University of Melbourne Travel

Travelling from Melbourne to Canberra on Virgin Blue and their Embraer 190 (E190) aircraft is pure delight right from the time you check-in online to the time you disembark at the airport in Canberra.

The E190 has the look and feel of a well cared for brand new aircraft. The E190 is smaller than most aircraft you will travel on between the major hubs within Australia, and the two seat – aisle – two seat configuration provides a feeling of spaciousness not afforded by larger aircraft.

The Virgin Blue trademark leather seats provide a little extra width than the norm (18.1 inches compared to the standard 17 inches), and the 31 inch seat pitch provides a six foot tall passenger at least three inches of room from their knees to the seat in front of them in the upright position.

The flight from Melbourne to Canberra was approximately three quarters full and boarding the aircraft was extremely efficient from both ends of the aircraft.

The Virgin safety presentation has lost some of the spark that use to annoy the more conservative types, and the cabin staff professionalism has improved considerably since the airline broke into the Australian market over a decade ago but importantly, the friendliness of the cabin staff remains firmly intact.

The flight departed right on time and arrived into Canberra five minutes early and the forty five minute flight passed without incident except a little bit of turbulence as we climbed up to cruising level out of Melbourne.

Something very noticeable was no television screens in the back of the seat in front of you, so it was easy to sit back and read a book without having the distraction of mindless entertainment flickering away in your peripheral vision.

If you must, the seat tray provides ample room to place a 13 inch laptop on it to catch up on a bit of work and yes, you can actually open it up at an angle where you could comfortably read the screen and type.

Flying Virgin is different and they seem focused on making travelling an experience. The terminals are busy and have a lively market feel about them where ‘cool’ shops serving good coffee, boost juice or the latest surf wear provide a distraction to travellers awaiting the departure of their flight.

The cabin staff won’t frown upon you if you take your coffee onboard and if you feel a bit peckish during the flight, $6 will get you a 100% free trade organic (instant) coffee and a tasty muffin.

Probably the most eerie thing about flying Virgin is when you arrive at the terminal at the end of the flight.

Bizarrely passengers remain seated until the seat belt sign is turned off, which is well after the engines have shut down. You can pick the non regular Virgin passengers a mile off as they are the ones that spring out of their seats as soon as the engines shut down only to sheepishly sit down again when they look around and notice everyone else has remained in their seat.

I recommend that you check-in online so you can go straight to the gate or avoid the lengthy check-in queues at the airport if you are taking check-in bags with you. If you have bags, make sure you purchase your baggage allowance when you book your ticket or else you will get hit for additional fees at check-in.

I am a big fan of Virgin Blue and once upon a time I was a loyal customer of the other domestic carrier but competition made me look elsewhere.

The fare to Canberra on Virgin cost me $29 and the return fare was $74 making the return trip just over $100 – the competition was over double the price.

Regardless of where your loyalties reside, if you can’t be impressed by the quality of the service Virgin provide then you should consider the competitiveness of their fares as they are setting the benchmark on both accounts.

MELBOURNE, 19 January 2010: Qantas this week commenced Melbourne to London A380 services with the inaugural Melbourne to London via Singapore service departing yesterday evening.

Qantas Chief Executive Officer, Mr Alan Joyce, said the airline now offered A380 services on four routes – two from Melbourne and two from Sydney. “We are pleased that as we continue to grow our A380 fleet and offering, customer demand for the aircraft and feedback on the Qantas A380 experience remains extremely strong,” Mr Joyce said.

“Qantas operated its inaugural A380 flight to London from Sydney in January 2009 and this week we have made the A380 option available to our Victoria customers.” The recent arrival of our fifth and sixth A380s has made this possible.

Qantas will operate one to two services a week between Melbourne and London via Singapore (QF9 on Mondays/Sundays and the return QF10 on Fridays/Saturdays). Regular twice-weekly flights will commence on 29 March 2010.

Qantas operates 14 services each week between Melbourne and London – up to two on the A380 and the remaining 12 on the Boeing 747-400.

Update provided by QBT

Virgin Blue has announced the opening of a new lounge at the Perth airport in time for the new year.

The lounge is located on the ground floor of the Virgin Blue terminal immediately through the security screening check point and provides access to Virgin Blue Lounge and Gold Velocity members.

The lounge provides a host of facilities including wireless broadband internet access, work facilities, meeting rooms, newspapers, magazines and complimentary food and beverages.