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It's a Fine Line Between Pleasure & Pain: 4 wacky weeks 2 RTW C, inaugural longhaul Y

It's a Fine Line Between Pleasure & Pain: 4 wacky weeks 2 RTW C, inaugural longhaul Y

Old Oct 18, 2007, 2:02 am
  #91  
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No please don't ask me
Cairns to Melbourne (CNS-MEL) on Qantas 767-300 business class

I chose to fly the turnaround back to Melbourne even though the schedule permitted Sydney (which earns the same number of status credits) to avoid the risk of misconnecting, and to make use of the much easier domestic to international transfers at Melbourne.

I had just a couple of minutes in the rather full temporary Qantas Club before boarding began. Despite the late arrival, boarding was again quick (at 20 minutes) and we left close to scheduled time.

Meal was also lunch - a choice of chicken salad or braised veal.

IFE was No Reservations followed by Chaser's War on Everything.

I was getting sleepy to dozed a bit.

We parked up on the far left hand pier so a moderate walk to international terminal. There was a guy at the entrance who made me weigh my carry on. When he saw the weight was just under 10kg (yes that's right - surprised even me it was that light) he realised he would be stupid forcing me to check it in, especially in business class. I grabbed some more Australia departure forms to replenish my stocks and quickly through immigration and security, and back to the first lounge which I'd last visited just 9 days and 60,000 miles ago.
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Old Oct 18, 2007, 2:32 am
  #92  
 
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Originally Posted by Kiwi Flyer
Please don't ask me
Tokyo Narita to Singapore (NRT-SIN) on Japan Airlines 747-400 business class
I was a bit concerned when you left off your trip report like that yesterday (with nothing written after the title). I didn't realise that you were doing your TR as you went along your trip; my immediate reaction was 'that bad hey..' Glad to know that wasn't the case; well, at least the flight wasn't unspeakable of.

Looking fwd to more.
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Old Oct 18, 2007, 2:35 am
  #93  
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Sorry about that. The only way it will be written is as soon after each bit as I can - otherwise stuff starts blurring together a bit and the writing becomes bigger than ben hur.
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Old Oct 18, 2007, 4:42 am
  #94  
 
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Originally Posted by Kiwi Flyer
Sorry about that. The only way it will be written is as soon after each bit as I can - otherwise stuff starts blurring together a bit and the writing becomes bigger than ben hur.
No no - I'm not directing any criticism your way. I just mistakenly thought it was a rather clever way of describing a bad flight experience on JL NRT-SIN.
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Old Oct 18, 2007, 6:46 am
  #95  
 
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Finally got a chance to catch up on your travels, Kiwi Flyer. I keep trying to remember to email you a photo of mini-QF WP with her Kiwi stuffed toy called "Rob". Between that, her pink elephant and her doll, she tends to sleep well at night - probably better than you have over the past couple of weeks.
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Old Oct 18, 2007, 2:42 pm
  #96  
 
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Originally Posted by Kiwi Flyer
Sorry about that. The only way it will be written is as soon after each bit as I can - otherwise stuff starts blurring together a bit and the writing becomes bigger than ben hur.
Certainly feeling the stran of that myself at the moment...
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Old Oct 18, 2007, 5:50 pm
  #97  
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Kiwi to Kiwi

KF - as always, an entertaining and insightful read! Thanks.^^

See you soon in ZQN!

Cheers, TK
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Old Oct 19, 2007, 10:20 am
  #98  
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Melbourne to Auckland business class menu

From the Bar

Marinated olives

Roasted nuts

Main Courses

Braised lamb stifado with garlic mashed potato
served with prosciutto, spinach and cucumber salad

Grilled mustard chicken with roasted tomatoes and green beans
served with prosciutto, spinach and cucumber salad

Soba noodle and poached salmon salad with sesame soy dressing *
served with fresh fruit selection

Ciabatta and wholemeal bread

Selection of seasonal cheese and dried fruit

Ice cream and biscotti

Chocolates


Beverages

Champagne

Aperitifs

Campari

Spirits

Bacardi white rum
Chivas Regal scotch whisky
Inner Circle (green dot) dark rum 57.2%
Tanqueray London dry gin
The Glenlivet malt whisky
Wild Turkey 86.8 bourbon
Wyborowa classic vodka

Beers

For your enjoyment we have a selection of premium international and Australian beers onboard today.

