Pollywaffle flies QF 1st class SYD-LHR (mini report)

[Pollywaffle]

Hi all.

Just a short report of my experiences on my recent flights. More importantly, it's an opportunity to thank all the people who post on this forum. While it did not come free, I never thought I would ever be flying 3 out of 4 legs in First class on a return SYD-LHR trip. It was wonderful. There are only a couple of photos, so if that's what you're after, sorry but I can't oblige...It's been shown before on other threads.

I had bought a return SYD-LHR ticket in J for $7K when QF was having a sale a few months ago. I ended up choosing QF1/QF2, so I was on a QF plane the entire way.

I started as a QF silver and made Gold on the flight to LHR. I am not sure how much this played in the upgrade lottery. I only requested an upgrade to First for the LHR-SYD legs about 10 days out from travel.

Chauffeur Service
I didn't even think to realise there are other "freebies" I would get with the flight, namely the chauffeur service. Thankfully I saw a thread about this here on AFF, so I made the bookings. I used the service for all 4 legs.

Heading to the airport at SYD, my driver was on time and because I don't live far from the airport, I was at the airport, through the formalities and in the lounge within 25 minutes. That's a record for me.

At LHR, the flight attendant said there would be someone waiting with our names written on boards. She said they were trying to ensure the experience was the same at every airport. This is different to what I had read here and AFFers proved to be right. There was no one waiting and we had to go to the desk to have a driver assigned to us.

All 4 trips were done in great cars - very roomy, immaculately clean and with courteous drivers. In London I stayed near Kings Cross and both trips were around 75mins duration. The tube may have been a bit faster but this was leaps and bounds ahead in terms of comfort.

The flights
My upgrade to 1st request had not come through and I was in J class for the first leg SYD-DXB. The flight came with a few firsts for me. I have never flown QF international J class before (a trip to NZ doesn't count) and I had never been on an A380. True! All my recent international flights have been on 747s with other carriers.

When I handed over my boarding card for the DXB-LHR leg, the machine beeped. It never occurred to me I would get an upgrade but I did. I never cancelled my upgrade request (which I had been thinking about doing), so they processed it here. It was 15K points for the DXB-LHR leg. While it's the shorter leg, it came in handy as there was an issue with the plane and we had to taxi back to the terminal to get it fixed. Overall, we were about 2.5 hours late arriving in LHR, and if you're going to be stuck on a plane, it may as well be in 1st class.

I got notified approx 14 hours out that my upgrade for the entire LHR-SYD flight had come through. This was handy to know for lounge access and luggage limits.

I must admit, I did not take advantage of everything on offer, especially the food. I was more interested in sleeping at times. Being able to stretch out was the ultimate luxury and there is definitely more than enough space.

I did take a couple of photos of pre-take off nibblies for you...



The lounges
The SYD J lounge was fairly empty when I first arrived but got quite busy later on and there was a scrummage for seats at one time. It's not as grand as the Emirates lounges but it's somewhere to sit and eat/drink before a flight.

Both the First and Business Emirates lounges are great. Loads of room and plenty of food and drinks on offer. I use the showers in both lounges and if I had one quibble it would be that it's quite hot in the bathrooms - they need to pump more air con through there for my liking. Oh, and there are only 3 female showers in the First lounge. I had to queue - outrageous!

The great thing about the lounges are the different lifts to each of gates, so the trip to the plane is quick and stress free. And if you haven't done your duty free shopping, there are outlets in the First Class lounge to do some shopping.

The biggest wait was the bag check after leaving the first class lounge. There were no machines - just a manual check and they made everyone open their bags. It pays to hide your unmentionables at the bottom of your bag. You never know when you'll get caught

Flying through DXB
This was the first time I flew through Dubai. I was only transiting both times so didn't have much time to have a really good look around. I saw the lounges and some of the duty free shops but there are plenty of spaces I did not see.

