Moomba

The Photos


One of my favourite songs from the pen of the lovely Sarah McLachlan begins with the lines ‘Hear I go again, back into your arms. What ever happened to resolve?’
It pretty much sums up my relationship with those big birds in the sky.

This time my RTW was drawing to a close with the penultimate flight of my RTW ticket back to the UK from Sydney.

I routed my ticket from Sydney originally as I wanted to be sure of getting a 380 aircraft, as at the time of booking the ticket the MEL-SIN-LHR was not a sure thing.
I also decided to spend the day and evening in Sydney rather than do the domestic hop and then get straight on the flight to London.

As fortune has it this meant that I was able to spend a very pleasant evening with trip reporter extraordinaire matthandy. I awoke the morning of my flight feeling slightly seedy thanks to an over indulgence in Champagne and White wine the evening before. Thanks Matt!

I skipped the free breakfast in the hotel’s club lounge and spent a lazy morning in my room and walking around the streets of Sydney’s CBD.

At around 13:30 I grabbed a cab to Sydney’s Mascot airport that was swift due to light Easter Sunday traffic. I must say though Sydney cabs are the dirtiest most unkempt, most falling apart cabs I have ever encountered.

Inside the terminal I walked up to the F check-in area and handed over my passport and said I was off to London on the 31. The agent tapped away whilst I filled out the emigration card for Oz. Too late I remembered that I needed to ask her to check my bag only through to LHR. She had to start again and I apologised profusely for not remembering to tell her from the start.
Anyway she did as requested and said the system has still spat out your LHR-ARN boarding pass. I said that would be fine as I would be able to re-check my bag at LHR regardless. Mind you I had no intention of doing so, but she didn’t need to know that.

She gave me the fast track invite and asked if I knew where the lounge was. I said I did and thanked her and was on my way.

I made my way up to the First lounge and had my BP swiped. I was now getting quite hungry and decided a spot of lunch was in order. I went to the restaurant area and took a seat. The waiter in the section did not notice me. Someone else came along and sat at the table two along from me and the waiter handed him a menu. I got up and walked out of his section and into the next one. There the waiter immediately handed me a menu and asked if I would like to start with something to drink. I asked for some sparkling water to get the ball rolling. Yes you read it correctly; water.

I decided to go with a mushroom risotto with sage and truffle oil for lunch and it was superb. I accompanied this with a glass of something red.
I followed the main course up with some cheese and fruit and asked for a glass of the dessert wine.

After lunch I took a seat in a quiet area of the lounge and waited it out for my flight.

I saw the lights show boarding on the ticker board behind me and started on my way down to the gate. The lounge staff made an announcement for the flight just as I was on my way down the escalator.

At the gate I joined entered via the elite line and walked straight up to an agent who swiped my BP. They do not do PP checks at the gate in SYD which surprised me. I headed down the ramp and an agent directed me up the ramp towards the top deck.

Flight QF0031 SYD-SIN Seat 11A
Aircraft: 380-800
Departure time: 16:10

On board I was directed to my seat at the front of the mini section in the forward most part of the upper deck. My jacket was taken and the crew offered me water, juice or Champagne. I of course opted for the bubbly.

The menu and a blanket and pillow were already on the seat when I boarded. I did notice that the window side overhead bins are quite small on the 380 (I supposed because the ceiling curves in so much) and my backpack didn’t even fit. The crew member said use the inside ones they never really have issues with storage and there should be plenty of room.

At just after 16:00 the Captain announced that the doors were just closing and we were good for a scheduled departure time. He also stated that the flying time today would be 7 hours and 30 minutes.

We did indeed push back on time and were tugged quite a way from the gate before being unhitched. It was only a short taxi to the runway and we were soon heading southwards and upwards out over the bay.

After the seat belt sign was extinguished the crew were out and about handing out hot towels. Amenity kits were handed out that contained Malin and Goetz products. I tried the hand cream at one point during the flight and it seemed overly oily and wouldn’t absorb into my skin. The meal service began shortly after this.

For tonight’s dinner the options were:

AUSTRALIA TO ASIA
MENU
Our extensive Rockpool designed menu allows you to enjoya completely personalised dining experience. You can choose the full menu after take-off or our Express meal is available at any time.


