ASP-SYD-DEN-SDF-MEL-ASP in economy, international business and domestic first.
Jul 1, 2006, 6:55 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: ASP
Programs: UA, AA
Posts: 10
ASP-SYD-DEN-SDF-MEL-ASP in economy, international business and domestic first.
This is my first trip report. I had planned to write some long winded essay, but have lost some of my notes. Hope it passes the test.
Thanks!
PART I ASP-SYD-DEN
Trip Report
ASP-SYD-DEN-SDF-MEL
April 6, 2006 – May 2, 2006
April 6, 2006
Qantas (QF) 791
Boeing 737
Seat 20C Economy
Scheduled departure time: 1305
This trip was undertaken by my wife, two daughters age 4 and 5 and myself. This was a trip to visit my family in the USA.
The first boarding call for flight QF791 was a general boarding call. To board the aircraft, one must walk a couple hundred meters outside and enter the plane through either the front or rear stairs. Being in row 20, we climbed the rear stairs and were met by a friendly flight attendant.
Our children were given some sort of small kids item, which consisted of pencils a pencil sharpener, and some cards to write on. I felt this a nice touch, and it kept the kids busy for a little while.
We quickly found our seats, 20A-D.
As is customary on Qantas, we were given free headphones to listen to the audio/video program. The screens for the video program were approx 10-inch LED displays that dropped from underneath the overhead bins. The screens were located about every three rows. I was able to watch the movie, which happened to be PROOF, but the children were unable to see the screens.
After a quick taxi to the runway and a little U-turn at the end of the runway, we were off. The seatbelt sign came off very quickly, within 4 minutes of take off. I notice that in Australia, the seatbelt sign is turned off very quickly when compared to flights in the USA. On our trip, it took between 3-5 minutes on average for the seatbelt sign to be turned off on our Qantas flights. We were still in the climb to altitude. In the US, it seemed to take forever for the seatbelt sign to come off, 15-20 minutes or more. Is this due to regulations? I’ve always wondered this.
Anyway, we were served a light lunch. There was a choice in economy of a chicken Cesar salad or a ham sandwich. I chose the Cesar salad, which was a small portion, but had several nice sized pieces of white chicken meat. The children had preordered children’s meals, which consisted of a ham and cheese sandwich on white bread, an apple, and a drink box.
The rest of the flight to Sydney was uneventful. I watched the movie while the kids colored or read books.
After landing, we quickly gathered our bags and made our way to our hotel in Darling Harbour. I’ll note that to get to the USA from Alice Springs, Australia requires an over night in either BNE, SYD, or MEL as flights from Alice don’t arrive in the international gateway cities until after flights to the US have departed. This was a welcome stop anyway as Sydney is a great city which I love spending time in.
7 April 2006
QF11 (we were ticketed on code share AA7363)
SYD-LAX
Boeing 747-400
Seat 18B Business class.
Scheduled departure time 1325
We arrived at the airport about 3 hours 20 minutes before departure. Check-in for international flights open only 3 hours before departure. We were able to wait in a pseudo lounge area within the ropes to the business class check-in area. This gave us time to make sure our immigration departure cards and bag tags were all filled in.
We were quickly checked at the business class counters once they opened. Check in was quick and efficient. Our bags were tagged through to Denver and we had all the boarding passes we needed.
We made our way to the gate via the Duty free shop as the wife wanted to get a few things for the trip. After about 20 minutes of looking around we strolled to immigration and security. At immigration we had our passports stamped with our departure date and then we were off to security. The line to security was almost non-existent. We quickly cleared the metal detector and X-ray machines.
Our next stop was the Qantas lounge. It had been several years since I had visited the lounge in the international terminal, and it had been remodeled since. The lounge seemed rather large and there were several areas or rooms. We found a corner table in the wine bar area. We were out of the way and had room for the kids to lay on the floor with their coloring books while we read the paper and magazines. I think the food service in the lounge has deteriorated since the last time I was here, but the wine bar was a pretty good addition. During the 2 hours we were in the lounge, my wife had a bottle of white wine and I polished off a nice Australian red. Made the time fly. The kids had some biscuits or cookies and a few pieces of fruit along with some soft drinks.
We made our way to the gate about 30 minutes before departure. Boarding was well underway. Business class and First class were boarding through one jet way and economy were boarding through another. I was eager to get on board and check out the new sky bed seats.
We were met at the door to the aircraft by a flight attendant who pointed up stairs when the kids shown their boarding pass. I always prefer to sit on the upper deck if I am able to fly business class, as the cabin seems a bit calmer then the business class cabin on the lower deck.
I was seated in 18B paired with a child in 18A. My wife was in front of us in 17B with the other child in 17A. My first impression of the cabin was that it seemed crowded. The
Shell around the sky bed seats seemed rather large and bulky, something I wasn’t quite expecting. I started to have a look at the reading material about the flight. We were given menus and a breakfast pre order form, which was quickly filled out and handed back to a flight attendant.
