I’m often asked about award space on Qantas between the US and Australia. They’re one of only two airlines offering a first class product between the US and Australia, and there’s no doubt their product is heaps better than United’s. But is finding award space on them in first class downright impossible?

I just did a quick little test and searched award space on them in first class between Los Angeles and Sydney/Melbourne, which are their two A380 routes to the US. Here are the dates I found available (and only two of those dates had two first class seats):

Los Angeles to Melbourne: August 13, March 4
Los Angeles to Sydney: none

Melbourne to Los Angeles: none
Sydney to Los Angeles: February 19, March 11, March 12, March 18, March 19, March 27

So is first class award availability on Qantas a myth? There’s no doubt it’s really, really difficult to come across, but I’d go with no, based on the above.

There are a few things to understand about how they release award space, which make them quite different than other carriers. First of all, unlike many other carriers they won’t release award space close to departure just because their cabins are empty. Many carriers, like Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa, release almost all their first class seats close to departure. Not Qantas. For example, take a look at tonight’s Los Angeles to Sydney flight:

Even though it has at least nine first class seats left for sale, there’s no award space. The same goes for the flight on Monday, which also has at least nine first class seats left for sale:

So unlike with other carriers there’s no hope in “holding out” and hoping they release more space.

Does that mean it’s impossible to find award space less than 11 months out (and we’ll get into actually finding award space 11 months out in a moment). In my experience, no. If somebody cancels an award seat with them it always goes back into award inventory, in my experience. This means that if somebody snagged an elusive first class award seat and decides to cancel closer to departure, I find that the seat goes back into award inventory, even if other factors have changed (unlike other airlines, where that often doesn’t happen, especially if there’s a long period between when you book and when you cancel). And that’s the reason it’s probably worth monitoring for availability almost up until the departure date, because if someone cancels an award, that seat will more than likely go back into inventory.

But how do you snag seats when the window opens? Are they in reality releasing first class award seats a year out, and people are just snagging them at midnight the night they become available? The short answer is no. They’re not releasing first class award space on a majority of their flights, though when they do, they’re almost always snagged within hours of being released.

But if you’re redeeming American miles you’re at a bit of a disadvantage to begin with. American only has access to Qantas award space ~331 days out, while members of other programs, like British Airways and Qantas, get access to space earlier.

For example, Qantas has already released award space for two between Los Angeles and Melbourne on April 7, 2014 (as shown below on both the British Airways website and ExpertFlyer), though it’ll be over a week before AAdvantage members can snag that space.

The problem is that it’s a lot more expensive to book through British Airways or Qantas than through American. For example, a one-way first class award between Los Angeles and Melbourne would cost you 72,500 AAdvantage miles plus $2.50, while the same award would cost you 150,000 British Airways Avios plus $430.50 in taxes/fuel surcharges.

So if you do have hopes of snagging Qantas first class using American miles the key is to start looking more than 331 days out. Use ExpertFlyer, the Qantas website, or the British Airways website to look at availability. If you find it, cross your fingers and hope that members of other programs don’t snag it. Then exactly 331 days out be there the minute the space is released to American. I don’t know at what time that is, but refresh your screen every five minutes that day if you have to. I’ve found this to be just about the only award in the world where it’s crucial to book the second it becomes available.

And if all else fails, keep in mind that ExpertFlyer will let you set availability alerts for Qantas first class award space, if you want to hold out hope…

Posted on May 2nd, 2013 by lucky
Filed under: Advice, American, Awards, Qantas | 44 Comments »

I asked you guys what you’d like to read about, so this post is in response to a question posted there. I’ll address as many of the questions as I can in the coming weeks. Feel free to keep adding to the list and I’ll use it as a basis for future posts.

Reader AJK requested the following:

Your breakdown and opinion of the top 5 *hard* products in F.

Ah, hard products, my favorite! Service and food can vary from flight to flight, while the “hard” product remains the same. I’ll define hard product a bit different than most for the purposes of this post. For me hard product includes the seat, entertainment, and aircraft amenities. Basically everything that’s constant from flight to flight. Service and food can vary, so that’s what I consider to be the “soft” aspect of the flight.

With that in mind, here are my five favorite first class hard products in order:

Singapore Suites Class

This is probably no surprise, but Singapore Suites is my favorite product in the world, which is only found on Singapore’s Airbus A380s. It’s located on the lower deck, making the cabin a bit more spacious than the airlines that put first class on the upper deck, as that cabin is narrower.

Not only is the cabin extremely spacious, but I find the colors and design to be elegant and soothing. Beyond that, the KrisWorld entertainment system offers one of the most extensive in-flight entertainment selections of any airline.

Ironically enough, given how over the top Singapore usually is, the plane lacks amenities other than the seats themselves. There are no onboard showers, bars, or massive lavatories, as some other airlines offer on their Airbus A380s. Then again, Singapore does have the only double bed in the sky, so that more than makes up for any deficiencies.

Etihad First Class

While I have somewhat mixed feelings about Etihad as a whole (their service is hit or miss and lounge isn’t that great), their first class seat is simply phenomenal. It’s a fully enclosed product and I find the design to be surprisingly soothing and low key for a Middle Eastern airline.

Their bedding and entertainment system are top notch as well, so it’s an all around great product.

Emirates First Class

On one hand I feel bad including Emirates on this list, since their product is so uncomfortably blingy that you can’t help but just not feel worthy… and feel like an Arabian Prince and Flavor Flav got together to design it.

Their Airbus A380 first class is on the upper deck, so the cabin isn’t quite as spacious as you’ll find on the airlines offering first class on the lower deck. The first class cabin is also quite large with 14 seats.

And while I don’t find the seat itself to be all that massive or spacious, everything around it sure is an experience, from the vanity mirror staring at you the whole flight, to the in-suite room service phone. Their ICE entertainment system also has one of the most extensive libraries of any airline.

