to attend to my lit call button. And when one did, she chose to ask me on my issue from the OTHER AISLE, which meant she was basically talking OVER the poor chap seated in the same row’s other aisle seat, and I had to reply to her in the same way. Isn’t there a reason why there are 2 aisles on the plane??

Qantas’ Unreliable System (?) – This part is also where I need to rant a little about tagging my OWS status for the 2x flights this trip. My Sapphire status was NOT tagged to the ticket at all. This is despite:

  • Prior to the trip – called Qantas customer service to add my JAL Sapphire number manually (for elite benefits) + my BA Avios (for mileage accrual). Thereafter, I saw that both my JAL and BA numbers were reflected in my online booking. I thought all good.
  • At Changi Airport – the check in agent said my OWS is not reflected in the system and I had to present my JAL Sapphire physical card for her to verify my eligibility and issue the priority luggage tag. Asked about mileage accrual and she asked me to approach lounge staff instead. Okay fine.
  • At Qantas Lounge in Singapore – I had to present my JAL physical card for access since the ticket was not tagged with my status. I also asked (as advised) to ensure that my flights will accrue to BA Avios and NOT Qantas points nor Japan Airlines’ Mileage programme. Staff clicked on the computer a little and reaffirmed that I was accessing the lounge based on my JAL Sapphire status but need the miles to be accrued to Avios. He seemed to understand what I needed so all good I thought.
  • At Perth Airport check in, the check in agent seemed like he couldn’t be bothered to process anything ‘extra’ even though we were in the Business line.
  • Upon completion of my trip, I saw that I had earned Qantas points instead despite my efforts to have it clocked to BA Avios.

In Summary,

With crappy system and crappy service, this will be the last I will willingly fly Qantas. The lounge in Changi Airport is the only saving grace.

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