atsak

At the end of January I took a flight to Australia to visit the extended family. I have done this most years over the last 15 or so (I'm getting old) but had to miss last year due to the pandemic. Fully vaxxed, boosted, and ripe with too many frequent flyer miles, I booked the following:
YYZ - LHR, BA Club World (first time for me); on the 787, 58.5K American Airlines points and stupid fuel surcharges from Avion to AA transfers
1 day stop (to allow for weather, and thank goodness I did), Hilton Garden Inn T2/3 at Heathrow
LHR-SIN-SYD, SQ First Class on the 380 Suites and 777, respectively, 260K Krisflyer from HSBC and Mariott Transfers
SYD - DXB - YYZ, EK First Class on the 380 for both legs, booked a year ago with 225K Alaska Miles before they were discontinued on EK

I do not rate the detail and amazing photo skills of many of our fellow Flyertalkers here, but I enjoyed this trip and thought maybe I'd share it just for some fun discussion. I have photos of some things and not others, so I'll write some descriptions where I'm lacking in evidence :-)

YYZ-LHR 01/16 Club World , Sched 10:20PM depart; late about 12:30AM when the wheels left the ground

A snowstorm was barreling down on Southern Ontario this evening, so I went the airport a little early arriving at 7:30 to check in. Check in was smooth and courteous; I was the only person in the Club World line so it took about 5 minutes to check my vaccination status (required for flights in Canada), my UK entry form (exempted from quarantine despite the landside transit), and my Australian passport (to keep it all on one in transit). They advised to be at the gate a little early at 9:30 so they could try to beat the weather. Off to the Plaza Premium lounge, which had a separate section for BA guests. I ate before I left home so I just savoured a glass of wine (some inexpensive white which was just fine) and just watched the weather.

At 9:30 as instructed I arrived at the gate to watch the flight crew just getting on the plane, so I realized we would NOT be beating the weather which was due to arrive in about half an hour. And boy did it.

CW was empty (pandemic travel) for the most part; I could only see a couple other passengers in Club World. I've never flown BA in business before. Seat was too small / tight frankly but the crew was great. Bit of sparkling wine arrived, which chased my Lorazepam for sleep down nicely. Would rate this lower than most NA airlines for hard product and for sure would prefer AC, though better than LH.


Row to myself

Umm, cheap.

More cheap.

The snow rolled into Toronto so we were off to de ice. Twice, in fact, because of runway changes and timeouts. I was so happy when those wheels left the ground I can't tell you . . .


GROSS.

We arrived a couple hours late at Heathrow and I was pretty tired, so I wandered over to the Garden Inn, walking about 3 miles / 5KM in the process from T5. The trains were absolutely packed and that's a little bit too high risk for COVID for me, so the walk was good to stretch my legs even if a little long. Check in there was prompt; I was upgraded to a runway view room on a high floor due to Hilton Diamond Status. Breakfast was offered but declined because I knew the Singapore lounge was going to be available in the morning which would be superior. I didn't take pictures of the hotel (it was a Garden Inn - clean and comfortable with overpriced food) but one of the approach pics of the city turned out OK:


The Thames and some other stuff.

A good night sleep was had (and an afternoon nap) with an early wake up at 6AM then off to the SG check in. It was slow as the person in front had visa issues with Singapore in the Suites check in, but mine was fast - a check of my Australian arrival form, my vaccine certificate as this was a Vaccinated Travel Lane flight, and my PCR test from home on Sunday and we were all ready to go to the lounge. And a nice lounge it was which I had to myself most of the morning. Staff here were amazing - being attentive, chatting about the current situation in the UK and Canada, and recommending food choices.


English Breakfast - the hash brown was particularly nice - crispy and hot.

Lounge to myself . . .

More lounge...

It's 5PM somewhere . . .


Nasi Lemak. I've never had this before but I'm definitely having it again . . . it was delicious.

And with that it was time to head to the gate for the Suites experience. Wow. Just wow. This was tied with the EY 380 for the most impressive first class suite, and service was equally as good. While no shower, the food on SQ was better than EY. TG ground services in Bangkok a couple years takes the cake for me (one hour massage, I mean c'mon), but SQ was very good even given the pandemic restrictions.


