Qantas, Port Hedland – Perth, B787-800
Going to and from the Pilbara is more of a bus service than an airline “experience”. Port Hedland airport is getting old and tired and is way too small for the number of people passing through. Security takes far too long, and there are insufficient seats in the waiting area.
The flight was full, mainly people in fluoro shirts (which is fine) but also a sizeable proportion wearing singlets. I find this distasteful given the cramped conditions on these aircraft. The language was also choice.
Cabin crew were good natured and efficient. The meal was average at best – some rather bland pasta, cup of water and a mini-Crunchy bar. Tea & coffee are served in paper cups. Everything is done at a budget price, on a so-called full service (and very high cost airline).
The seat was almost adequate – too narrow, insufficient legroom but reasonably comfortable otherwise.
Individual entertainment screens were good, though I only had sound on one channel (ie no sound to my left ear). There was a reasonable range of movies, TV shows etc, though the flight wasn’t really long enough to enjoy a movie.
Two toilets for 156 economy passengers meant there were long queues, which must have been pretty unpleasant for the unfortunates sitting down the back. The toilets were pretty grubby by the end of the flight.
There was nothing terribly wrong with this flight (apart from the foul-mouthed singlet-wearing bogans) but there was nothing really good either. It was a case of getting from A to B and minimising the discomfort. The biggest issue is that for not much more (or in some cases less) money I could be in Bali or Singapore. It was very much a low cost carrier experience at a full service price.
