Kiwi Flyer

Before I start, here are the links to my previous trip reports.

1. AKL-YYZ with NZ/AC in F & C - my first trip report
   
2. Europe to Iceland & return on Icelandair (FI) - somewhere different
   
3. Some FTers DO the Inaugural Worlds Longest Flight SIN-EWR vv 28 June 2004 - 2 long flights back to back
   
4. 7 Crazy Days - includes an almost inaugural flight
   
5. Champagne and figure eights on ice - Antarctica flightseeing
   
6. a Lit.tle sPRinG.Ly JoUrney (BUDding KiwiS Can zig-ZAG around Europe) - mostly central and eastern Europe
   
7. Big DO DOs - or a Kiwi Flyer's Month of Madness - lots of flights
   
8. Another Manic Month for Kiwi - again lots of flights
   
9. Mini Tour of NZ - over 100 domestic flights in New Zealand covering all domestic routes (ongoing)
   
10. Across the Globe in 5 Continents - criss-crossing the globe
    
11. Auckland to National Park by Train - train in New Zealand's North Island
    
12. Across the Globe in 5 Continents Again - criss-crossing the globe, but this time mainly on One World
    
13. A Warm Embrace of the Tropics - short trips to the tropical South Pacific
    
14. Singapore (SQ) new first and business class, plus a medley of 12 F & C SQ flights - name says it all really
    
15. Across the Globe in 4 Continents - around the world on star alliance, including some unusual flights
    
16. Queensland And Northern Territory Aerial Sampler - a sampling of Qantas flights, domestic and international, in economy and business (ongoing)
    
17. Around the World in Under 60 Hours - around the world in a weekend
    
18. The Heat is On - another longhaul economy trip in under 60 hours - what a contrast, Asia and Qantas' new first class lounges
    
19. Fast on the ground and in the air - it must be Shanghai – a flying visit to Shanghai + Maglev
    
20. It's a Fine Line Between Pleasure & Pain: 4 wacky weeks 2 RTW C, inaugural longhaul Y – mostly One World
    
21. Back and forth across the Pacific on a variety of airlines in a selection of classes - 16 crossings of the Pacific plus some other related flights
    
22. It isn't every day that you witness a hijacking attempt + NZ's forgotten 4th island - a visit to Chatham Islands coincides with New Zealand's first hijacking attempt
    
23. There and back - first day Air NZ flies to Coolangatta (Gold Coast)
    
24. A Run Around (part of) The Axis of Evil: A Perfect *A RTW in C? - Axis of Evil 0 US Immigration 1
    
25. Wellington to Auckland by train - self-explanatory title
    
26. A mad couple of days flying, including domestic international flights - a double longhaul inaugural, domestic international shuttle and domestic leg of an international flight
    
27. Regional C *A RTW & (hopefully) finishing flying every route (100+) for an airline - featuring new QF First on A380 special flight, "you have to get off now", and 105th different current route with NZ
    
28. One World Revolutions - Around Mostly the Southern Hemisphere - mostly Southern Hemisphere and mostly on One World on a mix of products
    
29. Cris-cros the Med & the Globe on Emirates, Qantas & Star Alliance in mix of F/C/Y+/Y – starting with EK First on A380 and ending with Qantas economy, with a lot of travel mostly on *A in between
    
30. An FTer flies to a Do (or Why take the nonstop when you can fly 10 flights instead?) - combining an FT Do with an aerial tour of northern Queensland
    
31. The Ultimate Qantas Flight - short report on the ultimate flight
    
32. Premium Flying Across the Ditch (Between New Zealand and Australia) - experiencing the forward cabins on Trans-Tasman flights (ongoing)
    
33. 5 Boeings Straight to the Airbus Do - FTer feasts in first, business & economy - my journey to & from the *A / Airbus Mega Do
    
34. NZ route oddities & One World turns by night (redeye special) - an odd collection of flight routes & schedules around the world
    
35. From my first low cost redeye to a first class trifecta - an insane fortnight - some firsts of all types
    
36. G'day, kia orana - it's another inaugural flight in Air New Zealand business class - a day & night tripping around the South Pacific on Air NZ
    
37. A Feast of First Class Flying on British Airways, Qantas and Emirates - long distance in style
    
38. A Weekend of Old and New - Lufthansa first & business, Air New Zealand business - a quick longhaul trip featuring some old and new products
    
