F Lounge MEL!
 

MEL F Class Lounge Report (Pre-QF9)

The trip started out with a slight panic when I realized that the MEL F lounge had very limited spa availability (thank you flyertalk). I also didn't really believe that they would call my US cell phone given that British Airways was the one who ticketed me. So I spent 30 minutes waiting to speak with someone from Qantas at 26 hours prior to my 4:30pm departure. God forbid they actually answer the phones in less than 30 mins... Chantal must have been filing her nails.

When I got a CSR, she felt that for sure the lounge spa would ring my cell which was on file. I asked her, just in case, if we could confirm this with the F lounge. (I was pleasant, but knew what I was doing!) When she called them, guess what, they didn't have my cell phone number and wouldn't have given me a ring. Having survived an IT implementation, I just knew there was no way the lounge would have the phone number given the number of systems in use! That said, they made up for it quickly by arranging a 2:10pm facial, which allowed me to book before the HKG and SIN F pax would have been phoned up. Woohoo!

When I arrived the next day to MEL 4 hours before the flight, the gorgeous F check-in lounge was a very nice welcome. The agent was worried he might not be able to check the bags, but said "we'll send you to the lounge even if that's delayed." Lovely. Turns out he was able to check me in: it opens 4 hours prior to departure, I believe, for certain groups of passengers (I'm not sure it's any F passenger -- it may have to do with having status -- or was it my smile?).

The lounge itself was completely empty when I arrived, allowing me to take my favorite photo of this report:

http://lh6.ggpht.com/-TAQYGSFmn90/T3...3_26_18_19.jpg

I went immediately to the restaurant given that I was doing the facial about an hour later. There I enjoyed four courses from this menu:

http://lh6.ggpht.com/-s3ARwopmXx0/T3...3_26_18_18.jpg

Do note that they offer three champagne options -- nothing vintage, but I liked that I could have some Bolli before the Taitt that awaited on board:)

In terms of food, I chose four courses to have a taste of various items.

The first was a slightly odd dish composed of half a boiled egg, some tofu, and a variety of toppings. I liked it, but I'm not exactly sure why!
http://lh5.ggpht.com/-AhEj-ifGmgs/T3...3_26_18_19.jpg

The second dish was the best one -- the veal carpaccio. What takes this over the top is that they fry up capers and you can grab one or two with each bite. YUMMMMMM!
http://lh3.ggpht.com/-BeixemCGWaw/T3...3_26_18_19.jpg

The third dish was the specialty of the house as I understand it: the salt and pepper squid. It has a lovely sweet sauce you pour over, and then you dip the squid in the tangy orange sauce. Beautiful and seemingly light as air.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/-6RKbozGSN4o/T3...3_26_18_19.jpg

The last dish I had was the squid ink linguine with prawns. The prawns were *outstanding* as was the sauce (prepared with some chili, and augmented by a dish of fresh chiles that she offered when I said I liked spice). I suppose the pasta had less taste than I expected, but that was remedied with the fresh chili and some sea salt!
http://lh5.ggpht.com/-47tHStwbHs4/T3...3_26_18_19.jpg

Bursting at the seams, it was then time to head to the spa. Words cannot describe -- this was the best facial treatment I've had ever. I think it has a lot do with the leafy walls which are just heaven. I knew I need to have workers installing that in my apartment ASAP.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/-dhTVqfZ2pfc/T3...3_26_18_20.jpg

Shockingly, I was near the end of my lounge visit after my luxurious shower. I had to take the shampoo / conditioner with me to Singi. I have to say, the conditioner is like shea butter and smells divine!

http://lh6.ggpht.com/--n5LoLDZBIY/T3...3_26_18_20.jpg

So, what to do with the last few minutes? First, take some pics of the 380. Note that in the last of these pictures there are THREE catering vehicles servicing this bird. I'm glad someone gave them a heads-up that they would need extra Taittinger on board!

http://lh6.ggpht.com/-UedczTqaZRo/T3...3_26_18_18.jpg

http://lh6.ggpht.com/-52lH_5lYc18/T3...3_26_18_20.jpg

http://lh6.ggpht.com/-icQ2JBqIRn0/T3...3_26_18_20.jpg

All that was left to do was to have my photo op with the gorgeous "M" in front of the lounge. You'll learn more about M in part 2. For now, I leave you with a photo of M's pool in Singi from which I write this...

http://lh6.ggpht.com/-rak_OQoTOr0/T3...3_27_12_27.jpg

Next up:
--Justin Timberlake at 38,000 feet
--My turn as flight attendant
--The three wise men I met at M's house....

