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From New York to London (via New Zealand): AA, QF, CX, BA (F/J)

From New York to London (via New Zealand): AA, QF, CX, BA (F/J)

Old Aug 30, 2011, 4:13 pm
  #31  
 
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Great reporting! Very well written and thought out.
Look fwd to the multi-thousand-dollar toasts on a QF flight in F soon
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Old Aug 30, 2011, 9:27 pm
  #32  
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Thanks for all the comments everyone! It's nice to know people are (still) reading.
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Old Aug 30, 2011, 9:28 pm
  #33  
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3/16: QF J

QF133 MEL-AKL B73H VH-ZQB
I was challenged to make this sector interesting.

Hah. As if. It has about the same excitement level as a domestic flight from Kansas City to Buffalo. If in fact you can fly from Kansas City to Buffalo. And without the foreboding of wondering whether you will be nude-o-scoped by TSA on the way through, or whether the Midwest will be under an ATC slowdown, or whether the pre-departure beverage will in fact be served in a glass cup or a plastic one.

The Tasman routes used to be great for sampling some long haul equipment. Not even ten years ago QF and NZ were both regularly flying long haul fitted 747s across the ditch. This was back when fuel for the flight cost something less than the aircraft’s weight in gold. And the concept of single aisle twin jets flying across great expanses of water still made airline executives and civil aviation regulators nervous.

Nowadays? You’re lucky if you get a 767. Actually, for your run of the mill flyer, you’d be unlucky if you got a 767. They’re the ones which look like they haven’t been refitted since they entered service. Air New Zealand’s A320s, on the other hand, have had seats ripped out and reinstalled more times than the delivery schedule of the A380/B787 (delete as appropriate depending on your manufacturer loyalties) has been pushed back.

Qantas preferred the 737-800, and bought seven new ones for Jetconnect to replace their rather maintenance-prone 737-300s and -400s which they were shuttling back and forth across the Tasman. Actually they bought eight, but the final one is still being built in Boeing Field somewhere. Or China. Wherever they make them nowadays.

Anyway. Here’s a picture of the Business Class product on the Jetconnect 737-800s.



37 inches.

Now I know that for many of you accustomed to flying domestically in the US that 37 inches is pretty standard. Of course, on my understanding of how US airlines manage their domestic premium product, no one ever actually pays for it. But I realise it’s on par. And I also realise that a product like this (and in the US) is actually looked upon in envy by those joining us from Europe, who have to put up with the indignity of the convertible euro economy seat. And that there are worse things in the world. Starving children in Africa. Oil polluted lakes. A 31 inch seat down the back. Etc.

We were treated to a lovely view of the sun setting over Melbourne as we pushed back and taxied out to the active.



We had a 75% load on this flight up front which meant, thankfully, an empty seat next to me. 1F in front of me was also empty. At least it was, until the stupid woman in 1D decided to move over to the window seat. And then promptly reclined.

This would have annoyed me more had the recline actually been anything substantial. Instead, there seemed to be less recline in these beasties than your standard economy class seat. I’m not even sure the seat back, when reclining, would manage to clear the seat back of the adjacent seat in an upright position. It was pretty pathetic.

All of Jetconnect’s new birds are fitted with AVOD in both economy and business. The selection was less than that on the A380 (less hardware space?) but there was enough stuff I hadn’t seen before that kept me busy for the short three hour hop over to Auckland. The PTV came out of the armrest, which made it easy to use the touchscreen function.

Drinks and nuts heralded the start of the dinner service. I went for another Solo.



No menus were loaded on this flight, whether by design or accident I didn’t know, but it meant that our flight attendant, oops, team member, had to come around and describe the starter to everyone. This was something like “smoked salmon with pesto, cucumber, pickled onion and lemon wedge”.



I’m not too sure on the choice of grey plastic for the trays. They rather look like they were rescued from a local hospital authority rummage sale.

