As I wrote in my earlier post, I was in NZ for a conference for a few days and needed a return flight back to Sydney. Given a late booking and the need to earn some status credits to hit Qantas Gold for the current year, I decided to book an Any Seat Award (more on these here) from Auckland back to Sydney – with the only availability being via Melbourne on QF132 for the princely sum of 36,000 Qantas Frequent Flyer points and $388 in taxes and fees.

QF132 is a 7am departure so I rocked up to the Qantas Premium check in area at around 5.30 after the brief walk over from the Airport Novotel, and check in was empty – and after a quick interaction with Qantas staff and no security lins I dropped into the Qantas Club for a quick coffee, during which the flight was called.

On boarding, I was pleased to see the cabin almost empty – with just one other passenger in the 16 seats available of this 737. Continue reading…