Key Details 

Date: 19th May 2023

Flight No:VA162

Route: Queenstown to Perth 

Aircraft: Boeing 737-800

Cabin: Economy X (sort of…)

The Route

As one of Australia’s favourite holiday hotspots especially during the busy winter ski season and also during the summer holidays flights between Australia’s eastern seaboard and the lively resort town of Queenstown are quite frequent. Despite having a population of only around 15,000, the town’s international airport typically serves up to 4 daily flights between Queenstown and Sydney alone with strong completion on the route coming from Air New Zealand, Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia. With a flight time coming in at around 3 hours or about 2000kms it is no wonder Queenstown is such a convenient overseas tourist hotspot for Australians!

On this particular route just like its competitors flights are operated by narrow body Airbus and Boeing aircraft with Virgin deploying its Boeing 737-800’s on the route which are the carrier’s stalwart aircraft. This particular flight VA162 has a designated departure time of 2.25pm with an arrival back into Sydney scheduled for 3.45pm.

Checking in at Queenstown

Country to most recent flights I had taken around and between Australia and New Zealand as of late, check in for Virgin Australia at Queenstown seemed to be rather anquidated for the current times we are in. It could be because simply Virgin Australia still have not resumed its full operations yet in NZ with this the only route it operates Trans-Tasman but nonetheless there were not automated check in and bag drop kiosks available.

This meant a reasonably lengthy wait to bag drop at a manual counter although to the carrier’s credit they did have an agent checking in with passengers in the que ahead of time to ensure they had the correct documents for there flights and onward destinations. For this flight it seemed most passengers, myself included were merely transiting in Sydney to other destinations in Australia or even internationally. This meant there was a naturally heavy workload for the agents as they had to (still) check covid documents for some customers travelling to a third international country from Sydney and explaining the transfer process for transiting domestic passengers in Sydney (who would have to collect bags, pass through immigration and customs and recheck in again at the domestic side of the airport). Overall I can understand why it was a complicated and slow check in process but this could be certainly improved if Virgin fully restored its Trans Tasman network minimising the amount of people needing to take connections!

On the upside at check I was offered a complimentary upgrade to an an Exit Row seat which in other terms is known as Economy X. Initially, I was surprisingly reluctant as I did not want to miss the incredible views flying out of Queenstown at any cost having already reserved a regular window seat! Luckily however they were able to assure me of a window exit row seat which is great although I must admit the views probably would have been better from the other side in retrospect! With Economy X typically costing up to $69 more I couldn’t really complain! I must add however paying Economy X passengers also get Priority Boarding, Priority Check in and Proffered Overhead locker access which I understandably wasn’t afforded as it was simply a given a free exit row seat at check-in.

Manaia Queenstown Lounge

Virgin Australia don’t have any of its own lounges abroad however there is one lounge air-side internationally at Queenstown Airport which does grant access to Virgin Australia Business Class guests. This is the Manaia Lounge which I was able to access courtesy of Lounge Key. As I wasn’t entitled to access it directly through Virgin for this flight I won’t include the lounge as part of my rating for this flight but I found it a very pleasant and inviting place to spend a few hours before my flight to Sydney.

Overall the Manaia Lounge at Queenstown Airport is a really good lounge for what it is when you consider we are talking about an international airport servicing a town with a population of just 15,000 which in most cases you wouldn’t even expect to have a lounge yet international flights! Whilst small it has a good range of comfortable seating options and a fairly satisfactory range of complimentary food and beverage options.Whilst it won’t win any awards for lavish food and beverage or extensive amenities, the staff couldn’t be faulted with there exceptional enthusiasm and customer service and the lounge itself proved a pleasant quiet retreat before my flight back to Australia. Overall it’s a great place to relax for a few hours ahead of your next flight back to Australia! See my full in depth review of this lounge here

The Manaia Lounge is accessible to a variety of passengers including those with Priority Pass, Lounge Key or DragonPass memberships. Alternatively, paid entry is available subject to availability whilst customers flying internationally with certain airlines also have access. The lounge is open daily between 10.10am through to 5.30pm and 6.20pm through to 9pm. 