ENTRÉE
Cream of Cauliflower Soup with Parmesan

Yamba Prawn Salad with White Bean and Serrano Ham

MAIN COURSES
Lentil Moussaka with Red Pepper Sauce and Wilted Spinach

Snapper Poached in Coconut Milk and Garam Masala, Fine Egg Noodles and Snow Peas

Chicken with Lemon, Olive and Parsley Salad with Yam Puree and Green Beans

Beef Fillet with Anchovy Butter, Roast Carrots and Potato Gratin

Salad of Cos, Radicchio, and Frisee with Palm Sugar Vinaigrette

DESSERT
Seasonal cheese hand-selected by Calendar Cheese Company served with accompaniments

Baked Treacle Pie with Clotted Cream

Sliced Fresh Fruit

CHOCOLATES
A selection of Kennedy Wilson chocolates

REFRESHMENT
Enjoy a range of snacks and drinks at any time throughout the your flight. Your Flight Attendant will be pleased to prepare your selection or simply snack from our inflight bar.

Toasted Flat Bread with Smoked Turkey, Gruyere, Cranberry Sauce and Baby Spinach

Pumpkin and Gorgonzola Pizzette with Rocket Salad

Moroccan Lamp Pot Pie with Harissa

Whole Seasonal Fruit
Cinnamon Sponge Finger Biscuits
Pistachio and Almond Nougat
Brookfarm Organic Trail Mix
Nice Cream Ice Cream Tubs
Lindt Chocolates

BEVERAGES
CHAMPAGNE
Your Flight Attendant will advise whether today’s menu feature Billecart-Salmon Brut or Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve

AUSTRALIAN 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.
View the accompanying tasting notes in the Qantas Inflight Guide to Wine, found in seat pockets.

APERITIFS
Bloody Mary
Campari and Soda
Gin and Tonic
Vodka and Ginger Beer

SPRIRTS
Bacardi White Rum, Puerto Rico
Bundaberg Dark Rum, Australia
Chivas Regal 12yo Scotch Whisky, Scotland
Plymouth The Smooth England Gin, London
The Glenlivit 12yo Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Scotland
Wild Turkey 86.8° Bourbon, Kentucky
Wyborowa Polish Vodka, Poland

BEERS
James Squire Golden Ale
Heineken
Victoria Bitter
Hahn Premium Light

DESSERT & FORTIFIED WINE
Australian dessert and fortified wine is available for your enjoyment

LIQUEURS
Baileys Irish Cream
Cointreau

COGNAC
Martell VSOP

JUICE BAR
Apple Juice
Orange Juice
Spicy Tomato Juice
Tomato Juice

NON ALCOHOLIC
Appletiser Sparkling Apple Juice
Bundaberg Ginger Beer
Coca-Cola
Coke Zero
Lemonade
Lemon Squash
Sparkling Mineral Wine
Soda Water
Tonic Water
Ginger Ale

HOT BEVERAGES
Bodum
Decaffeinated

TEA
English Breakfast
Earl Grey
Peppermint
Chamomile
Jasmine Green

HOT CHOCOLATE

The service started with a round of drinks accompanied by some nuts. I went with the Scotch and dry theme again as I wasn’t that impressed with the bubbly. I think it was the Heidsieck.

I was offered more nuts and another drink but declined on both counts.
The meal service then began with the tray containing the salad being presented and the optional starter added as per the passenger’s request. I went with the Parmesan soup. Sour Dough Rye or White bread was offered at this time.

The wines on offer were a Riesling, Chardonnay, Shiraz or Cabernet Merlot.
As has been reported elsewhere there was then a wait of an eternity before the plates were removed and the main course was delivered. It takes the crew quite a while to work their way down the full J cabin.

My main of the chicken option was eventually delivered but was only just a little hotter than lukewarm. It was tasty though but the olive salad was just plain weird.

Just prior to the meal the IFE needed to be rebooted and this meant that all seat power is lost at the same time. How freakin’ stupid. I was not able to re-adjust my chair to a suitable eating position until well into the meal.
The re-boot also meant I needed to set up my playlist again which was a complete PITA.

