LAX-SYD-MEL (in real time)
Oct 17, 1999 | 12:56 pm
#1
Original Poster
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 1999
Location: Los Angeles
Programs: Loyal to Myself
Posts: 8,303
LAX-SYD-MEL (in real time)
Those of you who followed my earlier thread know that I was at serious risk of making this trip in economy on a totally sold-out flight. United, though, came through like a champ, and an hour before departure, not only got me into business, but got me an exit row aisle business seat upstairs, with 8 feet of room in front of me.
Boarding was pretty good from my point of view... since UA waited till the last minute to upgrade me, I retaliated by being the very first person on the plane. The FA's upstairs were uniformly very friendly, and must have had the concierge training, since they ID'd me by name and recognized my "loyalty to United." No arguments from me... United really went out of their way to make sure I got not only my business seat, but the best one on the plane.
The plane itself had the latest generation business seats, with noise reducing headsets, in-seat video, and long footrests, covered in the soft material that makes it way better than the old metal footrests. In first, the seats were the middle generation seats... not the new first suites, but also not the old light gray seats. They had the personal video built into the seat, with their choice of tapes, as well.
One interesting point... I love the airshow system, that shows during the flight where you are, time to go, et al. The FA told me, when I asked why it wasnt on, that they had disabled all of them out of overheating concerns, as regards Swissair. This did not involve the in-seat movies, just airshow.
We left about 25 minutes late, with a flight time planned for just over 14 hours to Sydney. Dinner was the slightly downgraded biz fare... a poached salmon appetizer, and four entrees to pick from.. I had Short Ribs, which were tender and well sauced. It came with good mashed potatoes (I could taste the milk and butter used in cooking them), Haricort Verts, and a nice salad with good tomatoes. Salt was in paper tubes, for those that care about such things. They had about 6 wines, and I had a killer 94 Cote Rhones Red whose maker escapes me, but it was three cuts above the usual biz class wines on the overseas flights. After dinner, I had the newly downgraded cheese plate with two cheeses and grapes, which was considerably reduced in size and quality from the old platters. Others had Eli's Cheesecake. Coffee and tea was brought around often, and I even had a Frappucino.
After dinner, I stretched out my seat fully, took a Melatonin, and had 6 hours of fitful sleep while the movies plaed on my player. I must note that the noise reducing headsets really work.. it is amazing how much quieter the flight is with them on.
Midflight, I got some chips and an apple, and restlessly ambled about. The flight was generally smooth, with two exceptions that lasted less than 20 minutes or so.
Two hours before landing, a nice hot breakfast was served, and this was an upgrade from previous biz class breakfasts... hot omelet, good croissants, OJ & Coffee, fresh fruit. It was comparable to a domestic 1st class breakfast, and better than the continental breakfast they have often served on the pacific flights. Landing was 25 minutes late, but the pilot nailed it.. you could hardly feel when we touched down. Of course, after 15 hours on the plane, I was numb anyways.
Baggage was slow, because the flight was full, and it was 45 minutes after landing that I received mine, having cleared immigration in 10 minutes or so. Customs was another matter... 15-20 minute line just to get out for those with nothing to declare.
Upon exiting, the counters to re-check baggage and get boarding passes for Ansett were just jammed. I headed to the Business counter (as a 1K, I am Star Gold, and this line was identified for *Gold), and was handled in less than 5 minutes. I was too late for my connection to MEL, but they rebooked me on another 30 minutes later (still in economy, as the UA upgrade doesnt carry over to partners). Even though we had just come from an international flight, we had to pass back through security to get on a bus to the domestic terminal, and this literally took almost the whole 30 minutes I had until my new flight was to leave. With the Olympics coming, they need a much better system for transiting passengers. This was just a pretty busy AM, and they were utterly overwhelmed. Travelers to MEL would be better off taking UA's LAX-AKL-MEL flight (soon to become nonstop LAX-MEL), and skipping Sydney. I couldnt.. it was full.
The bus traverses the ramps, and takes 10 minutes to get around to the Ansett section of the terminal. With not a minute to spare, I got to my flight, bulkhead row in economy on an Ansett 767-200.
The flight pushed back 15 minutes late, and we were off 10 minutes later. I dont have a lot of comments on the flight, except the breakfast was the singleworst meal I have seen on an airline in 1999. Some kind of pasta sheet encasing a loose omelet sort of operation, witha hard roll and margarine. Pass, thanks. The bathroom I used was pretty creaky, with doors hanging open. But the infamous Ansett syring disposal box was in place.
