Review of Qantas flight Singapore → London in Economy

The 2023 Australia Tour- That's All Folks!

It all started off with Qantas QF10 (LHR-PER)!!!

It had to finish on Qantas QF1!!!

Stopping off in Singapore Changi!

I had about three hours to fill out in Singapore Changi, I lost about 2 hours due to the delay of my previous Qantas flight (QF81) which also killed off any chances of doing plane spotting at SIN… But I wasn't going to let that stop me from enjoying a look around what is regarded by many in the travel communities as the world's best airport!

First off I had to find my way to Terminal 2 using the airside Skylink, there was something I found exciting that I wanted to tick off!

Despite my shorter than planned connection, I still found Singapore Changi amazing, I figured trying to get to the Jewel was going to be too risky to undertake, so I opted to leave that until I make a proper trip to Singapore Changi again, which I am hoping won't be far away!

About 2 weeks before I started my trip to Australia, I learned Singapore Changi Airport was in the process of acquiring a new Hard Rock Café to replace the old one in Terminal 3 which closed during the pandemic. This new location would be found in Terminal 2.

I'm a huge Hard Rock Café fanatic (I know some travellers prefer to avoid at all costs) and the chance to visit my first location actually inside an Airport was something I didn't want to pass up, so I went to the newly opened location and enjoyed dinner at the newly opened location, acquired a new pin badge for my collection and went on my way!

Only one Airport in Europe has a Hard Rock Café (that being Malta-Luqa), where as there are a small number in Asia and the USA. Quite a novelty for me and as Australia had closed their two locations in 2020 (Sydney & Gold Coast), this was the only chance for me to include a Hard Rock in my trip.

I was amazed by this little find… Fish in a Pond… in a garden that is also in an Airport Terminal!!!

I found a sweet shop after before leaving Terminal 2 and acquired a bag of sweets made in Singapore before heading back to Terminal 3, once I got there I checked a departure board for the Qantas QF1 flight as I knew it had landed and was already on a Gate awaiting the turn around for the Singapore-London segment of the flight.

Terminal 3, Gate D-46 would be where the flight left from. Oddly before boarding we had to go through an at the gate security check. Is this a common practice/standard practice at Singapore Changi or something they do for "select flights"?

It didn't take too long, despite the arriving flight crew needing to cut the que to get on the plane to prepare it, though they were very polite about it. 

The Flying Kangaroo: Qantas QF1

My flight from Singapore Changi to London Heathrow, and the closing act of my 2-week Tour of Australia, would be on the Airbus A380-800 "VH-OQI". The aircraft is named "David Warren" an Australian Scientist (1925-2010) who invented the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) & Flight Data Recorder (FDR) "Black Boxes" used to help aid Air Crash Investigators worldwide. 

VH-OQI was built brand new by Airbus for Qantas and delivered in January 2011, just months after the passing of its namesake, making it just shy of 13 years old when I flew on it. From March 2020 to July 2023 the plane found itself stored and mothballed during the Pandemic (as with all QF A380s) and subsequently it was stored further for return to flight work and cabin refits until it returned to service in early July 2023. During those three years VH-OQI was stored in Dresden (Germany, March 2020-September 2020), Victorville (USA, September 2020-January 2023) and finally Abu Dhabi (UAE, February 2023-July 2023).

All of Qantas Airbus A380 fleet will be fitted eventually (if not already) by the new cabin configuration of: 14 First Class Seats, 70 Business Class Seats, 60 Premium Economy Seats and 341 Economy Class Seats.

Prior to general boarding, the ground crew announced that a technical issue had rendered multiple IFE Screens on the Airbus A380 in economy class unusable and that this was a warning to get some entertainment downloaded onto personal devices. I was a little concerned by this development, but I was sorted with two new Airliner World magazines, knowing there'd be a Qantas IFE magazine to read, as well as it being a night flight, I would try to sleep some of it.

I boarded the plane with the boarding group and found my way to Seat 73A, which is in the middle economy class section of the QF A380. I picked this seat as it was just behind the wing, but also gave me a good field of vision to see bellow it. The A380 wing is massive and I wanted to "Have my Cake and Eat It" despite this being a flight solely within the hours of darkness… It also happened to be the only seat in my row which was not working…

As luck would have it the Three-abreast seating was only occupied by me at the window and a lady at the Aisle seat. Making the middle seat empty for the next 15 hours, I used this to acquire the middle seat screen for the IFE Map. Already this A380 flight was shaping up to be a better quality flight than the Boeing 787 two weeks ago!

