BOARDING:
Soon enough it was time for me to go. My first A380 flight was awaiting. As I made my way toward the gate, I passed the QF lounge so I thought I would pop in and check that my family actually left the lounge.

At the entrance desk, the agent recognized me and immediately said “Mr. Haley, we need you on board right away. The flight is ready to leave!”

WHAT?!?!? I thought we still had forty-five minutes. Something had gone wrong in my mind. I asked the agent “Did my family leave?”

She said that she assumed they left when I went off to the Cathay lounge. I still wanted to check they were gone. As I turned the corner into a now entirely empty lounge, I indeed saw my two boys both sitting there watching their laptops with earphones on! “Didn’t you guys notice that you are the only ones in our lounge?” No.

At this point our first A380 flight was in jeopardy the agent said we needed to run if we wanted to get on board. It might already be too late. As soon as we got back out into the main terminal, we heard our names being paged. This was the first time that we had heard our names called since we began the trip last July. As we made our way down the concourse, we were met by a Qantas employee who asked if we were the Haleys. He immediately called on his walkie-talkie to say that we were on our way.

Any time that I run through an airport, I think of the old 1970s Hertz Rental Car commercial where OJ Simpson, the at-that-time famous football player, runs through an airport. I can’t seem to remember the point of the commercial though. Why was he running? Was he running to catch a flight? Was he running to a competitor’s desk? It’s all a bit hazy in my mind now. But I sure liked the part where he ran through the airport. That was cool.

So the Haley family got to pull a 1970 OJ Simpson and run through the airport. Pulling a 1990 OJ Simpson would have meant we would have driven our Ford Bronco in a high speed chase from the police. I’m very glad it was only the 1970 version and not the 1990 version.

At last we got to the gate and as luck would have it, we had to pass through a security screening. Since everyone else was on board, they didn’t question anything in our bags and got us quickly through. Lately, I’ve been getting stopped at every security screening because my backpack looks like a mess of cables and electronics. I carry a laptop, Kindle, four external hard disks, an iPod, an iTouch, and iPhone... Some might say it’s excessive.

As my family was repacking their carry-ons with their laptops, I managed to get my first glimpse of our A380. Oh, beautiful wonder you are. As I have said in previous reports, I still think the 747 is a more majestic bird. But the A380 has size. It’s a super jumbo. Of course, I snapped a quick picture since I couldn’t let this momentous moment pass without documentation.


Our Qantas Airbus 380 waiting to take us to Sydney

About this time, a local Qantas employee asked if Terry and I were brothers. We do get this question from time to time since we have the same last name. I answered that Terry is my husband and Corbin is our son. She looked surprised at my answer and then whispered something to the woman next to her and they both giggled. Ah, the joys of being gay ambassadors to the world. Luckily sophomoric giggling doesn’t phase me much but it would be more appropriate on the junior high school playground and not in a professional setting. Now that the gay education lesson was over, it was time to board the largest commercial aircraft in the air.

Our jetway had two spines that boarded into both the upper and lower decks. We took the upper spine and soon were greeted by two smiling female flight attendants. I apologized profusely about our tardiness. Luckily our seats were in the second row so we didn’t have much of a “walk-of-shame” past the other passengers.

Qantas has their Business Class and Premium Economy upstairs with First and Economy downstairs. The business cabin seemed spacious and bright. The A380 business class seat is the only one in the Qantas fleet that is actually horizontal and not tilty. This means that there is lots of room between the rows.

Corbin took his usual seat next to the window. I love seeing him get excited about having the window seat! He’s Flyertalker in the making! I sat next to him and Terry sat across the aisle. The seat next to Terry was free since the entire Business class was about a third full.

In spite of our late arrival to the plane, we were still offered juice, water or champagne. I chose the champers for its medicinal properties to calm me down after the harried boarding. Not surprisingly the doors were shut and we were on our way soon after.

