Seat 2A

I wasn't originally planning to post this portion of my fourth trip out to Australia via British Airways. Somehow, the SFO-LHR portion seemed enough, especially since I've now described the trip three times previously. Still, once I'd finally written it up, I figured why the heck not post it seeing as there would appear to be six - maybe even seven or more readers still out there who enjoy what I would call a "Flight Report" as opposed to a Trip Report.

Now, I could just append this to my Laramie to London report, but as the report's title indicates it ends in London, I doubt anyone would even know it was now available for public consumption. So, here it is... the rest of the story.





30 December, 2004
London to Singapore
British Airways First Class * Dinner - Breakfast
747-400 G-BNLR Seat 3K
915p-550p Flight time: 12:19

The Concorde Room provides everything one could reasonably ask for during an extended airport layover – a shower, a massage, a quiet corner in which to sleep, a menu of complimentary soups, salads and sandwiches, free beer, lots of reading material and two internet equipped computer terminals. Those requiring further stimulation can step out into Terminal Four and wander amongst the wide variety of shops and restaurants.

Down at Gate 22, hordes of passengers pushed towards the podium at the entryway while others stood patiently in line. As the gate agents implored Economy passengers to step back from the First and Club World counter, I quickly slipped in, presented my passport and was on my way down the jetway moments later. Ah… ‘tis indeed a treat to fly in BA’s First Class!

The First Class cabin looked to be completely full by the time I was led to my seat. Moments later, I was relieved of my jacket and presented with a welcoming glass of Shiraz. Truth be known, when queried as to my choice of pre-flight beverages, I asked for a glass of red wine. The lovely Flight Attendant serving my side – Dianne – soon returned with a menu opened to the Wine List from which I made my selection. What would you choose?


WINE LIST

CHAMPAGNE

Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle Champagne
A stunning Champagne with a classic toasty aroma and creamy, fresh lemon flavours – the finish is long and stylish

WHITE WINES

Chassagne-Montrachet 2002, Marie-Louise Parisot
The wines of Chassagne have a mineral complexity, not always apparent in other appellations, that combines well with the richness and depth of great Burgundy

Cullen Margaret River Sémillon Sauvignon Blanc 2003
The beautifully fresh and aromatic blend of Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc grapes has become the hallmark of the Margaret River region of West Australia – and a benchmark for the world!

Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay 2001
Recently described in Wine Spectator magazine as “the greatest white wine Australia has ever produced,” this wine is utterly seamless, harmonious and seductive with a finish that just goes on and on

RED WINES

Domaine de Chevalier 1995, Grand Cru Classé, Graves
A deep garnet colour and a fine, soft fruit bouquet lead into an all enveloping, mouth filling black fruit flavour or great length and power

Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2001, Domaine du Pére Pape
You can almost taste the warmth of the southern Rhone Valley in this ripe, full-bodied, luscious and mouth filling red wine

Heartland Director’s Cut Shiraz 2001, Limestone Coast
This is an intense, black Shiraz with a minty white pepper aroma and chocolate and blackberry flavours


DESSERT WINES

Opitz Goldackerl Trockenbeerenauslese 2002, Austria
Austria makes some of the finest sweet wines in the world. The effervescent Willi Opitz, from his tiny vineyards in Illmitz near the Hungarian border, produces some of the very best in the country

Warre’s 1988 Colheita Port
Complex, sweet nutty flavours offer an admirable after dinner glass





The Shiraz was an excellent choice – truly amongst the finest examples I can remember ever drinking. Unfortunately, the tasty Macadamia nuts served on my earlier flight had been replaced by cashews ~ very tasty but not quite in the same league as the regal Macadamia.