After the main course the tray was removed but the tablecloth remained. The crew then came out offering, fruit, cheese or the treacle pie.

I decided that as I had cheese in the lounge it was time for the sugar option. I also requested the sticky wine to go with this course.

Finally coffee and tea were offered and a small dark chocolate was given out.

I spent most of the flight reading or listening to my playlist whilst staring out the window. Another annoying part of the IFE system is that when watching the flight map it keeps turning itself off every 10 minutes or so.
I also found I miss the nice little touches the CX IFE system has like showing the flight number and remaining flight time on the handset.

After the meal the CSM dropped by to welcome me on board and also handed out Singapore immigrations cards to those that needed them.
Around an hour out of Singapore the crew came around handing out boxes of small chocolate bunnies. They also asked at this time if anyone wanted something from the snack menu. I declined as I was feeling like I had gained a kilo or two already on this trip.

We landed at 22:06 and taxied to our gate.

As usual after getting off the plane I made a beeline for the BA/QF F Lounge and was able to grab the last remaining shower before the crowds hit.
It seems the lounge has done away with the Molton Brown amenities and now has Jurlique shampoo, conditioner and shower gel.

After freshening up I went into the lounge and grabbed a glass of Perrier water whilst waiting to re-board.
I headed out just as an announcement was being made and walked down to the gate. I went thorough security and the gate and my BP and PP were checked before being swiped through the machine.

Board started a few minutes later with First passengers being invited on board first. Then a small children announcement followed by Business and OW elites.
I made my way back up the ramp and to my seat.

Flight QF0031 SIN-LHR Seat 11A
Aircraft: 380-800
Departure time: 23:59
The menu, blanket and pillow were on the seat as before and once again my jacket was taken from me by the crew.
The captain announced a flight time of 12 hours and 50 minutes. Drinks of bubbly, water or OJ were again offered. There was a breakfast card along with the menu where you make your selections much like in hotels. The crew took these away before we took off.

We pushed back at 00:00 and made along taxi to the end of the runway. It was a good half hour before we actually started our roll down the runway.
As seems normal for flights out of SIN there was an electrical storm off in the distance to light up the sky on the way out.

After the belt sign was extinguished the crew handed out amenity kits and PJs for the flight. It is very nice to be given PJs in Business class on these long flights. The crew then set about preparing supper.

SINGAPORE TO LONDON
SUPPER
Our extensive Rockpool designed menu allows you to enjoya completely personalised dining experience. You can choose the full menu after take-off or our Express meal is available at any time.


MAIN COURSES
Toasted Focaccia with Char Grilled Eggplant, Goats Cheese, Semi Dried Tomatoes and Pesto

Sea Bass with Chilli and Caper Sauce, Sugar Snaps and Potatoes

Nonya Style Chicken with Lemongrass and Ginger, Fragrant Rice and Bok Choy

Duck Shepherd’s Pie with Sweet Onion Relish

Green Leaf Salad with Red Capsicum and Cucumber

DESSERT
Selection of seasonal cheese and accompaniments
Hazelnut and Coffee Syrup Cake with Mascarpone
Sliced Fresh Fruit

CHOCOLATES
Chocolate Dusted Truffles

REFRESHMENT
Enjoy a range of snacks and drinks at any time throughout the your flight. Your Flight Attendant will be pleased to prepare your selection or simply snack from our inflight bar.

Toasted Baguette with Prosciutto, Marinated Artichokes, Rocket and Tapenade

Zucchini, Gruyere and Parmesan Tart

Baked Lamb Moussaka

Whole Seasonal Fruit
Brown Sugar and Spice Cookies
Brookfarm Nightcap Ranges Walkabout Mix
Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream Tubs
Jewels Chocolate Lollipop

The drinks menus were the same as the previous sector.


The crew were quickly out with the meal trays with the salad and chocolates on board and enquired as to the passenger’s choice of main course.
White and Brown bread was offered and wines to drink with the meal. The main course was delivered almost immediately. I opted for the Nonya chicken which was lovely and spicy.

The trays were once again removed before the offer of dessert or fruit and cheese was made. I went with the sugary option again. With this meal I was drinking a rather acceptable Shiraz.

