Trip report USA on Qantas and AA First

[Berlin]

Hello everyone,

I just came back from the US and thought it's time to repay for all the great advise on here with a detailed trip report

Outbound QF11 SYD-LAX:

I had booked this trip to the US paying for J class outright and then putting in upgrade requests on points. Even though I’ve lost my Platinum status a while back, my upgrade for the outbound got approved well ahead of the 24 hour prior to my flight mark- the txt message from Qantas came in the middle of the night about 30 hours before my departure and hey, could there be any more happy text massages than that? A few hours later, I received the call from Qantas first, gladly booking in a time for a spa treatment at the Flounge and giving me a mobile number to call upon approach to Mascot so that someone could come and take care of my luggage before check in.

On the day, everything worked as it should and a friendly crew of Qantas helpers was already waiting curb side when my Uber pulled in. I got greeted by name and rushed to the First class check in area in no time, by-passing the great unwashed who were EVERYWHERE at this busy morning time at SYD airport. Thanks to the priority lane pass at security, I ended up at the Flounge maybe 10 minutes after being dropped outside. If there’s any super tough new security measures in place, I certainly didn’t notice any of that. The Sydney first lounge was as pleasant as always and I enjoyed two glasses of champagne and a nice serve of Eggs Benedict.


I also noticed that there are unusually many badly behaved children all over the lounge which I didn’t think much about but it should have been a bad omen for my entire flight but more on that later. In the Spa, they used to have really good properly trained massage therapists but on this occasion, it seemed as if the staff had been replaced by a crew of young bogans just out of highschool. I don’t know if this was just bad luck or whether they have indeed implemented some cost saving methods here (I really hope not!) but the so-called ‘massage’ was the worst spa treatment I’ve ever received anywhere. The lady was clearly not interested in her job in the slightest, hardly did anything and in between seemed to fall asleep over and over again. I was there wondering the entire time whether she is just tired as it was in the morning still, or just lazy or maybe on some weird overdosed drugs? It was definitely a rather bizarre experience but who complains about a free spa treatment!

Once ready for boarding, I headed over to the gate where the First class experience abruptly ended. Ah, Sydney airport! The initial passport vs. name check in front of the actual gate area had not priority line whatsoever so you ended up with the common folks and their oversized backpacks and had to queue up for ages thanks to every second one not having their boarding pass/passport/brain handy upon inspection. Eyes rolling I stormed towards the priority boarding lane which, perfect timing, had just started to call First and One World Platinums to start boarding. When I got to the plane, the friendly flight attended who welcomed me guided me to my seat in First, I was in 2A. Only seconds later I received a glass of the most excellent Veuve Grande Dame 2006 which is one of my favourite Vintage champagnes. I had never been a huge friend of the Taittinger Comtes so I was very happy for them to have the Veuve on this flight. As always in First, I couldn’t resist asking the cheeky question whether that flight crew had ever seen the Winston Churchill (the third of the rotating champagne varieties advertised for Qantas first) and as per usual, I got only a very apologetic response. Apparently, there have been the odd one or two days per year where it really shows up but I am yet to see it with my own eyes! As canapes we got served a very nice artichoke tart with Caviar as well as a chicken Dim sum which tasted exactly like you’d expect a chicken Dim sum to taste.

I find it funny that Qantas started to always have one of the two canapes containing Caviar, clearly reacting to customer requests. Well, better than nothing Qantas but I still find the absence of a proper Caviar service to be a real big miss on Qantas First compared to many other airlines. A miniature artichoke tart with a few crumbles of Caviar on top is simply not the same as a proper course of caviar with traditional condiments, a delight which I’d never even think of having outside and airplane but even more cherish when it’s offered in First class! Just when I started to get really comfortable, one of the last passengers arrived in the First class cabin and it was a lady with her already screeching and screaming infant. To my utter horror, she took seat 3A right behind me which I was not amused about at all. I am aware that there’s a Basinet seat at 5A so always avoid this area at all cost but having a baby in 3A was really bad luck.