Emirates also deserves some bonus points for their onboard shower and bar, both things that make them totally worthy, even if we aren’t.

Qantas First Class

Qantas has one of the most unique first class seat designs on their Airbus A380. Unlike every other airline they didn’t go for an enclosed suite or the typical forward facing seat design, but instead all their seats are angled towards the windows when in the flat position.

The cabin colors are pleasant, the entertainment system is quite good, and they hands down have the best bedding in the airline industry. It’s indescribably good.

Lufthansa 747-400 First Class

I can’t in good conscience leave out the only airline that has a dedicated seat and bed for first class passengers.

Lufthansa’s 747-400s feature eight first class seats on the upper deck, each of which consists of both a seat and bed right next to it. So not only is it awesome to have your own bed, but you really can’t beat an upper deck cabin with at most seven other passengers.

Now, at times I feel the execution of the product isn’t perfect. For example, the TV doesn’t swivel towards the bed, so it’s tough to watch TV from bed. Similarly I wish the seat reclined a bit more. But this is a revolutionary product and unbeatable for getting a good night of sleep.

What are your favorite first class products?

Posted on February 18th, 2013 by lucky
Filed under: Advice, Emirates, Etihad, Lufthansa, Qantas, Singapore | 50 Comments »

Back in September Qantas and Emirates announced a huge new joint venture that would see the two airlines operating nearly 100 flights a week between Australia and Dubai. This was pretty big news given that Qantas literally kicked their alliance and joint venture partner British Airways to the curb (or as my friends on the other side of the pond would say, kerb) in favor of Emirates, which seemed to be the start of an out-of-alliance partnership trend we’re seeing right now.

Anyway, what this joint venture essentially equated to is Qantas dumping their “Kangaroo route” flights, whereby their flights from Australia to London were routed via Singapore. Instead they’re routing them through Dubai, with Emirates picking up many of Qantas’ passengers in Dubai and flying them to destinations in Europe.


Emirates first class lounge in Dubai for Qantas passengers

These flights are scheduled to start as of March 31, 2013, and it’s worth noting that they’ve now been loaded and are bookable.

The flight schedules for the Qantas flights are as follows:

QF1 Sydney to Dubai departing at 5:05PM and arriving at 12:35AM (+1 day)
QF1 Dubai to London departing at 2:05AM and arriving at 6:35AM

QF9 Melbourne to Dubai departing at 4:25PM and arriving at 11:25PM
QF9 Dubai to London departing at 1:00AM and arriving at 5:30AM

QF2 London to Dubai departing at 9:30PM and arriving at 7:20AM (+1 day)
QF2 Dubai to Sydney departing at 9:20AM and arriving at 6:10AM (+1 day)

QF10 London to Dubai departing at 10:30PM and arriving at 8:20AM (+1 day)
QF10 Dubai to Melbourne departing at 9:50AM and arriving at 6:15AM (+1 day)

Anyway, this is worth noting for a couple of reasons:

  • Qantas will no longer be flying between London and Singapore, which is a big loss since their Airbus 380s are much more comfortable than British Airways’ 747s on the route, in my opinion.
  • This new route will be a great way to fly between London to Dubai. Right now only British Airways operates this route, so not only does Qantas have a better product, but if you’re redeeming American AAdvantage miles there are no fuel surcharges on Qantas, while there are on British Airways.


Qantas Airbus 380 first class

So far Qantas hasn’t loaded much award availability into the calendar yet. I see maybe one or two days a month with first class award space, but then again that’s not a lot more space than I saw on the London to Australia (via Singapore) route back in the day either.

As a reminder, for those of you looking to redeem American AAdvantage miles, here are the relevant mileage costs for travel between Europe and the Middle East, travel between the Middle East and Australia, and travel between Europe and Australia:

Posted on January 24th, 2013 by lucky
Filed under: Emirates, Qantas | 11 Comments »

A couple of days ago Qantas announced their biggest airline partnership yet, whereby they’re entering a 10-year agreement with Emirates. This comes at the expense of their joint business with British Airways, which they’re terminating as of March 31, 2013.

The practical implications here are that Qantas currently has daily Airbus 380 service from from Melbourne and Sydney to London via Singapore (I flew this service last year), and will instead be routing those flights via Dubai. In the past most passengers took the Melbourne/Sydney to London flights all the way through and connected on British Airways from there, though I suspect with the new partnership a lot more passengers will be getting off in Dubai and taking a connection on Emirates straight to their final destination in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

This will come at the expense of Qantas’ Singapore hub, as they’ll now just be focused on operating flights directly between Australia and Asia, as opposed to having them for the purposes of connections. They’ll also be dropping their Singapore to Frankfurt service as of next year.

Lastly, Emirates’ and Qantas’ frequent flyer programs will be aligned and reciprocal benefits will be offered, though we don’t know to what degree yet.

I find this decision really interesting. For the past 10+ years we’ve seen the airlines largely dump partnerships in favor of alliances. That’s not to say there aren’t still partnerships (like what United has with Qatar, American has with Etihad, etc.), but usually only to fill gaps that the alliance can’t. Here we’re seeing an airline more or less dump their alliance partner in favor of another airline.

Given the size of this partnership it really makes me wonder what the implications are for alliances. Even after giving it some thought for a couple of days, I have no clue which way this could go. Long term could it mean Qantas will be leaving OneWorld, Emirates will be joining OneWorld, or Qantas/Emirates will eventually form a fourth alliance? Could this add pressure to Qatar/Etihad, causing them to join one of the major alliances, given that they don’t have partnerships as strong as the Qantas/Emirates one? I think it’s anyone’s guess how this plays out and whether this is good or bad for consumers. I think the one obvious conclusion is that both Qantas and Emirates are trying to drive up fares on their Australia routes, so they hope this will allow them to raise prices long term.