39. Star Alliance tres primo, and tres biz - a trio of first and business on Star Alliance
    
40. A few flights to end 2011 - a quick trip around the world + more
    
41. Five Continents in 3 Days and Some Other Mad Trips in 2012 - a selection of my 2012 travels
    
42. Sky Team madness - 14 weeks, 200k miles, 5 continents, CI brand new business – mostly Sky Team
    
43. Off to Star megado on Oneworld - mostly business incl brand new AA 787
    
44. A Glutton for Punishment: red eye, new world's longest flight & more, in comfort?
    

Kiwi Flyer

Index to this trip report

1. Introduction
   
2. Auckland to Sydney on Qantas 767-300 in business class
   
3. Auckland to Sydney business class menu
   
4. In Sydney in transit
   
5. Sydney to Buenos Aires on Qantas 747-400ER in business class
   
6. In Buenos Aires in transit
   
7. Sydney to Buenos Aires business class menu
   
8. Buenos Aires to Sydney business class menu
   
9. Buenos Aires to Sydney on Qantas 747-400ER in business class
   
10. Sydney to Auckland on Qantas 767-300 in business class
    
11. Sydney to Auckland business class menu
    
12. Auckland to Sydney on Qantas 767-300 in business class
    
13. Auckland to Sydney business class menu
    
14. Transit in Sydney
    
15. Sydney to Perth on Qantas A330-200 in business class
    
16. Transit in Perth
    
17. Perth to Sydney on Qantas A330-200 in business class
    
18. Transit in Sydney again
    
19. Sydney to Johannesburg on Qantas 747-400 in business class
    
20. Sydney to Johannesburg business class menu
    
21. Johannesburg
    
22. Johannesburg to Windhoek on Comair 737-200 in economy class
    
23. Transit in Windhoek
    
24. Windhoek to Johannesburg on Comair 737-200 in economy class
    
25. Johannesburg again
    
26. Johannesburg to Mauritius on Comair 737-300 in business class
    
27. Mauritius
    
28. Mauritius to Johannesburg on Comair 737-300 in business class
    
29. Transit in Johannesburg
    
30. Johannesburg to London on British Airways 747-400 in business class
    
31. Johannesburg to London business class menu
    
32. Transit in London
    
33. London to Amman on Royal Jordanian Airlines A321-200 in business class
    
34. London to Amman business class menu
    
35. Transit in Amman
    
36. Amman to Aden on Royal Jordanian Airlines E195 in business class
    
37. Amman to Aden business class menu
    
38. Transit in Aden
    
39. Aden to Amman on Royal Jordanian Airlines E195 in business class
    
40. Aden to Amman business class menu
    
41. Transit in Amman again
    
42. Amman to London on Royal Jordanian Airlines A321-200 in business class
    
43. Amman to London business class menu
    
44. Transit in London Heathrow again
    
45. London First Class Lounge menu
    
46. London to Sao Paulo on British Airways 747-400 in business class
    
47. London to Sao Paulo business class menu
    
48. Sao Paulo to Buenos Aires on British Airways 747-400 in business class
    
49. Sao Paulo to Buenos Aires business class menu
    
50. Transit in Buenos Aires again
    
51. Buenos Aires to Santiago on LAN Ecuador A320 in premium economy class
    
52. Transit in Santiago #1
    
53. Santiago to Guayaquil on LAN Ecuador A320 in premium economy class
    
54. Guayaquil to Quito on LAN Ecuador A320 in premium economy class
    
55. Transit in Quito
    

Latest summary

• map
• 57,978 flown miles
• 22 flights
• 7 a/c types
  • 767-300
  • 747-400ER
  • A330-200
  • 747-400
  • 737-200
  • 737-300
  • A321-200
  • E195
  • A320
• 5 airlines
  • Qantas
  • Comair
  • British Airways
  • Royal Jordanian
  • LAN Ecuador
• 11 countries
  • Australia
  • Argentina
  • South Africa
  • Namibia
  • Mauritius
  • United Kingdom
  • Jordan
  • Yemen
  • Brazil
  • Chile
  • Ecuador
• personal firsts and other trivia
  • 13 hour flight that was originally scheduled to have the same arrival and departure time, and arrival and departure day
  • 13 hour flight in daylight flying eastward
  • my first flight between South America and Australasia (I'd previously been booked on SCL-AKL-SYD but ended up rerouting SCL-(LIM)-LAX-AKL)
  • more than 1 month spent in the air (not counting time spent in airports) in 2008, for the 4th consecutive year
  • 3rd time flown over Antarctica
  • 1st and 2nd wholly Southern Hemisphere intercontinental routes (SYD-EZE and SYD-JNB)
  • JNB is 42nd Qantas destination flown, 2nd behind Air NZ (54) and reclaiming the number 2 spot held by Singapore for 2 months
  • WDH is 4th airport over 1 mile elevation this year (WDH 1719m, JNB 1694m, DEN 1655m, ADD 2334m) [I´ve also flown MEX 2230m]
  • CX F LHR lounge computers blocked the BA forum on FT
  • RJ is 9th airline to/from LHR, 3rd behind AKL & LAX (both 11) and equal with SIN & SYD
  • AMM is 200th airport flown to/from
  • LHR-GRU is 11th intercontinental connection, missing just 2 possible on current commercial flights (between Africa and South America and between Africa and North America)
  • Ecuador is 23rd new country and 40th visited in 2008
  • UIO is 5th airport over 1 mile elevation this year and 6th in total, and highest to date, at 2813m