What a great seat.

2008 Dom and 2022 PPE.

Huge bathroom

Showtime? Single service but just fine - everything fit and was so good.

Dessert? Why yes.

Amenity Kit.

Time for a cappucino

Night!

I was met at the jetway on arrival in Singapore by someone holding a tablet with my name, given a wristband (due to departing from the UK I was required to go to a holding pen), and then put on a cart and dropped off at the holding pen. Complimentary beverages were there, and some vending machine food but I was still full. An hour or so before departure the flight was called and we were sent off down the hall to the gate. Bit of a miss here - everyone sent off together to head to the gate so not really first class treatment. Weirdly no escorts but just asked not to go into any of the stores / shops and sent on our way.

Security smooth and I took a seat the gate then boarded when called.


Legroom GOOD.

Caviar GOOD.

Lobster Thermidor. Devine.

Oops looked so good started to eat it right away . . .

Nice wide seat. Comfy for sleeping actually, though I didn't do much as the timing was wrong.

Arrival in to Sydney smooth and immigration uneventful, used the e-gates and straight through. Advised that PCR was no longer required and to please do an Antigen test on my own on arrival, day 2 and 8. I had brought a box with me since I knew they were in short supply in Australia so I did so, testing negative throughout of course.


Morning.

Australia Day at Cronulla.

Swallow Rock.

More to follow later for the trip home, but that's the first installment. Hope you enjoy.

nequine

Lovely to see photos of Australia again and after the cold Canadian weather, I bet you are enjoying the sunshine and warmth!

atsak

SYD - DXB - YYZ on Emirates

Check in at Sydney was poorly handled - there was one document checker for Business and First, so when I arrived it took over 20 minutes to get to the check in agent because the person in front did not have their necessary paperwork for COVID protocols ready. Once there there was a lot of confusion about how to handle dual citizenship, but after a phone call it got sorted out. Immigration was quick and I went through to the Plaza Premium lounge, because the Emirates lounge is still closed in Sydney. The lounge was full. Departure was 9:45PM so I ate in the lounge. The food was good, if simple.

Beef Goulash

Boarding was a bit of a mess as well - it did not start on time and there were people everywhere. Business and First were served through the same line. The Emirates First class seats are well documented elsewhere but I took a couple quick photos as well. They were serving Krug on the ground, which was quite suitable if not quite Dom Perignon. Crew was very polite and I was escorted to my seat and introduced to how everything worked. I was welcomed back though it was the first time I had flown with them :-)





After take off I opted for a cheese board as it was too late to eat but a midnight snack is never bad. I also had a couple different drinks, a Kir Royale (liked this one) and a Negroni (did not like this one). I'm not much of a drinker so don't partake too often but I felt like there was a bit of a duty to do so in first class, so this was the first and last time I've tried a Negroni . . . please do not come for me if they're you're favourite :-)


Cheese Board - more crackers requested and delivered immediately.

Kir Royale

Negroni

Amenity Kit.

That amenity kit was very generous. So many different things in there; very complete. I did sleep for a few hours as the flight was very smooth, and just prior to landing of course had to opt for a quick shower:



So cool the floor is heated here.

Breakfast time was some really nice banana bread:



I then was escorted upon deplaning through a cursory security check to the first class lounge, a fairly long walk, but the lounge is HUGE. I decided to have second breakfast here. Eggs Benedict is a personal favourite of mine but it's traditional service with ham would be, um, not appropriate in the UAE so I opted for the Eggs Royale offering, which was nicely presented and of very high quality. The eggs were particularly flavourful.



Boarding is done directly from the lounge, but it was late due to the delayed arrival of EK security personnel at the gate in the lounge. None the less it went smoothly and we were back on board for the last leg home through a hazy Dubai sky about 3 hours after my arrival from Sydney. The flight departed on time.


You can just make out the skyline here.

Caviar service

Beef Tenderloin. I requested medium (yes, I know, sorry to the steak purists) and it was exactly medium.

Mango Mille Feuille - very very nice.

