Kiwi Flyer

Emirates
First Class menu
Sydney to Auckland
March 2009

Bar Service

Aperitifs

A selection of fruit juices and soft drinks

Bacardi Rum, Campari, Gin, Jack Daniels, Rye, Sweet or Dry Sherry, Sweet or Dry Vermouth, Vodka, Scotch Whisky, Malt Whisky

A selection of international beers

Cocktails

Black Russian, Bloody Mary, Bucks Fizz, Champagne Cocktail, Cosmopolitan (US routes), Fantasy Island, Jumeirah Delight (non alcoholic), Kir Royal, Manhattan, Martini Cocktail Classic, Screwdriver, Vodka Martini

Wines

A selection of fine wines from internationally renowned vineyards of the old and new world

Champagne Brut

Liqueuers

Baileys Irish Cream, premium Cognac, Cointreau, Drambuie, Late Bottled Vintage Port, Tia Maria


Brunch

Juice

Fresh smoothie or juice
a selection of fresh juices and home-made smoothies

Fruit

Fresh seasonal fruit

Salad

Seasonal salad
served with a choice of dressings

Main Course

Hot selection
a variety of main course items which include grilled veal chipolatas, tender chicken, grilled beef fillet with veal jus, Swiss cheese omelette, fresh potato roestis, a creamy mushroom ragout, assorted seasonal vegetables, buttered broccolini florets and braised fennel

Cheese selection
accompanied by stuffed green olives, crudites, dried fruit loaf and fresh grapes

Dessert

White chocolate bavarois
a smooth white chocolate bavarois with a hint of rose water served in a delicate dark chocolate cup

Bread

Bread basket
a variety of freshly baked breads, croissants and breakfast pastries, served with butter and preserves

Hot Beverages

Tea
Ceylon, China, Earl Grey, Camomile

Coffee
freshly brewed, decaffeinated, espresso and cappuccino

Chocolates




First Class Wine List

Champagne

Dom Perignon Vintage 2000
The very fresh and youthful millenium vintage of Dom Pérignon is soft and approachable. Persistent tiny bubbles race up to the top of your glass, assisting in the release of the subtle aromas of hazelnut, lemon cream, pear and red apple. Ultra fine, with a very active bead that just floats across the palate. Elegant, unobtrusive and balanced. The finish is delightful with lingering stonefruit flavours.

White Wine

Meursault, 2006 Bouchard Pere & Fils
The opulence of both the Meursault appellation and the 2006 vintage show clearly in this example. Full, rich fruit around a mineral core with a super length for one so young. The village of Meursault, just south of Burgundy's capital Beaune, continues to make some of the worlds most jaw droppingly good dry white wines.

Staete Landt, 2007 Sauvignon Blanc
Staete Landt winery gets its title from the old Dutch name that Abel Tasman gave to New Zealand when he discovered the land in 1642. The 2007 is perfumed with aromas of passionfruit and gooseberries. On the palate the wine is full bodied with a real concentration of flavour and aroma, a passionfruit character is dominant, backed by subtle mineral and spicy, dry hay characters with a creamy almost nutty complexity and a crisp ripe attractive acidity.

Red Wine

Château La Lagune, 2000 Haut Medoc
This fine Classified Growth shows perfectly how the fabled 2000 vintage is beginning to mature. Befitting a hot summer and autumn, the millenium vintage was upfront with fruit and laden with soft tannins. As Cantemerle approaches full maturity the early primary fruit flavours have morphed into a more subtle complex and richer style. Coffee, cinnamon, leather and vanilla with ripe blackcurrant at the core, rounded by a graceful finish.

Vabby Lake Vineyard, 2005 Pinot Noir
Vabby Lake is the leading botique winery on the Mornington Peninsula with a focus on producing benchmark examples of the capricious Pinot Noir. The results are amongst the finest in Australia. The 2005 is dominated by dark berry fruits with hints of plum, strawberries and spices with astute oak. They effortlessly fuse on the palate, giving a wine that is sweet and silky with soft tannins.

Mungo Park Shiraz, 2006, Colonial Estate, Barossa Valley, Australia
Produced from 80-100 year old gnarled Shiraz vines that make up this Single Vineyard in the cooler climate of the Moppa sub region of the famed Barossa Valley. This provides the wine with some intensity and vivacity. Mungo Park, named after the 18th century Scottish explorer, is not just full-bodied and rich, but has fresh definition. The real beauty of this wine (of which we've snaffled virtually all of this vintage) is how brilliantly drinkable it is.