As at post #100

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INTRODUCTION

Earlier this year IATA made a push for 100% e-tickets. This unfortunately meant star alliance and oneworld RTWs had to conform with e-ticket requirements, a significant one is a maximum of 16 coupons (including surface segments). This is a loss of 33% on star alliance and 20% on oneworld.

Annoyingly, since the change to supposedly 100% e-tickets I have had several paper tickets issued for various itineraries. Clearly exemptions from the e-ticket requirements still exist. Would it have been so bad to exempt RTW tickets instead of substantially devaluing them?

Naturally I, along with a lot of FTers, bought up some RTW tickets before the changes. I've already done a star alliance round the world bought earlier this year, and now it is time for a oneworld round the world.

Along the way I'll revisit some places I've been to before, and also many new countries. I hope to surpass 100 visited countries en route. I will also make a few missing intercontinental connections on my flight map.

Sit back, relax, and once more it's time to fly.

Kiwi Flyer

AUCKLAND to SYDNEY (AKL-SYD) on Qantas 767-300 in business class domestic config

I'd had a crazy schedule since the last big trip and it was like groundhog day. Once again up at OMG o'clock to shower, then pack, call for a cab and head off to the airport. The taxi companies must love me at the moment for the amount of business I've been putting their way - a ride to or from the airport isn't cheap. Anyway I digress. I got a driver I'd had many times before, but not for half a year or more.

He is a former pilot and instructor and takes a keen interest in aviation. Topic of the day was the crash of the Air NZ airbus in southern France which was in the process of being handed back at the end of a lease by XL. He then segued into other similar crashes. Quite a fountain of knowledge, but not the thing that most passengers would want to hear on the way to the airport. Luckily I am not most passengers

I arrived and went straight for the premium check in lobby. It was perfect timing, with no queues. Arrive early and there are lots of people who turn up 3-4 hours before departure (and there are quite a few early flights to Australia). Arrive late and the people who push things to the limit are busy checking in before the deadline. There is a sweet spot in the middle where check-in queues (as well as immigration and security) are not too bad. I know the sweet spot from taking these early flights countless times.

Kiwi Flyer

The lovely couple of check-in agents remembered me and did their usual trick of passing me over to the other person so that they could both look at my itinerary and have a chuckle. Well I suppose it is not every day that someone with my crazy routings turns up to check in.

I was quickly given some boarding passes. The onward flight had a bad seat, the result of some earlier seat shifting by QF. I asked about getting a better seat and was restored to a decent seat, albeit not quite as good as the one I'd originally selected, and also given a seat block.

A quick stop at the immigration desk within the lobby, then upstairs through the pre-cleared immigration line and through security. Then up to the lounge where a favourite agent was on duty but unfortunately busy and unable to chat.

cavemanzk

Would it not have been hard to IATA to remove this limit as see no problem with haveing more then 16 flights. From a web developers point of view all they would need to do is make 1 little change to the database.

chanp

Loved your Sept trip reports. Can't wait for these. Have fun!

FlyingFinn

Yep, from a web developer's point of view it seems very simple. However most reservation and other airline systems are very old legacy systems that have been around for decades and all upgrades and new features have to be done in a backward-compatible way on top of the old, decaying core. Common reservation systems like Amadeus, Sabre etc. are relatively new inventions and there are a lot of in-house systems that are still in everyday use. Add to the mix the fact that the various systems need to be able to communicate and exchange information globally using a number of standardized formats with their own limitations - and you have a very very complex system at hand.

I do agree that the 16 segment limit is very stupid, but I think there are some hard facts why it had to be done. I just hope there's some sort of upgrade path planned that will eventually abolish this limit.