Non Alcoholic

Apple juice
Orange juice
Spicy tomato juice
Mineral water
Soda water
Tonic water
Bundaberg ginger beer
Cola
Diet cola
Ginger ale
Lemonade
Solo - lemon squash

Hot Beverages

Grinders coffee
Bodum
Decaffeinated

Dilmah tea
Chamomile
English breakfast
Jasmine green
Peppermint

Hot chocolate

Liqueurs

Bailey's Irish cream
Cointreau

Fortified

Penfolds bluestone 10yo tawny
Rutherglen liqueur muscat

Cognac

Martell VSOP
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Old Oct 19, 2007, 10:22 am
  #99  
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Originally Posted by QF009
No no - I'm not directing any criticism your way. I just mistakenly thought it was a rather clever way of describing a bad flight experience on JL NRT-SIN.
When have I ever been that quiet?
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Old Oct 19, 2007, 11:10 am
  #100  
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How I've been getting off
Melbourne to Auckland (MEL-AKL) on Qantas 737-400 business class

The aircraft had been running late all day (I'd been following progress online based on the obvious flights operated in the schedule), and arrived late at Melbourne. However they did a great job turning around and boarding was essentially complete on time. Unfortunately a couple of passengers were rather late boarding - some 15 to 20 minutes after the rest of us - so another slightly late flight. With an OMG arrival time I wasn't too pleased about the delay no matter how small.

The flight is full. I'm already drifting off to sleep when we pushback. A pre-departure orange juice, water of sparkling wine. Menus handed out.

After take off I get a personal DVD since the main screen is showing, you guessed it, Evan Almighty. Even so, as I thumb through the library of about 10 DVDs that I've seen all of these at least a couple of times too. Oh well. Other than a bite to eat I pretty much doze the flight away.

Our mains orders are only taken when they serve, and thus you can miss out on your first choice. Even so I was taken aback that, sitting in the front row (with meals being served from the front), I got the very last of my choice of mains. Either catering was light, they misjudged which choice would be popular, or the cabin crew had "reserved" their choices.

We didn't make up any time en route and thus arrived late. Since New Zealand had moved to daylight savings time while Australia was still on standard time this made for a very late arrival, on this the last scheduled arrival for the night. Then there was a delay at the airbridge. Immigration was quick. Get to xray to find them all abandoned. We call out and eventually some one turns up. By the time got into the city it was after 3am - a rather long day.
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Old Oct 19, 2007, 5:25 pm
  #101  
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Summary of first RTW

So after 9 days the first RTW of just over 60,000 flown miles is completed. Technically I had no stopovers - that is all my transits were under 24 hours. I had flights through all or most of 8 nights. During this RTW I raced past 10,000 lifetime status credits. I'm still waiting on more than 1,000 status credits to post! I left the airport (other than in the air of course) only twice. I visited 17 different airline lounges. I've lost track of how many times I was offered Evan Almighty - there were only a few flights it was not shown on the main screen or available on the IFE (avod or dvd).
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Old Oct 19, 2007, 6:03 pm
  #102  
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It's a fine line between pleasure and pain
Auckland to Sydney (AKL-SYD) on Qantas 767-300 business class

After a hectic day of meetings and errands, and a shortened sleep, I was awake less than 24 hours after arriving in Auckland and preparing to leave for the airport once more. With an oh so early check in time I cabbed it (no point waking others to take me) and the driver and I both noticed how unusually quiet it was on the roads and at the airport itself.

I was checked in fairly quickly in the premium check in area but only given 2 boarding passes - my further same day flights were not yet open for check in The immigration officer normally on duty in premium check in was nowhere to be found so I'll have to use the main queue - not that it mattered in the end.

As is normally the case this early in the morning, the premium check in desk has no departure tax stickers (and unfortunately I just miss out on an exemption as my international travel is just over 24 hours apart). No problem I thought, I'll use the machine and be waiting for immigration to open in no time. Unfortunately this time saver is no longer available. With the change in currency exchange provider from BNZ to Travelex, the machines have gone Worse, Travelex is not yet open (with moderate queues even at the downstairs branches) and when they do open I quickly realise most of the staff are untrained and today is their first day. Even simple tasks take a long time and any questions leads to long discussion as they are unfamiliar with reasons for policies etc.

By the time I get through that it is almost 4am - the time immigration has been opening lately. To my surprise I am first in the queue behind the gates, but a long queue rapidly builds behind me. 4am comes and goes. I see a steady stream of shop workers going through their entrance and being searched at security, and so expect immigration will open any minute. 4:30am comes and goes. And 5am. Finally they open. By now there is a huge queue (well over 1000) and I'm thinking my flight is likely to be delayed as it will take some time to clear the backlog.

I'm processed at immigration and security quickly enough and make my way to the lounge to catch up on some work and email. Boarding is called in the lounge later than usual, but not ridiculously late. By the time I reach the gate boarding is nearly complete and as I reached my seat I noticed the business class cabin is less than 1/3 full.

Once again we get a domestic configured 767, which means less room (nullified by the low load) and the option to have a DVD for IFE, which I accept when asked pre-departure. They also ask which movie so it can be pre-loaded. This often happens on trans-tasman flights in business class on the 767 domestic config, whereas the 737-400 flights tend to be given the DVD library to choose for yourself.

