* Both flights ticketed by Qantas and operated with Alliance Airlines aircraft, in Qantaslink colours *
Flight One: QF1919 Darwin to Brisbane (Economy Class)
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Where did I fly on this flight?
Qantaslink Embraer 190
Booking the Flight & Cost of the Flight
This flight was originally booked as part of a ticket where this was meant to be a direct Darwin to Canberra (which cost $448 in economy class), but that was cancelled a month out from travelling. This was changed for no charge on to these two flights. A economy-class Qantas flight from Darwin to Brisbane starts from about $500, and is $1,300 for a business class ticket. I booked the flight on the Qantas website which was fairly easy to use, but I found the website to be a little slow to process the different booking pages.
Operating Aircraft
This long flight was operated by 15-year-old Embraer 190-100IGW VH-XVM. This was the 112th Embraer 190 built by Embraer. Built in 2007, the aircraft was first delivered to US Airways in the United States of America in September that year and carried the registration N951UW. It was painted in American Airlines colours in mid 2016 after US Airways merged into American Airlines, and flew for American Airlines before being withdrawn from service in December 2020. It was in storage for a while before moving to Australia in January 2022. It was delivered to Alliance Airlines and re-registered VH-XVM in February 2022, and operates services for Qantaslink on behalf of Alliance Airlines. The aircraft is powered by two General Electric GE CF34-10E6 engines. The aircraft was very clean and appeared to have been well looked after.
Cabin This was a somewhat-full flight with a load factor of about 60%. I had the whole of my row free. The cabin was spotless. There were lots of spare seats throughout the aircraft.
Seating
I was seated in seat 25F, in the back row of the aircraft's economy class cabin. On this Qantaslink Embraer 190, there is a business class cabin at the front of the aircraft consisting of nine leather seats in a 1-2 configuration making three rows. The seats are made from leather with a seat pitch of 38 inches and a seat width of 20 inches. In economy class, all the remaining 88 seats are in rows 4-25, are made of leather and are in a 2-2 configuration, featuring a seat pitch of 31 inches and a seat width of 18 inches. It is suggested that the configuration and seats are the same as they were when the aircraft flew for American Airlines. The seat was very comfortable, with more than enough legroom and the seat width was great. It was a good view out the window.
Inflight Customer Service
Alliance Airlines flight attendants served us on this flight. They were very friendly to the passengers and served the passengers with big smiles all around. The flight attendants are Alliance Airlines staff, but wear Qantas uniforms on Qantaslink-operated flights such as this one. They provided great service to all of the passengers, but a shoutout has to go to Merv, who was amazing and kept on providing snacks to me thoughout the flight and we had many great conversations throughout the flight, He also provided tremendous service in looking after an ill passenger throughout the flight.
Inflight Entertainment
On this aircraft there was no seatback TV screen or a USB port. In the seat pocket was a Qantas magazine; the aircraft's safety card and air sickness bags. Qantas' Q-Streaming app does not work on the aircraft. VH-XVM, as well as the other Qantaslink Embraer 190s, is not inflight Wi-Fi enabled. The magazine seemed fresh. My inflight entertainment consisted of photographing the aircraft and the views outside or listening to music on my phone and on my laptop.
Photos
The operating aircraft sitting at Darwin Airport's gate 4 ready for the long flight ahead after resting all night
View from the jetway whilst boarding
Business class seats
Economy class seats
Legroom
Seat 25F
Taxiing to the runway for takeoff
Takeoff from runway 11
Cabin
Inflight breakfast - chicken sausage, scrambled eggs, spinach, beans and choice of beverage, in a Yam Dreaming-inspired box which I loved
Inflight snack - lemon myrtle and salted caramel shortbread drizzled in chocolate
Inflight at 31,000 feet
A flatbed on an Embraer 190 does not exactly work out that well...
Seat 6A
Seat 11F - overwing exit row
Inflight at 35,000 feet
Descending into Brisbane Airport
Turning onto final approach
Landing onto runway 01L
Taxiing to the gate
Docked at gate 16
View whilst disembarking
VH-XVM will embark on the long haul back to Darwin as flight QF1918
Flight Two: QF1907 Brisbane to Canberra (Business Class)
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Where did I fly on this flight?
Booking the Flight & Cost of the Flight
This flight was originally booked as part of a ticket where this was meant to be a direct Darwin to Canberra (which cost $448 in economy class), but that was cancelled a month out from travelling. This was changed for no charge on to these two flights. This was originally meant to be an economy class flight, but I placed the bare-minimum to bid to upgrade to business class ($210 was the lowest bid possible), which was granted early on the day of travel. A business-class Qantas flight from Brisbane to Canberra comes to about $970, and from $269 for an economy-class ticket. I booked the original flight on the Qantas website which was fairly easy to use, but I found the website to be a little slow to process the different booking pages.