And yes, not being able to issue an RTW ticket with more than 16 segments on paper stock is another stupidity.

Kiwi Flyer

I'd hardly checked my messages when it was time to board. I'd noticed from the earlier flight that today the boarding announcement was being made very late in the process with a final boarding call just a minute after the first announcement. This is good to maximise lounge time although doesn't leave much time for last minute ablutions. I grabbed a newspaper before I left. Some days the newspapers are not delivered to the lounge before the early flights go, but not today.

The load was fairly light so plenty of space to sprawl out. A pre-departure drink and offer of a newspaper. Arrivals cards for Australia were handed out, but no express immigration cards (lately these have been handed out at check in ex-Australia only) ... not that I need one for this trip.

Not long after take-off we were handed out personal DVD players and our breakfast orders were taken. We then encountered significant turbulence. Not the worst I have ever been in but the worst in the past several years (many hundreds of flights). It was strong enough that I was shocked the cabin crew continued to pass out breakfast before sitting down to ride it out. It was very bumpy all the way to our cruise altitude and then we descended to 25,000 feet where it was only very bumpy instead of stomach-churningly bumpy. I held onto my glass most of the flight and managed to get most of the water spilled out without drinking.

The turbulence stopped only after we had descended low over the northern beaches. The weather in Sydney was wet with very low cloud rolls and patches. The two masts on the north shore had the tips visible but the rest hidden. There was no sign of the harbour bridge or opera house but Darling Harbour was clear. We landed on the eastern runway, towards the south, thus had the longest possible taxi back to the terminal.

The data on the flight show was odd. When we landed it had distance travelled as 1192 km, about half the correct distance.

Kiwi Flyer

Qantas
Business Class menu
New Zealand to Australia
November 2008

Breakfast

Orange Juice

Seasonal Fresh Fruit Juice

Your choice of :

Continental Breakfast

Fresh Seasonal Fruit

Yoghurt

or

Cereal Selection

Warm Bakery

or

Hot Breakfast

Fresh Seasonal Fruit

Bacon and Egg Pie accompanied with Roasted Tomato, Sauteed Vegetables and Haloumi

or

Corn and Cheddar Cheese Fritters served with Tomato, Mushrooms and Wilted Spinach

Warm Bakery


Beverages

Champagne

Qantas is proud to feature Premium Non-Vintage Champagne from the most respected houses in France.

Australian and New Zealand Wine

For your enjoyment we have a selection of light and full bodied, premium white and red wines onboard today. Your Flight Attendant will advise you on the selection.

Aperitifs

Campari

Spirits

Bacardi White Rum

Chivas Regal 12yo Scotch Whisky

Inner Circle (Green Dot) Dark Rum 57.2%

Tanqueray London Dry Gin

The Glenlivet 12yo Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Wild Turkey 86.8º Bourbon

Wyborowa Polish Vodka

Beers

Hahn Premium Light

Heineken

James Squire Golden Ale

Victoria Bitter

Non Alcoholic

Apple Juice

Orange Juice

Spicy Tomato Juice

Tomato Juice

Mineral Water

Soda Water

Tonic Water

Bundaberg Ginger Beer

Cola

Diet Cola

Ginger Ale

Lemonade

Solo – Lemon Squash

Hot Beverages

Grinders Coffee
Bodum
Decaffeinated

Dilmah Tea
Chamomile
English Breakfast
Jasmine Green
Peppermint

Hot Chocolate

Liqueurs

Bailey’s Irish Cream

Cointreau

Fortifieds

Penfolds Bluestone 10yo Tawny

Baileys of Glenrowan Founder Liqueur Muscat

Cognac

Martell VSOP

chanp

Never heard of, seen or tried an egg and bacon pie. Had to google it.

peasant

REAL men eat bacon and egg pie, not quiche!

chanp

Oh I'll try some next time I see it on a menu. ^

Kiwi Flyer

Sydney transit

We had a gate close to the lounge, but first I had to clear transfer security. While there were a lot of people there, almost all were cabin crew so naturally I got the "random" explosives test and pat down. I'm now struggling to remember the last time I had an international transit in Sydney (or Brisbane for that matter) where I have not been "randomly" selected - most often because I am the only person going through international transfers at the time. Stupid quotas they have to fill.

I was welcomed back into the first lounge by the bouncer before I even had a chance to pull out my boarding pass

As I knew there were no showers available in the next transit I took a shower here. My travel philosophy on long duration sequences of flights is to take a shower whenever it is practical to do so. Not only does it help avoid me stinking up the plane with a multi-day itinerary, but it also provides a nice pyschological boost to refresh body and mind.