While it’s minor in the grand scheme of things, here’s one thing I’m excited about — Qantas will be operating at least twice daily Airbus 380 service between Dubai and London, so it should be easy to include them on a OneWorld award ticket. I suspect award space will be relatively easy on that flight given that most people flying Melbourne/Sydney to Dubai will likely be connecting on Emirates, largely leaving the tag flight open to passengers originating/terminating in Dubai. Given that the only other OneWorld airline to operate the route is British Airways, and they impose huge fuel surcharges on award redemptions, that’s a pretty great addition.

Posted on September 7th, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Emirates, Qantas | 18 Comments »

It looks like American’s website is getting consistently more useful for searching award space. In April they added the ability to search and book Hawaiian and British Airways award space on aa.com, which was a huge enhancement. Not only do I find aa.com to be pretty easy to use for searching award space, but booking online also saves you the $25 ticketing fee that’s charged by phone.

Anyway, it looks like Qantas award space is now also available on aa.com as well, which is great. Unfortunately they’re not great about releasing business and first class award space between the US and Australia, though if you’re booking way in advance it can be possible to snag a couple of first class award seats on the Airbus 380.

They have much better award space on their domestic flights as well as flights between Australia and Asia.

As before, American continues to have one of the most generous hold policies, so now it’s possible to place a Qantas award ticket on hold for five days through aa.com.

Keep it up, American! Now just add Japan Airlines, Cathay Pacific, and LAN, and your site will be just about as comprehensive for OneWorld as United’s is for the Star Alliance.

Posted on June 30th, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: American, Awards, Qantas | 9 Comments »

One of the most common award requests I get is for Airbus 380 first class. People don’t care which airline they fly, they just want the seats in the pointy end of the Airbus 380. With that in mind I figured I’d compile a quick list of which Airbus 380 first class products are attainable on miles/points, and which aren’t.

Air France

This isn’t specific to the Airbus 380, but first class award tickets on Air France are exclusively available to elite members of the Flying Blue program, and can only be redeemed for at the “flex award” level. So even if you are an elite member with Air France, expect to pay 250,000+ miles for roundtrip first class between Europe and the US. On the plus side, “flex awards” more or less come with last seat availability, so it’s not a bad option when there are no “saver” level alternatives.

Emirates

Emirates actually releases a fair bit of Airbus 380 first class award space. The problem is they don’t have all that many partners through which you can book first class awards. One of the few decent opportunities to score an Emirates first class award ticket was through United, though they terminated their relationship last May.

The only decent partner they have left is Japan Airlines, for which the Emirates award chart can be found here. The award rates actually aren’t that bad. London to Dubai will run you 80,000 miles in first class, while New York to Dubai will run you 180,000 miles in first class. Keep in mind that JAL Mileage Bank is a transfer partner with SPG, so if you have a big SPG balance it might not be a bad use of points.

Looking to the future, Alaska recently added Emirates as a Mileage Plan partner, and by the end of the year they’re supposed to introduce an award chart for redemptions on Emirates. So I’ll be watching carefully for that.

Keep in mind there are also other inexpensive ways to fly Emirates first class without redeeming miles.

Korean Air

Unfortunately Delta SkyMiles can only be redeemed for business class on Korean Air, though you can redeem Korean Air SkyPass miles for travel in Korean Air first class. As I explained in detail here, Korean Air SkyPass is a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards, so it’s a practical way to fly Korean Air first class.

A roundtrip first class award between Korea and North America will run you 160,000 miles, which isn’t all that bad given that award availability is excellent.

While I think there are better uses of Ultimate Rewards points, this is a nice option for those Airbus 380 chasers among us.

Lufthansa

Since late last year Lufthansa only releases first class award space within two weeks of departure, as I wrote about here. The good news is that within that time frame they’ve gotten a bit more generous with releasing Airbus 380 first class award space. Lufthansa flies the Airbus 380 from Frankfurt to San Francisco, New York, Singapore, Beijing, Tokyo, and Johannesburg, among other cities.

They release a good amount of award space, especially on the Frankfurt to Tokyo route, which almost always has award space. Best of all, since you can use United or US Airways miles to route from the US to Asia via Europe, it’s not too tough to get on those flights even if based in North America.

So if you’re flexible to wait till close to departure, I’d say Lufthansa first class is the most attainable and affordable Airbus 380 first class product out there.

I’ve had the pleasure of flying the Lufthansa Airbus 380 from Frankfurt to Tokyo, Tokyo to Frankfurt, and Frankfurt to Singapore.

Qantas

Qantas has the only Airbus 380 first class product you can book in advance (more than two weeks out) using miles from a US frequent flyer program. While they don’t release a ton of award space, it is possible to snag Airbus 380 first class awards with sufficient planning and flexibility. They fly the Airbus 380 on select flights from Melbourne and Sydney to Los Angeles, Singapore, Hong Kong, and London.

Qantas also happens to have one of my favorite first class products, and I’ve flown their Airbus 380 first class from Singapore to Sydney, Melbourne to Singapore, and Singapore to London.

Singapore Airlines

You can forget about it. Singapore Airlines claims they don’t have first class on the Airbus 380, but rather “Suites Class.” Their redemption levels for Suites Class on the Airbus 380 are absolutely ridiculous, and you can expect to spend over a million miles for a roundtrip between the US and Singapore. Fortunately they have started opening up saver first class award space on their 777s, which is a more affordable option for trying Singapore Airlines first class.

Thai Airways

While Thai doesn’t yet have the Airbus 380, they are expected to take delivery of their first one later this year. They’ll first be flying them between Bangkok and Hong Kong to get the service figured out and crews trained, and they’re releasing a lot of first class award space on the route.

Their first longhaul route to get the Airbus 380 will be Bangkok to Frankfurt, and as of now they are releasing a fair amount of award space in first class.

So while award availability as a whole has been on the decline the past couple of years, there are still plenty of opportunities for flying Airbus 380 first class.

