munitalP
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- Oct 10, 2006
- Posts
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QF852 PER SYD 13 JUL 2010 DEP 1430 747 400 SEAT 16A J
I thought I would waste my trans continent (island) trip writing a trip report on the 747 service between Perth and Sydney.
12/07/11
Being on good fare bucket tickets, I decided to waste a handful of points and upgrade to J for my return flight from Perth as it was a 744 service. I made the upgrade request online – the first time I had done this, and not knowing what to expect, I waited with baited breath to see if the request feature worked. It did, request, approval within seconds, and points missing from my account within a few minutes. Seamless and problem free. I went to seat selection and immediately chose 12A. This is my favourite seat in J on a 747, I like the upper deck and the privacy of being forward. Then looking further, I noticed 1A was available. Having a bit of a blonde moment, I couldn’t work out the class configuration of the aircraft (seat 1B should have given it away) and hoping 1A was a F seat, I quickly rechose my seating allocation.
I sent a message to @qantasairlines on twitter asking the class configuration, and then it dawned on me – 1B. First does not have a 1B. I was quickly back on the website and reallocated myself to 12A.
After a facebook post, simongr quickly pointed out that 16A (exit row) was the best allocation, so again a change was applied and 16A it is. My initial thoughts on the upper deck exit rows was tainted due to previously (MEL/LAX) sitting in 16K and finding the seat a bit forward of the window, and the side storage lacking, however, I had made a mental note that the A/B seats were set further back than the J/K seats in row 16, so the decision was put in concrete.
13/07/11
Wandering into the Qantas lounge, I was met by the door dragon who I handed my card to thinking she would give me a boarding pass. She checked my flight details then told me to go into the inside service desk. She was quite abrupt, in fact rude, but having just left a 2 hour meeting where I had been a human punching bag, she had no chance of getting under my skin.
I went through the lounge to the service desk and was issued my boarding pass by a far more pleasant lady. I was due to meet up with thewinchester who was on the same flight, so not knowing where he was seated, I had the lounge lady page “the Winchester”. It did come out “Mr. Winchester”, but the effect was the same, and thewinchester came trotting through the club with a grin pointing out that only another AFFer would do that!
After a chat, and thewinchester fixing a software issue for me, our flight was called and downstairs we headed. Funny enough, thewinchester had 26A – the seat I released when taking the upgrade.
Boarding was fast and I was quickly seated in 16A. The standard pillow, red blanket and J headphones were there for use. As the aerobridge backed off, I was seated with no neighbour, 16J empty and at least half the top deck empty. The two flight attendants were going to have an easy flight – both males and both quite senior.
We got pushed back about 12 minutes after our scheduled departure time, the pilot informing us it was due to tarmac congestion. During the wait, I was offered juice, hot towel and newspapers by a very efficient service team.
We took off using half the available runway – seemingly light load based on the PAX waiting for boarding I saw, and the familiar ding of the seatbelt signs turning off sounded soon after. The flight attendants were quickly around offering drinks; I partook in a ginger beer and nuts, and then settled down with the laptop to write the trip report on the go.
Shortly lunch was being served. My first course was a Pumpkin & Lentil soup. This was served with a dollop of cream and was absolutely delicious. I cannot say enough about the Qantas sourdough and is always a highlight of J meals, and today’s was no exception. The sourdough complimented the soup well as did the Penfolds Bin 07A Chardonnay I had to wash the meal down. Beautiful meal so far, with a champion soup that is going to be difficult to beat.
Next out came the mains. On offer was Pork, Chicken and Salmon. I chose the Pork. This meal was diced shoulder pork cooked in an Italian tomato sauce, with onion, basil, garlic and a few other odds and sods. This was served with green beans and Panella. The pork was wonderful, the taste of the fresh basil through the dish complemented with my Chardonnay will be a dish that enters the munitalP cookbook of must have dishes. The beans were fresh, however had become a little sad with reheating, however, still crunchy. The Panella, this by itself was awful, but once eaten with some of the sauce from the pork, became a wonderful carrier for the previously mentioned tastes.
The efficient service continued, my wine topped off, and service utensils cleaned away. Next out came the choice of ice cream or a cheese platter. I chose the cheese platter which was served with the offer of a desert wine which I declined. I don’t like blue cheese, I should have asked the flight attendant not to serve it, too bad as the strong cheddar was quite nice and two slices would have gone down well.
