Next was the long trip home. Again I wanted to avoid the killer overnight flights from Asia to Australia, so planned on the QF30 daytime HKG-MEL flight. And having 4 lonely QF Upgrade Credits that would likely go unused, I decided 3 of them would make a nice way to continue my F experience on this trip. About 24 hours before the QF30 flight was due to depart, I noticed my QF FF account had been reduced by 3 UCs, so that was confirmation to me that the upgrade had come through even through the on-line system was still showing as "requested".

So I called QF to get my seat assignment. The system had given me 2A. Now there is no such thing as a bad F seat, but 2A is at the bottom of my list of desired seats. I had been watching the flight closely and knew that the previous day the only seats allocated were 1A, 1K, 1A and 4K. So any other allocated now much be last minute sales or upgrades. And I know that 4A and 4K are generally held back for airport allocation due to being bassinet positions. The best the QF agent could do was offer 3K, which I happily accepted. She said 4A and 4K were already allocated and nothing she could do. I suspect if my QF Platinum number had been in the booking she may have been able to get me one of them at that time.

After a morning meeting with my boss, and a lunchtime meeting with a customer, I headed back to the Hilton to collect my bags and to check-in at the KL Sentral station.

This time I knew the CX 724 KUL-HKG flight was being operated by a 3-class aircraft and that the F seats were all showing as reserved. I called CX reservations and asked for seat allocation in the first 2 rows, but since it was the same day as the flight, all seat allocations were under airport control and she could not move me from 12G. At check-in, the MAS agent did not understand (or played dumb) and tried to tell me that row 12 was the second row of the aircraft. That is the case for a 2-class aircraft, but not for the operating 3-class aircraft. She saw the comment added by the CX telephone res agent about the passenger being One-World Emerald and requesting seating in the first 2 rows. But it took a phone call to the airport and step-by-step instructions for her to actually print me a boarding pass for seat 1A.

CX724 KUL-HKG
Departure: 17:55
Arrival: 21:45
Seat 1A (A333)

The flight was very pleasant and the usual CX quality service for business class. JW Gold was the beverage of choice in this flight.

Procedures at HKG were as efficient (yet labour-intensive) as usual. My bags had been checked through to MEL, so I didn't have to collect them at HKG. This was a great benefit of a <12 hour connection.

I was booked at the new Novotel Citigate hotel near HKG. Having never stayed there before, I did not know the procedure for getting the free shuttle bus to the hotel. So after exiting the customs hall, stopped at the tourist info desk and asked. They looked up their booklet and told me go to the B desk in the terminal outside. At the B desk there was a sign for Novotel hotel. The man there told me the shuttle bus would be about 5 mins and to take a seat adjacent to the desk, and he placed a yellow sticker on my shirt. There were about 8 people with yellow stickers by the time we were collected to be escorted to the bus about 5 mins later.

The Novotel Citigate is very handy for a short overnight transit in HKG when there is no time or point into taking the high-speed train into HK Island or Kowloon. Its new and fresh. But it is the only major brand hotel I have ever found that does not take Diners Club cards! They were happy with my personal Amex card.

I booked for the 6am shuttle bus back to the airport the following morning. It was good thing I booked as it was full.

QF30 HKG-MEL
Departure: 9:10
Arrival: 19:55
Seat 4A

At check-in I asked if seat 4A or 4K was available and was told I could have 4A if I wanted it. So boarding pass was printed and checked baggage info added to the system. I then headed to The Wing for breakfast (yes, the Dim Sum again ).

Then a visit to the duty-free shop to collect my full allowance (3 x 750ml bottle of Islay Whisky - two Bowmore and one Laphroaig) before heading to the boarding gate.

Having had a good night's sleep at the hotel, I planned on enjoying the daytime flight to MEL. So the welcome Champaign was received and refilled. The PJs were accepted, but this time the slipped into my carryon bag, earmarked for Mini NM#1. I was comfortable enough in my normal travel attire for this flight.

The meal service is available as anytime dining. I liked this approach and started with pancakes as a nice sweet morning tea following my Dim Sum in The Wing. About half way through the flight I asked lunch, and then 2 hours before landing I asked for the veal schnitzel for dinner.

This flight was AVOD equipped and it worked perfectly for the whole flight for me, except they had loaded the May programming guides but had the June programs installed. So one of the movies I wanted to watch was showing in the guide but not in the system. Oh well, at least the system was working!

On arrival into MEL, I had marked my arrivals customs declaration to indicate I was carry some food items. I knew they were ok to bring it (Vegemite and M&Ms) but did the right thing and ticked the Yes box. When entering into BNE, the quarantine officer at the start of the queue asks you have and sends you to the appropriate queue. In MEL, no such question was asked and the officer just saw the yes tick and sent me to the "food" queue. It took me ages to get to the head of the queue!

The officer at the head of the queue asked what I had and when I told he, she said next time write "Vegemite and M&Ms" on the card next to the question and I will not have to wait in this queue. Oh well, you learn these things the hard way. When arriving into MEL, write it onto the card.

Crowne Plaza Melbourne

I was offered an upgraded room (with Casino Views ). It was not the largest room of my trip, but perfectly adequate for my overnight stay. I had a meeting in our Melbourne office the next morning which is a 10 min walk from this hotel.

Next morning I checked out and had my bags held until I returned following my meeting. Then headed back to the airport. Since I was in MEL for less than 24 hours, this was considered a transit as far as the DONE4 fare rules are concerned. So I still have my two stopovers in the continent of origin to go! One being my stop at home in BNE, and the another trip to MEL sometime in the next 11 months.

QF620 MEL-BNE
Departure: 14:05
Arrival: 16:05

This flight was selected as it allowed my children to come to the airport for my arrival (after they finished their school day) and so I could get to a musical production dress rehearsal for which I was the sound engineer that evening).

I used MEL QuickCheck for check-in, swiping my Diners Club card that had been used to purchase the ticket. It found my booking. I had previously only ever used my QF Platinum card for this purpose.

I flashed my QF Plat card for access to the lounge as my AA Plat card was still in the mail to me.

The flight home was quite normal, and the excitement of my kids seeing daddy arrive home after 3 weeks away was wonderful to experience again.