Key Details
Date: 14th Feb21
From: Perth, Western Australia
To: Hobart, Tasmania
Cabin: Economy Class
Rating: 8.5/10
The Route
Direct flights linking Australia’s West Coast Capital of Perth and the Apple Isle that is the beautiful island of Tasmania are relatively new. Prior to 2018 travelers from West Australia bound for Tasmania previously had to transit in another Australian capital (Melbourne being most common) before the 1-2 hour trek south either to Hobart, Launceston and Devonport. Pondering the 12 hour ferry from Port Melbourne (now Geelong) to Devonport is also another albeit unique option for those holidaying in Victoria or elsewhere first however be aware that it is extraordinary difficult, if not impossible to take hire cars off mainland Australia .
Virgin Australia first offered a short lived 3 times weekly service that began in September 2018 operated by a Boeing 737-800 which I had the pleasure of trying in January 2021 on a trip back from Melbourne via a short stay in Hobart afterwards. At around 18,000 Velocity points and a small tax payment at the time it was a relatively strong redemption for what seemed like a boutique route at the time. Virgin also launched a short-lived service and first ever flights between Perth and Tasmania’s second largest city Launceston however these have not yet returned even since WA’s full border reopening. Perhaps leading into Australia’s next summer holiday period, they would be a fair chance of this service returning as it provides a great option for visitors to Tasmania’s beautiful central highlands home to the famed Cradle Mountain NP and within easy driving distance of both the island’s rugged west coast wildness and specular and pristine east coast beaches. Unfortunately, these route became victim to the pandemic and scrapped due to West Australia’s hard-line stance to border closures during the Covid 19 pandemic. During late 2020 with covid outbreaks becoming more contained to Australia’s larger states WA’s border became more open to other jurisdictions provided they had sustained periods of being covid free yet all to often were being shut down to other jurisdictions at the sudden appearance of a few or even just a single case or few that occasionally leaked out of Australia’s international hotel quarantine program.
With both Tasmania having a similar trajectory in being successful in keeping the virus out, Qantas decided to take up the service in November 2020. Initially the route was planned to operate thrice weekly until the end of the traditional Australian holiday period until 31st January but was extended to a permanent route due to strong demand and strong trial results. After largely ceasing during the initial Omicron Outbreak during late last year and the first few months of 2022 whereby WA’s hard border progressively shut to anywhere beyond state boundaries the route continues today after the full reopening of WA’s domestic and International borders with Qantas operating a service on Monday, Friday and Sundays departing at 11.20am arriving in Hobart at 5.10pm (during EST). Virgin also offer an opportunity to fly on the route with flights leaving on Monday, Saturday and Sunday Departing Perth at 9.30am arriving into the Tasmanian Capital at 3.40pm. Virgin also have a Friday service which is great for early birds departing at 6am arriving into Hobart in time for lunch at 12.10pm. On the Return service, Qantas offers services on Monday, Friday and Sunday which align perfectly for a full day of sightseeing in Hobart departing at 5.55pm arriving into Perth at 8.30pm. Virgin’s Monday, Saturday and Sunday service is also conveniently timed for holidaymakers departing at 4.20pm arriving at 7.10 with their Friday service offering Tassie Weekend goers a little earlier option departing at 12.50pm arriving into Perth at 3.40pm.
I purchased this flight in early January after making the tough (but ultimately the correct) decision to proactively scrap my yearly trip to Melbourne where I lap up the all the excitement and energy of the first week of the Australian Open tennis something I had done for 7 years in a row! This year I had planned to do more than just watch an exhilarating week of tennis and had made plans to hire a car in the nearby city of Geelong and drive the famous Great Ocean Road which is arguably Australia’s most renowned road trip and the similarly named Great Alpine Road. I’d then return to Melbourne to take the ferry down to Devonport where I would hire a card and spend two weeks driving around Tasmania before flying to Adelaide for a quick visit on the way back to Perth. Victoria had been through many lockdowns through 2020 and whilst the situation had improved in the later part of 2020 even small and sporadic outbreaks were still causing lockdowns and state’s shutting borders I deemed it to risky to visit Victoria with the risk Tasmania might close its border to Victoria and indeed becoming at best required to quarantine for 14 days and even worse being locked out of my own state entirely. For these reasons I Decided that whilst still not entirely without risk that flying direct to and from the Apple Isle was the safest bet for a driving holiday (a sudden covid outbreak was still possible in Tasmania which could still put my returns to return to WA quarantine free in jeopardy but it would seem to be unlucky as Tasmania had gone many months covid free) . Low and be-hold a sudden localised outbreak in Melbourne occurred right during the time I had planned to be there put Melbourne into a short lockdown which even halted crowds at the tennis for a 5 day period midway through the tournament. Luckily I hadn’t proceed with the original trip as I would of not just ended up in lockdown in Melbourne there would have been no going to Tasmania or being able to get back to Perth – a potentially extended stay in Victoria and possibly the more covid liberal NSW may have been on the cards!
