MEL-SIN: Qantas in J
May 7, 2008 | 2:01 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 5,289
MEL-SIN: Qantas in J
Hi,
After spending 3 days in Australia and flying from BNE-CBR and down to MEL, it was time to leave Australia and start my journey back to Europe with a 2 day stop in Asia. The original itinerary was to leave 2 days later from BNE, but I managed to change my flight to this one (it was madness as all flights were full, in all three classes, I was lucky to grab this 3 days before the flight). After spending the last morning in the beautiful city of Melbourne, I headed towards the airport. Traffic was light and I was at the airport within 1/2 hour. After returning the car, I headed towards the International terminal. Check-in was already open for the flight. The check-in line for economy was already snaking 3 layers or maybe more. I proceeded to the Business/Qantas club check in area. There were only 2 agents working, one for Business and one for Qantas club, which I think is not acceptable since both counters had about 3-4 people already in line waiting.
Check-in area (taken earlier when I flew to Fiji)
After about 15 mins of wait, it was my turn. I was given my boarding pass and a Fast lane card. This time the fast lane card was useful as it was already crowded and even at the Fast lane, there were about 5 persons waiting. Luckily it moved fast since the two counters were open. I proceeded directly to the lounge. Entrance to the lounge (same Qantas lounge I used when flying to Fiji)
Counter
Seating area
Computer area
Close up of lounge chair
Food at lounge
I decided to take a shower, here are some shots of the shower room (very simple but functional)
The food offering at QF lounges are the same, and after a few visits, it gets actually rather boring. The best lounge so far is the one at BNE. This one in MEL is underground with no views. Internet access it also quite bad, it keeps dropping. The CBR lounge has one of the rudest "dragons" and not much choice of drinks. The lounge today was quite full as there were lots of flights leaving at that time, mainly to HKG continuing to LHR.
1 hour before boarding, I decided to leave the lounge and have a walk about the departure area. On my way to the gate area, I noticed a CX lounge, however, too bad the CX flight had just left and they were closing. It would have been interesting to see the offering at the lounge. From the outside, the CX lounge looked much better compared to the QF one. Here are some shots of the departure/gate area
Signs to the QF First class lounge
While waiting I spotted some interesting planes, especially the special CX livery, the 100th aircraft
View of the airport area (taken during taxing)
Malaysia Airlines (there are 2 MH company planes, I think one will fly to BNE and the other back to KUL (?))
And our Queen of the sky to Singapore
8 April 2008
AF8091 operated by Qantas
B747-400 Longreach
Seat: 11J
Dep. time: 1530 delayed until 1615
Arr. time: 2105
The boarding area was crowded with passenger. To access the aircraft, we had to take the escalator to a lower level. When the announcement was made for boarding, everyone rushed to the entrance of the escalator. When the turn came for First, Business and OW elite members, none of these passengers could access the escalator without being rude and push ahead. The one and only gate agent controlling this was strict, which was nice, but did not make it easy to push forward. At the bottom of the escalator, once there, the boarding pass was checked with identification and they only let premium class passengers to board while holding back passengers in economy. Boarding the plane from 1L
Greeting was done again at the door, passing through the F class and up the stairs to the upperdeck. Above there was no FA to greet you. View of the upperdeck
Skybed seats
Side storage
The cockpit door was open, so I managed to grab a shot
Some of the seat features, pull-out TV
Seat controls
Shoe holder (not that convenient)
Leg space
Menu and other printed materials
Seat controls inside the shell
Extra light inside the seat shell
with it "ON"
The flight was full in all classes including First. The flight was delayed for about 45 mins due to cargo loading and later slot timing. (I did notice that on certain days, the same flight is scheduled to leave one hour later, but arrive at the same time in SIN, weird, any explanation for this?) Pre-departure drinks were served.
We had 2 FA working on the upperdeck and flight time today would be approximately 7.5 hours. We pushed back after a SIA flight also headed to SIN. Taking off into the late afternoon sky
As soon as the seatbelt sign was turned off, the FA got into action. Amenity kits were distributed. Later, they distributed the Singapore Arrivals card to passenger getting off in Singapore as the flight was continuing to London. I was surprised that we did not receive any PJ's on this flight. I enquired about this and was told that it was not loaded on this sector. However, the FA was nice and managed to grab one for me despite only L's were available. Aperitifs were served and went for a Rum-Cola with nuts.
Soon after, dinner was served.
Only 2 main choices were available, Chilli chicken served with bak choi and Fish with some lentils. Here are the shots of the meal
Dinner tray with starters
and with cutlery
The starter was ok. Too bad again no garlic bread was offered.
Main dishes
Chili Chicken choice
Fish with lentils choice
I had my fish with a Riesling which was quite good. The fish was quite good, but again, I did not finish the lentils since I am not a big fan. I did have a taste of the Chicken and it was better than the fish option.
I had ice-cream for desert with a sweet digestive
And my last digestive, a Baileys on Rocks
which came with a nice white chocolate.