We ended up heavily delayed out of Sydney and spend at least an hour on the tarmac before finally heading to the runway. During this time, we were still served champagne and as a result, we ran out of the Grande Dame shortly after take off and had to be served the cheaper (and much less tasty) Business class champagne for the rest of the flight. First world problems truly but I quickly changed over to try some of the nice Aussie wines instead. During the entire take off and the beginning of dinner service, the baby behind me was screeching at the top of its lungs and its mom turned out to be extremely pushy and demanding with the flight crew as well. You could literally feel everyone’s spirits to sink during this time, the poor flight attendants included. I decided to first concentrate on my dinner and not letting this spoil my flight, hoping it might fall asleep sooner or later. One of the highlights in Qantas first I find (and something they do better than many other airlines in First) is how nicely they prepare your dinner table for you.

I started my meal with an excellent cauliflower soup which had some pesto and parmesan in it and turned out to be delicious. They offered different breads with the meal and I chose the garlic bread which hadn’t been an option a few years back. I expected something similar to what Emirates is serving (pretty much the same as a heated Woolies home brand garlic bread from the oven) but oh no, it was extra special rather: A nice big proper hot bun that had full garlic cloves hidden inside. It was very delicious but I couldn’t help feeling sorry for the flight crew who has endure peoples’ breath for the rest of the flight!

 

[Berlin]

... outbound continued:

I followed this up with the pasta which is meant to be a main but I squeezed it in as a second starter course, you gotta make use of being in First ;-) This dish sounded a bit boring but turned out to be the highlight on this flight: The pasta was served with a very light sauce of creamed leaks and with roasted cauliflower and mushrooms, topped with some parmesan cheese. If someone dislikes either cauliflower or parmesan, they’d be in trouble on this flight. I don’t but still couldn’t wonder why the heck you’d repeat the same ingredients in more than one meal on a single flight! I had an excellent Aussie Riesling with this course and then the Cab Sav with the following.

That main ‘main’ course was a pork chop with green beans and the most delicious side dishes ever, Rockpool’s amazing potato and cabbage gratin. While the latter was as good as it always is (love it, so delicious!), the green beans were far too crunchy, almost not cooked at all so I decided that the side salad is enough of the healthy stuff and left them at the side. And the pork, well, I still don’t understand how anyone could think that a chop on the bone is a good idea for an airplane. Qantas had served me a lamb chop on a domestic J class flight not long ago and compared to that shaky little 737 table, it was a joy to eat here on the A380. I still managed to spill from my plate all over the nicely decked table thanks to the difficulty of cutting meat of a chop on an airplane but hey, it was the last course!

After finishing off with a glass of port and the cheese plate, I went to brush my teeth and was then ready for a nice sleep after the seat was made up into a proper bed. Unfortunately, the annoying infant in 3A was not in the mood for sleep at all and turned out to be one of the rather rowdy little ones. Not contempt with shrieking and crying the entire time, it also enjoyed banging at the back of my seat reminding me of the bad days in Cattle class many years back and insisted on watching cartoons at full sound for pretty much the entire night. It also tried several times to drag my little teddy bear that I always travel with to the back but unfortunately the crew couldn’t do much more than apologise as the First cabin was filled to the last seat. It went on like this for the entire duration of the flight and I ended up not getting even an hour of sleep. I noticed that I was not the only one as pretty much everyone ended up watching movie or reading because that one little baby turned out to be the brood from hell. I ended up watching some silly comedy movie wishing I had not upgraded and could instead sleep in some business class seat that happens to be surrounded by snoring adults only.

 

[Berlin]

...Outbound breakfast:

I asked for a snack during the night but unfortunately, the famous Neil Perry Steak Sandwich had already sold out at that point. The very helpful flight attendant however managed to secure a pulled pork sandwich from Business class for me which was extra delicious.

Breakfast time was about 3 hours prior to landing and the choice was almost overwhelming: I decided to indulge on both the pancakes which were served with fresh blueberries (on an airplane, it never ceases to amaze me!) and maple syrup as well as the big hot breakfast with scrambled egg, mushroom and bacon. If you think that breakfast can’t be done properly on an airplane, you must fly Qantas in First (or Business for that matter) as they surely know how to do it properly! I got talked into one of those new-ish health juices rather than my first choice of just an orange juice and the slightly odd mix of watermelon and beetroot was, well slightly odd. I managed to drink it all and swished it down with another glass of champagne but wouldn’t necessarily call it a super delicious drink to be honest.