After the meal was finished it was time to get some sleep. I set the seat into be mode and snuggled under my blanket. I have to agree with other posters that this seat is a little lumpy in places and it took a while for me to find the right spot to sleep. I did, in the end do just that for a good 5 hours or so.

When I awoke I was awake and there was no more dozing to be had. I looked at the flight map and decided to wait until breakfast rather than order something from the snack menu. I did however grab an apple from the self service snack bar forward of my seat.

I started to watch a movie and about 2 minutes in all power went out again to the IFE and seats for about 15 minutes. Once things returned to normal I watched the movie and waited for breakfast.

About 2.5 hours out of London the crew came around with a hot towel and the breakfast trays were delivered with our requested items ready to go.

I can’t remember all the options but I had toast and vegemite, fresh fruit and yoghurt and a hot course of scrambled eggs, smoked salmon, potato and corn cakes, tomato and onion relish. All very nice it was too. Along with this I had some coffee from the bodum.

After breakfast the crew cleared the cabin and I changed back into my civvies.

We landed from the East at 06:24 into LHR and as we taxied off the runway a full complement if fire tenders approached the plane and then turned around and retreated. Don’t know what that was all about, there were no announcements from the captain or the crew.

The CSM on this flight didn’t come around and introduce herself either. She did help out upstairs quite a bit but there was no formal welcome like on CX or the earlier SYD-SIN sector. It was funny though I recognised her immediately from her voice over the PA when we first boarded. She was the same CSM I had on my flight from LHR-SIN at Christmas.

After we pulled up I could see there was the usual LHR welcome, i.e. no one was at either bridge to connect them to the plane. Several minutes passed before they eventually started to move. Once connected I made my way off the plane and down the long walk to immigrations.
IRIS was behaving this morning and I was through and waiting for the luggage in no time.

The belt started to move and luggage appeared. As is usual with being on the two sector flight the bags never seen to come out fast. Again SIN checked bags appeared well before any from SYD. As I was waiting someone walked up to stand next to me. I turned and was someone I had met last year at an American Airlines function in London. Small world.

My bag appeared and I quickly exited and made my way down to the HEX and a taxi ride home.

Somewhere during the SYD-SIN I will have clocked up my 2 millionth AA mile with their FF scheme. Rather timely a milestone that was as well. (Well I will have if the miles ever post).

The Photos

matthandy

No problem! It was a fun evening. I had a pretty bad headache in the morning, I must admit! Too much Champagne, not enough water (even though it was the good stuff).

Great update on your journey, glad that you had a good flight home. The way you write it seems as though those 20+ hours must have breezed by.

I agree, I find the QF A380 J seat a little lumpy in all the wrong places, it could do with a mattress on top of it like Emirates do.

The J food looks pretty good, I've always found it to be excellent. Simple, but good quality. Can't believe that they had a treacle tart on-board, and with clotted cream! I think I'd have asked for two....

How was the QF F lounge? Up to it's usual standard?

Moomba

Apart from the blind waiter the lounge was as good as ever. The food and wines were excellent. I didn't attempt to get a spa treatment so can't comment on that front.

Petrus

Moomba, what a an effort. Great piece of work. ^

Moomba

Thanks Petrus

Moomba

The Photos

At around 11 am after unpacking my luggage and showering it was time again to head out to Heathrow.

The two tube & HEX combination had me rocking up to security at T5 in just under an hour.

My BP had been printed by the QF agent in SYD and I was half expecting to be sent to a desk somewhere to have it re-printed but this was not the case.

There was a very short queue at security and once I made the back, down, up trek to the lounges my BP was soon being swiped into the BA Gold Lounge. On the way though I stopped in at HMV to check out the prices for some DVDs and a CD I wanted to purchase. Of course it was still cheaper for me to purchase these things from HMV.co.uk!

I found myself a perch and checked out the bubbly offerings. It was still only the Cattier rubbish and the BP Pink. I decided to see if the much raved about, on the BA board, Wild Pixie was available. Sure enough there was one bottle lurking at the wine bar. I poured a glass and then checked out the food options as I was getting quite hungry by now.

