I just arrived in Townsville on a QANTAS flight from Mount Isa. I have just under two hours before my connection to Cairns. The last time I passed through Townsville was in 2019, when I had the opportunity to meet with one of the world’s leading experts on Rasch Measurement – the fabulous Professor Emeritus Trevor Bond from James Cook University.

Routing

> ZRH LH Y FRA A319

> FRA AF C CDG E195

> CDG AF C SIN B77W

> SIN SQ C CNS A359

> CNS ZL Y ISA SF34

> ISA QF Y TSV DH8D

> TSV QF Y CNS DH8D

> CNS QF C DRW E190

> DRW QF C SYD B738

> SYD KE C ICN B781

> ICN KL C AMS B789

> AMS KL C FRA E175

> FRA EN Y BSL E190

Transfer in Townsville

I enter into the terminal building and follow the signs for arrivals, which immediately brings me landside again. I make a right turn to departures and then another right turn to enter the security checkpoint. There don’t seem to be that many flights leaving around now, which means that security is not very busy.

QANTAS Club Lounge Townsville

QANTAS operates its own lounge here in Townsville, and it’s rather nice. I scan my boarding pass first and then go looking for my British Airways status card, figuring that will give me access to the lounge. However, the lounge receptionist tells me that I’m good, and that in fact my Air France Platinum status is enough to give me access to the lounge – even on an Economy Class ticket. I’m not fully sure how that works, so I just say thank you and enter the lounge. There are tables right by the window overlooking the ramp. However, with the lounge being at ground level the views are easily obstructed if you end up with an aircraft parking at the gate right in front of the lounge.

The lounge is rather full when I first arrive, but then it quickly empties as the flight to Brisbane is called for boarding. The lounge has a nice buffet of cold dishes and drinks. During my stay they transition from the breakfast service to lunch, which means adding a few warm dishes to the buffet.

QANTAS Economy Class Boarding

There’s a slight delay in boarding the flight due to the inbound’s late arrival. When boarding eventually starts, it’s by groups. My Air France status puts me in boarding group 1. It doesn’t look like the flight is going to be as full as the previous one from Mount Isa.

QANTAS Economy Class Cabin & Seat

The cabin on this aircraft is identical to the one on the previous flight from Mount Isa. Being only the third passenger to board gives me a little time to take at least one photo of the seat. As you can see in the bottom right corner of the picture, the curvature of the hull and the rail on which the seat is fixed to the floor take up quite a bit of the leg space if you’re seated by the window. Seat 1B on the aisle is much better. Apart from the leg space, it also gives you good views of the cockpit.

QANTAS Economy Class Service & Crew

On this flight there are two female flight attendants. They’re definitely a lot more reserved than the crew on the previous flight. Once more, we run through the safety briefing for passengers seated on the exit row before they do their general briefing. Our flight time to Cairns is one hour.

QANTAS Economy Class Snack

The snack service on this flight is slightly different to what was served on the previous flight. If anything, I’d say that the snack is more substantial on this flight, despite the shorter flight time. It consists of a small chicken and basil pesto sandwich that is similar in size and quality to what KLM offers on short-haul Economy Class flights these days. I have a bottle of still water to drink with that.

Arrival in Cairns

Most of the flight is over water, flying along the beautiful Queensland coastline. As we approach Cairns, we fly past the airport on the downwind over the sea, before we make a series of left turns to line us up with the runway. We land and taxi to our remote stand close to where the REX aircraft was parked that I took to Mount Isa a few days ago. Even with having to wait for my hand luggage to be offloaded, it takes less than ten minutes from disembarking the aircraft to getting into a taxi to take me back to the Shangri-La.

Conclusion – QANTAS Link Economy Class

Okay, in the meantime I’ve done the research which, ideally, I should have done before my flights with QANTAS, not after. Apparently (as per August 2026), Air France and QANTAS have rather a unique commercial agreement in place, according to which Air France FlyingBlue members a) can redeem miles for award flights on QANTAS, b) have the same extra baggage allowance on QANTAS that their status gives them with Air France KLM, c) have lounge access according to their status, which means that Air France Ultimate members are entitled to use the QANTAS First Class lounges where available, and d) can earn FlyingBlue miles and XPs when travelling on QANTAS.