QF, BI, U2, BA and NZ/CX, no class, first class and something in between
 

For a person from New Zealand traveling to the UK or Europe represents one of the longest journeys on the planet, if not in time then certainly by distance.

Against this background I set off from Auckland bound for London on a cold winter’s afternoon in June. I’ve done this trip a few times in economy, and more recently in business class, it’s hard to go back to economy so for this leg of the trip I was again traveling in business class.

Auckland – London, Qantas business class.

I was booked to travel via Sydney and Singapore to London and arrived at the airport around noon for the 1330 flight to Sydney, just after checking-in I received a text message from Qantas to tell me my QF 31 service had been delayed from a 1655 to a 2230 departure from Sydney, meaning a 7 and a ½ hour wait in Sydney for that flight. Qantas have had an on-going dispute with their engineering staff so this wasn’t a surprise, but still a bit annoying.

Boarding QF 190, a 767-300 with a ‘domestic’ business class configuration of 2x2x2 found the business cabin to be full for this flight. We departed pretty much on time and for some reason even though I was in 2K I ended up being the last person to be served for lunch. By the time the crew got to me the only main option of the three available left was pork, not something I can eat. I was really hungry by this point but the cabin crew did what they could to pull together some extra salads, cheese and crackers for me and they were apologetic about the situation.

We arrived at a wet grey Sydney around 1430 and I was in the Qantas Club lounge by 1515 to wait out the next 7 hours for my next flight. The lounge was packed and the food offerings minimal, since I’d had breakfast 12 hours before and not much since I was in the process of seeing what I could turn into a ‘main meal’ when I was paged by the ground staff in the lounge.

On speaking with them they told me that there was a high chance QF31 would not be leaving that evening and would I like to travel to Melbourne to connect with QF 29 to London via Hong Kong departing at Melbourne at
2250. The idea of wasting another day in Sydney (based on the experience of passengers on QF31 early that week who had been delayed a full 24 hours) made me decide to go for the Melbourne option.

The staff duly re-booked me and they arranged for another ground staff member to escort me through immigration, get my bag, which had to be off-loaded then customs and through to the check-in area for the domestic flights at the international terminal. The immigration staff were totally confused at what I was doing and were going to let me just walk through until I pointed out I was in effect entering Australia and leaving it again in a few hours so needed them to process me as an arriving passenger.

A few hours later and I was on another QF 767-300 bound for Melbourne. Thankfully this flight had a light load in business and I had a very nice salmon salad which helped fill my stomach! Arriving into Melbourne just after 9pm it was a 5 minute walk to the international section of the terminal and then the obligatory explanation with the immigration officer as to why I had only arrived a few hours earlier and was now leaving again.

I then headed down to the Qantas club which was packed as half the lounge was under-going renovation. I decided to have a shower as who knew when I’d next get the chance and it had been 18 hours since I had got up that morning by this point.

Boarding at Melbourne was nice, they have it set up so one bridge goes to door 1L and another to 2L, First and Business using door 1L. I’d been given 16A on the upper deck for this flight which must be one of the better business class seats on a Qantas 747 as it has the exit doors in front of it, ensuring plenty of room and an easy way to get out of the seat without having to climb over your neighbor in 16B.

Our departure time of 2250 came and went, there being a fuel pump problem that would need to be sorted for the HKG/LHR leg of the flight. We finally pushed back and were airborne at 0010 (0210 NZ time). While I was still a bit hungry I was also feeling quite tired by this point so passed on the full dinner option and had some crackers and cheese before trying to get some sleep. I have to say this would be one of the rougher flights I have been on, non-stop turbulence for hours which made getting any sleep for me at least quite difficult, plus the cabin was freezing, I ended up with my hoodie on over my head to try and stay warm.

The cabin crew on this leg were all very professional and helpful throughout the flight. I liked how if I asked for anything like a cup of tea they would bring that, and something extra, like a plate of biscuits.

About 2 hours out from Hong Kong breakfast was served where upon an announcement was made that the aircraft we were on would not be continuing on to LHR but that we would be changing planes with another QF flight coming in from London. I wondered if the fuel pump problem hadn’t been fixed in Melbourne as they had claimed it to be.

We landed in HKG around 0720 or 90 minutes late and on arrival could see the QF 747 we would be transferring to a few gates away. The usual performance to be re-screened in order to get back upstairs to the departure level and I headed to the joint QF/BA lounge. The lounge was packed, the toilets and bathrooms were in a bad state and there was very little in the way of food or drink on offer (not that I wanted anything at this point).

