#32 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings.
176 reviews
Casting back to April 2020, it was very weird time for everyone. But it gave me a push in the right direction to commit to something on my bucket list. Only two years earlier I had done a 2 week tour of the USA and I wanted to repeat a similar venture down in Australia, somewhere I really wanted to go, but would have required a lot more money to make this happen against the original US Tour of 2018.
From April 2020 to March 2023 I managed to acquire £2.5K saved up to make this trip happen and I started booking the flights and first hotels. In the end I had 13 flights in 15 days put together in a big circle kicking off with Qantas QF10!
Qantas QF9/QF10 for a number of years was the Kangaroo Route served by Qantas from Melbourne to London flying via Singapore and Dubai for a number of years, but in March 2018 the airline made history by offering the Melbourne to London Heathrow service via Perth Airport in Western Australia using Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.
For the first time in 105 years of Aviation history there was now a direct link between the UK and Australia without any stops in another country, something that had defined both the "Kangaroo Route" and "Southern Cross Route" for the previous century of flight. Originally a service which required six stops on the Lockheed Constellation, then down to four stops with Boeing 707s before the long-standing one stop via Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok or Dubai with the Boeing 747s & Airbus A380s.
By the end of the 2020s, the airline will have acquired Airbus A350-1000 specially designed to make the Sydney to London route in one direct and non-stop flight lasting a good 20 hours, so much progress in the last decade, despite the delays brought on by the pandemic.
Whilst I have seen English flight reports on the Qantas Boeing 787, I've yet to see one covering this behemoth QF10/QF9 on the route to or from London. So its time to see how this all comes together.
I'll be reporting on all my Australian Tour Flights over the course of late 2023 and early 2024, so I hope you enjoy the series as much I enjoyed pulling this massive trip off.
I got to London Heathrow T3 with four hours ahead of my flight. The tunnel leading into T2/T3 was extremely gridlocked, so I asked my dad to drop me off at Hatton Cross train station and opted to go to the Central Terminal on a free train run that is offered by TFL & LHR. It is an easy way to avoid the clearly ridiculous £5 drop off fee.
I got to Terminal 3 from the train station which takes about 5-10 minutes depending on how fast you walk the journey and how well you know your way around London Heathrow Airport. I got to the entrance of T3 and went inside to find the QANTAS check in and bag drop area in Zone C.
Bag drop was uneventful and took me about 5 minutes. I took another 15 minutes to clear security using the general security lane. Whilst some OneWorld airlines offer priority security for OneWorld Ruby tier members, Qantas is not one of them.
I opted to indulge just in case this is the only time I do fly Qantas on one of their iconic routes- Paying about £55, I managed to gain access into the Qantas London Lounge, somewhere I had paid a flying visit in July 2023 during my OneWorld Lounge Crawl- but this visit would be in a different mood.
Overall quite a nice lounge. I went upstairs to have a snack from the buffet, a coffee and shower before heading down stairs to try out the table service dining, I opted to enjoy an organic oats porridge with brown sugar alongside a chai latte. It was delicious and a good start before the marathon flight ahead of me.
The shower facility was spacious, modern and clean. The shower really freshened me up and put me in a good mood for the start of my trip.
Whilst the Qantas Lounge is known for its gin bar, I opted to pass on this visit. I had tried a G&T with an Australian gin back in November, but I really didn't fancy any alcohol on this trip just yet.
Overall a very nice lounge. I wouldn't pay £55 every time I fly from Terminal 3 to enter it, but it was a nice add on before such a massive trip!
I was very excited to find out the previous day that my flight from London to Perth would be operated by the Qantas Boeing 787-9 VH-ZNJ, the 100th Anniversary livery Dreamliner!
What an impressive catch to start off my first Australian Trip!
VH-ZNJ was delivered to Qantas brand new in its special 100 Years livery in November 2019 with a configuration of 42 Business Class Seats, 28 Premium Economy Seats and 166 Economy Seats. The aircraft carries the name "LONGREACH" which is the birthplace of Qantas and home to the Qantas Founders Museum- somewhere that I made sure to fit into my tour.
I boarded the Boeing 787 Dreamliner towards the end of the boarding process. After boarding the passengers in need of assistance, then the business class flyers, then the premium economy class flyers- The economy class passengers were asked to board from the rear of the cabin to the front, so I was one of the last on as my seat (Seat 41K) was one of the first seats in the standard economy class.
Once boarding was complete, the crew did the safety demo alongside the "100 Years of Qantas" safety video, a very interesting video to watch. But it was an impressive watch- I saw it four times on my trip, it didn't get boring!
Despite being a little behind schedule, it didn't affect our overall schedule as we were due in after a 15hr 30min flight according to the pilots, which gave me a bigger window for my connecting flight in Perth. Great news for me!
After leaving Terminal 3, we had a long taxi running past Terminal 3 and Terminal 5 before joining the que for Runway 09R on the South-Side of the Airport.
The Boeing 787 powered down the runway and after what felt like a very long-run, the aircraft rose into the cloudy skies over West London and over Myrtle Avenue (the famed spotting location at LHR), before heading out with a slight southerly route towards Kent before exiting UK Airspace and flying towards Belgium.
The first service was conducted just as we entered German airspace (it was a 15-16 hour flight, the crew was right to space things out) where they gave out bottles of water and a basic amenity kit which was a nice touch!
The amenity kit contained an eye mask, ear plugs, a toothbrush and toothpaste. It goes without saying that I didn't use it and its now residing in my collection of Airplane "knick-knacks" at home!
The first bar service came around shortly after and I opted for a Jack Daniel's and Cola with the Almond-Pretzel snack pack. It was a decent start to the service.