After that I finished watching the "Kite Runner" (which is a really good movie). After dinner, water bottles were distributed.
I decided to take a nap after that and turned my bed into the sleeping position. I guess those drinks did help, as I slept for a solid 4 hours. When I woke up, it was already dusk outside and the cabin was with some mood lighting
I took a walk around the cabin, a shot of the upperdeck stairs
Mini bar on the lower deck
Crew work area
Result from raiding the bar
There was no meal served before landing. So, it was lucky that I had something grabbed from the snack bar. The cabin was prepared for landing, and we landed on time in Singapore.
Overall, after 2 flights in J with QF, I still think that Air New Zealand has a much better product. Although our crew on this flight was much better compared to the inbound to BNE. Comparing QF to AF, I think that crew wise, they were about the same, but product wise, I think QF Sky bed is much better than the AF NEV seats. As usual, bags came out accordingly to class of travel/priority. I spend the next two days in both Singapore and Johor, Malaysia. Next trip.. AF back to CDG.
Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed it.
After spending 3 days in Australia and flying from BNE-CBR and down to MEL, it was time to leave Australia and start my journey back to Europe with a 2 day stop in Asia. The original itinerary was to leave 2 days later from BNE, but I managed to change my flight to this one (it was madness as all flights were full, in all three classes, I was lucky to grab this 3 days before the flight). After spending the last morning in the beautiful city of Melbourne, I headed towards the airport. Traffic was light and I was at the airport within 1/2 hour. After returning the car, I headed towards the International terminal. Check-in was already open for the flight. The check-in line for economy was already snaking 3 layers or maybe more. I proceeded to the Business/Qantas club check in area. There were only 2 agents working, one for Business and one for Qantas club, which I think is not acceptable since both counters had about 3-4 people already in line waiting.
Check-in area (taken earlier when I flew to Fiji)
After about 15 mins of wait, it was my turn. I was given my boarding pass and a Fast lane card. This time the fast lane card was useful as it was already crowded and even at the Fast lane, there were about 5 persons waiting. Luckily it moved fast since the two counters were open. I proceeded directly to the lounge. Entrance to the lounge (same Qantas lounge I used when flying to Fiji)
Counter
Seating area
Computer area
Close up of lounge chair
Food at lounge
I decided to take a shower, here are some shots of the shower room (very simple but functional)
The food offering at QF lounges are the same, and after a few visits, it gets actually rather boring. The best lounge so far is the one at BNE. This one in MEL is underground with no views. Internet access it also quite bad, it keeps dropping. The CBR lounge has one of the rudest "dragons" and not much choice of drinks. The lounge today was quite full as there were lots of flights leaving at that time, mainly to HKG continuing to LHR.
1 hour before boarding, I decided to leave the lounge and have a walk about the departure area. On my way to the gate area, I noticed a CX lounge, however, too bad the CX flight had just left and they were closing. It would have been interesting to see the offering at the lounge. From the outside, the CX lounge looked much better compared to the QF one. Here are some shots of the departure/gate area
Signs to the QF First class lounge
While waiting I spotted some interesting planes, especially the special CX livery, the 100th aircraft
View of the airport area (taken during taxing)
Malaysia Airlines (there are 2 MH company planes, I think one will fly to BNE and the other back to KUL (?))
And our Queen of the sky to Singapore
8 April 2008
AF8091 operated by Qantas
B747-400 Longreach
Seat: 11J
Dep. time: 1530 delayed until 1615
Arr. time: 2105
The boarding area was crowded with passenger. To access the aircraft, we had to take the escalator to a lower level. When the announcement was made for boarding, everyone rushed to the entrance of the escalator. When the turn came for First, Business and OW elite members, none of these passengers could access the escalator without being rude and push ahead. The one and only gate agent controlling this was strict, which was nice, but did not make it easy to push forward. At the bottom of the escalator, once there, the boarding pass was checked with identification and they only let premium class passengers to board while holding back passengers in economy. Boarding the plane from 1L
Greeting was done again at the door, passing through the F class and up the stairs to the upperdeck. Above there was no FA to greet you. View of the upperdeck
Skybed seats
Side storage
The cockpit door was open, so I managed to grab a shot
Some of the seat features, pull-out TV
Seat controls
Shoe holder (not that convenient)
Leg space
Menu and other printed materials
Seat controls inside the shell
Extra light inside the seat shell
with it "ON"
The flight was full in all classes including First. The flight was delayed for about 45 mins due to cargo loading and later slot timing. (I did notice that on certain days, the same flight is scheduled to leave one hour later, but arrive at the same time in SIN, weird, any explanation for this?) Pre-departure drinks were served.