Operating Aircraft
14-year-old Qantaslink Embraer 190-100IGW VH-UZI operated this flight. This was the 191st Embraer 190 that was built by Embraer and was built in 2008. The aircraft first entered service registered as N963UW with US Airways in the United States of America in July 2008. Between October 2009 and January 2013, the aircraft flew with Midwest Airlines and Frontier Airlines on behalf of Republic Airways, with the registration N170HQ, before returning to US Airways and resorting to the original registration. It was painted in American Airlines colours in early 2016 upon US Airways merging into American Airlines, and flew for them before being withdrawn from service in September 2020. It was in storage for a while before moving to Australia in August 2022 and re-registered as VH-UZI, operating services for Qantaslink on behalf of Alliance Airlines since October 2022. The aircraft is powered by two General Electric GE CF34-10E6 engines. The aircraft was clean and had been well looked after.
Cabin This was a very full flight with a load factor of at least 80%. The cabin was quite clean. There were several spare seats here and there throughout the aircraft in economy class, but every seat up front was occupied.
Seating
I was upgraded to seat 3A for this flight. Seat 3A is a seat on its own. On this Qantaslink Airlines Embraer 190, there is a business class cabin consisting of nine leather seats in a 1-2 configuration making three rows. The seats are made from leather with a seat pitch of 38 inches and a seat width of 20 inches. In economy class, all the remaining 88 seats are in rows 4-25, are made of leather and are in a 2-2 configuration, featuring a seat pitch of 31 inches and a seat width of 18 inches. It is suggested that the configuration and seats are the same as they were when the aircraft flew for American Airlines. The seat was very comfortable, with more than enough legroom and the seat width was great, but my seat's legroom was taken away a little with the seat pocket being broken. It was a good view out the window.
Inflight Customer Service
Alliance Airlines flight attendants served us on this flight. They were very friendly to the passengers and served the passengers with big smiles all around. The flight attendants are Alliance Airlines staff, but wear Qantas uniforms on Qantaslink-operated flights such as this one. They provided great service to all of the passengers.
Inflight Entertainment
On this aircraft there was no seatback TV screen or a USB port. In the seat pocket was a Qantas magazine; the aircraft's safety card and air sickness bags. Qantas' Q-Streaming app does not work on the aircraft. VH-UZI, as well as the other Qantaslink Embraer 190s, is not inflight Wi-Fi enabled. The magazine seemed fresh. My inflight entertainment consisted of photographing the views outside, especially since we were dodging thunderstorm clouds constantly, or listening to music on my phone.
Photos
The operating aircraft sitting at Brisbane Airport's gate 17 after earlier arriving from Adelaide as flight QF1928
Legroom
Seat 3A
Taxiing to the runway
Takeoff from runway 01R
Cabin
Inflight meal - cheese toasted sandwich, slice of bread and butter and a Lindt chocolate ball with a choice of beverage
Inflight at 36,000 feet
Descending into Canberra Airport with storm clouds all around
Overflying Canberra with a thunderstorm over the airport
Landing on runway 35
Taxiing to the gate
Docked at gate 11
Business class seats
View whilst disembarking
VH-UZI will return to Brisbane as flight QF1910
Summary
I did not expect to fly in both classes when I started the day with these flights, but it was a very interesting experience. The first flight; flown in economy class from Darwin to Brisbane, was a very long flight but it turned out to be one of the best flights I have ever taken. The fact that I had the seat next to me free meant I had some room to spread out. The catering was very good, and Merv the flight attendant was absolutely fantastic. The seat was fine, but having a little more cushioning and support for the head would be good.
In business class on the second flight from Brisbane to Canberra was fairly uneventful. The flight attendant was very attentive and friendly and the seat was very comfortable (albeit having to deal with a broken seat pocket rubbing on my legs). While the catering for this flight was good, in all honesty, the "business class" perks stop there, in summary it is essentially just a smaller economy class cabin with bigger seats. Typically there are dividers between business and economy class but that does not exist on this aircraft so there is minimal to no privacy between the two cabins. Inflight entertainment offering in business class is the same as in economy class.
In summary, the flights were great. The Qantaslink Embraer 190 has a good product in economy class and a slightly underwhelming but still decent business class product with fairly comfortable seats that are comfortable for a long flight like between Darwin and Brisbane.
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