Must...Fly!

Hello everyone and welcome to my first trip report.

Since this is my first, I believe an introduction is in order! I am a 20 year old University student from Perth, Western Australia. However, I am a student with a slight difference...instead of spending my money on overpriced booze at the weekend, or on the latest iPhone, I spend it on flying! I wouldn't be a member of FT otherwise, would I?

My inspiration comes from several sources, including my lifelong amazement with aviation. Although the latest and probably most profound impact upon my love of flying was the movie Up in the Air starring George Clooney. To quote him..."the miles are the goal." And while for myself it's more about the flying than the miles, they provide an incentive. I have learnt many tricks through both FT and Australian Frequent Flyer (AFF) which have saved me many dollars, and allowed me to fly both to places and in cabins I would never have been able to otherwise.

One important comment; I love flying, and like most people I have a limited budget to play with; which means aside from redeeming miles, I fly economy. As I am a tall individual at 6 foot 5 inches (or about 195cm in the other scale), flying in Y can be uncomfortable. Especially if you, the individual sitting in front of me, reclines your seat. On an early afternoon flight. .

But I digress. On to this trip report.

In early January on FT, I came across the EK special global sale, a promotion which, more or less, gave 10% off the base fare to skywards members, worldwide. Except Australia. Considering I live in the land down under, this could be problematic...or could it? At the same time, I came across the unbelievably low Business class airfares EK were offering, ex-Athens, to various destination around the world, including Australia.

Taking in to account the global sale price, the total for a return ATH-DXB-PER fare came out at EUR1543. Given the amazingly strong Australian dollar, this came out to roughly AU$1930, or US$2030. Now, considering that the cheapest return ticket one could get to Europe from Australia at low season in Economy is AU$1700ish, this was a deal that stunned me.

Of course, there is an obvious issue with this fare...I don't live in Europe. So I'd have to get there first...and how much would that cost? I quickly discounted this trip in my mind as stupid, as I was seriously considering going to Europe in July anyway.

However, I started thinking through it logically, and started pricing. To get to Europe return in July would likely cost ~AU$2300 in Y on one PNR, less if getting two tickets, one to Asia, then one onwards to Europe. However, Qantas wanted only AU$1830 for a return trip, leaving in late February and returning in late July. This would work perfectly with the EK fare. Add it up, total cost of around $3800 for two return trips to Europe, including a return in J.

Sounded pretty good to me. Especially since I had never flown on the A380, and I could route both my QF flights through Heathrow on the whale, instead of flying direct to Frankfurt on the B747. Yes, I know, I'm mad for transiting Heathrow, but the lure of the whale jet was too big to ignore, as was putting my foot on a new country for the first time. (even if just in transit...). Plus my first trip on EK, and a lot of flying, as well as a fair chunk in J. Everyone on here is a little mad .

I visited Frankfurt in 2009 but for only 2 days, most of which was spent at the Formula 1 Grand Prix at Nurburgring, it was a great regret that I did not spend more time in the city. As a result, I chose to spend my 3 nights in Frankfurt. I loved what little of Germany I experienced, and I needed a break from this stupid Australian summer! 38 celsius (100F) is not my idea of fun. Give me winter any time!

So I cleared it with my folks (that is, I told them what I was doing, and ignored the "What for?" questions, knowing they would not understand), and set about spending my hard earned money. Although that was not without fuss, as my bank decided to spit chips at the idea of handing over $1950 to a merchant in the UAE...that was soon fixed with the use of another card (and letting EK have their FOREX margin) and I was all booked.

As such, my itinerary was as follows, for the February part of my trip;
26/2 QF71 PER-SIN Economy
26/2 QF9 SIN-LHR Economy
27/2 BA906 LHR-FRA Economy
1/3 LH1284 FRA-ATH Economy
2/3 EK106 ATH-DXB Business
3/3 EK424 DXB-PER Business

Yep. Almost 30,000km in a week, just for the pure pleasure of flying!



