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Tr: Bne-syd-bne
Hi all. Thought i'd give a very brief TR on my recent trip.
25/7 QF513 737-800 c905am
Seat 6F - OLCI useless, about a dozen available seats (despite being seq#25), moved from 22D to 6F as wanted to get off quickly in SYd.
Coffe/drinks only - the "snack" was 2 cookies - absolutely pathetic and i dont know why they bother, i may as well have flown Jetstar. Plane was esentially full but we got away on time and picked up a bit on route so landed quite early in SYD. As usual, on the third runway and it takes just forever to get back to T3.
Off to Hertz for the rental car, didnt have the keys/paperwork ready for some reason (Hertz #1 Gold usually this is done prior to arrival) but paperwork done efficiently and "free upgrade" to Omega (from Corolla hatch).
Checkin early at Airport Mercure I must say this hotel is in desperate need to a renovation - so dark inside and not very welcoming. Basic room - view towards airport which was nice. It seems (relatively) well insulated from the airport noise, but the between room doors and the wall lets through way too much noise - i could hear the screaming child in the next room all night. Also, the in room airconditioning controller didnt operate, so the room was freezing (great on the coldest day in SYD in 2.5 years) but the bed was comfortable and the blankets warm so fine, but lounging about the room in the evening was just too cold. I went for a walk over to the international terminal (exercise!) and it's a mess of renovations. The walk is an easy 10 minutes, so the hotel would actually be a good place location wise if you're from interstate/country and were catching an early morning flight o/s. The room service dinner was passable but not great, the breakfast (room service) pricey as they always are but quite acceptable and great coffee (expresso to order!). They do a buffet breakfast but didnt have time to try that so went the room service option. Overall, i'd be very hesitant to stay there again as the location, price did not offset the noisy room and cold!
Saturday afternoon returned the car to Hertz c5pm - very quiet - i'm always abit dubiuos just dropping it off - i'd really like them to do a visual walk-around with you to confirm free from (new) damage but i guess that's pretty labour intensive and they dont want to do that. Overall, very happy but i'm always a bit worried i'll get that phone call a few days later.........
Was booked on the 8pm home, but no checked luggage so went straight to service desk - actually to try and get an exit row seat, but the checkin agent kindly offered to move me to the 6pm (QF544, 737-800) which i gratefully accepted - and got exit row, and empty seat in between. Dinner was hot meal, quite nice actually. Again, why offer free (alcoholic) drinks on weekdays and not on weekends - the tickets are the same price! And looking at the same priced flight down where i got a crummy biscuit and the world's worst coffee! Somewhat irritating really.
Anyway, overall experience quite good apart from the (minor) hotel issues. Big thank you to the service desk agent who changed my (red-edeal ticketed) flight and got me home 2 hours early. Big boo to the OLCI as it's basically useless unless you are a WP and can select anything decent - i may as well just front at the airport as i cant seem to get any decent seat any time i've used it. Semi-boo to the airport Mercure - just needs a major update and some improved insulation (and fix the a/con).
Sorry if it's a bit brief and not up to QF009's standards, but it was only a 2 day work trip and i was a bit preoccupied with that so no photos of my feet under the seat in front (or nightclubbing!). Cheers.
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