Trip Report: Qantas BNE-SYD-BNE 747 + 738 (Photos)

[Brandon Giacomin]

Introduction:

Last Saturday I went to Sydney for the day to fly on QF8 again and also do some spotting in Sydney and go into the city My friend Josh booked about a month before and at first I wasn’t going to go. The sale ended up being extended and I couldn’t resist another flight on QF8. So I booked it We would be going down to Sydney on Saturday April 21. We would be flying down on QF8 leaving Brisbane at 0630 and arriving into Sydney at 0810, and returning in the late afternoon on QF540 operated by a Boeing 737-800 departing Sydney at 1705 and arriving into Brisbane at 1835.

Brisbane Airport:

An early wakeup call is required for QF8. I got up at 0400 and left at 0430 to get to the airport at 0500, one and a half hours before the flight is due to leave. Josh was already there. I had already checked in online to secure my seat. I still needed to go to the check in counter to get a new boarding pass with a domestic sticker on it. About 2 weeks after booking I decided I would upgrade to Premium Economy seeing as I now had enough points for an upgrade, Josh upgraded to business I originally had 38A, then I switched to 37A and then when checking in I saw 35A was available so I changed again. Josh had 8A in business.

After getting my new boarding pass we went through customs and security screening. We went to Gate 79 where QF8 would board from. I already knew that we would be getting VH-OEJ to Sydney which I was happy about, last time I got VH-OEI. But it’s a shame OEJ is no longer painted in the Wunala Dreaming livery At about 0520, QF8 arrived from Dallas.

OEJ at the gate after the long flight from Dallas


After getting photos of OEJ at the gate I went on balus on my phone to see if anything interesting was on its way in. And to my surprise UA839 LAX-SYD, QF12 LAX-SYD and JL771 NRT-SYD were heading to BNE. I looked it up and saw that Sydney was fogged in for the 2nd day in a row, the previous day wasn’t so bad, Brisbane received no diversions. I watched the three diversions arrive.

N171UA operating UA839 from LAX-SYD at Gate 80


Two more!


JA707J in Oneworld livery operating JL771 from NRT-SYD


VH-OQC operating QF12 from LAX-SYD, good to see an A380 in BNE


After watching the three diversions arrive I went back on to balus to see another 5 diversions heading to BNE! SQ221, CA173, BA15, QF6 and QF568. An announcement was then made that due to fog in Sydney our flight to Sydney was delayed. So I went down to the northern end of the terminal to see the next 5 diversions arrive.

A380 Number 2 for the day! 9V-SKI operating SQ221 from SIN-SYD


After watching SQ221 arrive it was announced that we would be boarding after a short delay, so we made our way to Gate 79 to board OEJ!

Just before boarding


The front end of N171UA