Going oneworld (Qantas, BA, Finnair, Air Berlin, Royal Jordanian, Cathay) in Y/J/F

[Joshua]

Aka, the long way to London and back or how to retain WP in a few weeks or solving QF problems + the meaning of life.

Having finished one large trip, I'm going to give some sort of TR on half of oneworld. I could put it into several smaller TR's but I think there is some flow to the whole thing. Airlines include Qantas, JetStar, Cathay Pacific, British Airways, Finnair, Royal Jordanian and soon to be oneworld member, AirBerlin. Mostly in business class except for the short segments and first class on the longest sector onboard the A380. Most of it was planned in the last few months and a lot of last minute changes. Rather than bore you with where, how and why I'm going to jump straight in. Finally, I might be a little photo heavy at times because I've always felt sold short reading these things if the images are lacking.

Qantas Domestic Business
ADL-BNE, B737-800 (J)
After spending a week away in the desert I got home with <12 hours to clean, pack and sleep. 6am flight out of ADL. It's been a while since I've had an early morning departure and in a way I missed it. I'm no commuter, having only ever travelled for leisure. The early morning departures still have some novelty for me and being a weekend it meant less chance of being drowned out by the dreary suit zombie brigade.

My first use of NGCI. I can use it without hassle but it doesn't mean I want to. Maybe it was early, maybe I don't look like a Platinum flying J, but please let me do what I want. Most of the time domestically I'd be carry-on only but this time I had bags and really did not look or feel like going DIY. After the machine spat out all the pieces of paper at me I basically binned them. I prefer a proper boarding pass from the lounge. It takes just as long in ADL if they're going to stop and make me scan my QFF card.

I planned to avoid the Qantas Club in ADL as I've come accustomed to rather miserly food offerings. But with an ever brief visit to the lounge I noticed a significantly better breakfast menu. The buffet resembled something closer to the MEL J lounge continental options. Additionally the appearance of the pancake machine usually seen in the NZ SYD lounge (and it's sibling in QF J) was a surprise. Maybe the NP inspired QC food finally hit ADL. If it remains as it was I'll actually eat at the airport next time. So thumbs up to QF there.

Onto boarding. Well I got to the gate early but it was as bad as ever. No need to rush, so sit down and wait for everyone else to shuffle in. Priority boarding lanes would be nice of course. More than just repeat what has been said over and over on this site I'm more interested in comparing how the other airlines handle it.

Eventually getting on board the ever vanilla 737-800 I was greeted and took 1F, my preference for mornings - block the sunrise and rest if I like. Breakfast was the standard affair if you've flown QF J before. Decent food, not that Y is terrible unless you're into the hot breakfast. My new love has been the strawberry apple juice, if they don't offer it I'll ask and they usually have it onboard. Another thing of comparison is the method of food service. QF have a slow but fairly personal method of serving one by one through the J cabin, half trolley half galley.

Skim milk and a deflated but genuinely warm croissant.

For all this, I've become used to the Qantas service - all its good parts and all it's lacking. For how much everyone complains and laments lost service and privileges, I have never had a truly poor experience and have held QF domestic highly, as a solid product I'm happy to use 100% of the time (forgive a 5 cent seat in JQ - with lounge access ). However I think this is part of the greater QF issue. Everyone is just accustom to it so we've lost something. On the customer service side it was satisfactory. It was 6am so I'm not going to complain they weren't very receptive scanning my boarding pass and onboard they probably figured it best to leave everyone alone after meal service. The issue is more underlying and difficult to quantify but by the end of this whole trip it came up again making me change my views a lot. For now though while I was happy and straight into the BNE J lounge, I really felt like it had been 'just' another flight. Am I simply over it all, If business class isn't exciting anymore or could QF do more? Not like there's a choice on this route QF is the only one with a J product. DJ could still stick you on an entertainment-less Embraer for 2+ hours.

My final note from this segment is how terrible those new baggage rules are. If it wasn't for being platinum, how would I lug around all this:

Again for short trips it wouldn't be an issue, but if you want to transport boxes of cough around the country cheap, the off colour silver card does wonder

 

[Joshua]

BNE-SYD-AKL on Qantas Business + an evening at the SYD First lounge

BNE-SYD, 767-300ER (J)
The second and last QF domestic flight. It was a relatively quiet J lounge at BNE. I had chosen the one 767 flight for the afternoon that had old dreamtime seats with my 1A seat selection at the ready. I can't remember the last time I actually landed an international config 767, so was hoping for some luck...

Well not to be again! Subbed for a domestic configuration, leaving me to partner an empty seat to Sydney. The service was good and the crew a little more awake. Nothing extraordinary but the crew did seem more outgoing. I barely touched the meal served having a few hours still to kill in the lounge ahead, but did find myself another juice I'll sadly admit. Crew actually offered me a whole carton of it to take but alas, SYD was not my final stop this day.

Making my way promptly to the transit desk, I for once remembered to get an express path card to add to the collection. It was relatively quiet and they waited a few minutes, paging people off a delayed flight to run to make their connection. Once that lot had made it to the pen, the bus boarded and we were doing the tarmac dash. Another smooth SYD transit, I honestly have a lot of luck with it seldom hitting rush hour. No queue at customs nor the TRS let me get to the lounge within 20 minutes of landing at T3.

Cue some gratuitous photos of the first lounge.

