Part Four - QF1 SIN-LHR

So, barely able to keep awake, I drag myself out of the EK lounge and walk down to the gate. No sprawling masses today as I wait until final call before heading out. Not out of choice - the lounge staff said they would announce boarding but they forgot

Bit miffed as I had bagged 2A on MMB but or some reason the computer threw me to the back (5K) - maybe it heard about my flip-flops? So settled in with a nice glass of fizz and an amuse bouche of what can only be described as a cheese straw (sans fromage) and a dollop of baby food (carrot purée) - both tasteless and unpalatable.

Off we go again...



The QF crew were very friendly and professional. Again, formal introductions from all of the F crew and the CSD came to see me both at the beginning and end of the flight.

Boarding was over in a flash but due to the short flight time of 13h we were asked to remain on stand by ATC for almost another hour. We didn't leave until 1am (4am SYD time) so I was feeling pretty exhausted before we even rolled down the Tarmac. Mental note to self - break up the return journey next time.

Now during this delay the crew did hand out menus and keep champagne topped up but no dinner orders were taken. There are times when speed of service doesn't matter so much but with me searching for matchsticks for my eyes I was keen to get some sleep and so I asked the crew if I could eat ASAP after take off. No problem I was told.

Menus





Wine



My dinner arrived just before the film I started watching on take off ended - I kid you not! By this point I was freeing cold and shivering from tiredness. I even said that if dinner would still be a while I would have to just go to bed. One glass of Tazmanian S/Blanc (can't remember what) and I ate the sea bass again - great food and perfectly cooked fish and mange tout - which must be tricky on a plane to be fair.

Dinner finished in seconds and so I asked for my bed to be made up while I went to the bathroom. Came back and my dinner tray was still there and no sign of anything happening. So I was asked to go upstairs to the 'lounge' and they would get me when the bed was made. This seemed to take forever but I was very tired so perception may be distorted.

The odd thing was there were only 10 of us in F - so they were hardly pushed

I slept for about four hours and then was woken to the loud bing bong PA saying "all crew and passengers return to their seats immediately and fasten seatbelts". At this point I assumed we were about to crash/something terrible had happened and so the adrenaline started pumping. Cue some very trivial turbulence and after about half an hour later I was back asleep. Not sure why there was such a dramatic announcement but better to be safe than sorry I agree.

Then about 2 hours later I'm woken by loud noises from the galley as breakfast starts to be prepared - this is about 4am UK time. I'm finally asked for my order at 5am (with some prompting) and eat before landing - not my original plan at all but it became clear there was no way to sleep through the galley noise and constant stomping up and own the aisle. It was like trying to sleep through the migration of the wildebeests.

Breakfast



Coming into London





As you can probably tell, this wasn't my favourite flight. In fact I will go as far as to say this was one of the slowest and most disturbed flight I have ever taken in any class. Shame really as this was the sector I was most looking forward to.

So in summary, the A380 has a beautiful interior with lots of space and is very quiet (well engine noise is ). BA old first is a terrible representation of the airline and desperately needs upgrading - I feel for anyone who has to travel on the unfitted ZZZ aircraft as they are obviously the worst. The QF crew were like a new puppy - bright and keen but lacking in the big picture a bit. The BA crews were attentive and more polished in an old-fashioned way but in keeping with the airlines brand image I suppose. QF food really was good but the lounge at SIN was pretty dreadful. BA food was acceptable and the wines on both were good. Next time I'm going to try SQ and CX - though I don't think CX have an F cabin to SYD.