I've been over to Perth many times. Most of them have been business class on QF, since it's a good use of FF points. (... esp. since there's no Concorde to save them up for any more, since those *******s at BA stopped it without enough notice for me to ever be able to fly on one. Bitter? Me? Yes!)

Anyhow, Perth has fantastic beaches and various friends I like to see, so I'll go over on the slightest excuse. I'm not a fan of the QF A330 at all, but that was all that was available at the times of day I wanted to travel.

A friend dropped me at the airport and checkin was quick and easy as usual.

QF MEL-PER 332 3A Thu 22/1/04 1815-1910 (actual: 1842-1911)

The only real surprise of this flight was right at the start. Kim Beasley (for those who don't know, he used to be the leader of the Federal opposition) was seated in 1E. There were a few other faces I recognised too, TV reporters and such. I think there may have been a couple of seats spare in J, and about 60 empty in Y. These planes could really do with more space in J.... With the only alternative being Vermin, with no J, they are packing these up front and having heaps of Y seats left over.

Time to settle back and experience the trip. It was very good: Pre-departure drinks, nice big pillows, names used by FAs, mixed nuts with drinks, menus, antipasto (mushrooms, capsicum, sundried tomato, olives, etc) for entree, with hot rolls, "salad" (ie. some lettuce), a lovely main course of beef, tomato, baked spuds and zucchini. I started on the dessert wine, which is now the Arrowfield '98 semillon, while watching the movie, "Runaway Jury", which was quite decent.

Dessert was a lovely nougat ice cream with almond biscuits and, of course, more of the dessert wine for me.

I went to GenghisCon,
caught up with almost all of my Perth friends, went to the beach a few times, played lots of board games and ate some good food.

For anyone who's visiting Perth and wants an interesting variety of Thai-inspired dishes, try the Red Orchid Dining Room in Highgate (near Mt Lawley). A friend and I had spring rolls, followed by stir-fried kangaroo and lemongrass chicken there. Lovely. Given the time of year, the actual dining room was almost entirely empty, the outdoor area instead being packed.

On a 40+ degree day in Perth, it was time to escape the heat and return home. When I checked in at the airport, I found that, for the second time in my life on QF business class flights, I didn't have a window seat. The other time was a 332 as well. Too small a proportion of window seats for me to get one is yet another reason to dislike them. I had been allocated an aisle seat in row 6, where it would be impossible to see the movie properly at all, due to the crappy QF setup, so I asked for anything further forwards.

I commented to the agent about the lack of screens in J and he quite frankly replied that QF has no competition in J, so they just don't care! I was really amazed that a staff member would say that. I guess he's heard the same complaint many times. 3E was available and, while middle of the plane is usually not a well-liked spot, it's the best seat of all for watching movies on the QF 332. Went through security, who put my bag through the scanner a 2nd time without any explanation and for no good reason, and asked the service desk about whether there might be any chance of a window seat. I was told it was unlikely, especially as they were having problems with the audio not working on some seats on that plane, so I kept my BP.

QF776 PER-MEL 332 3E Tue 3/2/04 1630-2255 (actual: 1638-2247)
J was full, while Y had plenty of spare seats. Service was same as last time, though the meal wasn't as good. Entree was salmon and potato salad. Rolls were only luke warm, not hot. I chose the pesto chicken, which was a bit bland. The "cookie cream commotion" ice cream wasn't nearly as good as the nougat version, but we did get a macadamia chocolate at the end of the meal.

The movie was "School of Rock", which was quite enjoyable, but I preferred the one on the way to Perth. I'd started on the dessert wine during dinner, which was lucky for me: They hadn't bothered to board any in Perth, so they were actually using up the bottle that was left from their last run into PER. Consequently, it ran out by the time dessert was served, so I switched to port instead.

[fixed time typo]


[This message has been edited by Kremmen (edited Feb 06, 2004).]