I had promised myself to try something different this time, which I did, but ended up just being the beef burger. Slightly unclassy but tasted wonderful, as a some of you would know. Went for the special of the day for dessert, sticky date pudding. Not the greatest but had to leave one course for the plane. They had a pile of the menus sitting there so grabbed one. Not sure if anybody has typed up the current menu but I'd be happy to transcribe any it.

The next flight was delayed some 40 minutes. Not exact tragic stuck in a lounge like this, as long as no volcanic ash clouds popped up I'd be happy - I did want to get to AKL eventually.

SYD-AKL, 737-800 (J)
Forever in fear of being switched to a 737 classic, I chose the right side of the front row so there would be the conciliatory foot cut out in the bulkhead. No aircraft swap this time however, so a Silverwing seat it was. I'm not tall so shouldn't struggle to stretch out, but it is a little restrictive. Definitely higher quality IFE than the old 767 however. I do feel frustrated at the poor hard product available trans-tasman, EK or LA provide the best options or QF mainline in the morning with the A332 but the schedule is the decider here. Was a half full J cabin so was looking forward to a quick meal service followed by some relaxation before the late arrival.

Wasn't at all hungry at this point but the food service began.

Menu as below:

FROM THE BAR
Roast Nuts

ENTREE
Pumpkin and Lentil Soup with Coriander Yoghurt

MAIN COURSES
Salad of Smoked Ocean Trout with Quinoa, Labne and Fresh Herbs
Roast Chicken Breast with Rosemary and Garlic Butter, Steamed Greens and Sweet Potato Puree
Italian Style Pork with Green Olive and Parsley Sauce, Soft Polenta and Beans


Warm Bakery
Cheeses
Maggie Beer Ice Cream and Orange and Almond Biscuits
Chocolates


Of course I couldn't skip straight to dessert -_-

Fish, chicken or pork. I went for the indecisive safety option in chicken.

The chicken dish to me reads QF all over it. It looks bloody plain, but it is good & tasty food (though I already full). It is actually very similar to an Air NZ meal I had on the same route but I feel NZ was better plated and slightly tastier. Might have to pull out some photos to compare another time. I think we could expect a little more of QF, particularly if departing SYD.

Finally got some ice cream.

An uneventful flight is a good one. Next I recall, I was very quick to deplane and get through immigration & biosec while other flights appeared delayed. Another miserable Auckland winter night await outside...

 

[moa999]

Re: Going oneworld (Qantas, BA, Finnair, Air Berlin, Royal Jordanian, Cathay) in Y/J/

Great start... assume with the ADL-BNE-SYD-AKL that this is a DONE fare?
FL lounge is empty at that point of the night.

The FL menu was very recently transcribed by anat0l
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....flounge-run-tr-thread-31936-2.html#post474600
although you could add your specials

 

[Joshua]

Re: Going oneworld (Qantas, BA, Finnair, Air Berlin, Royal Jordanian, Cathay) in Y/J/

Great start... assume with the ADL-BNE-SYD-AKL that this is a DONE fare?
FL lounge is empty at that point of the night.

The FL menu was very recently transcribed by anat0l
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....flounge-run-tr-thread-31936-2.html#post474600
although you could add your specials

That's good, I didn't feel like typing the menu up. The specials were quite similar on the day but I don't recall them all to be honest. Not a DONEx fare as it was only half way around the world unfortunately and not technically all OneWorld. I didn't want to bother getting into the ticketing but maybe I'll mention it with each flight. It is predominantly regular cash fares. The initial QF flights included one JASA and some special arrangements

I was at the Flounge earlier but by the time I ate and took photos it was getting quite late. Probably a little too quiet really, I think it's a lounge that needs a bit of life in it maybe because of the materials.

 

[Joshua]

Novotel Auckland Airport - something more comfy than upstairs near the timezone

The airport hotel outside Auckland International had been under construction for what seemed ages, making a mess of the car park and road just outside the terminal. Well finally it had been finished so couldn't help but test it out. At the time of booking it had only just opened and today it's still only a few months old. Was lucky to get a rate well below the special introductory rate. Given I was staying alone before flying out in the morning, I decided to pick the most basic room available. It's positioned extremely well, mere seconds from the international terminal. You can walk about 20-30 metres from the arrivals point & the downstairs Maccas, otherwise you can shortcut to the 2nd floor which places you right at departures. There is not path completely undercover however so with the relentless rain you get in Auckland at times I found myself having to dash when moving between the airport and hotel.

Check-in wasn't terribly smooth. Arriving late, but prior midnight found the night staff resetting their key card system. Was told I could be escorted up and let in which didn't really appeal. Other people turned up to check-in and additional staff appeared, rather uncertain to what was happening. I was happy to wait a minute and fortunately they had fixed it quickly. Maybe still some teething and they recovered themselves promptly. I was given a free drink voucher because of my Accor status which would make a good comparison to other hotels I would stay at. Was given a room on the top floor of the basic rooms - all the suites are on the top 2 floors.

For a new hotel as you'd expect a nice clean room. Nothing shabby, all modern fittings with an odd shower screen that had glass on the opposing side backing onto the bed. Had rails to slide, so had no idea if it was meant to open up. I couldn't help wonder why though. My best option was to shower with others watching you from the comfort of the bed which would proceed to get wet along with the adjacent carpet. That aside the rest of the room was predictable but of good quality. Clearly this is going to be the best Auckland airport property by a long way - quality and sheer convenience - but you will be paying relatively more for it. Finally along with the free drink and complementary waters there was a signed hand written note wishing me well. So on the side of recognition of status they did very well in my view.

