Tickets for a scenic Qantas flight to see the supermoon went up for grabs on Wednesday, and they ended up selling out in under three minutes.
The three-hour flight is set to take off from Sydney on Wednesday night, May 26, before flying above the clouds and light pollution to apparently give passengers a prime view of the supermoon.
Tickets cost $499 for economy, $899 for premium economy, and $1,499 for business class. Stargazing doesn’t come cheap at this altitude.
“We are very excited to now be doing a supermoon scenic flight and the [Boeing 787 Dreamliner] has the largest windows of any passenger aircraft so it’s ideal for moon gazing,” Qantas Chief Customer Officer Stephanie Tully said ahead of the sale.
“We think this flight has great appeal for anyone with a passion for astronomy, science, space photography, aviation or just keen to do something a little ‘out of this world’.”
A supermoon occurs when the full moon is at its closest point to the Earth – roughly 357,311km away. This particular supermoon will also coincide with a total lunar eclipse for the first time since early 2019.
To get the vantage point juuuust right, Qantas enlisted CSIRO astronomer Dr Vanessa Moss to draw up the optimal flight path.
She’ll also be onboard the flight to give a running commentary and answer passengers’ questions, which frankly sounds delightful.
The airline has really hammed up the supermoon kitsch for this event, too. Passengers will apparently be treated to “cosmic cocktails” and “supermoon cakes”, whatever that means.
Anyway, if any of this sounds right up your alley, too bad. All 100-odd tickets have already been snapped up in record time.
The whole thing does sound quite excessive, but that’s COVID, baby. And at least the flight will have its carbon emissions fully offset.