We pushback on time and manage to beat the LAN aircraft beside us to the taxiway. However, we have a long wait at the end of the runway. Subsequently I found out that there was an emergency landing which I hadn't realised at the time, and also an inspection of the runway (which I had noticed and noted as being unusual for this time of day despite the PA wording).
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Old Oct 20, 2007, 1:31 am
  #103  
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After takeoff the DVDs were handed out quickly and then breakfast was served. I had some bad luck with the batteries, which ran out on my original player, and the next one, and the next one, and the next one! Finally on the 4th player I was able to finish the movie.

The CSM was most apologetic and for my inconvenience offered $40 voucher for use at participating retail stores in Australian domestic terminals. While it was a nice gesture I turned it down as the terms meant I was unlikely to use them, and really it was just bad luck and minor inconvenience to keep fast forwarding the dvd to where I'd left it each time the battery failed.

We arrived early and had a short taxi to the gate at the end of the OW pier. As often seems the case in Australia there is a wait for the airbridge to connect - today it was over 10 minutes. Then I sprinted down the pier to immigration and quickly through. The quarantine queues were horrendous with pax backed up around all carousels. After spending 20 minutes in line (and still not even reaching the metal barriers before the snake before the x-ray machines) I got lucky and was redirected to the domestic passenger gate. That probably saved me another 20 minutes at least.

I made my way to the transfer bus, showing the way for a couple who'd never been here before. At the transfer area I did my usual thing when already checked in and only carry on luggage, and skipped under the rope from the business class line to the (empty) line for security. I simply don't see the point of spending 15 minutes (or much, much more on some days) in the business class queue just to move directly to the empty line for security. I wish they put in a proper channel for those in this situation - as some days you can spend 30 minutes just waiting to get to the point where you can skip under the rope. But not today - I'm under, through security and only a short wait for the next bus.

As usual I positioned myself by the rear doors for quick getaway, and am in the domestic lounge probably before some passengers have made it off the transfer bus.
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Old Oct 20, 2007, 1:34 am
  #104  
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Auckland to Sydney business class menu

Breakfast

Feijoa fruit energiser

Orange juice

Your choice of

Continental Breakfast

Fresh seasonal fruit

Yoghurt

Muesli

or

Cereal selection

A choice of warm bakery items


or

Hot Breakfast

Fresh seasonal fruit

Bacon and spinach omelette with gruyere and slow roasted tomatoes

or

Ricotta hot cakes with strawberry and rhubarb compote

A choice of warm bakery items


Beverages

Champagne

Aperitifs

Campari

Spirits

Bacardi white rum
Chivas Regal scotch whisky
Inner Circle (green dot) dark rum 57.2%
Tanqueray London dry gin
The Glenlivet malt whisky
Wild Turkey 86.8 bourbon
Wyborowa classic vodka

Beers

For your enjoyment we have a selection of premium international and Australian beers onboard today.

Non Alcoholic

Apple juice
Orange juice
Spicy tomato juice
Mineral water
Soda water
Tonic water
Bundaberg ginger beer
Cola
Diet cola
Ginger ale
Lemonade
Solo - lemon squash

Hot Beverages

Grinders coffee
Bodum
Decaffeinated

Dilmah tea
Chamomile
English breakfast
Jasmine green
Peppermint

Hot chocolate

Liqueurs

Bailey's Irish cream
Cointreau

Fortified

Penfolds bluestone 10yo tawny
Rutherglen liqueur muscat

Cognac

Martell VSOP
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Old Oct 20, 2007, 2:15 am
  #105  
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You've done it once you can do it again
Sydney to Cairns (SYD-CNS) on Qantas 737-800 business class

I had a number of options for the next two flights. Domestic leg of an international flight up or domestic flight up (on a couple of different aircraft) and a choice of a couple of domestic flights back down (depending on which flight up I took).

I decided to stick with same aircraft both ways, to reduce risk of misconnection and to avoid the hassle of immigration at Cairns. For some reason whenever I have connected to the domestic leg of international flight between Sydney and Cairns from another international flight, I have had grief by customs at Cairns. I then chose the 737-800 pair of flights since it would be a little less rushed at the very busy early morning peak hour for immigration at Sydney.

In the lounge I try to get the onward boarding passes but only manage to get 1 more. Then catch up on some work before boarding is called. A final call is announced but when I get to the gate that is virtually opposite the lounge there is a huge queue and it is clear boarding has only just begun

The flight is full. Meal is lunch with a choice of chicken tikka masala or proscuitto salad, with salad, rolls and ice cream.

IFE is again Live Free and Die Hard.

Flight is much the same as the similar Melbourne to Cairns flight a couple of days earlier. On arrival we again have to walk the length of the terminal and back again to reach security. Again I'm yelled at by a ground staff who helpfully pointed out baggage claim is to the left, again forgetting that some passengers have connecting flights and thus need to go right.

Last edited by Kiwi Flyer; Oct 20, 2007 at 2:32 am
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