It was late but for your benefit I snooped and grabbed a few photos. The facilities are pretty basic - a gym. The building has quite a small footprint given the open car park surrounding it. The lobby and restaurant are close together on the ground floor.

So before sleeping I bothered checking out what had changed in the airport terminal briefly as I hadn't been in AKL for 6 months. They always appear to be redecorating or changing things in the terminal space. This time they have changed the entrance for immigration & security however if you're using the QF premium check-in you can still go through the pre-clearance on the left side. After renovating airside with duty free now landslide is being overhauled. The top floor is being worked on, the bistro nobody ever used now closed with a very long snaking corridor to get to the viewing platform. The timezone is now really in the middle of nowhere, all rather bizarre. Finally if anyone is hoping to crash upstairs during the night the dark corner is still there but the rest of the floor is gone, significantly reducing space. Since the closed area had the Koru Club behind the wall, I would take a guess it might expanding. (The last time I was in there I thought it rather spacious but I have no idea how busy it gets.)


With the late night stroll out the way I returned to enjoy a good night's sleep.

 

[Joshua]

11 hours of non-stop Jetstar

With the morning light AKL looked just as miserable the night before

The morning paper's front page flashed the continuing saga of a pax who had urinated in-seat. Catching my eye I continued to read discovering it was on the same flight I was taking. I already had concerns about the length of this flight, who knew you had to hold on too.

Of course staying ever so close to the terminal provides a great advantage when it comes to checking in. Grabbing my packed check-in bag I strode downstairs taking the mere minute walk to the JQ/3K counters. The economy queue was the typical international check-in line, squiggling outward. Fortunately the Business (aka StarClass) queue was completely empty.

And with that I was down one bag, heading back to the hotel. All up it took about 5 minutes from the room, checking in and back again.

On returning to the room I could rest a bit, eventually packing up and checking out. No time to check out the limited dinning options available, as breakfast would be provided today by Qantas. This time I took the outside escalator up over the road with a 30 second walk into customs. Again the hotel is extremely well placed and if you're transiting or heading out early (thinking of LAN here) it makes for a great option, letting you return to the room and maximising relaxation.

So a few minor changes to the customs entrance and the pain of not flying NZ or QF with the lack of pre-clearance immigration saw me slowly through ending up in the lounges. Left turn for us WP/Emerald folk to the slightly sunnier Qantas AKL first lounge. As apparently needless this and the BNE lounge appear, they do provide slightly better food/drink options and significantly more privacy. Today there was one family in the F lounge up until I headed out.

Keeping my lounge time to a minimum with a short & late breakfast I headed off to the board the flight right up to the last moment.


AKL-SIN, Jetstar A330-200 (J)
(technically it is sold as Jetstar Asia - 3K but being a A332 service it is run by JQ crew based in MEL I believe and not AKL or SIN)

So to the flight I had been dreading a little. It is scheduled for 10:35 in duration but this flight would end up being closer to 11 hours after some slight delays. It is a surprise to most people how long it is. I didn't realise until after I booked it, slightly embarrassingly. Even one of the QF crew was shocked when I mentioned it, which made them take pity on me! Fortunately for me it would be in the quasi-business class that JQ offers. This is the longest segment you can fly on JQ. It is slightly longer than SYD-HNL and equally shorter than the long-lost MEL-HNL service.

Fortunate for myself I booked this prior to the new fares so would be eligible for status credits on QFF. I was admittedly lucky after postponing booking, I booked the StarClass ticket on the night of fare changes. In fact a minute after I completed the booking I was unable to login for seat selection because the system was taken down - so made it by seconds. Being the school holidays in Australia but not NZ meant the (non-promotional) fare was actually significantly less than anything you'd find leaving Australia at the time so was again quite lucky.

Back to the plane. 2D had already been taken so I sat in 1E at the front (there is no 1D). This provided good leg room, nobody reclining into me and only a single passenger adjacent. In this case a Singaporean couple were using 1F/H/J, sharing the window seats with their child. There were several children on this flight up front but this was not overly disturbing and you have no expectation to privacy with open recliner seats. I'm not going to detail much more about the StarClass product as it has been done to death but will mention in flight service specific to this route. The amenity kit is the standard affair, still better than nothing. You're getting all the economy 'extras'
for free so blanket and entertainment system etc. They do include a (rather large) bottle of water on your seat upon boarding. Simple it might be, but at times I wish other airlines would do this in J cabins.

You're early on handed a menu to read and then not soon after orders are taken. They would write down your choice and take the menu long before serving. It feels more informal and I wonder how they then deal with one meal choice being too popular. You're taking off just before lunch local time so there is a scheduled full lunch, afternoon tea and a 'light meal' which in J is basically another main.

So chicken, beef or fish? Probably should of gone for the chicken which was more Asian but I choose beef in the moment. Visually quite unappealing but it tasted quite okay and was at least plated better than I expected.

Of course being previously planes used for QF domestic ops there is no personal IFE so the rather bulky entertainment units get handed out. Probably better than the portable DVD players but still... if they're thinking of eventually using iPads I think that would be a great advancement. Quite unlike me I bothered watching two movies and didn't fast forward through either of them. Not that you want to accidentally hit stop on these units because it appears there's no easy random access.

