When I rise at 6:30am, I again head for the PC to check on the waitlist condition. First place to check is EF and it shows all seating maps as unavailable. Hmm, seems the flight is full - very full. Its showing F1 now.
So I check my QF FF balance and am shocked to see that someone has stolen 60K points from my account sometime between 2am and 6:30am. Then I realise my heart has stopped pounding and I am safe in the knowledge that my QF Plat status has worked and I will be enjoying the front cabin for a long flight later tonight.
So with family goodbyes in order and taxi arranged, its time to ensure all the packing is complete. Plastic bag for liquids, gels and pastes - check. Power adapters for all countries - check. Wad or tickets and passport - check. DVD's and iPod - check. Peace-offering shoping list - check.
The trip to the airport at 8am on a Monday is always slow. But I had plenty of time so its just a matter of grinning and baring, and noting how pleased I am that I normally work from home and don't have to put up with this commuting stuff each day.
Check-in at BNE is quick. Just one family ahead of me in the Plat/Business Class check-in line. The check-in agent made a comment about my wad of tickets and how much better e-tickets are. He was not aware of the 16-sector limit on e-tickets and as he thumbed through my wad he just shook his head.
Bag was tagged through to LHR even though I have a 10 hour connection in MEL, during which time I will visit our Melbourne office. However, he was unable to issue my MEL-LHR boarding pass. He said it was due to the way the Melbourne people had set-up the flight. I would need to collect my 2F boarding pass in MEL. I think I will do this when I first arrive into MEL rather than wait until 9pm tonight when I return to the airport after dinner with the lads.
No delays at the security screening in BNE (as usual) and I avoided the metal detector that triggered once on my shoes. All the others are fine with this shoes. I walk straight through without issue and note the explosives tester is occupied so its a quick and direct departure from there.
So its into the BNE QP for a brief breakfast, knowing I will be fed on board the BNE-MEL flight.
I note the only flight delay is the QF953 BNE-CBR flight. There is an announcement that it is delayed due to mechanical requirements. Soon there is another announcement that there will be a change of aircraft and a new departure time is posted.
About 5 mins later there is an announcement that my QF615 BNE-MEL is to be delayed .... due to mechanical requirements. Hmm, I wonder which aircraft they swapped for the CBR flight . So we are now scheduled to board at 10:20am, 30 mins late. So looks like I will be too late for lunch with my colleagues in MEL, but will still get to the office around 2pm, so long as I am not delayed further or run into problems with getting my MEL-LHR boarding pass in MEL.