The skybus ride from Central Melbourne to Tullamarine airport took about 30 min, and the stop was right next to the international terminal entrance. Considering I wanted to extensively test the Melbourne QF First lounge, I planned to arrive at the airport a good 3 hours in advance, but since the traffic was better than I thought, I got there a bit earlier than expected.
The terminal was actually quite busy, with a lot of departures to South East Asian destinations in process.
MEL International terminal check-in
On a side of the crowd was located, inside a small and quiet lounge the First class check-in counter, where OneWorld Emerald customers travelling in any class are invited to use. I indeed used that privilege to check me in for my flight to Auckland and was immediately taken care of by the two attendants working there.
Peace and quietness is on the right side of the picture :-)
Inside the small lounge/check-in area
Although I was alone in there, processing my bag took a bit longer than expected as I arrived a bit too early (seems like QF has a 3-hour advance limit for trans-tasman flights at least, maybe to avoid cheapo passengers like me to enjoy the lounge for too long ? :-)). At the end the agent managed to check my bag in, and I was also asked to show a proof of onward connection out of New Zealand given I booked a one-way flight for this itinerary, which I had on the AirFrance app on my phone.
The agent then provided me the luggage receipt, my boarding pass and the fast lane card, and indicated me that I could use the First class lounge of Qantas located upstairs.
Best wishes !
I then proceeded towards security and emigration. I don't remember the process to be particularly painful though, emigration was automated and security went reasonably fast thanks to the enforced fast track.
Fast track with the crews !
Automated passport control for emigration procedures
As you can imagine, I immediately proceeded towards the lounge for a very late lunch !
Here you go !
A bit of a disclaimer first : Although the day was not very sunny, it was very light outside and the lounge features nice tarmac and runway views, but is also equipped with some tinted glass, making the pictures look very bizarre when taking one next to the windows.
I was greeted by the lounge staff upon entering and immediately went to the restaurant section located on the far right side of the lounge.
I love those flip boards !
The restaurant entrance, also acts as a bar obviously...
The lounge restaurant.
A nice waiter immediately gave me a table near the windows featuring a nice outside view and provided me the menu as I sat down. I think that the Accor group (a French company) and their affiliate Novotel is in charge fo the catering of this lounge
QF First lounge menu MEL airport
Bubbles to start (Pommery brut royal)
The gentlemen came back to take my order and I opted for the signature salt and pepper squid (tried in at the QF lounge in LAX a few years before and liked it a lot) and the hamburger (don't judge me, I was starving that day :-))
He immediately came back with my drink order, a glass of Pommery champagne and sparkling water with slice of lemon...
I took this opportunity to visit the restrooms during this time, located within the lounge. The condition of the facilities were as good as you could expect from a First class lounge. Note that showers are also available within the lounge.
Shortly after I came back, my starter arrived and the waiter also brought a pork belly bao bun in case I wanted to try "something different".
Salt and pepper squid with pork belly bao bun. Tasty !
Lunch with a view
As I was finishing the last pieces of fried squid, an Emirates 777-300 was going to park just below me...
I certainly did put some fat on my phone screen when I took this picture !
My hamburger, cooked well done as I wanted, arrived right after, with some french fries. Because if I have to do a big fat lunch, I go all-in...
The burger was good, but we should tell the cook that adding extra butter on top of the bread is a bit too much...
To finalize this lunch with a sweet touch, I opted for the passionfruit and pineapple pavlova. It was very sweet...
Good, but a bit too sweet...
At the end of this feast, I was able to roll like a barrel to the other end of the lounge to drop my belongings and visit the place...
This lounge was very nice, I like the furniture and the outside views it offered. Different sections, like a business center and a couple conference rooms are available and besides the bar, you can get a drink from the couple of self-serve areas available. I do not recall seeing a self-service buffet though, most of the food has to be ordered at the restaurant.
This lounge is also famous for having two "old-fashioned" flip-board displays. Only one was working when I was there, but I just love the sound of those things when they actuate...
The bar and the open kitchen behind
One of two flip-boards
One of the private conference rooms you can book
The business corner
Choose your side : Mac or windows
I was able to get some work done for the 1 hour 30 minutes I stayed at the business corner. The lounge hardly got many visitors that afternoon.
By 17:45, I decided to leave the lounge to head to the gate downstairs for my Auckland flight.
Did I tell you I love those old-fashioned flip-boards ?