We had some pre-departure drinks of champagne while the children had some OJ. We quickly learned of an issue with the compartment down in the hold where some dogs were being transferred. They were going to off load the dogs so we could get under way, but as it turns out, the owner of the dogs wouldn’t travel if his dogs didn’t. I guess they thought it was quicker to fix the problem then try to get the dogs off and find the owners bags to off load. We were pushed back at 1430, and hour and a half late.
After taking off, the seatbelt sign came off. It gave me time to play around with the seat, something the kids obviously had already started doing. The seat was comfy when sitting up or slightly reclined. I found the “bed” position to be a bit of a pain. It seemed I was always sliding down toward the bottom of the seat. On both Qantas international flights, the children, after sleeping an hour or so had to be pulled up back as they slid down until the seatbelt under the arms stopped them sliding off the end of the seat.
I also found the seats a bit noisy, but over all they are a lot better then the old style seats that I last had flown in.
Anyway, we had our amenity kits handed out and had already been given our noise canceling headphones. The kids were given another Wiggles activity bag, which they quickly opened and dropped all the pencils to.
The audiovisual program had been started and that kept the kids busy for hours. They watched some Nickelodeon programs over and over again. We didn’t have video on demand, which is a bit of a pain when a movie finishes and you don’t really know how long it is until another one starts. I played a few of the games during the flights and was able to waste some of the flight time with the movies and games.
Lunch was served about an hour and 45 min after take off.
LUNCH
Entrée
Smoked Tarragon Chicken Salad with Rocket, capers and mayonnaise dressing
Main Courses
Roast Beef Fillet with Ratatouille, Crushed white beans and lemon zest
Red Braised Pork with ....ake Mushrooms, Fragrant Rice and Bok Choy
Seared Blue Eye with Potatoes, Broad Beans, asparagus and Black olive sauce
All served with green leaf salad with herb vinaigrette
Desert
Selection of seasonal cheese and dried fruit
Nice cream strawberry and vanilla ice cream with spiced strawberries
Sliced fresh fruit
Chocolates
Valrhona chocolates
Panton’s macadamia chocolates.
The menu listed is truncated. I left off the part about making toasted sandwiches during the flight and the express lunch.
I ordered the Roast Beef, which was quite tasty. The children had their pre-ordered kids meal, which I forgot to write down in my notebook. We finished with the ice cream for desert. I thought the ice cream must have been frozen in some sort of super freezer. It was solid as a rock, but it was a hit with the kids anyway.
We found time to get a few hours sleep before breakfast was served. Breakfast was pre ordered way back before we were pushed back from the gate in Sydney. I had scrambled eggs with toast and some coffee and yogurts. Once again the kids had their kids breakfast, which I forgot to write about.
We started our decent into Los Angeles while everybody made the final trips to the toilets to freshen up before landing. The kids were amazed to be in “another world” as they looked out their window at the sea and finally Los Angeles.
Our flight landed and we cleared customs in terminal 4, which was nice. Beats TBIT any day. We found rechecked our bags and headed outside for some fresh air (in LA?). I guess that’s what we gotta do when we have a smoker in the family. I believe our first mistake was to leave the secured area as the line to get back through security was overwhelming. It took us a very long time to get back into the terminal. Now I remembered why I hate flying in the US. Surely somebody would figure out that things are broke and need fixing.
We made our way to the AA lounge in terminal 4. I don’t recall ever being in this lounge, but it was a lot nicer then I thought it would be. I enjoyed the large windows over looking the tarmac. We were given a 4 drink coupons for us adults at the front door. Seemingly hung over from 13 ½ hours of flying and little sleep and a few too many red wines we didn’t get anything but a few soft drinks. We sat down in the kid’s area so the kids would be occupied. I applaud AA for having a kids area, makes the traveling a lot easier when one has the children with them. My one gripe with the lounge was that you had to be served all drinks, soft and alcoholic, by the bar tender. There was one bar tender and a lot of thirst travelers around. I understand that with the US drinking laws, you wouldn’t want under age kids at a self serve bar, but there could have been another bar tender working.
7 April 2006
AA 1458
LAX-DEN
MD-80
Seat 6E, First class
Scheduled departure time 1458
We had made our way to the gate, just to get on the plane and try and get some sleep. We were starting to notice the little sleep we got on the flight over. Boarding was a bit delayed for whatever reason, and we ended up not departing LAX until 1340pm. We were one of the first on board the plane. The kids did well to get right to sleep before we even were pushed back from the gate.