Arrival was 15 minutes late in Melbourne, and baggage took 15 minutes more. Cab waiting at the curb with no line (it was about 9AM Sunday morning), and off to the Hilton on the Park, which will be subject of the next section of this report.
[This message has been edited by Brian (edited 10-17-1999).]
Boarding was pretty good from my point of view... since UA waited till the last minute to upgrade me, I retaliated by being the very first person on the plane. The FA's upstairs were uniformly very friendly, and must have had the concierge training, since they ID'd me by name and recognized my "loyalty to United." No arguments from me... United really went out of their way to make sure I got not only my business seat, but the best one on the plane.
The plane itself had the latest generation business seats, with noise reducing headsets, in-seat video, and long footrests, covered in the soft material that makes it way better than the old metal footrests. In first, the seats were the middle generation seats... not the new first suites, but also not the old light gray seats. They had the personal video built into the seat, with their choice of tapes, as well.
One interesting point... I love the airshow system, that shows during the flight where you are, time to go, et al. The FA told me, when I asked why it wasnt on, that they had disabled all of them out of overheating concerns, as regards Swissair. This did not involve the in-seat movies, just airshow.
We left about 25 minutes late, with a flight time planned for just over 14 hours to Sydney. Dinner was the slightly downgraded biz fare... a poached salmon appetizer, and four entrees to pick from.. I had Short Ribs, which were tender and well sauced. It came with good mashed potatoes (I could taste the milk and butter used in cooking them), Haricort Verts, and a nice salad with good tomatoes. Salt was in paper tubes, for those that care about such things. They had about 6 wines, and I had a killer 94 Cote Rhones Red whose maker escapes me, but it was three cuts above the usual biz class wines on the overseas flights. After dinner, I had the newly downgraded cheese plate with two cheeses and grapes, which was considerably reduced in size and quality from the old platters. Others had Eli's Cheesecake. Coffee and tea was brought around often, and I even had a Frappucino.
After dinner, I stretched out my seat fully, took a Melatonin, and had 6 hours of fitful sleep while the movies plaed on my player. I must note that the noise reducing headsets really work.. it is amazing how much quieter the flight is with them on.
Midflight, I got some chips and an apple, and restlessly ambled about. The flight was generally smooth, with two exceptions that lasted less than 20 minutes or so.
Two hours before landing, a nice hot breakfast was served, and this was an upgrade from previous biz class breakfasts... hot omelet, good croissants, OJ & Coffee, fresh fruit. It was comparable to a domestic 1st class breakfast, and better than the continental breakfast they have often served on the pacific flights. Landing was 25 minutes late, but the pilot nailed it.. you could hardly feel when we touched down. Of course, after 15 hours on the plane, I was numb anyways.
Baggage was slow, because the flight was full, and it was 45 minutes after landing that I received mine, having cleared immigration in 10 minutes or so. Customs was another matter... 15-20 minute line just to get out for those with nothing to declare.
Upon exiting, the counters to re-check baggage and get boarding passes for Ansett were just jammed. I headed to the Business counter (as a 1K, I am Star Gold, and this line was identified for *Gold), and was handled in less than 5 minutes. I was too late for my connection to MEL, but they rebooked me on another 30 minutes later (still in economy, as the UA upgrade doesnt carry over to partners). Even though we had just come from an international flight, we had to pass back through security to get on a bus to the domestic terminal, and this literally took almost the whole 30 minutes I had until my new flight was to leave. With the Olympics coming, they need a much better system for transiting passengers. This was just a pretty busy AM, and they were utterly overwhelmed. Travelers to MEL would be better off taking UA's LAX-AKL-MEL flight (soon to become nonstop LAX-MEL), and skipping Sydney. I couldnt.. it was full.
The bus traverses the ramps, and takes 10 minutes to get around to the Ansett section of the terminal. With not a minute to spare, I got to my flight, bulkhead row in economy on an Ansett 767-200.
The flight pushed back 15 minutes late, and we were off 10 minutes later. I dont have a lot of comments on the flight, except the breakfast was the singleworst meal I have seen on an airline in 1999. Some kind of pasta sheet encasing a loose omelet sort of operation, witha hard roll and margarine. Pass, thanks. The bathroom I used was pretty creaky, with doors hanging open. But the infamous Ansett syring disposal box was in place.