The mains were lamb something, duck something or vegetable something. I went for the duck something, which upon first sight I regretted.



Dessert was a rather boring choice between cheese or passionfruit ice cream.



About a week after I got back to Auckland I had to fly to Sydney. On Jetconnect. In Economy. The price was about a quarter of the lead in Business Class fare. The meal served in Economy was a side salad, a choice of chicken and rice or spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, a drink, a small Cadbury chocolate bar, cheese and crackers and an ice cream bar. Looking back I actually think I got more food down the back than up front.

The rest of the flight passed in unremarkable darkness, though it was a bit odd to still be able to pick out familiar landmarks from the twinkling lights of Auckland as we circled in our approach from the east. It felt like I’d been away for a couple of weeks rather than a year. Especially when I walked into the airport terminal to find very little had changed. The primary processing area was still an awful walk from the pier where most of the gates are, the most direct route is still by barging through the duty free shop and there are people who still don’t know how to use SmartGate.

Sometimes I really do wonder whether anyone has ever done a study to investigate whether being in an airport increases people’s collective stupidity.

This sector marks the end of the first portion of the AONE4, except I’ve taken so long to write it that it’s actually almost time for me to embark on my second portion. So the next sector will be leaving New Zealand, but to where? And on what? Thankfully, not Jetconnect.

Until next sector...
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Old Sep 13, 2011, 2:01 am
  #34  
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4/16: QF J (mainline)

QF114 AKL-SYD A332 VH-EBI
I think I’ve said this three times already in this trip report. So you all know that Qantas fly a A330-200 between Auckland and Los Angeles. They don’t have First. And they don’t even have full flat beds in Business. But what makes the A332 a not-so-nice choice on a 12 hour flight makes it an ideal choice for a 3-hour hop across the Tasman. In order to run AKL-LAX-AKL the planes have to first get to AKL you see. So once a day, Qantas run an early morning SYD-AKL A332 service to position the plane to depart to LAX, and then a midday AKL-SYD A332 service to get the LAX arrival back to SYD. Except on Sundays. I don’t know what they do on Sundays. Something to do with the LAX-AKL plane turning right around at AKL to fly back to LAX. Someone in the Qantas operations department must know what they’re doing.

Qantas have a premium check in lobby area at AKL. When the airport was renovated in 1996 Air New Zealand got their own lobby so presumably Qantas, as NZ’s then main competitor, lobbied for one too. If Emirates had been around then they probably would have built one as well, but now it’s too late. There’s no room. Though the way that airline is expanding in New Zealand it wouldn’t surprise me if they just built their own terminal. They’ve already somehow managed to score the best location in the whole terminal for their new expanded lounge (though concededly, they previously had the crappiest location).

AKL still have one old style flipboard for departures in the main check-in area. You can probably see why they’re phasing them out. Not very many people I know going to MELBOLCCT for a start, though perhaps they know something about Tullamarine’s strategy to turn itself into a low cost hub that we don’t. All the Onestar flights also carried Royal Brunei’s logo, but in that case I think it’s just a mistake.



There’s no direct access to passport control from the QF lobby, but there is an immigration officer stationed to pre-process passengers, who are then directed to the precleared lane upstairs at the main checkpoint. Since using the precleared lane is 1) risky because it shares the same queue with escorted passengers, assisted passengers and sometimes passengers with screaming babies; and 2) not as much fun as pre-clearing myself with my e-passport at Smartgate; and there was a line at preclearance anyway, I opted for Smartgate. There weren’t very many people clearing themselves out of the country, which made a nice change from a couple of weeks ago when one passenger managed to hold up everyone else by deciding it would be a good idea, having inserted her ticket into the gate, to start looking around at everything but the camera in the gate straight in front of her. Unfortunately the Smart in Smartgate doesn’t seem to refer to the people who should be eligible to use them.