I’ve recently read some articles on boarding procedures being trailed by the various US airlines in order to ease boarding. I’m still amazed that people Rush to get on board, but with the competition for overhead bin space I can understand why people want to get on board. On previous trips in First class, I always wanted to get onboard first to get that pre departure drink which seems non-exisistant these days in the US. I don’t mind not having a pre departure drink if it means we get airborne quicker. It stalls the boarding process to have a flight attendant taking orders and going back and forth the the galley to serve drinks to first class passengers while people in economy are trying to get by to their seats.
Soon after departure, we were given a hot towellete that gets stuck in the 5 o’clock shadow if used on the face. We had a choice of turkey wrap or chicken salad I believe for our snack. I at the turkey wrap, which wasn’t too bad, but the kids didn’t like it at all. Luckily we had brought snacks to get them through the US flights where they didn’t get kids meals. I had a glass or two of read wine and the kids got some more sleep on the short flight to Denver. FEBO was the order of the day.
One item of note, I believe I had the best view ever of the Grand Canyon. I had never seen it before on all my flights within the USA. It was spectacular.
The rest of the flight was uneventful. The crew was friendly and very attentive. We landed in Denver and made our way to the baggage claim to get our bags. It took quite a while for the bags to come out.
Thanks!
PART I ASP-SYD-DEN
Trip Report
ASP-SYD-DEN-SDF-MEL
April 6, 2006 – May 2, 2006
April 6, 2006
Qantas (QF) 791
Boeing 737
Seat 20C Economy
Scheduled departure time: 1305
This trip was undertaken by my wife, two daughters age 4 and 5 and myself. This was a trip to visit my family in the USA.
The first boarding call for flight QF791 was a general boarding call. To board the aircraft, one must walk a couple hundred meters outside and enter the plane through either the front or rear stairs. Being in row 20, we climbed the rear stairs and were met by a friendly flight attendant.
Our children were given some sort of small kids item, which consisted of pencils a pencil sharpener, and some cards to write on. I felt this a nice touch, and it kept the kids busy for a little while.
We quickly found our seats, 20A-D.
As is customary on Qantas, we were given free headphones to listen to the audio/video program. The screens for the video program were approx 10-inch LED displays that dropped from underneath the overhead bins. The screens were located about every three rows. I was able to watch the movie, which happened to be PROOF, but the children were unable to see the screens.
After a quick taxi to the runway and a little U-turn at the end of the runway, we were off. The seatbelt sign came off very quickly, within 4 minutes of take off. I notice that in Australia, the seatbelt sign is turned off very quickly when compared to flights in the USA. On our trip, it took between 3-5 minutes on average for the seatbelt sign to be turned off on our Qantas flights. We were still in the climb to altitude. In the US, it seemed to take forever for the seatbelt sign to come off, 15-20 minutes or more. Is this due to regulations? I’ve always wondered this.
Anyway, we were served a light lunch. There was a choice in economy of a chicken Cesar salad or a ham sandwich. I chose the Cesar salad, which was a small portion, but had several nice sized pieces of white chicken meat. The children had preordered children’s meals, which consisted of a ham and cheese sandwich on white bread, an apple, and a drink box.
The rest of the flight to Sydney was uneventful. I watched the movie while the kids colored or read books.
After landing, we quickly gathered our bags and made our way to our hotel in Darling Harbour. I’ll note that to get to the USA from Alice Springs, Australia requires an over night in either BNE, SYD, or MEL as flights from Alice don’t arrive in the international gateway cities until after flights to the US have departed. This was a welcome stop anyway as Sydney is a great city which I love spending time in.
7 April 2006
QF11 (we were ticketed on code share AA7363)
SYD-LAX
Boeing 747-400
Seat 18B Business class.
Scheduled departure time 1325
We arrived at the airport about 3 hours 20 minutes before departure. Check-in for international flights open only 3 hours before departure. We were able to wait in a pseudo lounge area within the ropes to the business class check-in area. This gave us time to make sure our immigration departure cards and bag tags were all filled in.
We were quickly checked at the business class counters once they opened. Check in was quick and efficient. Our bags were tagged through to Denver and we had all the boarding passes we needed.
We made our way to the gate via the Duty free shop as the wife wanted to get a few things for the trip. After about 20 minutes of looking around we strolled to immigration and security. At immigration we had our passports stamped with our departure date and then we were off to security. The line to security was almost non-existent. We quickly cleared the metal detector and X-ray machines.
Our next stop was the Qantas lounge. It had been several years since I had visited the lounge in the international terminal, and it had been remodeled since. The lounge seemed rather large and there were several areas or rooms. We found a corner table in the wine bar area. We were out of the way and had room for the kids to lay on the floor with their coloring books while we read the paper and magazines. I think the food service in the lounge has deteriorated since the last time I was here, but the wine bar was a pretty good addition. During the 2 hours we were in the lounge, my wife had a bottle of white wine and I polished off a nice Australian red. Made the time fly. The kids had some biscuits or cookies and a few pieces of fruit along with some soft drinks.