With there being no seats I decided to head back to the gate, where mass-confusion reined as it would appear that the ground staff were not aware of the change of aircraft for the two Qantas flights due to depart for LHR and MEL. Neither would it seem were half the passengers. What a zoo, I took a seat on the other side of the building and watched from a distance. I’d been on the go for well over 24 hours by this point with little sleep and was feeling a bit disorientated.

In due course boarding was commenced, the LHR flight first because we were behind schedule and I returned to my seat, 16A. The crew on this leg was great, relaxed but professional and made it all look easy, they were both from the UK and I wish I had got their names so I could have passed on a thankyou.

Just after 0900 local and we are up and away again for the last 13 hours through to LHR. The crew asked us to lower all the window shades (it was of course an all daylight flight to London) and another breakfast was served not long after takeoff. By this point I was feeling quite tired and thankfully the flight was pretty smooth so I got some sleep on this leg followed by watching a few movies.

At one point one of the FA’s mentioned she was making some of the snacks available on the menu and would I like anything, so I took her up on the offer and got a sandwich, which was pretty small but nice all the same.

A couple of hours out from London and lunch was served, again a nice meal before we finally arrived in London at 1430 local time, 1 hour late for this flight, 8 hours after I would have arrived had QF31 been on time. Interestingly enough QF31 did depart SYD that evening at 2230 and arrived into LHR at 1230, or two hours ahead of me.

On my return to New Zealand a letter with a travel voucher for $400 was waiting for me as way of an apology for any inconvenience the delay and re-route had caused. I figured they didn’t need to give me anything so it was a nice surprise.

Next up BMI from London to Amsterdam.

London – Amsterdam, BMI economy class

As so the great leveler, business class with frequent flyer status one day, discount economy nobody the next as I head back to LHR for a short flight to AMS with BMI.

Check in with BMI is a zoo, you queue to use the self service check-in machines then you queue again to check in your bag where they re-issue your boarding pass and change the seat you had selected at self check-in, the whole process taking 40 mins.

Anyway I get through that performance and then have the wait for a gate to be advised, then queue to enter the gate as they want to change peoples boarding passes again and reallocate seats, I ended up with my third different seat allocation, well whatever, its only an hour long flight.

The flight itself on an A319 was pretty non-descript, the main point of interest was watching the A380 from Singapore Airlines take off ahead off us, although I’d watched the same aircraft leave from Sydney a few days earlier this was a closer view, that plane is u-g-l-y.

During the flight the usual food for sale offerings were made, I bought a bottle of water as I had a really sore throat but otherwise left the food as it wasn’t very inviting. Landing in AMS was around 30 mins late but clearing customs was pretty quick and the bags were out not long after.

The train from the airport into the city is easy to use and cheap and takes you right to the heart of the city which is great.

Barcelona – London Stansted, easyJet

So the hop back to London. Ah yes, easyJet, read into what you will but I decided to approach this trip as a social experiment, if I and my bag got to London in one piece then whatever else happened along the way so be it.

Check-in was comparatively easy compared to the BMI experience, a 20 min queue, a very friendly check-in agent and I’m off upstairs to the gate. My flight was boarding from an area where all the passengers are bused to their aircraft, there were a number of easyJet flights all due to depart at the same time and just to confuse everyone they changed the gates at the last minute. This worked out pretty well for me as I had been sitting down and was miles away from the gate my flight was going to depart from, only to end up about 2 meters away from the new gate that was allocated to the flight.

After the ‘speedy-boarding’ call for people who had paid more I gather those of us with ‘A’ boarding passes were allowed on to the bus. A short (hot) ride in the bus to another (air)bus A319 which was equally as hot. 45 minutes later and we are still waiting for the other passengers to arrive, they finally do and as this is a full flight all the seats are taken, thankfully I’d got an isle seat near the back so had a bit of air coming in from the open rear door while we waited.

The flight itself dragged on a bit and yes the leg space is really tight but for a 2 hour flight it was okay and we arrived at Stansted 30 minutes late. Again the train from Stansted into the city was quick and easy to use and I was on it heading into London 45 mins after landing.

Next up London to Hong Kong, BA First Class.

London – Hong Kong, BA First.

The return to Auckland. Just I had turned into a pumpkin with no status on arrival at LHR three weeks before I entered LHR T5 and was, just as quickly, a prince again. BA, First Class to HKG.

Check in was interesting, no less than 3 people challenged me as to whether I was eligible to use the ‘First’ check-in area and none of them were particularly polite about it. Once I got to the check-in desk the guy who checked me in had his tie half undone and looked pretty uninterested and un-kept. I would have thought BA might be a little more selective of the people they placed on those check-in desks?

Next through security which was quick, although maybe the guy telling everyone not to pick up the trays that carry peoples bags and belongings through the x-ray machine might have been more helpful if he had pointed out where the trays automatically stop, rather than just yelling at everyone not to pick them up.

