Carfield
Sep 10, 01, 12:49 pm
Brisbane
The international terminal at Brisbane is very nice and the signs are clear. This time, I got the express card for deplaning. I bought a bottle of wine for a special couple in the Duty free shop and then headed off to the Australian immigration. It was fine and the official kept on asking me if I bought more than USD$5000 into Australia. I just said, “I wish I had that much cash.” She asked because of the hotel I am staying. Fortunately, when I arrived at the hotel, the treasury casino was a whole block away from the hotel. Then I got my bags and brought no “bad” stuff into Australia, but the X-ray machine failed my big blue suitcase. So the poor but handsome officer went through my dirty laundry and plane stuff. Finally he saw my Air NZ amenity kits and I just told him that it was the little bag they gave you when you flew long haul flights. Then he said, “that is fine,” and helped me with the suitcase. What an experience!
Then I took the shuttle towards the very nice hotel and the weather was really nice. I then walked into the hotel and the room was very nice. The rate is very reasonable (may I say… cheap). I always select casino type hotel because they often had nice rooms but cheap rates to attract gamblers. Well this strategy did not work for me because I did not even walk into the casino at all. I was tempted but felt uneasy walking into one. Anyway, I immediately spotted a Brisbane day tour and the Russell Crowe look-alike concierge took care of it. He booked the tour for me and arranged the tour to pick me up. I thanked him and my impression of Australia continued to be more positive. He is such a handsome fellow. Gosh… I must be driving you all nuts. Then I proceeded to the Queen Street mall and had a good time, but my only complaint was the store closing too early. Since I am from Hong Kong, I am not used to the fact that stores closed at 5:30pm. Only souvenir shops opened late. Then I walked around and had a light dinner. I tried to eat light since I did not want my stomachache to reappear again.
I woke up early next day to take advantage of this full day tour. First, we took a river cruise towards the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. The cruise was very informative and I always love cruise for mysterious reason. They sailed through many interesting places and saw all those fancy houses along the riverfront. The Koala Sanctuary was an amazing experience. Those koalas were cute and I paid AUD$13 to take a picture with a koala. I was very cheerful and then I feed the kangaroos and they really loved the stuff I fed them. I saw many birds and the Tasmanian devil, wombats, and other animals before heading back to the bus. The afternoon tour brought us to Woodshed place, which we saw all those different kinds of sheep. There was the sheep shearing demonstration and it was another fun tour. Then we went to the top of a hill (can’t remember the name) but it overlooked Brisbane and it was a nice finish to the tour. The tour was a good one and a quick way to know the city a bit. Then I went back to the mall and had a dinner at the Vietnamese noodle café. It was pretty nice and relaxing. Then I headed back to the hotel for an early night of nap. Another day of flying was coming up and I finally got to take the AN 882 from BNE to SYD, but…
August 22, 2001
AN 882 BNE-SYD Canceled due to late arrival of aircraft from Osaka!
AN 103 BNE-SYD Lv0600 Arr0730
Boeing 767-200 VH-RME
As you could read, my dream flight was delayed due to the aircraft still in Osaka. They sent me to the domestic desk and rebooked me on the BNE to SYD flight. My first impression was that the agents did not seem to care much. They talked among themselves but made sure that I was rebooked on the 6am flight. Anyway we all rushed to the arrival level and the nicer domestic connection clerk rebooked us on the 6am flight. But they did not put me on an earlier flight for Perth. I ended up waiting in SYD for over two hours. I could have been out of SYD at 8:30am. I hope that AN could read my whole itinerary next time before rebooking me. I did not notice this particular detail because they were in a hurry. A special bus took us to the terminal and boarding did not begin till 5:42am. Fortunately, I could at least fly this Boeing 767-200 plane once.
The first thing that I noticed about Australian domestic service is that boarding took place very quickly and one or two of the flight attendants will walk out to the boarding pass reading machines and welcome passengers. This sped up the boarding quickly and economy passengers pick their headphones on the air-bridge. But strangely, priority boarding happened only on less than 50% of my flights and boarding by row number only happened on a few full flights. Therefore there is always congestion on the air-bridge.
Then, the service director is at the door to welcome passengers and on each pair of business class seats, two newspapers (one local and national) are always placed there for our enjoyments. J class headphones are also placed on the seat console. The flight attendants will hang your coat. There was a pre-takeoff beverage prior to takeoff in business class and it was a choice of orange juice or water (champagne on the Perth to East Coast routes). On this particular Boeing 767, there is a divider between J and Y with curtains. The seats on J are not the convertible kinds, like A320s or B737s. They are all upholstered on Ansett’s new earth-color scheme cloth. The seating arrangement is 2-2-2 and the seats are fairly comfortable. The legroom is definitely better than UA’s J class on its domestic Boeing 767-200s. Unlike most US airlines, Ansett’s bulkhead rows are the best seats in the house and there is a space for your hand carry. On the Boeing 767-200s, AN has a belt to secure your bag placed in front of your feet on the bulkhead rows. The flight attendants are very cheerful and more than happy to stow bags for passengers and to help families with small children – even baby-sit them for a while. The whole atmosphere is generally more cheerful and friendly than your typical United flights. (I know the friendly culture in the Aussie land can also be observed on Ansett and Qantas flights.)
Although it was a full flight, doors were closed four minutes early and the pilots wasted no time to push back. As predicted, activities at Brisbane were fairly quite at these early hours. Ansett used a very interesting safety demonstration system. Yes, there is a tape, but has no advertisement. It is straight to the point and the F/As will show you how to use the oxygen mask live and to show you the exits. Very quick! BTW, Ansett shows music video’s clips throughout boarding and at the end of the entertainment programs. I love pop music so watching Whitney House and Westlife is no problem to me. I love that duet song by Whiteny and George Michael. Our flight quickly taxied towards Runway 01 and took off at 6:05am. Flying time today was about an hour and seventeen minutes. Unlike your usual United Sh*ttle or short haul US domestic flights, there is a full hot breakfast at both business and economy class cabins. The service began at no time.
First, the flight attendants began the inflight video programs, which are the Channel 7 Ansett News (updated twice per day) and then if time is available, there will be some short subjects shown or simply more music videos. At 6:15am, the seat belt sign was turned off, and at the same time, the flight attendants passed out printed menus in J (a small A5 size card, but still nice) and passed out strawberry flavored drinking yogurts. Then they pushed out the meal cart in ten minutes. Here is the menu transcript!
Breakfast
Energy Drink
Strawberry Flavored Drinking Yogurt
Appetizer
Fruit Medley of the Season
Freshly cut fruit left in its natural syrup
Watermelon, grapes, melon, pineapple, and orange segments
Breakfast
Creamy Scrambled eggs pancake wrapped in proscuitto ham and served with sliced sauteed potato, grilled roma tomato and continental parsley
Or
Selection of Cereal with Fresh Milk
Special K with a silver container of milk… I took the cereal because it was too early to eat eggs
Bakery
Thick Wholemeal Toast
Orange Marmalade – I still think toasts did not held well on an airplane condition
A basic one tray breakfast with many components… The F/As then passed out tea or coffee and you can request juices if you want. There is no bar service unlike the US airlines. After watching an episode of “Fraiser,” our flight began our descent onto Sydney. After the pilots turned on the seat belt sign, the F/As passed out hard candies throughout the cabin, and we touched down on Sydney’s Kingford Smith Airport’s Runway 25 at 7:29am. To my surprise, one of the flight attendants was first off from the flight and bid farewell to each passenger. Very personal service! We were parked at gate 40 and after my failed attempt to change to an earlier flight to Perth, I went to the Golden Wing Club (with my Star Alliance Gold card) because the wait was more than two hours.
AN 111 SYD-PER Lv0950 Arr1250
Airbus A320-200 VH-HYS
About the Golden Wing lounge, I think only GWC and Star Gold members can use the lounge. Each time when I entered the lounge, I showed them my card and got the approval. In general, the GWC are excellent throughout Ansett’s network, with the exception of Townsville. The lounges are completely different from any domestic US lounge. It is very full, just like any RCC, but the seating area is huge. There is always a separate business centers with a few computer hooked up with internet connections and printer, and many business stations. There is a complete setup of fax machines and photocopy machines. They are amazing. At Sydney, there are two levels on the GWC lounge, and there is a full beverage and food buffet available. Juices, soft drinks, and water are abundant with tea and coffee. For breakfast, there is a nice buffet of food, breakfast pastries, cereals, and all kinds of goodies. I took a seat at the second floor, which overlooked the runway. Due to high winds, Runway 16/34RL are closed for takeoff and landing. During my stay, only a JAL’s Boeing 747-300 made a landing but a couple of Boeing 747s still used this runway for takeoff, but definitely no landing. Anyway, flights were delayed due to this adverse weather. The agents kept on running announcements concerning these delay flights. They were good on informing us about gate and time changes. Anyway, I had some juices and watched many interesting planes. Sydney is definitely the busiest airport. List of planes seen – many Ansett’s and Qantas’ planes, lots of Kendell’s Saab 340s and CRJs, Sunshine’s BAE146s and Dash 8s, Garuda’s A330-300, Japan Airlines’ Boeing 747-300, 2 BA’s Boeing 747-400s, Thai’s Boeing 777-300, Canadian (with Maple Leaf)’s Boeing 767-300, Philippines’ A330-300, SQ’s Boeing 747-400s, Asiana’s Boeing 767-300ER, Air New Zealand’s Boeing 747-400, China Eastern’s A340, Polynesian’s Boeing 737-400, and China’s A340-300… Many interesting planes…
Back of my flight to Perth, it was pretty full today, but the flight was late due to weather. Guess what! The plane also came in from Brisbane. Boarding was delayed till 10:23am, and there was priority boarding this morning. As many other AN flights, the boarding was efficient and the F/As were busy helping passengers with bags. This aircraft was the only A320 I flew with the original F/J/Y seating. The J section occupied quite a number of rows today. I was lucky to get 1A with the original F class seat and all the gold-rimmed consoles and good stuff. The legroom was huge and compared to Row 3 and above, the first two rows were definitely better. Anyhow, the F/As still served us pre-takeoff beverage in J in real glasses of course.