When the crew came through to thank everyone personally for our custom and asked whether we got a good rest, I heard the lady in 1A making some comment about the noisy entertainment throughout the flight and I followed up by remarking that “someone here made sure no one would get any rest”. The flight attended just rolled his eyes in understanding and I could tell that the experience must have been much harder on the crew than on myself, especially as the pushy mom kept demanding and demanding and demanding. I was quite happy to get off the plane which is not the usual when flying in First! Luckily, immigration and customs went quite smoothly in LA and I am very happy to see that all the recent renovations at LAX really pay off now that they are finished.

 

[Berlin]

I will add the trip report for my DFW-SYD return flight in Qantas First shortly.

In the meantime, you can find my trip reports for the domestic US legs on American over at Flyertalk if you're interested:

LAX-SEA, SEA-DFW and DFW-MCO can be found here 2017 Combined AA Domestic Meal / Meals - menu / photos / etc. (master thread) - Page 63 - FlyerTalk Forums

MCO-DFW can be found here 2017 Combined AA Domestic Meal / Meals - menu / photos / etc. (master thread) - Page 64 - FlyerTalk Forums

 

[Berlin]

I know that this is an airline forum but if anyone is interested, I have also posted about several hotels in Seattle, Orlando and Texas on Tripadvisor under my name Sydneyberlin over there: https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/members/sydneyberlin

 

[Pushka]

Oh dear. Sounds like not quite the F experience one would hope for.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Did the noise cancelling headphones not work ?

Would love some insight from crew here too as 5A is the Bassinet seat in F and it would be the usual practice to have the passenger in 5A moved to accommodate the mother and child under 2 even if that child was too large for the bassinet.
I've flown a fair few F flights and managed to get Winston Churchill twice (none in the last 18 months) so it rare.

Nice pics BTW !!

 

[Berlin]

Did the noise cancelling headphones not work ?

No chance for me to actually sleep with headphones on, I'm a little princess myself, you know

And for the baby... It was just a little bit too big for the bassinet but definitely under 2.

 

[Berlin]

And here, as promised, the report on my return flight:

Inbound QF8 DFW-SYD:

After starting my day with a nice jog followed by several hours by the pool and some last minute clothes shopping, I arrived into DFW about 3 hours before my flight out and was surprised to find terminal D to be pretty much deserted. Qantas had sent me the highly anticipated upgrade confirmation message around 16 hours before my flight and I was very excited to get to enjoy Qantas First on this longest possible leg. Like the entire terminal, the Qantas check in areas was pretty much empty bar one or two other passengers checking in. when I asked why everything was so empty, the sub-contracted staff at DFW didn’t really have an answer and they all felt generally quite robotic in their behaviour and communication. The upside of the empty terminal was an entirely empty security queue which is an unusual delight in this country. Less of a delight was a freak false alarm on the body scanning machine which somehow identified a non-existing object right in my groin area. The resulting questions were of an uncomfortable and rather private nature (“No, certainly no piercings down there. And no, I’d definitely knew if there were any…”), not to mention the manual pat search in, well, this area. I was asked if I’d like this performed in public or behind privacy screens but decided for the former- if I have to get touched in these areas by some random security officer, then I’d rather have some witnesses, thank you very much. The guy was very professional about it at least and I’m not exactly the prudest person there is but this whole thing still made me feel like my privacy got invaded over and above what I would normally consider okay. Needless to say that, as I knew from the start, there was no object whatsoever in this area of my body which I was quite relieved about, obviously:-0

After so much excitement, I urgently needed a drink! I had intended to buy some Duty Free before my departure but all the shops where either closed or located at the exact opposite end of the terminal so I ended up not bothering. I had heard quite a few bad things about the contract lounge that Qantas (and in fact, most other international airlines) are using at DFW but in reality, all these turned out to be totally unfounded. Maybe it is because I was allowed to sit in a separate lounge for First class only? Or maybe people are just exaggerating (more even than I tend to do- could this really be?), I don’t know. I was expecting something awfully crowded like the old BA/QF lounge at LAX prior to the renovation so I was very positively surprised to find a rather big space with not even a quarter of it used and nice big glass windows that allow you to look out at the runways. Every second electricity plug was broken which was my only gripe really but isn’t unusual in US lounges in general I find. There was a wide selection of drinks, some nice salads and even some acceptable hot food on the buffet, the Chipotle beef was especially tasty and one of the best food I’ve had in any lounge that is not Qantas for a long time.

