Hello Flight-Report #Avgeeks. I've been away for awhile, mostly making changes to this RTW adventure I'll be sharing over the coming days. Planning for this trip began back in 2017 when the schedule opened for reward tickets to be used in August 2018. The destination was Australia. I was waiting for a specific flight going west to Australia to become available when the schedule hit 331 days out. At that time Qatar had just introduced their Q-Suite business class seat. It was only being flown on Paris and London routes to Doha. On a whim I searched for CDG to Sydney. Bingo, Q-Suites to Doha and A380 service in first class to Sydney. Going east now. (BTW: the westbound flight opened but this was more fun!)
Numerous changes were made, what else is new, but in the end it was an
Virgin Australia CNS-BNE B737 Business Class - to come Qantas BNE-MEL B787-9 Business Class - to come Qantas MEL-SYD A300-2 Business Class / MEL 2nd day open Business Class Lounge - to come Singapore Airlines SYD-SIN Suites Class / SYD Krisflyer First Class Lounge - to come Singapore Airlines SIN-PEK First Class / SIN Private Room - to come Lufthansa PEK-MUC First Class - to come Lufthansa MUC-FRA A321 Business Class / MUC First Class Lounge - to come Singapore Airlines FRA-JFK Suites Class - to come JetBlue JFK-ORD E190 Economy Class - no report
The Rydges hotel is directly across from Sydney’s international terminal. While a nice hotel it is often expensive. Fortunately I was able to snag a deal and booked it primarily to plane watch before my flight to Cairns.
Cairns was the original destination of this trip (although it suffered through a number of changes as well) and the original western route was to fly American’s 787-9 from LAX to SYD arriving on this very date. So there I am in seat 2A of that American 787.
How often can you get 2 A380s and 2 747s in the same photo?
Or just 2 A380s.
Soon it was off to the terminal. Only I was at the international terminal and was departing from the domestic terminal.
Qantas has a transfer gate where I could check-in in the International terminal and take a bus across the airfield to the Domestic terminal on the other side. That trip allowed for this photo, once I cropped out the heads of other bus patrons. We’ll be seeing you soon VA.
After taking a peak inside the QF business class lounge which I reviewed last year I ventured over to a Priority Pass restaurant. Their kitchen was closed at 11AM, no chef, go figure. So I passed some time then headed to the gate.
Boarding was on time and soon enough we were on our way.
It’s a short flight up to Cairns, a little under 3 hours.
And a nice day for flying.
Qantas has a nice domestic business class seat. The cabin has 12 seats, 3 rows of 2x2. Strangely they block rows 1 and 2 from pre-assignment. So it was 3A for me.
A better view. Notice the non partition between cabins. It’s the new thing I guess.
.
A good reason to bring your own entertainment. The 737-8 monitors are circa 1990 on the Airbus A320.
Pretty much all I can show you about the seat are these manual buttons to control the seat. This aircraft did not have any power at the seat.
Qantas nuts.
The good news is on this QF flight the FA, Thomas if I remember correctly, served me lunch whereas last time they missed me.
Fish and chips, kind of, with mashy peas or something to that effect.
But the fun was in the little box.
All I can say is if you run across a Madhouse Bakehouse, go inside.
While dreaming about Madhouse Bakehouse we started our descent.
I was on the wrong side of the plane for the best photos.
Hi RewardFlying! At first I was scratching my head at such a low rating for QF J, but I think I get it...
"My overall rating gives it a 5, which is average in my book." - I'm taking that to mean average by Australian standards. I think my views can be skewed due to the mediocrity of U.S. domestic F, lol. If this were a flight in the U.S. with that meal on a 2 hour flight I'd rate it well above average.
Also I'm guessing the 1/10 rating for IFE is due to no in-seat power? I used not to care so much about that, especially on shorter flights, but being that these are some of QF's newer domestic J seats, it's a shame they didn't bother putting in at least USB charging.
Also, I'm not a fan of the lack of partition between classes. This is an unfortunate trend that I experienced earlier this year on a DL 757 and continue to avoid AA 738 MAX because of lack of partition. But of course it permits airlines to squeeze in an extra row or two. Part of the experience of being up front is having a smaller more intimate cabin--when there's no wall, it just feels less special.