There is nothing to love about the Qantas lounge at Auckland. Since the last time I had been there a few years go they’d changed the ceiling and added a few more lights. The view, which was previously the rooftop of the international terminal building, has now been expanded to include not only the rooftop but the corrugated iron back of the new international terminal extension. There was a selection of salads, bread, soup and sweet treats, and a warmer containing what was euphemistically described as “lunch”: mini quiches, mini mince pies and mini sausage rolls. Though I confess, not having had either a pie or a sausage roll since returning to New Zealand I did take one of each, and they were fine, but I think it might be stretching things to label it “lunch”. Morning tea, maybe. The lounge was horribly overcrowded though, and I didn’t stay long before venturing back out to the main terminal where, while it was busy, was much more pleasant. It had a view over the apron for a start.

The A332 was almost full up today, though I was right up the front in 1K. It’s a bulkhead row which does bassinet duty, and as a result the televisions are mounted much lower than normal. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re very good at not getting cricks in your neck from looking down all the time. Or you’re a midget.



MENU

FROM THE BAR
Roasted Nuts

ENTREE
Smoked Salmon with Fennel and Cucumber Coleslaw and Caper Relish

MAIN COURSES
Slow Cooked Duck Ragout with Pan Fried Gnocchi, Spinach and Paremsan
Thai Style Salad of Sticky Pork with Green Pawpaw, Cherry Tomatoes and Fresh Herbs
Herb Crusted Lamb with Red Wine Jus, Minted Peas and Potato Puree

Warm Bakery
Selection of Cheeses
Ice Cream with Biscotti
Chocolates



If the smoked salmon starter looks kind of familiar, it may be because the menu for this flight was the exact same one as should have been given to me on my previous MEL-AKL Jetconnect sector. So if you were reading the previous instalment and lamenting the fact that there was no adequate description of the food, there you are. By chance and circumstance you are not left bereft. Me, on the other hand, could have done without the menu description and instead with something decent to eat, because to be honest the meal dished up on that MEL-AKL segment wasn’t very good.

Despite promising lemon squash on the drinks menu – that’s Solo, folks, and in my opinion one of the very few things I like about flying QF across the Tasman rather than NZ – it wasn’t loaded. This put me in a very bad mood for the rest of the flight and I took it out on the lamb that I chose for the main. Then again, that was the only way the thing was edible, by hacking it with great force into very small pieces and then grinding away at it once it was in your mouth. The potato and peas, on the other hand, was soggy and bland enough that your inpatient at the local Health and Wellness Center (hospital) could have digested it with no problem. No doubt Neil Perry, who I understand is responsible for creating this mess, would say something like that the “textures and flavours of the meal provide great contrast”. I, on the other hand, would simply call it crap.



You know sometimes you read threads on Flyertalk which complain about the food served up in premium class? And then they go on to say that they’ve actually had better meals in Economy? How many of you wonder whether if the thread is a bit of an exaggeration? I candidly admit that sometimes I think that maybe the OP is just being a wee bit precious.

I apologise unreservedly for ever doubting you, because QF on this flight has proved me well and beyond wrong. I actually flew this exact same sector not two weeks before the flight I’m now covering in this report. But in economy. 53A. Yes, apparently seat numbers go that high. And the braised beef and mash that was served down the back won out over the lamb on pretty much everything except the size of the dish. Even the Tip Top chocolate ice cream stick they served was better than the rather cloying chocolate-in-chocolate ice cream in a tub they were catering for dessert.



Credit to QF for the seat, though, for a three hour flight it was a great product to recline in, though as a slanty seat if you tried to sleep in it you would suffer from the well documented wedgie problem. Nothing else exciting happened for the remainder of the flight, other than an approach over the Western suburbs on the crosswind runway which is a rarity for me, and Smartgate in Australia actually working for my passport, which is even more of a rarity. I was green stamped by AQIS at the baggage claim – after not so subtly positioning myself so I was in the way of the roving AQIS officer – and managed to avoid the x-ray, unlike the poor Express Path using soul in front of me who was intercepted for a blast of radiation on his bags.