My next step was seat selection on my QF economy flights, which costs $20 per international sector. I knew I was going to leave my short PER-SIN-PER flights to the Gods, as they are only ~5hrs 30mins. However the A380 is a different story, considering the flight duration. Knowing that Qantas employed the Altea check-in and seating system, which blocks good seats and forward cabins for Elite customers (I am simply a base member of QFF), I was not expecting a choice of the sought-after A380 Y seats. Imagine my surprise, then, when I could select 80A on my return LHR-SIN flight in July! This made me very excited! 80A and 80K, along with 71D, have no seat in front of them. The first two due to the emergency exit, and 71D due to the crew emergency escape hatch.

Unfortunately 80A/K or 71D were not available for my flight to London in February. I did keep checking every day or so just in case, and my persistence paid off! 80A was mine for my SIN-LHR flight...A grant total of $40 (2 x $20) for advanced seat selection, and I had one of the best economy seats in the sky for 28 hours, all to myself. For someone as tall as me, this filled me with excitement!!

And with that all done, I was ready to go, and very excited about spending 3 nights in Frankfurt!

Coming next: Ready, set, go!...QF71 to Singapore

Glensea

I'm really looking forward to your report; you seem to have become a quick learner viat FT. I'm sorry you're not spending real time in Athens -- great place with museums.

Congratulations on having the flying bug. For my 50th birthday, I flew IAD-SFO-Seoul and back -- more time in the air than on the ground -- in coach. Now 13 years later, my partner still doesn't understand but was impressed last month when I found business [z fare] tickets IAD-FCO on United in August for less than it would have cost for lowest Y plus miles+money upgrade to business.

Must...Fly!

Part 1: Ready, set, go!...QF71 to Singapore

Date: Sunday 26 February 2012
Route: Perth (PER) - Singapore (SIN)
Flight: QF71
Aircraft: Airbus A330-300
Class: Economy
Seat: 34J
ETD (Local): 1535
ETA (Local): 2050
Scheduled flight time: 5h 25m

Finally the day had arrived. I had only booked my tickets in early January, but waiting to get on that flight to Singapore seemed to take an age, even though I had been to Adelaide in late January with my brother for a weekend trip. But anyway, the day had come!

I had a lazy Sunday sleep in, waking at about 10am. I completed my packing, showered, and got everything ready for my lengthy trip. Mum and Dad insisted on taking me to the airport (I love them!) so we departed at about 1pm, heading for Perth International Airport. I went to deposit my bag for check-in (despite favouring carry-on only, I eventually realised checking my suitcase was best), picking the online check in queue, which had no one waiting, versus the regular economy queue which had about 6 pax. Of course, the other queue moved, turning over 10 pax or so while I waited. Them's the breaks! Eventually I was called up, and after the agent verified my onward travel out of the EU (with a "you're doing a lot of flying!" comment ), I was on my way. Although not before the agent noticed I had a window seat from Singapore to London, offering to change it to an aisle...I could't say NO quick enough!!!


Armed and ready to go!

I bid farewell to Mum and Dad (with a hug, of course!) and soon I was on my way for real...clearing passport control and security with minimal fuss - which, for me, was very unique, as I always get picked for additional screening and a pat down when flying solo. Not this time! Off to a good start . Leading up to the trip, I was concerned that I would experience and aircraft substitution to a 747-400, as a result of the wing crack checks on the A380s. Thankfully this turned out to be pointless worrying! Although once airside in PER, I decided to keep refreshing the iPad (Mum's, which she had graciously entrusted to me for the week...thanks Mum!), to ensure QF9 departed MEL. It did, albeit about half an hour late (I would later find out this was due to a missing pax, who's luggage had to be offloaded).

Soon boarding was called, although I waited for most of the queue to dissipate before jumping on board.



I love getting on board a flight, particularly a Qantas one. I don't know why, but I just love Qantas, and they are always my first choice. I always have a fantastic experience on board the aircraft and arrive at my destination feeling as good as possible. So being able to get on board the flying kangaroo once again was a great pleasure!



I settled in to my aisle seat, removing my father's Bose QuietComfort 3 headphones (graciously loaned to me for the week, with the caveat "Don't lose anything!"). Here is the obligatory legroom shot.



After a smooth takeoff, we were soon winging our way North to Singapore. Soon after takeoff, menus were handed out - a nice touch in economy class. I was getting fairly peckish, having eaten a piece of toast for breakfast and nothing else. So, what's for lunch, QF?