There were extra food runs during this flight. One was simply a big basket full of the entire buy on board snacks, in this case free. Biscuits/cookies, chocolates and fruit+nut were among the various items. In that sense the LLC organisation ends up providing a better service than a traditional one. Stock up however because they only do it once and are happy for you take as much as you can hold. Afternoon tea was a more standard offering, for myself consisting of a cheese plate.

The final meal is served in the lead up to landing. Given the extended flight duration I think the meals are quite well spaced and timed. There were two choices from memory one being Asian & vegetarian the other pasta. While it is a 'light meal' it was more than quite filling for an early dinner and included dessert. Quite hot, a bit better looking and tasted much nicer than the meat surprise of earlier. Not sure why they serve the ice cream at the same time. It appears cheap or lazy but it could be pragmatic in lets the things thaw out a bit after being frozen all flight.

So at the end a rather comfortable flight I was pleased. I had entered with quite limited expectation in the hope of being more easily pleased/surprised. Maybe we are too spoilt these days and this is more like a business class of old. But after being stuck in a Jetstar plane for close to half a day I left feeling quite satisfied. On the plus it was a day flight so the hard product wasn't so limiting - but wouldn't be so comfortable with it on a night service. The food was good, not great, but perfectly edible. The price was relatively very cheap (and wasn't even a sale price). With the QFF status and the new cabin bonuses it netted a rather pretty 140SC and 13000+ points. Of course with the fare changes it really does change the dynamics and to be honest I probably wouldn't fly it again if I'm paying. But for cheap and comfortable (on a day flight!) the JQ 'business' product made a good impression even after 11 hours.

It gets better from here, A380 in F, BA/AY/AB/RJ/CX to come!

 

[lmere12]

Re: Going oneworld (Qantas, BA, Finnair, Air Berlin, Royal Jordanian, Cathay) in Y/J/

Enjoying your trip report and look forward to the rest... Interested in your Royal Jordanian experience.

 

[Joshua]

The Lounges of SIN

Singapore has a few lounges so this deserves a small post of its own.
I have unfortunately lost a phone I was using for some photos but hope to get it back soon so this and few more posts may be sans-photography.

I arrived quite early for a late night departure at Changi Airport T1. I had had enough of the sultry weather and was looking forward to some air conditioning. Fortunately the completely separate SATS premium check-in section allows you to check-in earlier than the regular services. For those than haven’t passed through SIN there is a sit-down check-in service that’s a lot more spacious and quiet compared with SYD or MEL also with a direct path through without further hassle.

A random photo from Changi T1 I do have...

Having arrived so early for my flight to London I had plenty of time to shop as you do in Singapore. Eventually, lounges of course. Problem was the BA & QF flight *from* London were heading off first so many transit pax and people heading back to Australia already filled the lounges. First lounge was standing room only, the front desk suggested to come back in an hour. So I walked straight back out to try next door first. Business lounge had some breathing room but was more of a Zoo than the main terminal. So for the sake of taking photos (alas I will try to post them if I can retrieve them) and really to seek out some privacy & quiet, I tracked to the other side of the terminal. Out of the three partner lounges used by different oneworld airlines, the Cathay Pacific lounge is marked as an official oneworld lounge – so you can gain entry when flying other OW airlines. The Skyview Lounge it was then.

Obviously not usually the lounge you’d head for if you have a choice so I did get a bit lost. Eventually finding it I was surprised to see a small, open escalator heading up. Someone in front of me started roaming around before being told to move on. Wouldn’t surprise if it occurred semi-frequently with the entrance. Lounge assistant welcomed me kindly, there appeared 2 or 3 employees running this lounge. Without the photos I’ll describe it as a triangular shape in the corner of the terminal with lots of glass facing the apron without a ceiling. The entranceway and is in the middle so you have two sides to choose from. Food and beverages are of a more basic domestic QantasClub standard. Additionally there is a separate room up a few stairs more in the core building that is a fully enclosed room. It also has a small food area with similar offerings. Most of all, this lounge was quiet. Very quiet with just a few travellers waiting for the next CX flight and any other partner airlines. Exactly what I was looking for. Working internet and I was happy. It seems like half the country gets lounge access in Australia, you realise how much more limited the access is in some parts. Conclusion for this lounge is it’s basic but equally fewer travellers will occupy it so if you want somewhere quiet during the Kangaroo route peak hour, it may be worth it.

Walking back to the QF lounges… again rather irrelevant.

Now back to the first lounge. Most of the flights had left back to Australia except for a delay or two. So the place became rather empty before filling up again (though not as bad) for the flights to LHR and I guess FRA too. There was some semi-appetizing items from the buffet but you’re better waiting for the staff to come around offering food. First come, first serve in the literal sense here but I looked appeared to be one of the few enthusiastic about it. Odd I thought since surely most are flying Y and won’t be fed too well once on board.

So here’s where those photos would come in handy. The two items on offer were small servings of lasagne for the duck-and-cover transit types and satay chicken skewers and noodles felt more at home though both rather representing of their origins. Nevertheless they were both quite good (yes I had both) though I had missed out on dinner and had little for lunch. But would you blame me for not being full leading up to a long F flight? Finally finished with the ice creams on offer and some fruit. Again, where are those photos?

Next up, the showers. Looks like I just missed out as the transit pax hit the lounge. Was second in line so thought why not. Here’s a tip. Those remote beeper things they hand out like you’ve ordered noodles? They not only beep obnoxiously but also shout out you’re shower is ready. If you place them on a table in lounge you and the entire lounge will be alerted when the sounds reflects off in a concert manner.

