April 2, 2004
Melbourne to Singapore
British Airways 18 First Class
747-400 G-BNLU Seat 2A
415p-950p Flight time: 7:14
Pictures are located HERE
Some friends I’d met while staying at the Albany hostel were passing through Melbourne today and so we met for lunch in the airport. The timing was perfect since check-in for my flight to London didn’t open until 1:15pm. They’d just flown in from Adelaide and were taking the ferry down to Tasmania later that evening. After they’d claimed their packs, we had lunch in the food court upstairs. It was a little bit awkward because we all had our backpacks with us.
Quite a queue had developed at BA’s Economy Class counter by the time I arrived at 1:10pm. First Class had nobody waiting although I attracted some odd looks from a couple of Club World passengers in the next line over as I sidled up next door to them with my big ol’ backpack. Louis Vuitton luggage it ain’t!
I arranged to have my pack checked all the way through to Seattle and, finally free of its encumbrance, tread lightly down to immigration, then on to Gate 11 to check out the aircraft for this flight. Would its tail bear one of the Colors of the World designs or would it be the now standard Flowing Union Jack colors?
Melbourne has designed its International Concourse so that passengers have no choice but to walk through – not by – all the duty free shops. If I were a rich man, with a personal porter, I could have spent heaps of money on all the fine Australian wines available, many of which I’d never seen in the U.S.. I suppose I might have bought one of those nice Australian sweaters, too. Oh, and maybe that Akubra over there! I quickened my pace and arrived at Gate 11 to find BA’s 747-400 G-BNLU, looking quite fetching in her Flowing Union Jack livery.
THE QANTAS CLUB
Unfortunately, the lounge pavilion at Melbourne’s International Concourse is located downstairs from the gate lounges. As a result, there are no windows in the lounges because there is nothing to see from down there but the underbellies of various aircraft along with all the ramp support vehicles.
Though I’ve never been in the Qantas Club over in the Domestic Terminal, I’ve become quite familiar with the First Class facility in the International Terminal. It’s a top flight lounge, amongst the nicest I’ve been in. I remember on my first visit to this lounge thinking that the colors were a bit bland – lots of light earth tones. Either they’ve redecorated or I wasn’t seeing so straight that day. The furnishings are comprised of beige, black and red upholstered chairs offset by faux walnut wood barriers atop brown carpet. Along one wall are five or six work stations with phones. One of these had a computer terminal with internet connections. The lighting is soft and the overall effect is quite pleasing.
Along the forward wall of the lounge is very nicely stocked buffet area featuring a delicious array of finger sandwiches, salad, fresh smoked salmon with lemons and cream, veggies, dips, cheeses, crackers and mixed nuts. To the side, a small hot buffet offered a variety of miniature pies and pasties. Sweets included a variety of cakes, cookies and petit fours. I made myself up a nice plate of salmon, grabbed an ice cold Hahn’s Premium Lager from the well stocked beer fridge and took a seat at one of the work stations.
When I first arrived, the lounge wasn’t all that busy – there were maybe a half dozen people scattered about. By 2:30pm it was packed! There were lots of children as well and more than one parent could be heard admonishing the little banshees to walk, don’t run! And no screaming! I would love to have that inexhaustible supply of energy and zest that all children are endowed with. As an adult, it would do me good to run around a bit more anyway, though I don’t see myself laughing and screaming while I do so unless I’m cheering on one of the Denver Broncos as he dashes towards the end zone!
Boarding was called twenty five minutes prior to departure, so I grabbed my gear and headed up to the gate. One nice change from years past is that there’s no more personal inspection of every single carry on bag at the gate. Now it’s done on a random basis and thankfully I wasn’t selected.
Only ten passengers were booked into First Class for this flight up to Singapore and all of them appeared to already be onboard by the time I made my entrance into the cabin. After pausing briefly to sign autographs and answer questions, I was welcomed by head purser Lorraine Darvil and presented with the usual welcoming glass of champagne and plate of cashews. That Perrier Jouet’s not bad but it’s just not as crisp as the Krug.
Sleep suits and amenity kits were presented next, followed by this month’s personal movie selections. Hmm… same as last month’s selections. I stowed the amenity kit and sleep suit in the overhead compartment and started arranging the myriad items I bring along to entertain myself on these longer flights. Let’s see – a book, a magazine, my camera, some Singapore postcards I bought but never either filled out or posted. That ought to do it for now.
It occurred to me as I was getting organized that the cabin was rather warm – almost hot. Sure enough, an announcement was made informing us that the ground based power supply wasn’t working, so until we’d gotten the engines fired up the cabin would remain fairly warm. In the meantime, I discovered that the plastic safety briefing card made for an excellent fan.
Menus were presented along with refills on champagne. Just half a glass, thanks. I like BA’s new menu design much more than the plain white covers of recent years. A good airline menu cover should elicit a heightened sense of anticipation for the Epicurean delights within, not to mention the journey ahead. As a longtime collector of First Class airline menus, I’ve seen everything from food to seashells to artwork on the covers. The new British Airways menus feature a selection of four vintage BOAC travel posters displayed across the top third of the menu. Near the bottom of the cover is the BA First logo, imprinted in silver. Simple, yet attractive. Alright then, what’s for lunch?