Despite of the weather condition, our plane actually took only 7 minutes to taxi to the runway and took off from Runway 25 again. Pilots told us that our flying time was four hours and forty-five minutes and would try to catch up a bit. We flew at 29,000ft this afternoon due to possible turbulence on higher attitudes. The cabin service on this longer is slightly more elaborate. Yes, Y class got printed menus, too. The flight attendants were not in big hurry to finish the service, so the J meals are more elaborate and there was a separate bar service. Of course, the usual Channel 7 news was shown with a full-length movie titled, “Someone like you,” and more short subjects. In J, the F/A served us drinks using the half-sized cart and we got some cocktail nuts as well. Then the meals began with a couple courses… here is the transcript!
Starter
Chicken Breast smoked and placed on baby fennel, dill and sour cream salad, semi dried tomatoes and sunflower seeds apple balsamic vinaigrette
Salad
Cos, Red Coral, Mignonette, Radicchio, Capsicum, Chives and Spanish onion sliced garnished with Parmesan shavings and French Dressing
The tray first came with the starter and salad, and as mentioned before, both the sunflower seed apple balsamic vinaigrette and french dressing were produced from Brich and Waites’. The starter was very nice and the salad was fresh. I was impressed but Ansett’s china is plain white (I think AN should use something with a bit more pattern or an Ansett symbol.). The choices of breads are rye, wheat, and two other kinds of white rolls.
Main Course
Pork Fillet marinated and cooked in Tandoori style served with stir fried chick peas, orange glazed carrot and roasted sweet potatoes baby asparagus and fresh coulis of spicy Roma tomato
Or
Pesto Marinated Prawns Grilled placed on homemade butternut pumpkin ravioli with coriander, chilli and tomato coulis and a hint of pesto cream sauce fresh basil leaves
I had this entrée, which was excellent, but AN got used a few more prawns (we just got three small ones)
Or
Light choice of cold meal
Smoked chicken breast and Prosciutto Ham served with Capsicums olive oil marinated Victorian goats cheese garden salad mix
Bakery
Fresh Bread Selection
Dessert
Connoisseur Ice Cream
Vanilla or Strawberry
Or
Selection of Australian cheese, fruits, nut chutney and dry biscuits
The meal service is like your typical United Domestic transcon meal. The starter and salad are already pre-placed on a tray with a bread plate, eating utensils, real glass salt and pepper shakers, and a butter plate containing both butter and olive oil. Of there, the F/A places a piece of nice linen over your table first. Then the starter plate is collected and the F/A serves you the main course. Then the F/A comes with the dessert trolley, and followed by tea and coffee service. The F/A also passes a plate of chocolates and mini cookies with tea and coffee. This lunch is pretty nice and there are two choices of white wines and two choices of red wines. I can’t remember what they are, but the Chardonnay I had was pretty nice.
For the rest of the flight, the F/As passed around with water and more wines. I slept a bit and as the pilots promised, we caught up a bit and began our descent at 3:07pm. Candies were passed out and the weather in Perth was beautiful. Due to relatively low traffic, we touched down at 1:19pm Perth local time. The flight was pretty nice for transcontinental flights, but for some reasons, hot towel services were not offered on this particular flight, unlike two other AN long-haul flights I took later in the month. Maybe the catering company forgot to load them, due to the messy operations at Sydney. AN’s terminal at Perth was relatively small and ancient, compared to Qantas’ terminal. We parked at stand 17. About arrival, quarantine is pretty strict with food brought from other states. There is actually a custom official with the dog traveling around the baggage claim area. I am surprised because this hardly happens on domestic flights. I am glad that I do not buy any food-related souvenirs yet.
Perth International Airport is an interesting airport and although the afternoon activities are relatively low, but the international terminal is pretty busy. During my stay, I saw a Thai’s A330-300, a Malaysia’s B777, a Singapore’s B777, and a Qantas’ Boeing 767-300ER. They all landed around 1-2pm and returned to Asia at 4pm. Also, Ansett seems to operate mostly narrow aisle aircraft, like A320 and B737 into Perth, and Qantas uses mostly Boeing 767-200/300 (I saw the ones leased from BA, too).
QF 566 PER-SYD Lv1625 Arr2225
Boeing 767-200 VH-EAQ City of Launceston
Yes, this is an additional QF segment that I bought. The purpose was to fly another Aussie carrier and to add another partner to my AA’s 20th anniversary partners’ list. Yes, I paid full fare business class, which I was still regretting. The service of QF was pretty disappointing, compared to Ansett. Nevertheless, their service style is pretty similar. Like F/A’s greetings in the gates… computerized boarding pass system… The check-in agent was very kind and efficient. I tried to get a window seat, but the agent said, “Believe it or not, today’s business class was completely full.” Too bad! My bags were tagged as “priority.” Just a side note, both Ansett and Qantas delivered their priority bags first, unlike United Airlines. Priority does mean something “down under.” The average waiting time for bags is ten to twenty minutes, unlike the thirty to forty-five minutes waiting time for United’s bags in SFO and LAX. Anyway, I could not use the Captain’s Club because I did not belong to the top two tiers of Oneworld elite group. Anyway, the Qantas’ terminal is quite nice with the circular shape. I bought a copy of the Australian Aviation and sat down near the windows to watch the planes. My plane came in pretty early from Melbourne. I was disappointed to see this Boeing 767-200, rather than the Boeing 767-300 stated on the itinerary.
Boarding began at 4:06pm and I took my seat and the cabin was full at both J and Y class. To my surprise, two very handsome male flight attendants, Duane and Paul, were serving out cabin today. They passed out orange juice and water to us and hanged our coats. About the seats, QF has a separate J class cabin – no convertible on these Boeing 767s. There is a divider like international flights. 2-2-2 six abreast arrangement with decent legroom… but I think AN may have a little bit more legroom than QF. No headrest and other gadgets… Those seats had been here for a while. The door was closed at 4:31pm because we had to wait for some connecting passengers. We pushed back in no time and took off from Runway 21 on this fairly quiet evening in Perth at 4:40pm.
Flying time today was three hours and thirty-five minutes, and our flight route was pretty direct to Sydney – mainly over-water. To my surprise, QF has a sky map function on these Boeing 767-200s, so I could track our flight’s progress once a while. We climbed to 37,000ft and seat belt sign was turned off four minutes after takeoff. The service director immediately began the entertainment program, with a showing of Channel 9 news and a full-length movie titled, “Crocodile Dundee in LA.” Then F/As began the bar service, and we got peanuts to go with our drink. With the full cabin and only 3 F/As, the service was a bit slow, but I actually liked it. The flight was pretty long and there was nothing to hurry about.
Dinner service followed and it was a major disappointment. There was no printed menu, but the one-tray dinner was pretty disappointing. I would expect at least a separate starter course. Nevertheless, there was still the linen service with real S & P shakers and wineglasses. Here is my description –
A bowl of mesclun/seasonal green salad with Birch and Waites’ Herb Vinaigrette dressing
Choice of chicken with jasmine rice and bak choy, or poach salmon on Thai basil leaf salad
A white roll, King Island Dairy’s Camembert cheese wedge with crackers and Bacio choclate
The meal was pretty small, compared to Ansett Australia. There was only one kind of roll and the chicken entrée tasted great, but small. It was even smaller than Midwest Express’ dinner. The cheese is appreciated but a more creative appetizer will be appreciated. There was only one choice or red wine and white wine. It was very disappointing.
Fortunately, the flight attendants kept on passing with coffee and tea and other beverages. Then we were served an ice-cream snack – Connoisseur’s Chocolate Obsession ice cream. Then a hot towel service after we began our descent onto Sydney. The weather had improved a bit and there were activities on all runways. We were still assigned to Runway 25 but the winds were calmer than this morning. We touched down at 10:22pm and was pretty the last flight on the Qantas’ terminal. Our gate was 11. Then I took the shuttle to the Sydney Hilton Airport hotel. I planned to take the aeroside Sydney airport tour the next morning, but the tour was overbooked. I guess advance booking was recommended especially for summer. So I decided to rest for the evening early and took advantage of an earlier flight to Melbourne the next morning.