Paid Lounge access ($65NZD for maximum 3 hour stay)

Priority Pass Members

Lounge Key Members

DragonPass Members

Business Class Passengers of select airlines (Virgin Australia, Qantas)

Economy X seating

Today’s flight was on a typical Boeing 737-800, the same workhorse behind most of Virgin’s jet services between Australia’s capital cities.Virgin’s Boeing 737-800 has a 3-3 economy layout with a small 2 row 2-2 Business Cabin at the pointy end of the plane which is one less row or 4 seats less than Qantas’s offering on the Boeing 737.Virgin Australia’s Boeing 737-800 aircraft accommodate a total of 176 seats with standard economy sets offering a seat pitch of 30inch and a width of 17inches. Economy X seats are located in rows 3-5, 13 and 14 with Virgin Australia claiming Economy X seats come with up to 40% extra legroom. Whilst I’m not sure my particular exit row seat has that much extra legroom it was still a noticeable upgrade in space and allowed for plenty of room to stretch my legs and get out of the row without my seat neighbour having to get up.

Inflight service and food and beverage

Unfortunately post pandemic complimentary food and drinks has largely been scrapped for all Virgin Australia economy and economy x class passengers. Free tea, coffee and water however still is on offer so not all is lost. Anything else for non business class passengers can be purchased from the airline’s buy on board menu which offers a range of soft drinks, alcoholic beverages and snacks with prices typical to other Australian airlines with buy on board menu.

Entertainment

Unfortunately, Virgin do not have seatback IFE or free publicly accessible wifi on their flights for economy class passengers. They do however offer streaming to your own device where you can watch a reasonable but not overly extensive range of tv shows and movies and al so view the inflight map. For me though there was no need to access the streaming aside from the map as I had already pre-loaded my IPad with content to watch for the flight.

Arriving into Sydney and Transfer to domestic flight

I arrived into Sydney around half an hour early just after 3pm local time which was a very quiet time at Sydney International Airport with customs and immigration only taking around 5 minutes which was much appreciated as I had less than a 3 hour transit before my flight back to Perth. With it being so quick to get through immigration, there was a slight wait for our bags to catch up with us. Unfortunately however the international to domestic transfer experience was not as advertised nor eventuated how we were advised would happen in Queenstown.

We were advised on arrival to head immediately to the Virgin Australia transfer desk who would be able to re-check our luggage onto our next domestic flight however me and many other passengers rocked up to an empty desk telling us to proceed straight to the domestic terminal. Whilst it wasn’t the end of the world it did create some confusion when checking in again at the domestic terminal whom’s staff did not appear to be aware that the international transfer counter was closed and had assumed we would be dropping our bags of there. Considering Qantas offers an airside transit bus between the domestic and interantional terminals offering a far more seamless connection experience I think the least Virgin could have done was carried through with there commitment to at least save us the hassle of lugging baggage on the public bus to the other side of the airport!

Summing Up

Overall today’s flight with Virgin was a pleasant flight which was booked at a bargain 21,000 velocity points as part of a reward seat redemption from Queenstown all the way to Perth which was an excellent redemption considering the Sydney to Perth component of it alone would cost 18,000 if booked separately! Whilst it was a pleasant and largely uneventful flight which was boosted by a complimentary exit row seat upgrade some aspects of the flight experience were hit and miss with check in being a rather slow and aqnuidated process and the transfer experience in Sydney being not as advised and a little confusing for all involved.

Overall I think if Virgin are going be sucesfull again in the New Zealand market they need to restore there market presence to pre-pandemic levels and need to do more to make there mark and increase there ground handling experience so it can remain competitive in a crowded market between full service Qantas, Air New Zealand’s highly flexible user experience and budget carrier Jetstar.