My first First Class using US Airways to EUR

[lmere12]

My first F (& not my last) mixed with a bit of J.
Flights booked using US Airways Dividend miles for approx $2,600 promo’s purchased prior to the price rise. I decided on an open jaw and ended up with this routing, CNS-SYD-BKK-ATH-JTR// CDG-VIE-BKK-SYD-CNS with a mix of QF/TG/A3/OS

Departure 25/05 on TG472 747 10 seat configuration. Cabin near full

Standing beside the Thai Priority Boarding sign at the gate in Sydney was an amazing feeling, I have travelled J before and always thought that was great – how much better could First really be ???

Boarded with an on time departure and a pre take off champa’s with Mrs B gazing around the cabin and thinking how awesome to be up the front with so much space.. The ability to dine together was also a bit of a hoot.. laughing and pinching ourselves at what a hoot we were having.. Caviar Mrs M, another drink Mrs M, yes please...! Ready for your next course Mrs M ? "oh no, not really, but ok " Lobster thermidor ordered prior. I really enjoyed the Caviar, the Lobster was ok..

 

[robd]

You two look like cats that got the cream.

Jnr#1 & I will be doing it in September, all being well.

Please keep posting and enjoy!

 

[lmere12]

After a comfy sleep we arrived at BKK wondering if we would be lucky and have our chariot / buggy pick us up. We did and little did I know at that time another AFF member CoatHanger was sitting in front of me. The service was terrific on board and in the lounge. On arrival we received a lovely greeting and information on the lounge and massage which we opted to have straight away. On our return we decided to wait at least an hour or so so the time didn't drag. The shopping at BKK I didn't find too interesting. The ambiance and staff made for a lovely hour massage. The lounge has quite a few lounge rooms, a bar, dining and business area, day beds, showers and toilets that are rooms of their own - awesome ! After 5 hours tho we've had enough and getting anxious for the A380 to CDG.

 

[lmere12]

TG A380 BKK-CDG

We boarded the A380 and thought WOW !! The screen and seats were huge, once again the service was very good. I had pre ordered prawn cho chee which was delicious.

We went and sat in the little lounge area on board, it felt like it was missing something to make it feel more inviting, we mentioned this to one of the men crew and he told us had taken part in the design and valued what we had said. It was pretty cool to be able to get and go and have a seat and a chat in our First Class pyjamas of course. The toilet room was amazing, so much room and very fresh looking.
Unfortunately we are really tired and can't enjoy the cabin / seat / indulgence the way I wished to so off to noddy land we went.

The seat is great, quite huge, the bedding felt good quality. I had my new Noisehush I7 noise cancelling headphones purchased from the FF store, comparing both mine were better and my ears more tolerable to the i7 for comfort.

So by this time I have said to my friend I reckon that bloke over there is a AFF, he has his camera out taking snaps of food and the seat and looked familiar. I always stalk the member meeting pics and the write ups So it finally gets the better to me not long before we land when I go up to him and ask him if I could ask him perhaps a silly Q, he obliges. I ask ' would you happen to be an AFF member ? he says YES I am actually.... Well blow me down, to think we had come all the way from SYD and about to land in CDG seating a row apart. I tell him our routing and he understands why we are going the long way to JTR (to experience F)

 

[Coathanger]

So by this time I have said to my friend I reckon that bloke over there is a AFF, he has his camera out taking snaps of food and the seat and looked familiar. I always stalk the member meeting pics and the write ups So it finally gets the better to me not long before we land when I go up to him and ask him if I could ask him perhaps a silly Q, he obliges. I ask ' would you happen to be an AFF member ? he says YES I am actually.... Well blow me down, to think we had come all the way from SYD and about to land in CDG seating a row apart. I tell him our routing and he understands why we are going the long way to JTR (to experience F)

Guilty as charged. Had just gotten a new camera (Nikon J1) so was extra keen to be trying it out on a plane.

 

[lmere12]

Guilty as charged. Had just gotten a new camera (Nikon J1) so was extra keen to be trying it out on a plane.

Hope you enjoyed your time away

 

[lmere12]

Thai couldn't print our boarding passes all the way through to JTR so we had to wait at departures until 2 hrs before the flight to collect them. 6 hr wait at CDG and unable to access a lounge until we got our boarding passes we weren't very impressed. We went into the Star Alliance Lounge, coffee and a snack. It was quite busy but ok for a nice seat, relax & free internet.

AEGEAN AIRLINES A321 CDG - ATH - J

Priority boarding and into a comfy seat, unsure how by this stage were going to handle dropping back to J. Pleasantly surprised, the staff were nice and attentive. The food provided was probably the most outstanding so far, the quality and freshness of the food was very good. There were only maybe 4 rows of business and all middle seats were blocked. Recommend Aegean.

.