Posted on June 13th, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Advice, Air France/KLM, Awards, Emirates, Lufthansa, Other Airlines, Qantas, Singapore, Thai | 35 Comments »

Qantas has just announced that they’ll be cutting their Auckland to Los Angeles flight as of May 6, 2012. So if you’re booked on the flight after that date you’ll want to get in touch with the airline through which you booked to get accommodated on an alternative routing. If you’re booked on an award ticket, Qantas should open up award space for you on an alternative routing given the circumstances.

The route was operated by an Airbus 330-200 aircraft, and frankly I’m pretty surprised they couldn’t make the route work. There’s virtually no competition between the US and New Zealand (the only other airline that flies the route is Air New Zealand) and fares are typically sky high.

Awards on Qantas from Los Angeles to Auckland were quite a bit easier than on their nonstop routes to Australia, so this is bad for those looking to book award tickets to Australia and New Zealand. It’s also bad news for those wanting to book American’s distance based OneWorld awards, since this route was a great way to have a stopover in New Zealand without really paying additional miles. While Air New Zealand already has high fares between the US and New Zealand, I suspect they’ll go even higher. As Richard Simmons says in Air New Zealand’s safety video, “the only way is up,” and I suspect that applies to fares as well.

There is one ever-so-minor positive thing about this. Qantas flies daily between Los Angeles and New York as a tag flight for all their transpacific routes, and up until now that flight was operated by the Airbus 330-200 that operated the Los Angeles to Auckland route. I suspect this route will once again get a 747, meaning there will most likely once again be a first class cabin (or who knows, they may just sell it as a two cabin plane and seat business class passengers in first class).

Anyway, I’m tempted to try and get on the flight for an award booking I’m about to make. I’m going from Los Angeles to Hong Kong and American lets you exceed the maximum permitted mileage by 25%, meaning you can route through New York. I was going to fly American’s Flagship Service from Los Angeles to New York and Cathay Pacific from New York to Hong Kong, though now I’m tempted to try and get on the Qantas flight from Los Angeles to New York. While you can’t fly Qantas on the route if you’re just on a domestic itinerary, I do believe it’s legal to fly the route if you have an international connection (or does anyone have information to the contrary?), even if it’s on a OneWorld partner airline.

Anyway, as of now the GDS still shows the Los Angeles to New York flight as being operated by an Airbus 330-200, though I’m watching closely to see when they update the flight, and especially to see whether they sell first class or not.

Or maybe they’ll just cut the route entirely and codeshare on American instead, which would make a lot more sense to me…

Posted on February 17th, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Qantas | 24 Comments »

Certainly it’s not for everyone, though I couldn’t help but share this one.

Qantas has two first class award seats on the Airbus 380 from Los Angeles to Sydney for December 31. While I won’t be claiming those seats, for anyone that doesn’t have plans I’d say there’s no better way to ring in the New Year (short of actually being in Sydney, perhaps).

Anyone want to claim them? It’s only 72,500 American miles per person.

Posted on December 11th, 2011 by lucky
Filed under: Awards, Qantas | 10 Comments »

Trip Report Index

————————————————————————————————————-

As I deplaned I noticed something was wrong, though I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was. By process of elimination, I quickly realized that perhaps wearing pajamas in the terminal wasn’t the best idea. And by that I mean perhaps it was the worst idea. Ever.

You know when a seat poacher tries to take a first class seat during boarding and then has to take the “walk of shame” back to coach when the flight attendant kicks them out? Yeah, well that’s how I felt all the way to the Qantas lounge. It certainly doesn’t help that the pajamas were a light color and I’m pretty pale, so I probably was mistaken by some people for Casper the Ghost.

I finally made it to the first class lounge, where I figured it was going to get better — surely someone else had the same idea to wear pajamas? Nope. I quickly ran to the shower rooms to shower and change.

So much for my “brilliant” idea. Must have been the “wine tasting” that put me in that state of mind…

This time around the first class lounge was packed as there were multiple flights leaving to Europe and Australia. The snack selection was fine, though that was the last thing on my mind.


First class lounge


First class lounge


Snack selection


Drink selection

The shower rooms have an interesting design given that there’s a “ring” on them with the shower rooms on the outside.


Shower rooms


Shower room


Shower room

The shower itself didn’t have any sort of a door, which meant I damn near flooded the place by the time I was done. I tend to “splash,” though clearly not as much as this lady.


Shower

After a shower and changing back into “normal” clothes I was feeling good and ready to fly. I briefly hopped on my laptop to try and catch up on a few things, though the wifi was dreadfully slow.

About 10 minutes after boarding was announced in the lounge I headed back to the gate, which was maybe a 10 minute walk.


Heading back to gate

Changi airport has security at each individual gate, which is both a curse and a blessing. Qantas flies two Airbus 380s from Singapore to London within an hour of each other in the evenings from the same gate area, so in tonight’s case, it’s a curse.

There was a “priority” security line, though there was no enforcement, so everyone ended up using it.


Security checkpoint for two A380s

What I hadn’t realized, however, was that nearly all the passengers were booked on the other (later) Airbus 380 flight. By the time I made it to the gate, I was basically the last passenger to board.

Qantas Airways 9
Singapore (SIN) – London (LHR)
Tuesday, May 24
Depart: 11:05PM
Arrive: 5:40AM
Duration: 13hr35min
Aircraft: Airbus 380
Seat: 2A (First Class)

Once aboard I was escorted to my seat and immediately offered a beverage. It’s worth noting that this crew was London based as opposed to Melbourne based. The London crews exclusively fly to Asia and back for Qantas, so it’s not a half bad gig — three trips a month and you’re done!

Anyway, the flight attendant working my aisle introduced himself and asked what I’d like to drink. I went with a Diet Coke, which was served olives, and some flatbread and spread.


Diet Coke and Sea Salt Lavosh, Eggplant Dip and Gordal Olives

I was once again offered pajamas and an amenity kit, which made my third or fourth set, plus a hot towel.