From reading on here I knew to turn right and head towards the doors that allow access to the Concorde room (CCR) where a BA staff member sitting behind a desk checked my boarding pass before allowing me entry to the lounge.

The lounge itself was reasonably busy so after booking a spa treatment I went to the restaurant for some dinner. I have to say the whole dining experience was pretty poor, there was only one guy working the place and he was far to busy with pretty much every booth filled with people wanting to dine.

The food was fine, if not pretty small portion wise but the dirty plates with finger marks it was served on and the cutlery that needed to be replaced because it had food still on it from a previous diner really let things down.

On leaving the dining area I grabbed a drink and went out on to the terrace area which overlooks the gates and T5B. A good selection of magazines and newspapers were available to choose from and it was a nice way to kill some time before my spa treatment, which was also very nice.

Around 2100 it became quite apparent the staff in the CCR wanted me to leave so they could go home themselves, as I was obviously the only person left in the lounge at that point. The cleaners working around me were none to subtle so I decided to head down to the gate.

My flight was departing from T5 B which requires a short ride in a train to the terminal and a couple of long escalator rides to the departure gates. T5B was pretty deserted when I got there, with only my flight and one other left to depart it that evening.

As the flight wasn’t yet boarding I took a seat to wait. I was holding my boarding pass and passport and the man sitting across from me suddenly said a little too loudly “2A, S**% that’s first class”. The conversation then progressed along the lines of -

Me “Well, yes,” (trying not to draw attention)
Man “S**%, that’s bloody flash”
Me “Um, I guess so, why, where are you sitting?”
Man “54H” (or whatever it was)
Me “Wow, row 54, that’s crazy! How many rows are back there?!”
Man “…open mouth…”
Me – exit stage left before he could reply. (I actually got up as I could see they were letting people on through the first/business class line for the flight so figured it was time to go).

I mean really, you have to have a bit of fun don’t you. He’ll be telling his mates for years about that moment, the guy he meet who had no idea about economy class.

On boarding through door 2L (Why did they build that terminal with only one air bridge per gate?) the cabin crew member walked me through the BA premium economy cabin to my seat in First.

As an observation it would seem to me that for some people the further forward in an aircraft they sit, the worse their behavior. I was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt/hoodie, clean, tidy, no rips (and probably with a combined cost of more than many suits), so why is it that a fellow passenger needs to make comment about ‘an upgraded passenger’ when I enter the cabin, while looking at me? It’s not the first time it’s happened. I guess for some 50 year old men it must be quite confusing to live in a world where you judge a person by their appearance at your peril. Hey buddy, 1A or 54H, we all end up standing around the same baggage carousel. You’re really not as important as you think you are. The FA and I shared a knowing look.

Anyway after sitting down I was offered a drink, PJ’s and a ‘wash bag’ which I accepted. On returning with my drink the FA said they hadn’t loaded any champagne glasses so he provided it in a wine glass instead. Now this will sound really weird, but for me half the fun of having a glass of champagne is the glass it is served in, I don’t drink much or often but was looking forward to that glass while enjoying the First surroundings, so I was a little disappointed, especially considering it wasn’t like we were leaving some backwater where it would be hard to source such glasses.

After a delay sitting on the aircraft for over an hour as they off-loaded a passenger we finally departed for Hong Kong just after 2320. Because we had been delayed on the ground dinner orders had been taken prior to take off ‘to speed things up when we get airborne’.

An announcement the IFE had been turned on was made, and as I was looking forward to watching a movie with dinner I went to select a film, no joy though, as it would seem was the case with everyone else trying to use the system. After a few minutes an announcement was made that the IFE would have to be restarted and this would take ‘approximately 30 minutes’. In the meantime the cabin lightly was turning on and off at random intervals including the two overhead lights controlled by each passenger at their seat.

Dinner was served but the only light available was from the little ‘bendy’ light on the side of the seat, the couple across from me were dining together but gave up because as the women said ‘its like being interrogated having that bendy light pointing in my face’.

To be quite honest I thought some of the business class meals I had had on Qantas flying to London were of a better quality and presented than what was served to me on this flight, certainly it wasn’t a stand out meal anyway.

Two hours into the flight I gave up waiting for the IFE to come on (it hadn’t been working at all for anyone up to this point) and put the seat flat to try and get some sleep. Unfortunately it was so hot in the cabin that I couldn’t get much more than a couple of hours sleep (although the other passengers seemed to do okay). The lights turning on and off at random intervals didn’t help either. In the end I decided to get up and had a chat with one of the FA’s as the IFE still wasn’t working. The FSD then advised he had set the IFE up so it played the standard offerings as AVOD wasn’t going to work but this should also deal with the lighting issue, so I went back and watched a couple of movies. The crew were good at ensuring I had whatever snacks or drinks I wanted during this period which was nice (I was the only one awake in the cabin).