Bangers and Mash, Mini Burgers, Broccoli Gratin, Mini Pies & a Chicken curry were on offer along with the usual salad and cold meat assortment.
I grabbed a couple of pies and a plate of the curry; yet another BA board favourite.

The curry was excellent and filled a hole in my gut. The wine, well I don’t really get what the buzz is about this one. Perhaps having just spent time on QF drinking some excellent reds left me spoilt? It was very nice but perhaps just not to my liking.

Eventually I noticed a gate post on the boards for my flight and was pleased to see it was not a bus gate. I headed down to the gate just prior to boarding time and waited for the flight to be boarded.

Again, as seems to be the norm with BA short haul flights, the priority boarding promised as part of the Club Europe branding was non-existent. A whole 767 plane load of people were invited to board at the same time. So with my best rugby tackle shoulders to the ready I joined the queue.

My passport was checked and the BP swiped and I was on my down to the plane.

Flight BA0780 LHR-ARN Seat 2K
Aircraft: 767
Departure time: 13:50

On board I was welcomed by name by the CSD at the door and directed to my seat. I settled in as best I could in the old clapped out excuse of a 767 that this was and waited until boarding completed. The Captain came on the horn and announced a flight time of 2 hours and 10 minutes.

We pushed back at 13:54 and taxied out to the runway where we started our run at 14:11

A round of drinks was made prior to the lunch service with the CSD doing one aisle and another crew member the other. I asked for a scotch and dry and was supplied with a glass with ice and a can of dry and a wee bottle of scotch. No nibbles, which really bugs me on BA CE. Are things so tight they can’t even manage a bag of nuts for CE passengers?

After drinks the meal service began. This time crew from down the back had moved up front to assist the two crew and lunch was served from the trolley in each aisle.

On offer today was Pork Belly dish or a chicken dish. I opted for the chicken that was accompanied by roasted red pepper, Spanish onion, aubergine and courgette. I asked what white wine was on board and they only had one, rather that the expected two that should have been on this flight in CE. It was a Spanish wine that was the usual drinkable, but only just, offering of BA CE. Bread was offered with the meal and coffee and tea offered after all the meals had been served. On the tray with the meal was a miniscule piece of chocolate and a plate of cheese and cardboard (oatcakes).
The food was OK and as noted the wine was just OK but nothing better.

After the meal I was offered more to drink but declined; it had been a long boozy two weeks for me with all the flying and eating.

We landed at 17:15 local time and taxied to our gate. A long walk then ensued to get us to the centre of the terminal where immigrations live. I had the option of clearing immigration and using the Menzies lounge for 30 minutes or clearing security again before immigrations and waiting at the gate. As the Menzies lounge at ARN is nothing worth writing about I decided to skip that joy and just clear security. The security agent asked if I was connecting I said yes, I am going back on the same flight to London. She just laughed and processed me through the scanner.

I went back up to the gate and waited it out until the flight was called.
Around 30 minutes later boarding started, again with no priority boarding. I just waited in the lounge until the queue died down and walked up to the podium to board. It is not as if I needed to get on board for a pre-departure drink is it? It was BA CE I was flying.

Flight BA0781 ARN-LHR Seat 2K
Aircraft: 767
Departure time: 18:40

On board the CSD saw my BP and asked me if I wouldn’t mind sitting in 3K as they had put a wheelchair customer in 2J with her hubby in 2K. I said it was not a problem.

I went up and took my seat in 3K. Another crew member rushed up and asked me what my seat was and I pointed to the one in front. He explained again that they wanted to put the wheelchair customer up there. I said yes the CSD told me and it was fine. He said if you want to move elsewhere that can be arranged. I said no this is OK.

The captain again announced a flight time of 2 hours and 10 minutes and we pushed back early at 18:31 and made a short taxi to the end of the runway before taking off at 18:41.

None of the crew had either noticed or decided not to mention that I was on the flight out with them. Even when my crew member came to ask me what I wanted to drink and I asked for the same scotch and dry.

After the drink service the meal service began. This time no crew from down the back came to assist. The CSD and the other CE crew guy worked the meal service from the A side Aisle rear forwards offering the meal.