Coffee was served with Tobleron chocolate, I declined coffee however had a chocolate. Yummo, I knew someone downstairs who would appreciate a choccy, so I went to the galley and asked for a few more to which I was handed the box. So armed with a handful of Tobleron, I wandered down to where thewinchester was seated and handed over the bounty. He seemed happy enough down in the dungeons chatting with his seat (C) neighbour (Paul) about all aspects of AFF – it seems we will have a new member!
The biggest problem with this flight seems is the AVOD - aptly renamed the AVOID. The screen is fuzzy and hard on the eyes – the CSM has rebooted the system once, and announced a second attempt at making it work correctly. I really want to watch the end of the Lincoln Lawyer – I watched this on the way over and ended up missing the last 15 or so minutes due to landing.
I kicked back and finally decided to use the AVOID. Fortunately it had remedied itself, and it wasn’t like watching a 3D movie without the glasses anymore. I finalised the movie I wanted to watch, well at least I started to, then suddenly the seat next to me got occupied – by thewinchester! He had escaped the dungeons, snuck past the guards, and decided to risk life and limb and come up for a chat.
Thewinchester stayed till top of decent, then felt it prudent to sneak back to the dungeons, although I did try and convince him the flight attendants wouldn’t care he was there at that point, his sense of duty lead him away.
The 744 touched down into a gusty Sydney from the ocean side, and we were quickly at our gate ready to disembark. On alighting the aircraft, I quickly raced up to the Qantas lounge to print off a parking voucher, then met up with thewinchester outside after he collected his luggage. A bus ride to the car park, and we were quickly on our way into Sydney to drop him off at his new abode for however long it lasts.
AVOD.
The latest movies available on this flight are:
The Lincoln Lawyer (8/10), Paul (9/10), Limitless, Oranges and Sunshine, Soul Surfer, The Adjustment Bureau, Insidious, Hall Pass, Unknown (8/10), Just Go With It, Cedar Rapids, Mad coughs, Country Song, No Strings Attached, The Dilemma, The Mechanic, Rabbit Hole, The Rite
The Pros and Cons of the flight.
Pros.
I thought I would waste my trans continent (island) trip writing a trip report on the 747 service between Perth and Sydney.
12/07/11
Being on good fare bucket tickets, I decided to waste a handful of points and upgrade to J for my return flight from Perth as it was a 744 service. I made the upgrade request online – the first time I had done this, and not knowing what to expect, I waited with baited breath to see if the request feature worked. It did, request, approval within seconds, and points missing from my account within a few minutes. Seamless and problem free. I went to seat selection and immediately chose 12A. This is my favourite seat in J on a 747, I like the upper deck and the privacy of being forward. Then looking further, I noticed 1A was available. Having a bit of a blonde moment, I couldn’t work out the class configuration of the aircraft (seat 1B should have given it away) and hoping 1A was a F seat, I quickly rechose my seating allocation.
I sent a message to @qantasairlines on twitter asking the class configuration, and then it dawned on me – 1B. First does not have a 1B. I was quickly back on the website and reallocated myself to 12A.
After a facebook post, simongr quickly pointed out that 16A (exit row) was the best allocation, so again a change was applied and 16A it is. My initial thoughts on the upper deck exit rows was tainted due to previously (MEL/LAX) sitting in 16K and finding the seat a bit forward of the window, and the side storage lacking, however, I had made a mental note that the A/B seats were set further back than the J/K seats in row 16, so the decision was put in concrete.
13/07/11
Wandering into the Qantas lounge, I was met by the door dragon who I handed my card to thinking she would give me a boarding pass. She checked my flight details then told me to go into the inside service desk. She was quite abrupt, in fact rude, but having just left a 2 hour meeting where I had been a human punching bag, she had no chance of getting under my skin.
I went through the lounge to the service desk and was issued my boarding pass by a far more pleasant lady. I was due to meet up with thewinchester who was on the same flight, so not knowing where he was seated, I had the lounge lady page “the Winchester”. It did come out “Mr. Winchester”, but the effect was the same, and thewinchester came trotting through the club with a grin pointing out that only another AFFer would do that!
After a chat, and thewinchester fixing a software issue for me, our flight was called and downstairs we headed. Funny enough, thewinchester had 26A – the seat I released when taking the upgrade.