Hot towels were presented and collected, the doors were closed, the safety video dispensed with and we began our taxi out to the runway. After a 38-second take off roll, we climbed into the night sky above London, banked gently to starboard and began the long climb up to our initial cruising altitude of 35,000 feet. Unfortunately, the SkyMap, usually my favorite part of the entertainment options, was inoperable for tonight’s flight. That’s a real shame because the London to Singapore route is one of the more exotic in terms of lands flown over. Eastern Europe, Russia, the Ukraine, the Black Sea, Afghanistan, Central India, Burma and the Malay Peninsula – it’s always entertaining to know exactly which of these locales you’re flying over, much less at what altitude and speed your flight is progressing.

For those desiring cinematic rather than geographic entertainment, British Airways offers a nice variety of movies, television shows and documentaries available to all classes via its plane wide IFE system. While this system offers plenty to entertain, compared to the state of the art AVOD or Audio Video on Demand systems offered by airlines like Singapore and Cathay, BA’s IFE is really rather basic and outdated.

In addition to the entertainment offerings described above, BA’s First Class passengers are offered an additional twenty-five movies, available in mini-cassette format that can be inserted into a player located in the side of the each suite. These additional First Class movie selections are described in a stylish magazine style format that I perused with some interest. After all, on a twelve and a half hour flight, there’d be more than enough time for a movie – or two.

First however, it was time to peruse the First Class dinner menu, presented with a plate of canapés and another glass of that spectacular Shiraz.


London to Singapore

DINNER


STARTERS

Ballottine of Salmon with Herb Crème Fraiche

Glazed Pecorino Cheese and Potato Tart with Parsley and Truffle Oil dressing

Spicy Pumpkin Soup with Crème Fraiche

Fresh Salad leaves with your choice of Pommery Mustard or Lemon and Herb Dressing


MAIN COURSES

Roast Best End of Lamb with Haricot Bean Casserole and Vegetable Jus

Halibut with Red Pepper and Citrus Coulis

Chicken Tikka Masala

Salad of Sticky Ginger Chicken and Spicy Noodles with Asian Dressing


SNACKS

Grilled Fillet of Beef Sandwich with Red Onion Marmalade

Spicy Pumpkin Soup with Crème Fraiche and a Side Salad

Fresh Pasta with your choice of Creamy Rocket, Basil and Pesto Sauce or Arrabbiata Sauce

Duchy of Cornwall Biscuits

A Selection of Cheese and Fruit


DESSERT AND CHEESE

Warm Apple and Blackberry Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream

Lemon Tart with a Quenelle of Clotted Cream and Mascarpone

Cheese Plate featuring –

English Stilton – Stilton is an English, cow’s milk, semi-hard, Blue, unpressed cheese with a natural brushed rind

Fountains Gold – A semi-hard cheese made from Jersey cow’s milk

Brie – This soft cow’s milk cheese is one of the world’s most popular cheeses

A Basket of Fresh Fruit

Chocolates




I didn’t sleep all that well on the flight between San Francisco and London and I couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps there were some correlation between eating red meat so soon before bedtime and then trying to enjoy a quality sleep. This could be completely baseless, I know, but I have noticed that when I do eat heavier meats like steak or lamb they initially seem to sit in my stomach like a lead weight. No problem perhaps if you’re looking to be up another four or five hours after dinner, but for me at least it might perhaps be better to go with a lighter dish on these late night departures. As such, I requested the Halibut with Red Pepper and Citrus Coulis, to be preceded by the Salmon appetizer and a fresh salad. I should imagine a white wine would go much better with a light fish like Halibut, but having now imbibed two glasses of that Shiraz, I decided to stick with the red regardless.

Well I must say that the Halibut was just wonderful – moist and succulent with a lightly tangy citrus topping. Oddly, it was presented atop potatoes rather than rice, but overall a very nice entrée selection. BA has a culinary council made up of five chefs whose entrée creations are often highlighted in the menu. Although tonight’s menu didn’t credit any of them, if I had to guess, the halibut was likely submitted by Vineet Bhatia. He seems to specialize in creating light and zesty entrée choices and tonight’s halibut certainly met that description. Delicious!

