Virgin Australia First Class from Brisbane (BNE) to Cairns (CNS)
Once we left the lounge it was just a quick 10 second walk to the gate, as it was the gate right in front of the lounge. When we walked out boarding had already commenced, so as good elite fliers and business class ticket holders, we pushed by everyone to get straight to the front 🙂
Introduction
Alaska Airlines First Class from Seattle (SEA) to Los Angeles (LAX)
Star Alliance Lounge Los Angeles
Virgin Australia Business Class from Los Angeles (LAX) to Brisbane (BNE)
Virgin Australia Lounge Brisbane
Virgin Australia First Class from Brisbane (BNE) to Cairns (CNS)
Cairns, Great Barrier Reef, and Surrounding Areas
Virgin Australia Lounge Cairns
Virgin Australia First Class from Cairns (CNS) to Melbourne (MEL)
Westin Melbourne and the Press Club
Garuda Indonesia Business Class from Melbourne (MEL) to Denpasar, Bali (DPS)
Sheraton Kuta, Bali (Wow, Wow, Wow!!)
Korean Air Business Class from Denpasar (DPS) to Seoul (ICN)
Korean Air Lounge, Seoul
Free! Cultural Experience in Seoul
Korean Air Business Class from Seoul (ICN) to Seattle (SEA)Virgin has an interesting color scheme on their aircraft. I tried to make some sense of how they organized their colors, but truly it’s whatever colour fabric they decided to put on the seats. The coach seats look comfy and are all leather, including the adjustable headrest. But, as you could imagine, the name of the blog is NoMasCoach, so that’s all the reviewing you’ll get from us on those seats!
Coach class
As a germaphobe, one of my pet peeves is the cleanliness that the US airlines seem to lack, and to a certain extent, some of the foreign carriers. Not so on the Virgin flights that we’ve been on. The first class seats on this flight looked straight out of the factory floor and very well maintained. Tons of leg room and extremely comfortable.
Virgin 737 business class seat
Shortly after being seated we were greeted and offered some water. There was only one other person sitting in the business class cabin, and he was, unfortunately, a real jerk. He barely spoke a word to the crew and when he did it was more of a demand than a request. With that said, the flight crew made sure to spend extra time accommodating our requests in an expeditious manner, while paying slight less attention to the a-hole next to us. Public Service Announcement. Please be kind to your flight attendants. That is all.
The taxi out to the gate was long and slow, because there were some wide body aircraft coming in. It did give us lots of time to admire the new TigerAir livery and a couple JetStar aircraft.
Tiger Air and JetStar
Knowing Tiger Air’s reputation, I’m sure that flight was scheduled to leave three hours before I took this picture, but don’t worry, I’m sure they got to wherever they were going… eventually. Hey, in all fairness to Tiger (because we did fly them two years ago), if you get the first flight out of the day, you’re probably going to take off on time. Even the flight crew mentioned to us on that flight a few years back that they were already assured of a delay once they arrived in Brisbane. Oooh Tiger Air…
Virgin makes no qualms about making sure those in coach know they are not allowed in the front cabin. Curtain? Nope. Those are too easy for you to move to the side and claim that you “didn’t know that you were not allowed up front”. Virgin uses a rope… because lets be honest, if you are moving that rope, you KNOW you are not supposed to be there. It’s magnetically attached to the sides of the wall and is really heavy. I love it!
YOU SHALL NOT PASS!
A brief lunch was served and we opted for the Panini. I can’t remember what the other option was, but it sounded absolutely revolting. There were only two panini plates catered on this flight, and guess who the flight attendant asked first? 🙂
Panini lunch option
The mandarin cake served with the panini was moist and delicious. I could eat those every day.
Mandarin Cake
Somewhere in the middle of the flight I struck up a conversation with our flight attendant and we ended up talking about beers and alcohol in general. Apparently Aussie’s are heavy drinkers 🙂 She asked if I enjoyed “The King of Beers” referring of course to that yellow water beer made in St. Louis. I said I wasn’t a fan, and she insisted that I try “Crown Golden Ale – Australia’s Finest.” Sure, why not, I’m all about trying local favorites.
As she brought it to me with a smile I realized it was more like a snicker and a grin, as I had a feeling she knew what my reaction was going to be. Of course it wasn’t ice cold but more of a body temperature lukewarm, and let me just say, that there wasn’t anything fine about this beer. Serving it in the glass didn’t help any… Bleh!
Australia’s “finest”
The rest of the flight was absolute smooth sailing. I think that one of the most amazing things about flying is being able to see the world from such a high perspective. The views of the Great Barrier Reef from 30,000 feet were unbelievable. See for yourself!
Great Barrier Reef from above
Great Barrier Reef
Australian Coast, apologies for the dirty window!
Overall, Virgin’s domestic business class product is really good. The food is well prepared and the staff is friendly *so long as you’re friendly to them!*. For a short daytime flight it’s perfect and exactly what you’re hoping for… comfy seat, good service and good food. Just avoid the crappy beer and you’re gonna do fine 🙂
I hope you’ll enjoy reading Ben’s next post about the Great Barrier Reef and the experiences in Cairns. The city truly is brimming with all kinds of outdoor activities and opportunities to explore the rich wildlife that is Cairns. Let us know in the comments if you’ve flown Virgin domestic and if you’ve been to Cairns!
Trackbacks/Pingbacks