MEAL SERVICE:
As soon as we were in the air, our flight attendant Sarah handed us the menu for today’s flight. As a flying nut, I prefer day flights so I can enjoy the flight awake instead of asleep. She took our drink orders and I decided that since it was still before 11:00 am, I’d treat myself to a Bloody Mary. I hadn’t had one in years and it seemed more appropriate than a double Vodka Tonic. I’m the type of flyer that still loves the experience so much that I don’t want to miss out on anything. I can drink water at home at 11:00 am so having a Bloody makes it more special! (My future Alcohol Anonymous sponsor is one day going to quote this line back to me.)


My Bloody and packaged snack

Our drinks arrived with a bag o’ nuts. I have to give kudos to the US carriers here because a warm ramekin of nuts is much nicer than a foil bag of nuts. Japan Airlines did the same bag thing on our two recent Business class flight and just offered bags o’snacks. Also the quality of the nuts was a bit low. This could all be easily fixed.

Almost instantly fell in love with our flight attendant, Sarah. She was in her late twenties, blond, attractive and perky. We all were very chatty at once and soon she was doing her best Pam Ann imitations for us. How’s that for in-flight entertainment?! My favorite was Sarah impersonating Pam Ann impersonating a Lufthansa flight attendant. “LUF-THAN-SA, GERMAN AIRLINES. FASTEN YOUR SEAT BEATS. NOW!!” We were rolling. Or course Terry and I had to chime in with our favorite Pam Ann bits too. Throughout the flight, Sarah would stop by to chat. Then several minutes later, she would remember her job and exclaim “OH MY GOD, I have to get back to work!”

For my first course I had a lovely prawn salad. I always think it’s funny to serve me a prawn salad as a starter and then give me a side salad. But I’m traveling and sitting for long periods of time. Maybe someone is trying to help me out.


Meal tray with prawn starter


Close-up of the prawn starter

Corbin opted for the oxtail soup which was thick and delicious. Pursuing his super-model like diet, he ended up eating half and I ended eating half of it. At eleven years old, he still loves all kinds of foods but just doesn’t eat much quantity. The Corbin Diet also means that his dads eat whatever he doesn’t. Our waistlines sure don’t need his leftovers.


Indonesian Oxtail Soup

Next came our mains and all of us were very happy. I had the steak with polenta. Much has been written about airline steaks. Let’s just say it was cooked well and exceeded my expectations. If I am craving a really good, juice, tender steak, the last place I’m going to order it is on a plane!

Terry loved his chicken and Corbin also like the salmon with greens.


Steak and Polenta


Roast chicken with potatoes


Seared salmon with rice

After the main course, I have the tradition of taking a walk around the plane to make some more room for the two remaining courses. I walked all the way to the back of the upper deck, down the stairs and toured the economy lower deck. I didn’t try to bust into First Class. Economy always seems like a zoo after coming from a sparse premium class. Bless them.

Back upstairs the dessert trolley came by but I didn’t see the cheese that was listed on the menu. I asked and they came back with a rather sad dish of two pieces of cheese and some fruit. It wasn’t the most inspiring plate of cheese I had ever scene. I’m guessing they hadn’t loaded any cheese plates today but had stolen some from First Class. “A” for effort, “C-” for execution.


My meager cheese plate

Corbin wanted a fruit plate and Terry chose the cake with vanilla sauce. It’s sad when your kid eats healthier than you do.


The healthy fruit plate


Spiced Date cake with Crème Anglaise

Throughout the meal, I sampled a variety of wines to match my food. Most of the time, I’m not very impressed with wines on a plane. I’ve read articles that confirm your taste buds are dulled up at 39,000 ft. I do like the flavor of Dom though. Also a 1983 Châteaux Lynch-Bages also stands out from a CX First Class flight a few years ago. Other than those, red wine tastes red and white wine taste white up in the air.