Of course by the time they got to me they had run out of the second choice chicken option. The other option was a grilled salmon dish. The CSD, much to her credit, had decided to offer the crew meal as a second option when she reached my seat. This was a coq au vin served with polenta. She even plated up both to show me.

I opted for the crew meal that was very edible and tried some of the red wine, which was even more acceptable than the previous white. It was a malbec from Argentina.

It was as she was serving me that the CSD said ‘that was a short trip, were you just delivering something?’ I explained that I was on the tail end of a RTW and needed to get back to London today. She said are they much cheaper from Sweden and I said yes quite a bit.

Bread was offered and coffee and tea were served after the meal. Again I was offered more drinks after the meal but declined as I was so very tired and half asleep I didn’t need any more alcohol to encourage the drowsiness.

After a couple of loops over London we landed at 19:15 and taxied to gate 92. This gate is one I have had the joys of pulling up to before. It is actually situated closer to the T3 terminal buildings than T5 and is a bus gate. The bus and stairs were at the gate when we arrived which was a miracle and I was soon off and on the bus. The crew had stopped the flow of passengers down the stairs but the bus driver motioned for them to send more down. There was still some space left to squeeze in some more cattle.

With the bus full the driver then set off on the mile journey back to T5. Upstairs in immigration it was a complete zoo with a sea of passengers at all entry points. I couldn’t not even tell if IRIS was working as I couldn’t get close enough. I then looked over and saw the gates open on one of the machines so I decided to walk up the inside edge of the mass of people. I soon spied a queue monitor and asked him where the queue for IRIS was. He opened a tensile barrier and directed me down towards IRIS. There was a queue of around 10 people for the two machines. After a few minutes I was through and making my way out of the baggage area and down to the HEX for my journey home.

So my friends this is where I must bid you adieu having ended this trip with a LHR-ARN-LHR round trip on the same flights as I started this whole thing last May.

It has been an enjoyable 11 months in the making but not quite so as enjoyable as my previous efforts in the forward most cabin of the various OW carriers.

I would say CX is by far the best carrier for service, the way the crew make you feel special, food and in the case of the JFK-HKG flight the new seat was excellent. I liked the A380 QF J flight in most aspects except the seat when in bed mode. AA J is acceptable for a day flight and the food stomps all over their friends across the pond. BA long haul J suffers from dire food and minimal, but functional, service. QF short haul and domestic J must be one of the best I have ever encountered. BA short haul is one of the worst.

As noted at the beginning of this last series of posts I have had a new RTW ticketed that begins in September this year. I am unsure whether my writing days are over at this point so I may or may not be back then.

In the meantime I hope you enjoyed the ride and happy travels.

Ah just one more interesting tid bit to add. According to Flight Memory this last flight completed my 3rd round trip to the moon.

The Photos

HIDDY

Another epic report Moomba. ^

A question for you.....would you not like a change from flying Oneworld carriers?

Moomba

Thanks HIDDY

Yes I would like to change from OW and I do mix a bit of *A into my travel. But as a true status junkie I stick with OW. One of these days I might spread my wings and do a RTW on *A.

Kevincm

Well done Moomba. A great set of reports.

Moomba

Thanks Kevin.

avm2806

Moomba - I am a huge fan of your exquisite TR's - Kudos on yet another perfect example. The skies shall miss you and I shall miss reading your TR's until the next one...^^^^^^^

27R

I'm sure I speak for hundreds if not thousands who are praying you write up the next RTW. For those of us who are pretty much grounded at the moment, your TRs fire up the imagination most enjoyably.....

Moomba

Thanks guys. I appreciate the feedback.

I suppose I am just going to have to write up my next travel experience, especially as I have now agreed to co-mod this forum. Do the right thing and all that.

andreiz

Once again trying to decipher your actual RTW routing. Is it ARN-LHR-ORD-LAX-JFK-HKG-SIN-HKG-AKL-MEL-SYD-SIN-LHR?

Moomba

LOL

Well you even had me thinking there for a while as to what it ended up as. Like most of my RTW they tend to evolve from the original plan.

ARN-LHR-MCT-LHR-ORD-ANC-ORD-LAX-JFK-HKG-SIN-HKG-AKL-MEL-SYD-LHR-ARN

The other flights in between were a combination of award flights and paid for flights.