AEGEAN AIRLINES A320-100 ATH - JTR Economy

With a short wait for our flight to JTR we enjoyed our time in this airport, shopping not bad, eateries etc. We continued on in to security to our gate and couldn't believe I was standing next to a friend from my hometown (a small town in the far north) there were 3 others already inside. We were all on the same flight to JTR. Amazing

The story didn't end so frilly, we arrived at JTR tired now after travelling for almost 42 hours to lost luggage, thank goodness we had our first class pyjamas and Rimowa kits from TGA380 and Tumi from the 747. We go out to meet our pre arranged transfer and they're not there either

Yohoooo, TAXI ???? Aegean don't deliver your bags on arrival you have to go back I had purchased LugLoc from the FFlyer Store but too tired to look until the morning.
Downloaded the app and contacted Lugloc to see our bags had arrived at JTR, no call from Aegean. My friends new Titan bag was badly damaged and unable to pull the handle out. Santorini looks just like the postcards

 

[lmere12]

You two look like cats that got the cream.

Jnr#1 & I will be doing it in September, all being well.

Please keep posting and enjoy!

The A380 is meant to fly from Syd in Sept, I hope this happens for you. It is a beautiful aircraft ! It was an amazing time, from the service, staff, comfort, being utterly made to feel special, quirky being whisked away on the chariot/buggy. Unfortunately now for me I am thinking which 1st will I try next

 

[straitman]

lmere12,

A great report thank you. I look forward to reading more from you.

 

[lmere12]

Holiday is over but we have had a great time visiting with friends in some great places, Athens, Santorini, Switzerland and France. I love Europe !!

12[SUP]th[/SUP] June, we are flying CDG to VIE with Austrian Airlines then connecting VIE to BKK on the new business class with Austrian with their Chef on board, Sounds cool !! then we connect back to First on Thai to Sydney. Excited much J

We took the train out to CDG, easy enough ! Entering our terminal so did heaps of military with guns, they started evacuating us all to the other end of the terminal. Someone had left luggage !!! 30 mins later we were well on our way to bottle-necking the check in with the hoards to make a bee line for Austrian and straight up to their business class check-in.... Too easy !!

Made our way to the lounge where they had a good drink selection with plenty of choice and some snack foods, all of which were ok. Sorry to say I don’t drink (I wish I could but allergies prevent me) so I can’t report on the grog selections.

OS418 A321 – seat 1c CDG - VIE

Priority boarding - good.
Seat comfort - good for short trip
Food - excellent ! Another terrific meal on a short haul. I had butter chicken and it tasted just like a Good Indian restaurant.
Hopes are high for the J Class back to BKK with our own Chef.


OS25 777-200 - seat 2D VIE - BKK

We found VIE to be the hardest airport to navigate around that I have been to (not that I have been to many). A very long walk to the other end with little signs and late at night no staff, no shops, no bloody idea !! We walked and walked , around corners, up stairs & into the quiet . Was very strange to be so quiet & not sighting anyone close by !

By this time we were blowing to the wind so didn’t stop at the lounge which was opened. FINALLY we made it to our gate, obviously the last flight of the night. Some seats offering free internet.

Priority boarding – ok
Seat comfort - not as good as I hoped
Food - disappointing

Disappointed but we slept mostly, live and learn I guess... ! Should’ve stuck with F from CDG, we chose this route because it left at 8pm from CDG giving us a full day as Thai’s F left at 1 pm.

The seats: When we first sat we were so excited, everything was so new !
The screens were awesome, huge & touch, the seat controls all light up with mood lighting, all looked awesome – until ....... adjusting the new ‘soft seating’ to firmer or softer – I noticed little difference, sleep wasn’t as easy as I had hoped

The double seats seem to have plenty of room, bad luck if you’re in the window then trying to get out was a major pain in the #@*# ! Mrs B ended up moving to a spare, for me to get up she had to upright her chair and then the centre piece didn’t allow much room for the legs to pass & I only have short legs. However in saying that, the single seats are amazing, so much room. Same amount of room as the doubles, bench each side. I would never pick a double again !!

 

[lmere12]

The Food : The Chef came around and introduced himself, handed us a menu for breakfast to make our selection. The food was a real let down, I had prawns with a wasabi cream sauce – the prawns were fine but the wasabi flavour was nothing like I have tried before.

They also offer a Coffee menu, being a coffee lover I thought this was going to be a treat. When I asked for the menu they said they had finished serving but then decided to make us one anyway begrudgingly.

crispy pork belly prawns & wasabi

 

[lmere12]

By the end of our flight we are happy to be arriving back in BKK and back to First J

Back in BKK:
We’re chatting and saying “oh wonder if they will come for us in the buggy”, having a little chuckle cause it’s such a novelty... well what a great site to hop off and see our names and the buggy waiting for us – WOO HOOOOO !!!! Such lovely friendly ladies the Thai staff.

This time we have learnt, with 5 hours to spare that we go to the Lounge first and get ourselves a lounge room, then a Mojito ( I can drink them and various food items from the menu on the Ipad and arranged our massage towards the end. Time went quick.

Time to depart and the lovely lady come for us to walk us to the plane (not far) and tells us how everyone has boarded and it will be just the two of us flying in the First Cabin. *More chuckling* .. *More excitement* - once we got on we realised we were tired and the excitement disappeared for relaxing.



Two staff members to ourselves, more pyjamas and more food !! Service was excellent, what a way to travel...

US Airways return for approx $2,600/ lugloc & i7 Headphones from the F/Flyer store made for a terrific experience.

Home again and now to think of the next First