Hmmm… not bad, not bad… but a far cry from
the menus presented just two years ago on this route. Interestingly, BA competes directly with Singapore Airlines on both the Melbourne – Singapore and Singapore – London routes. Last year, I noticed the menus on BA’s services through Singapore were somewhat more elaborate than their menus between London and North America. I attributed this to the calibre of competition on the North American routes vis a vis Singapore Airlines, long regarded as offering one of the finest – if not The Finest – First Class service in the world. I wonder if Singapore Airlines has instituted similar cutbacks?
As I pondered this and other scintillating issues, the jetway was retracted and we began to push back from the gate. It was a sunny if somewhat hazy afternoon in Melbourne. It should be a nice afternoon for flying, I thought as I discretely reclined my seat just a bit and watched with interest as we taxied by what appeared to be a couple of mothballed Ansett 767-200s.
As we began our take off roll, I set my stopwatch as I’ve always done. In the U.S. at least, barring specific announcements from the cockpit, I’ve found that by knowing how long we’ve been in flight I can generally get a pretty good fix on what part of the country we’re flying over at the moment. Of course, unlike today’s 747-400, very few aircraft flying domestic services in the U.S. are equipped with AirShow maps. Oh well – old habits die hard. In any event, you
Detail Freaks will be pleased to note that BA’s biggest Boeing required only a 36 second take off roll to become airborne. Off once again into the wild blue yonder! Ain’t it great!
One of my favorite parts of the flight is right after take off and just before landing. With regard to becoming airborne, it’s certainly one of the more critical times of the flight as the aircraft works hard to gain both altitude and speed. There are all kinds of interesting noises as the engines roar at full throttle, the landing gear is retracted and flaps are adjusted and finally retracted. Add to this the initially lower elevation and you are occasionally rewarded with some spectacular views of the city and surrounding countryside from whence you’ve departed. From my window seat I took in a magnificent view of downtown Melbourne. As we made a big U-turn and pointed ourselves towards Singapore, I glanced out the windows across the cabin. The rolling hills and trees of the Victorian countryside looked most attractive indeed. As always, I’ll miss Australia.
Canapés were presented, along with a glass of Ebenezer Barossa Valley Shiraz. I’m not quite sure what to make of the Shiraz just yet. A few years ago we had a bottle of relatively inexpensive $10.00 Rosemount Diamond Shiraz that was just wonderful. Since then, most other Shirazes I’ve tasted, including this one, have been good though not memorably so. At least by my tastes. Remember too that I’m a guy who’s never spent more than $27.00 on a bottle of wine so take my wine commentary for what it’s worth – if anything.
Menu orders were taken and I requested the salmon and scallops appetizer, the cold vichyssoise and the veal. Rather than eat right away, I decided to put in a little time on this report whilst listening to some of the hundreds of songs I’ve downloaded into my laptop’s hard drive. Although I’ve got plenty of Jambands, and Classic Rock in my collection, it’s the last thing I want to listen to while cruising high above the earth. I listen to more than enough of that on the ground. For my tastes at least, acoustic music and jazz lend themselves quite nicely to cruising serenely high above the clouds in First Class opulence. Some of my favorites are David Grisman, Darol Anger and Mike Marshall, Montreaux, and some Windom Hill style artists like Nightnoise, not to mention light classical or chamber music. At 37,000’, some of this stuff just gets those serotonin levels soaring like it could never do at sea level! Add to this a glass of fine wine or even a cold beer whilst comfortably reclined in a big lounge chair up in the nose of a 747 and I’m half way to Heaven!
An hour and forty minutes into the flight, Lorraine arrived with table linens and the dinner service began. My SkyMap indicated we were passing almost directly over Coober Pedy. The map then changed to reflect the same information in Chinese. That must have been a tough one for the Chinese, coming up with a way to write out a name like Coober Pedy. Obviously I know nothing about the fascinating Chinese style of calligraphy but perhaps the symbols indicate something like “The place where opals are mined in the desert and some people live underground because it’s so hot.”
The appetizer of salmon and scallops was quite tasty. Omnivore that I am, I generally like all seafood appetizers and so tend to grade them on a pretty generous curve. I’ve had vichyssoise on a few occasions and I rather like this cold potato soup. However, with the addition of the smoked haddock, I thought it would have tasted better had it been served hot. Lorraine did a great job of keeping my bread plate filled with delicious toasted Garlic Bread.
The veal entrée was very nicely presented, and I especially enjoyed all the mushrooms and the flavorful sauce. I washed it all down with a couple of glasses of the spectacular Chateau Grande Pontet 1996, Saint-Emilon Grand Cru Classe. Now
that’s my kind of wine! Full bodied with a nice bold flavor and bouquet. In fact, I can’t remember ever having a nicer glass of wine onboard an airplane, much less on the ground. Delicious!
About a half hour after I’d finished dinner, we were treated to a beautiful lingering sunset over the Great Sandy Desert. A satisfying dinner, a memorable glass of wine and a beautiful West Australian sunset whilst comfortably reclined 36000 feet above the Great Sandy Desert. Now
this is First Class!
3 hours and 51 minutes into the flight, we left Australia behind and headed out over the Indian Ocean. The sky glowed from orange to indigo atop the black landscape of the great continent below and behind us. We were 36000 feet above Derby, cruising at 554 mph. The outside air temperature was –58F with a 27 mph headwind, conditions substantially different from what the good citizens of Derby were experiencing just six miles below us!
At this point, I decided to take a walk all the way to the back of the airplane. Wow! Economy looked to be almost completely full. It was just a sea of humanity back there! Then it struck me that there were as many people in a single row of Economy as there were in the entire First Class cabin for tonight’s flight. It never ceases to amaze me how insulated I become whilst sitting in First Class. Unless I were to take a walk back beyond the curtain, I really don’t even consider the fact that there are almost three hundred fellow human beings also traveling aboard this very same aircraft. But what a different environment Economy is! As I walked forward from the very back of the 747, I marveled at how much more spacious even World Traveler Plus looked compared to Economy.
Though from a First Class perspective it looks as if the folks in Economy are having a comparatively tough go of it, I recall from the many times that I’ve sat in the back of the plane, including more than a few occasions aboard long, over water flights, that I was never really bothered by my lot in life at the moment. It simply is what it is and the beverage cart will eventually get back to you someday.
Later, back in First Class, I plugged in the trusty laptop and put in some work on this report. I had considered watching a movie but sometimes, when writing, I get into a certain rhythm and don’t like to lose it. With a thirteen hour flight ahead of me, I had plenty of time to watch a movie. Or two.
The time was approaching 10:30pm in Melbourne, 8:30pm in Singapore. It was pitch black outside save for the occasional flash of distant heat lightening to the northwest and I was beginning to get a bit tired. It occurred to me that twenty four hours from now I would likely be somewhere over northern Scotland, just about to leave land behind as we flew out over the North Atlantic. It would be bright and sunny, about 12:30pm locally. What a difference a day makes!
About an hour out from Singapore, a light snack was offered. It seemed like I had just finished the latest lunch I’d ever eaten just three hours before so I limited myself to a single skewer of Beef Satay, washed down with my second bottle of water since dinner. All that wine had dehydrated me! Regardless, this was a nice ending to what is probably my all time favorite flight – BA 18 between Melbourne and Singapore. The timing is perfect – a late afternoon departure flying northwest into a setting sun – and the length of flight affords one time to have a leisurely dinner with ample time afterwards for watching a movie, writing a Trip Report, or just reclining your seat and enjoying life. Thanks again go out to the excellent BA cabin staff for making this flight a truly First Class experience.