So, Qantas Business Class across the Tasman. If you want the space to work, or the seat to sleep, it’s a pretty good hard product on the A332. But BYO food. You won’t regret it. My neighbour took one bite of his Thai sticky pork salad and left it alone.

Next: CX’s new new Business Class product. I’d been looking forward to this for a while; you can look forward too!
Top of climb is offline  
Old Sep 13, 2011, 5:45 am
  #35  
 
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I was beginning to wonder where you'd gone off to!! Keep it coming!
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Old Sep 13, 2011, 5:53 am
  #36  
 
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Thanks for the report. ^

Those QF trans-Tasman meals look disgusting.
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Old Sep 13, 2011, 11:00 am
  #37  
 
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Wow, so this is what happens when AirNZ does away with J on most of their trans-Tasman flights - QF's once-decent product goes way, waaaay downhill. It's really depressing to see just how bad that food looks. And that hideous tray! So they don't even stretch to a tablecloth these days? Even US domestic first usually manages that still!

As far as I'm aware NZ's catering on their remaining trans-Tasman flights that do still feature business class is still pretty good, and of course Emirates serves up lots of impressive fare too, so it's surprising that QF feels it can afford to be quite so complacent. Aren't we constantly being told about how competitive the Tasman is?

Hope the next flight is a better one for you
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Old Sep 13, 2011, 12:13 pm
  #38  
 
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Great Mate

Originally Posted by ung1
I was beginning to wonder where you'd gone off to!! Keep it coming!
Hi Ung1,

I met TOP OF CLIMB in F on CX 2 days ago

He is great mate and has some real hardcore capacity to travel^

I will not spoil his trip report system so will refrain from any further info regarding our meet up on board.

But boy what a meetup it was.

BTW Mr TOC how was the dinner on the return leg of your CX F flight?????

Safe Flying

EGT
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Old Sep 13, 2011, 8:12 pm
  #39  
 
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EGT, that would explain his prolonged absence - he ran into you! Top of climb, I hope you've managed to get the vodka out of your system!
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Old Sep 14, 2011, 7:57 am
  #40  
 
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This is a great TR, thank you for sharing. ^ I just subscribed to this.
vulle is offline  
Old Sep 14, 2011, 8:25 am
  #41  
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Originally Posted by ELITEGOLDTRAVELLER
But boy what a meetup it was.

BTW Mr TOC how was the dinner on the return leg of your CX F flight?????
Rest assured that EGT will play a starring role in that chapter of the report! Unfortunately I'm about four sectors behind so it might be a way off yet.

I dropped dinner in favour of some much needed sleep. But being handed the menu for that leg I had to laugh - your prediction about what was going to be served up was almost spot on.
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Old Sep 14, 2011, 12:53 pm
  #42  
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Originally Posted by ELITEGOLDTRAVELLER
Hi Ung1,

I met TOP OF CLIMB in F on CX 2 days ago

He is great mate and has some real hardcore capacity to travel^

I will not spoil his trip report system so will refrain from any further info regarding our meet up on board.

But boy what a meetup it was.

BTW Mr TOC how was the dinner on the return leg of your CX F flight?????

Safe Flying

EGT
I can confirm he is indeed a great guy, for someone who weaseled his way out of taking the LSAT that is
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Old Sep 14, 2011, 3:52 pm
  #43  
 
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Posts: 498
Hi

Originally Posted by Top of climb
Rest assured that EGT will play a starring role in that chapter of the report! Unfortunately I'm about four sectors behind so it might be a way off yet.

I dropped dinner in favour of some much needed sleep. But being handed the menu for that leg I had to laugh - your prediction about what was going to be served up was almost spot on.
Hi Mate,

I am in SVO now already.