I passed on the cheese and port service, but did go with a slice of the apple and blackberry pie. It was served warm with a tiny scoop of vanilla ice cream and was a good, though fairly basic dessert.

After dinner, I sipped from a cup of BA’s surprisingly good decaffeinated coffee while watching the first cassette of the movie Casino – one of my favorites with DeNiro, Stone, Pesci et al. Four hours into the flight, I lowered my seat, spread out my duvet and called it a night. I slept somewhat better than I did on my earlier flight though I did have to get up in the middle of the night and request that the heat please be lowered a bit.

After about five and a half hours of sleep, I awoke, checked my watch and decided to get up. Even though I could’ve easily slept more, we were only three hours away from landing in Singapore where, following a short layover, we’d soon be on our way to Melbourne. That flight is a comparatively short six and a half hours in length and it was important to get some more sleep before the scheduled 5:15am arrival. This was especially true in this instance since I’d be rendezvousing with a couple of friends from Alaska during my long layover in Melbourne.

People often mention how arduous this journey from London to Singapore is, but from my First Class perspective it just flies by – quite literally as the case may be. Consider ~ I get on the plane, have a nice dinner, read or watch a movie, sleep awhile, put in a little work on the laptop, have a nice breakfast and voila! We’re on final approach to Changi. Twelve hours gone just like that. Jeez, I work a twelve-hour shift during the summer months anyway. It’s really no big deal. I’ve done longer flights in Economy where the trick is to sleep as much as possible and otherwise bring plenty of things to keep yourself entertained.

With the breakfast service still an hour and a half away, I decided to try a small bowl of the spicy pumpkin soup – hold the side salad please – and then put in a bit of work on this flight report. I also made a stop in the lavatory, as much to check out the bright sunny day outside as to change and utilize the facilities. Beneath us was a stark barren landscape divided by a large serpentine river. We had to be past India by now so I presumed this was Burma. I sure do miss that SkyMap!

Here’s the breakfast menu. You’ll note the additional choices compared to the SFO-LHR service. I can only assume that this is to maintain a competitive balance with Singapore Airlines, generally regarded as offering the finest inflight service in the world.


BREAKFAST


STARTERS

Chilled Fruit Juice

An Energizing Fruit Smoothie

A Selection of Fruit, Plain Yogurts and Cereals

Fresh Seasonal Fruit Plate


BAKERY

A wide selection of Breakfast Pastries and Rolls


MAIN COURSE

Scrambled Eggs, Grilled bacon, Pork Sausage, Sautéed Mushrooms, Grilled Tomato and Hashed Brown Potatoes

Sharp Cheese Fritatta with Mornay Sauce

Brioche French Toast with Cinnamon Butter and Apple Compote




Hmmm… let’s go with the fruit plate and I’ll have a small serving of that cheese fritatta, please. I reckon I’ll check out the healthy muesli offerings tomorrow morning (which, given our eastbound heading into the later time zones, will come just about ten hours from now).

There’s just no such thing as a bad fruit plate. Even on the airlines. They’re all excellent! I really could just eat a couple of those and be done with it but it’s always good to get a few carbs in the morning for that initial energy boost. Eggs with cheese are hardly the healthiest way to accomplish this, but they sure were tasty. Tomorrow, it’s muesli for sure!

We landed at 5:45pm on a typically hot and muggy afternoon in Singapore. The temperature was 28 degrees and you could just see the humidity suspended in the air. We parked most conveniently at Gate C-1 and I wasted little time in hurrying up to the air-conditioned splendor of the First Class Lounge, operated jointly by BA and Qantas.

Singapore acts as a mini-hub for Qantas, with connections to points all over Australia as well as Europe. As such, this lounge is usually quite busy when I’ve used it, especially since all of BA’s flights through SIN are codeshared with Qantas. Although I use the term splendor in reference to the blessed air conditioning, this lounge is also quite a pleasant place to while away and hour or two between flights. In addition to free beer, it also offers a nice food island stocked with soup, finger sandwiches and a regional dish. Today’s offering was seafood fried rice with Thai fish balls.