Boarding was fast and I was quickly seated in 16A. The standard pillow, red blanket and J headphones were there for use. As the aerobridge backed off, I was seated with no neighbour, 16J empty and at least half the top deck empty. The two flight attendants were going to have an easy flight – both males and both quite senior.
We got pushed back about 12 minutes after our scheduled departure time, the pilot informing us it was due to tarmac congestion. During the wait, I was offered juice, hot towel and newspapers by a very efficient service team.
We took off using half the available runway – seemingly light load based on the PAX waiting for boarding I saw, and the familiar ding of the seatbelt signs turning off sounded soon after. The flight attendants were quickly around offering drinks; I partook in a ginger beer and nuts, and then settled down with the laptop to write the trip report on the go.
Shortly lunch was being served. My first course was a Pumpkin & Lentil soup. This was served with a dollop of cream and was absolutely delicious. I cannot say enough about the Qantas sourdough and is always a highlight of J meals, and today’s was no exception. The sourdough complimented the soup well as did the Penfolds Bin 07A Chardonnay I had to wash the meal down. Beautiful meal so far, with a champion soup that is going to be difficult to beat.
Next out came the mains. On offer was Pork, Chicken and Salmon. I chose the Pork. This meal was diced shoulder pork cooked in an Italian tomato sauce, with onion, basil, garlic and a few other odds and sods. This was served with green beans and Panella. The pork was wonderful, the taste of the fresh basil through the dish complemented with my Chardonnay will be a dish that enters the munitalP cookbook of must have dishes. The beans were fresh, however had become a little sad with reheating, however, still crunchy. The Panella, this by itself was awful, but once eaten with some of the sauce from the pork, became a wonderful carrier for the previously mentioned tastes.
The efficient service continued, my wine topped off, and service utensils cleaned away. Next out came the choice of ice cream or a cheese platter. I chose the cheese platter which was served with the offer of a desert wine which I declined. I don’t like blue cheese, I should have asked the flight attendant not to serve it, too bad as the strong cheddar was quite nice and two slices would have gone down well.
Coffee was served with Tobleron chocolate, I declined coffee however had a chocolate. Yummo, I knew someone downstairs who would appreciate a choccy, so I went to the galley and asked for a few more to which I was handed the box. So armed with a handful of Tobleron, I wandered down to where thewinchester was seated and handed over the bounty. He seemed happy enough down in the dungeons chatting with his seat (C) neighbour (Paul) about all aspects of AFF – it seems we will have a new member!
The biggest problem with this flight seems is the AVOD - aptly renamed the AVOID. The screen is fuzzy and hard on the eyes – the CSM has rebooted the system once, and announced a second attempt at making it work correctly. I really want to watch the end of the Lincoln Lawyer – I watched this on the way over and ended up missing the last 15 or so minutes due to landing.
I kicked back and finally decided to use the AVOID. Fortunately it had remedied itself, and it wasn’t like watching a 3D movie without the glasses anymore. I finalised the movie I wanted to watch, well at least I started to, then suddenly the seat next to me got occupied – by thewinchester! He had escaped the dungeons, snuck past the guards, and decided to risk life and limb and come up for a chat.
Thewinchester stayed till top of decent, then felt it prudent to sneak back to the dungeons, although I did try and convince him the flight attendants wouldn’t care he was there at that point, his sense of duty lead him away.
The 744 touched down into a gusty Sydney from the ocean side, and we were quickly at our gate ready to disembark. On alighting the aircraft, I quickly raced up to the Qantas lounge to print off a parking voucher, then met up with thewinchester outside after he collected his luggage. A bus ride to the car park, and we were quickly on our way into Sydney to drop him off at his new abode for however long it lasts.
AVOD.
The latest movies available on this flight are:
The Lincoln Lawyer (8/10), Paul (9/10), Limitless, Oranges and Sunshine, Soul Surfer, The Adjustment Bureau, Insidious, Hall Pass, Unknown (8/10), Just Go With It, Cedar Rapids, Mad coughs, Country Song, No Strings Attached, The Dilemma, The Mechanic, Rabbit Hole, The Rite
The Pros and Cons of the flight.
Pros.
- Food service
- Food quality
- Sky-bed seating
- 747 Aircraft
- Service overall
- I saw the end of the movie
- AVOD (admittedly this aircraft problem)
- Pre-flight – no business lounge
- Exit rows – men stretching and poking their bums at me… ick
- No amenity kit – a sleep mask would be good
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