SIN-BNE: QF SkyBed
 

Hi,

This is the continuation of my trip to Australia after arriving in Singapore. This segment was operated by Qantas A330 with the new Skybed in Business class. During the plane change in Singapore, I managed to have a shower at the QF business lounge. The QF lounge in SIN had some good spread of food and shower was supplied with Molton Brown products. Even though at its peak hour, it did not feel crowded. The lounge staff were very friendly and helpful. As usual in Singapore, even 1 hour before departure time, the screen displays last call. I made my way to the gate about 30 mins before departure time and was one of the last few to board.

AF8090 (operated by Qantas, QF 52)
Date: 25 March 2008
Seat: 1L
Dept. time: 21.05
Arr. time: 06.55 (next day)
A330

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/7...30tobneub8.jpg
I was greeted by the purser at the 1L door. Found that I was one of the last passenger to board (another passenger boarded 10 mins after me). J-class was again full on this segment (world economy must be good :o )
Here are a few shots of the Skybed seat
http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/9...ybedseaai8.jpg
AVOD screen - was on the bulkhead wall as usual.. expected the in-seat one.
http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/9...restinggc5.jpg
http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/9...egroompkg8.jpg
seen with the breakfast order card
http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/7...traliasni9.jpg
Qantas- Spirit of Australia
Seat control
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/2...controlxz5.jpg
Division cabin curtain and cabinet
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/8...tona330ue5.jpg
Another shot of the cabin before arrival into Australia
http://img501.imageshack.us/img501/7...edshellzl0.jpg

I found the cabin to be quite relaxing with the brown coloured seats. The design of the seat was interesting with lots of extra padding and this seat when turned flat, was nearly 180 deg.
Pre-departure drink was served directly when I settled down
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/9...turedriri5.jpg
After the door was closed, he amenity kit and pyjamas were distributed. The PJ's were cool and I was lucky as they just reintroduced it this year in Biz class. FA's took note of which passengers wanted to sleep directly or have supper. The cabin light was dimmed to just the right amount to accommodate those who wanted to sleep or eat.
After take-off and seatbelt sign turned off, the FA begin their service. There were 3 FA's working in this relatively small business class cabin. While taking the list of aperitif, they collected the Breakfast card. Soon, supper service started. A main meal was served without a starter.
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/7...tartersqy6.jpg
There was a choice of 3 main meals to choose from, I went for the Fish with lentils accompanied with a Riesling wine.
http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/8...sefishohy8.jpg
The fish was delicious but I left the lentils since I am not such a fan of lentils.
Dessert was between cheese plate, fruits or sticky rice with coconut milk. I went for the Sticky rice option which was not too bad, but quite bland. The whole supper affair took quite a short time, within 1 hour after departure.
After that, I turned the bed into flat mode. Waterbottle was also distributed to all passengers. I managed to sleep until about 1 hour before landing. After freshening up, breakfast was brought to me directly with my choices.
http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/2...eakfastir1.jpg
20 mins before arrival, the cabin was well prepared. Good job by the crew. Here are a few shots approaching into Brisbane
http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/2...ingareanh9.jpg
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/2...owlandicc4.jpg
Brisbane airport
http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/4...ationaljc0.jpg
http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/6...ationalms3.jpg
http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/7...airportjg1.jpg
http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/6...sqandekgi8.jpg

JAL just arriving after us
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/3...fromnrtmq3.jpg
http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/2...aljl747um5.jpg
KE and SQ
http://img501.imageshack.us/img501/7...kefromiob8.jpg
http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/3...alke777yk1.jpg

Cabin during disembarkation
http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/2...tersinfrk5.jpg

I was overall quite happy with the service on QF business. However, I still think that Air New Zealand has a much better product and service. The AVOD system was on par with that of the new AF system, but the best is the headphone, the QF headphone is a real noise canceling headphone. Toilets were clean with limited products, which were quite similar to KLM, but not comparable to SQ or MH. Would I fly QF business, yes I would. The flat bed product was good.