I’m sure you can find a photo of the F lounge showers if you want, not as good as The Wing in HKG but I like them. Let’s just keep this short because without photos me typing this is depressing as I can hear myself think and I feel like I’m starting to talk to myself.

Well that was my last visit to the oneworld lounges of Changi. Sorry for the lack of photos, I’ll put them up if I can recover them. With that I ran off to find an A380 load of people trying to get through gate security and onto a plane. (Don't worry, photos on the next one for sure!)

 

[Joshua]

Re: Going oneworld (Qantas, BA, Finnair, Air Berlin, Royal Jordanian, Cathay) in Y/J/

Enjoying your trip report and look forward to the rest... Interested in your Royal Jordanian experience.

I'll have a bit to say about RJ (with photos!). A320, A330 and EMB's, some interesting ground handling, the AMM lounge and lots of other stuff. Will get there soon!

Cheers for commenting

 

[markj23]

Re: Going oneworld (Qantas, BA, Finnair, Air Berlin, Royal Jordanian, Cathay) in Y/J/

Great report so far, love reading it

Although i hope your not taking travel tips from Karl Pilkington?

 

[TonyHancock]

Re: Going oneworld (Qantas, BA, Finnair, Air Berlin, Royal Jordanian, Cathay) in Y/J/

Loving the TR. Looking forward to the next instalment.

 

[Joshua]

Re: Going oneworld (Qantas, BA, Finnair, Air Berlin, Royal Jordanian, Cathay) in Y/J/

Great report so far, love reading it

Although i hope your not taking travel tips from Karl Pilkington?

No but we do visit one of places he went to... in some ways I can see what he means

I saw the show rebroadcasted on One so put the series onto my iPhone, nearly as fun as watching Air Crash Investigation on the plane!

 

[Joshua]

How to break your QF A380 First class suite in 5 minutes.

SIN-LHR Qantas A380-800 (F)

In Singapore they use three aerobridges for the A380, so First class passengers (and crew) have a direct access without any waiting. This was a nice change after getting through the mess that is security at the gate. You don’t really need much help getting to seat 1A but was nevertheless warmly greeted aboard. I was left to settle in before being attacked with real customer service and introductions. The A380 suites are roomy of course but most of all I am always initially looking for spots to put things like NC headphones, wallets, phones, falsified passports etc. Well the A380 does well, some of the ‘spots’ are tad small but the draws are very handy and there’s a decent place for shoes too. Takes you a few minutes to get your stuff in order before plundering the comprehensive amenity kit.

So after getting settled in the FA who would be taking care of me introduced himself and offered the pre-flight canapé with choice of drink. Today the Grissini came with Eggplant and Kalamata Olives. The same FA takes care of you for the whole journey. I presume they’re splitting up duties between the A/F/K seats. Of course if you hit that call button it’s on for whoever can pounce the quickest. Things such as pyjamas are unwrapped and handed to you, though I declined getting changed until being airborne. Each to their personal first class prerogative, but I prefer getting changed for bed after eating.

You notice how these international flights take a long time to board when you don’t have to queue and have nobody to talk to. Fortunately the gate to gate entertainment system provides the answer and also lets you use watch the tail camera. This wouldn’t be the only airline I’d fly on that has a camera feed but it is standard on the A380.

Well after playing with the IFE for a couple minutes it froze up. Oh boy, here we go, at least it didn’t get stuck playing Justin Bieber. I cautiously hit the assistance button and told them I had broken it already… one of the FA’s hit one of the hidden reset buttons. For the next few minutes I’d have to entertain myself with the iPhone.

Before taking off I was also greeted by the cabin manager, bit of a tough job trying to run the place but also make an appearance in the pointy end. There isn’t any specific acknowledgement or treatment status. Maybe a small note like CX leaves would be nice but otherwise if you were paying $8000 or whatever, you’d hope to be treated rather equally status aside. Just like flying on Rex, got to be a regular.

Fortunately the IFE came back up and it was time to hit the skies, metaphorically I hoped. Just after take off the touch panel comes up with the time remaining. It would have a wholly different meaning to those not too far behind us. Time until you can get out of Y and breathe versus time until we must leave F and fend for ourselves again.

A lot has long been written on the hard product so I don’t feel any need to give a review of the seat & suite but I will say it is one of the few with a decent massaging function. The multi dimmable lighting options are great. The table is big and heavy, rather too heavy made of solid wood I believe. The spring loading was a bit buggy, yet another problem the table wouldn’t pop-up initially but to the FA’s frustration and later would have troubles going back down entirely. That aside, I would really like to dine face to face in this setup, the opposing seat (I think we can call that for once) was comfortable enough for dining, I had tried it briefly while sorting out my luggage after boarding. And if your dinner guest ever gets boring you can always activate the screen and have the flip out panel hide their presence. If it went back a bit further you could crush them, or maybe that’s a new idea for a bassinet.

Okay, onto the food!

 

[Joshua]

Some fine first class food

It should be noted, this was the supper service, not dinner. I was on QF9 so there is a ‘light meal’ about midnight then a full breakfast in the morning. Of course premium cabins don’t really abide by those rules…

Entrée: Lemongrass Chicken on Rice Vermicelli Salad

Sorry I forgot which red it was…

Food orders are taken by the FA standing to your side, facing you. Give it a few minutes they’ll be back. Obviously they’re heating a few of everything in advance. I discovered later that it takes them about 10-15 minutes to heat something up without notice. They do give you choices sometimes on how things are put together, if you want something served separately for example.