Salad
Sun Blushed Tomato and Parmesan Salad with a Balsamic Dressing

Choice of
Classic Roast Chicken with Home Made Gravy and Baked Vegetables
OR
Twice Cooked Pork in a Sweet Shou Xhing Sauce with Steamed Rice and Sugar Snaps

Cheese and Crackers
Chocolate
Coffee and Tea
Ice Cream
Fresh Fruit, offered throughout the flight

After reading the menu in TRs, I often pick what I would have and hope that the reporter chose what I wanted, just so I could compare it to the image in my head...so my apologies if I don't choose your preference! I don't particularly like Pork, so the Roast Chicken it was!



I must say, for a Y meal, this was very nice. The quality of the gravy was excellent, and the quantity of chicken was pleasantly surprising. The salad was fresh too, and tasted great with the balsamic dressing provided. Overall, it was a great meal, accompanied by my beverage of choice, apple juice. The ice cream was a mango-cream bar, which is typical on QF and I have had it many times, which suits me fine as I quite enjoy it!

The flight passed rather uneventfully, although turbulence did make the odd appearance, necessitating the use of the seatbelt sign. However this is to be expected on this route, which has experienced problems with turbulence before. I whittled away the hours by using Qantas AVOD IFE system, which while a bit old on this A330 aircraft (smaller screen), had plenty of choice and was also reliable, not crashing at all. I watched a movie (can't recall the title), followed by some TV episodes to get me through the flight.

Everything worked that should have, and the crew were visible and attentive. Another solid Qantas experience, with an arrival in to Singapore slightly ahead of schedule. Overall, this was a great flight!

Coming next: Passing the time in Changi

Must...Fly!

Thank you for all your kind words!

I have actually been to Athens before, in 2009, on my first trip to Europe with my family. It was our big trip. We spent most of our time in Greece, as both sides of my family have Greek ancestry. Didn't think much of the city itself to be honest, but the museums and history was great.

For my 50th birthday present I would want to do it in F! But wants and reality rarely match, do they . Got to admire your spirit though! I don't have a girlfriend thank God...imagine all the money I'd spend on her and not on airfares!

Although my friends do joke that I should just re-route my wages each week, instead of paying them in to my bank account and instead give it all straight to Qantas. Invariably it all ends up with the flying kangaroo, they say.

MucEKPer

Wow great trip report

Can't wait to see what you have to say about EK Bus as I may upgrade to J on 424 also in a month.

vecta

Subscribed.

Looking forward to teh next installment!

I also agree the whY meals on QF are generally quite good. Rissoles and gravy FTW!!!

BKKROP

Love the report, keep it coming and don't mdespair about getting into For C, it will happen. About 15 years ago , so 50 thereabouts i decided the hell with economy and i moved up to business class and a funny thing happened. You earn more, they give you more and it gets to a stage you can't use all the freebies. Stupid isn't it, I can now buy business class seats for the same price as a full priced economy, I get 200/300 % on mileage depending which c/c used and in which country I buy. The airline wants to upgrade me for free, but who cares, like you I love flying

BA5E

Enjoying your TR so far, a long way for such a short time, but as you say you love flying so what the heck. Yes, QF food is good, albeit though have not tried it in Y only F, one day you will get there, and enjoy all the spoils that go with it. Looking forward to reading the next stage of the TR.

Must...Fly!

Part 2: Passing the time in Changi

Changi Airport in Singapore really is a masterpiece. Well, Terminal 3 is, anyway. But I was arriving at Terminal 1 instead, which while still good, certainly lacks the open, expansive spaces offered in T3. I particularly like the high ceilings, which provide a great sense of space, rather than a hemmed in feel that one gets in most airports around the world.

I had about 2 hours or so to kill before having to go through to the departure gate. I don't particularly find value in paying for airport lounges, and generally speaking I actually prefer to walk around with the "riff-raff" walking the concourses. As Ryan Bingham said, "I'm not isolated...I'm surrounded" and I feel as though a lounge is just too quiet (First Lounges excepted ). However, perhaps if I flew a lot more often, my view would change. Nevertheless, having such a long journey in economy, even to me a visit to the lounge in Singapore sounded good. A member of AFF (Rono) had graciously provided me with a single entry pass to the Qantas Club, which he received as a silver member, but had not used and with the pass expiring at the end of February, offered it up to a good home. Thank you Rono!

