Non-stop!!

We flew with Qantas on this relatively new flight, reasoning three or so extra hours on the flight, minus a stop halfway, might be a good trade off.

You can see how cheap these tickets were thanks to one of our son’s frequent flyers points!!

It was scheduled to depart at 13.15 (London time) on Monday 3rd, and to land at 13.00 (Perth time) on Tuesday 4th, and take 16 hours and 45 minutes.

What really happened was a little bit different.

We boarded on time and were ready to leave on time, but were snookered by Heathrow’s flight schedule. Our take off was delayed by 55 minutes but we landed at 1.20pm, making the flight length 16 hours and 10 minutes, and 20 minutes later than expected.

The Dreamliner plane itself was quite small and the number of people waiting to board was much fewer than most flights we’ve taken from Europe to Australia. It had a seating capacity of 236, and I spotted only two empty seats.

The plane was almost brand – you could tell by the seats and tv screens.

I did think the spacing between the seats was a bit narrower than some other planes I’ve flown on. The leg room seamed a bit better.

The economy seats were arranged in 3-3-3.

The staff were absolutely fantastic. Nothing was a bother to them. The food was good and there was a good selection of wines. Mick was unable to get his first choice for his main meal. We were seated in row 53 of 59 and by the time they got to him all the Guinness braised beef was gone. Although unhappy about that, he did enjoy his tandoori chicken salad.

The experience coming through luggage collection, security and customs was very smooth.

We caught Bus 40 to Elizabeth Quay, as we are spending three nights here in an apartment about 750m away.

This city is so new compared with where we’ve just come from.

Even when there are buildings that are obviously a bit older, they are in pristine condition.

We would definitely consider this flight again, bearing in mind it does take longer going in the other direction.