First trip report effort - CHC SYD DXB LHR
Jan 31, 2018, 3:32 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2016
Programs: Qantas FF Bronze
Posts: 17
First trip report effort - CHC SYD DXB LHR
Trip Report
QF138 from Christchurch to Sydney
QF1 Sydney to London via Dubai
Why Qantas? Why the A380? The idea of getting on the A380 in Sydney and going straight through to London with only a quick refueling stop in Dubai, had really appealed to me. The idea of getting on the biggest passenger plane in the World and then going just about a far as you can also appealed.
As I don’t trust taxis to turn up, my trip started with a bus ride to the airport & a one night stay in the Sudima airport hotel. After a relaxing afternoon I set my alarm, phone, & watch to wake me up at 2.30 am. I need not have worried as I woke up at 2 am & decided to get up. By now you will have worked out I like to arrive early for flights. The Sudima has a shuttle available but I decided to walk the few hundred metres to the terminal.
I’d checked in on-line & told the very helpful Qantas check in lady that the boarding passes had not printed very well, & she printed out both passes for me. The departure lounge at Christchurch opens at 4.30 am & there is always a long line of passengers waiting to go through customs and security. Once open the line moves quite quickly.
After security I got my first glimpse of the B737-800 that was to take me to Sydney. It was being refueled. Boarding started right on time & I was one of the first onto the plane. I settled into 25C & waited to see how full the flight was going to be. Luckily there was to be no-one in the middle seat. Push-back right on time & we took off on the NE runway & made a left turn to climb out over the Southern Alps. Soon after take-off a very tasty breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage, tomato, & mushrooms was served. At Sydney we landed towards the North at around 8am. It was what I would call a ‘solid’ touch-down.
The QF1 Sydney to Dubai flight leaves at an ideal time for people living in Sydney but not for people in NZ. (If I was doing that flight again I’d pay for a night in a hotel in Sydney) Luckily I am not badly affected by jet lag.
I had about eight hours to fill in before QF1 was due to board so decided to start by having another breakfast – this time at McDonalds. After that there was plenty of time to have a really really good look around the terminal and do some plane spotting. And to semi-doze for a while at an empty gate lounge area. It was also interesting to see other flights boarding and see the unfortunate gate staff desperately searching for the last passenger(s). At one gate lounge area I got asked if was going on the flight. I had to ruin their day even more by saying I wasn’t! Anyway, the time passed quite quickly & before too long I saw the Qantas A380 being towed to the gate ready for its flight.
Forecasts for the weather in Sydney, Dubai, and London had been good. By mid afternoon there was some cloud and a few showers at Sydney. QF1 started boarding right on time & I was in the first group of passengers to board. I passed through the zone of dark red seats onto the ‘green zone’ & found seat 75C. Luckily, there was to be no-one in the middle seat. Push-back right on time, & we took off to the South, and then made a climbing right hand turn to head towards Bathurst and beyond. Australia is such a huge country that after the first four hours of the flight you are just reaching the Western coastline somewhere near Port Hedland (depending on the winds).
Qantas had a new chicken dish for economy passengers that could be ordered on-line, which meant I was one of the first to be served. And it was very tasty. I would have loved a coffee, but stuck to soft drinks, water, and juice all the way to London.
I found the cabin crew on all my four A380 flights to be really excellent. They seemed to be people who really liked their jobs and did a great job of looking after people. Especially on the two fourteen hour flights they were always coming round with water and juice & generally doing a fantastic job. On my return flight from Heathrow to Dubai the Captain came through the economy cabin and spent quite a while chatting with passengers & then farewelled people off the plane at Dubai. So all very good on the customer experience side.
I liked the Qantas IFE. There was a good choice of movies & the short reviews for the films was very helpful. On the way to Dubai I watched ‘All the President’s Men’ and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Then nodded off for a while & watched some of the ‘The Descendants’ starring George Clooney.
Then I think I dozed off again!
On the way to Dubai the flight attendants had to deal with some mess at a seat about 10 rows up from mine, not sure if it was vomit or an upturned meal tray, but they got it sorted out fairly quickly.
We touched down in Dubai at around midnight and went to one of the ‘A’ gates maybe ‘12’.