Brisbane is a nice city, venturing out of Brisbane towards the Sunshine Coast to see the nature is a must. Gold Coast is also a nice drive, a good place to see skyscrapers..
I did some internal flights within Australia to Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra with Qantas. These were all on QF and service was good,with good price paid. I will post a next post on my experience to Fiji with Air Pacific from Melbourne and a short hop between Suva and Nadi.

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed the read!

:)

Thanks for the detailed report with the pictures.

Qantas's business class meals look atrocious! They should concentrate a bit more on presentation. Why can't they be bothered to do a meal service without those Y-class trays? There is really no excuse for that laziness on such a long flight - they have the time to do it properly. Is it really too time consuming for them to place things on the table properly? Maybe the FAs need more time to read in the galley? They should take a lesson from ANA or JAL. Looks more like United or American!

Thanks for the nice report, with pictures ^

The following is a recent pictures of a UNITED First Class meals between LAX-SYD. They use trays for breakfast the meals are inferior in every aspect to the QF J product. I don't understand how anyone could say that the QF J meal described looks like United or American.

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...D/IMG_0607.jpg

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...D/IMG_0617.jpg

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...D/IMG_0610.jpg

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...D/IMG_0619.jpg

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...D/IMG_0643.jpg

I recently flew LAX-SYD in QF J and agree, the meal presentation was pretty horrible. They also rushed us through the meal, however that may have been understandable since it was a late and delayed departure. I found the dinner to be pretty poor, relatively speaking, however the breakfast was one of the best I've ever had flying.

They look pretty much the same to me, only United didn't have a tray stuck under the dinner.
They are both atrocious!
However we would expect more from a J product in this day and age, from a "non-US carrier". As for US-carriers, just forget it altogether!
If others can do it, so should Qantas. The tray is tacky and only goes to demonstrate that they don't want to spend the time to do a proper set-up. This is the point I'm trying to make.

I can't believe what I just saw with the catering, still doing table trays like Economy Class? Did they line your table with a table cloth? If there isn't a table cloth, then it ain't International Business Class, even though this is only a 7 hour flight. The presentation of the meals is rather sub-par even by Longhaul Business Class standards.

Even in BA's NGCW, I still witnessed meals served in a tray. Only that they bring the meal in stages like in all Business Class meals.

Yes, food presentation was not the best, and serving it on such a small "Y-class" tray adds insult to injury. They did at least have the table lined with a table cloth.

They do bring the meal in stages, like BA. So, but portions are not that big and it can be a hit or miss. But I guess the good service and friendliness of the crew does overcome this lack of presentation.

The best were the seats, they had controls even within the shell of the seat, so you do not have to go searching for the right button when lying down. (will post some shots of that in my return portion)

:)

Thats EXACTLY my point, the United pictures I posted above are First Class LAX-SYD. The QF J pictures the OP posted are on a flight of have that duration. When you compare the J QF pictures to the UA F and they "look pretty much the same" remember one is F and the other J.

Thanks for an interesting trip report.

That meal just looks plain bad for any premium cabin! Looks like coach food from the eighties.
I've given up long ago on AA and UA for good meals internationally, in C or F (actually, not much difference!).
No more flying with them once their premium cabins became employee class.
CO does a good job, though. At least the presentation is nice.
Who would actually pay good money to fly with these carriers when you've got others to choose from? It looks like QF have the bed in C, anyway. You could always do Air Tahiti Nui in F with a PPT connection for fun - now THERE is good food (with an older-style but flat seat).

Arr BNE class class place. Love it. Lived three for 3 years and spent a lot of time at BNE airport; those pic's bring back some memories.

Well even Air France's L'Espace Affaires does a much better presentation than what these FAs in this QF flight pull off for their Business Class which is only about 7-8 hours long. I know AF's in-flight food is rather inconsistent in quality and many times worse than BA, but it's at least more appetizing than the US carriers in general.

Add to that, those pre-take off drink glasses (it's real glass) looks a little on the plasticky side.

Even though AF passengers have a mixed bag experience in-flight, I would say that the catering and the hospitality really do have the most impact on the opinions of the traveler along with the seat comfort.

I wonder if QF actually spends less than AF or BA on food per passenger on the Longhaul Business Class?