- Joined
- Aug 26, 2010
- Posts
- 5,645
Preamble:
I have a very good boss, I genuinely don’t dislike him......no seriously it’s true, he has a great sense of humour and is very good at his job. There are, however, two downsides to my boss, firstly he is very good at his job. This presents some difficulties for me. I’m fundamentally lazy, some might say bone idle, so having a boss that knows what is happening in the business presents challenges to someone who’s primary desire, on arriving in his office, is to do as little as possible. Being 11,000 miles away does provide some assistance....but nowhere near enough. :-|
The second downside is made up of two components. He is not very tall, in fact he is quite small. No.... I’m not being heightist or sizest, I don’t particularly like anyone, short, medium, tall, thin, less thin, large etc etc. This all round smallness means he can fit into an 747 Y seat as if it were an F sleeper bed. (He could probably stow away in the emergency medical equipment and be comfortable.) Don’t get me wrong I think this is great...I wish I could. (Actually I really don’t, I dislike anything that doesn’t maximize my comfort, but I feel I need to say that I do....more on humility later.) It does mean that he flies Y everywhere!!!!
So what has all this to do with travel and, in particular, my first trip report? Well, actually not a huge amount other than to give a little background......... I’ll continue....In the balmy pre GFC days I managed to swan around the world in OW J class cabins. Trips to the UK, South America, and China were regulars on my itinerary. I don’t particularly enjoy travel, and the prospect of going to new places and meeting new people I find quite annoying....but at least I could do something I don’t like with a degree of comfort. I got to choose my airline and book my own tickets, so it was nowhere near as unpleasant as it could have been.
CRUNCH!:shock::shock::shock:.......and then, thanks to a bunch of greedy half witted investment bankers, my world crumbled. Not only did I have to go to foreign climes and meet new people I wasn't going to like, I had to do it in Y class. I’m not a snob (more on my shallowness later), I spent the formative part of my business life in Y, in fact the best part of 10 years, but in those days I was young and ambitious. (Although I still detested traveling to new places and meeting all of those new dreadful people and was still fundamentally lazy and arrogant.) As a middle aged (even more) cantankerous chap the prospects of extended Y travel horrified me. :shock:
As we came through the GFC, how I hate investment bankers, I managed to keep my WP status with 1205 SC’s. It was horrendous, the food, the begging for more drinks, the toilets, the screaming kids....err actually I didn’t see or hear many screaming kids, but that shouldn’t spoil a good story. (Not that this is a good story.)
I found myself living on the QF website from 24 hours before travel to see if my upgrade request had been approved. I practiced small talk and pleasantries in the vain hope I could somehow acquire an Op-Up.
I thought to myself that I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Little did I know it was an oncoming train.
We, the business, squeezed through the GFC, almost unscathed, only one voluntary redundancy in Australia, how I hate investment bankers, and at this point I was set for a return to the pointy end of the plane. I could see the dessert trolley, complete with a plate of cheese biscuits and dried fruit, approaching me. “Would you like a glass of port Mr Hancock?” to which I would reply “No thanks I’ll stick with the 2005 Heathcote Shiraz please".
....but how do I achieve my goal? A need for humility was required, I learned this on one of the courses I had attended in foreign climes. If only I had listened when humility was being explained. As a one dimensional sort of fellow, who is baking dish shallow, humility has never been one of my strong points. Loud, obnoxious, smug and rude come easy, and I could humiliate folk at will, but humility.....I checked google and hatched a cunning plan.
“Of course given the problems we have experienced over the last couple of years and the extent of my future travel it would make sense it this were done in Y+” I found myself saying to my boss. “Yes” he said “that seems a good approach. I'll fly Y, but you are a bit bigger than me”.
Not the words I was expecting to hear. What happened to “Don’t be silly, you can’t be expected to fly to the UK in Y+ five or six times a year.“? Mmmmm not so keen on this humility malarkey. It's all backfired like a 1978 Austin Allegro.
Back to the drawing board then. I brightened up and thought “Y+ is not so bad, I’ve still got the F lounge, it is a bigger seat, and I’ll be able to use my WP status to get bulkhead or exit row seats.” I almost smiled to myself, but held back. (I didn’t want to regress to childhood habits, smiling is not something I have done since 1974 and I still put that down to a bout of wind caused by a particularly stodgy pork pie..)
