Qantas Saved The Booze From Its Doomed Boeing 747s And Sold It Off In Fully Stocked Bar Carts

Qantas Saved The Booze From Its Doomed Boeing 747s And Sold It Off In Fully Stocked Bar Carts

Qantas, Australia’s largest international airline, officially retired its fleet of Boeing 747 passenger aircraft this month. To celebrate, the airline raided the booze cabinets, and then put them up for sale for less than $1,400 online.

Qantas flight QF7474 from Sydney to Los Angeles back on July 22 was the final flight of the airline’s fleet of liveried Boeing 747 aircraft. It now lives in the iconic aeroplane boneyard out in the Mojave desert, along with the rest of the old 747s. But it doesn’t have its bar cart!

Qantas Saved The Booze From Its Doomed Boeing 747s And Sold It Off In Fully Stocked Bar Carts
Photo: Qantas

That’s because the company is celebrating not only the aircraft’s long legacy flying for Australia, but 2020 also marks the 100th anniversary of the airline. Part of the fun is selling off the old 747’s passenger cabin service bar carts, and they aren’t going to leave you empty handed.

Here’s why the airline is doing it, according to the Executive Traveller:

Each cart has clocked up around 2,000 flights and travelled estimated 15 million kilometres – to the likes of London, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Singapore, Tokyo and Hong Kong – so they’re certainly not in mint condition. But that’s just part of their unique character and part of the story they tell.

[…]

Phil Capps, Qantas Executive Manager of Product and Service, likes to think of them as “pre-loved” and ready to be adopted by “those with an appreciation for aviation collectables and an eye for design.”

“There has been huge demand for Qantas 747 memorabilia, and frequent flyers have expressed keen interest to convert the bespoke inflight trolley into everything from lamp stands to storage units.”

“The fact they come fully stocked with some of Qantas’ most popular on-board service items will hopefully inspire some high-flying fun at home.”

The carts will be fully stocked with the airline’s usual alcohol beverage options, and there are even two size options! The half-size cart was sold on wine.qantas.com for a reported price of $1,380. That shakes out to about 169,000 Qantas airline points, if you’d been saving. The full size carts went for a whopping 256,000 Qantas points, which either buys you online wifi for two minutes or gets you a full-size bar cart. The dollar cost of that one was reported to be $2,088. You can bet the pricing was likely adjusted just to read “747” at both price points. It’s up to you if you think you’re getting a deal.

What better way to celebrate the retirement of a friend than to act in the spirit of first class and down 160 miniature bottles (in a full-size cart) of airline wine? Here’s a full list of what your half-sized booze cart includes, according to Qantas:

  • 40 mini bottles (187ml) of Australian white wine
  • 40 mini bottles (187ml) of Australian red wine
  • one full-sized bottle of Champagne
  • one sleeve of Tim Tams
  • one sleeve of savoury biscuits
  • one 200g packet of smoked almonds
  • two Qantas business class amenity kits (featuring ASPAR Travel Essentials skincare products)
  • a 100% combed cotton Sheridan throw made exclusively for Qantas First Class
  • two pairs of Qantas Business Class pyjamas – one M/L and L/XL (if you want a smaller size, just give them a few washes in hot water)
  • Full-sized bar carts include twice the volume of everything listed above.

Qantas Saved The Booze From Its Doomed Boeing 747s And Sold It Off In Fully Stocked Bar Carts
Photo: Qantas


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