Once it was time to board, I headed over to the gate which, as ever so often, was organised in the most chaotic possible fashion. It probably didn’t help that it was the same robotic ground staff as at check in but getting the slower passenger and families with kids first into one line and then turning this same line into the Platinum line which then strangely ended on the wrong side of the gates so that I had to criss-cross twice to end up at the correct entrance towards First class, was a feat that even some very well trained ground staff would have struggled with. I was first off onto the plane after the ‘slow passengers’ and could only imagine the chaos and disaster coming behind me- luckily, I didn’t really have to as my fairly private seat in First was only a few steps away! I find it hard to really judge one First class flight over another but given that my outbound offered me zero sleep thanks to a noisy infant straight behind me, this flight was definitely the better of the two. I was in 3K this time and for some reason prefer the right side of the First cabin while I know many others prefer the left. True, the left side is by itself while the right side serves both the window and the centre seats but I always found that the staff is distributed accordingly so that you actually get better attention on the right. The staff on this flight was also extremely professional, the typical Qantas mixture of still being not super formal and chit chatty but still doing a great job. This is probably the reason for me to enjoy Qantas over most other airlines and I can’t praise their staff more. And after two weeks overseas, it’s always nice to hear an Aussie accent when you get on the airplane as well- really makes you feel like you’re ‘almost’ home

Given that on the outbound, the Grande Dame had run out shortly after take off, I was dead set to have as much of this good drop this time around as I possibly could (and I was born in Germany so I can definitely drink A LOT). Luckily, the First cabin was less than half filled this time around and this made for a very relaxed crew and pleasurable flight. Prior to take off, we were served the amuse-bouche which was very very similar to Caviar and artichoke one on the flight out, just that they’ve turned this one into two! So we had an artichoke tart which was so so and a cauliflower puree tartlet with Caviar on top which was absolutely delicious. I mentioned how nice that latter one tasted and thanks to the empty cabin, received another round of it, yay!

After take off which was slightly delayed thanks to the rather bad weather in Dallas that night, the menus were handed out. I must admit that I was initially a bit disappointed as there wasn’t all that much choice on there. This is what Qantas calls a ‘supper flight’ which, like the domestic ‘Refreshment’ flights I hate with a passion. I personally am never after only a ‘supper’ to start a long transcontinental flight (pretty much like I am never after only a ‘refreshment’ if flying over from Melbourne or Brisbane) and find that on a 17 hour long flight like this one, you really have enough time to both dine in style AND get enough sleep (and watch a movie if you must). Luckily, in First they let you combine more than just one meal choice but still, it was pretty limited, particularly for the main plates.

I selected the French Onion soup to start with but the steward got the orders mixed up and served the zucchini soup instead. I at first didn’t realize the mix up and only thought “Gosh, that’s a strange creamy look for a French Onion soup” but then quickly understood what had gone wrong.

My steward was extremely apologetic and wanted to exchange the soup straight away but given that I had already tried it, I convinced him to wait while I would just have both soups. And luckily I did, as the soup was super creamy and tasty so I was glad about the mix up. Then the French Onion soup followed which I remember having had before once on a Qantas flight. It was tasty and solid but my partner at home does a tastier one so I actually must admit that I had enjoyed the zucchini one better even.

 

[Berlin]

Inbound continued...

I then moved on to the main plates intending to have a steak sandwich later in the flight and chose the two main options without fish: The pasta dish and the lamb. This is where I think a bit more variety wouldn’t have harmed, maybe a chicken and a beef dish as well. Very unexpectedly, the pasta dish turned out to be absolutely amazing as the sauce and vegetables were all very subtle in flavour but then the dish was garnished with several leaves of fresh Basil, again something which I admire done on an aircraft. And the basil was so super flavoursome that you could taste it well above the other aromas. This was surprising and delightful and even more so on a plane so I’d give this dish a 10 out of 10 (and, very unlike me, this is for a vegetarian dish even ).