Wow, that's some good looking food for a lounge, better than anything I've seen even in the Concorde Rooms.

Fantastic report, keep it up.

QF 9
 

MEL-SIN QF 9 Report (F)

As promised, the second component of the journey from MEL to SIN. Enjoy the decadence...

Boarding / Departure from MEL

Boarding happens just below the lounge, which is quite convenient (make sure you take the elevator all the way down to the bottom!). It appears that in MEL at least, QF has a separate line dedicated to First (from left to right, it is the second "queue"). There was a momentary pause once I got onto the jetway, but it took less than 2 minutes to get into F.

Once aboard, I tried to fulfill my mission of taking a few cabin pictures. I have a few for your enjoyment below. The one thing that was impossible throughout the flight was a full cabin overall picture (panorama). The reason for that was that while lights were on, there was always a person in the way (either passengers or FAs). Yes, another packed flight! You'll see from the dark cabin pictures that you can't see much when it's dark without a flash.

http://lh5.ggpht.com/-E__1Gj75VeQ/T3...3_26_18_20.jpg

http://lh4.ggpht.com/-bbwZtpgvU6Y/T3...3_26_18_20.jpg

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The pre-departure offering was olives, nuts, and vintage Taittinger. I remarked to "John," the senior FA in F, that it was great to have the vintage before takeoff and let him know that it did not happen LAX-SYD. He responded "well, doll, some of us like to open the bar a bit faster than others." I knew I was in for a treat -- two boys in the family working F, along with a busty female FA with gorgeous hair (often found her working on her hair during the flight in the galley -- work it!).

http://lh3.ggpht.com/-_4Zj4g33jDg/T3...3_26_18_21.jpg

The purser came round and introduced himself before we departed (and also shook our hands again upon landing - nice touch).

As I was now quite familiar with the Qantas AVOD, I went straight to the music section to organize my playlist. Who would have predicted the amount of Annie Lenox and Kylie on offer during March??? My runway music outbound was "Little Bird" in taxi followed by "Wow" upon takeoff -- BLISS!


Tasting Menu

I will say, this was an interesting flight in the sense that it was a daytime journey to SIN, and yet the entire F cabin put on the Qantas pajamas while only one person slept as far as I could tell. It felt cultish the way we all did that -- I swear that pajama was only good for catching food on your 7th course if you didn't manage your napkin well enough.

Many of the folks opted for a tiny portion of food -- no tasting menu for them, they were there for business. How sad! I of course did the tasting menu, paired with a new glass of wine with each course (a full glass). Here goes:

http://lh3.ggpht.com/-sF_pG2nUB74/T3...3_26_18_21.jpg

The Prawn tartlet was delicious -- just a nice morsel to start us off. What was outstanding was the Ricotta and Feta Fritters! And for some reason they came round with a tray of *extra* fritters -- as if I needed any more. You know I took some though:)

http://lh4.ggpht.com/-kemhAIcxCs8/T3...3_26_18_22.jpg

It took the FA a good 2-3 minutes to set this gorgeous table!

http://lh3.ggpht.com/-P9y135IPtcw/T3...3_26_18_22.jpg

The cream of pumpkin soup followed, and was another great soup in the air.

http://lh5.ggpht.com/-EkB0j1XLggk/T3...3_26_18_22.jpg

The San Daniele Prosciutto with Hummus, Green Beans, Butter Lettuce and Merlot Vinaigrette really showcased the Aussies ability to blend the unlikely -- hummus and prosciutto complement each other very well.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/-aKaeuASH2rI/T3...3_26_18_22.jpg

The Pan Fried Salmon with Caramelised Witlof (whatever that is), Crushed Peas, and Preserved Lemon Dressing was a miracle of fish -- competing well with a halibut I had once on Malaysian Air...