Although not very big (certainly not as big as their flagship first class lounge in SYD - to be reviewed later), I think Qantas did an excellent job with the place. As a economy or business class passenger holding a OneWorld emerald card, I think this would be one of the best lounges around. If I was travelling on a First class ticket though, I would find it a bit underwhelming, but this is the case with all the OneWorld "true" First class lounges anyway, maybe with the exception of QR's Al Safwa lounge.
It took me only a few minutes to reach the gate 8 downstairs, where the boarding was just about to start for priority passengers. A separate lane was available for this priority boarding.
Gate 8
My ride to Auckland
Qantas QF155 – January 17th 2019
MEL Melbourne Tullamarine Intl - 18:15
AKL Auckland Intl - 23:55
Boeing 737-800 – VH-VZV – Seat 5A - Window seat
This trans-Tasman flight was almost full and my seat neighbours were a couple of friendly Australian pensioners on vacation. We talked a bit during the flight so the 3 hour journey felt a bit less long.
Since I was able to get a first row seat, the legroom was pretty ok, and since this aircraft was equipped with personal IFE screens, those were located under the armrest for our seats. the bump on the aircraft's roof indicated that WiFi was available, at a cost, on this trip. A set of headphones were also present in the seat pocket.
Legroom was pretty good
View on Jetstar's dreamliner
WiFi was available, although I did not try to use it.
We took off on time after the safety video was broadcasted on the IFE screens
Take off from MEL
The inflight service began shortly after with take off with the usual bar service, with a warm meal. I don't remember the exact options proposed here, but I obviously got the vegeterian tofu option. Given the meal I enjoyed at the lounge, I cannot remember how was this one...
QF economy class meal MEL-AKL
One thing I remeber for sure is that an ice cream was offered as a dessert !
I visited later on the lavatories located at the rear of the aircraft and those were one of the smallest airplane lavatories I've ever been. I can understand that you cannot fit the front upper deck A380 bathrooms in there, but still, someone a bit in over-weight could have issues entering in there... (Or was it the burget I ate a few hours before ?
)
Well... airplane bathroom selfie !
Full cabin
Power socket and USB plugs were available
Personal IFE was available, although I did not really use it.
Moving map MEL-AKL
While I was in the back, the crew handed over the New Zealand customs and immigration forms but htey ran short of those by the time they reached the last row and forgot to give me one. After asking the FA if she had an extra one, she give me the one shoe would have got to fill for her. A nice touch I would say, although I am surprised the flight crews also had to fill immigration forms too.
We landed in AKL on time and parked in the international terminal, a bit far from the immigration area.
AKL Intl.
For 73 euros and 10000 BA avios for this on-way flight, I could hardly complain about it. Flight was ontime, OW Emerald benefits on the ground and onboard were more than satisfactory, this was certainly a good use of miles I think !
Kia Ora
Immigration area : I did not use the automated kiosk although I was eligible to it as I wanted to get my arrival stamp as a souvenir ! (and also because there was no line at the regular immigration lane)
This one is for tobacco illegal imports, but there are some other bins throughout the terminal for food and seeds...
New Zealand has very strict rules when it comes to customs and quarantine and bins, located before the customs area are here to remind you about those rules. Each and every passenger has to face a short interview with a customs officer after retrieving their bags (separate from the immigration check). While I really enjoyed my 3 week stay in New Zealand, and most of the Kiwi's I've met were very lovely and friendly, Auckland airport had a concentration of grumpy individuals working there I thought. I had the chance to meet two of those that evening. At the immigration check point where the lady argued with me when I asked if they were considering chocolate bars as food (that was a question on the customs form - and depending on the country, an industrially made cereal bar is considered as "food" and some other countries do not see that as a threat) - to which she replied on a pretty rude tone that "if I was putting it into my mouth to eat it, then it was food", adding to this the fact I did not want to use the automatic immigration kiosk as I wanted to get an immigration stamp on my passport (what a crime)... The second winner that evening was the customs officer who welcomed me in the country buy having me go through secondary screening to desinfect my hiking shoes and verify if the above-mentioned cereal bars from Australia were considered as a threat to the island nation. Anyway, I guess they were just doing their job, but certainly, their tone could be nicer, I thought for a minute I landed in a US airport (minus the waiting queues)
Souvenir from NZ Customs
Finally went through the circus, time to rent the car and get some sleep !
Anyway, from the time I disembarked the aircraft to the time I was a the rental car, about 1 hour passed, so I was ready to hit the nearby hotel I booked for the night.