Dessert

Chateau Guiraud, 1999 Premier Cru Sauternes
One of the great vintages of Sauternes. An opulent and exotic wine, with beautiful aromatic intensity. Soft and honeyed in the mouth, with a concentration of orange marmalade, melted butter and cinnamon. Much freshness and good acidity. Absolutely delicious with pudding, cheese or sipping on its own. The myriad of complex flavours linger for, seemingly, an eternity.

Dow's, Vintage 1985
The 1985 vintage is a great classic. The nose carries complex, forward aromas of round black fruit. The palate is smoothly textured with a streak of pure black fruit and nicely integrated alcohol. Some soft tannins show through on the finish, which has a superbly warming effect with a lovely length.


Tea Menu

Mandarin
A single origin Ceylon tea, grown at 5000ft above sea level. Medium strength, gently combined with a sweet and juicy Mandarin flavour, offers a tea with zest and a slightly sweet finish. Refreshing and energizing after a meal or as an accompaniment to cake and sweet pastry.

Cardamom
A single origin Ceylon tea, grown at 5000ft above sea level. Medium-bodied, fused with spicy cardamom, produces a reviving and aromatic brew. The slightly raw and sweet flavour produces a medium strength tea with a pleasant finish. An aromatic accompaniment to meat, rich cakes and pastries.

Ceylon Supreme
A rich and full bodied Ceylon tea from the Dimbula region, grown at 4000ft above sea level. It is ideal if you enjoy your tea with milk as its strength allows it to take warm dairy milk, and retain its personality. Recommended as a breakfast tea, and also good with rich foods and red meats.

Earl Grey
A full-bodied low elevation single origin Ceylon tea, grown at sea level. It has a rich and robust character combined with Bergamot flavour to produce authentic Earl Grey Tea. Its strength brings a perfect balance between the tea and fragrant bergamot. Earl Grey is an all day tea, recommended especially as a palate cleanser in between courses or at the end of a heavy meal.

Darjeeling
From the foothills of the Himalayas, the Darjeeling region borders Nepal. This tea is light and bright with a characteristic Muscatel note. Its uniqueness comes from the combination of climate and soil which produces the prized Darjeeling character. It is delightful as an evening tea, and also as an accompaniment to light desserts and scones.

Decaffeinated
A medium strength teat with a gentle character. Pleasing at all times of the day and delightful with a touch of milk and honey if sweetness is desired.

Pure Camomile
A gentle and relaxing herb. The flower of the Camomile offers the most refined aroma, taste and texture. Brewing the pure flowers therefore produces a surpassingly light, golden yellow infusion which is mild yet defined by a fresh, green apple note. It is a delicious, caffeine-free accompaniment for apple pie, cream cheese cakes and is also an ideal evening tea.

Naturally Spicy Berry
An aromatic fruity infusion combining a tangy raspberry, with strawberry, and a touch of spice offering a gentle yet complex herbal drink. A delightful infusion for the afternoon or evening.

Vanilla
A single origin, high elevation, Ceylon tea. The tea has a characteristically light, bright personality, in a deliciously gentle marriage with fragrant vanilla flavour. It is a medium strength tea with wonderful aroma. Recommended as a refreshing afternoon tea, and as an accompaniment to mild cheeses.

Ginger
Grown at high elevation, this Ceylon tea is of medium body. Enhanced by the warming aroma and flavour of spicy ginger, the combination of the two herbs is an ancient one. Based on an ayurvedic tonic where the goodness in tea combines with the benefits of ginger to produce a sparkling, all natural hot tea. Ginger tea is recommended with spicy food, smoked cheese and orange dark chocolate.

Jasmine Green
A mild green tea from China. With traditional, natural Jasmine flavour, the tea is perfumed using petals of Jasmine, a process several thousand years old. Uplifting and aromatic. This tea is a delicious palate cleanser after strong tasting or rich food.

Natural Green
A pure green tea from China. This tea has hints of herb, a touch of spice and a pleasingly mild finish. It produces a lightly spicy and smoky taste. Recommended as an accompaniment to heavy meats or grilled fish, also enjoyable at the end of a meal as a digestif.