There were also plenty of up to date periodicals in addition to four Internet capable computer terminals along the back wall. I checked my email and looked over some of the college bowl scores, then headed off for a quick shower. As it turned out, I needn’t have hurried as a hydraulic seal leak had been discovered on one of the engines powering G-BNLR, and so our departure time was delayed by two hours. When this bit of news was first announced, I heard a couple cries of anguish from somewhere in the lounge. Unless you’ve an early morning connection, who’d want to arrive in Melbourne much less anywhere else at 5:00am? On an equally positive note, I figured that with the later departure, I’d be that much more ready for some more sleep as well.

Seat 2A

31 December, 2004
Singapore to Melbourne
British Airways First Class * Dinner – Cont’l. Breakfast
747-400 G-BNLR Seat 3K
720p-515a Flight time: 6:38

This flight was nearly full to capacity on the inbound from London, so when boarding was called at 9:00pm I wasted little time in heading down to the gate in anticipation of a big crowd. To my pleasant surprise, the “crowd” was no more than twenty large and I basically strolled right onboard the aircraft without delay. Only six lucky souls would be ensconced in the First Class cabin this evening so with a passenger to Flight Attendant ratio of just 2:1, service was even more gracious and relaxed than usual.

The wine list had included an Australian Chardonnay described by Wine Spectator magazine as being “the greatest white wine Australia has ever produced”. Hmm… it is, eh? Well, even though I’m not a big white wine drinker, I just had to check this out. Not being an oeonophile of the first order, any comments I might have on this wine beyond “tasty” would likely be deemed irrelevant amongst FT’s more cultured readers. Suffice to say I stuck with it throughout dinner and would welcome another glass on my return flight.

Ah, dinner. Given our longer than planned layover due to the maintenance problem, I’d regained a bit of appetite and so reviewed the menu with renewed appetite and anticipation. Consider the possibilities…


Singapore to Melbourne

STARTERS

Marinated Prawns and Squid on Rocket and Pine Nuts

Grilled Red Pepper and Cheese Salad

Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup

Fresh Salad leaves with your choice of Balsamic Olive Oil or Herbed Crème Fraiche


MAIN COURSES

Grilled Beef Medallions with Parmesan Cheese and Mascarpone Polenta, Thyme Jus, Kenya Beans and Carrots

Roast Fillet of Salmon with Yabbie Tails, Crustacia Oil, Parsley Potatoes and Asparagus

Stir-fried Chicken with Oyster and Yellow Bean Sauce and Stir-fried Rice

Chilli Prawn Salad


SNACKS

Bacon Roll served with Tomato Ketchup

Chicken Club Sandwich

Smoked Salmon Salad

A Selection of Finger Sandwiches

Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup with a Side Salad

Fresh Pasta with your choice of Creamy Mushroom Sauce or Tomato, Olive and Parsley Sauce

Duchy of Cornwall Biscuits

A Selection of Cheese and Fruit


DESSERT AND CHEESE

Summer Pudding with Crème Fraiche

Chocolate Parfait with Macerated Cherries and Cherry Ice Cream

A Selection of Cheese

A Basket of Fresh Fruit




After take off, the Cabin Service Director stopped by to chat. He’d logged a good many years with BA, dating back to the BOAC days. He was a veritable history book about what I consider to be the glory days of air transportation. We both had a great time reminiscing about old airlines, old airplanes and historic services. Like many of his professional brethren, he had fond memories of the Anchorage stopovers dating from BA’s services to the Orient back in the seventies. Some of these stopovers were almost a week long so those lucky enough to work those flights had plenty of time to get out and explore Alaska, which they did. I remember sitting next to a couple of Sabena Flight Attendants while riding the shuttle bus back into Denali Park back in the late 1970s.