Amenity kit and (more) pajamas

Within a few minutes we pushed back and started our quick taxi to the runway.


SkyCam


Cabin view


Other A380 heading to London


Taxiing


Ready for takeoff

The takeoff roll was surprisingly quick for a 13 hour flight (and the fuel, cargo, passengers, and captain’s ego that come with it), and with that I reclined my seat and got comfortable for what would be a stress-free 13 hours.


Seat controls

Within 10 minutes the seatbelt sign was turned off, and shortly after that the captain made a welcome aboard announcement informing us of our flight time of 13hr10min. As the crew set up the galley the customer service manager came by to greet all the first class passengers by name and give us the menus.


Menu

The menu on this flight read as follows:

Singapore to London

SUPPER
Our extensive Rockpool designed menu allows you to enjoy a completely personalized dining experience. Your Flight Attendant will be pleased to assist you with selection.

CANAPES

Sea Salt Lavosh, Eggplant Dip and Gordal Olives

ENTRESS

Cream of Leek Soup with Chives

Smoked Salmon and Artichoke Salad with Herb Vinaigrette

LIGHT MEALS

Big bowl of Porcini Mushroom and Pearl Barley Soup

Pumpkin and Gorgonzola Pizzette with Rocket Salad

Our signature Steak Sandwich with Tomato and Chilli Relish

MAIN COURSES

Warm Eggplant Stack with Roast Peppers, Herbed Goats Cheese and Pesto

Sea Bass with Tomato, Chilli and Caper Sauce, Sugar Snaps and Potatoes

Nonya Style Chicken with Lemongrass and Ginger, Fragrant Rice and Bok Choy

SIDE SALAD

Salad of Baby Leaves with your choice of dressing

Aged Balsamic and Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Fresh Lemon Juice and Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Red Wine Vinaigrette

CHEESE

Hand selected blue, soft and hard cheese served with accompaniments

DESSERT

Hazelnut and Coffee Syrup Cake with Mascarpone and Figs

Baked Custard with Blueberry Compote

Nice Cream Chocolate Coated Raspberry Ice Cream

Whole or Sliced Fresh Seasonal Fruit

PETITS FOURS

A selection of Cacao hand made chocolates

Manna from Heaven Jaffa Cake

Candied Lemon Shortbread

And for those of you interested in the wine list, here it is:

WHITE WINE

Tappanappa Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay 2008
Piccadilly Valley, South Australia

Pewsey Vale Vineyard Pinot Gris 2009
Eden Valley, South Australia

Grossed Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2010
Clare Valley, South Australia

RED WINE

Penfolds St Henri Shiraz 2004
McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley, South Australia

Spring Vale Melrose Pinot Noir 2010
Tasmania

Mount Mary Vineyard Quintet Cabernet 2006
Yarra Valley, Victoria

DESSERT WINE

De Bortolli Noble One Botrytis Semillon 2007
Riverina, New South Wales

After the amazing tasting menu on the previous flight, I wasn’t quite as hungry this time around, though still didn’t want to miss out on the meal service. Therefore I “just” went with an appetizer, main, and dessert.

For the appetizer I had the smoked salmon salad, which was delicious. As I’ve said in the previous two installments, Qantas’ first meals aren’t as “fancy” as those of some other airlines, but they’re infinitely more tasty. Qantas has obviously realized that what tastes well on the ground doesn’t always taste great in the air, which is a lesson some other top carriers could learn.


Smoked Salmon and Artichoke Salad with Herb Vinaigrette


Smoked Salmon and Artichoke Salad with Herb Vinaigrette

I wasn’t especially hungry by the time the main course was served though ended up deciding on the steak sandwich, which is really a “light meal” option on their menu, but oh-so-delicious.


Signature Steak Sandwich with Tomato and Chilli Relish

After that came dessert, and I went with the custard.


Baked Custard with Blueberry Compote

Just like on my other flights, the meal experience was spectacular. The food was truly the tastiest I’ve had in the sky, and the service was consistent. The flight attendant working my aisle on this flight was very friendly, though as is a theme on Qantas, the service is very slow (which I’m thinking is somewhat intentional). My three course meal took about two hours, which was totally fine by me since I was enjoying it.

By the time the meal service was done I was feeling quite exhausted and wanted to get some rest, so I asked the flight attendant to make my bed. He did so with great care and took at least five minutes to get all the creases out and make it perfectly presentable — very Singapore-esque. He also placed a bottle of water on my fold out table.


Most comfortable bed in the sky


Bottled water

I slept amazingly well for six hours, probably the best airplane sleep I’ve ever gotten, and woke up with five hours to go to London. As much as I wanted to go back to sleep, I couldn’t, so I ordered some tea and watched some sitcoms.


Tea

I also went with some raspberry ice cream off the menu, which was delicious.


Ice cream!


All ruffled up

After that I decided it was time to stretch my legs, so I did “the lap,” going up the stairs through business class and premium economy, down the rear spiral staircase, and back to first class on the lower deck.

This is where it gets kind of funny. On the lower deck there are thick curtains between coach and first class, so I passed through them as I was trying to get to my seat. As I get through the curtains one of the flight attendants says in a raised voice “sir, you can’t go here, this is first class! You just can’t pass through the curtain like that.” Mind you, I’m wearing first class pajamas. The male flight attendant seated there almost starts to chuckle, before he addresses her by name and says “ya know, I think he might just be in first class, he is wearing the pajamas.”

The flight attendant was overly-apologetic when she realized her mistake, and even said “we’re just trying to keep your cabin nice and private.”

When I got back to my seat there were still a few hours to go, so I decided to watch a few episodes of The Big Bang Theory. What shocked me was that it was already light outside. Given that the flight arrives at 5:40AM and departs Singapore late at night, I figured it wouldn’t be light three or four hours before landing.


Sunrise way too early!