We made our way to the gate about 30 minutes before departure. Boarding was well underway. Business class and First class were boarding through one jet way and economy were boarding through another. I was eager to get on board and check out the new sky bed seats.
We were met at the door to the aircraft by a flight attendant who pointed up stairs when the kids shown their boarding pass. I always prefer to sit on the upper deck if I am able to fly business class, as the cabin seems a bit calmer then the business class cabin on the lower deck.
I was seated in 18B paired with a child in 18A. My wife was in front of us in 17B with the other child in 17A. My first impression of the cabin was that it seemed crowded. The
Shell around the sky bed seats seemed rather large and bulky, something I wasn’t quite expecting. I started to have a look at the reading material about the flight. We were given menus and a breakfast pre order form, which was quickly filled out and handed back to a flight attendant.
We had some pre-departure drinks of champagne while the children had some OJ. We quickly learned of an issue with the compartment down in the hold where some dogs were being transferred. They were going to off load the dogs so we could get under way, but as it turns out, the owner of the dogs wouldn’t travel if his dogs didn’t. I guess they thought it was quicker to fix the problem then try to get the dogs off and find the owners bags to off load. We were pushed back at 1430, and hour and a half late.
After taking off, the seatbelt sign came off. It gave me time to play around with the seat, something the kids obviously had already started doing. The seat was comfy when sitting up or slightly reclined. I found the “bed” position to be a bit of a pain. It seemed I was always sliding down toward the bottom of the seat. On both Qantas international flights, the children, after sleeping an hour or so had to be pulled up back as they slid down until the seatbelt under the arms stopped them sliding off the end of the seat.
I also found the seats a bit noisy, but over all they are a lot better then the old style seats that I last had flown in.
Anyway, we had our amenity kits handed out and had already been given our noise canceling headphones. The kids were given another Wiggles activity bag, which they quickly opened and dropped all the pencils to.
The audiovisual program had been started and that kept the kids busy for hours. They watched some Nickelodeon programs over and over again. We didn’t have video on demand, which is a bit of a pain when a movie finishes and you don’t really know how long it is until another one starts. I played a few of the games during the flights and was able to waste some of the flight time with the movies and games.
Lunch was served about an hour and 45 min after take off.
LUNCH
Entrée
Smoked Tarragon Chicken Salad with Rocket, capers and mayonnaise dressing
Main Courses
Roast Beef Fillet with Ratatouille, Crushed white beans and lemon zest
Red Braised Pork with ....ake Mushrooms, Fragrant Rice and Bok Choy
Seared Blue Eye with Potatoes, Broad Beans, asparagus and Black olive sauce
All served with green leaf salad with herb vinaigrette
Desert
Selection of seasonal cheese and dried fruit
Nice cream strawberry and vanilla ice cream with spiced strawberries
Sliced fresh fruit
Chocolates
Valrhona chocolates
Panton’s macadamia chocolates.
The menu listed is truncated. I left off the part about making toasted sandwiches during the flight and the express lunch.
I ordered the Roast Beef, which was quite tasty. The children had their pre-ordered kids meal, which I forgot to write down in my notebook. We finished with the ice cream for desert. I thought the ice cream must have been frozen in some sort of super freezer. It was solid as a rock, but it was a hit with the kids anyway.
We found time to get a few hours sleep before breakfast was served. Breakfast was pre ordered way back before we were pushed back from the gate in Sydney. I had scrambled eggs with toast and some coffee and yogurts. Once again the kids had their kids breakfast, which I forgot to write about.
We started our decent into Los Angeles while everybody made the final trips to the toilets to freshen up before landing. The kids were amazed to be in “another world” as they looked out their window at the sea and finally Los Angeles.
Our flight landed and we cleared customs in terminal 4, which was nice. Beats TBIT any day. We found rechecked our bags and headed outside for some fresh air (in LA?). I guess that’s what we gotta do when we have a smoker in the family. I believe our first mistake was to leave the secured area as the line to get back through security was overwhelming. It took us a very long time to get back into the terminal. Now I remembered why I hate flying in the US. Surely somebody would figure out that things are broke and need fixing.
We made our way to the AA lounge in terminal 4. I don’t recall ever being in this lounge, but it was a lot nicer then I thought it would be. I enjoyed the large windows over looking the tarmac. We were given a 4 drink coupons for us adults at the front door. Seemingly hung over from 13 ½ hours of flying and little sleep and a few too many red wines we didn’t get anything but a few soft drinks. We sat down in the kid’s area so the kids would be occupied. I applaud AA for having a kids area, makes the traveling a lot easier when one has the children with them. My one gripe with the lounge was that you had to be served all drinks, soft and alcoholic, by the bar tender. There was one bar tender and a lot of thirst travelers around. I understand that with the US drinking laws, you wouldn’t want under age kids at a self serve bar, but there could have been another bar tender working.
