This week I headed to Port Morseby. I had never flown to PNG before and thus was a first timer on Air Niugini (PX).
For what I assumed would be a very '3rd world' airline, it was generally very good and was far beyond my expectations to be quite honest. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but if you imagine the Indiana Jones movie where they fly in the plane with the chickens....yeah.
My trip was quite simple - MEL-BNE-POM-BNE-MEL
I traveled in Y on the BNE-POM sector due to being wait listed for J but I did manage to get the J seat on the way back to Brisbane which was appreciated.
On both PX flights I managed to get on Air Niugini's new flagship 767-300ER from Icelandair. It has quite an old and tired interior compared to the newer seats and fabrics on a QF 767 for example, however it's quite pleasant for what my expectations were and I would say has possibly more legroom than many QF planes in Y, though that may just have been an illusion.
The J seat was actually very good, again it's no Skybed, but the recline is very very generous and enough legroom to only just be able to reach the seat pocket in front (and I have quite long arms!). They are obviously old seats and well worn, but they still do the trick. Thumbs up for a small airline.
The Y food was...on par with QF meals, edible but nothing great, probably because they come out of the same factory as QF. The J food was 'average' but again, certainly nothing to write home about. But you could certainly see a big difference in quality in the J food over the Y food which is half the reason for the extra cost of the seat.
On the way home however we were 1 hour late leaving due to the rear cargo door not closing, which meant we arrived an hour late in to Brisbane. This meant I missed my connection to MEL and the rest of the fights that night were literally full. Upon arrival in Brisbane a QF rep was waiting in the skybridge with my hotel details, taxi vouchers and rebooking on a flight the next morning. Annoying but good service. It was a pain to have to stay over night in Brisbane, but it was at the cost of Air Niugini so it wasn't so bad. Plus I got to wander around brisvegas on a Friday night woohoo! They rebooked me on the 6:50am to MEL but I change it to 9:50 so I could sleep in
I eventually made it home
Anyway, thumbs up to Air Niugini in general. For a small airline with limited resources, they do a good job. The hostesses quite clearly take a LOT of pride in their jobs, which always helps make the flight more enjoyable.
Also a hot tip for anyone planning to go to PNG sometime, try to get a Visa before you go. Getting on one arrival will take you at least an hour standing in line
(Or be first in line!)
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