After a bit of TV I got my laptop out to start getting a bit of work done. I managed to work for about two hours before I was offered breakfast, which I immediately accepted since I was once again hungry (the joys of sitting and doing nothing all day).

Service started with a hot towel.


Hot towel

The breakfast menu read as follows:

BREAKFAST
Create your favourite Breakfast from our extensive Rockpool deisgned menu. Your Flight Attendant will be pleased to assist you with your selection.

Orange Juice

Apple Juice

Tomato Juice

Five Star Sunraysia Mango Liquid Fruit

Five Star Sunraysia Pear Liquid Fruit

Mango Energiser Drink

Fresh Fruit Salad

Bircher Muesli

Toasted Muesli

Cereal Selection

Yoghurt and Honey

Toast

Croissant

Pain au Raisin

Strawberry Jam, Orange Marmalade, Honey, Vegemite

HOT SELECTION

Scrambled Eggs, Potato and Sweet Corn Cakes, Smoked Salmon and Tomato Ragout

French Toast with Grilled Bacon, Maple Syrup, Spiced Appled

Buttermilk Pancakes with Glazed Oranges and Vanilla Yogurt

I went with coffee, orange juice, fruit, a croissant, and the scrambled eggs.

I was first offered the orange juice, which tasted very “fresh,” not like “airplane” orange juice.


Fresh fruit and orange juice

Next I was offered coffee and a croissant, which was also tasty and still warm.


Croissant

The main course consisted of scrambled eggs, salmon, and sweet corn cakes. This was literally the tastiest breakfast I’ve ever had. No, not the best airplane breakfast, but literally the best breakfast dish I’ve ever had… anywhere.


Scrambled Eggs, Potato and Sweet Corn Cakes, Smoked Salmon and Tomato Ragout

The plus side to it getting light so early was that the SkyCam view was breathtaking.


Contrails

The down side to the SkyCam is that two hours before landing (as breakfast was starting) the first officer came on the PA to “alleviate any worries regarding what we might be seeing on SkyCam.” He explained that the contrails coming out of the engines on SkyCam were completely normal, as apparently some passengers were concerned about this.

I’m worried over time that SkyCam will become like Channel 9 on United, as we have more “armchair” pilots. I’ve seen threads where A380 passengers critiqued the pilot’s landing based on what they saw on SkyCam, etc. It’s an amazing feature, so I hope people start to realize that the guys up front know what they’re doing.


Contrails

About 90 minutes out of London we passed over Vienna, which is where I was connecting to, so while I was quite looking forward to the remaining 90 minutes to London, I wasn’t looking forward to the 90 minutes in which I would have to endure “Euro Business.”


Almost there


Contrails

30 minutes before landing the captain came on the PA to advise us of our on-time arrival in London. About 10 minutes before landing the seatbelt sign was switched on and we began our descent into London.


Final approach

After a smooth touchdown and long taxi we made it to our gate at terminal 3. For whatever reason the jet bridge that was supposed to go to the first class door (1L) didn’t deploy, so we had to disembark through 2L.


Approaching the gate

While I’ll cover the remainder of the trip in the next installment, I have to say that my journey on Qantas exceeded my expectations in every way. I didn’t know what to expect with the Airbus 380 and was convinced the plane was more hype than anything else. It really isn’t, it’s a whole new flying experience. Between how quiet the plane, the onboard lounge, SkyCam, and the general spaciousness, I was convinced I wasn’t in the sky for most of my journey.

It’s easy to feel like a flight was amazing right when you get off the plane, but over a month later I’m still marveling at how amazing Qantas was. The seat was among the best I’ve ever experienced. The food was the best I’ve ever had on any airline. And the service was also very, very good.

Anyway, more to come with the next installment, as I negotiate with the UK’s finest security officers…

Posted on July 23rd, 2011 by lucky
Filed under: Awards, Qantas, Travel, Trip Reports | 13 Comments »

Trip Report Index

————————————————————————————————————-

After a most enjoyable visit to the first class lounge, it was time for the only stressful part of my travel day — trying to actually board the plane.

I had waited about 10 minutes beyond the initial boarding call in the lounge to head to the gate, though that only resulted in longer queues. As I mentioned in a previous installment, the issue with A380 boarding is that first class is on the lower deck (along with economy), while business class and premium economy are on the upper deck. That means that first class has to queue with economy, putting me in line behind about 300 people.


Departure gate


Hey there!

The other issue is that there was no first class jet bridge, which meant I had to wait in the long coach jet bridge. Of course that’s not a problem in the slightest, since I knew the upcoming 23 hours would be utmost enjoyable.


And a close up of her

Qantas Airways 9
Melbourne (MEL) – Singapore (SIN)
Tuesday, May 24
Depart: 3:30PM
Arrive: 9:20PM
Duration: 7hr50min
Aircraft: Airbus 380
Seat: 2A (First Class)

At the door each passenger was greeted by the friendly crew, and as soon as they saw my first class boarding pass they called over another flight attendant to direct me to my seat.


Seat 2A

Before I could even settle in I was welcomed aboard by one of the flight attendants and offered a drink. I went with champagne, which was served with almonds and olives.


Pre-departure beverage


Buddy seat and entertainment system

Shortly thereafter I was offered an amenity kit and pajamas. I already had a pair of large PJs, so asked if I could get a pair of medium PJs for my dad. The flight attendant returned with an extra pair shortly, and insisted I keep both. Score, given that most airlines are very stingy about PJs and amenity kits.


Amenity kit and PJs

As boarding finished up the 15 seat first class cabin had one empty seat, so it was once again a near full load. The captain came on the PA to advise us of our flight time of 7hr30min, and shortly thereafter we began our taxi to the runway.


Taxiing out


More taxiing

After a 10 minute taxi and quick acceleration we were airborne. The A380 really seems to take off in no time, and at least feels to me like it has a shorter roll than the B747 or A340.