Kiwi Flyer

Emirates announced a double bonus miles promotion after I'd bought the ticket but with no purchase date restrictions. The promotion kicked in between the AKL-SYD and SYD-AKL flights, and bonus is greater of the offer or online booking bonus (in this case offer is higher). Unfortunately Skywards didn't credit online booking bonus for AKL-SYD, and so yet again I am chasing up missing/incorrect mileage credit. A downside of flying so many different airlines (and having so many different FFPs to credit to) is I can't pool the errors as much. Which reminds me ... I'm still chasing miscredits from last April and need to follow up (again) on.

Ah, the life of a frequent flyer mileage addict.

Moomba

Tell me about it

Nice report Kiwi.

Kiwi Flyer

Interlude

The next bit of the trip has been changed so many times since I initially booked that I'm having trouble keeping straight the current itinerary. Some people know I have a multi-page word document listing future flights and hotel stays. In case of problems I retain the originally ticketed itinerary information as well as the updates. The pages for this trip are full of strike-outs for old info that has been changed.

There are multiple tickets involved. The core round the world ticket has been rerouted 3 times so far with only a handful of the original sectors remaining. Even since I locked in my routing several months ago the airlines have made many changes. The perils of over-optimizing for comfort, service, etc too far in advance is that some changes out of your control may result in unrealised expectations.

Over a few weeks of travel I have
+ 10 flights which have changed a/c type (mostly to a worse configuration comfort-wise)
+ 4 flight re-timings which make comfortable connections slightly risky
+ 1 flight re-timing which made a comfortable connection excessively long
+ 6 other flight re-timings
+ 4 flights where I have been moved by the airline out of the seat I had pre-selected (not counting flights with different config due to change of a/c type)
+ 0 involuntary re-routes (at time of writing)

I'm looking forward to more longhaul flying. By my standards this should be fairly relaxing. By non-FTer standards it is still a crazy itinerary. I only have 4 nights at hotels - every other night is spent in the air including a number of redeyes. Through careful scheduling I also have several full day or half+ days on the ground to maximise my time.

Kiwi Flyer

Skywards have fixed up the mileage credit - yay.

Kiwi Flyer

While I wait for my ride I've been looking at "plan B" options. In the event of misconnect some alternatives are relatively simple while others require several extra flights and hours more flying. There are also a couple of good opportunities to switch to earlier flights.

Kiwi Flyer

AUCKLAND to SYDNEY (AKL-SYD) on Qantas 767-300 in economy business class

It was my usual routine for an early departure. Awake at OMG o'clock (3am today) to the sound of my alarm blaring. It can't be time already? I only got to sleep a couple of hours ago. For the previous few days I'd had a tendency to switch off the alarm and go back to sleep for a couple more hours. While that felt tempting, missing the first flight of several across multiple tickets would be a problem so I forced my eyes open, squinted at the alarm. Dang. It is time to get moving.

The next 30 minutes were a well-practised blur of activity as I packed, showered, dressed, saw to the rubbish, paid a couple of urgent bills and generally got ready. When I'm in auto-mode like this I am nice and calm, focussed on doing everything I need to and being out the door on time. It isn't until halfway on the drive to the airport that I start thinking "did I get everything?", "I don't remember turning the tap off", and similar thoughts. Oh well, I have much the same thoughts every trip and so far it has all worked out fine. Time to relax.

On the drive every time I started dozing we hit red traffic lights and I was awoken. A fairly quick drive this morning, as expected at this time of day, but all the out of sequence traffic lights added about 10 minutes. We pull up at the curb opposite the premium Qantas check in area. As I stride to the desk I noticed that the Qantas premium immigration desk is manned nice and early today. I hand over my passport for scanning and pull my pre-prepared departure form out of my pocket while I await the boarding passes. I am jolted out of my eyes-open slumber when the agent tells me he cannot find my e-ticket. I thought I misheard but no, it seems I have to go to the ticket desk out of the lobby and opposite the main check in area to sort it out. The ticket desk is not yet open and already there is a moderate queue.

Fortunately for me the ticket office opens soon after, and before I nod off to sleep. The people in front of me are all dealt with quickly. For example "when you missed your flight last night you were rebooked onto this morning's flight, just go straight to check in".

It is my turn. Steeling myself for problems I was happy to be told straight away, there is no ticket problem Kiwi Flyer, I can see your upgrade has cleared and just go back to the premium check in.

