August 25, 2009
British Airways 16, SYD-SIN
777-200, G-YMMJ
Scheduled (Actual) Departure Time: 3:30pm (3:24)
Scheduled (Actual) Arrival Time: 9:45pm (9:36)
Duration: 8:12 Seat: 2E
Our two and a half weeks in Australia ended in Melbourne. I like to live dangerously so I booked a separate ticket on Qantas from Melbourne to Sydney the morning of our flight out of Sydney. Fortunately, I allowed for a wide margin of error as our scheduled 9:30 flight out of Melbourne was delayed, then cancelled, and we were re-accommodated on the 10:30 flight (if I had to guess I’d say Sydney and Melbourne have as many seats flying between them as any city pair in the world). On the downside, this delay would mean more time in the non-distinguished Qantas domestic business class lounge in Melbourne and less time to enjoy the impressive Qantas First Class lounge in Sydney.
When we finally arrived at the BA check-in counters in Sydney, it was past 12:30 in the afternoon but it was only a few minutes delay before we were sent towards the lounge with boarding cards in hand as well as fast track passes for immigration and security on our way out of Sydney. After a brief stop to burn our last Australian dollars at duty free, we were walking past the wall of vegetation that marks the entrance to the Qantas First Class lounge. There’s plenty of reports out there already that have pictures and menus of the lounge, so I’ll keep my descriptions brief. It was definitely the nicest lounge I’d been in up to that point although less intimate/exclusive than the Concorde Room (read on!). We immediately went to the spa to enquire about the availability of treatments but were informed that, unfortunately, the first opening wasn’t until 4 and our flight was due to leave at 3:30. We retreated to the dining area and had a leisurely (perhaps too leisurely) lunch—I had an excellent calamari appetizer and a solid club sandwich, my girlfriend wasn’t a big fan of the piece of fish she got—for me the highlight was when the server referred to my girlfriend as my “wife,” unfortunately for me, and fortunately for him, she was out of earshot at the time.
View towards downtown Sydney from the First Class lounge
My favorite thing about the lounge was the presence of numerous, retro, flip-style flight status boards and after a quick shower I spent the remainder of my time in the lounge gaping at the departure board until our flight flipped to “Boarding.” The piano music in the background was also a nice touch. We had a bit of a walk to the gate but were able to board quickly and were promptly shown to our seats 2E and 2F in the middle of the 777 first class cabin.
This would be our only flight of the trip on a 777 and while the 747 is probably a more attractive first class cabin, there’s nothing wrong with the 777. The typical 777 bins are an improvement over the boxy overhead bins on the 747 and I didn’t notice any more foot traffic than one would get in row 4 on the 747. What was a bit awkward, however, especially for two people sitting together in the middle section is that for one flight attendant to serve both of us they would either have to walk all the way around through the galley or reach over the other person.
Quickly, amenity kits were offered and pajamas were presented. Drink orders were taken and beverages were served with macadamia nuts. It was good to be back in BA F! We pushed back a few minutes early and took off immediately before a Singapore Air A380 which, presumably, would be flowing us on our way north. After takeoff, menus were distributed, drink orders were taken, and hot towels were offered by name (“Mr. gba, would you like a hot towel?”). Impressively, and for the only time on the trip, the flight attendant wasn’t reading off a manifest when addressing us by name. This was going to be a good flight!
Drinks were served with a canapé of antipasto-type items. I’m not sure if this is supposed to be a downgrade from the normal style of canapés (generally tiny sandwich-type creations), but it was quite tasty and seemed fresher, but less interesting, then the sandwich-type things that had been offered on the outbound flights.
Canapés, plastic fork, and diet coke
Meal orders were taken but I’d say half the cabin, including us, elected to delay our dinner until closer to dinner-time in Sydney. In the meantime I decided to watch the movie Sting with Paul Newman while my girlfriend enjoyed Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. At one point, she was feeling peck-ish and asked if they had potato chips. The flight attendant appeared with three different varieties (including Chicken!?!) presented on a silver tray for her to choose from. Did I mention this was going to be a good flight? Later in the flight I would discover that the galley chef on this segment was none other than Tits McGhee who recognized my FlyerTalk bag tags. Alas, all was not perfect at one point the IFE required a resetting which took about 15 minutes but fortunately that solved whatever problems people were having (our systems always worked fine). Unlike the flights through Bangkok, announcements and IFE on this flight and the subsequent one were bi-lingual and the menus had options that reflect Asian tastes. Perhaps this says something about the relative affluence of Singapore vs. Thailand.
