Trip Reports - Qantas 26 LAX-AKL-BNE in F Generally Disappointing

Mrs. Bollar took QF 26 from Los Angeles to Brisbane via Auckland on December 5, 2002. Here's the letter she wrote me about the experience, which she gave me permission to post to FT.

Well arrived about half an hour late. Late leaving LAX. 45 mins waiting for 60 passengers to show up. So I was so tired and hungry by that point that I just wanted to sleep. The best food/drink choice I made was to have the wonderful Krug. So I don't know if I just made a poor choice or it was Qantas but the food was not good. Canapés where very pale in comparison to Cathay. The black bean soup was actually pretty good but the salad was very small and swimming in oil. I was so bloody tired that I probably could have asked them to redo me one but couldn't be assed. The main was a tuna steak with soggy potatoes and purple onion. Very bland and just didn't taste good. So I had one bite and said I'm ready for dessert. That was nice but of course didn't want to over do the caffeine as it was espresso ice-cream wedge with vanilla bean sauce...that was good. Not trying to spoil it for you just wanted to let you know my experience.

The seats were good. But nothing will ever equal Cathay. Of course the arm rest doesn't go down so that can get a little uncomfortable. But I did sleep for almost 8 hours. I did my little trick of getting a extra blanket and laying on it to make it more chushy. The row 1 seats kind of narrow off into a smaller space than say row 2 so I will be interested to see what you think.

My FA Michael was very nice. Had the other side FA be a snippy ***** to me as soon as I sat down. She told me to turn my phone off. I said I understood that the policy was just before the door closed that then all Electronic etc.. needed to be turned off. Anyway she was a ***** and I mentioned it to my flight attendant as he walked up a few seconds later. He apologised profusely and I said I'm glad you are my FA for the flight. So when ever she happened to pick anything up from my table I didn't even bother acknowledging her.

Lovely FA from Auckland to Brisbane. She was so sweet. Trying to find me the magazines I like. Did get to see "Bridget's Jones Diary" Very good.

Brisbane Immigration was a bloody mad house. Two other planes arrived, JAL and something else. You should have seen the bloody lines. Even thought I had a Express card it made no difference because so did every one else. So I opted to go through the Aust Passport holders line which seems like it worked a bit better. My god the line just to get through "Nothing to Declare" was a 10 minute wait as well.

My cousin flew Business Class on QF to Sydney from LAX and was also disappointed. I flew coach 14 years ago and liked it.

Can you share Mrs Bollar's experience in Auckland? That is, was it necessary to first collect luggage that had been checked-through to Australia, and then to stand in line to pass through New Zealand customs?

Or, since she was not spending time in NZ, was it possible to just wait for her Australian-bound segment in a secure area of the terminal, where it was necessary to neither collect checked luggage, nor to pass through NZ customs?

Her baggage was checked through and she didn't have to deal with NZ customs and immigration.

I did NZ C&I a few years ago in the early AM< and it was a 20 minute line -- but this is not current info.

Just to add my 2 cents. I also flew this route in Business in November. I thought it was one of the better Business Class flights I have taken. The F/A's were very attentive, the food was fine, and we arrived a bit early. The seats could have reclined a bit further though, but my little Ambien pill worked its magic and I slept for 6 hours.

Customs in BNE took a bit too long and the transfer to the domestic terminal for our flight to CNS was a hassle I could have done without. But all in all, a very nice trip.
(I am still trying to find the time to write a full trip report-but I promise it will be soon!)

Thanks for the report gives me an idea of what Quantas is like.
I am traveling to BNE and have decided to go with CX by way of HKG.

I hope I made the right choice.

It all depends what sort of cabin crew you get on your flight. I was in seat 1A on AKL-SYD last Monday and enjoyed the flight a lot. Plenty of room for me even though I am 6'2". As far as LAX-BNE-LAX goes then IMHO it all again depends on the attitude of the crew. Most of the flights I have been on have had half empty front cabins and thus a lot better service as opposed to say LAX-SYD-LAX which is usually packed to the rim.