I had planned to have a shower in the lounge to freshen up ahead of the long flight to London, but I decided against it in the end, as I couldn't be bothered with it, and I didn't feel nearly as tired or run down as I thought I would. I followed the signs, and high-tailed my way upstairs in T1 to the lounge areas.

Unfortunately I didn't get any shots from inside the lounge, but for anyone who hasn't been in, it is very typical of most Qantas clubs, with relatively modern decor, a hot food offering of pasta or rice, along with some cold meats, breads, salads and of course, alcohol.

I took some food from the offering, and sat down to eat, using the free Wi-Fi to catch up on some things (facebook...I'm gen Y, ok )



After munching on the above salad and pasta, I decided to leave the lounge about an hour early, liberating the magazine rack of the latest copy of Time. I enjoyed the lounge greatly, but I really wanted to go and walk through Terminal 3 once more, just to see how an airport should be built.

I caught the skytrain down, and traversed the shopping areas of T3, stopping by at one of the shops to buy a requested item for Dad. Personally, I didn't buy anything. I wanted to keep my money in my account, in preparation for my time in Europe in July, and also future trips I have planned or ones that may pop up.

I had in my mind throughout that I was kind of hungry, despite the food I consumed in the lounge, and not wanting to get on a 14 hour flight hungry, only to be disappointed by a potentially inedible meal, and subsist on items from the snack bar on board for the whole flight. So, knowing all that, I stopped by at Burger King. After my burger, I went to the adjacent convenience store and purchased 3 chocolate bars to consume along my travels to London and beyond. Don't judge me! I'm young remember, I can get away with it .

After that, it was back on the Skytrain up to T1, and a walk across to gate C23, for what would have to be the part of the trip I was looking forward to most of all!

Coming next: A whale of a flight in a whale of a plane!

Firemansam

Great TR so far will there be another update soon?

Must...Fly!

Part 3: A whale of a flight in a whale of a plane!

Date: Sunday 26 February 2012
Route: Singapore (SIN) - London Heathrow (LHR)
Flight: QF9
Aircraft: Airbus A380-800
Class: Economy
Seat: 80A
ETD (Local): 2315
ETA (Local): 0525
Scheduled flight time: 14h 10m

Well, finally it is here! While the reason for taking this trip was to experience Emirates Business, this quickly turned in to what I was looking forward to most. Obviously as someone who loves flying and planes in general, flying on the A380 sooner rather than later was a priority. But it never quite worked out, as I hardly ever go on long haul international. Having found a well priced QF airfare departing in February and returning in July, via LHR for no additional cost, I was stoked! Finally, I was to fly the whale! (I always liked that term )

In my introduction I outline my seat selection experience, but on this flight I had 80A reserved. I was very much looking forward to that seat. I was also very much scared that even though I paid for the request, it was just a request at the end of the day! What if some high-flying status member wanted it? Would I be kicked out? What if the wing cracks turned my A380 in to a 747? The feeling of helplessness engulfed me as I saw the situation unfolding...luckily, my worries were for nothing! As waiting to whisk me to the United Kingdom for the very first time, was Qantas' newest A380, VH-OQL. Following QF tradition of naming aircraft, this is named "Phyllis Arnott", after the first Australian woman to gain a commercial pilot's license.

I was soon through security and waiting in the departure lounge. I chose to stand for obvious reasons, the next 14 hours would be long enough to sit! Boarding soon began, although there was a bit of chaos. Priority Boarding was in effect, but it seemed in typical Australian style, a sort of "you can't tell me what to do" attitude was present. Thankfully I noticed people being sent to the back of the queue. After about 10 minutes, rows 69 and back were called for economy...that's me! Off I go!


Down the jetway...

I'm finally here! On the big bird! Super jumbo! Whale jet! Super heavy! Whatever you want to call it . Very exciting! Walked down the aircraft to my wonderful seat.


Nearby galley

It was at this point I saw my seat mate for the next 14 hours. And my face drooped a little.