MENU:

LUNCH

Entrée:
Indonesian Style Oxtail Broth with Fried Eschalots
Salad of Prawns and Asperagus with Cocktail Dresssing

Main Courses:
Seared Salmon with Ginger Sauce, Jasmine Rice and Pak Choy
Roast Chicken with Sage and Onion, Fondant Potatoes and Green Beans
Sicilian Style Beef with Warm Capsicum Salad and Pan Fried Polenta

Green Leaf Salad with Red Wine Vinaigrette

Dessert:
Selection of Seasonal Cheese and accompaniments
Spiced Date Cake with Crème Anglaise
Sliced Fresh Fruit

Chocolates:
Chocolate Dusted Truffles

BEVERAGES:
Champagne:
Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve

After the meal service all of us settled into a few movies that we had missed since we’ve been traveling for seven months. Oscar season is upon us and we had only seen Toy Story 3. So we tried to catch up on a few more. The Qantas entertainment system is great with lots of variety.

After my second movie was over, the Haley boys began to snack. I was feeling peckish. It had been almost three hours since my last meal! Please don’t judge me. I rang and soon Sarah was suggesting the smoked salmon on baguette. Perfect! She warned me that it would take 15 minutes to make. Really? That seemed a bit long but a vodka tonic would help pass the time. When it arrived it was delicious and immediately Corbin wanted one. So we ordered him one. Then Terry wanted the Duck Shepards pie so he got one and loved it. Then Corbin and I had to order a Shepards Pit to share. You would have thought that we had been fasting for days.


Toasted Baguette with Smoked Salmon


Duck Shepards Pie

REFRESHMENTS:
Toasted Focaccia with Slow Roasted Tomatoes, Emmental, Tapenade and Rocket
Toasted Baguette with Smoked Salmon, Cream Cheese, Dill Pickles and Spinach
Duck Shepards Pie with Potato and Cheddar Crust
Fresh whole fruit
Luken & May Biscuits
Cheese and Biscuits
Chocolate Bars

Create your own toasted sandwich with a bunch of different ingredients.

Sarah told us that they were a Melbourne based flight crew that normally doesn’t do the SIN-SYD run. She wasn’t sure why it happened. Once she heard we were spending the month in Melbourne, she wrote up a list of things to do and restaurants to visit.

She also mentioned that the A380 crews only fly A380. So when the Qantas A380 had its little incident at the end of last year, she had a paid four week vacation while the aircraft were grounded. She’s hoping for more engine troubles!

At one point, Corbin and I went to experience the Business Class lounge located in the front right corner of the upper deck. Sleek, long red couches greeted us. A large LCD monitor on the wall tracked our journey. I had read online that I could connect up my computer to do a presentation but Corbin and I thought that was a bit much. It was a comfortable area and if our seat wasn’t so comfortable, we might have stayed longer.

SEAT:
I give top marks to the QF A380 Business seat. It is completely flat and horizontal. I found it very comfortable and easily took a short nap even though it was a day flight. I wish they would install these seat on the rest of the fleet.

We exited the plane among the first passengers and soon were through passport control and collecting our bags which came off with the first ones. The priority baggage tags work on Qantas.

OVERALL:
Our inaugural Airbus 380 flight sets a high standard for others to match. The upper deck is VERY quiet and spacious. The service was perfect made especially personal by Sarah. The food was all good and plentiful. I had never flown on Qantas prior to this flight and was very impressed. They are a strong member of the Oneworld Alliance.

Previous reports in this year of travel:
My Son’s Fifth Grade Year, 97,737 miles, 40 flights, 6 continents, 16 countries
FLIGHT#27: Five OW Lounges & JL 719 NRT-SIN Biz Class with photos
FLIGHT#26: Delhi Green Lounge & JL 740 Business Class with photos
FLIGHT#22: SGN International Sasco Lounge & TG 551 Business Class with photos
FLIGHT#20: SGN Dom Sasco Lounge, VN452 SGN-NHA Biz Class and Sheraton Nha Trang
FLIGHT#19: BKK Royal First Lounge & LH772 BKK-SGN in First Class with photos
FLIGHT#18: TG242 KBV-BKK in Biz Class with photos
FLIGHT#17: TG245 BKK-KVG in Biz Class with Photos
FLIGHT#16: THE CABIN & CX751 HKG-BKK in Biz Class with photos
FLIGHT#15: CX748 JNB-HKG Biz Class with photos