Daver6 World Tour 2016

[Daver6]

Starting this as a place holder and background information for MrsDaver6 and my World Tour 2016. It's not really a world your, but you'll get the idea.

Given the disaster that happened to MrsDaver6 on your holiday last year (http://www.australianfrequentflyer....tos/tr-namibia-south-africa-israel-68142.html) and her missing out, it was time to make up for it. There will be no extreme sports. In fact, I won't even allow MrsDaver6 near a knitting needle, just to be on the safe side

The bulk of flights have been booked as 280k J OW trips, with the exception of the internal US flights paid for in F. Being a HH diamond, most hotel stays are in HH hotels.

Flights are as follows:

J PER-ADL-DOH-AMM-TLV (QF 737, QR A350, RJ A319, RJ E175)
J TLV-LHR (BA 777)
J LGW-BOD (BA A320)
J ORY-LHR-IAD (BA A319, BA A380)
F DCA-DFW-MSY (AA A321, AA 737)
F MSY-DFW-BOS (AA 737, AA 737)
J BOS-DOH-SIN (QR A350, QR AA350)
J SIN-HKG-PER (CX 773, CX A333)

Will be taking the train for BOD to ORY



The big adventure commences in about 10 days. Updates as they happen. Stay tuned...

 

[love_the_life]

Sounds good, along for the ride. Hopefully no accidents this time :shock:

 

[TomVexille]

Looking forward to following along

 

[24601]

this looks good, subscribed.

 

[RooFlyer]

Yes, I recall the Sth African trip. I think your policy on Mrs Daver6 is very sensible.

 

[JohnM]

BP scanned. How long is the trip?

 

[Daver6]

BP scanned. How long is the trip?

Roughly six weeks.

 

[Buzzard]

How many miles did this come in at Daver6?
Based on what I've read elsewhere, you did well to get the QR flight ex ADL. A nice looking bird I want to travel on one day.

 

[Major]

That's an extensive trip. Lots of time to try many different wines

 

[Daver6]

How many miles did this come in at Daver6?
Based on what I've read elsewhere, you did well to get the QR flight ex ADL. A nice looking bird I want to travel on one day.

Main reason for going via ADL is there was no availability from PER. The added advantage though is we have a few hours on the ground there to catch up with MrsDaver6's parents.

The award booking consisted of per-adl-doh-amm-tlv-lhr-bod-ory-lhr-iad-bos-doh-sin-hkg-per which comes in at 32473 miles. The BOD-ORY will be either train or Air France (yet to be booked) and IAD-BOS is where the internal AA flights come into play.

 

[craven morehead]

Looking forward to this TR

 

[Daver6]

Well things have changed. Rather than taking the TGV from Bordeaux to Paris, flying has made more sense. Given we have an early morning departure from ORY, we booked to stay at the Hilton at the airport. It seemed a bit silly to take the train to Gare Montparnasse and then have the hassle of a taxi/uber/connecting trains to Orly airport. Being an engineer, a quick spreadsheet showed we would save about 90 minutes flying at an additional cost of 20 Euros per pax. That coupled with the hassle factor plus only needed to depart at 6:30pm gives us almost another full day in Bordeaux.

So we can add

BOD-ORY in Y on AF (A319)

Thanks to an Alitalia status match a while back, we are both Skyteam Elite Plus. This meant we could book the el cheapo AF fare which doesn't include bags, but status means one bag each up to 23kg.

 

[Daver6]

We are under way.

First sector was PER to ADL. Not too much to report here. The new Perth business lounge is quite nice. I really like the wood fired pizza options. It does make a nice change from the same old food in the regular QP that hasn't changed in the last five years.

Boarding was via stairs through gate 7. Even though there were two lines, both manned, there was no priority queue and a bit of a scrum. Never mind, I'm not in a rush.



The menu for the flight. I don't fly business domestically often, but I think the options get fewer each time I do. No choice of entree. Luckily I was happy with the option available. The cabin was only half full so service was quick. Not that it would be an issue as we were in 1A and 1C.



Just prior to touchdown in RAdelaide




Good wines had gave us a flight time of 2:20. The pilot was pretty chuffed with his landing and just before turning off the runway announced "Thank you. I'm here all day". Made my chuckle

We had a little over four hours before the QR flight departed. MrsDave6's parents met us at the airport and joined us for a few drinks at the QP. Around 6pm a cart came around offering espresso Martinis . Yes please.


We are under way.

First sector was PER to ADL. Not too much to report here. The new Perth business lounge is quite nice. I really like the wood fired pizza options. It does make a nice change from the same old food in the regular QP that hasn't changed in the last five years.

Boarding was via stairs through gate 7. Even though there were two lines, both manned, there was no priority queue and a bit of a scrum. Never mind, I'm not in a rush.



The menu for the flight. I don't fly business domestically often, but I think the options get fewer each time I do. No choice of entree. Luckily I was happy with the option available. The cabin was only half full so service was quick. Not that it would be an issue as we were in 1A and 1C.