I had enough time to have a drink, check messages, have another drink, post a bit on FT, have one more drink for the road air, and confirm the flight was on time by keeping an eye on the various useful websites.

Kiwi Flyer

SYDNEY to BUENOS AIRES (SYD-EZE) on Qantas 747-400ER in business class

When Qantas announced this new route early in the year I attempted to get on the inaugural flight. Unfortunately my schedule did not permit it. However, I did manage to book this flight during the first week of service.

In the hundreds of times I have flown across the Pacific I have never flown across the South Pacific to or from South America (treating Easter Island as part of South America for this purpose). Other than my flightseeing trip to Antarctica I have never flown close to the frozen continent. Today I will be doing both - check out the great circle route (the other far southern routes are show for comparison purposes).

I was greatly looking forward to the flight.

Kiwi Flyer

Apologies for the delay.

When I booked the flight I noticed it had a couple of unusual characteristics. Firstly, the arrival and departure times where exactly the same, and thanks to cross the international dateline also exactly the same day. For a 13 hour flight that is amazing. Is there any longer flight with this characteristic? (Note between booking and date of travel both arrival and departure times where adjusted, and the flight duration was lengthened.) Secondly, at this time of year the entire flight will be in daylight. Not bad for a flight this long, especially one that is not chasing the sun by flying westwards.

Ahead of the trip I did my usual thing to check loads. It was completely sold out up until a week before departure when a trickle of seats became available. At the gate it seemed like the load would be considerably lighter than this, and so it proved upon boarding. Business class was not very full, and neither was economy. I'm not sure about first class.

The boarding started rather late, at just a short while before scheduled departure. Consequently we pushed back a little late and had a further delay due to ground traffic.

I managed a couple of pre-departure drinks while browsing the menu which had been placed in the little cubby of the seat in front. We were given a pen to fill in the breakfast orders and these were collected before we even pushed back. It seemed odd to be filling these in so early in the day (not even noon Sydney time) for the following day's breakfast. Pajamas (yes Qantas has these in business class albeit not as nice as the first class ones) and amenity kits were also handed out before departure, and our post-departure drink orders taken. Ahh this is good.

I also had some papers out to read, the rest of the newspaper I had yet to finish, and a few other bits and bobs. As I'd selected an aisle seat I didn't have easy access to the side bins to put all this stuff, but fortunately the window seat was not claimed and I stored the guff on that seat.

The runway direction had changed while I was on the ground and we had a long taxi out into Botany Bay before taking off to the north over the city. Almost immediately on reaching cruise altitude we hit the significant turbulence that I'd encountered on the way into Sydney and all service was suspended before it really got underway. The crew made a couple of attempts to resume with the drinks, each time being chased back to their seats in no time at all. By the time we cleared the rough air it was 2 hours into the flight and we were west of the South Island of New Zealand.

Drinks as we pass Stewart Island (not visible in the cloud), followed very rapidly by lunch before it spoiled. Our flight path display showed our track southeastwards towards Antarctica. The skies cleared but nothing to see out the window for a long time other than blue ocean and some little puffs of cloud.

We were asked to pull down the blinds so some other passengers could sleep, and to give the crew a rest I suspect. I complied, but continued drinking while I caught up on the reports I needed to, listened to some movies and music, and snuck some peeks outside when I thought we were close to Antarctica.

Sure enough we did fly close enough to see the ice sheet and parts of coastal mountain ranges. It was difficult to view, however, with so much white including scattered cloud cover, and so little other colours to provide any contrast. The brightness was also a bit hard on the eyes in contrast to the darkened cabin. I was pleased with the views, even though I couldn't but help think back to my flightseeing trip at much lower altitude and actually over the continent itself instead of flying near the coast. I had some champagne to mark the occasion.

After a few hours we had pulled far enough north that Antarctica was no longer visible. Most of the passengers continued to sleep, having missed out completely on the spectacle outside I'm not sure that many even appreciated just how close to Antarctica we were flying.

We reached South America by the fiords near Puerto Montt and flew over the rugged terrain. Unfortunately there was not much of a view due to extensive cloud cover, at least not until we had passed the Andes.

Breakfast was served about 2 1/2 hours before landing.

Despite the late departure we had made up an hour en route and would arrive early. It was a misty but warm day, and so we had soft light views of the openness of the plains and the towns and built up areas that sprawl out from Buenos Aires before touching down.

I was in a very relaxed and happy mood.