You see, on the flight to Singapore, on the other side of the plane, I had spotted a person of significant size sitting in economy. I just thought to myself..."wow, think of the poor person sitting in the window seat. Or, rather, smooshed up against the window itself. Imagine that for 14 hours...better not happen!!"

So you can imagine what I was thinking when I saw who was sitting in 80B...a rather large man. Insta-sad! I was expecting both the dreaded "overflow" and this person trying to sneak in to the legroom I had in 80A (There is a 79B and 79C only, due to the exit). Thankfully though, overflow was minimal if existant, and he turned out to be a short, fat man! God bless the British! Legroom was all mine


Legroom!!!!!! Oh so much beautiful legroom!!!

We were a little late pushing back, but we were soon underway. Although the IFE system crashed just after starting the safety demonstration. Which was slightly concerning...what if it didn't come back?!?! The crew started the demonstration again from the top, with the cabin manager reading out the instructions.

During taxi the captain advised us we had a last minute runway change, which was beneficial to us, as we had a much shorter taxi. Soon after, we were off in to the sky! I did notice that the cabin was quieter than other aircraft, although not that much quieter (this observation continued for the whole flight). The crew had elected to re-boot the entire IFE system on the aircraft, which soon had the desired effect, and I was soon off and racing on the movie marathon. First up was True Grit, which isn't a new release but I hadn't seen it and desperately wanted to. Great movie! Throughout the flight I also indulged in a 3rd viewing of Up in the Air, Harry Potter #7 (parts 1 and 2), and probably some other stuff that I can't remember!

Anyway, dinner was soon served. I figured I would post up a picture I took of the drinks offering in Qantas International Economy. This is standard across the international network.



Dinner was soon served. Considering I had indulged in Burger King at the airport, I wasn't so hungry, but made a choice regardless. Always wise to take food that is offered!! (Maybe it is the Greek in me coming out...hehe).

Salad
Roast Carrot Salad with Mint and Yoghurt Dressing

Choice of
Beef Opor Daging with Steamed Rice and Bean Sambal
or
Seared Fish with a Herb Crust, Pesto Cream Sauce and Seasonal Vegetables

Guava Jelly with Mango Coulis
Grinders Coffee
Dilmah Tea
Cadbury Hot Chocolate
Peppermint Tea

Considering my strict no-fish-in-the-air policy (especially in economy), the beef was chosen.


Beef...with apple juice again!

I didn't feel hungry and the food wasn't much to my taste. I consumed the rice and bread, leaving the rest of to be consigned to waste. One thing to note was that on both QF sectors, the bread roll was warmed before serving. Nice touch!

Coming next: To London, Part II

Must...Fly!

Thanks!

I moved this reply to the top for a reason, my apologies for the long time between updates. I have been quite busy over the past week with university, my brothers 18th birthday and I also signed off on buying my first car!

Hopefully I will have more time on my hands this week!

Also my apologies for those bad looking shoes in the post above...I didn't have a choice I'm afraid!

Thank you so much!

A quick snapshot...it's better than Y. Especially compared to what I imagine 10-across would be like. But in my experience, it was hardly something to behold.

Thanks. And yes I agree!!
Bang on! Give me a good fare and I'll go !! The bonus earnings on J/F fares are certainly a carrot, if you can afford them to start with
Thank you for the kind words . I hope to enjoy F on Qantas by redeeming some miles sometime in 2013, probably sometime in August or September I will head to North America, but that's something way off in the distance! Plenty of other things to get done in the mean time

Must...Fly!

I can do nothing but apologise for my neglect of this trip report. It has been almost 3 months since the last entry, and that is plain unacceptable. I have been quite busy!

One of the reasons is that soon after my last post I was off to Sydney and Brisbane following my soccer team Perth Glory in the A-League Finals Series. We got to the Grand Final in Brisbane, got so close, and lost in the worst way. I'm reticent to post a video, but I will. It's a 10 minute long highlights package, but there is some fantastic soccer on display - if you haven't the time to view the whole video, watch from 5:00 to see why the 2,500-odd Perth fans who made the 5000 mile round-trip across Australia left Brisbane angry and disappointed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tui4keFJbK0

That, combined with university and a bit of laziness on my part meant not updating this report. Sorry again!

Part 4: To London, Part II

With the meal service all complete, it was time to settle in for the long journey ahead.