So, sticking to the ‘light’ theme. Main: Honey Dijon Glazed

Also there is a side salad in the background. The food does genuinely taste a lot better that what I’ve experienced in business class, not that you can complain too often about J. All rather impressive if you think how it is pre-prepared and served. Service was excellent from FA. They do a good job with keeping an eye on everyone without much foot traffic – though it does help to be row 1 with the galley distant, between F and Y cabins.

Would of loved to try the duck. Or all of them for that matter. The tough side of travelling alone is not being able to share everything

Finally for dessert: Tirramasu

Was a bit strong for my liking but that’s probably a good thing. I had had enough anyway at that point after the snacks then pasta, satay and ice cream in the lounge and now the chicken and fish on the plane! So again it is quite representative of the Qantas I know, it looks a little on the basic side however extremely good quality food. I’d rather something taste fantastic than over the top creations that end up tasteless.

Well that was supper. I settled in for the night or early morning as it now was to finish watching a show before heading off to sleep.

 

[Joshua]

Sleeping then more eating then more sleeping...

For sleeping they pull out the lambs wool mattress + sheet + blanket + duvet from the cupboard to make your bed. You do have to get out the way so it makes a perfect time to get changed into your PJ’s. Nothing too special about the lavatories on QF but then you hopefully don’t spend much in there.
I also had time to head upstairs to the business lounge to complete the photo compilation. Was completely empty which was handy. You do feel a bit awkward on the upper deck like you’re intruding and frankly there’s rather little to do by yourself.

Back down to my seat. Sorry, bed. Seriously comfortable. They leave you a bottle of water for the night.

You nearly feel guilty falling asleep. Luckily (!) I awoke after a few hours, still half way through the flight. I thought about it for a little while but decided why not get up and stumble toward the galley. A few people were still awake watching movies but most of the cabin was well asleep.

Pushing through the certain I found 2 of the FA’s chatting, both quick to jump up and offer me various things. They have to one side a small counter setup with a few of the snacks off the menu. Hand made chocolates, small cakes, biscuits, fruit of course and a jug of water. The menu is also left there pleading to be read.

Well it gave me chance to chat to the crew, something I often try to do even occasionally on short-haul segments if there’s a quiet moment. While the light meals on the menu are the designated anytime offerings their view was if they had it they would serve it, as it is first class. I wondered if that included economy meals just in case you were on a diet and wanted to ruin your appetite. To be honest the light meals are just that, which in the middle morning are most appealing if you want more than just a chocolate. I opted for the Calzone, against their advice but knew I could select another if I didn’t like it. I returned to my seat and it was not long before the Calzone was ready.

Have to say I’d agree. Was not really up to scratch in my opinion (though taste is subjective after all) so didn’t finish it. Nevermind, steak sandwich get!

This was much better, the meat was tender and the relish was just right. And finally, why not sample nearly the whole damn menu, I opted for the ice cream.

Must say I was a little disappointed when it came out but was probably more what I needed portion wise for my second, actually third dinner + dessert. Really nothing special and personally I much prefer the Maggie Beer ice cream you're often served in J. Even the JQ offering I thought was up to scratch. You would of expected something a bit more… plated. But who cares, I just had a dozen courses of food so better sleep it off before breakfast. Was a slight hitch as now my seat controls had frozen. Oh no again! There are a handful of reset buttons on the contraption which the crew tried to find. I went for another walk upstairs… still empty. Good to stretch the legs around the staircase, you’re away from the crew and not disturbing any passengers. The slippers they give you may be cheap but are rather comfy in place of bare feet. The Frankenstein seat was alive again. So after being up for about an hour I headed back to the dream world, though I think reality was a tad nicer.

 

[Joshua]

Breakfast and goodbye to QF

Good morning! Another few hours had passed. All up I had slept a good 6-7 hours very comfortably.

Think I may have been woken up by some foot traffic but I was sleeping lightly. This gave me the chance to laze about for a while enjoying the warmth of the duvet. Wasn’t too long before I was noticed and asked if I’d like to begin breakfast. Well why not, back to the menu.

As far as eggs, sausages and the like go I figured either the AArivals lounge or later on the BA lounges in T5 would have me covered. Start with the smoothie (though never as good as what NZ offers). Blueberry pancakes from the SYD first lounge are fairly good so let’s see how they go on a plane.

Honestly, best meal I’ve had on a plane (big call!). Having been on board for 10 hours at least, it tasted extremely fresh. Much better than the first lounge. I don’t even like so many strawberries usually. The plate was empty in a minute or two. So why hold back, one last meal - a mix of things including yoghurt over the toasted muesli, which they were happy to put together for me.

The electric windows can be controlled independently on their touch controls or you can put them up or down from the remote. The half blind lets a bit of diffused light in and you can see outside using the camera.

Well with that we were near the end of the journey. Everything was cleaned up, I changed back to street clothes. Could then just sit back and watch the decent. A little sad, I wish I had to travel to Europe all the time, a lot more entertaining than the domestic junket.

Upon landing we were greeted with the efficiency of Heathrow. Three aerobridges greeted us but only two were being manned for arrival. Then the gate operator just has to figure out which door, M1L or M2L or at least where it is on the plane. Or is this a plane, actually what is a plane. Just do it already! It was like they were trying to enter a cheat code on the control terminal. Eventually M2L it was.