BA’s non AVOD offering was pretty poor and didn’t tell you how long a movie had to go or how long ago it started so I ended up seeing parts of three movies.

About 3 hours out from Hong Kong the flight got quite rough and the seat belt sign was on more than it was off, as a result breakfast into Hong Kong was a rushed affair and I ended up having toast and a cup of tea about 30 minutes before landing, not the crews fault but I would of preferred something a bit more substantial.

We landed in Hong Kong 45 minutes late and even though my bag was tagged with a priority sticker it was one of the later ones to appear – at least it arrived which is the main thing I guess.

So impressions of BA First: The seat is pretty basic and looked a bit tired but the thing I enjoyed the most was the personal space and privacy of the cabin. The food was nothing special, the IFE was poor with no AVOD and the crew were at times wonderful and at other times indifferent.

I don’t think for the money I would pay the difference to travel First over Business again.

To come, Hong Kong – Auckland, Air New Zealand premium economy – or maybe not...

Great report jetkid. I agree the BA F food is uninspiring.

Enjoyed your trip report jetkid!

Make sure you send them an email to complain.
I just got a stack of miles for inop IFE in CW from LHR to JFK.

Nice report jetkid. As a young flyer who prefers comfort, I often travel in jeans and a hoddie or t-shirt (and am often unshaved as well) even when flying in the premium cabins. It was interesting to note that you and the FA shared that "knowing glance" as I feel I always get friendlier treatment when I am casueal then on the few occasions I have to fly in my suit for business reasons. Personally, I just chock up the remark from your fellow passenger to jealousy, I mean who wouldn't rather fly in comfort than in a suit to a business meeting.

The final leg, HKG/AKL
 

Hong Kong – Auckland, Air New Zealand premium economy – maybe not.

The final leg home, Hong Kong to Auckland and more fun and games. As I have to be out of my hotel by noon I decide to head to the Kowloon check-in at 1230 and get the train out to the airport, I figure a few hours to watch the planes and world go by won’t be a hardship.

I was looking forward to this flight as I was booked with Air New Zealand in premium economy and interested to try their product, plus I was keen to get home. On check-in though my plans went out the window, the start of the conversation went something along the lines of this

Check-in agent: ‘Sorry I can’t check you in today; your flight has been delayed until tomorrow’
Me: ‘Oh great, well I don’t have anywhere to stay; I guess you guys will have to sort that out’
Check-in agent: ‘No sorry we don’t deal with that, you will need to ring Air NZ’

And on it went from there. Eventually I got to speak to another agent who told me she could ‘probably get me on the CX flight at 1510’. I asked about the fare difference between what I had paid for premium economy and traveling in economy on CX, she said ‘No refund’ and then started talking to her colleague in their own language, nice.

In the end I decided it would be better to just get home at this point so agreed to travel on the CX flight to Auckland, after the agents spent 20 mins doing god knows what they then told me I had to hurry to the airport to make the flight. Overall my impression of the staff at Kowloon station is not a good one, I realise they are not Air NZ employees but they are their agents so it reflects badly on Air NZ.

After getting the train to the station (which is easy, quick and cheap) I went through security, interestingly enough I forgot I had a bottle of water in my carry on which they didn’t pull me up on, and the long walk to one of the far gates at HKG.

CX117 to Auckland is operated by an A340-300 and I had an isle seat near the rear of the aircraft with a school group and various small kids sitting around me, after First class on BA a few days before this was going to be a long 11 hours. On the ground the aircraft interior was very hot and I noticed a number of people complained, to no effect. I knew once we got up in the air the temperature would come down, as I’m sure the crew did so they didn’t do anything.

The flight left 30 minutes late and a very basic dinner offering was served about an hour after take off, I guess the menu is designed to cater for an Asian market so fair enough nothing appealed to me about what was on offer. Subsequently the lights were turned off but the next 7 hours through the night were impossible to get any sleep as all the school kids seemed to want to get up and down and turn their overhead lights on and off, I guess the were excited about their trip.

Breakfast was again so unappealing I left it at one bite, even though I was hungry by this point. It wasn’t just that I was use to meals from business or first but I’ve had far better offerings in economy on Air NZ or Qantas Trans-Tasman than what was served on this flight.

We finally landed at a windy and cold Auckland around 6am (on what turned out to be the coldest day of the year in Auckland to date), which was a bit of a shock from the warmth of Hong Kong and a European summer, still it was nice to be home.