I'd requested an upgrade for the onward flight from Sydney, so it seemed to me some glitch in the processing had made the ticket look funny in the system. Back inside the premium lobby I was quickly checked in for both flights, processed at immigration and back outside heading towards the escalators to departures before I realised where I was.

I grabbed some spare departure cards on the way to replace the stash I had taken off me recently by an over-zealous immigration officer. It was then that I looked at my boarding passes. 1 for row 2 and 1 for row 24. Tired as I was, I immediately recognised a discrepancy from what I was expecting to see. However in my addled state I thought row 24 yes is forward economy to Sydney and row 2 was for my onward flight - woohoo an inexplicable double-upgrade to first. I pondered for a moment. This doesn't seem right. Not only are double upgrades rare as hens teeth, but the onward flight load appeared very light when I'd checked it out several hours prior, thus no particular reason for an op-up. The cogs in my head ticked over for a bit. I took another look at the boarding passes. The light went off.

I had been op-upped for the flight to Sydney as well as clearing my supported upgrade for the onward flight. Okay, first on the onward flight would be better but still this is good. Anyone observing may have been wondering who this idiot was who walked out of the premium lobby, made an unsteady path towards the escalator, stopped to grab extra departure cards, took a few more steps, stopped again, then starting walking on with a big grin. Oh what do I care? My strategising over flights had paid off this time with much more comfort than I'd paid for.

Kiwi Flyer

I step of the escalator to the sight of an enormous immigration line backed up all the way to the top of the escalator. Because there is no LAN flight today immigration hasn't opened yet. With all the airlines tell people to check in so early, together with a lot of departures before about 0700, the result is unsurprising. Having pre-cleared immigration I can take the shorter line to the left.

At 0440 immigration opens and we surge forward. I did my usual thing to avoid the "random" explosives check and pat down and headed for the lounge, chatted to the agent on duty for a bit and then went to my usual spot in the business centre so I could deal with some urgent messages I ran out of time to do the previous day. I also checked loads - yup oversold in economy to Sydney, business not too full, next onward flight fairly light, subsequent 2 totally full, etc.

Boarding was called and I walked on autopilot to the gate. I helped a fellow pax lift her heavy (but small) carry-on into the overhead bin and deposited mine in beside it. While boarding continued we were offerred sparkling wine, juice or water; then a DVD menu, a meal menu (see next post), newspapers and a hot towel. We took off essentially on time.

I asked for a DVD player. The main screen movie was Last Chance Harvey instead of the scheduled Marley & Me, due to the Marley & Me tape being broken, followed by Mythbusters. The DVD menu consisted of

Last Chance Harvey
Defiance
Yes Man
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire
Burn After Reading
Australia
Madagascar : Escape 2 Africa
Q Comedy (2 1/2 Men, Fawlty Towers, The Simpsons, M*A*S*H, Mr Bean, Family Guy)
Q Variety (Joan Sutherland : The Reluctant Prima Donna, Mythbusters : The James Bond Special, The Dark Side of Fame : Mickey Rourke)
Documentaries (Two in the Top End, The Big Bang Machine, Secret Wilderness : Japan, Versailles Stories)

Australian arrival cards were handed out by no express immigration cards for business class or high status passengers. A bit disappointing that Qantas has essentially stopped doing this for trans-Tasman.

I watched a movie, had some fruit & water for breakfast, and dozed. Another hot towel just before landing - so late in the flight that the crew had no time to collect the used towels. We dog-legged to the south and landed to the north on the eastern runway. No views of the city as fog and low cloud obscured almost everything, with some glimpses of Botany Bay as we flew over it.

Eastern runway at Sydney means longish taxi, although not as long as if we'd landed to the south. It was a slow ride to the terminal with other aircraft looming in the fog as we passed on opposite headings along taxiways. We had a hold for 10 minutes or so because our early arrival time meant the allocated gate was still in use. This is a common occurrence on this early Qantas flight.

While we waited I noticed the flight show on the main screen had the wrong time - it appeared to have not been updated for the change in daylight saving end date from a year or two ago. It also showed a flight length of 1355 miles, not the 1343 miles used for frequent flyer credit. With dozens of trips to Sydney this adds up to a reasonable sum.