http://lh4.ggpht.com/-JD2Pi2_tDZ8/T3...3_26_18_23.jpg

That said, the piece de resistance was the Rack of Castricum Brothers Lamp with Pearly Barley, Cauliflower Puree and Harissa. I almost ate the bone it was so good!

http://lh6.ggpht.com/-Gtx90RGeemo/T3...3_26_18_23.jpg

I did make one slight modification to the menu, which my FA was happy to accommodate: I added a Salad of Roast Baby Beetroot, Roquefort, and Pomegranate with Balsamic Vinaigrette. I felt this would help me have a lovely cheese without needing to do the cheese course (which would have put me over the top).

http://lh3.ggpht.com/-ZmCdJr1oeKM/T3...3_26_18_23.jpg

Finally, the Pear and Vanilla Cake with Creme Anglaise arrived to finish off my fantasy in the air: just the right warmth, and right to my tummy!

http://lh5.ggpht.com/-pXiFt47xHFU/T3...3_26_18_23.jpg

In terms of the service, as others have noted, the tasting meal is a 3.5 hour experience -- as it should be. My FA brought a new wine for each course, and so I sampled the entire wine list (it was the same list as the LAX-SYD flight). I even had a Chardonnay and (gasp) enjoyed it!


My Turn as FA

So, per my last report, M is a dear friend whom I've known for almost a decade now; she and her fiance were in Y. I wanted to see what I could do to improve that challenging experience, and so went to John to check out the possibility of a more comfortable ride. He said that while we couldn't bring them up to F or the upstairs bar (jammed flight), he said why don't we bring F back to them. We started by using this giant computer console in the galley to locate M and her fiance, and moments later he was scurrying through the wine trays for a bottle of Taittinger. He brought out two flutes, poured the champagne, and sent me back to serve them. (Crossing from F directly into Y without the transition of J, nay Premium Eco, brought a slight tear to my eye; I knew it needed to be a quick trip.)

As I walked down the aisle with my Qantas pajamas and two flutes of bubbly, the passengers were eyeing me with curiosity (and, I sensed, perhaps a bit of desire). I made my way to 67C (only halfway down the plane!) to present M and her fiance with their tastes of F. Little did I know that John was following me a moment later with a cheese plate! Gorgeous intervention -- from that point onward, he topped them off until they finished the bottle.


Justin Timberlake

Back in the suite, I remembered some feedback that one reader wanted some pictures in lie-flat mode. So, I figured I would do some photos of In Time, a great movie to watch while you sip Taittinger in a ~$10K seat... I wouldn't have minded a picture of Justin on-board, but this was as close as I could get folks. He certainly is not doing a round the world F journey with that body!

http://lh5.ggpht.com/-udk4xo8zpy4/T3...3_26_18_24.jpg

http://lh3.ggpht.com/-tkPjoo28v4M/T3...3_26_18_24.jpg

This flight went by fairly quickly given the tasting menu and my FA moment. I did, somehow, manage to wolf down yet another of their signature steak sandwich with 3 more glasses of Taitt. My stomach was not happy, but I just couldn't bear to miss it! And then there we were landing in Singapore right on time:

http://lh6.ggpht.com/-RZvptlDt7OI/T3...3_26_18_24.jpg


The Three Wise Men

After the flight, M, T, and I took a cab back to their place, where we all crashed fairly quickly. I slept until 1pm the next day, while the poor things went to their offices (they must be in deep cover as bourgeois).

That evening we realized it was a real shame that we hadn't all equally experienced the flight the day before. Therefore, they went and grabbed the Three Wise Men for a decadent evening in Singapore. Cheers dolls!

http://lh4.ggpht.com/-3gS39R82fp4/T3...3_27_12_36.jpg


Overall Review

While the tasting menu was indeed exemplary, I have to place QF9 just a slight notch below the LAX-SYD experience (despite the fact that MEL F is the best lounge I've ever seen). The only reason to say this is that I had the pleasure of Judith's services pre-flight and Rita's in-flight on LAX-SYD. It's down to the attendants in my opinion -- they truly are the stewards of the experience.

