Virgin Australia B737-800 Business Class CNS-BNE
Due to my compulsive desire to tinker with trips, what was once 5 days in Cairns turned into an overnight. I won’t make that mistake again.
Cains has a quant airport. Both Qantas and Virgin Australia board front and rear which allows for super fast boarding. You can see the rear jetway in the photo above.
I was anxious to compare Virgin Australia 737 service to Qantas. Previous I had compared their A330 long haul domestic service and Virgin blew the doors off Qantas. A comparison was not worth writing about as in the end it was pretty equal.
Business Class seat in 737-800 operated by Virgin Australia.
VA only has 8 seats up front. Row one leg room seems pretty good.
Row 2 leg room is fair, with the obvious extra room under the seat in front.
Northern Cairns area on departure.
Courtney was the upfront FA. She was extremely nice and had a bubbly personality. Shortly after take-off she presented this pork pie and salad.
The quality and presentation of the dish are superior to the lunch served by Qantas.
I passed on dessert.
It was a beautiful day to fly. This is the Great Barrier Reef area.
And a cruise ship probably headed to Cairns.
Virgin uses Samsung tablets for entertainment. I tracked the flight,
Overall I would rate this flight a bit better than the Qantas domestic to Cairns. The differences were the quality of food and the IFE on VA.
Bonus material. The Hilton Cairns is a nice hotel for the area.
Even better was the view.
The town is pretty cool as well.
This redemption is a sweet spot. Flying Qantas the lowest is 15,000 from CNS to BNE using BA Avios. Delta charges 40,000 points for this trip which is unreasonable. I booked the flight for 13,800 points via Etihad Guest. They only charge 13,800 from Sydney to Cairns as well. Here’s hoping against an Emirates and Etihad merger!