AN 25 SYD-MEL Lv1200 Arr1320
Boeing 767-200 Not really – last minute aircraft swap
Airbus A320-200 VH-HYH with all convertible seats
A rather deserted check in area at SYD this afternoon… A very friendly agent checked me in and gave me a seat at 4A. Then I went to the Golden wing lounge and had a bit to eat. Finally I got to use a computer so I did not spend much time watching planes. Nothing much to report! Boarding started a bit late but doors were still closed a minute early. As we taxied to Runway 16R for departure, I spotted a Japan Airlines’ Boeing 747-300 with the summer resort Resocha’s livery (JA8183) taking off, and then a Thai Airways’ MD-11 at the Qantas’ maintenance base. Anyhow, we took off at 12:12pm and flying time this afternoon was one hour and four minutes. We cruised at 26,000ft and the F/As wasted no time to begin a hot lunch service in both cabins. After watching the introduction of lunch boxes in Y class on my previous Qantas’ flight, these AN passengers were served quite a hearty lunch with hot entrée. Even though some folks thought cold sandwiches are not bad, the introduction of Y boxes will undoubtedly begin a down swirl of cabin service, just like the United States. Once they are gone, they will only get worst.
Anyway, folks in Business class were given a menu, but with no choice of entrée. There was no separate beverage service, and F/As served you wines and water as she served our meal. However, she was more than happy to grab you a non-alcoholic beverage from the galley. Here was the menu transcript:
Salad
Salad Mesclun Tossed with carrot garnished with semi dried tomato continental cucumber, basil and roasted pine nuts, Balsamic vinaigrette
Main Course
Tender Lamb fillets in a Cacciatore Style Sauce
Lamb medallion pan fried palced on a bed of mushroom risotto with capsicum and green beans
Bakery
Warm Sunflower Seed Bridge roll
Dessert
Sweet Delight
As expected, a one-tray lunch service was served. The salad was decently fresh and the main course was actually delicious. The lamb was not tough and the sauce was just right. The mushroom risotto was delicious and it was pretty amazing to get a pretty decent lunch on an hour flight. As usual, Channel 7 news was shown and more music videos. Included with the lunch was a piece of cheddar with crackers and a piece of chocolate candy.
Descent began soon on this rather gloomy day at Melbourne. We landed at 1:16pm on Runway 16, and parked at gate 11. As we taxied towards the gate, we passed by the usual assortment of Asian airlines’ planes in the international terminal. I saw a CX’s Airbus A340 pushing back, an Emirates’ Boeing 777-300 with the Dubai Shopping label parked at the remote stand, and the usual MH/SQ/QF Boeing 747-400s. The airport at Melbourne was definitely not as nice as BNE or SYD. The interior is rather gloomy, but still better than most US airports. Anyway, I made my way to the baggage claim and the priority tags worked again. I took a cab towards my hotel for this trip, Westin Melbourne.
After checked in at my hotel, I wasted no time in booking the Penguin Parade tour the next afternoon and to walk around the city. Since I know that Australians closed their shops early, I decided to head off immediately. Melbourne definitely had more shops than Brisbane and the city was clean and comfortable to walk around. Then I finally could not resist the temptation to walk into the decent Chinatown at Little Bourke Street and bought a Chinese newspaper. Anyhow, I walked up towards the hill and found a nice technical bookstore with many good aviation books and magazines to read.
The most impressive sight of my trip was definitely the Penguin parade. Unfortunately, photography was banned but I could still remember the penguins rushing up the shores when the last ray of sunlight silently disappeared. These little penguins were cute and I love their dark blue colored fur. Although the weather was cold and windy, I sat in the beach for almost an hour (I was smart enough to bring my pumpkin soup). These penguins arrived in the shores in groups and when one of the members decided to head back to the water, the other penguins would follow. During the whole evening, I only saw one solo penguin crossing the beach. It was definitely a worthwhile trip, despite the long two hours and half ride into the city. I highly recommended this day tour to anyone who planned to visit Melbourne.
AN 74 MEL-BNE Lv1640 Arr1840
Airbus A320-200 VH-HYT
Once again, I arrived early at the airport and checked in was completed in no time. The Golden wing lounge was rather busy this afternoon and a full deli and sandwich buffet was set up with fruits and cakes. In terms of planes, there were the usual international bunch, but the special plane of the day was the Lauda Air’s Boeing 777. It was very elegant.
The boarding gate was A1 and the boarding took place five minutes late, but we pushed back a minute early. The load was still pretty full this afternoon and we were served the usual orange juice or water in J class. The F/As were a bit more relaxed today, since the flying time was an hour and forty-two minutes. We took off from Runway 34 at 4:48pm and climbed up to 37,000ft for the rest of the flight. It was a smooth flight and the F/As began the short subject videos after the pilots’ announcements. Unlike weekday flights, Ansett did not show any news and therefore, I watched a wildlife animal show, a cooking program headed by an extremely handsome and young chef, and more music videos. (The same programs played again on my next flight to TSV as well).
The F/As first came with a beverage and nuts service. Then they passed out an afternoon refreshment. For J class, it was a smoked chicken frittata on a bed of mesclun salad accompanied by diced tomato and lemon vinaigrette. Then there was a bowl of fruit (1/2 kiwi and cantaloupes), some cheese and crackers, and a “Medlow” gel candy. It was decent but I guess the Australians ate dinner later than most Americans. On a United flight departing after 4pm, dinner service was usually served. Anyhow, dinner was served on the next segment.
Descent began at 6:09pm and we landed at Brisbane’s Runway 01 on 6:30pm. We parked at gate 46. Although my flight to TSV carried the same flight number, there was an aircraft change.
AN 74 BNE-TSV Lv1920 Arr2115
Boeing 737-300 VH-CZT
Due to short transit time, I did not walk towards the Golden Wing lounge and just stayed around at the gate area. Our plane arrived on time from Cairns but arrived at the gate a bit late. Boarding took place at 7:01pm and the agent changed my seat last minute due to an injured passenger requiring the extra legroom on 1A. I was fine and the agent told me that the seat next to me was blocked. That was the only AN domestic flight, which I had no neighbor. Anyway, our plane pushed back on time and taxied towards Runway 01 for our takeoff. We took off at 7:26pm and the pilot announced that our flying time to TSV was an hour and forty-two minutes with a cruising attitude at 35,000ft.
Once again, the same short video programs began after the announcement and a hot dinner was served in both cabins. There was a separate beverage service again and the F/As took their times in serving the dinner. The dinner tonight was perhaps the most disappointing meal I got from Ansett. There was once again no choice (although it was a slightly longer flight) and fish once again proved to be a rather bad airline food choice. Here was the menu transcript –
Dinner
Salad
Crispy mix of Meculin Lettuce slices of Kalamata Olives, celery, shallots, roasted macadamia nuts and light French vinaigrette add to your taste
Main Course
Salmon Steak Marinated in Char Sui Seasoning and fried boy choy sauté in soy sauce and fragrant coconut rice served with mango salsa
Bakery
Warm Wholemeal Roll
Dessert
Sweet Delight
The salmon was pretty tough and smelt pretty awful. I ate the rice and veggie and everything else in the tray. The sweet delights were Tasmanian heritage brie and crackers, and a Kiss Hazelnut chocolate candy. Fortunately our plane began the descent early and we landed at 9:08pm. Unlike BNE, SYD, and MEL, TSV airport was relatively small with only one jet bridge (for its international flight) and couple parking spot. Yes, we had to use the stairs, which I did not mind at all. The weather was nice and I looked forward to my visit.
AN 123 TSV-BNE Lv0600 Arr0740
Boeing 737-300 VH-CZJ
After a day of festivities, I reluctantly woke up 4am in the morning and took a cab to the rather busy TSV airport. The agent at Ansett was very kind and I got my boarding pass and prepared for my day in the air. The routing did not make sense and it meant to maximize the mileage limit allowed by my ticket and to experience Ansett a bit more. Ansett operated a small club at TSV and I was given the code to get in from the agent. The lounge was very tired-looking but had decent amount of juices, coffee, teas, and limited amount of pre-packaged snacks. You really could not expect much from a small lounge. Then I proceeded to the gate lounge and boarding commenced at 5:39am. It was an excellent experience walking through open-air and boarded your plane through the stairs. The air was fresh and TSV airport was busy with the QF’s Boeing 737 next door and various ex-Flight West’s Fokker 28s and turboprops. The load was full on this morning flight Monday. I took my seat 1G and was given the usual pre-takeoff juices. We pushed back on time and took off at 6:07am. We flew over the city and it was a beautiful morning here in Queensland.