The flight to Tasmania was not overly cheap but not bad value either and in line with what you would expect to pay for a full service Qantas experience. Both flights were secured as Red-E Specials with the flight over costing $384 and the flight back slightly cheaper at $343 which was inclusive of food and drinks and 1 23kg checked bag.
Prior to the flight I check in online and was able to secure an emergency row seat free of charge, much to great surprise and was a great bonus. I suspect this is probably not always the case but perhaps because of the lower patronage of flights Qantas wanted to be sure that they had people occupying these seats to ensure the flight’s safe operation. I would assume they can not operate the flights without passengers occupying the seats and able to help out in a emergency. In any case this was a great bonus and would add to what was already an enjoyable flight!
The Check in process at Perth Airport for Qantas is arguably the best I have ever experienced in Australia on multiple occasions for both domestic flights and even the epic flight that I took to London in April 2019. For those seeking a quick and efficient check in, I can certainly attest to that using the dedicated kiosks to print of a boarding pass and print of a bag tag of which I immediately proceeded to the automated bag drops whereby my bag was tagged and off to Tasmania within minutes. Manned check in was still available for those who prefer and staff on hand to help passengers who might have had any difficulty placing the bags correctly on the conveyor belts. I was checked with bags dropped and ready to proceed through security within only several minutes of arriving at the airport. With travel to much of Australia strongly dettered for West Australians security was a breeze and once again was immediately able to go straight through and ended up from curve to airside within 10 minutes. Even during busier times post pandemic I still recall the process obvisoulsy taking a little longer but still very efficient compared to some of Australia’s other major airports.
Perhaps one slight inconvenience would be for international Qantas passengers who have to still check in at the normal domestic Departures area which means proceeding through domestic security before then happening to undergo a second security checkpoint due to international travel security requirements and customs before entering the Qantas international area – essentially a partitioned off part of the terminal which can be converted back to service domestic flights when not in use. Qantas’s London passengers flying in Business or with eligible status can use the International Transit Lounge Whilst Singapore bound passengers are also able to access same arrangements however may be directed to the Qantas Club or Business Lounge within the Domestic departures area in the future again when travel demand picks up again.
On today’s flight I had lounge access courtesy of one of several pre-loaded lounge invitation linked to my Qantas Frequent Flyer account however was also invited to try the lounge for a cash purchase of $49 prior to the flight which may well be worth considering for passengers not usually accustom to accessing lounges and whom would otherwise spend money on food and drinks at the airport. On an afternoon flight whereby bar service is available after 12pm the $49 may very well pay for itself if purchasing food and several drinks but don’t count on the offer to purchase lounge access as being available especially during busy periods. Due to significant reduction in interstate flights out of Perth and not a frequent user of airport lounges I was rather surprised and confused to walk up the escalators to the Qantas Club only to find it closed. Luckily, a sign at the entrance directed all passengers who would only otherwise be eligible to access the lower tier-Qantas Club to the more exclusive Business Class Lounge on the right side of the terminal. This certainly turned out to be quite a bonus to experience one of the nicest and newest domestic business lounges in Australia whoever this will no longer be the case with the regular lounge reopen for Qantas Club and other eligible passengers.
