Virgin Australia Boeing 737 Business Class to Hobart

Flying up the pointy end back home to Tassie

After a whirlwind 12 hours in Melbourne with my friend, checking out the sights and sounds (and Aldi!) it was time to head back home to Tassie, and test out Virgin Australia 2.0’s Business Class for the first time.

Flight Details
Airline	Virgin Australia
Aircraft Type	Boeing 737-800
Registration	VH-VUZ
Aircraft Age	11.0 years
Route	Melbourne Tullamarine to Hobart
Flight Number	VA1332
Date	04/02/2022

As the SkyBus was a little bit expensive (and I really wanted to take a train), we made our way to the airport by taking a Craigieburn Line train to Broadmeadows, and then the route 901 bus to Melbourne Airport.

After fumbling around with the self-checkin machines for a few minutes, we got our boarding passes and headed round to Virgin Australia’s excellent, if a little busy, domestic lounge. Admittedly I was too busy enjoying the whole experience to take many photos, bar a few of our food. The food and drink options were a little limited, and the return to self-serve has not yet occurred, but overall the lounge was pretty clean and tidy, with friendly, attentive staff, and an excellent view of the apron.

We spent about an hour in the lounge, and while we missed out on the private security lane for the VA lounge, the main checkpoint wasn’t particularly busy, and we got to our gate just as priority boarding was called.

I was sat in the second row of the fully booked Business Class cabin, seat 2F, and served a pre-departure water while the rest of the passengers boarded.

Pushback was a little later than scheduled, but we were soon barrelling down Melbourne’s runway 16. Prior to departure the cabin crew had come round taking orders for the (cold) meal service, with a choice of either quinoa with chicken and salad, or tofu with rice and vegetables.

Just prior to reaching cruising altitude, the crew began the meal service, I had opted for the chicken and quinoa, while my friend had the tofu and rice. While it was undeniably exciting to have a meal on such a short flight, especially with metal cutlery and ceramic plates, the just-above-freezing chicken and quinoa didn’t really taste of much, and apparently neither did the tofu and rice.

The crew were incredibly attentive and friendly for the remainder of the flight, and shortly after the meal trays were taken away, we began our descent back into Hobart. The approach was remarkably smooth, and just over an hour after pushing back at Tullamarine, we came to a stop outside the terminal at Hobart.

Overall it was a pretty exciting flight, being my first time flying business class (except for once on a QNZ B734 when I was 6, but does that really count?) and I really enjoyed writing this trip report, and I hope you enjoyed reading it! Don’t forget to check out my Instagram using one of the buttons below, as I have a very exciting trip coming up! Also, big thanks to my friend for more than half the pictures in this trip report, I accidentally filled up the SD card in my camera before midday!