Staircases in planes. Always like seeing these they seem still novel to me.

Water feature was cool in the lavatory section of the back of first class.

Steak sandwich - drenched in butter and therefore extremely tasty if a little tough.

Arrival into Toronto was quick - I was first off and through customs (Nexus), selected along with everyone else for arrival PCR testing (waste of time and money these days), my bags were waiting when I arrived at baggage claim due to the lengthy walk from the A380 gates to customs, and I was out for the arrival PCR test. I have been selected for testing many times over the last few months, so I was already registered and I was done in about 5 minutes without any wait. Hopefully we can get rid of this in the next few months it doesn't change our COVID picture in Canada at all based on available data.

I had missed the homeland (OK it's the homeland of my birth though I have spent almost all my life in Canada) so was glad to go back and see the extended family. Like many here I enjoy the journey as much as the destination, so it was very good to do so in style on new business and first class experiences for me. Next year if all goes well I will be trying to secure ANA first and Qatar business flights to try out those airlines as well. I might try Korean though if something becomes available as well. I would say that Singapore definitely took the crown here for it's first class experience. I found the service to be above par across the board when compared to other first class experiences I've had (Qantas, Emirates, Singapore, Thai and Etihad sampled so far), though each of the various first classes have different strengths.

Thai (no longer offered) ground services were incredible, and good food.
Etihad on board 380 (no longer offered, but maybe soon?) service was amazing along with the apartment, and excellent food
Singapore had good ground services though not perfect and an amazing suite space, and excellent food
Qantas had the friendliest service and good food with good solid lounge experiences, but the weakest seat
Emirates had good ground services, amazing lounge in DXB and a good suite space, though not at the same level as Singapore or Etihad

Hope you enjoyed my brief trip report. I'll try to go back and fix my grammatical and spelling errors shortly, I'm a terrible proofreader . . .

atsak

Yes, home now, and frozen. Snow is stupid.

mitellic

Great to see trip reports like this coming up again! One question - one Q, seems unlikely for EK to have Krug on the ground in Syd since they usually serve something cheaper on the ground to avoid paying the higher taxes, more likely to have been Moet or Veuve?

atsak

I wondered that as well because I had read they typically did so, but she showed me the bottle and I noted it then because I had been expecting something else. During the flight they were serving the same so I wonder if they just made a mistake or had run out of the cheap stuff or it wasn't cold or something? It definitely did not taste like Veuve, but I would struggle to tell the difference between Krug and Moet myself unless served side by side (insufficiently distinguished pallet on my part). It's possible my brain saw Krug because it expected a first class champagne but I remember thinking at the time that was odd given what I had read (and your question). I gave the crew some Tim Tams maybe I inadvertently bribed them (EK management if you read this please don't get them in trouble they were so nice).

mitellic

Personally I would have been thrilled if I got Krug! Much prefer it to Dom really - I reckon you got lucky! I have a EK F trip booked in July that I'm looking forward to.

How were the crew? I have taken a few EK F flights were they have been merely sufficient, but some flights where they have blown all other crews out of the water.

adampenrith

Negroni - they used to advertise Campari in the 70's as only 7 % of the population enjoyed the flavour - I have been a fan since the 70's.

daftboy

Great trip report, and as someone said upthread it's great to see people flying in style with proper service again!

atsak

I found them to be very attentive and friendly but in a professional way on both flights. I wouldn't say that I could fault the crew on either leg in any way, but I like to think I'm not overly demanding. I'm more interested in the ground game and hard product personally, which EK was pretty average on, relatively speaking, for first class services I've tried out. Thai three years ago was really the winner there, too bad they have discontinued that product.

stevie

Thanks for the TR. I will be transiting through SIN also and read with interest about the holding pen. Did they check your PCR test on arrival?

atsak

No, just on departure. The holding pen was just fine. There were complimentary drinks if you were thirsty and washrooms if you need them. Ya, a shame since Changi is so nice not to be able to wander around, but then getting a first class redemption at all is challenging to Australia so using the low travel period to my advantage and giving up the lounge stuff wasn't a big deal to me for the opportunity to fly the product at all.