How was F on your sector from *&% to your new upcoming base??

You are a super lovely mate & a pretty straight forward one too.

Have Fun.

Regards & Safe Flying

EGT
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Old Sep 19, 2011, 3:33 pm
  #44  
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5/16: CX J

CX100 SYD-HKG A333 (33E) B-LAK

Cathay flies nasty two class A340s into Auckland during the southern winter. On an AONE4 all two class no First aircraft I define as nasty. Plus, the A340s run with CX’s herringbone J product. I’m not a fan of herringbone generally. And especially not the narrow CX version of it. As one CX crew member told me on this trip, “those aren’t seats, they’re coffins”. The product got so many complaints from people that the airline started to develop a new product pretty much straight away, which took them four years to bring to fruition and which it’s finally started rolling out. Since going live, the new seat’s been really talked up and gotten rave reviews on FT and elsewhere. And it just so happened that the new product goes twice (on some days thrice) daily to Sydney.

Perfectly logical, then, to make what would have been an AKL-HKG an AKL-SYD-HKG. Unfortunately the QF connections to CX in SYD are not ideal. In fact QF seems to have timed all of their flights AKL-SYD to perfectly just fall under MCT. The best connection to CX100 was a 8am flight ex-AKL.

Yes, I like airports. But as anyone who’s ever tried to decode a fare rule knows, there are exceptions to every rule. For me, Sydney is an exception. I’ve been to the airport enough times that I don’t like it anymore. It’s old. And tired. And cramped. And like all airports in the modern world nowadays, seems to be a shopping mall first and an airport second. Plus, since this was a J day, there would be no QF F lounge access for me. Add in the fact that the best connection was an 8 am Jetconnect departure, I had a bed for the night in Sydney and that I really like my sleep, it wasn’t that hard a decision to decide to go a day early on the Qantas mainline A332.

Sydney Airport used to be really awful for queues. It still is. Thankfully, a few years ago they put in express lanes for premium passengers. I have no idea whether this is because of successful lobbying by airlines. Or if Macquarie Airports thought it would be a good revenue spinner to charge airlines for every passenger who used fast track. I don’t care. As long as I don’t have to line up for an hour just waiting to clear passport control. Of course, it would be even better if Australia whacked in a few Smartgate machines for departures like in New Zealand, but given my track record with their arrivals smartgates perhaps sticking to manual express path clearance is a speedier idea.

Qantas used to have a really miserable lounge at Sydney Airport. It was in a basement. Below departures level anyway. You went down an escalator into this large gloomy room. Though my impressions of it might have been infected by the fact that I was always on a night flight out of Sydney. Even if there was a view (which I think there was), the darkness rendered it unseeable.

Unlike Sydney Airport, where queues continue to be awful if you don’t have a antipodean passport or are travelling in the big seats, Qantas actually did something about their underground cavern. They relocated the lounge to the upper mezzanine a number of years ago now. And then they promptly ripped out the F section and loaded it on top of the J class lounge space now. It does mean that there’s still not much of a view. A rooftop and the struts supporting the F lounge above. And on the day of my flight, of some people in bright yellow fluorescent jerkins crawling around on the roof with clipboards in their hands. It was almost as much fun trying to guess what they were doing than it was sneaking surreptitious shots of the lounge.



The lounge was busy but not heaving, and the food options much better than anything which was being served either by Qantas in Auckland or in the air. I put together quite a nice little lunch plate of potato salad, some cold ham, bread rolls and cream of zucchini soup. If you were hungrier there was also two hot dishes of chicken and a mushroom pasta bake.



There is also something called Island Dining where you can get the plate of the day by perching at the island tables that run the centre of the lounge. And while we were in the main lounge area a lounge host came out with glasses of freshly blended rock melon, pineapple and watermelon juice. It was very refreshing, but the way it was served was odd. If you weren’t in the right place at the right time you were out of luck. Keep an eye out for it.