Dinner service started as requested at 6pm Sydney time. Like on the outbound, the menus distributed listed all four meals for the SYD-SIN-LHR flight. Before we get to the pics, lets take a look at what the options were. This is the menu from BA 16 for 8/09 (191F002-ROT2):
Dinner
Starters
Chilled crab lasagna on tomato and basil coulis
Wild mushroom risotto
Roast tomato soup
Fresh salad leaves with your choice of balsamic vinaigrette or creamy Parmesan and black pepper dressing
For a limited period we also have ‘liquid gold’—olio extra vergine di olive from castello monte vibiano, a very special olive oil from hand-picked olives, pressed at low temperature and bottled within six hours.
Main
Grilled fillet steak with Port wine sauce, chanterelle mushrooms, Vichy Carrots, broccoli and olive oil mashed potatoes
Baked salmon with dill sauce, wilted spinach and new potatoes
Thai green chicken curry with fragrant rice
Parma ham, salami and Mozzarella salad with extra virgin olive oil
Dessert
White chocolate cheese cake
Warm almond tart with double cream
Cheese Plate
A selection of cheese
(editors note: oddly, on all the other menus they told you what the cheeses were)
A basket of fresh fruit
Snacks
Penne pasta with creamy Gorgonzola sauce
Ice cream
A selection of biscuits
A selection of cheese and fruit
Beverages
Twinings Teas – Traditional English Breakfast, Darjeeling, Earl Grey or Pure Green
Twinings Fruit and Herb Infusions – Pure Camomile, Pure Peppermint, Lemon and Ginger or Blackcurrant, Ginseng and Vanilla
Coffee – Freshly roasted and ground, decaffeinated, espresso or cappuccino
Wines were the same as LHR-SYD. I’d read mixed reviews of the catering out of Sydney so I made my meal choices carefully but was generally satisfied with the food on this leg.
Crab lasagna, reading material
Chicken curry, Bose headphones (I really ought to pay more attention to what’s in the picture at the time I take them)
Warm almond tart
The crab lasagna may have been a bold pick. The lasagna itself could be best described as interesting, maybe a little cheesy for me, but by dipping it in the tomato and basil coulis and getting some greens on the (plastic) fork as well, made for a fairly refreshing dish. My chicken curry was reasonably tasty and paired well with the beer and the warm almond tart tasted as it should but, alas, there was no chocolate dessert option (no, white chocolate cheese cake doesn’t count as chocolate). Fortunately BA redeemed themselves when, along with my post-dinner pot of tea, I was presented with a nearly full box of scrumptious chocolates which would remain on my seat until the cabin was prepared for landing. My lucky day! Did I mention this was going to be a good flight?
The lights in the cabin weren’t dimmed until we were finishing our dinner, roughly three and a half hours out of Sydney as the sun set in front of us and most of the cabin drifted to sleep or to enjoy a movie in a mostly reclined position. Since this wasn’t really an overnight flight, the flight attendants didn’t proactively provide a turndown service, although we were equipped with the usual bedding.
It was only about a three hour rest break before the lights in the cabin began to come up again, about an hour and a half out of Singapore, and the refreshment service began. Was it really time to eat again? The menu for the second service on this flight is somewhat underwhelming but I’ll reprint it here just so you can all see how uninformative it is:
Refreshments
Snacks
A selection of reception sandwiches
Patisserie
Afternoon tea pastries
Beverages
Twinings Teas – Traditional English Breakfast, Darjeeling, Earl Grey or Pure Green
Twinings Fruit and Herb Infusions – Pure Camomile, Pure Peppermint, Lemon and Ginger or Blackcurrant, Ginseng and Vanilla
Coffee – Freshly roasted and ground, decaffeinated, espresso or cappuccino
Yep, that’s it. Sandwiches and pastries, type unknown. As the meal was served we climbed up to FL400 from FL380 and encountered a fair amount of turbulence which made sipping on my tea that much more fun. With skill, I made it through two pots in the hopes that the caffeine would keep me awake through dinner on our flight out of Singapore.
Sandwiches: vegetable, beef, crab salad, chicken salad
Pastries
The refreshment was pleasant enough, but given that many passengers are going to have another dinner just a few hours later on the continuing flight to London, it may make more sense to offer an expanded menu of snack/anytime options rather than bother with catering for a whole second service which doesn’t have any choices.
As seemed to me the standard, the captain came on the PA 40 minutes out of Singapore and preparations for landing began. Within an early departure from Sydney and a reasonably quick flight we made it to the gate in Singapore a few minutes ahead of schedule, which I appreciated because I wanted to shower and visit the lounge before departing again, but any time savings were lost during the search through the busy terminal for the poorly-signed lounge. The lounge itself was rather busy due to the number of BA and QF flights passing through Singapore at that hour, and a bit warm, but the shower was refreshing and the beverages were cool and before we knew it we were heading to the gate for our flight to London.