Sad to leave but all the crew came around and said thanks and goodbyes. Walking back towards the door, for that one moment I glanced back into the depths of the aircraft, through a multitude of robes now encasing the walls I saw an army of zombies a hundred deep. The staff did their best Gandalf, holding back their passage preventing our rapture. I escaped to find myself in the catacombs of Heathrow. I could make it sound adventurous but really it’s just walking a bloody long way in circles up and down.


Epilogue: Yes I survived. Yes I ate in the BA First lounge. No I didn’t eat again for some 30 hours.

Next time: BA flights, excuse me as I yawn. Let’s skip ahead next time. Meet you in Prague and one of its random lounges then onto Finnair.

 

[pm3207]

Re: Going oneworld (Qantas, BA, Finnair, Air Berlin, Royal Jordanian, Cathay) in Y/J/

Fantastic TR - can't wait for the rest....

 

[thewinchester]

Re: Going oneworld (Qantas, BA, Finnair, Air Berlin, Royal Jordanian, Cathay) in Y/J/

Agree with everyone else, this is a great TR so far. Look forward to reading the rest.

 

[Joshua]

If Malev is the crazy old cat woman, Finnair is the mum that bakes everyone cookies.

So let’s just close our eyes and open them in Prague. I guess if you were to pass out in Europe I could imagine waking up here.

Leaving Prague I left a little late so was going to miss the bus back to the airport. I ended up paying the exorbitant fee for a private driver from the hotel, some 25 AUD. Yes Prague is cheap. (The bus is closer to $1.) Well for $25 you get a large black car with tinted windows that drives in haste across the cobbled streets of the Old Town. Once across the Vltava River my driver carries on, continuing nearly double the speed limit. Every car we pass moves out the way quickly. One spectator dared slow down to stop at a red light in front of us. The wrath of our vehicle on display as its horn blares. We quickly weave around, crossing the feeble red light on the incorrect side of the road. Who knew you could just do what you want.

Prague airport is a bit old, sure. But it is perfectly functional and is graced by sufficient natural light. A check-in queue snakes about, one of the LCC it appears. At the end I find the Finnair desks. Too cool for queues, they just have people at counters waiting, line up as you please. In this case all the desks were empty. A sequence number close to 100 suggests people actually check-in early here! Had to ask which lounge I was using today because the oneworld site has different partner lounges for each airline and frankly I didn’t check the map beforehand.

Security differs wildly from country to country here but this was one of those places where many people appeared clueless to the requirements, taking some time to clear through. In a land where trains actually exist, run on time and don’t remind you of animal parts you ate in Asia you may wish you hadn’t, it’s excusable for people to be accustom to the ‘just walk on’ regime.

Well it turns out I’m missing photos for the Prague lounge too. Sigh… a picture would tell a thousand words but in the case of this lounge only a few are needed. A lift upstairs into an area with a few lounges finds one with a Finnair logo plastered on it. It had maybe 20 seats if lucky, an island bar of sorts and an array of packaged snacks and drinks. No fresh food here. The lounge was rather elongate, with just enough room to walk along with furnishings pressed against the windows above the general terminal. Clean but obviously limited. This part of the world is quite different to Australia. No huge lounges, no paid memberships. Earn your way in or pay up with overpriced J tickets and an underwhelming product. So it may be small, but few people to occupy it. The only staff member managing the desk was very pleasant. I’m not sure if Australians are particularly known for missing flights in lounges where boarding is not called but the woman decided to approach me, indicating boarding had commenced.

PRG-HEL Finnair A319 (Y)

Before even seeing an AY plane one benefit is their provision of decent seating for Emeralds, not sure about Sapphires. Expertflyer denotes two Y seatmaps, one full fare and the other discount economy. Well emerald basically gives you similar to QF – all but the front row. Their site is a tad rubbish so I found it best to use the Qantas booking lookup which let me choose windows or aisle and allocated as such in the second Y row. Only difficulty was the planes being changed between A319/A320/A321. If the QF site doesn’t work you can ring up the Sydney Finnair office and they’ll take care of you. The only thing is you cannot choose are the exit rows, these are delegated at the airport.

Now back to being on the plane. Supposedly only their A319 has proper J seats rather than convertibles for short haul, but to my eyes it looks rather disappointing. Certainly not worth paying the AU$1200+ for the two hour flight. Flight was full, actually very full. Unsurprisingly a lot of their custom on intra-EU flights is transit pax connecting through HEL to further reaches. So lo and behold who is seated next to me but two Melbourne girls. Great to chat to strangers, something you really do miss in premium cabins. So no photos on this one but we came to some conclusions.

1) Finnair’s safety demo involves the lovely old female FA’s watching everyone for the entire video. You’re made to feel like you’d be gently told off for not paying attention if you ignore it. They just stand their smiling. After 5 minutes of the video they then point to the exits. And sit down. I thought it was humorous, of course I dare not laugh.

2) On taxi and take-off they have a camera in the nose of the plane shown on the public screens. Beats that A380 nearly. Rather cool and I like the first person POV.

3) The food is pretty basic but good, one of those $5 sandwiches from the servo basically. For reference such an item in Prague costs <$1 (AUD). Sandwich was had an overkill of sauce/mayo on it. Water is served in cups not bottles. I do appreciate the QF bottles, the FA’s will often give you a box of them (in the hope you don’t ask for them again). In this part of the world, you’d usually have to buy on board so one shouldn’t complain.

