![The Qantas entertainment system offers a refreshing variety of music.](http://web.archive.org./web/20131105160036im_/http://images.canberratimes.com.au/2013/10/25/4860612/Dan-20131025112431613156-620x349.jpg)
The Qantas entertainment system offers a refreshing variety of music.
THE ROUTE
Johannesburg, South Africa, to Sydney.
THE PLANE
Boeing 747-400.
UP THE BACK OR POINTY END?
Economy class, seat 72D, four rows from the back.
TIME IN THE AIR
With a ripping tailwind across the Indian Ocean, the scheduled 12-hour flight takes just 10 hours 20 minutes.
THE SEAT STUFF
31 inches (78 centimetres pitch), 17.5 inches (44 centimetres) wide.
BAGGAGE ALLOWANCE
Economy passengers can have one item of checked baggage, not exceeding a total of 30 kilograms (for bookings prior to 26 February, allowance is 23 kilograms), and one carry-on bag up to seven kilograms.
COMFORT FACTOR
Leg room is excellent - my knees come up a few centimetres short of the seat ahead of me - and the headrest wings fold in further than on many airlines, providing tight head support for a few hours' sleep. Sitting so near the tail, there are plenty of empty seats on this flight, providing many passengers with space to sprawl and dump excess blankets and the like.
THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT
It's refreshing to find a new-release music channel that's not all pop and pap. Mixed in with the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Laura Marling are Stravinsky and Richard Tognetti. Programming caters well for homesick Aussies returning Down Under, with dedicated Australiana movies (from The Great Gatsby to Satellite Boy) and music (Paul Kelly to Geoffrey Gurrumul) channels. Unlike some airlines, however, there's no option to pass idle runway time with a movie or music, since the screens don't blink into life until we're in the air.
THE SERVICE
Unerring and friendly service, even during the inevitable pre-takeoff game of musical chairs when passengers discover empty seats in the aisles around them. The one blemish is in the timing of dinner. When the trolley reaches row 72, we've been in the air for more than 90 minutes and I'm more ready for sleep than dinner.
FEEDING TIME
The flight includes dinner and breakfast, with a choice between chicken curry and lemon baked hake for dinner. Choices become slim by the time the trolley reaches the rear of the plane - in one aisle there's only the curry remaining, and in my aisle the original selection of two white wines has been whittled down to just the chardonnay.
ONE MORE THING
As the lights go down after dinner, there's the nice touch of a bag of goodies - chocolate, nuts, crackers and a bottle of water - handed out to help grazers get through the night.
THE VERDICT
On a night flight I'm mostly thinking about dinner and sleep, and though the slow arrival of the former delays the latter, it's a minor inconvenience that's more than compensated by the space, the comfort and the variety of entertainment. It's very possible to leave Jo'burg in the evening and arrive in Sydney first thing in the morning surprisingly fresh.
FREQUENCY
Qantas flies daily from Johannesburg direct to Sydney. See qantas.com.au.
Tested by Andrew Bain, who flew courtesy of Exodus Travels.