Kiwi Flyer

Qantas
Business Class menu
New Zealand to Australia
April 2009

Breakfast

Orange Juice

Seasonal Fresh Fruit Juice

Your choice of :

Continental Breakfast

Fresh Seasonal Fruit

Yoghurt

Martin Borough Muesli
or
Cereal Selection

Warm Bakery

or

Hot Breakfast

Fresh Seasonal Fruit

Bacon and Egg Pie accompanied with Roasted Tomato, Sauteed Vegetables and Haloumi

or

Corn and Cheddar Cheese Fritters served with Tomato, Mushrooms and Wilted Spinach

Warm Bakery


Beverages

Champagne

Qantas is proud to feature Premium Non-Vintage Champagne from the most respected houses in France.

Australian and New Zealand Wine

For your enjoyment we have a selection of light and full bodied, premium white and red wines onboard today. Your Flight Attendant will advise you on the selection.

Aperitifs

Campari

Spirits

Bacardi White Rum

Chivas Regal 12yo Scotch Whisky

Inner Circle (Green Dot) Dark Rum 57.2%

Tanqueray London Dry Gin

The Glenlivet 12yo Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Wild Turkey 86.8º Bourbon

Wyborowa Polish Vodka

Beers

Hahn Premium Light

Heineken

James Squire Golden Ale

Victoria Bitter

Non Alcoholic

Apple Juice

Orange Juice

Spicy Tomato Juice

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

Fortifieds

Penfolds Bluestone 10yo Tawny

Baileys of Glenrowan Founder Liqueur Muscat

Cognac

Martell VSOP

Kiwi Flyer

In transit in Sydney

It was a very short walk from gate to international transfers. Dang - no passengers and even walking slowly I'm the first connecting passenger of our flight. This means I should get the random security treatment. I can't dawdle sufficiently that someone overtakes me but another passenger almost catches me up. As I resign myself to an explosives check and patdown, putting my liquids baggy back in my carry-on I notice the officers on duty are familiar. One winks at me and I walk on by while they nab the guy behind me instead. Yay.

Up to the first class lounge. Once again the doorman stops me from getting my boarding pass out with a "welcome back kiwi flyer, please no need for me to see your boarding pass".

I had a couple of glasses of bubbly in the name of research. Today's offerings are Moet, Deveraux and Veuve. (Sorry no lounge menu this time.) Then some water and I try to distract myself from falling asleep by doing a reasonable amount of work.

Kiwi Flyer

SYDNEY to HONG KONG (SYD-HKG) on Qantas 747-400 in premium economy business class

When the flight was called in the lounge I finished my drink, logged off and headed for the gate as I'd noted little time between first and final calls. However at the gate boarding had been halted with long lines of passengers queued up. Boarding resumed a few minutes later.

The load wasn't high so the middle seat was empty. The seat already had a menu on it. Once I'd put my carryon in the overhead bin I was offered a pre-departure drink, a choice of water, juice or rose bubbles. Some newspapers were later offered (but no magazines), and a hot towel.

After take-off it took almost an hour before any drink offer came. Why should it take so long when the flight load was relatively low?

The IFE was switched on shortly after take-off, but locked on several Qantas promos, a 9 news show, some more Qantas promos. By the time we were finally allowed to use it we'd been in the air over an hour, and I sure noticed the contrast with Air New Zealand's gate to gate IFE which starts as soon as you reach your seat on boarding. Most times I wouldn't have been too bothered, but today I wanted to have lunch, see a movie and then sleep. Normally I'd finish lunch and the movie around the same time, not today.

MilesDependent

Your reports are strangley addictive. Where is he going next? I have to know. I must admit I am becoming a big fan of your reports. You are definitely nuts with the amount of turn-arounds you do - I would be physically dead if I tried anything like what you do. I would be dragged off a flight around the half way point in a body bag

Kiwi Flyer

Post lunch, water bottles were handed out and as usual you could tell the first time flying Qantas skybed business seat passengers as they look around for somewhere to put the bottle. Incidentally I'm amazed so few airlines do this - have a water bottle holder that is - in their premium seats. I can think of LH F and QF. NZ C has an elastic strap to hold a water bottle but this isn't quite as convenient because you need two hands to put a bottle into the strap vs one-handed bottle drop.

Sleep won out over seeing the movie to the end and I napped for a while. A little over an hour before arrival a light refreshment was served, and the IFE switched off. So the 8 1/2 hour flight yielded about 6 hours worth of IFE.