Arrival was 15 minutes late in Melbourne, and baggage took 15 minutes more. Cab waiting at the curb with no line (it was about 9AM Sunday morning), and off to the Hilton on the Park, which will be subject of the next section of this report.
[This message has been edited by Brian (edited 10-17-1999).]
Oct 25, 1999 | 12:28 pm
#3
Original Poster
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 1999
Location: Los Angeles
Programs: Loyal to Myself
Posts: 8,303
I am a United Partisan, so I have never flown Qantas. Just Ansett in Australia.
My return flight was yesterday, Sunday 24/10. These are the last few weeks of Melbourne to Aukland Service on United, at which point Melbourne will be served directly (nonstop) from Los Angeles. I stopped in the Melbourne RCC, which is really useful only as a place to store bags... the club has not nearly the capacity required for business class and RCC membership passengers. Almost every seat was taken. The light snacks (sandwiches, cheese, etc.) were fine, however. Nice selection of Aussie beer and liquor as well.
The flight boarded well, and left a few minutes early. It was about 2/3 full on this leg. Lunch was the best meal I had on any flight this trip. Char Siu Lamb over cold marinated noodles, with a salad, Australian butter and rolls, etc. It was perfectly prepared and just superb, especially with the French Red Wine (same maker as the flight out... E. Giugal, but a 95 instead of a 94. It was not quite as good). Flight arrived in Auckland 20 minutes early, at which point we all deplaned for shopping. Regrettably, for security reasons the plane must be utterly emptied in the cabin at AKL, so we had to remove all of our belongings.. carry-ons, etc. Since I had one full suitcase of nothing but wine in a roller bag, as well as another with personal items, this is a hassle.
Shopping complete, the flight boarded promptly, and we were off to Los Angeles with an on-time departure. Every seat was full on this leg. The FAs on this flight dont break out the amenity kits for MEL-LAX until after leaving AKL, so we finally received the newspapers, and bags of cosmetics and other semi-worthless paraphenalia (look for me to run an Auctions.com auction on all of my amenity kits soon.. I dont even open them anymore).
Dinner was not as good as on past South Pacific flights... the UA caterers in the States have taught their New Zealand counterparts how to make that hideous brown sauce they like to smother steaks in over here, and it was true to form in being, well, brown, thick, and bad tasting. Others had a Chicken Saltimbocca, or a Corn and Crab Chowder. None looked good. The New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc was quite nice, however.
My seat was already breaking down in several aspects.. the leg rest kept wanting to slide back up into the seat, and the noise cancelling feature in the headphones wasn't working at my seat. Appearantly, this is not uncommon with the new seats in business. This plane did not have the new first suites either.
One interesting event mid-flight. An economy passenger passed out on the floor, and the gentleman next to me, being a doctor, was called to treat him. I believe this consisted of putting him back in his seat, assessing him, and giving him a glass of water. At the conclusion of the flight, the purser came by to thank him with a positive space international one-way upgrade, which appearantly she has on all of the flights to mollify angered passengers.
Entertainment was quite nice on this 12 hour flight... 9 video channels. I watched all 4 hours of Gandhi, which is still an amazing movie, and Analyze This.. which was quite funny. Two hours before landing, hot breakfast, including an omelet with real eggs, not the terraformed variety United serves on domestic flights. We arrived right on time.
Immigration and customs was really quick, since United has its own facility at LAX, and the Asian flights get in a couple of hours before the Auckland flight. I was standing at the curb waiting for my car shuttle no more than 25 minutes after they opened the door of the plane. That encompasses the long walk to immigration, clearing passport control, getting my bag from the conveyor, clearing customs (including an inspector who asked how I knew I had exactly $400 in goods bought overseas
), and out the door. Best time ever. The Sydney flight, arriving at the same time as many of the Asian flights, often goes much, much slower.
Overall, the air travel on this trip about met my expectations.. I was never delighted, but only minorly disappointed by any shortcomings. These days, that is good enough for me.
My return flight was yesterday, Sunday 24/10. These are the last few weeks of Melbourne to Aukland Service on United, at which point Melbourne will be served directly (nonstop) from Los Angeles. I stopped in the Melbourne RCC, which is really useful only as a place to store bags... the club has not nearly the capacity required for business class and RCC membership passengers. Almost every seat was taken. The light snacks (sandwiches, cheese, etc.) were fine, however. Nice selection of Aussie beer and liquor as well.