It felt maybe a bit tired but otherwise homely product & service. Not much to say except no negatives in Y, so that’s a positive in itself.

On arriving HEL airport you have a few choices to get into town. Taxis and public buses of course. They are currently building a rail link with a subway airport station. I noticed a wide, deep hole next to the terminal. But for now one option I used is the Finnair coach bus. They’re proper coaches with okay room, and they run all day. Relatively express, you can pay by credit card and usually it’s relatively quiet. It goes all the way into town and stops at the central bus station, which is adjacent to the central train station. Adjacent to both is the relatively new Holiday Inn, which I stayed at. Just metres from the door to the bus stop yet enough to get soaked if it rains.

Finnair bus info: http://media.finnair.com/files/pdf/FINNAIR_CITY_BUS_TIMETABLE.pdf

A few other notes on Helsinki airport. I arrived on a Saturday afternoon. Unlike here, for them it is a crazy peak period. The departure terminal looked packed. To alleviate this they actually allow you to check-in luggage the night before when it is quieter. The idea appears dad can drop off the family’s bags in the evening so there’s no rushing on the following day.


Helsinki is an extremely likable and livable city. The best bit is in summer there is only a few hours of darkness as it is so far north. Think I found a new place to live one day. Not sure how Velocity status will help up there.

So after staying up all night as you do I headed to the airport for an early morning flight. Once again the bus provided a quick and direct service.

Check-in counters in Helsinki are very old-school in both service and wait time. Go straight up the escalator and be greeted by a huge hall consumed by hundreds of people lined up in the economy queue with a plethora of desks open, trying to absorb the mass of people. It was longer than Sydney INT at the beginning of school holidays! Not a good start for most people. Far to the left side there’s this small queue with a couple desks – business & status hurray! The time saved would be quite huge. Yet to the left of this again we have the Platinum/Emerald desk, one desk, status only (AY don’t have a F product). Nothing fancy but basically zero waiting time.

Used the staff there a couple times and found them impeccable. They were happy to put me in an exit row, which turned out to be not so special...

Right next to Finnair check-in is security, which probably makes the whole place look a lot more hectic. There is a priority line which I could access but it was not running at the time (was a weekend). Fortunately the platinum desk suggested I walk to the opposite side of the terminal where the other security checkpoint was as it was near my boarding gate. Passing by a series of other check-in desks, I reached a completely an empty security check – fantastic.

I had enough time to eat breakfast in the Finnair Schengen lounge. It is actually quite small (refer to my earlier comment about few people getting lounge access here – same goes for priority check-in). No spa in the Schengen lounge unfortunately but there was a huge bowl of Bananas. Take that Woolworths $15/kg bull$#^! QF points or not. Not much hot food but plenty more European options. Lovely staff again, clearly dealing with quite a few foreign airline elite members. Near the front there was a cute scene with two young children playing/chasing/swinging about, one clearly Finnish the other I gathered the parents were JAL elites. Different languages and cultures but it didn’t matter because fun is universal.

The lounge is fantastically stylised, clean and comfortable. I lodged myself at the far end with the comfy chairs. And now finally some photos again for your viewing pleasure.

Finally a random photo from the lounge with Finnair birds, the small but growing Air Finland and also in the corner is a Finnair A319 in retro livery for their 85th anniversary. I would end up flying on the one sitting at the back in the centre of the photo.

I left to find we would have to bus it to the plane. Figured I was late because there were only about 30 people waiting.

HEL-GVA Finnair A320 (Y)
Well turns out I have not flown in a plane this empty since on Pacific Blue domestically in NZ, getting a whole 737-800 to myself, a grandma and another mere 10 people. Well this time I was the only one in an exit row, all but a couple people were sitting behind. J was actually quite full, ah the irony. Haven’t had that since Guns N’ Roses on QF81… okay I’ll stop reminiscing of sorts.

Dot points again:
Asked the crew why it was empty: answer was return trip was going to be full.

Asked about the exit rows being empty: exit rows do not need to have any passengers in them, they said I could move if I wanted to! No policy or regulations here!

Safety demo was the same again with next to no crew input. To be clear, they don’t demonstrate the use of anything, just point right at the end towards the door you came in – in case you forgot.

Camera in the nose again, cloud cover made it lose visibility soon after take off. They switch it off not longer after getting off the ground regardless.

Got another sandwich, still saucy in not so cool way.

Honestly having missed the whole sleeping period thing called night time I just walked to galley and asked if I could get a pillow, they gave me two + blanket.

I slept comfortably across one of the many empty rows for a good two hours.

Geneva involved a really long walk to get to the even longer wait for baggage. While you wait pick up one of the free public transport tickets for the region from the machine before the exits, they’re really useful. It can be a somewhat confusing airport as it also has border control for France.

Otherwise welcome to the French half of Switzerland! A lovely part of the world.

Anybody interested in some of the first class train travel in Europe? We took some single trips and I may have some photos. Otherwise next stop is Zurich Airport, which has a whole new terminal that’s operating while half built... fun!

 

[lmere12]

Re: Going oneworld (Qantas, BA, Finnair, Air Berlin, Royal Jordanian, Cathay) in Y/J/

Look forward to the next installment....! Has made me interested in visiting Helsinki now. Lived in Switz and I agree it's a beautiful country. The food court at ZRH is great.