For a person from New Zealand traveling to the UK or Europe represents one of the longest journeys on the planet, if not in time then certainly by distance.

Against this background I set off from Auckland bound for London on a cold winter’s afternoon in June. I’ve done this trip a few times in economy, and more recently in business class, it’s hard to go back to economy so for this leg of the trip I was again traveling in business class.

Auckland – London, Qantas business class.

I was booked to travel via Sydney and Singapore to London and arrived at the airport around noon for the 1330 flight to Sydney, just after checking-in I received a text message from Qantas to tell me my QF 31 service had been delayed from a 1655 to a 2230 departure from Sydney, meaning a 7 and a ½ hour wait in Sydney for that flight. Qantas have had an on-going dispute with their engineering staff so this wasn’t a surprise, but still a bit annoying.

Boarding QF 190, a 767-300 with a ‘domestic’ business class configuration of 2x2x2 found the business cabin to be full for this flight. We departed pretty much on time and for some reason even though I was in 2K I ended up being the last person to be served for lunch. By the time the crew got to me the only main option of the three available left was pork, not something I can eat. I was really hungry by this point but the cabin crew did what they could to pull together some extra salads, cheese and crackers for me and they were apologetic about the situation.

We arrived at a wet grey Sydney around 1430 and I was in the Qantas Club lounge by 1515 to wait out the next 7 hours for my next flight. The lounge was packed and the food offerings minimal, since I’d had breakfast 12 hours before and not much since I was in the process of seeing what I could turn into a ‘main meal’ when I was paged by the ground staff in the lounge.

On speaking with them they told me that there was a high chance QF31 would not be leaving that evening and would I like to travel to Melbourne to connect with QF 29 to London via Hong Kong departing at Melbourne at
2250. The idea of wasting another day in Sydney (based on the experience of passengers on QF31 early that week who had been delayed a full 24 hours) made me decide to go for the Melbourne option.

The staff duly re-booked me and they arranged for another ground staff member to escort me through immigration, get my bag, which had to be off-loaded then customs and through to the check-in area for the domestic flights at the international terminal. The immigration staff were totally confused at what I was doing and were going to let me just walk through until I pointed out I was in effect entering Australia and leaving it again in a few hours so needed them to process me as an arriving passenger.

A few hours later and I was on another QF 767-300 bound for Melbourne. Thankfully this flight had a light load in business and I had a very nice salmon salad which helped fill my stomach! Arriving into Melbourne just after 9pm it was a 5 minute walk to the international section of the terminal and then the obligatory explanation with the immigration officer as to why I had only arrived a few hours earlier and was now leaving again.

I then headed down to the Qantas club which was packed as half the lounge was under-going renovation. I decided to have a shower as who knew when I’d next get the chance and it had been 18 hours since I had got up that morning by this point.

Boarding at Melbourne was nice, they have it set up so one bridge goes to door 1L and another to 2L, First and Business using door 1L. I’d been given 16A on the upper deck for this flight which must be one of the better business class seats on a Qantas 747 as it has the exit doors in front of it, ensuring plenty of room and an easy way to get out of the seat without having to climb over your neighbor in 16B.

Our departure time of 2250 came and went, there being a fuel pump problem that would need to be sorted for the HKG/LHR leg of the flight. We finally pushed back and were airborne at 0010 (0210 NZ time). While I was still a bit hungry I was also feeling quite tired by this point so passed on the full dinner option and had some crackers and cheese before trying to get some sleep. I have to say this would be one of the rougher flights I have been on, non-stop turbulence for hours which made getting any sleep for me at least quite difficult, plus the cabin was freezing, I ended up with my hoodie on over my head to try and stay warm.

The cabin crew on this leg were all very professional and helpful throughout the flight. I liked how if I asked for anything like a cup of tea they would bring that, and something extra, like a plate of biscuits.

About 2 hours out from Hong Kong breakfast was served where upon an announcement was made that the aircraft we were on would not be continuing on to LHR but that we would be changing planes with another QF flight coming in from London. I wondered if the fuel pump problem hadn’t been fixed in Melbourne as they had claimed it to be.

We landed in HKG around 0720 or 90 minutes late and on arrival could see the QF 747 we would be transferring to a few gates away. The usual performance to be re-screened in order to get back upstairs to the departure level and I headed to the joint QF/BA lounge. The lounge was packed, the toilets and bathrooms were in a bad state and there was very little in the way of food or drink on offer (not that I wanted anything at this point).

With there being no seats I decided to head back to the gate, where mass-confusion reined as it would appear that the ground staff were not aware of the change of aircraft for the two Qantas flights due to depart for LHR and MEL. Neither would it seem were half the passengers. What a zoo, I took a seat on the other side of the building and watched from a distance. I’d been on the go for well over 24 hours by this point with little sleep and was feeling a bit disorientated.

In due course boarding was commenced, the LHR flight first because we were behind schedule and I returned to my seat, 16A. The crew on this leg was great, relaxed but professional and made it all look easy, they were both from the UK and I wish I had got their names so I could have passed on a thankyou.

Just after 0900 local and we are up and away again for the last 13 hours through to LHR. The crew asked us to lower all the window shades (it was of course an all daylight flight to London) and another breakfast was served not long after takeoff. By this point I was feeling quite tired and thankfully the flight was pretty smooth so I got some sleep on this leg followed by watching a few movies.

At one point one of the FA’s mentioned she was making some of the snacks available on the menu and would I like anything, so I took her up on the offer and got a sandwich, which was pretty small but nice all the same.

A couple of hours out from London and lunch was served, again a nice meal before we finally arrived in London at 1430 local time, 1 hour late for this flight, 8 hours after I would have arrived had QF31 been on time. Interestingly enough QF31 did depart SYD that evening at 2230 and arrived into LHR at 1230, or two hours ahead of me.

On my return to New Zealand a letter with a travel voucher for $400 was waiting for me as way of an apology for any inconvenience the delay and re-route had caused. I figured they didn’t need to give me anything so it was a nice surprise.

Next up BMI from London to Amsterdam.