When the main meal service began after completing the bar service (I am not too sure of the time gap) I opted for the braised beef brisket meal with an orange juice and a garlic ciabatta roll. I personally quite enjoyed this meal the beef was cooked nicely as can be done for an economy class meal- I know it won't win awards, but it did the job as expected.
In terms of the In-Flight Entertainment I enjoyed watching a few episodes of "The Last of Us" which was available. I also checked out the music offerings (shamelessly tuning into an AC/DC Live Album) and playing a quick game of Angry Birds! There was a good selection to cover people's various tastes- I think it would appeal to a big majority of the people who travel Qantas.
I left my seat to stretch my legs a handful of times during the flight, I got a neat photo of the rear galley when it was unoccupied. The crew did a separate desert run with some lush salted caramel chocolate ice creams. They were sweet and divine. Apparently the airline had introduced new caterers on the London Heathrow flights, so the crew were getting used to the new food menu and service.
I went back to my seat as the sun was setting as we flew over the Middle East, about a quarter of the way through the mammoth flight!
Following the moving map on the Dreamliner I saw that we crossed 14 countries once leaving the UK: Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Türkiye, Iraq, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Oman before we headed for the vast Indian Ocean for the next 11 hours- our next country to fly over would be Australia as we descended into Perth.
I went to the snack bar during our ride over the Indian Ocean, I opted to enjoy a few Tim-Tams with a cup of tea- saving a dairy milk chocolate for later in the flight. Sometime during the period of night flying- the crew served up a hot snack in the form of a chicken lattice pastry.
Hours passed in the darkness. I made another visit to the back of the plane for just over an hour.
I started to notice the sun rise coming up, but the crew had over ridden the windows on the Boeing 787 setting them to dim… I know this is a small debatable topic among AvGeeks, Travel bloggers and Airline Staff:
Personally if I am paying for a window seat- the crew forcing the windows to be in a particular setting is a bit of a nuisance and it was the only thing I didn't appreciate on the flight. This is not an issue on any other aircraft in the sky at the moment.
About 2 hours from landing the breakfast was served up and I opted for the hot breakfast- a basic take on a Full English with a muffin cake, yoghurt with granola and fruit jam as well as siding off with an orange juice and hot coffee.
Again, not going to win any awards, but it was satisfactory and enjoyable flying in economy on a plane for 15+ hours!
Eventually the crew turned off the forcible dimming on the windows, so I got a bit more enjoyment out of the views as we closed in on Perth.
Whilst I found this unique experience entertaining in many ways as an aviation and travel enthusiast, the party had to come to an end. We came in over Western Australia just North of Perth and we landed coming in on Runway 21.
It was just as cloudy in Perth as it was in London, however at least the weather in Perth would be more warmer than the weather left behind in London, We taxied over to Terminal 3/4 where Qantas is based at Perth Airport, parking in the international section alongside an Airbus A330.
As all the passengers filed out of the Boeing 787, I stayed behind to get some photos of the empty cabins before I left. I enquired about seeing the flight deck and I was given the ok, which I really appreciated- the Boeing 787 has a really amazing and somewhat futuristic flight deck. I also don't get to fly on Boeing 787s that often as I'm usually seen flying short-medium haul flights within Europe, making this only my fifth long-haul flight on a Dreamliner!
I just want to conclude this report with a massive thank you to the crew on QF10 that day for an amazing flight!
As for what happened next- That'll be coming out soon!
Qantas QF10 was a really unique service. I personally have an easier time than others when it comes to resting on planes and the excitement of my first Australia trip helped kept me going through the 15+ hours on this journey. I'm glad I did it and I would certainly consider doing this direct flight again if I had to get to Australia, get the travel into the country done and out of the way.
The QANTAS Lounge at London Heathrow was a very nice lounge, it was good to try the table service and the food was decent enough. As I said earlier in the report, wouldn't pay £55 to enter the lounge on a regular basis, but I would recommend it to anyone with OneWorld Status flying out of LHR T3 if they didn't fancy the BA or AA lounges.
8 Comments
It seems that IFE ans catering were fine.
How confortable was the seat on this very long flight?
Regards,
I look forward to the rest of the trip, thanks for sharing!
I am putting together the rest of the trip as we speak. Most of it will be out in 2024 onward, stay tuned!
The QF lounge is usually my go-to in T3. Even if I have access to First lounges, I generally prefer the QF lounge (and the CX lounge is right up there too).
Oh? Interesting, I would have expected Qantas to have priority boarding for Oneworld Sapphire status holders like yourself.
Hah, same here...I have an entire cabinet full with over 100 amenity kits and growing
It's funny seeing the Harrogate water bottle...that's how you know the flight was catered from London
The snack bar is great to have on such a long flight! Yum Tim Tams! Can't wait to go to Australia in a few months and fill up on Tim Tams...they're so addictive haha
Meals all look about as good as you can expect for a non-Asian carrier, though I'm a bit surprised there wasn't a light meal mid-flight. I remember getting a sandwich on similar length flights before.
100% agree with you here. It's very annoying when windows are forced to dim on a day flight. At least set it to where you can still see enough out the window. I hate being plunged in the dark when it's beautiful and sunny out. There are eye-masks in the amenity kits for those who want to sleep!
Thanks for sharing!
I'm unfortunately no longer OneWorld Sapphire- just OneWorld Ruby. Hence why I paid £55 to enter the Qantas Lounge, it was worth paying for this special trip however I wouldn't pay such if I was on a inter-European trip or a regular on this route.
Glad you agree with me on the window situation and as for the meal service we got various snack/bar runs, two main meals (Lunch & Breakfast) plus a hot snack in the middle. As well as the in demand snack bar at the back.
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