7 April 2006
AA 1458
LAX-DEN
MD-80
Seat 6E, First class
Scheduled departure time 1458
We had made our way to the gate, just to get on the plane and try and get some sleep. We were starting to notice the little sleep we got on the flight over. Boarding was a bit delayed for whatever reason, and we ended up not departing LAX until 1340pm. We were one of the first on board the plane. The kids did well to get right to sleep before we even were pushed back from the gate.
I’ve recently read some articles on boarding procedures being trailed by the various US airlines in order to ease boarding. I’m still amazed that people Rush to get on board, but with the competition for overhead bin space I can understand why people want to get on board. On previous trips in First class, I always wanted to get onboard first to get that pre departure drink which seems non-exisistant these days in the US. I don’t mind not having a pre departure drink if it means we get airborne quicker. It stalls the boarding process to have a flight attendant taking orders and going back and forth the the galley to serve drinks to first class passengers while people in economy are trying to get by to their seats.
Soon after departure, we were given a hot towellete that gets stuck in the 5 o’clock shadow if used on the face. We had a choice of turkey wrap or chicken salad I believe for our snack. I at the turkey wrap, which wasn’t too bad, but the kids didn’t like it at all. Luckily we had brought snacks to get them through the US flights where they didn’t get kids meals. I had a glass or two of read wine and the kids got some more sleep on the short flight to Denver. FEBO was the order of the day.
One item of note, I believe I had the best view ever of the Grand Canyon. I had never seen it before on all my flights within the USA. It was spectacular.
The rest of the flight was uneventful. The crew was friendly and very attentive. We landed in Denver and made our way to the baggage claim to get our bags. It took quite a while for the bags to come out.
Jul 1, 2006, 6:58 am
#2
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: ASP
Programs: UA, AA
Posts: 10
Part II DEN-SDF
11 April 2006
AA1178
DEN-DFW
737-800
Seat 3E
Scheduled departure 0935am
After a few days visiting friends and having to do a day of business, we were ready to go and see my family. We were dropped off by our friends and made our way into the terminal. A very friendly agent at the first class check in counter greeted us. We were checked through to Louisville and had all our boarding passes. The check in agent pointed us to the premium passenger security lines.
After making our way through security we made our way to the gate area. We had a little while to just sit and wait, but boarding was called soon enough. We were on time and happy about that, as our connection in Dallas was a bit tight.
We found our seats at the front the airplane. It was a bit chilly there as it was quite cold outside. I guess our flight attendant felt the same as she had a red AA blanket wrapped around her like a skirt. I found that unprofessional, as she didn’t take it off until all the passengers had boarded and we pushed back from the gate. There was no pre departure drink on this flight.
I noticed that the interior of the AA aircraft were a bit old in the tooth. They looked very used and could use a bit of an update. I guess in the effort to try and make some profit, cabin upgrades aren’t high on the priority list.
I had my first coffee on an AA flight in some time. I quite liked the large plastic cups that the coffee was served in. They were a lot better then the Styrofoam cups that I have used in economy on many flights. There was no other food served on this flight.
Being on a 737, there was a video/audio program. We were given free ear buds, but they were crappy and probably not worth half of the 2 dollars people in economy were charged. The kids couldn’t listen to the video as the ear buds were too large for their ears and kept falling out. Anyway, there wasn’t much on the video program to watch anyway.
Landing was on time, but it seems nobody was expecting us. We were at the gate with the seatbelt sign off for ten minutes before and agent was able to drive the bridge up the door. A proper ending to a seemingly poor quality fight.
11 April 2006
AA1656
DFW-SDF
MD-80
Seat 5B
Scheduled departure time 1347
The flight started boarding on time, which was not long after we arrived from the gate from the other terminal. The kids loved the sky train and wanted to keep riding it, but we had people to see or we would have gone around again!
Once on board the aircraft, the temperature was excessive and there was not air coming from the vents. This was fixed quickly once we were on aircraft power and were under way.
We had a very quick taxi and take off toward Louisville. The flight was short so there was no food service on board. I had a beer, and it was warm. My second beer was nice and cold thought. I also had baileys on ice. The flight attendants on this fight were attentive.
I guess AA only uses one gate in Louisville, as when we arrived there was another AA flight at the gate. They must have been a bit late in leaving; we waited on the tarmac for about 10 minutes to park and deplane. Luggage took some time to come out at the baggage claim area.
11 April 2006
AA1178
DEN-DFW
737-800
Seat 3E
Scheduled departure 0935am
After a few days visiting friends and having to do a day of business, we were ready to go and see my family. We were dropped off by our friends and made our way into the terminal. A very friendly agent at the first class check in counter greeted us. We were checked through to Louisville and had all our boarding passes. The check in agent pointed us to the premium passenger security lines.