Qantas run First Class between Sydney and Hong Kong. CX doesn’t. Why then, did I choose to fly Cathay instead of Qantas given I was on an AONE?

Easy. Cathay Pacific is my favouritest airline.

We each have our own preferences which make our favourite airline our favourite. The seat. The food. The facilities on the ground. For me, what makes CX stand out is the crew. I know that I’ll get a base minimum. Manual trained, manual delivered. But 8 times out of 10, if not more, I get a crew which go above and beyond that. When I step foot on board a Cathay plane I feel comfortable.

I like that.

First impressions of the new cabin were good. On the Airbus the product is arranged in a 1-2-1 layout with the seats angled slightly towards the window. There’s plenty of space on the side to put the bits and bobs that come with travelling, though you want to be careful on takeoff because there’s no edge at the end of the side table. Takeoff thrust could see your belongings flying into the passenger behind you.





The standard CX formula was delivered: pre takeoff drinks, hot towel, take off. Menus were delivered and orders taken for post takeoff drinks.

Lunch
Starters
Smoked salmon, seared scallop and prawn with crčme
fraiche, peppered mayonnaise and mango salsa

Mixed salad with French vinaigrette


Main Courses
High country pork loin with celeriac puree, roasted
carrots and asparagus, apple and onion compote

Three cup chicken with steamed rice and mixed
vegetables

Chermoula coated snapper with vegetable tagine,
cous cous and broccolini

Goat cheese tortellini with cherry tomato and basil
ragout and Parmesan


Cheese and Dessert
Maffra Sage Derby, Jindi Blue, Tasmanian Heritage Brie

Fresh seasonal fruit

Chocolate raspberry gateau


Tea and Coffee


Pralines


Wine List
Champagne
Champagne Deutz, Brut Classic

White Wines
Mountadam Vineyard Eden Valley Riesling 2009
Domaine des Malandes Chablis 2009

Red Wines
Chateau de Maison Neuve Montagne Saint-Emilion 2009
Tyrrell’s Wines Hunter Valley Brokenback Shiraz 2007

Port
Dow’s Late Bottled Vintage Port 2006

Aperitifs and Cocktails
Gin, Rum, Vodka, Martini Rosso, Martini Extra Dry, Campari, Sweet and Dry Sherry, Bloody Mary, Screwdriver

Whiskies
Chivas Regal 12 Years Old, Johnnie Walker Gold Label, Jack Daniel’s, Canadian Club

Cognac
Hine ‘Rare and Delicate’ Fine Champagne

Liqueurs
Drambuie, Cointreau, Bailey’s Irish Cream

Beer
International selection

Signature Drinks
Oriental Breeze
A sour plum tea and cranberry juice based non-alcoholic drink with honey and fresh lemon juice and a hint of rose water

Cloud Nine
A refreshing combination of Vodka, Cointreau and Sprite with a refreshing touch of lemon flavour


I started lunch with a Cloud Nine and nuts. Unfortunately the days of the cashew nuts are long gone; instead we had a combination of almonds, macadamias and walnuts, listed here by me in decreasing order of like.



There isn’t much to say about the starter, other than it was tasty; as was the side salad and the garlic bread.



Mains were served by trolley, with a purser replenishing the offerings every couple of rows so the meals stayed hot. This gave you a chance to eyeball what was on offer rather than just deciding off the description on the menu. All of the options looked better than what was dished up on my previous QF flight. This is the chicken. Yes, the casserole dish is a bit naff. But it fits on the tray, you see. And the tray fits on the table. So you can pretty much forget CX going back to mains on a plate for a while. Me personally, as long as the food is hot and tasty I don’t care whether it comes in a casserole dish or a plate. (I do draw the line at serving it up in a plastic reheating container, though).