My first exposure to Y+ was on a BA 777. Ye Gods! My thought, after I cried for two hours, was “how do I cancel my next trip in three weeks time and rebook on QF”. The food, the begging for more drinks, the toilets......err..err deja vu anybody? There was something a little different about it though, I couldn’t put my finger on it at first. Then when dinner was served, I say served I mean thrown at me, it hit me, much like a sledgehammer somewhere between my eyes,..........BA cabin crew.
It was almost a career changing moment for me, I sensed a calling. I realised I could be a BA FA. Without blowing my own trumpet, I have the qualities needed - I’m sullen, rude, I have a genuine disinterest in people and hate dealing with the general public. Perfect but for one thing...I would probably have to work more than I currently do.
I knew this whole sorry, sad affair could not continue, but how could I get back to the pointy end of the plane? Well Google was my friend, in a roundabout way, I stumbled upon a website called “The Australian Frequent Flyer” and the JASA!!
I knew of the mythical JASA but in my, somewhat small mind, it was a ludicrous award seat booking process where for a billion FF points I could fly to the UK in J. It was just another QF "enhancement". This proved untrue though, and lo, it was possible to find JASA’s at similar points prices to Classic Awards. Two things resulted....a cunning and devious plan the like of which had not been seen before,........ possibly, and secondly I found myself constantly visiting the weird and wonderful community that is AFF.
So to the plan! If I could book a J class flight for the right price I could add a second flight, as a JASA, and the combined price would be the same as two Y+ flights. “Brilliant” I thought to myself, well thought of myself really.......did I mention how self centred I am - one of my better traits and one I’m proud of. It just comes naturally. Me, me, me, me!
So at the end of June I will be traveling to the UK in my first paid J flight for more than three years (The JASA follows in October), and I thought to myself what better way to celebrate than inflict a dull trip report on the very people who have provided the cunning means for me to achieve it. If there is any interest I'll bore you with tales of F lounge visits, IFE reviews(), arrival lounge visits, restroom visits, and food reviews!
I have a very good boss, I genuinely don’t dislike him......no seriously it’s true, he has a great sense of humour and is very good at his job. There are, however, two downsides to my boss, firstly he is very good at his job. This presents some difficulties for me. I’m fundamentally lazy, some might say bone idle, so having a boss that knows what is happening in the business presents challenges to someone who’s primary desire, on arriving in his office, is to do as little as possible. Being 11,000 miles away does provide some assistance....but nowhere near enough. :-|
The second downside is made up of two components. He is not very tall, in fact he is quite small. No.... I’m not being heightist or sizest, I don’t particularly like anyone, short, medium, tall, thin, less thin, large etc etc. This all round smallness means he can fit into an 747 Y seat as if it were an F sleeper bed. (He could probably stow away in the emergency medical equipment and be comfortable.) Don’t get me wrong I think this is great...I wish I could. (Actually I really don’t, I dislike anything that doesn’t maximize my comfort, but I feel I need to say that I do....more on humility later.) It does mean that he flies Y everywhere!!!!
So what has all this to do with travel and, in particular, my first trip report? Well, actually not a huge amount other than to give a little background......... I’ll continue....In the balmy pre GFC days I managed to swan around the world in OW J class cabins. Trips to the UK, South America, and China were regulars on my itinerary. I don’t particularly enjoy travel, and the prospect of going to new places and meeting new people I find quite annoying....but at least I could do something I don’t like with a degree of comfort. I got to choose my airline and book my own tickets, so it was nowhere near as unpleasant as it could have been.
CRUNCH!:shock::shock::shock:.......and then, thanks to a bunch of greedy half witted investment bankers, my world crumbled. Not only did I have to go to foreign climes and meet new people I wasn't going to like, I had to do it in Y class. I’m not a snob (more on my shallowness later), I spent the formative part of my business life in Y, in fact the best part of 10 years, but in those days I was young and ambitious. (Although I still detested traveling to new places and meeting all of those new dreadful people and was still fundamentally lazy and arrogant.) As a middle aged (even more) cantankerous chap the prospects of extended Y travel horrified me. :shock:
As we came through the GFC, how I hate investment bankers, I managed to keep my WP status with 1205 SC’s. It was horrendous, the food, the begging for more drinks, the toilets, the screaming kids....err actually I didn’t see or hear many screaming kids, but that shouldn’t spoil a good story. (Not that this is a good story.)