After making our way through security we made our way to the gate area. We had a little while to just sit and wait, but boarding was called soon enough. We were on time and happy about that, as our connection in Dallas was a bit tight.
We found our seats at the front the airplane. It was a bit chilly there as it was quite cold outside. I guess our flight attendant felt the same as she had a red AA blanket wrapped around her like a skirt. I found that unprofessional, as she didn’t take it off until all the passengers had boarded and we pushed back from the gate. There was no pre departure drink on this flight.
I noticed that the interior of the AA aircraft were a bit old in the tooth. They looked very used and could use a bit of an update. I guess in the effort to try and make some profit, cabin upgrades aren’t high on the priority list.
I had my first coffee on an AA flight in some time. I quite liked the large plastic cups that the coffee was served in. They were a lot better then the Styrofoam cups that I have used in economy on many flights. There was no other food served on this flight.
Being on a 737, there was a video/audio program. We were given free ear buds, but they were crappy and probably not worth half of the 2 dollars people in economy were charged. The kids couldn’t listen to the video as the ear buds were too large for their ears and kept falling out. Anyway, there wasn’t much on the video program to watch anyway.
Landing was on time, but it seems nobody was expecting us. We were at the gate with the seatbelt sign off for ten minutes before and agent was able to drive the bridge up the door. A proper ending to a seemingly poor quality fight.
11 April 2006
AA1656
DFW-SDF
MD-80
Seat 5B
Scheduled departure time 1347
The flight started boarding on time, which was not long after we arrived from the gate from the other terminal. The kids loved the sky train and wanted to keep riding it, but we had people to see or we would have gone around again!
Once on board the aircraft, the temperature was excessive and there was not air coming from the vents. This was fixed quickly once we were on aircraft power and were under way.
We had a very quick taxi and take off toward Louisville. The flight was short so there was no food service on board. I had a beer, and it was warm. My second beer was nice and cold thought. I also had baileys on ice. The flight attendants on this fight were attentive.
I guess AA only uses one gate in Louisville, as when we arrived there was another AA flight at the gate. They must have been a bit late in leaving; we waited on the tarmac for about 10 minutes to park and deplane. Luggage took some time to come out at the baggage claim area.
Jul 1, 2006, 7:00 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: ASP
Programs: UA, AA
Posts: 10
Part III
SDF-MEL-ASP
23 April 2006
SDF-DFW
MD80
Seat 4F
Scheduled departure time 5:30 pm
We had checked in and had some trouble with the agent in the first class counter. They were going to charge us for overweight bags when they were between 50 and 70 lbs. I tried to explain that we were on an over seas ticket and entitled to the over seas carrier luggage allowance. We finally were allowed to check all bags after a supervisor was called.
Boarding was on time and I scored the window seat, as my kid didn’t care where she sat today. No pre departure drinks were served (I’m only noting this on each flight as there are sometimes discussion in the forums about pre departure drinks and when they are served) After taking off, I was served some warm nuts and had a glass of red wine to wash them down. Dinner was served next. FEBO was followed. There was a choice of Tortellini with bell pepper or chicken with gravy and mash potato. Both meals were served with a salad and a white/dark chocolates cake and dinner rolls. I had the chicken, which was mediocre, but hit the spot.
The dinner trays were cleared quickly and I had another glass of red wine and then two glasses of baileys on ice. Landing in Dallas was on time and we found ourselves riding the sky train again. The kids loved it!
23 April 2006
DFW-LAX
Boeing 737-800
Seat 3A
Scheduled departure time 1950
We actually had a pre departure drink on this flight. I think we were waiting for some late arriving passengers and the taxi took quite a while. The drinks were served after most other passengers were on board so the attendant wasn’t blocking anybody’s way on board.
Once again we were given the free ear bud headphones, but I didn’t care to watch the video. We were all a bit tired and just wanted to catch a little sleep when we could. FEBO was followed for the snacks that were served. There was a choice of snack, but by the time the attendant got to me, all that was left was a cold grilled chicken breast with salad (lettuce, corn and a Greek vinaigrette dressing) a long with some cookies and crackers and cheese.
I tried to sleep after eating but couldn’t. My children were out and I had to wake them to get off the plane. I believe my wife had a little sleep. I just sat and looked out the window at the lights below and the other planes around us when we got closer to LAX.
We arrived on time at terminal 4.
We had to go to the TBIT to catch the flight to Melbourne as only the flight to Sydney leaves from terminal 4. This was a bit of a pain with the kids in tow. I can’t believe there isn’t easier ways then have to go outside security and out side the terminal to go to the next terminal over.