Flying time this morning was one hour and twenty-four minutes, and we climbed to 29,000ft. As usual, the Channel 7 early morning news was shown and the F/As passed out some yogurt energizer drink. Unlike other AN morning flights, there was no printed menu and no cold breakfast option. But it was still good. Fruit appetizers contained 3 cantaloupe balls, melon slice, pineapple slice, 3 grapes and a strawberry. The entrée was a nice poached egg with tomato, mushrooms, and bacons. And we had two slices of oat toasts to go with the meal. Since the flight was a bit longer, an episode of Spin City was shown and I certainly missed Michael J. Fox. As the sun began to rise, we began our early descent onto Brisbane. We touched down on Runway 01 at 7:31am and parked at Gate 43.
AN 63 BNE-MEL Lv0845 Arr1100
Airbus A320-200 VH-HYI
Boarding gate was 38 and I was one of the last passengers to board the plane. The load was pretty full once again and I got an aisle seat, 1B. As usual, orange juice or water was served, and newspapers were already placed in the console. Of course, the seats are the convertible ones, but the legroom was still good. We pushed back a few minutes late, and took off from Runway 01 at 8:59am. Flying time this morning was two hours and four minutes, with a cruising attitude of 35,000ft. As usual, Ansett Channel 7 news and “Spin City” were shown on this two hours flight. There was a morning tea service and the flight attendants wasted no time to begin the service. The weather in Melbourne was not too good this morning with heavy fogs. Fortunately, our flight still departed on time and would be fine at Melbourne. Similar to the afternoon tea service, the morning tea consisted of a warmed smoked salmon frittata on top of a green salad (onion, lettuce, green peppers, & olive) with yogurt dressing, a fruit bowl with goat cheese, grapes, strawberry, and crackers, and a Kiss’ Hazelnut chocolate candy. The meal was fine, but a bit boring. I hope AN could serve a slightly different meal for the morning tea… maybe a yogurt, some breakfast breads and more fresh fruit. Anyway, there was a full lunch service on the next segment and I was fine with the meal. The flight attendants passed around with more water and hard candies prior to arrival. We began our descent at 10:41am, and landed on Runway 16 at 11am. We quickly taxied to gate 2.
AN 63 MEL-PER Lv1145 Arr1345
Since the transit time was short, I decided to hang around the gate for our continuation to Perth. Unfortunately, our flight was still delayed a bit due to our late arrival. Thankfully, we began boarding a little bit before noon, and the flying time was only three hours and thirty-five minutes. The same flight attendants welcomed us and I found out that this trip took place over a couple days, and this was their final segment for the day. As usual, pre-departure drinks were served and champagne was included on this list on this slightly longer flight. Door was closed at 12:14am, but due to traffic, we did not take off till 12:40am. We used Runway 16 again.
We climbed to 31,000ft and the F/As passed out menus on both cabins – J and Y. Once again, nuts were served first with the beverage trolley, and then the news was shown, followed by a full-length movie, “Someone Like You.” Since this was my third time viewing it, I decided to take a nap and read my books for this segment. Menu transcript –
Lunch
Starter
Slow cooked pork neck marinated in hoisin sauce
Roman baby lettuce oven baked egg plant, capsicums, fresh sliced mango, toasted Macadamia nuts, Macadamia nut oil dressing
The starter was very nice and Australian food tended to have an Asian flavor to it. The veggies were very nice accompanying the starter. Delicious…
Salad
Cos, Red Coral, Mignonette, Radicchio, Capsicum, Chives and Spanish onion sliced garnished with Parmesan shavings, French dressing
Main Course
Fillets of Snapper Fish coasted with Pesto Crust, sautéed choy sum and kipfler potatoes
or
Italian Smoked Chicken Breast sliced, Papadelli pasta and mushroom cream sauce bacon and semi dried tomatoes
or
Light choice of cold meal
Roasted fillet of Beef Sliced
Hokkien Noodles and red capsicum pesto salad, pan fried banana, honey sesame soy, rock melon, capsicums, curly endive
Continental parsley
I had the smoked chicken breast entrée, which was excellent. I loved the pasta and the cream sauce was not too heavy. A very good meal again!
Bakery
Fresh Bread Selection
Rye bread, wholemeal roll, and sesame seed rolls
Dessert
Connoisseur Ice Cream
Or
Selection of Australian Cheese, fruits, nut chutney and dry biscuits
I once again chose the ice cream. Once again, we had a choice of strawberry or vanilla. There was mini cookies and chocolate served, too with the tea and coffee service.
The flight was excellent and the F/As came by with refills quite frequently. I got a Y menu, which featured decent food and the menu cover was very nice. We soon began our descent at 3:57pm. The F/As once again came around with hot towels and more hard candies. What can you expect more from a transcon flight. With minimal traffic in Perth, we touched down at 2:15pm. Another perfect journey with Ansett.
AN 164 PER-SYD Lv1620 Arr2220
Airbus A320-200 VH-HYE
Here was my final domestic leg in Australia and I was very doubtful about flying United’s domestic again in the near future. The service within Australia and New Zealand certainly impressed me much, and the service in US was substantially below par. Although I understood the cheaper fare structure in “Down Under,” business travelers in Australia/New Zealand definitely got more from their full fare tickets here. I went to the Golden Wing Lounge in Perth and the facilities were decent with nice bar and food buffet, but the business center was out dated and the computers were not working here. Unlike other AN lounges at Sydney or Melbourne, the business center used older computers and the seating area was smaller. The most special feature was an outdoor seating area for smokers or for limited plane spotting. Nothing much to report to you, except the usual array of MH, SQ’s 777, TG’s A330 and QF’s 763.
The gate area occupied by AN was smaller in Perth, but it was fine with me. Boarding gate was stand 16 and gate 1. The flight arrived early from Sydney and boarding began at 4:02pm. I got a window seat at 2G, but of course, I took the wrong seat. Thankfully, the passengers did not mind taking my wrong seats on the other side. Australians were really kind and helpful. I felt a bit embarrassed but I got my punishment – an annoying neighbor… Although the boarding was completed early, we had to wait for couple connecting passengers. We were still early pushing back. We took off from Runway 21 at 4:24pm.
Flying time was three hours and forty minutes and we cruised to 10,700meter (33,000ft). Unlike other Ansett’s flights, the flight attendants took their times in feeding us, which was fine with me. Nothing to hurry about. Ansett’s afternoon news, Taylor in Panama, “Spin City,” and music videos were shown nonstop. I skipped the movie because I was not too interested in Pierce Brosnan. The F/As first came around with hot towels and the beverage cart followed. After takeoff, I was reading couple magazines and was waiting for the news to begin. My neighbor asked me if I needed to use the bathroom, I said, “no.” Then as the news began and I was listening, my neighbor decided to make some comments. He kept on repeating and I obvious would have troubles listening to him. Then I took my headphone off and he said rudely, “Did you have problems with your legs? Why were you moving and shaking your legs?” I did not answer him and just said “sorry.” I guess after flying since six in the morning, my legs were tired but I did not understand why my legs bothered him. I was more than a seat away from him and my shaking would not bother him at all. It was not that I was rocking my seats. He gave me a very dirty look, so I decided that I did not need to treat him too nice. He decided to skip meal, and I think the flight attendants passing me meals annoyed him. But too bad, I did not need to give up my right to have my dinner. I did not look or speak to him for the rest of the flight and I was fairly upset with a poor neighbor. Fortunately, the kind flight attendants and the service made this flight a good one. Enough with this rude “gentlemen,” here is the menu transcript.
Dinner
Starter
Pan Fried Duck Sausage, garden lettuce, cucumber, Roma tomatoes, Kalamata Olives garnished with Parmesan shavings and green zucchini dressing
Side Salad
Mesculin Salad Tossed with Carrot Julienne basil leaf and roasted pine nuts and balsamic vinaigrette
The starter tasted fine and the salad was very fresh. Ansett was really creative with its choice of meals and food ingredients. The fresh vegetables added great deal to the salad.
Main Course
Beef Cheek in Red Wine Sauce and Pan Fried Fillet of Beef served with roasted potatoes, green beans, and carrot forest mushroom jus lie
Or
Light Creamy Chicken Ragout on Buttered Pumpkin gnocchi with chives, with semi dried tomatoes Kalmata Olive Seeds
or
Light Choice of cold meal
Slow Smoked Duck Breast, orange segments, grilled marinated artichoke, carrot and raisin salad, pineapple salsa
I chose the chicken, which was better than I thought.
Bakery
Fresh Bread Selection
Sesame rolls, rye breads – three kinds in total
Dessert
Connoisseur Ice Cream
Or
Selection of Australian Cheese, fruits, nut chutney and dry biscuits
Vanilla ice cream, cheese plate, mini cookies, and Davis & Grant’s Passion fruit chocolate
Once again, candy was passed out after we commenced our descent. We landed on Runway 34L and I spotted the China Airlines’ brand new Airbus A340 was heading to Runway 34L for its takeoff to Taipei. We slowly taxied to Gate 31 and was one of the last flights into Sydney this evening. Overall, I had a good experience with Ansett Australia’s domestic service, and really looked forward to its international flight.
