I am sitting in seat 24G, the second row of Economy, on this Qantas A330-300 flight from Sydney bound for Hong Kong. The seat pitch is 79 cm, unlike many Asian airlines like China Southern (Skyteam) with an 81 cm pitch. The flight is not that full and there is an empty seat next to me. The AV unit is 100% touch with no additional hand-held remote. There is an ok selection of movies, TV shows, and audiobooks, but no music – strange. Good-sized pillows and large warm blankets are on the seats.

The flight is delayed 2-hours so it is not a great start to the journey – I had been at the airport for 5 hours as a result. Nonetheless once onboard service is ‘assertively friendly’ and begins about 20 mins post-takeoff with a mixed nuts packet and drinks. This is shortly followed by the main meal – of which there are 3 choices, and I go for the chicken schnitzel parmy with mashed sweet potato. It is ok – the veges taste a little bit frozen. This is followed by a chocolate paddle pop ice cream.

Throughout the flight drinks and snacks are offered every couple of hours. I feel like I have eaten so many simple carbs on this flight. More fruit/nuts or healthier options would have been great.

The second meal on this 9.5 hour flight has 2 choices and I go for the chicken fried rice and raspberry blondie. It’s quite bland.

In between these meals I try to sleep, watch 3 and a bit movies, and go for little walks up and down the aisles.

Because this flight was delayed, my connecting flight in HKG to TPE is changed from China Airlines to Eva Air, and the cabin manager comes to inform me of the changes and what to do once I have landed. Which we do slightly later then schedule.

Rating: 7/10