Kiwi Flyer
Senior Member
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2004
- Posts
- 5,453
Sydney to Singapore (SYD-SIN) Business Class on QF 747 continued
Boarding is announced in the lounge a little late and when I reach the gate boarding has only just begun. There are people bunched up everywhere blocking the middle of the gate lounge. When several passengers (including me) entitled to use the priority boarding line (business class and elites) move through the huddled masses we get evil looks. It would be so much easier if orderly lines had formed leaving space for the priority line.
As I head to the stairs on this 2-class 747 I notice a forward economy section in between doors 1L and 2L. I make my way upstairs only to find, as with half the other passengers, that the overhead bins are too small for our carry ons.
We push back rather late and slowly taxi out into Botany Bay. While taxiing I take a moment to marvel at the carefully orchestrated mechanical ballet that takes place on the apron and taxiways of any large airport.
We take off over Sydney and the noise abatement procedures mean we seem to glide slowly at low altitude over the suburban sprawl for a long time, showing just how large Sydney is.
This aircraft is not equipped with AVOD, for which I am glad. I have yet to have a Qantas AVOD-equipped flight without major problems with the IFE - the older system while offering less options and non-AVOD is at least much more reliable. I watch a movie over dinner and then catch up on a few hours sleep. There are a number of little touches with the meal service that I notice are not quite as polished as say Air NZ or Singapore Airlines business class meal service. For example there is only 1 choice of bread roll type, no olive oil, salad consists only of rocket and lettuce (no tomatoes, cucumber, etc), cheese board has only 2 types of cheese, no wine menu.
The flight seems to pass by quickly, and I realise that has to do with being so much shorter than my usual New Zealand to Singapore flight. We descend into the night and arrive on time - we mustn't have had too many headwinds today.
I deplane and head straight for the nice Qantas first class lounge (entry thanks to status) for a shower. Much like an army eats food whenever it gets the chance, I have learnt from experience to grab a shower whenever I get the chance on multi-day flights. While I might be expecting to be able to have a shower at the next transit, or the next but one, there could be delays leaving too little time, or the shower could be out of order. So I take every chance to freshen up that I can.
Boarding is announced in the lounge a little late and when I reach the gate boarding has only just begun. There are people bunched up everywhere blocking the middle of the gate lounge. When several passengers (including me) entitled to use the priority boarding line (business class and elites) move through the huddled masses we get evil looks. It would be so much easier if orderly lines had formed leaving space for the priority line.
As I head to the stairs on this 2-class 747 I notice a forward economy section in between doors 1L and 2L. I make my way upstairs only to find, as with half the other passengers, that the overhead bins are too small for our carry ons.
We push back rather late and slowly taxi out into Botany Bay. While taxiing I take a moment to marvel at the carefully orchestrated mechanical ballet that takes place on the apron and taxiways of any large airport.
We take off over Sydney and the noise abatement procedures mean we seem to glide slowly at low altitude over the suburban sprawl for a long time, showing just how large Sydney is.
This aircraft is not equipped with AVOD, for which I am glad. I have yet to have a Qantas AVOD-equipped flight without major problems with the IFE - the older system while offering less options and non-AVOD is at least much more reliable. I watch a movie over dinner and then catch up on a few hours sleep. There are a number of little touches with the meal service that I notice are not quite as polished as say Air NZ or Singapore Airlines business class meal service. For example there is only 1 choice of bread roll type, no olive oil, salad consists only of rocket and lettuce (no tomatoes, cucumber, etc), cheese board has only 2 types of cheese, no wine menu.
The flight seems to pass by quickly, and I realise that has to do with being so much shorter than my usual New Zealand to Singapore flight. We descend into the night and arrive on time - we mustn't have had too many headwinds today.
I deplane and head straight for the nice Qantas first class lounge (entry thanks to status) for a shower. Much like an army eats food whenever it gets the chance, I have learnt from experience to grab a shower whenever I get the chance on multi-day flights. While I might be expecting to be able to have a shower at the next transit, or the next but one, there could be delays leaving too little time, or the shower could be out of order. So I take every chance to freshen up that I can.
Forgot to mention that on the SIN-LHR flight we got a useless hot towel that was dry and at room temperature. Really, what is the point of that?
