What it's like to fly first class

What it's like to fly first class

This has been a massive year for the Flying Kangaroo.

In 2018 Qantas was the talk of the world when it launched its Perth to London route on its new 787-9 Dreamliners — the first non-stop flight linking Australia and the UK over a whopping 17 hours.

It also announced a number of other new routes: Melbourne-San Francisco, Adelaide-Uluru, Darwin-Uluru, Melbourne-Denpasar and Sydney-Bendigo.

The most popular international destinations for Qantas passengers this year were Los Angeles, London, Singapore and New Zealand. Domestically, Qantas had an increase in passengers flying to Perth, Hobart and Mackay.

By New Year’s Eve, Qantas will have flown 30 million passengers this year on 280,000 flights across a total flying distance of 465 million kilometres.

That’s a lot of in-flight meals, movies and TV show binges on Qantas flights. Here’s what Qantas passengers loved the most in 2018.

FOOD

A perennial favourite, the steak sandwich was again the most popular in-flight meal for International First class passengers, with Qantas chefs dishing up more than 25,000 this year.

For business class, international passengers loved the blue eye trevalla with garlic fried

rice the most, while domestic passengers mostly ordered the prawn curry.

Economy passengers’ favourite meal was the massaman beef curry and pork sausages

with Paris mash, gravy and minted peas.

The most ordered dish in the First Lounge was the salt and pepper squid — Qantas served more than 200,000 plates of it across the globe.

Champagne was the drink of choice on Qantas flights, with 130,000 bottles served across the international network.

But some new trends emerged in 2018. With passengers craving a balanced meal in the skies, Qantas introduced a new hydration-boosting, jet lag-busting menu on its Perth to London flights, and found the kale, quinoa and poached egg brunch bowl was especially popular.

But the sausage sandwich, cooked to order on an outdoor barbecue, was a big hit in the Perth Transit Lounge as passengers prepared for those non-stop flights to the UK.

Qantas also served 40,000 Botanica probiotic shots in-flight, which somewhat made up for all those bottles of bubbly.

TV AND MOVIES

Qantas is constantly keeping an eye on what passengers are watching and listening to in-flight using an anonymous on-board rating system.

In 2016, the most-watched movie was Spectre. Last year it was Boss Baby. This year, it was Mission: Impossible — Fallout that reigned supreme.

• The most popular Australian film was Breath, directed by and starring Simon Baker

• The most watched box set was Billions

• Modern Family was the most watched TV show — and it is every year

• The most-watched children’s film was Incredibles 2

• The two films that 80 per cent of passengers watched the entire way through were

Book Club and Finding Your Feet, which says a lot for both films.

Qantas launched a mindfulness category in 2018, which included the Qantas meditation video series and relaxation albums. The most popular tracks were Peaceful Piano and Nature Spirit: A Journey into Magical and Relaxing Forest Sounds.

Qantas also discovered on its domestic 737 and A330 flights with Wi-Fi, passengers spent the most time using email and browsing the web, followed by social media (Facebook was the most popular social media app) and streaming video and music services.

The top 10 films of 2018 were:

1. Mission: Impossible — Fallout

2. Crazy Rich Asians

3. Ocean’s 8

4. Kingsman: The Golden Circle

5. Black Panther

6. Justice League

7. Blade Runner 2049

8. Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!

9. Avengers: Infinity War

10. Red Sparrow

Top 5 TV box sets:

• Billions

• Westworld

• Riverdale

• Ballers

• Britannia

Top 5 TV comedies:

• Modern Family

• The Big Bang Theory

• Young Sheldon

• Family Guy

• American Dad

HOLIDAY SEASON 2018

More than five million passengers are expected to fly with Qantas in December and January, with a massive 1.5 million of those passengers flying over the Christmas and New Year period.

Qantas will be operating 36,500 services, including extra flights to popular destinations Bali, Singapore and Hong Kong.

It also operates seasonal Vancouver services for travellers seeking the snow.

Qantas said the busiest days in its terminals were the few days before Christmas. The weekend of December 22 to 24 will be the busiest days for domestic travel, while the first week in January are busiest for international passengers.

The most popular domestic destinations will be Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, while the United States, London and Japan are the most popular destinations for those heading overseas.

And this year, on Qantas’ dedicated Christmas movie channel in December and January, passengers will be watching:

• A Christmas Story

• Bush Christmas (1947 Australian classic in its first-ever on-board showing)

• Elf

• Home Alone

• Home Alone 2: Lost In New York

• It’s a Wonderful Life

• Love Actually

• National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

• The Polar Express.

Next year, Qantas is expecting increased demand to Asia — especially to Japan, Bali and on its 787 service to Hong Kong.

Domestically, the Adelaide and Darwin to Uluru routes are seeing a rise in bookings.