My experiences with Sydney and AN 887 will be posted on the next part.
The international terminal at Brisbane is very nice and the signs are clear. This time, I got the express card for deplaning. I bought a bottle of wine for a special couple in the Duty free shop and then headed off to the Australian immigration. It was fine and the official kept on asking me if I bought more than USD$5000 into Australia. I just said, “I wish I had that much cash.” She asked because of the hotel I am staying. Fortunately, when I arrived at the hotel, the treasury casino was a whole block away from the hotel. Then I got my bags and brought no “bad” stuff into Australia, but the X-ray machine failed my big blue suitcase. So the poor but handsome officer went through my dirty laundry and plane stuff. Finally he saw my Air NZ amenity kits and I just told him that it was the little bag they gave you when you flew long haul flights. Then he said, “that is fine,” and helped me with the suitcase. What an experience!
Then I took the shuttle towards the very nice hotel and the weather was really nice. I then walked into the hotel and the room was very nice. The rate is very reasonable (may I say… cheap). I always select casino type hotel because they often had nice rooms but cheap rates to attract gamblers. Well this strategy did not work for me because I did not even walk into the casino at all. I was tempted but felt uneasy walking into one. Anyway, I immediately spotted a Brisbane day tour and the Russell Crowe look-alike concierge took care of it. He booked the tour for me and arranged the tour to pick me up. I thanked him and my impression of Australia continued to be more positive. He is such a handsome fellow. Gosh… I must be driving you all nuts. Then I proceeded to the Queen Street mall and had a good time, but my only complaint was the store closing too early. Since I am from Hong Kong, I am not used to the fact that stores closed at 5:30pm. Only souvenir shops opened late. Then I walked around and had a light dinner. I tried to eat light since I did not want my stomachache to reappear again.
I woke up early next day to take advantage of this full day tour. First, we took a river cruise towards the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. The cruise was very informative and I always love cruise for mysterious reason. They sailed through many interesting places and saw all those fancy houses along the riverfront. The Koala Sanctuary was an amazing experience. Those koalas were cute and I paid AUD$13 to take a picture with a koala. I was very cheerful and then I feed the kangaroos and they really loved the stuff I fed them. I saw many birds and the Tasmanian devil, wombats, and other animals before heading back to the bus. The afternoon tour brought us to Woodshed place, which we saw all those different kinds of sheep. There was the sheep shearing demonstration and it was another fun tour. Then we went to the top of a hill (can’t remember the name) but it overlooked Brisbane and it was a nice finish to the tour. The tour was a good one and a quick way to know the city a bit. Then I went back to the mall and had a dinner at the Vietnamese noodle café. It was pretty nice and relaxing. Then I headed back to the hotel for an early night of nap. Another day of flying was coming up and I finally got to take the AN 882 from BNE to SYD, but…
August 22, 2001
AN 882 BNE-SYD Canceled due to late arrival of aircraft from Osaka!
AN 103 BNE-SYD Lv0600 Arr0730
Boeing 767-200 VH-RME
As you could read, my dream flight was delayed due to the aircraft still in Osaka. They sent me to the domestic desk and rebooked me on the BNE to SYD flight. My first impression was that the agents did not seem to care much. They talked among themselves but made sure that I was rebooked on the 6am flight. Anyway we all rushed to the arrival level and the nicer domestic connection clerk rebooked us on the 6am flight. But they did not put me on an earlier flight for Perth. I ended up waiting in SYD for over two hours. I could have been out of SYD at 8:30am. I hope that AN could read my whole itinerary next time before rebooking me. I did not notice this particular detail because they were in a hurry. A special bus took us to the terminal and boarding did not begin till 5:42am. Fortunately, I could at least fly this Boeing 767-200 plane once.
The first thing that I noticed about Australian domestic service is that boarding took place very quickly and one or two of the flight attendants will walk out to the boarding pass reading machines and welcome passengers. This sped up the boarding quickly and economy passengers pick their headphones on the air-bridge. But strangely, priority boarding happened only on less than 50% of my flights and boarding by row number only happened on a few full flights. Therefore there is always congestion on the air-bridge.
Then, the service director is at the door to welcome passengers and on each pair of business class seats, two newspapers (one local and national) are always placed there for our enjoyments. J class headphones are also placed on the seat console. The flight attendants will hang your coat. There was a pre-takeoff beverage prior to takeoff in business class and it was a choice of orange juice or water (champagne on the Perth to East Coast routes). On this particular Boeing 767, there is a divider between J and Y with curtains. The seats on J are not the convertible kinds, like A320s or B737s. They are all upholstered on Ansett’s new earth-color scheme cloth. The seating arrangement is 2-2-2 and the seats are fairly comfortable. The legroom is definitely better than UA’s J class on its domestic Boeing 767-200s. Unlike most US airlines, Ansett’s bulkhead rows are the best seats in the house and there is a space for your hand carry. On the Boeing 767-200s, AN has a belt to secure your bag placed in front of your feet on the bulkhead rows. The flight attendants are very cheerful and more than happy to stow bags for passengers and to help families with small children – even baby-sit them for a while. The whole atmosphere is generally more cheerful and friendly than your typical United flights. (I know the friendly culture in the Aussie land can also be observed on Ansett and Qantas flights.)
Although it was a full flight, doors were closed four minutes early and the pilots wasted no time to push back. As predicted, activities at Brisbane were fairly quite at these early hours. Ansett used a very interesting safety demonstration system. Yes, there is a tape, but has no advertisement. It is straight to the point and the F/As will show you how to use the oxygen mask live and to show you the exits. Very quick! BTW, Ansett shows music video’s clips throughout boarding and at the end of the entertainment programs. I love pop music so watching Whitney House and Westlife is no problem to me. I love that duet song by Whiteny and George Michael. Our flight quickly taxied towards Runway 01 and took off at 6:05am. Flying time today was about an hour and seventeen minutes. Unlike your usual United Sh*ttle or short haul US domestic flights, there is a full hot breakfast at both business and economy class cabins. The service began at no time.
First, the flight attendants began the inflight video programs, which are the Channel 7 Ansett News (updated twice per day) and then if time is available, there will be some short subjects shown or simply more music videos. At 6:15am, the seat belt sign was turned off, and at the same time, the flight attendants passed out printed menus in J (a small A5 size card, but still nice) and passed out strawberry flavored drinking yogurts. Then they pushed out the meal cart in ten minutes. Here is the menu transcript!
Breakfast
Energy Drink
Strawberry Flavored Drinking Yogurt
Appetizer
Fruit Medley of the Season
Freshly cut fruit left in its natural syrup
Watermelon, grapes, melon, pineapple, and orange segments
Breakfast
Creamy Scrambled eggs pancake wrapped in proscuitto ham and served with sliced sauteed potato, grilled roma tomato and continental parsley
Or
Selection of Cereal with Fresh Milk
Special K with a silver container of milk… I took the cereal because it was too early to eat eggs
Bakery
Thick Wholemeal Toast
Orange Marmalade – I still think toasts did not held well on an airplane condition
A basic one tray breakfast with many components… The F/As then passed out tea or coffee and you can request juices if you want. There is no bar service unlike the US airlines. After watching an episode of “Fraiser,” our flight began our descent onto Sydney. After the pilots turned on the seat belt sign, the F/As passed out hard candies throughout the cabin, and we touched down on Sydney’s Kingford Smith Airport’s Runway 25 at 7:29am. To my surprise, one of the flight attendants was first off from the flight and bid farewell to each passenger. Very personal service! We were parked at gate 40 and after my failed attempt to change to an earlier flight to Perth, I went to the Golden Wing Club (with my Star Alliance Gold card) because the wait was more than two hours.
AN 111 SYD-PER Lv0950 Arr1250
Airbus A320-200 VH-HYS
About the Golden Wing lounge, I think only GWC and Star Gold members can use the lounge. Each time when I entered the lounge, I showed them my card and got the approval. In general, the GWC are excellent throughout Ansett’s network, with the exception of Townsville. The lounges are completely different from any domestic US lounge. It is very full, just like any RCC, but the seating area is huge. There is always a separate business centers with a few computer hooked up with internet connections and printer, and many business stations. There is a complete setup of fax machines and photocopy machines. They are amazing. At Sydney, there are two levels on the GWC lounge, and there is a full beverage and food buffet available. Juices, soft drinks, and water are abundant with tea and coffee. For breakfast, there is a nice buffet of food, breakfast pastries, cereals, and all kinds of goodies. I took a seat at the second floor, which overlooked the runway. Due to high winds, Runway 16/34RL are closed for takeoff and landing. During my stay, only a JAL’s Boeing 747-300 made a landing but a couple of Boeing 747s still used this runway for takeoff, but definitely no landing. Anyway, flights were delayed due to this adverse weather. The agents kept on running announcements concerning these delay flights. They were good on informing us about gate and time changes. Anyway, I had some juices and watched many interesting planes. Sydney is definitely the busiest airport. List of planes seen – many Ansett’s and Qantas’ planes, lots of Kendell’s Saab 340s and CRJs, Sunshine’s BAE146s and Dash 8s, Garuda’s A330-300, Japan Airlines’ Boeing 747-300, 2 BA’s Boeing 747-400s, Thai’s Boeing 777-300, Canadian (with Maple Leaf)’s Boeing 767-300, Philippines’ A330-300, SQ’s Boeing 747-400s, Asiana’s Boeing 767-300ER, Air New Zealand’s Boeing 747-400, China Eastern’s A340, Polynesian’s Boeing 737-400, and China’s A340-300… Many interesting planes…
Back of my flight to Perth, it was pretty full today, but the flight was late due to weather. Guess what! The plane also came in from Brisbane. Boarding was delayed till 10:23am, and there was priority boarding this morning. As many other AN flights, the boarding was efficient and the F/As were busy helping passengers with bags. This aircraft was the only A320 I flew with the original F/J/Y seating. The J section occupied quite a number of rows today. I was lucky to get 1A with the original F class seat and all the gold-rimmed consoles and good stuff. The legroom was huge and compared to Row 3 and above, the first two rows were definitely better. Anyhow, the F/As still served us pre-takeoff beverage in J in real glasses of course.