Tonight’s dinner out of Singapore was good, though not memorably so. The Marinated Prawns and Squid were marinated in something so bland as to be indiscernible. The [I]Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup[I] was like a Chinese egg drop soup in texture, but without the egg. Instead it was infused with tiny flecks of chicken and corn and tasted like a corn broth. Without the chicken. As for the main course, the Roast Fillet of Salmon with Yabbie Tails would normally be my entrée of choice. I had this entrée last year on the flight out of Singapore and remember it as being superb. Not surprisingly, I’ve found that when flying out of Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok, the fish and Asian entrees are generally very good. As such, in the interest of trying something new I decided to go with the Stir-fried Chicken with Oyster and Yellow Bean Sauce. It was tasty enough, but would have been improved considerably by the addition of some hot oil or chilli sauce, which unfortunately the crew was unable to come up with. I suspect that somewhere in the airline catering handbooks, it’s now recommended to offer light, non-spicy foods. Cantonese rather than Szechuan. That’s fine for hospital patients, the elderly and people from far northern Canada but pretty drab for the rest of us.

During the meal, I watched “Big” with Tom Hanks. It was just as good after the third or fourth time as it was the first. Indeed, it is one of my favorite movies. After dinner, whilst flying over Indonesia and the South Java Sea, I reclined my seat, munched on fine English cheese and swilled port in true decadence. Only a week ago I was in the Glenwood Springs Hostel, draped in a beanbag chair while drinking beer and eating Tostitos and bean dip. Where will I be next week at this time?

I never did fully flatten my seat and instead slept (perhaps lapsed into unconsciousness would better describe my state…) quite nicely at an angle not unlike that of the original sleeper seats that were introduced in the late Seventies. When I awoke, dawn was coloring the eastern sky and we were about an hour out of Melbourne. Plates and glasses could be heard clinking back in the galley and before long a Flight Attendant approached and asked if I’d care for any breakfast.


BREAKFAST

STARTERS

Chilled Fruit Juice

An Energizing Fruit Smoothie

A Selection of Fruit, Plain Yogurts and Cereals

Fresh Seasonal Fruit Plate

BAKERY

A wide selection of Breakfast Pastries and Rolls




It’s amazing to me that the flight between Singapore and Melbourne is so short yet covers 3,750 miles – almost the same as New York to London. I used to think of those trans-Atlantic flights “across the pond” as being pretty long. Not anymore. Now, having flown the likes of LHR-SIN, LAX-NAN, SFO-SYD and HKG-JNB, not to mention numerous hops between London and the US West Coast, I look upon flights such as this six and a half hour segment between Singapore and Melbourne as a mere jaunt. It really needs to be longer in order for me to better enjoy BA’s fine service. I mean, didn’t I finish dinner just four hours ago? Perhaps a letter to Consumer Affairs…

A fruit smoothie, a serving of fruit, a surprisingly flaky croissant and a small bowl of Bichermeusli provided all the energy I’d need to carry on through the day at Melbourne. Soon after plates were cleared, the engines throttled back and the landing gear was extended. With the nosewheel gear being located directly below the First Class cabin floor, the noise from its lowering into position is really quite loud. Anyone still sleeping would surely be shocked backed into consciousness.

Descending swiftly over the Eucalyptus dotted hills of the Victorian countryside, we made a final turn and touched down so smoothly as to be nearly imperceptible up in the forward cabin. A very smooth landing indeed. It was 6:50am and the sun was just poking over the eastern horizon. As always, it’s good to be back in Australia.

Seat 2A

After a full day of trotting around Melbourne with my Alaska friends, I headed off to the Spencer Street Train station for my overnight trip to Adelaide, connecting on to Alice Springs aboard the Ghan. Though I enjoy writing train reports as much as plane reports, having now travelled aboard these trains in Economy or Red Kangaroo Class as it is called, I can assure you that there was really nothing worthy of writing home about. First Class on the other hand looked to be quite nice but was priced way too far out of my range.