On arrival at the lounge, I was swiftly met by a friendly staff member who processed my lounge pass and directed me to a QR code to fill in a contact tracing form on my own mobile device – luckily these QR check’ in’s are well and truly a thing of the past! In the lounge there was plentiful of comfortable seating with both some great views of the apron and near the corner bar area. Food available for the several leisurely mid Sunday morning departures over east consisted of an assisted buffet serving popular continental breakfast favourites in addition to barista made coffee freely doing the rounds. Due to covid, visits to the buffet were in a socially distant fashion assisted by staff wo would plate the food for you. A little different from times gone by but certainly still a solid experience. Free and fast Wi-Fi is also available but may not be necessary for many Australian passengers with 5G mobile reception available on certain carriers at Perth Airport. After an enjoyable hour or so having breakfast and a well-made flat-white I found it quickly time to board perhaps the only overseas flight available to Australians at the time (albeit to Tasmania which is essentially overseas from the mainland!)
Today’s flight was on a typical Boeing 737, the workhorse behind most of Qantas and Virgin’s services between Australia’s capital cities. Qantas does offer wide-body A330 services from Perth on some of its coast to coast services to Sydney and Melbourne and occasionally Brisbane however all other capitals are generally serviced by the smaller Boeing aircraft. Qantas’s Boeing 737 has a 3-3 economy layout with a small 3 row 2-2 Business Cabin at the pointy end of the plane. Today I was seated in a emergency row window seat that I selected online free of charge which offered considerable extra pitch and the ability to be seated next to the scenery offering from the window and being able to get to the aisle without overly hassling my seatmates. The other seats in economy looked fine for for any given domestic flight that Qantas would service in Australia in our opinion.
Inflight Service and Food and Beverage
As this would be my first flight in nearly a year since the onset of Covid I wasn’t expecting the level of service to be back to pre Covid era but I was pleasantly surprised. On this flight an early hot lunch was served consisting of a trio of tasty pastries consisting of a small sausage roll, meat pie and pasty. Nothing fancy but certainly quite tasty so no complaints here. Even despite the morning departure a full drinks service accompanied the meal including 187ml bottles of red and white wine, in addition to beer. Further drinks were offered throughout the flight which was much appreciated. All in all a great economy class meal service for this 4 hour flight across down to Tasmania today.
This Qantas Boeing 737 unfortunately doesn’t have seat back entertainment however reasonable decent BYO streaming service is available that surely will have a few movies or tv shows to your liking to help the hours go by in addition to a flight map. A real highlight of this flight is its fast free in-flight Wi-Fi which was so good in fact that it had no problem streaming live Australian Open coverage to my Ipad Pro even when over the Great Australian Bight which I found very impressive. Alternatively there is some great scenery to simply admire as you hug the WA coastline before heading south easterly “overseas” towards Tasmania and of course when starting the ascent through Tassie’s rugged highlands and scenic coastline coming into Hobart.
After nearly 4 hours in the air and winding the clock forward 3 hours onto daylight savings time the approach into Hobart began just before 5pm. By the time we reached Tasmanian airspace the descent had already begun passing close by to the Island’s famed Cradle Mountain and offering great views of the Island’s surprisingly varied landscape which is quite rugged and lush on the west cost before transitioning to more barren and dry mountainous summer landscape closer to Hobart. On arrival to a typically very mild summer afternoon in Australia’s most southerly capital we descended down steps and into a que waiting to be processed by Tasmania Police and bio-Security officers. The process took about half an hour with a considerable que that moved quickly. After an officer checked my Tasmania travel application and verified my recent history (i.e that I hadn’t been in Victoria, overseas or several areas of Sydney ion the last 14 days) I was free to leave and collect my bags and start my Tasmania adventure (not before another biosecurity sniffer dog was checking no one was brining any agricultural pests from the mainland).
Summing Up
Overall this was a great way to start my two week driving itinerary around Tasmania. The flight wasn’t necessarily as affordable as a flight between Perth and the major east coast capitals due to less competition and frequency but the service on board certainly made it worth it. It is otherwise a good redemption opportunity at 18,000 points or even better 41,500 points in Business should you use manage to secure a Qantas Frequent Flyer Classic Award . As a leisurely day you should arrive refreshed and relaxed and ready to start that Tassie adventure. Perhaps due to the late afternoon and early evening arrival into Hobart I’d recommend refraining from hiring a car immediately on arrival at the airport and instead spending the night or a few in Hobart first to enjoy the many attractions that the harbourside city offers.
