Sydney-Brisbane-Mackay-Brisbane-Sydney in a day. 767 on the first leg which was OK and departed on time with friendly staff and the standard yoghurt and granola breakfast. Comfortable enough for a short haul flight. The trip to Mackay and return was in the ex Impulse 717s and very comfortable plane to fly in though we scored an exit row both ways giving plenty of legroom (but no IFE on these planes). Reasonable snacks delivered that actually had a few components, and free beer on the return leg.
Unluckily our return to Brisbane was delayed 40 minutes due to ATC in Brisbane meaning we arrived just as our Sydney flight was pulling away from the gate, but one advantage of Qantas is that the next flight was only 30 minutes later and we had already been issued new boarding passes in Mackay. Ended up on a half empty 737-800 for the last leg back to Sydney.
I will still choose Qantas as my first choice for domestic flights with Virgin as second, as there are backup options if a flight is delayed. Cabin crew are friendly and helpful on both airlines, Jetstar which I have flown a few times is OK but less backup options and I wouldn’t touch Tiger. Rex for regionals has also been OK (but the planes are very noisy).
