last week I completed my status run from Perth (to Tokyo). I had fun but I can't imagine anyone seriously taking that routing in buisness class for any other reason.
Final routing ended up being PER-MEL-CNS-HND-CNS-MEL-PER I was delayed a day coming back due to cyclone airport closure. they also changed my connecting flights to go through melbourne instead of sydney which shortened the layovers significantly which was helpful.
On the way to Tokyo they changed the aircraft on the redeye from Perth to a 737-700 without buisness so I asked for an earlier flight to Melbourne where I stayed the night.
I found the new buisness seats significantly more difficult to sleep in than the older ones because the headrests don't hold as much weight and straighten out with pressure. I think if I ever did it again I would also avoid the bulkhead as I found the legroom pretty tight (at least for how I sleep).
I am curious as to whether the economy seats would be better for sleeping in, as I have previously found VA economy seats fairly decent for sleeping.
The buisness class cabin was full on both legs between CNS-HND, and PER-MEL but there was a few free both times on the MEL-CNS legs. I was pretty sad to miss out on the Bento box option on the way to Tokyo (I was asked 6th and everyone else had requested it), but fortunately I got it on the return.
The return trip was far more exhausting than I expected, after getting basically no sleep on the HND-CNS segment doing the Cairns terminal transfer and sitting in the domestic terminal for 3 hours before another almost 8 hours of flying was super draining.
I was very tempted at Haneda after the flight was cancelled to see if I could cancel the entire return portion of the trip and instead book an award seat on ANA direct to Perth, it looks like there is good avalability for buisness class award seats from Japan to Perth/Sydney but they are only making them avaliable a few weeks in advance.
DSC Credits were posted correctly for MEL-CNS-HND-CNS-MEL, but for some reason PER-MEL, MEL-PER segments came through as 80SC each (when they should be 105SC) and DSC didnt post. No idea whats going on there but I guess I would need to get in to contact with VA to rectify?
Final routing ended up being PER-MEL-CNS-HND-CNS-MEL-PER I was delayed a day coming back due to cyclone airport closure. they also changed my connecting flights to go through melbourne instead of sydney which shortened the layovers significantly which was helpful.
On the way to Tokyo they changed the aircraft on the redeye from Perth to a 737-700 without buisness so I asked for an earlier flight to Melbourne where I stayed the night.
I found the new buisness seats significantly more difficult to sleep in than the older ones because the headrests don't hold as much weight and straighten out with pressure. I think if I ever did it again I would also avoid the bulkhead as I found the legroom pretty tight (at least for how I sleep).
I am curious as to whether the economy seats would be better for sleeping in, as I have previously found VA economy seats fairly decent for sleeping.
The buisness class cabin was full on both legs between CNS-HND, and PER-MEL but there was a few free both times on the MEL-CNS legs. I was pretty sad to miss out on the Bento box option on the way to Tokyo (I was asked 6th and everyone else had requested it), but fortunately I got it on the return.
The return trip was far more exhausting than I expected, after getting basically no sleep on the HND-CNS segment doing the Cairns terminal transfer and sitting in the domestic terminal for 3 hours before another almost 8 hours of flying was super draining.
I was very tempted at Haneda after the flight was cancelled to see if I could cancel the entire return portion of the trip and instead book an award seat on ANA direct to Perth, it looks like there is good avalability for buisness class award seats from Japan to Perth/Sydney but they are only making them avaliable a few weeks in advance.
DSC Credits were posted correctly for MEL-CNS-HND-CNS-MEL, but for some reason PER-MEL, MEL-PER segments came through as 80SC each (when they should be 105SC) and DSC didnt post. No idea whats going on there but I guess I would need to get in to contact with VA to rectify?