Are we there yet?

The QF A380 IFE system was introduced at the same time as the whale was brought in to the fleet. In economy it features a 10.1" touchscreen. As I was sitting in 80A, without another seat in front, my unit was located in the armrest, which meant it had to be stowed for take off and landing...no tailcam for me...however, that's a small price to pay for the leg room advantage.

A nice touch from Qantas was a snack bag, just in case us passengers felt a bit peckish during the flight. The contents are pictured.


Yummy

I now attacked the IFE system full on. Movie after movie! Harry Potter #7 Parts 1 & 2 to name but a few.

Now, I have real problems sleeping on aircraft. Perhaps it's just me, perhaps it's a result of sitting in economy seats and my height making it difficult. I was curious to try the A380 seating on Qantas. These seats have a slightly different method of recline which is becoming more common on airlines around the world - the actual base of the seat slides forward, as well as the seat back reclining, but only a little bit. The idea behind this is to create an equal or greater feeling of recline, while impeding on the passenger behind you less.

This sounds great in theory. I had experienced these new seats on a QF transcontinental (MEL-PER) before, and the person in front reclined () - but it was barely an inconvenience, and I have to say even the IFE screen adjusted to an appropriate angle. But I did notice that there was literally NO room between my knees and the seat in front....meaning even if I wanted to recline, I really couldn't.

This wasn't a problem on the A380 tonight. I took the opportunity to recline (hopefully not annoying my rearward neighbour), grab a blanket and the eye shades from the amenity kit to attempt some sleep (I forgot to mention the amenity kit...pretty basic, but it's economy after all). Amazingly I got 4 hours of solid sleep. I know this doesn't sound like much, but believe me, for myself that is monumental. Amazing even! I woke up and started another movie. I then went for a bit of a wander and grabbed a couple of choc-chip cookies from the self-service snack bar on-board, which was stocked with some small nibblies to get you through the flight along with some drinks as well.

I should also mention that the crew frequently came through the cabin with plastic cups and jugs of water for anyone awake and wanting to re-hydrate, which was great to see - you hear criticism's of a lot of crew just disappearing for the 10 hours between main meal services...not so here .

Soon enough the lights in the cabin came on and we were preparing for breakfast.

Breakfast
Orange Juice
Seasonal Fresh Fruit Salad
Strawberry Yoghurt
Pain au Raisin

Choice of continental breakfast
Cereal and Milk

or Hot Breakfast
"Bubble and Squeak" with Poached Egg and Brasied Beans

Grinders Coffee
Dilmah Tea

I chose to take in the hot breakfast. For the record, the cereal on offer were Weet-Bix bits if I recall correctly.


Breakfast on QF

I admit I'd never heard of a "bubble and squeak" which I later learned was an english thing (google it). Never the less, it was tasty enough and I nibbled at my breakfast - although I was not so hungry. I did have the fruit though which was refreshing. Typically I am not particularly hungry until I get on the ground.

With that done, it was time to prepare for landing!


Almost at Heathrow!

A very smooth descent, and we were on the ground at a very dark, cold Heathrow.

Overall, an amazingly good flight. I am sure the seat I had an influence on my opinion, but I can only rate what I had. The crew were friendly and attentive, coming through the cabin regularly with water for passengers. I heard no loud talking etc coming from the galley in front of me. The IFE system, despite the hiccup on the ground in Singapore, worked faultlessly and provided countless numbers of options with movies, TV shows and audio too. I am a big fan of the new system Qantas has installed on A380s and on new delivery 737-800 aircraft.

I also used the in flight communication features for the first time. I do like to follow politics at home and while I was in the air the ruling Labor party was having a leadership ballot. I was keen to find out who would be victorious ASAP, so at a cost of US$1.50 per message sent and received, I sent Mum an SMS back home, and when the result was known she duly communicated it to me. The captain actually mentioned the result over the P/A just before descent - so I had a few hours over everyone else, but I guessed news such as this would reach everyone on board before we hit the ground.

Upon disembarking I had a walk through the First cabin...very nice! Hopefully I will be up the front there by the end of next year (with miles, of course!).

Coming next: My first time at Heathrow and my first flight on BA

Moomba

I was going to say when I saw your first meal that it looked quite good for econ and then I read your notes.