I followed the other passengers off the plane & went through security & headed upstairs. Security at Dubai seems very efficient. On that night there was virtually no queue and took about five minutes at the most. The security trays are automated and drop down as required. Upstairs there are drinking fountains and toilets. However, there seems to be just enough toilets & no more. I had time to change my clothes & use some Johnson & Johnson non-scented baby wipes (too much information?) There was a shower in the toilet I went into.
I had a few minutes to have a look around the shops & to get a photo of the Jaguar ‘F’ Class which was the current promotional prize, & then headed back to the boarding lounge area. By the time I got back to the 12A area they had just about opened the gate. You go through the gate where your passport is checked and boarding pass scanned & down an escalator to the ‘real’ gate lounge. This lounge had plenty of red seats, drinking fountains, and toilets. All very comfortable & organised.
(Coming back on QF2 there was an additional security check of carry on bags. This was a manual check of each bag at entry to the downstairs ‘red seats’ lounge.)
After boarding I was delighted to find that the middle seat was again empty! Yay. I managed to finish watching the ‘The Descendants’ and once the plane had skirted the edges of Syria and Iraq dozed off again, & woke up somewhere over Hungary. I think it was over Austria where the flight attendants started to serve breakfast. A very nice omelet with hash brown sausage tomato and mushrooms. Also a nice yoghurt. I think this meal is very similar to Emirates on this sector and features on many Youtube trip reports! Somewhere over the English Channel the Captain advised that we should be landing on time & probably not have to do many circles in the sky. He also advised that we’d be landing on 27R & would have a few minutes to taxi to Terminal 3.
It was a beautiful blue sky early Spring morning in London & the A380 touched down almost as smoothly as some of the B747 flight I’ve been on. Probably only a few knots of wind.
Exiting the runway we got a good view of the control tower and trundled our way to Terminal 3 stand 301 which I believe is the standard gate for some of the Qantas A380 flights. Off the plane & up the escalator to the the top level at Terminal 3. Terminal 3 might be old but at that hour the floors looked very very clean. Immigration had two queues one UK and Euro and the other queue for everyone else. They had a monitor showing the estimated wait time which said 20 minutes. In fact I reached the front of the queue in just over 18 minutes. I was not asked any questions but told the officer a couple of things I was going to do in London & he stamped my passport & I was on my way. I only had a carry-on bag so passed quickly through the ‘nothing to declare’ exit & found myself in arrivals. At about that time I realised I had a nasty headache coming on & started to think of the people on the flight who had been coughing! Luckily, the headache turned out to be a caffeine deficiency easily fixed by visiting two of the Nero coffee shops!
After having my first coffee I went down the corridor towards the underground and used a credit card to buy my oyster card.
As I could not check in at my hotel until noon I used my oyster card to travel down to Hatton Cross. Then crossed over and got the tube train to Terminal 4 and also to
terminals 2 and 5. Provided you do not exit the station at Hatton Cross, all the travel between the tube stations at Heathrow is free. You can even use the oyster card to get a free ride on the Heathrow Express between two of the terminals. There is a Youtube about this. A guy tested it by checking the balance on his oyster card at each terminal.
Anyway, the only other comment I’d make is that paying for seat selection and choosing an aisle seat or window seat is well worth it if you can’t afford premium economy or business. I found having an aisle seat a huge advantage. I also got lucky and had an empty middle seat on all six of my flights. And all the guys in the window seat on my flights ate their meals and then slept the rest of the way.
So pretty much as good as it gets in economy I think. Great plane for long haul. Great cabin crews on all six of my flights.
QF138 from Christchurch to Sydney
QF1 Sydney to London via Dubai
Why Qantas? Why the A380? The idea of getting on the A380 in Sydney and going straight through to London with only a quick refueling stop in Dubai, had really appealed to me. The idea of getting on the biggest passenger plane in the World and then going just about a far as you can also appealed.
As I don’t trust taxis to turn up, my trip started with a bus ride to the airport & a one night stay in the Sudima airport hotel. After a relaxing afternoon I set my alarm, phone, & watch to wake me up at 2.30 am. I need not have worried as I woke up at 2 am & decided to get up. By now you will have worked out I like to arrive early for flights. The Sudima has a shuttle available but I decided to walk the few hundred metres to the terminal.
