Qantas A330 Business Class Sydney - Auckland

A Trip Down Under 2019
Qantas 747 Business Class San Francisco - Sydney
Qantas Business Class Lounge, Sydney Airport
Qantas A330 Business Class Sydney - Auckland
Holiday Inn Auckland Airport - Review
The Pavilions Hotel, Christchurch - Review
What We Saw In Christchurch
Hilton Queenstown Resort and Spa - Review
What We Saw In Queenstown including Doubtful Sound Tour
Avani Metropolis Hotel, Auckland - Review
What We Saw In Auckland
Oceans Mooloolaba - Review
What We Saw On The Sunshine Coast
Brisbane Marriott - Review
Qantas 787 Business Class Brisbane - Los Angeles

In some ways this is almost like a domestic flight since it was blocked at 3h 7m - about the same as the Memphis - Los Angeles non-stop - but this was a flight between countries and the aircraft was an internationally configured A330 so I'll give a brief review.

Qantas 145 SYD-AKL
Airbus A330-300
Seat: 4E (Business Class, Aisle, Center Section)
Scheduled Departure: 1135 (Actual: 1150)
Scheduled Arrival: 1640 (Actual: 1647)
Flight time: 3h 7m (Actual: 2h 57m)

We boarded through door 2L and C and I turned left into the business cabin while D turned right back to economy.  C and I had seats across the aisle from each other.  We were offered our choice of pre-departure beverages and had our choice of champagne and still or sparkling water.  Compared to the older aircraft we'd flown to Sydney, this plane felt much more modern, as it should, since it was newer.

Qantas A330 Business Class Cabin

Even though it was a short flight we had lie-flat seats in the business class cabin and thus a pillow and a blanket were waiting for us at our seats.

Qantas A330 Business Class Seat

One nice thing about the 747 we'd flown to Australia was that there was no worry about your feet or legs getting stuck inside a cubby underneath the seat in front of you.  That wasn't the case here as when the seat was fully extended your feet were underneath the armrest of the seat in front of you.  That could make it a bit tight if you're a larger person or even if you're a bit of a restless sleeper.  Fortunately on such a short flight I didn't even need to extend my seat that far as I didn't try to sleep on this leg.

Qantas A330 Business Class Legroom

Near the floor was a compartment that was handy to access while you've got the seat in lie-flat mode.  This would be a great place to store a water bottle or your glasses while you sleep.

Qantas A330 Business Class Floor-level Storage

I was on the left aisle and the larger part of my armrest was on the aisle side.  Above that armrest, running the length of my privacy partition was an enclosed shelf.  In the very corner of that shelf was an area specifically designed to hold a water bottle.  Nice job to keep it from sliding around.  A peg for the headphones was on the back wall, just over my left shoulder.  On the "wall" of the shelf were the electrical sockets, USB port and headphone jack.  On the aisle side of the "wall" were the seat controls, which were easy to use.

Qantas A330 Business Class Storage and Controls

Under my armrest was the IFE controller.  The underside of the armrest had a mirror.

Qantas A330 Business Class IFE controller

The tray table popped out from the armrest at about a 90-degree angle and then could be swung around into place.  While I think I could have stood up while things were on the tray, I don't know that I could have exited my seat with them there.  It wasn't an issue on this flight but might be something to consider on a longer flight.

Qantas A330 Business Class Tray Table

As this was a lunchtime flight, the service began fairly quickly after we reached cruising altitude.  I wasn't super hungry after eaten well on the overnight flight and having a few munchies in the lounge but still managed to find room in my tummy for more food.  The menu was as follows:

I had the buffalo mozzarella with tomatoes to start and also received a small side salad:

Buffalo Mozzarella and Salad

One of the things I like about airplane dining is I feel less reluctant to try foods whose names I don't recognize.  I figure at least I'm not wasting money on it and who knows, I might like it.  I wasn't really sure what a pithivier was but it turned out to be a pork pot pie:

Pithivier, aka pot pie

Ice cream for dessert sounded good though I'd envisioned a couple of scoops in a bowl instead of something like an Eskimo Pie.  That didn't stop me from eating it though!

It's not what I expected but that didn't matter in this case

Our cabin was almost completely full and the staff took good care of us.  It was a relatively short flight, we were fed and cared for so no complaints from me.

Final Thoughts

It was nice to have this international configuration available at the end of our long journey from the US to Down Under.  1 day, 15 hours and 16 minutes after my flight took off from Memphis, I'd finally arrived in New Zealand!