The Route

The route between Perth and Canberra is one of Australia’s least frequent transcontinental services but it is an important one nonetheless providing a vital and convienetent connection between the Western Australia capital and the nation’s capital. The route is currently just operated by Qantas who have for quite a long time run a single daily service with a Boeing 737-800. Virgin Australia have briefly meddled with the route in the past however thesedays there passengers will find themselves transferring in any other east coast capitals or even Adelaide en route with Qantas also providing many indirect options between Perth and Canberra.

With just one daily service which is well patronised by public servants, politicians and the business community you can generally expect to pay more for the convience of the direct service as opposed to an indirect flight. Combining strong demand with no competition on this route you would rarely expect heavily discounted flights on this route with economy fares usually starting from around $400 upwards. This route can be a good one to redeem with points if you can find a Qantas Classic Flight Award with both economy and business redemptions costing the same as they would for the other coast to to coast flights in Qantas’s network (18,000pts and 36,000pts respectively +tax) . In-direct services will generally cost several thousand points more and additional tax as would Virgin Velocity redemptions for indirect services to Canberra from Perth.

Checking in/ Transferring at Canberra

On todays service there was no need to check in at Canberra as I was on a connecting flight from Cairns with my luggage checked all the way through to Perth from my original departure origin in the North Queensland city. Transferring in Canberra to another domestic flight is an absolute breeze with all flights leaving from the same terminal and no need to change terminals or clear security again. As I had nearly 3 hours to transit I decided to briefly exit the terminal for a walk around and some fresh air but re-entering the departures area was an absolute breeze due too the new CT scanners installed at Canberra meaning no need to remove electronics and laptops from your carry on.

Should you find yourself originating at Canberra, Qantas has the latest in kiosk and automated bag drop technology meaning the whole process should not take no more than a few minutes. Thoughtfully though staff are on hand and manned counters are also available for those needing manual assistance or not fully up to speed with the new technologies.

Qantas Lounges in Canberra

Despite hardly been amongst the busiest airports in Australia Qantas passengers are spoilt for choice with all 3 of Qantas’s domestic lounge types avaialble in Canberra which include a Qantas Club, Qantas Domestic Business Lounge and even an invitation only Chairmans Lounge. Unfortunately, the Qantas Club is only open Monday to Friday however the Domestic Business Lounge remains open for all Qantas departures including this one which despite been merely 7pm would be the last flight out of the terminal on a Saturday.

Although I had some complimentary Qantas Club invitations up my sleeve I was not entirely sure whether they would accept them at the Business Lounge considering the Qantas Club was closed. With 3 Priority Pass restaurants/bars participating at Canberra Airport I decided not to take the risk on the Qantas Club invitation and went to a restaurant instead which was only 1 of 3 outlets advertised to be open that actually were. Unfortunately it seems most outlets shut up shop around 5 or 6pm on a Saturday even despite a few lingering departures after that and there publicised opening hours saying otherwise.

Seating in Economy Class

Today’s flight was operated by the Boeing 737-800 which is the workhorse behind the majority of Qantas’s domestic jet services and an absolute stalwart for use on this route. On this evening’s flight I was located towards the rear of the economy class cabin which has 162 seats in a 3-3 configuration whilst there is also a small Business Class Cabin consisting of 12 seats in a 2-2 configuration.

Whilst Qantas’s Boeing 737 economy seats are rather comfortable in themselves they do feel rather cramped having just a 30in pitch, 5in recline and 17.2in start width. Luckily on this service i had a whole row to myself which helped allievate the average legroom but on a full service tall people may find it somewhat unfortable on the longer coast to coast flights such as this one.

Inflight Service and Food and Beverage

This evening’s flight was defenitely amongst the best domestic economy flights for inflight catering that I had taken in some time with a proper size hot meal service with two main options been delivered in addition to a full drinks service and additional drinks made avaialble on demand. Beverages included tea, coffe, beer, wine and soft drinks with the crew also offering on several occasions small bottles of water. The crew even came around offering another meal once they had completed the main meal service which was a great gesture of the cabin crew’s eagerness to look after their passengers. Full marks to the Qantas crew for their service here!

Entertainment

On this evening’s service our Boeing 737-800 is indeed equipped with in seat in flight entertainment screens which are 23cm (9in) in size although certainly not all Qantas 737 are equipped. It is important to note on aircraft that do have the IFE screens installed there is no access to Qantas inflight streaming service. Interesting, whilst I found the IFE screens to be loaded with a reasonable amount of content and also the inflight map it does appear the inflight streaming service actually has more options. This was a slight disappointment to learn as I had shortlisted several shows to watch on this flight on the previous Qantas flight from Cairns which was operated by a Boeing 717 which were subsequently not available on the IFE screens.

This aircraft was however installed with inflight WIFI for personal browsing which worked really across most of the flight for everyday browsing and even handled streaming of live sports from the Foxtel Go and 9Now apps with the odd buffering here and there but over all i was very impressed to be able to watch live tv at 38,000ft. It is just a bit curious however why Qantas don’t retain the inflight streaming service when the aircraft is already WIFI enabled.

Arriving in Perth

Tonight’s arrival into Perth was delayed due to the later arrival of the inbound aircraft into Canberra. That being said despite leaving Canberra nearly an hour late we made up quite a lot of time in the air meaning we actually only arrived around 30 mins late. Perth Airport was very queit at our arrival time of around 9pm on a Saturday evening whereby there is a signicant reduction in late night red-eye traffic and bags were at the carousel pretty quickly within about 15 minutes of disembarkation. There was certainly no issues or delays with baggge handling tonight which was a pleasant change!

Summing Up

Overall tonight’s flight was defenitely a good one for domestic Australian economy standards admidst the backdrop of service inconsistency across the Australian carriers since the pandemic. Service and crew were excellent which was admittedly helped by the fact the flight been only around half full which is in stark contrast to the all to frequent story of full to the brim domestic flights created as a result of soaring demand been met with a reduction in services.

The full hot meal service was great and pretty tasty and certainly beated glorified snacks that so often seem to be finding themselves replacing what once would have been a proper meal served. Complimentary drinks and baggage allowance was also greatly appreciated. This flight also came equipped with in screen IFE in addition to free WIFI that could even handle live tv streaming so you shouldn’t go board on this evening flight – albeit it is a little strange how the in screen selection is less than the inflight streaming service offered on some aircraft without screens.

A slight downside to this flight is the price which isn’t overly competive due to Qantas being the sole operator on the route and with with strong demand coming from public servants and the business community it is no wonder Qantas would see it as lucrative one. When redeemed with points however this flight provides great value so it may be worth saving those points for a flight like this than one such as Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane to Perth which command more competition and cheaper cash fares.