I’d checked in on-line & told the very helpful Qantas check in lady that the boarding passes had not printed very well, & she printed out both passes for me. The departure lounge at Christchurch opens at 4.30 am & there is always a long line of passengers waiting to go through customs and security. Once open the line moves quite quickly.
After security I got my first glimpse of the B737-800 that was to take me to Sydney. It was being refueled. Boarding started right on time & I was one of the first onto the plane. I settled into 25C & waited to see how full the flight was going to be. Luckily there was to be no-one in the middle seat. Push-back right on time & we took off on the NE runway & made a left turn to climb out over the Southern Alps. Soon after take-off a very tasty breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage, tomato, & mushrooms was served. At Sydney we landed towards the North at around 8am. It was what I would call a ‘solid’ touch-down.
The QF1 Sydney to Dubai flight leaves at an ideal time for people living in Sydney but not for people in NZ. (If I was doing that flight again I’d pay for a night in a hotel in Sydney) Luckily I am not badly affected by jet lag.
I had about eight hours to fill in before QF1 was due to board so decided to start by having another breakfast – this time at McDonalds. After that there was plenty of time to have a really really good look around the terminal and do some plane spotting. And to semi-doze for a while at an empty gate lounge area. It was also interesting to see other flights boarding and see the unfortunate gate staff desperately searching for the last passenger(s). At one gate lounge area I got asked if was going on the flight. I had to ruin their day even more by saying I wasn’t! Anyway, the time passed quite quickly & before too long I saw the Qantas A380 being towed to the gate ready for its flight.
Forecasts for the weather in Sydney, Dubai, and London had been good. By mid afternoon there was some cloud and a few showers at Sydney. QF1 started boarding right on time & I was in the first group of passengers to board. I passed through the zone of dark red seats onto the ‘green zone’ & found seat 75C. Luckily, there was to be no-one in the middle seat. Push-back right on time, & we took off to the South, and then made a climbing right hand turn to head towards Bathurst and beyond. Australia is such a huge country that after the first four hours of the flight you are just reaching the Western coastline somewhere near Port Hedland (depending on the winds).
Qantas had a new chicken dish for economy passengers that could be ordered on-line, which meant I was one of the first to be served. And it was very tasty. I would have loved a coffee, but stuck to soft drinks, water, and juice all the way to London.
I found the cabin crew on all my four A380 flights to be really excellent. They seemed to be people who really liked their jobs and did a great job of looking after people. Especially on the two fourteen hour flights they were always coming round with water and juice & generally doing a fantastic job. On my return flight from Heathrow to Dubai the Captain came through the economy cabin and spent quite a while chatting with passengers & then farewelled people off the plane at Dubai. So all very good on the customer experience side.
I liked the Qantas IFE. There was a good choice of movies & the short reviews for the films was very helpful. On the way to Dubai I watched ‘All the President’s Men’ and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Then nodded off for a while & watched some of the ‘The Descendants’ starring George Clooney.
Then I think I dozed off again!
On the way to Dubai the flight attendants had to deal with some mess at a seat about 10 rows up from mine, not sure if it was vomit or an upturned meal tray, but they got it sorted out fairly quickly.
We touched down in Dubai at around midnight and went to one of the ‘A’ gates maybe ‘12’.
I followed the other passengers off the plane & went through security & headed upstairs. Security at Dubai seems very efficient. On that night there was virtually no queue and took about five minutes at the most. The security trays are automated and drop down as required. Upstairs there are drinking fountains and toilets. However, there seems to be just enough toilets & no more. I had time to change my clothes & use some Johnson & Johnson non-scented baby wipes (too much information?) There was a shower in the toilet I went into.
I had a few minutes to have a look around the shops & to get a photo of the Jaguar ‘F’ Class which was the current promotional prize, & then headed back to the boarding lounge area. By the time I got back to the 12A area they had just about opened the gate. You go through the gate where your passport is checked and boarding pass scanned & down an escalator to the ‘real’ gate lounge. This lounge had plenty of red seats, drinking fountains, and toilets. All very comfortable & organised.