Airborne

After watching the SkyCam for about 10 minutes I turned on the entertainment system and decided to watch an episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”


Curb Your Enthusiasm


Flight time remaining

A few minutes later the seatbelt sign was turned off and the customer service manager greeted each first class passenger and distributed the menus. He advised me that there was a “tasting menu” on today’s flight, and highly recommended it.

Just a couple of minutes later the captain gave each first class passenger a visit at their seat to introduce himself, tell us about the flight, etc. We talked for about five minutes about the A380, and he invited me to visit the cockpit after the flight. Kudos to the captain for the greeting.


Menu


Menu

Hot towels were quickly distributed, followed by a beverage. I passed on a beverage for now in anticipation of the tasting menu. Qantas’ menus really have an outstanding selection, so while I was tempted by some of the other options, in the end decided on the tasting menu.

The menu read as follows:

Melbourne to Singapore

TASTING MENU
Our Tasting Menu features a selection of eight tasting plates highlighting the finest of Rockpool and Qantas cuisine. A selection of award winning wines will be offered to complement each course. Your Flight Attendant is available to assist you with your selection.

Tartlet of Lobster and Lemon Creme Fraiche

Maggie Beer Pheasant Farm Pate with Caramelised Onions on Sourdough

Cream of Cauliflower Soup with Parmesan and Croutons

Yamba Prawn Salad with White Beans and Serrano Ham

Snapper Poached in Coconut Milk and Garam Masala, Fine Egg Noodles and Snow Peas

Slow Roasted Cape Grim Beef Sirloin with Anchovy Butter, Baby Carrots and Potato Gratin

Salad of Baby Cos, Radicchio and Frisee with Palm Sugar Vinaigrette

Chocolate Caramel Tart with Creme Fraiche and Almond Praline

Blue, soft and hard cheese, hand selected by Will Studd, Maitre Fromager Calendar Cheese Company served with accompaniments

A selection of Cacao hand made chocolates

DINNER
Our extensive Rockpool designed menu allows you to enjoy a completely personalized dining experience. Your Flight Attendant will be pleased to assist you with selection.

CANAPES

Tartlet of Lobster and Lemon Creme Fraiche

Maggie Beer Pheasant Farm Pate with Caramelised Onions on Sourdough

SALADS AND OTHER THINGS

Cream of Cauliflower Soup with Parmesan and Croutons

Yamba Prawn Salad with White Beans and Serrano Ham

Salad of Wagyu Bresaolo with Grillen Fennel

LIGHT MEALS

Pan Fried Snapper with Lemon and Olive Oil Dressing and Steamed Vegetables

Pumpkin Gorgonzola Pizzette with Rocket Salad

Big bowl of Porcini Mushroom and Pearl Barley Soup with Gremolata

Moroccan Lamb Pot Pie with Harissa

Our signature Steak Sandwich with Tomato and Chilli Relish

MAIN COURSES

Lentil Moussaka with Red Pepper Sauce and Green Beans

Snapper Poached in Coconut Milk and Garam Masala, Fine Egg Noodles and Snow Peas

Parmesan Crumbed Chicken with Italian Style Coleslaw, Kipfler Potatoes and Aioli

Chinese Barbecue Porm Omelette with Oyster Sauce, Rice and Bok Choy

Slow Roasted Cape Grim Beef Sirloin with Anchovy Butter, Baby Carrots and Potato Gratin

SIDE SALAD

Salad of Baby Cos, Radicchio and Frisee with your choice of dressing

Aged Balsamic and Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Fresh Lemon Juice and Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Palm Sugar Vinaigrette

CHEESE

Blue, soft and hard cheese, hand selected by Will Studd, Maitre Fromager Calendar Cheese Company served with accompaniments

DESSERT

Chocolate Caramel Tart with Creme Fraiche and Almond Praline

Baked Treacle Pie with Roasted Apples and Clotted Cream

Whole or Sliced Seasonal Fruit

Nice Cream Chocolate Coated Raspberry Ice Cream

PETITS FOURS

A selection of Cacao hand made chocolates

Manna from Heaven Jaffa Cake

Candied Lemon Shortbread

And for those of you interested in the wine list, here it is:

WHITE WINE

Tappanappa Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay 2008
Piccadilly Valley, South Australia

Pewsey Vale Vineyard Pinot Gris 2009
Eden Valley, South Australia

Grossed Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2010
Clare Valley, South Australia

RED WINE

Penfolds St Henri Shiraz 2004
McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley, South Australia

Spring Vale Melrose Pinot Noir 2010
Tasmania

Mount Mary Vineyard Quintet Cabernet 2006
Yarra Valley, Victoria

DESSERT WINE

De Bortolli Noble One Botrytis Semillon 2007
Riverina, New South Wales

Not too shabby, if you ask me!

One of the things that I love about first class as opposed to business class is that the meal service is an experience as opposed to just a decent meal. And this “tasting menu” on Qantas was quite possibly the best meal experience I’ve ever had on a plane.

The meal started off with a glass of wine (forgive me for not writing down the details) and small plate which made up the first course.


Wine tasting


Tartlet of Lobster and Lemon Creme Fraiche and Maggie Beer Pheasant Farm Pate with Caramelised Onions on Sourdough

After that the meal service got serious, with enough glassware and utensils to cater a US Airways flight (oh, wait…).


Table setup

The next course was a delicious cauliflower soup which was just the right temperature. The meal service was very, very slow, though the execution of each course was flawless. After all, part of the “experience” is not feeling rushed. And the service was also top notch throughout.


Cream of Cauliflower Soup with Parmesan and Croutons

Bread was offered with each course as well.


Bread

The next course was the prawn salad with beans and ham. Simply amazing.


Yamba Prawn Salad with White Beans and Serrano Ham

The first main course was served next, which was snapper. It was tasty and just the right size.