I was most unsure about how I would handle the flights based on the times I was travelling. Overall, I think I do prefer stopping in BKK or SIN. I left SYD in the afternoon and it was too early to sleep. The second leg is too short for a real good nights sleep.

On the return flight, we left around 10pm and it would have been ideal to fly the longer leg first but it was a short 6 hour flight. On the DXB-SYD leg, I was so tired when I got on, I went straight to sleep while most people around me were tucking into the tasting menu. I woke up half way through the flight and knew I would not be sleeping any longer. I watched a couple of movies but I would have preferred some extra sleep time.

Thank you
Once again, a huge thank you to all the contributors to this forum who kindly share their knowledge with us all. I have learned so much and have benefited as a result.

Thank you, pollywaffle.

 

[Melburnian1]

Great report.

Interesting that one flight was 2.5 hours late. QF's punctuality on the LHR route is not what it should be.

Travel media has acknowledged a number of times that passengers prefer to stop in SIN, not DXB. 'The Age' and 'Sydney Morning Herald' online travel section conducted a poll and found that about 45 per cent nominated SIN as their preferred routing to LHR or other European cities, way ahead of HKG which from memory was in second place.

ICN also got quite a few votes although the general lack of knowledge of Korean Air or Asiana in the Australian marketplace (with the exception of Asiana's recent unfortunate crash at SFO) and very limited number of their flights to or from Australia (no options are available direct from MEL to ICN, for instance) limited their score. NRT should score quite highly but again despite JL's excellent onboard service does not loom highly in Australian travellers' minds as a possible routing to LHR or elsewhere in Europe.

Unfortunately for QF, passenger resistance to DXB will result in its tieup with EK being a financial failure.

High end (in both price and service) carrier SQ has already added Australian flights since the QF/ EK joint venture was announced. CX would love to, but is prohibited from so doing until the bilateral air services agreement between Australia and the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong is renegotiated. JQ's ongoing delays in getting permission for its HKG-based subsidiary (the 'Clayton's subsidiary' - the subsidiary you have when you don't have one!) may be the trigger for a resolution of both issues.

GA and PR are both set to launch relatively cheap flights via CGK and MNL respectively to various European airports in 2014. GA has struck problems with the CGK runway length being insufficient for a fully laden B777-300ER; PR is awaiting regulatory permission from European airports as the previous bans on both GA and PR flying to and from Europe have been lifted by the European Commission.

D7 continues to expand, as does MH to and from Australia.

Competition is only getting tougher at all price points, so passenger preference as to which route to take will be one of the deciding factors alongside price, perceived safety, the aircraft type, seating comfort on board, service perceptions preboarding and on board, the convenience and frequency of timetables and whether each airline has a well or poorly regarded FF program along with the ease of access to lounges, the latter which you so enjoyed.

 

[mannej]

The thread is about Pollywaffles trip in F, not about QF's punctuality - that has its own thread.

Nice hijack...

 

[Melburnian1]

mannej, pollywaffle mentioned the timekeeping as a part of her report, so it's a valid point on which to reply.

Most of my post was not about QF's punctuality, but a reply to pollywaffle's statistically true observation about DXB not being her preferred stopping point "midway" (albeit that no major stop on a flight between Oz and LHR is 'halfway' in kilometres).

 

[mannej]

mannej, pollywaffle mentioned the timekeeping as a part of her report, so it's a valid point on which to reply.

Most of my post was not about QF's punctuality, but a reply to pollywaffle's statistically true observation about DXB not being her preferred stopping point "midway" (albeit that no major stop on a flight between Oz and LHR is 'halfway' in kilometres).

It's still a hijack considering the thread you have regarding it...

 

[Mattg]

Thanks for the interesting trip report Pollywaffle

Melburnian1, if you want to discuss delays etc. can I suggest you do that here:
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....al-qantas-delays-cancellations-etc-52193.html
That being said, the punctuality of QF1/2 has already been discussed at length.