Next Up

Look forward to the HKG-HND Cathay First report! I am going to skip the SIN-HKG sector as it is a regional business class and not worthy of a report (though let me know if folks have questions).

Jolly good report this time, and thanks for the lie-flat pictures! The food looked so good I am now off to procure lunch at 10:00am.

come now.. you cant skip a sector!!! thats just not fair!

I second that. I'll be flying that sector in a few days, and I'd like to know what to expect.

What would you like to know about SIN-HKG? It was a bit nasty to be honest, so wanting to make sure you get what you need in terms of info.

Also, can folks weigh in on the best take-off and landing songs I should organize for my future segments? The more songs voted, the more I will pour my soul into the reports :)

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star for night take-offs. You can sing it to yourself when your ipod/ipad/iphone/walkman is dead.

cost
 

Hello - How did you accomplish all these F segments for 15K. Was this in coach and you used miles to upgrade?

seems pretty fantastic - are you a travel agent?

So, it's actually pretty easy to get a ticket like this. It's known as a Round the World (RTW) ticket, and is sold by each of the different major airline alliances (One World, Star Alliance, SkyTeam). Also, individual airlines have also grouped together to form all sorts of lower-priced RTW tickets (e.g., Air New Zealand has a ticket available that takes you on its planes in 4 segments, but it also has partnered with other airlines to create the "Escapade" offer).

Essentially these RTW tickets have a set of restrictions -- for example I *must* make something like 3 full stopovers of 24 hours+ on my ticket. Also, the tickets are somewhat restricted (not always available for each flight), although in practice this hasn't been much of an issue for me. What this means is that a business traveler isn't very likely to buy the ticket. And that's what brings down the price: it's typically a leisure traveler using seats that would otherwise go empty or as upgrades. The price of all of these tickets combined should be somewhere in the US$75-90K range, but the airlines are making use of the unused capacity to allow a small segment to pay something for these seats. One note to your specific question: you generally can't upgrade on a RTW ticket for a specific flight (you typically have to upgrade the whole journey).

Tactically, all you have to do is call up an airline and asked to be transfered to someone who is familiar with ticketing RTW tickets, and they will tell you the overall pricing tiers (which are complicated, because they differ by country of origin and your pathway around the world). You can do a lot of research online, and all of the alliances even have tools that help you build the itinerary and price them out (and even ticket you online!). But, here's the catch -- two tickets for the same price can have drastically different values. I could have taken an old 747 with Qantas from LAX to SYD, and that would not have had the beautiful new suite. Now, the price is the same for those routes, but the value of having the A380 is significantly greater than the 747. So, the more research you can do, the greater advantage you can take of new cabins, new seats, new planes, etc.

Hope that helps -- let me know if you need more clarification. By profession, I've only ever been a strategy consultant, and have no ties to the transport industry other than some friends. But since I was about 6 years old, I have studied airline route maps as a hobby and kept tabs of all the new product launches. I'm by no means an expert -- there are people on this forum who are well ahead of me in terms of knowledge!

Also the Alliance Websites have good online tools for peacing together the itineraries.

Oneworld And Star Alliance RTW tickets are easy to put together using the online tools.

Hey there wanted to address your concern about the experience on the SIN-HKG J flights. Quick story is that it is all VERY efficient. So you have an on-time meal, with a choice of mains that comes well after the menu is presented. Poor wine selection. The service is great -- they are all over you for the 3 hour flight.

The video is absurd -- no AVOD.

Your seat is 45 inches pitch so you have leg rests and a decent recline. I used the flight to write up my MEL-SIN report, so suggest you do the same -- i.e., try to be productive as opposed to trying to enjoy what's pretty average (though attentive) service and food. Let me know if you want the pictures of the menu, but don't think you'll realy gain much from them.

Unless there are more questions, this segment is going to be as forgotten as the SYD-MEL segment.

Thanks. Now I know what to expect. Keep having fun!

HKG to Haneda Lounge and Flight
 

Trip Report HKG-HND

I have to give HKG props for the great transfer from the SIN flight -- popping out of the gate and through the transfer facility took all of 5 minutes, and I was right back into the terminal! LAX, LHR, are you listening???