Better you than me doing Y all the way from Oz. I don't think I could do it again. The last time I did that route in Y was over 12 years ago when I first came to the UK to live.

Thanks for coming back to continue the report.

Must...Fly!

Part 5: My first time at Heathrow and my first flight on BA

After about 15 minutes of taxiing we arrived at the gate at Heathrow Terminal 3 a few minuets early. As I said before, this stop in LHR was not actually mandatory. I could have taken the direct QF5 service SIN-FRA, but this would have been inconvenient for several reasons. For one, I wouldn't get to try the A380 and the fantastic hard product that exists. Another reason was that QF5 lands in FRA at 0600. Which means that after travelling for over 24 hours, I probably wouldn't have a hotel room for a further 6 hours at least. That didn't seem particularly appealing to me, so I decided to try out the multi-city tool on Qantas.com, and it spat out a route via LHR both ways for the same price - result! So instead of arriving in FRA at 0600, I would now arrive at 1120 and also get to experience a new airport for the first time in LHR.

Anyway. One of the negatives of sitting in 80A is that it is located in the rear-most economy cabin, so it took a bit of time to get off the aircraft, although I would hardly call it an excessive wait. I am a swift walker, so I managed to overtake many others on the trek through the bare corridors of Terminal 3. Bare is probably a nice way to describe it. Certainly didn't feel particularly welcoming!

I had heard countless bad things about transiting at LHR. I was a little...apprehensive, walking to the transfer point to get the bus to T5. I had thought firstly, "really how hard can it be?". I then found out the MCT at LHR is 120 minutes. Seemed excessive...and got me slightly worried that I wouldn't get any time to walk around T5.

After turning left, right, right, left, right, down, up, turn around, etc...I finally reached the transfer point, and there was a small queue of about 20 people boarding a bus to T5, which was pretty much full. I thought "wow, there will be another bus in a couple of minutes and this will all be really painless!"...wrong. That bus left, and the pretty small transfer hall filled up big time. Very glad that I chose QF9 which is one of the first in from SIN...the queue building up behind was massive. I also couldn't believe that there wouldn't be a few buses waiting to take everyone...took a good 15-20 minutes for the next bus to turn up. Oh to be at the rear of the transfer queue after all that flying..... Throughout this I was exchanging text messages with my brother, who was informing me of various sports results from back home (and his English team, Liverpool, winning the Carling Cup).

The dark drive around Heathrow was kind of fun, in it's own way - as I was up the front of the queue I managed to get a seat on the bus, so got the chance to look around. A pretty amazing place I have to say, very big and very busy! Not long after it was time to get off the bus and complete all the checks necessary to get in to T5.

Externally T5 is most impressive. Not quite how to describe it, but it certainly has a certain 'wow' factor to it, for me anyway. The boarding pass/passport check was relatively painless, as was the LAGS check. Going upstairs for security screening though took forever (or at least it felt that way). Line moved horribly slow, people beeping left, right and centre...certainly not the best security experience I've had, especially since I was tired, hungry and felt like cr*p!

Eventually I cleared security. I then decided to take a walk on the upper level, having a peek in to the various stores on offer in the main part of T5. I turned right to begin with, eventually hitting the BA Galleries lounge there, then walked back to the other end, where the North Galleries lounge is located. I perused the food options along the way, eventually deciding that they were all rather mediocre, and deciding to sit down in wagamama for some breakfast. Bad move really. The food was ok, but there really wasn't enough of it, or enough newspapers...my own fault really, don't know what I was expecting! Should have gone to the Gordon Ramsay place!

As I don't have any elite status, I could not gain access to the BA lounges, but I will be back through LHR in 4 weeks time, heading off to FCO in Club Europe, for a measly 79GBP upgrade offered to me via BA.com, so I will get to try the Galleries breakfast fare then .

After my breakfast, I went down to the gate level and went through the stores there, all the while glancing up at the huge departures screens, waiting for my flight to FRA to pop-up with a gate assignment. I found the Olympic shop during my walk, and planned to buy a souvenir for my brother...however, I soon realised this would be expensive. Any store that doesn't have the prices on goods must be expensive! Not that it would have stopped me buying something moderate though...but I hadn't bothered to change any pounds, and as sponsors of the Olympic Games, Visa had a monopoly on e-payment services...and I only had a MasterCard. Oh well, next time!