Just prior to touchdown in RAdelaide



Good wines had gave us a flight time of 2:20. The pilot was pretty chuffed with his landing and just before turning off the runway announced "Thank you. I'm here all day". Made my chuckle

We had a little over four hours before the QR flight departed. MrsDave6's parents met us at the airport and joined us for a few drinks at the QP. Around 6pm a cart came around offering espresso Martinis . Yes please.

 

[Daver6]

Next up, flight to DOH on a A350 (a first for me). We had the centre seats in row 2. Pretty good seats for a couple. Easy enough to talk and see each other. There was a privacy screen but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how to raise it. Probably just as well, otherwise MrsDaver6 would have given me dirty looks (not that I would have been able to see them).

Being a bit of a wine nerd, I was really impressed with the wine list. 2002 Pommery Louise as one of the champagnes offered impressed me. I had that, along with the Vouvray, Chablis, Mencia and Port. Menu is dine on demand.

There is one toilet at the front of the cabin past the galley and two just forward of doors 2L and 2R. Ie, either side of the "bar", but really in the middle of the cabin. I thought the general layout was a bit strange.

First, the bar isn't really a bar. After dinner they put an ice bucket with champagne out, some fresh fruit and stemware. It was a help yourself affair and not used, except by us for a post dinner drink. The A350 is pretty quiet and I'd imagine if people hung out there and weren't considerate it could be quite annoying for those sitting nearby. I'll try take some whole cabin pictures next time to explain this.

All in all though, I found the seat really comfortable. Plenty of storage space, big hi def screen. Bed was pretty comfortable too and managed a decent sleep. Food was excellent. Next few posts will be the wine list and menus along with breakfast (which was probably the best breakfast I've had on an aircraft).

One disappointing thing on this flight is that for some reason the in-flight internet was not available. I don't really know why, but I asked and was just told it isn't working. No big loss for me, but if I was travelling for business and booked and airline where that was an important factor so I could work, I'd be pretty annoyed.

Food menu followed by breakfast

 

[Daver6]

But more importantly, the drinks menu

 

[Daver6]

And coughtails. Sort of run out of time for the dry Martini.

 

[Daver6]

We couldn't get the RJ boarding passes issued in Australia. After landing we parked by the freight terminal. So stairs and a short bus ride has us at the self loading freight terminal. Apparently the transfer desk couldn't issue the RJ passes yet either as check-in only opens three hours prior to departure. Seems a little strange to me, but the guy assured us we'll have no issues getting into the Al Mourjan lounge. He was correct.

Things have one downhill in this lounge since my last visit about a year ago. No Krug. No a la carte dining in the upstairs restaurant (buffet only). I suspect this is due to the proper first class lounge now being available. That aside, this is still an amazing lounge. It does get busy between about 5am and 7:30am though and queues for the showers. Given our RJ flight doesn't depart till after midday, I'll just wait it out.

 

[RooFlyer]

My experience on the QR A350 (but inbound to ADL) was pretty much the same as yours - except that the 'bar' was sans Champagne .. and sans everything, for that matter! just a darkened area in the middle of the cabin.

A lay-out suitable for mid-long haul daytime flights I think.

 

[Daver6]

Quick report on the RJ flight from DOH to AMM.

Flight delayed 30 minutes, but not big deal. We have a longish layover in Amman anyway. Seated in 1A and 1C on the RJ A320. Bulkhead but plenty of leg room. Probably 6" more then row 1 on a QF 737.

Interior looks pretty old and grubby. In flight TV selection looks about as old as the aircraft. Cheers, Friends, etc. Staff didn't smile once. They just didn't want to be at work. No pleasantries. We were offered a drink but no menu. Had to ask for the options. I just said champagne please. The gamble paid off. Taittinger was served. Again, meal order taken. Went something like this. Keep in mind no menu is provided

RJ: What would you like to eat.
Me: What are the options
RJ: Beef, fish, chicken, pasta.
Me: Ummm...what's the chicken?
RJ: A curry:
Me: *thinks this is too hard* I'll have the beef please.

Entree was fine. Beef served with rice. Presentation was worse than a Mcain's microwave meal and truly tasted disgusting. I didn't eat any of it.

Another thing. Flight is non-smoking. No passengers were smoking but when I went forward to the toilet I could smell smoke. Either a crew member had been smoking behind the drawn curtain or it was coming from the coughpit. MrsDaver6 smelt it too at times.

I've done this sector in reverse on the same ticket type but on QR. As QR but was in Y. That was a better experience, both in terms of meal and service, although no champagne.

Currently in the Crown lounge. However, through the ANZ Black card there is access to the Veloce lounge here. Except it's not a lounge, but a restaurant where they have a special menu. Will probably check that out a bit later.

 

[boomy]

Checking-in for the world tour.

Good wine list on QR. how was the food and service?

I love the Crown lounge, spacious, comfortable place.

I'm afraid your flight to TLV will be similar (underwhelming) to your previous flight. They use old planes on those short 20 minutes sectors but at least the seating is 1-2, good for singles and for couples.