23 April 2006
LAX-MEL
Qantas 94/codeshare AA7356
Boeing 747-400
Seat 18B
Scheduled departure time 2340
We made our way to the security line in TBIT only to be turned away as we had boarding passes for AA7356. The TSA agent said we needed the Qantas boarding pass. What a crock of S**T I thought. Anyway, there was no arguing the point, as I wanted to get on the flight and not have any hassles. We had to go find the Qantas business classes check in to get our new boarding passes. We finally made it through security and into the terminal. We thought we’d go to the lounge, but once walking inside the lounge we turned around and left. The lounge was packed and it was a very small place. This is one area Qantas needs to pick up their game if they keep increasing the number of flights they have to the US. They could use their own Lounge.
We then headed for the gate. I gotta say the TBIT just stinks. There weren’t many vendors inside of security. I was able to buy a magazine right next to the gate, but there
Was only one small bar/deli near our departure gate. At this stage, we were just ready to get on the plane and try and sleep. We weren’t looking forward to the 15-hour flight.
Boarding was called, and we made our way to the upper deck. The kids promptly fell asleep and I had two glasses of champagne prior to departure. We had to wait for a couple of passengers from JFK on QF108. I preordered my breakfast before departure.
Push back was only 10-20 minutes late. Our fight attendant asked us to le them know 20 minutes before the kids wanted to eat so their meals could be heated. The flight attendant noticed the kids were sleeping and thought it best to save their meals for them.
For us, dinner was as follows:
SUPPER
Main course
Coriander her crusted beef fillet with pumpkin puree and cucumber salad
Honey Dijon glazed sea bass with crushed peas and buttered baby carrots
A large bowl of zucchini, cannelloni bean and speck soup
Toasted chicken mayonnaise, cheddar cheese, mushroom and bell pepper panini
All served with a Green leaf salad with feta
Desert
Selection of seasonal cheese and dried fruit
Mediterranean orange cake with orange compote
Sliced fresh fruit
Chocolates
Valrhona Chocolates
As with the flight to LAX, one could make a sandwich during flight and visit the self-serve bar.
I watched a bit of the movie Jar Head, but tried to sleep. I couldn’t sleep very much at all. It was way past my bedtime and I had enough alcohol in me to make me very tired. I just tossed and turn for quite some time. The children slept well, but didn’t sleep for as long as I thought they would have. We spent the last several hours of the flight playing mini golf on the in flight entertainment system
The children’s meals were brought out when they woke up as the flight attendant promised – a great touch. They had spaghetti Bolognese
Breakfast was served not far out of Melbourne. I had the scrambled eggs with toast and some coffee and OJ.
We landed in Melbourne and cleared customs very quickly. I think I prefer arriving in Melbourne to clear customs vice Sydney. There aren’t as many people trying to enter the country at once. Makes customs a breeze.
2 May 2006
MEL-ASP
QF 796
Boeing 737
Seat 27C, economy class
We were right up the back end of the plane on this flight. We had just spent a wonderful week with the wife’s sister in Victoria but were looking forward to getting home to sleep in our own bed.
We were served breakfast not long after take off. Breakfast consisted of cereal, yogurts and some sort of dry breakfast bar. The breakfast bar reminded me of eating sawdust, not that I’ve actually eaten sawdust. The empty trays were not cleared for a very long time, long after every body finished eating. Being at the rear of the plane, I couldn’t help but notice that the flight attendants just spent the time chatting away while our empty trays just sat. I had to hold trays for others so they could get up and go to the toilet. Poor service on this flight.
The in flight video segment was March of the Penguins. This wasn’t the program that was noted to be showing in May according to the in flight magazine. I guess the magazines were changed, but they were a bit late in getting the new video segments for the month.
We landed in Alice Sprigs on time, happy to finally be back home.
SDF-MEL-ASP
23 April 2006
SDF-DFW
MD80
Seat 4F
Scheduled departure time 5:30 pm
We had checked in and had some trouble with the agent in the first class counter. They were going to charge us for overweight bags when they were between 50 and 70 lbs. I tried to explain that we were on an over seas ticket and entitled to the over seas carrier luggage allowance. We finally were allowed to check all bags after a supervisor was called.
Boarding was on time and I scored the window seat, as my kid didn’t care where she sat today. No pre departure drinks were served (I’m only noting this on each flight as there are sometimes discussion in the forums about pre departure drinks and when they are served) After taking off, I was served some warm nuts and had a glass of red wine to wash them down. Dinner was served next. FEBO was followed. There was a choice of Tortellini with bell pepper or chicken with gravy and mash potato. Both meals were served with a salad and a white/dark chocolates cake and dinner rolls. I had the chicken, which was mediocre, but hit the spot.
The dinner trays were cleared quickly and I had another glass of red wine and then two glasses of baileys on ice. Landing in Dallas was on time and we found ourselves riding the sky train again. The kids loved it!
