Comment: No interest in Qantas flight to nowhere. Am I a bad AvGeek?

I have missed out on the Qantas ‘Great Southern Land’ 7 hour joy flight over Australia. The flight sold out about 10 minutes after it was available online at midday Thursday 17 October.

I don’t think I have missed out on anything, other than spending a fortune on a flight with limited catering, that will only get me from A back to A.

Flight details

The flight (QF787 – oh dear) is due to depart on Saturday 10 October 2020 and head for the Great Barrier Reef, Uluru, Kata Tjuta, Byron Bay and Sydney Harbour, presumably not necessarily in that order.

”Depart from Sydney and fly up the New South Wales coast before crossing the Queensland border for a flyby of the Gold Coast and then up the Queensland coast to the Great Barrier Reef.  The aircraft will then track across Australia to do low level flybys of Uluru and Kata Tjuta before heading back to Sydney for a late afternoon flyover of Sydney Harbour and Bondi Beach.’

From the Qantas website

Pricing and numbers

There were limited seats available – only 6 in Business (10,000 points + 160 status credits), 24 in Premium Economy (5,000 points + 80 status credits) and 104 in Economy (2,400 points + 40 status credits). Prices were:

• Business = AU$3,787
• Premium = AU$1,787
• Economy = AU$787

Stop with the 787 already. We got it the first time.

What do you get?

• Pre-flight breakfast at Sydney Domestic Qantas Business Lounge between 8am and 10.30am flight departure.
• Live auction of original and limited Qantas 747 memorabilia as well as 787 Flight Simulator sessions. Funds donated to the Royal Institute of Deaf and Blind Children.
• Neil Perry lunch menu – I’m presuming they mean an actual lunch, not just the menu
• Surprise celebrity host MC and entertainment – Drag Queens doing Priscilla?
• Commemorative flight certificate
• Qantas Business pyjamas and an amenity kit
• Gift bag

Fly Well with less

According to the fly well website page, you will also get a pack of face mask and sanitising wipes, you will be asked not to move around the aircraft, and you specifically can’t swap seats on this flight, food an beverage service will be reduced, and there will be no entertainment or physical magazine.

Also interesting to note that despite Alan Joyces previous declaration that no one had caught COVID-19 on a Qantas flight, the Fly Well page now acknowledges that ‘Some customers travelling on flights have tested positive for Coronavirus.‘

2PAXfly Takeout

I imagine this flight is a bit of a trial to see what the demand is. Given they sold out in less than 2 hours, with the only publicity I could find being the 9 Press Traveller.com.au website, I imagine they will be scheduling other flights. Those 787’s – at least the one(s) not mothballed need their engines turned over every now and then.

Will I have my finger hovering over the ‘submit’ button. Mmmmmm probably not. i think I can find better things to do with my money. Unless I need the status credits . . .