Qantas QF1 is scheduled to depart around 23:30pm local time, but it was gone midnight by the time we pushed back and made our way over to the runway for our departure on this flight. We had a prolonged taxi across Singapore Changi, which gave the crew plenty of time to perform the Safety Demo alongside the 100 Years of Qantas safety video, which I sadly won't be seeing on a flight again now as the airline has replaced it with a new Safety Demo video.

After we had pushed back and taxied around Singapore Changi, the massive A380 was lined up for departure just after midnight on November 27th 2023 on Runway 02R. Our taxi took us from the North West side to the South-West side before taking off toward the North.

After rocketing out of Singapore Changi, we flew straight into Malaysia air space and proceeded to turn North-Westerly across Malaysia and towards the Andaman Sea

After take off, we cruised along for a while, I took this time to check out the amenity kit again finding the usual suspects of a sleep mask, ear plugs and teeth hygiene kit as well as a bonus bottle of water.

After a quick drinks and snack round, it was onto the main meal for the flight. I opted for the beef option and proceeded to dive in, it was going to be a long flight of just shy of 14hrs.

I took a few hours to go to the rear galley of the Airbus A380 for some exploration, likewise with QF10, it was a good excuse to get out and stretch my legs for a little while. I also checked out the snack bar to see what was being offered on this overnight flight.

I liked the spiral staircase of the Airbus A380 that leads to Premium Economy and Business Class, the stairs kind of remind me of a more sophisticated throwback to the original generation Boeing 747-Classics.

Getting photos out of the aircraft was near impossible as the flight was entirely overnight and the design of the A380s windows result in a heavy reflection. I did track our route and progress on the in-flight map of my neighbouring seat as it was unoccupied and working, unlike mine!

In terms of our route that evening: Once we began flying over land again from Bhubaneswar, India- we flew across the massive country before turning Northward towards New Delhi, avoiding the Himalayas mountain range. We then proceeded to turn West over the country of Tajikistan, avoiding both Afghanistan and Russian airspace for obvious reasons. We proceeded to pass over Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan before entering the Caspian Sea.

Despite the toilets being used quite a bit during the flight by many of the passengers, it was kept in a good condition and reloaded when possible. For those wondering what the Qantas A380 economy class loo looks like- I got you covered!!!

After passing the Caspian Sea, we began to fly over Azerbaijan, where the weather was clear enough for me to grab this beautiful image on my phone (thanks to a very dimmed cabin) of our Airbus A380 flying over the Azerbaijan capital Baku!

Our route took us over Georgia (the birthplace of WW2 USSR leader Joseph Stalin), before heading along the northern coasts of Türkiye along the Black Sea, after that we made a slight course correction to the North heading for Europe.

A hot snack was delivered during the flight in the form of a Monty's lattice pastry, similar to what I had on QF10 & QF81. I also returned to the snack bar at some point before we began to cross into Europe. At this point the lights in the cabin were off and most the passengers were still sleeping.

I even grabbed a quick snap in the middle galley at one point during the flight.

As we passed over Romania, the crew put the mood lighting on and began the breakfast service. It was still dark outside, but the breakfast was quite enjoyable, I even would say this one was better than my QF10 breakfast option.

The contents contained scrambled eggs, bacon, a sausage, tomato, hash browns, a muffin as well as hot drinks & cold drinks from the bar, as well as a tasty and smooth Greek Yoghurt with some fruit compote. 

The final stretch through Europe took us across Romania, Hungary, Austria, Germany and Belgium before coming into UK Airspace during our descent into London Heathrow. I couldn't get any footage for the arrival due to the cloudy weather in London as well as the brightness of the mood lighting on the A380's windows, but we basically came into London Heathrow flying in over Central London, making a single dog-leg shaped approach from the North.

We landed on Runway 27R, passing the BA Maintenance hangars, we touched down and taxied off towards Terminal 3. Our taxi took us from the Northside to the Southside and we taxied over to our stand at Terminal 3, coming to a stop on the final gate at T3 (Gate 1), where the Qantas flights usually leave.

I grabbed some final shots of the cabin of the Airbus A380-800. I asked about a flight deck visit, but the pilots had a crew being trained during this flight, so I wasn't able to. A small shame, but understandable. I was given however a First Class Amenity Kit instead and I graciously accepted it!

As I left the QF1, I saw a chance to grab one final shot of the big aircraft on stand, the next time I fly to Australia there's no guarantee I'll be flying the Qantas A380 given the attitude by airlines toward the four engine jumbos these days, as well as "Project Sunrise" being very much now on the horizon.

Passport control was empty and a breeze to get back through, by the time I was through my bag was already riding along the carousel and waiting for me to come and get it.

Overall a pretty successful trip and after 15 days of travelling, the tour of Australia was over. I managed to achieve most if not all what I had primarily set out to do in 2020. I'll be proud of this for the rest of my life and I really hope it won't be my last time in Australia!