23 April 2006
DFW-LAX
Boeing 737-800
Seat 3A
Scheduled departure time 1950
We actually had a pre departure drink on this flight. I think we were waiting for some late arriving passengers and the taxi took quite a while. The drinks were served after most other passengers were on board so the attendant wasn’t blocking anybody’s way on board.
Once again we were given the free ear bud headphones, but I didn’t care to watch the video. We were all a bit tired and just wanted to catch a little sleep when we could. FEBO was followed for the snacks that were served. There was a choice of snack, but by the time the attendant got to me, all that was left was a cold grilled chicken breast with salad (lettuce, corn and a Greek vinaigrette dressing) a long with some cookies and crackers and cheese.
I tried to sleep after eating but couldn’t. My children were out and I had to wake them to get off the plane. I believe my wife had a little sleep. I just sat and looked out the window at the lights below and the other planes around us when we got closer to LAX.
We arrived on time at terminal 4.
We had to go to the TBIT to catch the flight to Melbourne as only the flight to Sydney leaves from terminal 4. This was a bit of a pain with the kids in tow. I can’t believe there isn’t easier ways then have to go outside security and out side the terminal to go to the next terminal over.
23 April 2006
LAX-MEL
Qantas 94/codeshare AA7356
Boeing 747-400
Seat 18B
Scheduled departure time 2340
We made our way to the security line in TBIT only to be turned away as we had boarding passes for AA7356. The TSA agent said we needed the Qantas boarding pass. What a crock of S**T I thought. Anyway, there was no arguing the point, as I wanted to get on the flight and not have any hassles. We had to go find the Qantas business classes check in to get our new boarding passes. We finally made it through security and into the terminal. We thought we’d go to the lounge, but once walking inside the lounge we turned around and left. The lounge was packed and it was a very small place. This is one area Qantas needs to pick up their game if they keep increasing the number of flights they have to the US. They could use their own Lounge.
We then headed for the gate. I gotta say the TBIT just stinks. There weren’t many vendors inside of security. I was able to buy a magazine right next to the gate, but there
Was only one small bar/deli near our departure gate. At this stage, we were just ready to get on the plane and try and sleep. We weren’t looking forward to the 15-hour flight.
Boarding was called, and we made our way to the upper deck. The kids promptly fell asleep and I had two glasses of champagne prior to departure. We had to wait for a couple of passengers from JFK on QF108. I preordered my breakfast before departure.
Push back was only 10-20 minutes late. Our fight attendant asked us to le them know 20 minutes before the kids wanted to eat so their meals could be heated. The flight attendant noticed the kids were sleeping and thought it best to save their meals for them.
For us, dinner was as follows:
SUPPER
Main course
Coriander her crusted beef fillet with pumpkin puree and cucumber salad
Honey Dijon glazed sea bass with crushed peas and buttered baby carrots
A large bowl of zucchini, cannelloni bean and speck soup
Toasted chicken mayonnaise, cheddar cheese, mushroom and bell pepper panini
All served with a Green leaf salad with feta
Desert
Selection of seasonal cheese and dried fruit
Mediterranean orange cake with orange compote
Sliced fresh fruit
Chocolates
Valrhona Chocolates
As with the flight to LAX, one could make a sandwich during flight and visit the self-serve bar.
I watched a bit of the movie Jar Head, but tried to sleep. I couldn’t sleep very much at all. It was way past my bedtime and I had enough alcohol in me to make me very tired. I just tossed and turn for quite some time. The children slept well, but didn’t sleep for as long as I thought they would have. We spent the last several hours of the flight playing mini golf on the in flight entertainment system
The children’s meals were brought out when they woke up as the flight attendant promised – a great touch. They had spaghetti Bolognese
Breakfast was served not far out of Melbourne. I had the scrambled eggs with toast and some coffee and OJ.
We landed in Melbourne and cleared customs very quickly. I think I prefer arriving in Melbourne to clear customs vice Sydney. There aren’t as many people trying to enter the country at once. Makes customs a breeze.
2 May 2006
MEL-ASP
QF 796
Boeing 737
Seat 27C, economy class
We were right up the back end of the plane on this flight. We had just spent a wonderful week with the wife’s sister in Victoria but were looking forward to getting home to sleep in our own bed.
We were served breakfast not long after take off. Breakfast consisted of cereal, yogurts and some sort of dry breakfast bar. The breakfast bar reminded me of eating sawdust, not that I’ve actually eaten sawdust. The empty trays were not cleared for a very long time, long after every body finished eating. Being at the rear of the plane, I couldn’t help but notice that the flight attendants just spent the time chatting away while our empty trays just sat. I had to hold trays for others so they could get up and go to the toilet. Poor service on this flight.
The in flight video segment was March of the Penguins. This wasn’t the program that was noted to be showing in May according to the in flight magazine. I guess the magazines were changed, but they were a bit late in getting the new video segments for the month.
We landed in Alice Sprigs on time, happy to finally be back home.