Despite of the weather condition, our plane actually took only 7 minutes to taxi to the runway and took off from Runway 25 again. Pilots told us that our flying time was four hours and forty-five minutes and would try to catch up a bit. We flew at 29,000ft this afternoon due to possible turbulence on higher attitudes. The cabin service on this longer is slightly more elaborate. Yes, Y class got printed menus, too. The flight attendants were not in big hurry to finish the service, so the J meals are more elaborate and there was a separate bar service. Of course, the usual Channel 7 news was shown with a full-length movie titled, “Someone like you,” and more short subjects. In J, the F/A served us drinks using the half-sized cart and we got some cocktail nuts as well. Then the meals began with a couple courses… here is the transcript!
Starter
Chicken Breast smoked and placed on baby fennel, dill and sour cream salad, semi dried tomatoes and sunflower seeds apple balsamic vinaigrette
Salad
Cos, Red Coral, Mignonette, Radicchio, Capsicum, Chives and Spanish onion sliced garnished with Parmesan shavings and French Dressing
The tray first came with the starter and salad, and as mentioned before, both the sunflower seed apple balsamic vinaigrette and french dressing were produced from Brich and Waites’. The starter was very nice and the salad was fresh. I was impressed but Ansett’s china is plain white (I think AN should use something with a bit more pattern or an Ansett symbol.). The choices of breads are rye, wheat, and two other kinds of white rolls.
Main Course
Pork Fillet marinated and cooked in Tandoori style served with stir fried chick peas, orange glazed carrot and roasted sweet potatoes baby asparagus and fresh coulis of spicy Roma tomato
Or
Pesto Marinated Prawns Grilled placed on homemade butternut pumpkin ravioli with coriander, chilli and tomato coulis and a hint of pesto cream sauce fresh basil leaves
I had this entrée, which was excellent, but AN got used a few more prawns (we just got three small ones)
Or
Light choice of cold meal
Smoked chicken breast and Prosciutto Ham served with Capsicums olive oil marinated Victorian goats cheese garden salad mix
Bakery
Fresh Bread Selection
Dessert
Connoisseur Ice Cream
Vanilla or Strawberry
Or
Selection of Australian cheese, fruits, nut chutney and dry biscuits
The meal service is like your typical United Domestic transcon meal. The starter and salad are already pre-placed on a tray with a bread plate, eating utensils, real glass salt and pepper shakers, and a butter plate containing both butter and olive oil. Of there, the F/A places a piece of nice linen over your table first. Then the starter plate is collected and the F/A serves you the main course. Then the F/A comes with the dessert trolley, and followed by tea and coffee service. The F/A also passes a plate of chocolates and mini cookies with tea and coffee. This lunch is pretty nice and there are two choices of white wines and two choices of red wines. I can’t remember what they are, but the Chardonnay I had was pretty nice.
For the rest of the flight, the F/As passed around with water and more wines. I slept a bit and as the pilots promised, we caught up a bit and began our descent at 3:07pm. Candies were passed out and the weather in Perth was beautiful. Due to relatively low traffic, we touched down at 1:19pm Perth local time. The flight was pretty nice for transcontinental flights, but for some reasons, hot towel services were not offered on this particular flight, unlike two other AN long-haul flights I took later in the month. Maybe the catering company forgot to load them, due to the messy operations at Sydney. AN’s terminal at Perth was relatively small and ancient, compared to Qantas’ terminal. We parked at stand 17. About arrival, quarantine is pretty strict with food brought from other states. There is actually a custom official with the dog traveling around the baggage claim area. I am surprised because this hardly happens on domestic flights. I am glad that I do not buy any food-related souvenirs yet.
Perth International Airport is an interesting airport and although the afternoon activities are relatively low, but the international terminal is pretty busy. During my stay, I saw a Thai’s A330-300, a Malaysia’s B777, a Singapore’s B777, and a Qantas’ Boeing 767-300ER. They all landed around 1-2pm and returned to Asia at 4pm. Also, Ansett seems to operate mostly narrow aisle aircraft, like A320 and B737 into Perth, and Qantas uses mostly Boeing 767-200/300 (I saw the ones leased from BA, too).
QF 566 PER-SYD Lv1625 Arr2225
Boeing 767-200 VH-EAQ City of Launceston
Yes, this is an additional QF segment that I bought. The purpose was to fly another Aussie carrier and to add another partner to my AA’s 20th anniversary partners’ list. Yes, I paid full fare business class, which I was still regretting. The service of QF was pretty disappointing, compared to Ansett. Nevertheless, their service style is pretty similar. Like F/A’s greetings in the gates… computerized boarding pass system… The check-in agent was very kind and efficient. I tried to get a window seat, but the agent said, “Believe it or not, today’s business class was completely full.” Too bad! My bags were tagged as “priority.” Just a side note, both Ansett and Qantas delivered their priority bags first, unlike United Airlines. Priority does mean something “down under.” The average waiting time for bags is ten to twenty minutes, unlike the thirty to forty-five minutes waiting time for United’s bags in SFO and LAX. Anyway, I could not use the Captain’s Club because I did not belong to the top two tiers of Oneworld elite group. Anyway, the Qantas’ terminal is quite nice with the circular shape. I bought a copy of the Australian Aviation and sat down near the windows to watch the planes. My plane came in pretty early from Melbourne. I was disappointed to see this Boeing 767-200, rather than the Boeing 767-300 stated on the itinerary.
Boarding began at 4:06pm and I took my seat and the cabin was full at both J and Y class. To my surprise, two very handsome male flight attendants, Duane and Paul, were serving out cabin today. They passed out orange juice and water to us and hanged our coats. About the seats, QF has a separate J class cabin – no convertible on these Boeing 767s. There is a divider like international flights. 2-2-2 six abreast arrangement with decent legroom… but I think AN may have a little bit more legroom than QF. No headrest and other gadgets… Those seats had been here for a while. The door was closed at 4:31pm because we had to wait for some connecting passengers. We pushed back in no time and took off from Runway 21 on this fairly quiet evening in Perth at 4:40pm.
Flying time today was three hours and thirty-five minutes, and our flight route was pretty direct to Sydney – mainly over-water. To my surprise, QF has a sky map function on these Boeing 767-200s, so I could track our flight’s progress once a while. We climbed to 37,000ft and seat belt sign was turned off four minutes after takeoff. The service director immediately began the entertainment program, with a showing of Channel 9 news and a full-length movie titled, “Crocodile Dundee in LA.” Then F/As began the bar service, and we got peanuts to go with our drink. With the full cabin and only 3 F/As, the service was a bit slow, but I actually liked it. The flight was pretty long and there was nothing to hurry about.
Dinner service followed and it was a major disappointment. There was no printed menu, but the one-tray dinner was pretty disappointing. I would expect at least a separate starter course. Nevertheless, there was still the linen service with real S & P shakers and wineglasses. Here is my description –
A bowl of mesclun/seasonal green salad with Birch and Waites’ Herb Vinaigrette dressing
Choice of chicken with jasmine rice and bak choy, or poach salmon on Thai basil leaf salad
A white roll, King Island Dairy’s Camembert cheese wedge with crackers and Bacio choclate
The meal was pretty small, compared to Ansett Australia. There was only one kind of roll and the chicken entrée tasted great, but small. It was even smaller than Midwest Express’ dinner. The cheese is appreciated but a more creative appetizer will be appreciated. There was only one choice or red wine and white wine. It was very disappointing.
Fortunately, the flight attendants kept on passing with coffee and tea and other beverages. Then we were served an ice-cream snack – Connoisseur’s Chocolate Obsession ice cream. Then a hot towel service after we began our descent onto Sydney. The weather had improved a bit and there were activities on all runways. We were still assigned to Runway 25 but the winds were calmer than this morning. We touched down at 10:22pm and was pretty the last flight on the Qantas’ terminal. Our gate was 11. Then I took the shuttle to the Sydney Hilton Airport hotel. I planned to take the aeroside Sydney airport tour the next morning, but the tour was overbooked. I guess advance booking was recommended especially for summer. So I decided to rest for the evening early and took advantage of an earlier flight to Melbourne the next morning.
