Boarding and the Seat

Boarding commenced at 7:45pm. It was somewhat strange to me that instead of inviting Suites passengers to board first, both Suites and Business Class passengers were invited to board concurrently. Having said that, however, I was third to board. And instead of walking straight down the air-bridge into Economy, I turned left at the Suites sign and was greeted by the inflight supervisor halfway along the air-bridge. My warm fuzzy feeling had indeed boiled over at this point.

Whilst escorting me to Seat 2F, the inflight supervisor noted that Seat 3F in fact had no mechanical problems and that I could move back to it. This was music to my ears! All of this was while I marvelled at Suites. My first impression was “wow!”. The suite looked much bigger in real life and had ample storage space, particularly around the side of the seats (under the lift-up lids, subtly placed nooks) and under the ottoman.























As I sat down, the leading stewardess introduced herself to me, offered me Bose noise-cancelling earphones, a leather-bound food/drinks menu and champagne (I opted for the Dom Perignon). She also offered me a selection of magazines but there were no legal magazines and so instead, I chose National Geographic (polar opposite to the law).


Earphones





Leather-bound Menu





Dom Perignon





The chief steward also introduced himself. Including the inflight supervisor and another steward, there were 4 flight attendants serving the 3 Suites passengers. However, I felt like I had the entire crew to myself.

The pilot announced that there would be a 10 minute delay in pushing back to avoid landing in Sydney before the curfew, which ceased at 6am. Ten minutes turned into 35 minutes. At 8:50, we pushed back but this was accompanied with a change in runway, resulting in a further 20 minute delay.

The cabin crew repeatedly apologised to me:

“Mr Y, I’m so sorry about the delay. Would you like some fruit or chocolate to eat whilst we wait?”.

“No worries, I’ll have the banana please”, internally hoping for a longer delay so that I could maximise my Suites experience.



Why Couldn't the Plane be Delayed Further?





At 9:10pm, the engines purred and we achieved flight.