T RIED AND TE ST E D FL IGHT
Qantas
Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner business class HONG KONG–MELBOURNE
B A C KGROUND Hong Kong became the first Asian destination to see Qantas’s newest aircraft, the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, on December 13 last year when it took over the majority of flights per week on the airline’s Melbourne-Hong Kong route. Until that point, the Dreamliner had largely been focused on ultra-long-haul routes, notably the airline’s 17-hour non- stop flights between Perth and London, which took off in early 2018. The Dreamliner’s deployment between
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Hong Kong and Melbourne was only temporary, having ended on March 29; however, the aircraft is now operating flights to Sydney. This is a review of Qantas’s first Dreamliner flight out of Hong Kong flying to Melbourne (QF30).
C HEC K - IN The Qantas check-in desk is located at Hong Kong International Airport’s Terminal 1 at aisle J, on the far right side of the building. Having arrived about two hours before the scheduled 1900 flight time, queuing was minimal and I was checked in within minutes.
LOU NGE As well as the Qantas Hong Kong Lounge, located above Gate 15 on Level 7, business class passengers have a number of lounge options available to them in the form of Cathay Pacific’s lounges. Following a bit of miscommunication with the check-in agent (equal parts my fault as theirs), I was told Cathay’s The Wing lounge by Gates 1-4 was the lounge nearest my gate (G25) and so went there rather than the Qantas lounge. The main business class lounge space at The Wing is located upstairs, accessible by stairs or lift, though the showers are on the floor you enter the lounge on. The lounge has a relatively humble buff et selection and you’re probably better off heading to the lounge’s Noodle Bar that serves freshly prepared noodle dishes. The lounge also has a good selection of diff erent seating
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options, ranging from small individual cubicles to high stools and countertops.
BO A RDING We began boarding about ten minutes later than originally scheduled, at 1825, though the process was certainly quick. It is worth noting that business class passengers share the same boarding queue as those in premium economy, so it may be worth queuing up a little early to get ahead of the pack if priority boarding is a big concern.
THE SE A T Qantas rolled out new seat products across all three classes for its 787-9 Dreamliner, and the business class seat is based on Thompson Aero’s Vantage XL product – the same base model used by Delta for its new Delta One Suites and Philippine Airlines for its Airbus A350-900 seats, among others. I was seated at the very front on the left-hand side in seat 1A. The business class cabin is laid out in a staggered 1-2-1 configuration with solo seats on odd-numbered rows being positioned closer to the window.
The bulkhead seat also off ers slightly
more space than most others in the cabin. While storage space is not massively abundant, that which is available is incorporated into the seat well, with a small lockable drawer located under the in-flight entertainment screen and a right-angled miniature “shelf” above the side table that is great for quickly stowing your laptop, documents and cables. The seat controls are also here – they come with a number of presets that can be activated simply by holding a button – along with universal power and USB outlets. The seat dimensions in Qantas’s product
delighted me. The length when the seat is reclined to a fully flat bed position (80in/203cm) is fantastic and, as someone pushing six foot five inches (195cm), it was a novel experience to not feel as though I was pressing up against the confines of the bed. The footwell in the bulkhead seat was similarly capacious, not narrowing at the end as so many business class seat products do, meaning I didn’t have to jam my feet in at an angle in order for them to fit.
bus ine s s tr a v el ler .c om
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