 

[Melburnian1]

pollywaffle, while you paid for it and hence wanted to enjoy it, I wish that airlines offering "free" transfers from home to airport and then from airport to hotel (and back again), QF and EK being two examples, would offer travellers the alternative of reimbursing (or paying for in advance where possible) rail travel.

This may not suit everyone, but in a city such as LHR Heathrow Express or the slightly slower, but more frequent Heathrow Connect with a Tube connection to one's hotel beats a limousine hands down: travel time is relatively assured, unlike getting stuck in traffic.

Even the Tube's stairs are manageable with one suitcase and a backpack.

 

[amaroo]

Enjoyed the TR. Great work getting 3/4 upgrades

 

[samh004]

Thanks for the TR... I hope to fly the route myself next year although unlikely to be in F

 

[JohnPhelan]

Unfortunately for QF, passenger resistance to DXB will result in its tieup with EK being a financial failure.

I'd suggest you wait to see next year's financials on QF's international operations before coming out with such unsubstantiated rubbish. Your wishful thinking does not necessarily make it so .....

BTW, are you John Borghetti or Richard Branson, by any chance ?

 

[Deleted member]

pollywaffle, while you paid for it and hence wanted to enjoy it, I wish that airlines offering "free" transfers from home to airport and then from airport to hotel (and back again), QF and EK being two examples, would offer travellers the alternative of reimbursing (or paying for in advance where possible) rail travel.

This may not suit everyone, but in a city such as LHR Heathrow Express or the slightly slower, but more frequent Heathrow Connect with a Tube connection to one's hotel beats a limousine hands down: travel time is relatively assured, unlike getting stuck in traffic.

Even the Tube's stairs are manageable with one suitcase and a backpack.

At the insistence of Mrs GPH we used the heathrow express. Last trip. Yes it is fast.
Next trip however I have advised that I will be using the limo transfer and she can go by rail.
I value comfort over speed after that many hours in a plane.
Dragging cases around airports, railway stations and cobbled streets is not my idea of fun

 

[Simo]

Great TR...

 

[Anna]

Love the comment "if you're stuck on a plane it may as well be in F" - so true!

I doubt the tube would have been quicker than 75 minutes. I think you mean the Heathrow express train would have been quicker. The tube took forever when I once had to travel that line nearly as far as LHR - I made a note to self to allow at least 4-5 hours before takeoff if I ever decided to take the tube to the airport.

 

[Pollywaffle]

I've taken the Heathrow Express before but only because a) you could find 50% off discount codes online and b) Paddington was a convenient station to arrive at. There are now people selling HEX tickets when you enter the baggage hall, so it's easy to see how people can get tricked into buying the tickets.

I left loads of time for my trip to LHR because I also wanted to get my VAT refund and I didn't know how along it would take.

Since I usually travel solo, I tend to use public transport and will be on my next trip because I am flying Singapore Airlines. When I get the driver for free, I'll take it. When I have to pay for it, the tube is fine. LOL.

 

[Sprucegoose]

mannej, pollywaffle mentioned the timekeeping as a part of her report, so it's a valid point on which to reply.

Most of my post was not about QF's punctuality, but a reply to pollywaffle's statistically true observation about DXB not being her preferred stopping point "midway" (albeit that no major stop on a flight between Oz and LHR is 'halfway' in kilometres).

You are adamant that the EK tie up won't be a financial success. That's not the indication to date.

 

[blackcat20]

You are adamant that the EK tie up won't be a financial success. That's not the indication to date.

Given how packed flights are at the moment it doesn't look like they're having any problem getting passengers.

And yes, the limo service is a bit slower than the train but for a first-time visitor it's a nice way to see a few of the main attractions along the way.

 

[Pollywaffle]

Well, I don't whether we would have been late at all but there was an issue with the plane, hence our late arrival. And given it's a QF plane, that's really got nothing to do with DXB.

 

[mono88]

Lovely trip report. I have never been to LHR via Dubai, but your report made me feel like I have already taken the flight. Good on you for achieving the upgrades.

So glad you mentioned the unmentionables, where would we be without them. Please disregard this statement.