Unfortunately, the only proper meat dish to choose from was the lamb. Now, I admit that I’m not a fan of lamb in general and of all the red meats which I love dearly, it’s definitely down with goat and other even stranger options. But if it’s done well and it’s a nice cut of meat- go for it. However, this was neither of those and in general I found it ultra-strange to serve it from Texas for all places! Out of Australia or New Zealand fine, but Texas? I’ve seen plenty of cows around (as you would!) and even some pigs but sheep- nowhere to be seen.

So here I was with this delusional image of Neil Perry strolling leisurely through the local markets in Dallas to source only the finest local produce and what do I get? Lamb in Texas. Here goes another one of life’s disappointments, as a kid it was Santa Claus, now as an adult it’s Neil Perry at the markets! I only finished half of the lamb as it was about 50% fat and sat in some watery sauce that didn’t much to the taste and then the minted peas… Again, this one might make sense out of Heathrow or Auckland but from Texas? You surely could have served something along the lines of the excellent beef brisket sandwich that I had on the flight from Sydney!

Luckily, the cheese plate was excellent and much better than what was served on the outbound. Especially the blue cheese really intrigued me as it was just the right amount of flavour and I couldn’t believe that it wasn’t from Italy or France. As the steward gladly informed me, all those cheeses came from California which really surprised me. Time for a little cheese discovery tour next time I am over here!

As per usual, I finished with a double Scotch and went to bed straight after. I didn’t even have to tell the staff, they already read my mind when I got up to the bathroom and put together the bed delightful as ever on Qantas. It took me less than half an hour and gone I was, getting a total sleep of over 10 hours which must be my personal record on an airplane! Once I woke up again I asked for a little snack but unfortunately, again, the steak sandwiches were out already. I decided to instead wait for breakfast which was served about 2 hours later and turned out to be even tastier on the outbound: The scrambled eggs were served on a nice thick slice of toast and the Applewood bacon was the proper US-style streaky instead of the ‘Canadian”-style you usually get in Australia so that turned out to be a very nice farewell to the States. They also had a nice Passionfruit energiser smoothie which was way better than that strange hipster juice of Beetroot and Water Melon that I had on the flight out. Still intend to make up for the missing champagne on the outbound, I managed to drink two entire bottles of Veuve Grande Dame as well over the breakfast which was absolutely divine.

Slightly tippled I exited the plane thanking the staff for this great flight and braced myself for the inevitable chaos that Sydney airport would be. As it turned out, however, at 6:30am the terminal was so overly busy that they opened an entire exit for non-declare. They pretty much let all white-skinned passengers with an Aussie passport walk through it in no time while grabbing anyone of a different background to go through the special quarantine inspection. I can’t help it, such racial profiling always enrages me even though I am usually benefiting by NOT being searched but it’s simply still not okay if you ask me. As a result of this, I was on a cab and back home in about half an hour after the plane docked at the airport which is a feat, especially in Sydney!

 

[Straubs]

Sounds like your second flight was a dream compared to the first ... what's with the missing steak sandwiches though?

Thanks for a fun TR!

 

[Berlin]

Sounds like your second flight was a dream compared to the first ... what's with the missing steak sandwiches though?
Thanks for a fun TR!

Not to self: Always stuff in those steak sandwiches straight after dinner or else they will be out after you had a nap!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

oh dear, back to the old days of running out of champagne

 

[BAM1748]

oh dear, back to the old days of running out of champagne

Yes very down market. I was on a QF flight from SYD to LAX one which ran out of orange juice after about 4 hours, how does that happen!

 

[Berlin]

Yes very down market. I was on a QF flight from SYD to LAX one which ran out of orange juice after about 4 hours, how does that happen!

Oh wow- I was pretty much falling for their excuse that it had to do with the slight delay prior to our departure. But no orange juice on that very same route? That much more sounds like under-catering on purpose to me!

 

[van]

Thanks for the report. I will be doing QF SYD-DFW return next year in First. Will try to arrange Winston Churchill on both legs.

 

[SeatBackForward]

The SYD>DFW>SYD run has been my only first class experience ever. I must say it was fantastic fun, BUT..for me personally, I don't see the big leap from Business class, and while I would happily consider pay for J travel, I don't think F is worth the price difference from J, perhaps as an upgrade its worthwhile.