The flight boarded well, and left a few minutes early. It was about 2/3 full on this leg. Lunch was the best meal I had on any flight this trip. Char Siu Lamb over cold marinated noodles, with a salad, Australian butter and rolls, etc. It was perfectly prepared and just superb, especially with the French Red Wine (same maker as the flight out... E. Giugal, but a 95 instead of a 94. It was not quite as good). Flight arrived in Auckland 20 minutes early, at which point we all deplaned for shopping. Regrettably, for security reasons the plane must be utterly emptied in the cabin at AKL, so we had to remove all of our belongings.. carry-ons, etc. Since I had one full suitcase of nothing but wine in a roller bag, as well as another with personal items, this is a hassle.
Shopping complete, the flight boarded promptly, and we were off to Los Angeles with an on-time departure. Every seat was full on this leg. The FAs on this flight dont break out the amenity kits for MEL-LAX until after leaving AKL, so we finally received the newspapers, and bags of cosmetics and other semi-worthless paraphenalia (look for me to run an Auctions.com auction on all of my amenity kits soon.. I dont even open them anymore).
Dinner was not as good as on past South Pacific flights... the UA caterers in the States have taught their New Zealand counterparts how to make that hideous brown sauce they like to smother steaks in over here, and it was true to form in being, well, brown, thick, and bad tasting. Others had a Chicken Saltimbocca, or a Corn and Crab Chowder. None looked good. The New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc was quite nice, however.
My seat was already breaking down in several aspects.. the leg rest kept wanting to slide back up into the seat, and the noise cancelling feature in the headphones wasn't working at my seat. Appearantly, this is not uncommon with the new seats in business. This plane did not have the new first suites either.
One interesting event mid-flight. An economy passenger passed out on the floor, and the gentleman next to me, being a doctor, was called to treat him. I believe this consisted of putting him back in his seat, assessing him, and giving him a glass of water. At the conclusion of the flight, the purser came by to thank him with a positive space international one-way upgrade, which appearantly she has on all of the flights to mollify angered passengers.
Entertainment was quite nice on this 12 hour flight... 9 video channels. I watched all 4 hours of Gandhi, which is still an amazing movie, and Analyze This.. which was quite funny. Two hours before landing, hot breakfast, including an omelet with real eggs, not the terraformed variety United serves on domestic flights. We arrived right on time.
Immigration and customs was really quick, since United has its own facility at LAX, and the Asian flights get in a couple of hours before the Auckland flight. I was standing at the curb waiting for my car shuttle no more than 25 minutes after they opened the door of the plane. That encompasses the long walk to immigration, clearing passport control, getting my bag from the conveyor, clearing customs (including an inspector who asked how I knew I had exactly $400 in goods bought overseas
), and out the door. Best time ever. The Sydney flight, arriving at the same time as many of the Asian flights, often goes much, much slower.Overall, the air travel on this trip about met my expectations.. I was never delighted, but only minorly disappointed by any shortcomings. These days, that is good enough for me.
Oct 25, 1999 | 12:45 pm
#4
Commander Catcop
Join Date: May 1998
Posts: 10,259
Brian, FOUR PAWS UP report!
If you had problems with the seats or video monitors or other technical related issues, I would call U-A customer service. You might be able to get a voucher (maybe 50 or 100 dollars U-S) for it. I got a $100 voucher for a broken video monitor. Give it a shot.
I need to go back to OZ soon.
If you had problems with the seats or video monitors or other technical related issues, I would call U-A customer service. You might be able to get a voucher (maybe 50 or 100 dollars U-S) for it. I got a $100 voucher for a broken video monitor. Give it a shot.
I need to go back to OZ soon.
Oct 26, 1999 | 12:52 pm
#9
Commander Catcop
Join Date: May 1998
Posts: 10,259
Rich G, if we BOTH could get 25 dollars for every broken thing on an aircraft, we could own United Airlines.
then I would repaint with paw prints, have the cats become spokespersons (like that Quantas Koala) and have the crew, esp. the flight attendants wear cat uniforms!
then I would repaint with paw prints, have the cats become spokespersons (like that Quantas Koala) and have the crew, esp. the flight attendants wear cat uniforms!