Eventually my gate popped up, and I made my way down to the gate, which, if I recall correctly, was A19.

Date: Monday 27 February 2012
Route: London Heathrow (LHR) - Frankfurt (FRA)
Flight: BA906/QF3481
Aircraft: Airbus A319
Class: Economy
Seat: 16A
ETD (Local): 0820
ETA (Local): 1105
Scheduled flight time: 1h 45m

So my first ever flight on BA was coming up! ^

On the way to the gate, I figured I should do this properly, so stopped at a customer service desk and requested a print out of my boarding pass on BA stock. No weird questions and I soon had a second boarding pass in my hand!


Slightly nerdy, but I don't care

Anyway, I eventually got down to the gate and grabbed a seat, waiting for boarding to begin. I was getting pretty tired, so I just wanted to get on board and get to Frankfurt. Nope! Seems the Air Traffic Controllers in Frankfurt wanted more money, or more time off, or some such thing...delay! Sigh. Not now. . I never get annoyed at delays, things happen. But this was testing my resolve, purely from a fatigue stand point. About 10 minutes later, BA announced boarding, so we could at least be ready to go as soon as we got the all clear, although interestingly they also provided provision for people without checked luggage to cancel and not board then and there. Several suits were complaining loudly to the helpless ground crew..."I paid 500 pounds for this ticket blah blah blah I'm a w*nker".


My view from 16A

Once everyone was on board, and those who didn't want to come were off loaded, the Captain came on and advised we would be pushing back immediately, but not to take off...obviously gates are a rare commodity and LHR, so we had to get out of the way for another flight, and we would move to a remote part of the airfield to await a slot and clearance. A slot that was 2 hours away. !! Once we moved away and parked, we were advised that we got an earlier slot! Only 90 minutes now...

To the credit of the crew, they came around and offered drinks to all passengers, which was lovely. Fortunately I had a great view of T5 from my window seat, so I just watched a whole bunch of planes roll past while I listened to some music on my iPod.

The seat itself was typical of any economy seat. Bugger all legroom being the main feature, although I can report that the middle seat was not taken, so myself and the man in 16C had some space to stretch and relax in.


No reclining for you, 15A!


Impressive number of BA aircraft

About a half hour later, the engines fired up and we were off. A flight time of approximately 1h 15m meant we would make up half an hour of the delay in flight, meaning arriving about a half hour later than scheduled - not that bad at all.


In-flight

The in-flight service soon commenced, consisting of drink and a cold egg roll. I love eggs, but cold eggs just don't do it for me. They also tend to make my stomach very angry, if you get my drift. I took it, but thought better of consuming it . Never mind!

It was a lovely day for flying, slightly overcast (but it's England after all) but a smooth flight.


The cabin

Soon enough, we were descending in to FRA. I had nodded off a little in flight as a result of being so damn tired, but I was now wide awake and excited !


Hey, my first sight of a 787!

A lengthy taxi later and we were soon at a remote bay at FRA. Damn. On the bus after a few minutes, and off to the terminal to clear immigration in to the EU. The officer that handled my entry seemed about as enthused as a dead rat. I guess it would be a boring job.

Overall my first flight on BA was more than acceptable. While, yes, economy is tight, it is tight everywhere and this was just a short flight. Big ticks to the crew for providing refreshments while waiting for a take-off slot and providing a pleasant service. I can't comment on the food provided however, since I didn't eat it, although it looked nice enough. My apologies as I must have neglected to take a picture, but no doubt the roll is a relatively common offering on BA short haul Y and has been documented on here before.

I was concerned that my luggage wouldn't have arrived with me, as LHR is notorious for that sort of thing...thankfully though, mine was one of the first off the belt and with nothing to declare, I was landside in Germany! As BA operates out of Terminal 2, I followed the signs and grabbed the connecting bus to Terminal 1, and headed downstairs to the S-Bahn station. After purchasing a ticket, I was soon on my way to Konstablerwache station and my hotel, The Westin Grand Frankfurt.

Coming next: The Westin Grand Frankfurt and 3 days in a lovely city