Lounges

As luck would have it, the award-winning Wing F lounge is just now starting renovation, and is unavailable for the rest of the year. I headed therefore to the Pier F lounge, which was underwhelming. It's very dark and packed. The "Haven" is the sit-down restaurant, but the food is on a buffet. In terms of drinks, the offering was well below Qantas -- Moet NV was the only champagne. I did take a shower, which was fine, but it was on par with the US offerings. The one nice thing I saw was the day rooms -- they looked cozy, had entertainment systems installed, and had waiter service. I can imagine that being a really nice perk on a long layover (a la the day-rooms in the Munich LH F lounge).

I figured that I should do a quick check on the newly created "Cabin" (a J lounge by gate 23), which was very modern but absolutely jammed -- you could hardly move in there, and every seat was taken. I did go to the healthy juice bar, though, and had some nice carrot juice.

Next time I'm in HKG, I'll try out the Wing's newly renovated J lounge, which quite possibly will be nicer than the Pier F lounge (since I won't need a day room).

Flight

As context, Cathay flies both regional aircraft (with J and Y only), as well as 747s (with F/J/Y) on this sector. The F cabin is the same as the long-haul cabins, and the FA service standards are the same (at least two attendants for 9 pax, with my flight only having 5 pax). The food and wine offerings are below inter-continental standards -- better than the regional J from SIN-HKG, but definitely no remarkable drinks on offer. The champagne was a Deutz. However, bizarrely there was one exception -- they do offer Johnny Walker Blue. I'm a single-malt kind of guy, so it wasn't my thing, but I found it surprising to see it there. I'm guessing nobody really drinks it on these short sectors, so Cathay may be able to claim it as a luxury offer without spending much on it?

So, the cabin is beautiful. The suites, while older than the QF A380 suites, are elegantly designed, and the configuration in the nose is soothing (especially if you're in 2A or 2K, where you can't see a soul). Here are a few pics of the cabin and suite:

http://lh3.ggpht.com/-fBrcjb3hjp0/T3...0_%2525205.jpg

http://lh6.ggpht.com/-_NVLABD14mI/T3...0_%2525205.jpg

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My FA was the sweetest thing ever. She spent a good 5 minutes with me talking me through the suite functionality, and also talking about my trip. I have to say, the sweetness of the Cathay crew is just so nice, and is reminiscent of the crew on Malaysian and Singapore. I can now understand one of the key differences to Qantas -- Qantas is generally serious until you crack the ice, at which point it can be good fun. On Cathay, there's generally a bit of a language constraint, but the kindness feels very genuine.

Also, I should note that the AVOD may beat QF's from a variety perspective. I think there were about a hundred movies, and the entire second season of Downton Abbey seemed to be available (I saw the first episode).

Meal and Nap

The meal is fairly quick, given that it's a paired down experience. You'll find the pics below (a salmon dish, a tomato soup that had to deal with some turbulence, and a sea bass main). Now, I do have the menu if folks are interested, but I was having problems getting the pictures transferred to this report. If you want the follow-up, let me know; however, I suspect that my return trip HND-HKG will be very similar and I'll definitely grab shots of that.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/-eF-v-iZqDMo/T3...0_%2525208.jpg

http://lh4.ggpht.com/-ul02NGbzFi8/T3...0_%2525208.jpg

http://lh3.ggpht.com/-hsGzmfDTvmU/T3...0_%2525209.jpg

Within an hour, we finished eating and I decided to have a nap. Here's where the difference really kicks in... because the of the incremental width in the top end of the suite, you can sleep on your side and even curl up a bit. It was super comfortable, and I can imagine would be a fantastic product for overnight flights! It may even beckon me for a snooze on the next couple of sectors:)


Summary

I think this was a great introduction to the Cathay F cabin and service. While the food and wine was uninspiring, I'm really looking forward to the HKG-LHR daytime flight (departs 2pm), which I'm sure will be a great rival to QF F A380!

(Also, next time I will take you on a tour of the Cathay F bathrooms -- really quite extraordinary!)

I would say the reason they have JW Blue on that route would be because of the Japanese Propensity to high end scotch? Just an idea maybe?