So, I am focusing this trip on the small country towns of Central and Western Australia, staying in the cheapest accommodations possible. And now, they say I've got to end. So, til next time...

Uli

Thanks a lot for the report, seat2a.

It makes me want to fly to Melbourne on BA right now ...

I second your wine choice. A good idea to skip the "usual" champaign service in favour of something really great ...!

Fliar

Very much enjoyed reading this - love your writing style!

QF WP

Seat 2A, thank you once again for taking us with you on the flight and sharing your experiences. Your TR's make mine look like a mere shell in comparison ... I humbly beseech you to continue to find something worthy to write about again soon (even if it's a tour of Denali).

I'll now go back to the skiing TR I'm putting together to see if I can breathe some semblance of respectibility into it...but I fear it will need something more!

Kiwi Flyer

Thanks Seat2A, you have provided my reading material for my flight.

greggwiggins

It appears that I (unfortunately) won't be able to get back to Australia until sometime in 2006 so I'm going to doubly enjoy your latest trip reports, Elton.

Not just because they're so well reported and written -- but as a chance to vicariously revisit my favorite places on earth.

Have a glass for me, willya?

PresRDC

This statement sums-up better than I ever could the reason why Elton is the best trip report writer on FT. He does not just report, he takes us along.

RTW4

This is the finest example of someone contributing to the welfare of all others on this board...I thank you for a wonderful report and a great description of first class. I COMPLETELY agree with you regarding the beauty of flying first class for the sake of flying. It is truly relaxing and wonderful.....

kpc

Whenever I see that Seat 2A has posted a trip report, I immediately click on it and read it...even if I am in the middle of doing something else

I have never been disappointed! ^ ^
Thank you once again!!

BAe 146

Seat 2A a masterpiece once again. I dream of one day having enough points from schlepping around on Qantas domestic in Y to fly international F on BA or QF (I don't see the point of using FF points for anything else)

Unfortunately Qantas keep putting the points required for first class travel up and up and so it gets further out of reach. Your Trip Reports however allow me at leat to vicariously experience what I'm missing out on.

Seat 2A

So far Gregg, I think I’ve had about fourteen beers for ya! Earlier this afternoon I had two deliciously chilled pints of Hahn’s Premium at the Exchange Hotel’s Irish Pub in Kalgoorlie. When it comes to lagers, I can think of no finer beer in Australia than Hahn’s Premium. The Exchange’s price was a bit dear ($7.00 AUD/pint), but it was near 100 degrees outside and I needed serious relief!

I was in the small South Australian coastal town of Wallaroo recently, as well as nearby Kadina. Great local pubs! Quite the arrival, too. Wallaroo’s only 8km from Kadina where I was staying, so I decided to hitch over there early in the afternoon. Since I was just daytrippin’ I didn’t have my big pack with me. I got picked up by a guy riding a Harley who gave me an impromptu tour of Wallaroo (what of it there is…) before dropping me at the local watering hole. Good ol’ Aussie hospitality. He even had an extra helmet!

Maybe I should write an Australian Pub and Beer Report. Is there a DrinkerTalk out there? Hmm… DT… that doesn’t sound like the best initials. Maybe BeerBabble?

Headin’ down to Norseman tomorrow for a couple of days in the WA bush, then on to Freemantle for the weekend. I reckon a daytrip to Rottnest Island will be happening, then it’s off to coastal Cervantes and on up to Geraldton/Kalbari. At least, that’s the plan for now.

I’m glad you all enjoyed this report. It’s always nice to take the FT community along in BA’s First Class, and if you liked that ride, I think you’ll particularly like what’s coming up in March, April and May.

Oh yeah, the rest of the pictures from LHR-SIN-MEL are now posted.

Cheers!

Kiwi Flyer

Yes here it is

flamboyant 1

Absolutely agree. Wonderful report, thanks for taking us along.