AN 25 SYD-MEL Lv1200 Arr1320
Boeing 767-200 Not really – last minute aircraft swap
Airbus A320-200 VH-HYH with all convertible seats
A rather deserted check in area at SYD this afternoon… A very friendly agent checked me in and gave me a seat at 4A. Then I went to the Golden wing lounge and had a bit to eat. Finally I got to use a computer so I did not spend much time watching planes. Nothing much to report! Boarding started a bit late but doors were still closed a minute early. As we taxied to Runway 16R for departure, I spotted a Japan Airlines’ Boeing 747-300 with the summer resort Resocha’s livery (JA8183) taking off, and then a Thai Airways’ MD-11 at the Qantas’ maintenance base. Anyhow, we took off at 12:12pm and flying time this afternoon was one hour and four minutes. We cruised at 26,000ft and the F/As wasted no time to begin a hot lunch service in both cabins. After watching the introduction of lunch boxes in Y class on my previous Qantas’ flight, these AN passengers were served quite a hearty lunch with hot entrée. Even though some folks thought cold sandwiches are not bad, the introduction of Y boxes will undoubtedly begin a down swirl of cabin service, just like the United States. Once they are gone, they will only get worst.
Anyway, folks in Business class were given a menu, but with no choice of entrée. There was no separate beverage service, and F/As served you wines and water as she served our meal. However, she was more than happy to grab you a non-alcoholic beverage from the galley. Here was the menu transcript:
Salad
Salad Mesclun Tossed with carrot garnished with semi dried tomato continental cucumber, basil and roasted pine nuts, Balsamic vinaigrette
Main Course
Tender Lamb fillets in a Cacciatore Style Sauce
Lamb medallion pan fried palced on a bed of mushroom risotto with capsicum and green beans
Bakery
Warm Sunflower Seed Bridge roll
Dessert
Sweet Delight
As expected, a one-tray lunch service was served. The salad was decently fresh and the main course was actually delicious. The lamb was not tough and the sauce was just right. The mushroom risotto was delicious and it was pretty amazing to get a pretty decent lunch on an hour flight. As usual, Channel 7 news was shown and more music videos. Included with the lunch was a piece of cheddar with crackers and a piece of chocolate candy.
Descent began soon on this rather gloomy day at Melbourne. We landed at 1:16pm on Runway 16, and parked at gate 11. As we taxied towards the gate, we passed by the usual assortment of Asian airlines’ planes in the international terminal. I saw a CX’s Airbus A340 pushing back, an Emirates’ Boeing 777-300 with the Dubai Shopping label parked at the remote stand, and the usual MH/SQ/QF Boeing 747-400s. The airport at Melbourne was definitely not as nice as BNE or SYD. The interior is rather gloomy, but still better than most US airports. Anyway, I made my way to the baggage claim and the priority tags worked again. I took a cab towards my hotel for this trip, Westin Melbourne.
After checked in at my hotel, I wasted no time in booking the Penguin Parade tour the next afternoon and to walk around the city. Since I know that Australians closed their shops early, I decided to head off immediately. Melbourne definitely had more shops than Brisbane and the city was clean and comfortable to walk around. Then I finally could not resist the temptation to walk into the decent Chinatown at Little Bourke Street and bought a Chinese newspaper. Anyhow, I walked up towards the hill and found a nice technical bookstore with many good aviation books and magazines to read.
The most impressive sight of my trip was definitely the Penguin parade. Unfortunately, photography was banned but I could still remember the penguins rushing up the shores when the last ray of sunlight silently disappeared. These little penguins were cute and I love their dark blue colored fur. Although the weather was cold and windy, I sat in the beach for almost an hour (I was smart enough to bring my pumpkin soup). These penguins arrived in the shores in groups and when one of the members decided to head back to the water, the other penguins would follow. During the whole evening, I only saw one solo penguin crossing the beach. It was definitely a worthwhile trip, despite the long two hours and half ride into the city. I highly recommended this day tour to anyone who planned to visit Melbourne.
AN 74 MEL-BNE Lv1640 Arr1840
Airbus A320-200 VH-HYT
Once again, I arrived early at the airport and checked in was completed in no time. The Golden wing lounge was rather busy this afternoon and a full deli and sandwich buffet was set up with fruits and cakes. In terms of planes, there were the usual international bunch, but the special plane of the day was the Lauda Air’s Boeing 777. It was very elegant.
The boarding gate was A1 and the boarding took place five minutes late, but we pushed back a minute early. The load was still pretty full this afternoon and we were served the usual orange juice or water in J class. The F/As were a bit more relaxed today, since the flying time was an hour and forty-two minutes. We took off from Runway 34 at 4:48pm and climbed up to 37,000ft for the rest of the flight. It was a smooth flight and the F/As began the short subject videos after the pilots’ announcements. Unlike weekday flights, Ansett did not show any news and therefore, I watched a wildlife animal show, a cooking program headed by an extremely handsome and young chef, and more music videos. (The same programs played again on my next flight to TSV as well).
The F/As first came with a beverage and nuts service. Then they passed out an afternoon refreshment. For J class, it was a smoked chicken frittata on a bed of mesclun salad accompanied by diced tomato and lemon vinaigrette. Then there was a bowl of fruit (1/2 kiwi and cantaloupes), some cheese and crackers, and a “Medlow” gel candy. It was decent but I guess the Australians ate dinner later than most Americans. On a United flight departing after 4pm, dinner service was usually served. Anyhow, dinner was served on the next segment.
Descent began at 6:09pm and we landed at Brisbane’s Runway 01 on 6:30pm. We parked at gate 46. Although my flight to TSV carried the same flight number, there was an aircraft change.
AN 74 BNE-TSV Lv1920 Arr2115
Boeing 737-300 VH-CZT
Due to short transit time, I did not walk towards the Golden Wing lounge and just stayed around at the gate area. Our plane arrived on time from Cairns but arrived at the gate a bit late. Boarding took place at 7:01pm and the agent changed my seat last minute due to an injured passenger requiring the extra legroom on 1A. I was fine and the agent told me that the seat next to me was blocked. That was the only AN domestic flight, which I had no neighbor. Anyway, our plane pushed back on time and taxied towards Runway 01 for our takeoff. We took off at 7:26pm and the pilot announced that our flying time to TSV was an hour and forty-two minutes with a cruising attitude at 35,000ft.
Once again, the same short video programs began after the announcement and a hot dinner was served in both cabins. There was a separate beverage service again and the F/As took their times in serving the dinner. The dinner tonight was perhaps the most disappointing meal I got from Ansett. There was once again no choice (although it was a slightly longer flight) and fish once again proved to be a rather bad airline food choice. Here was the menu transcript –
Dinner
Salad
Crispy mix of Meculin Lettuce slices of Kalamata Olives, celery, shallots, roasted macadamia nuts and light French vinaigrette add to your taste
Main Course
Salmon Steak Marinated in Char Sui Seasoning and fried boy choy sauté in soy sauce and fragrant coconut rice served with mango salsa
Bakery
Warm Wholemeal Roll
Dessert
Sweet Delight
The salmon was pretty tough and smelt pretty awful. I ate the rice and veggie and everything else in the tray. The sweet delights were Tasmanian heritage brie and crackers, and a Kiss Hazelnut chocolate candy. Fortunately our plane began the descent early and we landed at 9:08pm. Unlike BNE, SYD, and MEL, TSV airport was relatively small with only one jet bridge (for its international flight) and couple parking spot. Yes, we had to use the stairs, which I did not mind at all. The weather was nice and I looked forward to my visit.
AN 123 TSV-BNE Lv0600 Arr0740
Boeing 737-300 VH-CZJ
After a day of festivities, I reluctantly woke up 4am in the morning and took a cab to the rather busy TSV airport. The agent at Ansett was very kind and I got my boarding pass and prepared for my day in the air. The routing did not make sense and it meant to maximize the mileage limit allowed by my ticket and to experience Ansett a bit more. Ansett operated a small club at TSV and I was given the code to get in from the agent. The lounge was very tired-looking but had decent amount of juices, coffee, teas, and limited amount of pre-packaged snacks. You really could not expect much from a small lounge. Then I proceeded to the gate lounge and boarding commenced at 5:39am. It was an excellent experience walking through open-air and boarded your plane through the stairs. The air was fresh and TSV airport was busy with the QF’s Boeing 737 next door and various ex-Flight West’s Fokker 28s and turboprops. The load was full on this morning flight Monday. I took my seat 1G and was given the usual pre-takeoff juices. We pushed back on time and took off at 6:07am. We flew over the city and it was a beautiful morning here in Queensland.