We had 2 FA working on the upperdeck and flight time today would be approximately 7.5 hours. We pushed back after a SIA flight also headed to SIN. Taking off into the late afternoon sky
As soon as the seatbelt sign was turned off, the FA got into action. Amenity kits were distributed. Later, they distributed the Singapore Arrivals card to passenger getting off in Singapore as the flight was continuing to London. I was surprised that we did not receive any PJ's on this flight. I enquired about this and was told that it was not loaded on this sector. However, the FA was nice and managed to grab one for me despite only L's were available. Aperitifs were served and went for a Rum-Cola with nuts.
Soon after, dinner was served.
Only 2 main choices were available, Chilli chicken served with bak choi and Fish with some lentils. Here are the shots of the meal
Dinner tray with starters
and with cutlery
The starter was ok. Too bad again no garlic bread was offered.
Main dishes
Chili Chicken choice
Fish with lentils choice
I had my fish with a Riesling which was quite good. The fish was quite good, but again, I did not finish the lentils since I am not a big fan. I did have a taste of the Chicken and it was better than the fish option.
I had ice-cream for desert with a sweet digestive
And my last digestive, a Baileys on Rocks
which came with a nice white chocolate.
After that I finished watching the "Kite Runner" (which is a really good movie). After dinner, water bottles were distributed.
I decided to take a nap after that and turned my bed into the sleeping position. I guess those drinks did help, as I slept for a solid 4 hours. When I woke up, it was already dusk outside and the cabin was with some mood lighting
I took a walk around the cabin, a shot of the upperdeck stairs
Mini bar on the lower deck
Crew work area
Result from raiding the bar
There was no meal served before landing. So, it was lucky that I had something grabbed from the snack bar. The cabin was prepared for landing, and we landed on time in Singapore.
Overall, after 2 flights in J with QF, I still think that Air New Zealand has a much better product. Although our crew on this flight was much better compared to the inbound to BNE. Comparing QF to AF, I think that crew wise, they were about the same, but product wise, I think QF Sky bed is much better than the AF NEV seats. As usual, bags came out accordingly to class of travel/priority. I spend the next two days in both Singapore and Johor, Malaysia. Next trip.. AF back to CDG.
Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed it.
May 12, 2008 | 8:59 am
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 5,289
I am not sure what the policy is, but it does seem so. As I mentioned, it was only exceptional after I asked about it that I was provided with the PJ's on this semi-daylight route from MEL-SIN.
May 20, 2008 | 9:09 pm
#7
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: HKG
Posts: 333
Overall a great TR, however I can't believe that QF doesn't even disguise that tray with some table cloth, some International Business Class that is. BA and a lot of others disguise that meal tray in the premium cabins.
I don't mean to be negative, but looking at the fish with lentils doesn't look all that appetizing at all, it simply looks too much like porridge. The chilli chicken looks a lot more pleasant. The salad, appetizers and that roll are much better though.
I'm even shocked for a 7.5 hour flight, you only had 2 meal choices, whereas many flights of that length and in Business Class would have 3. Add to that, many flights of this length should of had a light meal offering towards the end of the flight too. I guess this may deter travelers from flying Qantas as a result of this, even though QF Business Class passengers are entitled to help themselves at the bar.
I don't mean to be negative, but looking at the fish with lentils doesn't look all that appetizing at all, it simply looks too much like porridge. The chilli chicken looks a lot more pleasant. The salad, appetizers and that roll are much better though.
I'm even shocked for a 7.5 hour flight, you only had 2 meal choices, whereas many flights of that length and in Business Class would have 3. Add to that, many flights of this length should of had a light meal offering towards the end of the flight too. I guess this may deter travelers from flying Qantas as a result of this, even though QF Business Class passengers are entitled to help themselves at the bar.
Last edited by CX_First; May 20, 2008 at 9:42 pm
May 21, 2008 | 4:44 pm
#8
Join Date: Apr 2001
Programs: Emirates Gold, SQ Gold, Jet Airways Gold, BA Silver, Qatar Silver, Starwood Lifetime Gold
Posts: 1,167
Having just flown BA LHR-IAD/BOS-LHR and QF SIN-LHR-SIN in business, I can safely say that I would pick QF Business Class over BA Club World everytime, disguised meal tray or not!
May 21, 2008 | 4:55 pm
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Sydney - Australia
Programs: BD, QF, QR/EY/GF & HH Gold/SPG, Hertz#1G
Posts: 11,079
Thanks for the pics and review, nldogbert.
Having had a poor experience in BA World Club in the opposite direction, I would still choose QF over BA for this route, in J.
PJs would have been nice on my last flight from SIN, if it made that uncomfortable overnight journey a little more bearable.
Having a Jumbo, top deck, even good ol' Longreach, is a world better than a hoary old B777 with the oldest J seats in the biz!
Having had a poor experience in BA World Club in the opposite direction, I would still choose QF over BA for this route, in J.
PJs would have been nice on my last flight from SIN, if it made that uncomfortable overnight journey a little more bearable.
Having a Jumbo, top deck, even good ol' Longreach, is a world better than a hoary old B777 with the oldest J seats in the biz!