There are some threads on Flyertalk which crop up in every forum. “Will my flight XXX have the new seats” is a classic. So, apparently, is whether the airline in question has a “cheese OR dessert” or a “cheese AND dessert” policy. On CX there’s no argument it’s the latter; the cheese and fruit cart is rolled by first before the crew pass through the cabin again with dessert.



Dessert comes with a spork. That’s seriously cool. If only because how many times in writing prose do you often get to use the word “spork”?



CX are on to a winner with their new Business Class product. It’s superb. There’s great cushioning and a really spacious feel. There are some niggles. The shoe locker wasn’t big enough for my shoes and when I tried to tuck them under the seat I almost jammed the seat mechanism in recline. The legrest is a bit short for taller passengers. The television which swings out can’t be tilted up or down to adjust for the seat in a reclined position. But on the main points; sleeping, reclining, upright the seat hits all the right notes.



Also loved by me is the doing away of the old staticky blanket. With the seat in full flat position, the armrest down and a nice warm duvet to snuggle under I managed two hours of straight sleep which was uninterrupted by noises from people walking past in the aisle or by duty free falling on my head from the overhead lockers above. You laugh. But these seem to be the two most serious worries that people have about the new seat judging by the posts on the CX forum.

Two hours out from Hong Kong the lights were switched on for the second meal service.

Refreshment
Starter
Fresh seasonal fruit


Noodle Soup and Savouries
Roasted duck in noodle soup

Beef and guiness pie with mushroom and tomato

Ho fun noodles with chicken and shiitake mushroom


Ice Cream


Tea and Coffee

CX really love their fruit. Breakfast, lunch or dinner, fruit will make its presence somewhere. Not that I’m complaining. I like fruit. And the way CX serve it, chilled and precut, can be quite refreshing. I like the fact that you’re not expected to peel your own fruit like on some other Asian airlines (cough SQ uncough). Mainly because I’m totally unco. The prospect of peeling an apple on the ground is scary enough. I don’t really want to be doing it while bumping through equatorial skies over Indonesia.

Of course, all of this relies on choosing the right fruit. There’s usually melon. Pineapple. Strawberry, maybe. Kiwifruit. If you’re really lucky, mango. If you’re really unlucky, papaya. Or tomato. Kidding. Not even the most ardent tomato fan would serve it up with pineapple. At least I hope not.

Today’s fruit plate may have looked good (aside from the strawberry) and it was one of those times where the book matched the cover (aside from the strawberry).



The noodle soup had gone somewhat lukewarm by the time the cart got to where I was, and I’m not sure where they got the roasted duck. Maybe from the worst Chinese BBQ shop in Chinatown. Or maybe from whoever caters for QF.



They were a bit more adventurous with the ice cream flavours for dessert, which made a nice change from the Haagen-Dazs vanilla/strawberry/ice cream flavour beginning with C options which are always served out of Hong Kong. Today we had burnt fig, honeycomb and caramel; elderflower and vanilla; or passionfruit.



We then began our descent and landed at precisely 21.01, 34 minutes ahead of schedule... and yeah, you don’t care. Neither do I.

Overall, a great flight on a great product. I did feel a bit for the significant number of passengers who were connecting on to Europe, which is currently almost all served by the coffin herringbone seats. It’s a big step down in product comfort. On the other hand, the pax in rows 11 and 12 took their sweet time hanging about in the aisle gathering up all their belongings, and blocking my exit, so any sympathy I had towards them spending the next 12 hours in a substandard product quickly evaporated. I hate people who get in my way. You probably figured that out already.

Next up: I do some turnarounds to max out my 16 sectors. Five Flights, Two Days. With eight meals in a row catered by Cathay Pacific. Stay tuned...
Top of climb is offline  
Old Sep 19, 2011, 4:48 pm
  #45  
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
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Posts: 536
Outstanding TR! Love the writing style and focus on the food... Can't wait for the rest to follow. You might just have inspired me to write my own TR for a mini RTW I'm doing in January...

J
Flyersj18 is offline  

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