I found myself living on the QF website from 24 hours before travel to see if my upgrade request had been approved. I practiced small talk and pleasantries in the vain hope I could somehow acquire an Op-Up.
I thought to myself that I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Little did I know it was an oncoming train.
We, the business, squeezed through the GFC, almost unscathed, only one voluntary redundancy in Australia, how I hate investment bankers, and at this point I was set for a return to the pointy end of the plane. I could see the dessert trolley, complete with a plate of cheese biscuits and dried fruit, approaching me. “Would you like a glass of port Mr Hancock?” to which I would reply “No thanks I’ll stick with the 2005 Heathcote Shiraz please".
....but how do I achieve my goal? A need for humility was required, I learned this on one of the courses I had attended in foreign climes. If only I had listened when humility was being explained. As a one dimensional sort of fellow, who is baking dish shallow, humility has never been one of my strong points. Loud, obnoxious, smug and rude come easy, and I could humiliate folk at will, but humility.....I checked google and hatched a cunning plan.
“Of course given the problems we have experienced over the last couple of years and the extent of my future travel it would make sense it this were done in Y+” I found myself saying to my boss. “Yes” he said “that seems a good approach. I'll fly Y, but you are a bit bigger than me”.
Not the words I was expecting to hear. What happened to “Don’t be silly, you can’t be expected to fly to the UK in Y+ five or six times a year.“? Mmmmm not so keen on this humility malarkey. It's all backfired like a 1978 Austin Allegro.
Back to the drawing board then. I brightened up and thought “Y+ is not so bad, I’ve still got the F lounge, it is a bigger seat, and I’ll be able to use my WP status to get bulkhead or exit row seats.” I almost smiled to myself, but held back. (I didn’t want to regress to childhood habits, smiling is not something I have done since 1974 and I still put that down to a bout of wind caused by a particularly stodgy pork pie..)
My first exposure to Y+ was on a BA 777. Ye Gods! My thought, after I cried for two hours, was “how do I cancel my next trip in three weeks time and rebook on QF”. The food, the begging for more drinks, the toilets......err..err deja vu anybody? There was something a little different about it though, I couldn’t put my finger on it at first. Then when dinner was served, I say served I mean thrown at me, it hit me, much like a sledgehammer somewhere between my eyes,..........BA cabin crew.
It was almost a career changing moment for me, I sensed a calling. I realised I could be a BA FA. Without blowing my own trumpet, I have the qualities needed - I’m sullen, rude, I have a genuine disinterest in people and hate dealing with the general public. Perfect but for one thing...I would probably have to work more than I currently do.
I knew this whole sorry, sad affair could not continue, but how could I get back to the pointy end of the plane? Well Google was my friend, in a roundabout way, I stumbled upon a website called “The Australian Frequent Flyer” and the JASA!!
I knew of the mythical JASA but in my, somewhat small mind, it was a ludicrous award seat booking process where for a billion FF points I could fly to the UK in J. It was just another QF "enhancement". This proved untrue though, and lo, it was possible to find JASA’s at similar points prices to Classic Awards. Two things resulted....a cunning and devious plan the like of which had not been seen before,........ possibly, and secondly I found myself constantly visiting the weird and wonderful community that is AFF.
So to the plan! If I could book a J class flight for the right price I could add a second flight, as a JASA, and the combined price would be the same as two Y+ flights. “Brilliant” I thought to myself, well thought of myself really.......did I mention how self centred I am - one of my better traits and one I’m proud of. It just comes naturally. Me, me, me, me!
So at the end of June I will be traveling to the UK in my first paid J flight for more than three years (The JASA follows in October), and I thought to myself what better way to celebrate than inflict a dull trip report on the very people who have provided the cunning means for me to achieve it. If there is any interest I'll bore you with tales of F lounge visits, IFE reviews(
), arrival lounge visits, restroom visits, and food reviews!