Snapper Poached in Coconut Milk and Garam Masala, Fine Egg Noodles and Snow Peas

As I mentioned service was on the slow side (in a good way, though), and as the first main course finished up we were about 1,200 miles into our journey. The first officer came on the PA to advise us that Ayers Rock would be visible from the right of the aircraft in just a couple of minutes.

I loved the fact that he made that announcement, and not only that, but as we passed over the rock they banked right a bit so that all passengers would have the view, even those seated over the wing. Talk about a class act and going above and beyond.

Since I was on the left side of the plane I took a peak out the window of the one empty first class seat on the other side of the aircraft.

Suffice it to say that Ayers Rock is now on my list of places to see!


Ayers Rock


First class aisle

By the time I moved back to my seat the second main course was ready, which was a beef sirloin. Again, all I can say is “wow.”


Slow Roasted Cape Grim Beef Sirloin with Anchovy Butter, Baby Carrots and Potato Gratin

That was served with a side salad.


Salad


Wine tasting

The dessert consisted of a caramel tart, which was also rich.


Chocolate Caramel Tart with Creme Fraiche and Almond Praline

The last course was a cheese plate, which I just nibbled at.


Cheese plate

To finish off the meal I ordered a coffee and White Russian, which were served with a praline.


Coffee

Before anyone calls me names, let me say in my defense that this was literally the biggest meal I’ve ever had. Ever. And probably the best…

Once the meal was finished I was offered a bottle of water, which was placed on my fold out tray.


Bottled water

At this point I lowered the curtains and turned on SkyCam again to see the beautiful sunset.


Sunset

I figured I needed to get a bit of movement, so I headed to the upper deck lounge. One of the other first class passengers went up there as well, and we both sat down on the coach in our PJs. It was kind of funny, because at least a couple of business class passengers walked through the curtain, only to immediately turn around in pure horror when they saw us sitting there in our PJs. ;)

I started talking with the other first class passenger, and had one of those embarrassing moments. You know when you’re on a plane and you sit next to one of those “know it all” types that tells you all about a field that you obviously know much more about, but you’re too modest to admit it? For example, I’ve been on a countless number of United flights where clueless seatmates tell me about how upgrades on United work, the benefits of their status, etc.

Yeah, well this might have been exactly this situation, in reverse. He was Australian and we started talking about our favorite cities, where we were heading, etc. Eventually we got to talking about our favorite cities, and I mentioned Queenstown, New Zealand. I talked about how exciting the approach into the airport was, among other things.

Then we started talking about the career of a pilot. I started telling him that I used to want to be a pilot and had always wanted to work for Cathay Pacific. I told him a bit about their hiring practices, requirements, the fact that they only have widebodies, etc.

After talking to him for about 30 minutes, he finally talks about what he does. He’s in charge of the 737 fleet (which they happen to fly to Queenstown!) for Qantas and worked for Cathay Pacific for 10 years. FML.

So while I think everything I said was factually correct, I was so embarrassed to have been telling him my perspective on the two things he’s probably most knowledgeable about. Once I figured out what he did, we talked for another 90 minutes or so about his job, which was fascinating to hear about.

And I’m sure the question will come up — yes, he was on an ID90 ticket flying on a standby basis, and managed to get first class, though I assume it takes a certain rank/level of seniority to get first class on Qantas. He was awesome to talk to, though. He was continuing on to London, though unfortunately I didn’t see him in the first class cabin on the next flight, which went out full.

The upper deck has a nice self serve area set up with drinks and snacks, including nuts, fruit, truffles, etc.


Self serve area


Snacks

I walked through the massive business class cabin. Fortunately the cabin was dark, or I would have felt a bit conscience in my PJs.


Business class cabin

I then decided to take the rear spiral staircase down to the lower deck.


Rear straircase


Rear staircase

I was surprised to find the rear galley totally empty. I figured it would be crowded given how many coach seats there are and figured people would want to stretch their legs, though I was the only one there. They have a nice self serve drink and snack area there, with some really, really tasty cookies.


Coach self serve area


Coach snacks

The coach cabin was huge, though seats appeared to be fairly comfortable with some of the biggest personal TVs I’ve seen in coach.


Coach

I then decided to get a bit of work done so worked on my laptop for an hour or so.

About 60 minutes before landing the flight attendants came around to see if anyone wanted anything. I wasn’t hungry, though couldn’t help but put at least a bit more of a dent in the menu, given how much I had yet to try.

I decided on the “pizzette,” which it took the crew about 10 minutes to prepare. It was basically a tasty mini-pizza.


Pumpkin Gorgonzola Pizzette with Rocket Salad

At that point we began our gradual descent into Singapore, and I took the opportunity to freshen up (brush my teeth, etc.). By the time I brushed my teeth I didn’t realize we were literally just a few minutes out of Singapore, so I returned to my seat, still in my PJs.


Approaching Singapore

During the final descent I convinced myself it would be a good idea to just stay in my PJs, given that I had another 13 hours of flying ahead of me.

We touched down in Singapore and had a quick taxi to the gate, where the seatbelt sign was immediately turned off.


Short final


Taxiing to gate

Once at the gate I retrieved my bags, still in my PJs. As we waited for the door to open, the flight attendant said to me “you know, you can still change out of those if you want.” Clearly exhaustion, jetlag, and international travel does crazy things to you, since I should have probably taken that as a hint…

Posted on July 18th, 2011 by lucky
Filed under: Awards, Qantas, Travel, Trip Reports | 29 Comments »

« previous home top

One Mile at a Time is owned by Points Pros, Inc. Some links to credit cards and other products on this website will earn an affiliate commission, and this website has a financial relationship with several credit card issuing banks. All content unless otherwise noted or quoted is the author's own, and not provided or commissioned by any other entity. This site is for entertainment purpose only. The owner of this site is not an investment advisor, financial planner, nor legal or tax professional and articles here are of an opinion and general nature and should not be relied upon for individual circumstances.

Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuer. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. This site may be compensated through the credit card issuer Affiliate Program.