I'm taking that to mean average by Australian standards. I think my views can be skewed due to the mediocrity of U.S. domestic F, lol. If this were a flight in the U.S. with that meal on a 2 hour flight I'd rate it well above average.
-That's making the assumption that a meal on US domestic flight IS average. So 5 is average or what you might expect. In this case it was a little better so I gave it a 6. But in the case of say American's breakfast sandwich, a 2 or 3 might be a rating because it's just not very good.
Also I'm guessing the 1/10 rating for IFE is due to no in-seat power? I used not to care so much about that, especially on shorter flights, but being that these are some of QF's newer domestic J seats, it's a shame they didn't bother putting in at least USB charging.
-That and the useless monitor that folds down from the ceiling. This was not a short flight. You can't watch anything on those monitors. They might have been great in 1992 on an Airbus 320, but not today in J. Just my opinion.
Greetings Mark and thanks for continuing the journey for us. “Cairns was the original destination of this trip (although it suffered through a number of changes as well) and the original western route was to fly American’s 787-9 from LAX to SYD arriving on this very date. So there I am in seat 2A of that American 787.” -You did a heck of a lot better that AA J. “How often can you get 2 A380s and 2 747s in the same photo?” -Not often at all. Maybe at LHR or BKK? LAX used to be an option but I don’t think there is much scheduled 747 service anymore. “The good news is on this QF flight the FA, Thomas if I remember correctly, served me lunch whereas last time they missed me.” -Missed you? The served the other J passengers but skipped you? This meal looks quite good for a flight of this distance. Great snaps on departure from SYD and into CNS, beautiful views. Thanks again for sharing and happy flying.
- :) “How often can you get 2 A380s and 2 747s in the same photo?”
Missed you? The served the other J passengers but skipped you? This meal looks quite good for a flight of this distance.
-Yep, BNE to SYD. Soup was the meal on this short flight. Never asked me. Fortunately I had just taken advantage of Priory Pass at one of the great eateries in BNE.
Great snaps on departure from SYD and into CNS, beautiful views.
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4 Comments
"My overall rating gives it a 5, which is average in my book."
- I'm taking that to mean average by Australian standards. I think my views can be skewed due to the mediocrity of U.S. domestic F, lol. If this were a flight in the U.S. with that meal on a 2 hour flight I'd rate it well above average.
Also I'm guessing the 1/10 rating for IFE is due to no in-seat power? I used not to care so much about that, especially on shorter flights, but being that these are some of QF's newer domestic J seats, it's a shame they didn't bother putting in at least USB charging.
Also, I'm not a fan of the lack of partition between classes. This is an unfortunate trend that I experienced earlier this year on a DL 757 and continue to avoid AA 738 MAX because of lack of partition. But of course it permits airlines to squeeze in an extra row or two. Part of the experience of being up front is having a smaller more intimate cabin--when there's no wall, it just feels less special.
Thanks for sharing!
-That's making the assumption that a meal on US domestic flight IS average. So 5 is average or what you might expect. In this case it was a little better so I gave it a 6. But in the case of say American's breakfast sandwich, a 2 or 3 might be a rating because it's just not very good.
-That and the useless monitor that folds down from the ceiling. This was not a short flight. You can't watch anything on those monitors. They might have been great in 1992 on an Airbus 320, but not today in J. Just my opinion.
Thanks for reading. Happy Reward Flying!
“Cairns was the original destination of this trip (although it suffered through a number of changes as well) and the original western route was to fly American’s 787-9 from LAX to SYD arriving on this very date. So there I am in seat 2A of that American 787.”
-You did a heck of a lot better that AA J.
“How often can you get 2 A380s and 2 747s in the same photo?”
-Not often at all. Maybe at LHR or BKK? LAX used to be an option but I don’t think there is much scheduled 747 service anymore.
“The good news is on this QF flight the FA, Thomas if I remember correctly, served me lunch whereas last time they missed me.”
-Missed you? The served the other J passengers but skipped you? This meal looks quite good for a flight of this distance.
Great snaps on departure from SYD and into CNS, beautiful views.
Thanks again for sharing and happy flying.
- :)
“How often can you get 2 A380s and 2 747s in the same photo?”
-Yep, BNE to SYD. Soup was the meal on this short flight. Never asked me. Fortunately I had just taken advantage of Priory Pass at one of the great eateries in BNE.
-Australia is such a beautiful country.
Thanks Christian, happy reward flying to you!.
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