Service was mixed. Sometimes great, but then offset by the crew member who forgot to ask if I wanted a drink at lunch, not once, not twice, but for 3 courses. By the third time even his colleague was getting grumpy at him for forgetting so much.

We were warned the landing may be bumpy due to strong easterlies blowing over the hill and across the runway, however it was a smooth approach and landing. Not much view though due to scattered low clouds and haze. We had a short taxi to our gate at the end of the pier.

Kiwi Flyer

Qantas
Business Class menu
Sydney to Hong Kong
April 2009

Lunch

Our extensive Rockpool designed menu allows you to enjoy a completely personalised dining experience. You can choose the full menu after take-off or our Express meal is available at any time.

Entree

Chinese Style Hot and Sour Soup with Bamboo

Main Courses

Pan Fried Salmon with Beetroot Relish, Cannellini Puree and Green Beans

Confit of Duck with Caramelised Parsnips and Warm Endive Salad

Beef Fillet with Asian Mushroom Ragout, Hokkien Noodles and Bok Choy

Green Leaf Salad with Herb Vinaigrette

Dessert

Seasonal cheese hand-selected by Calendar Cheese Company served with accompaniments

Nice Cream Vanilla and Quince Ice Cream with Fig Compote

Sliced Fresh Fruit

Chocolates

Valrhona Chocolates

Paton’s Macadamia Chocolates

Express Lunch

To assist in providing you with a flexible dining experience, choose the following menu as an express meal after take-off or nominate your preferred time to dine later in the flight.

Chinese Style Hot and Sour Soup with Bamboo

Smoked Tarragon Chicken Salad with Mayonnaise Dressing

Green Leaf Salad with Herb Vinaigrette

Refreshment

Enjoy a range of snacks and drinks at any time throughout your flight. Your Flight Attendant will be pleased to prepare your selection or simply snack from our inflight bar.

Toasted Flat Bread with Roast Beef, Emmental, Slow Roasted Tomatoes and Radicchio

Stir Fried Chicken in XO Sauce with Capsicums, Black Fungi and Fragrant Rice

Fresh Whole Fruit

Mother Meg’s White Chocolate and Macadamia Biscuits

Cheese and Biscuits

Chocolate Bars

Nice Cream Ice Cream Tubs


Beverages

Champagne

Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve

Australian Wine

For your enjoyment we have a selection of light and full bodied, premium white and red wines onboard today. Your Flight Attendant will advise you on the selection.

Aperitifs

Campari

Spirits

Bacardi White Rum

Chivas Regal 12yo Scotch Whisky

Inner Circle (Green Dot) Dark Rum 57.2%

Plymouth The Smooth English Gin

The Glenlivet 12yo Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Wild Turkey 86.8º Bourbon

Wyborowa Polish Vodka

Beers

Hahn Premium Light

Heineken

James Squire Golden Ale

Victoria Bitter

Non Alcoholic

Apple Juice

Orange Juice

Spicy Tomato Juice

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

Baileys of Glenrowan Founder Liqueur Muscat

Cognac

Martell VSOP

Kiwi Flyer

MilesDependent - thanks.

Hong Kong in transit

I had a long transit in Hong Kong for a few reasons. Separate tickets meant I wanted to have a decent buffer, the most practical connection to later flights was on a red-eye from Hong Kong, which in turn saves me a night in a hotel.

Originally I'd intended a rather different routing but circumstances change and I changed in line. I planned to leave the airport and head into the city - after all I have lots of time and I wasn't even sure I'd be able to check in for my onward flight.

However during the flights up to Hong Kong I'd started to come down with a cold and decided running around Hong Kong may not be the best idea. Instead perhaps I could drown the cold in a lounge - of which I had several available to me?

I was in no particular hurry off the Qantas flight but still made the immigration/transit area ahead of the hordes.

There was a small queue at the transfer desk. The agent was slow but methodical, unfailingly polite and explained lounge and mileage earning aspects. I was asked if I wanted a window or aisle seat and got my choice. I was asked for my Sydney to Hong Kong boarding pass to allow him to enter the transit information. I almost forgot to ask for the BP back.

A very short queue at the nearby security and up to departures level. I had access to at least 5 different lounges. For a brief moment I thought about lounge hopping, but decided against it and headed to the best lounge option according to FT wisdom.