Flying time this morning was one hour and twenty-four minutes, and we climbed to 29,000ft. As usual, the Channel 7 early morning news was shown and the F/As passed out some yogurt energizer drink. Unlike other AN morning flights, there was no printed menu and no cold breakfast option. But it was still good. Fruit appetizers contained 3 cantaloupe balls, melon slice, pineapple slice, 3 grapes and a strawberry. The entrée was a nice poached egg with tomato, mushrooms, and bacons. And we had two slices of oat toasts to go with the meal. Since the flight was a bit longer, an episode of Spin City was shown and I certainly missed Michael J. Fox. As the sun began to rise, we began our early descent onto Brisbane. We touched down on Runway 01 at 7:31am and parked at Gate 43.
AN 63 BNE-MEL Lv0845 Arr1100
Airbus A320-200 VH-HYI
Boarding gate was 38 and I was one of the last passengers to board the plane. The load was pretty full once again and I got an aisle seat, 1B. As usual, orange juice or water was served, and newspapers were already placed in the console. Of course, the seats are the convertible ones, but the legroom was still good. We pushed back a few minutes late, and took off from Runway 01 at 8:59am. Flying time this morning was two hours and four minutes, with a cruising attitude of 35,000ft. As usual, Ansett Channel 7 news and “Spin City” were shown on this two hours flight. There was a morning tea service and the flight attendants wasted no time to begin the service. The weather in Melbourne was not too good this morning with heavy fogs. Fortunately, our flight still departed on time and would be fine at Melbourne. Similar to the afternoon tea service, the morning tea consisted of a warmed smoked salmon frittata on top of a green salad (onion, lettuce, green peppers, & olive) with yogurt dressing, a fruit bowl with goat cheese, grapes, strawberry, and crackers, and a Kiss’ Hazelnut chocolate candy. The meal was fine, but a bit boring. I hope AN could serve a slightly different meal for the morning tea… maybe a yogurt, some breakfast breads and more fresh fruit. Anyway, there was a full lunch service on the next segment and I was fine with the meal. The flight attendants passed around with more water and hard candies prior to arrival. We began our descent at 10:41am, and landed on Runway 16 at 11am. We quickly taxied to gate 2.
AN 63 MEL-PER Lv1145 Arr1345
Since the transit time was short, I decided to hang around the gate for our continuation to Perth. Unfortunately, our flight was still delayed a bit due to our late arrival. Thankfully, we began boarding a little bit before noon, and the flying time was only three hours and thirty-five minutes. The same flight attendants welcomed us and I found out that this trip took place over a couple days, and this was their final segment for the day. As usual, pre-departure drinks were served and champagne was included on this list on this slightly longer flight. Door was closed at 12:14am, but due to traffic, we did not take off till 12:40am. We used Runway 16 again.
We climbed to 31,000ft and the F/As passed out menus on both cabins – J and Y. Once again, nuts were served first with the beverage trolley, and then the news was shown, followed by a full-length movie, “Someone Like You.” Since this was my third time viewing it, I decided to take a nap and read my books for this segment. Menu transcript –
Lunch
Starter
Slow cooked pork neck marinated in hoisin sauce
Roman baby lettuce oven baked egg plant, capsicums, fresh sliced mango, toasted Macadamia nuts, Macadamia nut oil dressing
The starter was very nice and Australian food tended to have an Asian flavor to it. The veggies were very nice accompanying the starter. Delicious…
Salad
Cos, Red Coral, Mignonette, Radicchio, Capsicum, Chives and Spanish onion sliced garnished with Parmesan shavings, French dressing
Main Course
Fillets of Snapper Fish coasted with Pesto Crust, sautéed choy sum and kipfler potatoes
or
Italian Smoked Chicken Breast sliced, Papadelli pasta and mushroom cream sauce bacon and semi dried tomatoes
or
Light choice of cold meal
Roasted fillet of Beef Sliced
Hokkien Noodles and red capsicum pesto salad, pan fried banana, honey sesame soy, rock melon, capsicums, curly endive
Continental parsley
I had the smoked chicken breast entrée, which was excellent. I loved the pasta and the cream sauce was not too heavy. A very good meal again!
Bakery
Fresh Bread Selection
Rye bread, wholemeal roll, and sesame seed rolls
Dessert
Connoisseur Ice Cream
Or
Selection of Australian Cheese, fruits, nut chutney and dry biscuits
I once again chose the ice cream. Once again, we had a choice of strawberry or vanilla. There was mini cookies and chocolate served, too with the tea and coffee service.
The flight was excellent and the F/As came by with refills quite frequently. I got a Y menu, which featured decent food and the menu cover was very nice. We soon began our descent at 3:57pm. The F/As once again came around with hot towels and more hard candies. What can you expect more from a transcon flight. With minimal traffic in Perth, we touched down at 2:15pm. Another perfect journey with Ansett.
AN 164 PER-SYD Lv1620 Arr2220
Airbus A320-200 VH-HYE
Here was my final domestic leg in Australia and I was very doubtful about flying United’s domestic again in the near future. The service within Australia and New Zealand certainly impressed me much, and the service in US was substantially below par. Although I understood the cheaper fare structure in “Down Under,” business travelers in Australia/New Zealand definitely got more from their full fare tickets here. I went to the Golden Wing Lounge in Perth and the facilities were decent with nice bar and food buffet, but the business center was out dated and the computers were not working here. Unlike other AN lounges at Sydney or Melbourne, the business center used older computers and the seating area was smaller. The most special feature was an outdoor seating area for smokers or for limited plane spotting. Nothing much to report to you, except the usual array of MH, SQ’s 777, TG’s A330 and QF’s 763.
The gate area occupied by AN was smaller in Perth, but it was fine with me. Boarding gate was stand 16 and gate 1. The flight arrived early from Sydney and boarding began at 4:02pm. I got a window seat at 2G, but of course, I took the wrong seat. Thankfully, the passengers did not mind taking my wrong seats on the other side. Australians were really kind and helpful. I felt a bit embarrassed but I got my punishment – an annoying neighbor… Although the boarding was completed early, we had to wait for couple connecting passengers. We were still early pushing back. We took off from Runway 21 at 4:24pm.
Flying time was three hours and forty minutes and we cruised to 10,700meter (33,000ft). Unlike other Ansett’s flights, the flight attendants took their times in feeding us, which was fine with me. Nothing to hurry about. Ansett’s afternoon news, Taylor in Panama, “Spin City,” and music videos were shown nonstop. I skipped the movie because I was not too interested in Pierce Brosnan. The F/As first came around with hot towels and the beverage cart followed. After takeoff, I was reading couple magazines and was waiting for the news to begin. My neighbor asked me if I needed to use the bathroom, I said, “no.” Then as the news began and I was listening, my neighbor decided to make some comments. He kept on repeating and I obvious would have troubles listening to him. Then I took my headphone off and he said rudely, “Did you have problems with your legs? Why were you moving and shaking your legs?” I did not answer him and just said “sorry.” I guess after flying since six in the morning, my legs were tired but I did not understand why my legs bothered him. I was more than a seat away from him and my shaking would not bother him at all. It was not that I was rocking my seats. He gave me a very dirty look, so I decided that I did not need to treat him too nice. He decided to skip meal, and I think the flight attendants passing me meals annoyed him. But too bad, I did not need to give up my right to have my dinner. I did not look or speak to him for the rest of the flight and I was fairly upset with a poor neighbor. Fortunately, the kind flight attendants and the service made this flight a good one. Enough with this rude “gentlemen,” here is the menu transcript.
Dinner
Starter
Pan Fried Duck Sausage, garden lettuce, cucumber, Roma tomatoes, Kalamata Olives garnished with Parmesan shavings and green zucchini dressing
Side Salad
Mesculin Salad Tossed with Carrot Julienne basil leaf and roasted pine nuts and balsamic vinaigrette
The starter tasted fine and the salad was very fresh. Ansett was really creative with its choice of meals and food ingredients. The fresh vegetables added great deal to the salad.
Main Course
Beef Cheek in Red Wine Sauce and Pan Fried Fillet of Beef served with roasted potatoes, green beans, and carrot forest mushroom jus lie
Or
Light Creamy Chicken Ragout on Buttered Pumpkin gnocchi with chives, with semi dried tomatoes Kalmata Olive Seeds
or
Light Choice of cold meal
Slow Smoked Duck Breast, orange segments, grilled marinated artichoke, carrot and raisin salad, pineapple salsa
I chose the chicken, which was better than I thought.
Bakery
Fresh Bread Selection
Sesame rolls, rye breads – three kinds in total
Dessert
Connoisseur Ice Cream
Or
Selection of Australian Cheese, fruits, nut chutney and dry biscuits
Vanilla ice cream, cheese plate, mini cookies, and Davis & Grant’s Passion fruit chocolate
Once again, candy was passed out after we commenced our descent. We landed on Runway 34L and I spotted the China Airlines’ brand new Airbus A340 was heading to Runway 34L for its takeoff to Taipei. We slowly taxied to Gate 31 and was one of the last flights into Sydney this evening. Overall, I had a good experience with Ansett Australia’s domestic service, and really looked forward to its international flight.
My experiences with Sydney and AN 887 will be posted on the next part.