(Coming back on QF2 there was an additional security check of carry on bags. This was a manual check of each bag at entry to the downstairs ‘red seats’ lounge.)
After boarding I was delighted to find that the middle seat was again empty! Yay. I managed to finish watching the ‘The Descendants’ and once the plane had skirted the edges of Syria and Iraq dozed off again, & woke up somewhere over Hungary. I think it was over Austria where the flight attendants started to serve breakfast. A very nice omelet with hash brown sausage tomato and mushrooms. Also a nice yoghurt. I think this meal is very similar to Emirates on this sector and features on many Youtube trip reports! Somewhere over the English Channel the Captain advised that we should be landing on time & probably not have to do many circles in the sky. He also advised that we’d be landing on 27R & would have a few minutes to taxi to Terminal 3.
It was a beautiful blue sky early Spring morning in London & the A380 touched down almost as smoothly as some of the B747 flight I’ve been on. Probably only a few knots of wind.
Exiting the runway we got a good view of the control tower and trundled our way to Terminal 3 stand 301 which I believe is the standard gate for some of the Qantas A380 flights. Off the plane & up the escalator to the the top level at Terminal 3. Terminal 3 might be old but at that hour the floors looked very very clean. Immigration had two queues one UK and Euro and the other queue for everyone else. They had a monitor showing the estimated wait time which said 20 minutes. In fact I reached the front of the queue in just over 18 minutes. I was not asked any questions but told the officer a couple of things I was going to do in London & he stamped my passport & I was on my way. I only had a carry-on bag so passed quickly through the ‘nothing to declare’ exit & found myself in arrivals. At about that time I realised I had a nasty headache coming on & started to think of the people on the flight who had been coughing! Luckily, the headache turned out to be a caffeine deficiency easily fixed by visiting two of the Nero coffee shops!
After having my first coffee I went down the corridor towards the underground and used a credit card to buy my oyster card.
As I could not check in at my hotel until noon I used my oyster card to travel down to Hatton Cross. Then crossed over and got the tube train to Terminal 4 and also to
terminals 2 and 5. Provided you do not exit the station at Hatton Cross, all the travel between the tube stations at Heathrow is free. You can even use the oyster card to get a free ride on the Heathrow Express between two of the terminals. There is a Youtube about this. A guy tested it by checking the balance on his oyster card at each terminal.
Anyway, the only other comment I’d make is that paying for seat selection and choosing an aisle seat or window seat is well worth it if you can’t afford premium economy or business. I found having an aisle seat a huge advantage. I also got lucky and had an empty middle seat on all six of my flights. And all the guys in the window seat on my flights ate their meals and then slept the rest of the way.
So pretty much as good as it gets in economy I think. Great plane for long haul. Great cabin crews on all six of my flights.
Jan 31, 2018, 4:00 pm
#2
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2016
Programs: Qantas FF Bronze
Posts: 17
I had resized the photos using gThumb & it gave all the photos a .jpeg extension which did not seem to work properly with the Flyertalk uploader. Once I changed the photo extension to .jpg it all worked.
! I am usually knackered after my NZ to Dubai trips, so can't imagine heading on to LHR
.
Feb 1, 2018, 12:52 am
#4
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Aberdeen, Scotland
Programs: BA Bronze, Emirates Silver, Virgin Silver, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 1,403
Nice TR and you just about did the opposite journey that we did in 2016 although we started in Glasgow not London.
One thing though, you don't need an Oyster card to travel on the Heathrow Express between Terminals 1/2/3 and Terminal 5 - they don't check tickets on that sector, just once the train leaves T1/2/3 to head to Paddington and vice-versa.
One thing though, you don't need an Oyster card to travel on the Heathrow Express between Terminals 1/2/3 and Terminal 5 - they don't check tickets on that sector, just once the train leaves T1/2/3 to head to Paddington and vice-versa.
Feb 1, 2018, 1:29 am
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2016
Programs: Qantas FF Bronze
Posts: 17
Thanks for the kind comments! Reading through my trip report again I see my spelling is O.K. but quite a few missed and wrong words. Next report I do I will do the proof reading a few hours after finishing the report.