Just completed an AONE4 (OneWorld, F/C, 4 continent). Some notes:

BA CAI-LHR-SIN-SYD: Excellent product. Mostly good food. PJs and Anya Hindmarsh bags available on all flights. Seats 2A/K are the ones to go for, with the wide aisle. 1A/K are good (as you are facing towards the window, privacy is not really a problem) except for the coat cupboard and lack of overhead locker space. I took a combination of BA15 and 17 to SYD, taking the earlier departure to SIN to allow for a longer stopover. Prefer this as otherwise your flight is screaming ‘last call’ even though you’ve only just got off! Pity about the loo paper – can it get any worse?

Treatments at MB Spa – has anyone ever been able to score one? I was there two hours prior to departure, but they had been sold out for hours.

QF SYD-MEL-BNE-MEL: Business class is slipping, noticeably, on domestic flights. The seats are good (2+2 on 737s), but the service and food is mediocre.

CX MEL-HKG-LAX: Can it get any better? This is true First Class all the way - from check-in to disembarkation. Matched only, I think, by Swiss. Check-in at MEL I was informed that the video screen on the HKG-LAX flight was not working for 1A, so I had been moved to 1K. That is service. Both flights were excellent, lots of hot towels (BA take note please!) and excellent food. If flying on the A330/40, recommend seats in row 2, as row 1 is too close to the galley. Flight HKG-LAX was full, in all classes, except that because of the video malfunction I had all of row 1 to me! (Very nice.) The First seats are truly excellent, with plenty of room by your feet to move them around (unlike the BA/QF models). Nice PJs! Tried out the business class seat on the MEL-HKG sector, and at 6’2, it is not possible to extend the seat fully to sleep as your feet get cut off.

LAX-LAS-LAX AA: usual domestic First flight. Indifferent service however. We had two different seat plans, with the outbound providing masses of room in row 3 (the first row of First), but the return flight offering minimal pitch (both were MD-80). I skipped dinner in favour of a bag of peanuts.

LAX-LHR BA: The First Lounge in LAX was uncrowded and had a selection of nibbles. Only three of us in the lounge, but the Biz Class lounge was packed to overflowing (got lost after I went out to have a cigarette). Interesting that while there were only three of us in the F/C lounge, the First cabin was full… upgrades perhaps? The service was excellent, the lack of hot towels noticeable. And that loo paper again!

The menus are too long to set out here, except to note that CX is serving Krug (vs Perrier Jouet 1996 on BA), BA serves JW Blue, compared with JW Gold on CX. As I don’t drink wine, I can’t comment on the selections.

Any questions, please let me know.