Blame It On Rio....well Sao Paulo.

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The Spanner in the Works (Part Two)

My early afternoon Saturday nap was disturbed by the buzz of my Blackberry. I had left it on vibrate by mistake. The little yellow message indicator confirmed it was an email, and it proved to be the long awaited email from my colleague!

“At last” I said to myself, “the itinerary”. :)

Unfortunately I was being delusional. :( (No change there I hear you say.) Not only was this not an itinerary, my colleague had advised the man on the ground in Brazil that I would be arriving a day later than I actually would.:shock:

Some of you (at least one of you) have been wondering why I would be so concerned about a third party arranging my travel so I thought I’d share my thoughts on the subject.

I travel a fair bit, 400 hours flying and about 100 nights away from home. Several years ago an old boss, whose understanding of our business could be written on the border of a postage stamp, decided that I needed to visit a company in Paris.

Apart from being a complete waste of time it was a reasonably straightforward exercise. Fly to Paris, taxi to hotel, picked up and delivered to the company the next morning. I organised the flights and the MD’s PA at the French company asked if I needed hotel reservation. I said “yes please” and the next day she emailed me the address of the hotel.

Those who have read my previous trip report will know that I love all things French.....apart from, of course, The French. This will perhaps give a little insight.

I arrived at the hotel to find there was no booking. “Qu'est-ce que c'est” I said, I’m not sure that was relevant or would have helped at all but at least it was some sort of French. Fortunately, well only slightly fortunately, the cheese eating surrender monkey* behind the reception desk had a smattering of English. He was unable to recommend any other hotel because they were all full and didn’t know what could be done! “Merci beaucoup” I said, wondering why I hadn’t packed my longbow. :p

In the end wotif.com was my friend and for an inexpensive $700, yes seven hundred of my Australian dollars, I managed to get a room at a nearby posh hotel. (I can't for the life of me remember which one, I have a feeling it was a Renaissance.) The next morning the MD of the French company looked at me and said, but of course, you did not give my PA your credit card details. Stone me, I thought, how could I be such an idiot? Now I know never to travel without the hotel booking reference. ;) (Although I'm getting close on this trip!)

Tony's tip: Just because someone asks you if you want them to book a hotel for you, saying yes does not necessarily facilitate this.

The second experience is not mine, it belongs to my US colleague. On one of my, far to frequent trips to Blighty, I was scheduled to be involved in a teleconference. My US colleague was in Sao Paulo and was not answering his cell phone. We feared the worst, but with the majority of attendees being British we maintained our composure and demonstrated the traditional stiff upper lip. We would only go to $10,000 as a ransom if he had been kidnapped, and immediately set about finding a successor.

An hour into the meeting the call from our colleague came in. He was in some difficulty because the hotel for the previous night had not “worked out” and he had slept on the floor of an office. :shock: Yes you read correctly he slept on the floor of an office building in Sao Paulo.

Now bear in mind, my travel arrangements are in the hands of the same people who organised the office floor for my colleague, and as things stand, less than a week before I fly, I have no hotel reservation, no details of transfers, no internal flights, and a man called Sergio who thinks I’m arriving a day later than I am.

More to come soon, with pictures and everything maybe!

* If I have upset anyone from France, please accept my apologies(ish). I have nothing but respect (not sure if respect is the right word, I do wonder if it should be contempt?) for the French, particularly this year when they have not yet surrendered to the Pro Gadaffi forces and had a pro Gadaffi government installed operating from Vichy.
 
Do you know if the office floor is still available? That's where you can go on the first night if they don't get your arrival date right - just don't forget to pack an airbed (my mother-in-law has one, I could borrow it from her if you ask me nicely);)
 
Ah I <3 LATIN AMERICA!

That must have been some HARD CORE PARTYING on a business trip of your American mate there in Sao Paulo and getting stoned not enough to find a hotel room.

Or something.

Let's see, Brasilian Portuguese are quite different than European Portuguese. Or maybe the other 'colonisers' of the SPanish empire.

Anyways yeah, those LAtin babes like to party! You should have attended a samba while in Brasil! Ha! ;-)
 
The Holiday Inn - MEL

As long term car parks go the HI at MEL is relatively handy if you like a short, brisk, walk to the terminal. (There is a shuttle bus too, but unless you are traveling with the kitchen sink it hardly seems worth it.) It does, however, fall well short of being somewhere I’d like to spend even the most meaningless moments of my life.

I was here because I had a 7:30 AM flight and, much worse than that, I was involved in a teleconference with colleagues in the UK scheduled for a late finish the night before.

For $219 I got a room and eight days parking, and I think this is OK. It satisfies my desire to be in control....i.e. I can walk to the terminal and the hotel is not as unpleasant as the Formule One.

My check in approach has been modified to the simple act of handing over my PC Rewards card. Then I have to go through the process of checking the paperwork to see if my membership status has registered. This time I was down at club level. Oh what joy.

I did however receive a welcome letter outlining the benefits of priority club membership. My room was on the top floor and was pretty much as booked. There was, however, a surprise in store for me.....a welcome letter, a bottle of water and a chocolate bar. So despite having my status as club level I did receive the platinum welcome. In essence they did know who I was!!!!

This HI is as bland as it gets, the decor just screams “airport hotel”, or perhaps “middle of the road, well worn, boring, not very up market airport hotel”. (I once stayed the presidential suite at the MEL HI......I would have pursued IHG under the trades description act had it not been an upgrade.)

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I had a spectacular view of the Golden Arches, and a bit of the airport too.

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With my meeting finished by 11 PM I settled into an hour of England thrashing India in the test match. I booked my wake up call for 04:40, ten minutes earlier than I needed it. (I remembered the call is always 10 minutes late and it duly was!)

.......Tony gets to try QF's (new?) domestic Premium Economy soon, and inconveniently boards....but next up the J Lounge.
 
Wow...a black wall:shock:

Have you sorted out your arrival date?

Looking forward to more on the trip
 
The MEL J Lounge

In my haste to complete my booking I had overlooked a glaring error. :shock: I was scheduled to land in SYD at 08:55.....and....and....QF17 was scheduled to depart at 10:30. Even with my poor time management I could see that my time in the F lounge would probably not allow me an eggs benedict with salmon breakfast I so craved for.

One hour and 25 minutes was not what I would call a comfortable connection, and I would be armed with an express card, and a departure card already filled in. The F Lounge at Sydney is nice, but it is not the be all and end all for me. :shock: I hate being rushed when I travel, and that is what drives me. I like to spend a little quiet time before traveling to prepare my gadgets for flight mode, line up my IFE on the iPad and have a bite to eat. I am a creature of routine.

I called QF and was told that I needed to contact my Travel Agent to make any booking changes, although I was “reassured” that 1h 25m was plenty of time. The TA wanted the princely sum of $156 for a change, but also assured me that the connection would not be a problem.

Being somewhat skeptical I resolved to rise early and try to change to an earlier flight in the QP...and that is why I found myself at the QP service desk at 05:25. (Having queued at the priority security line - although to be fair I suspect QF don’t worry too much at the weekend about this.)

The flash of the WP card accorded me the wave into the QP. :) The CSA couldn’t get me onto the 06:00 flight, but “squeezed” me onto the 07:00 flight. Not perfect by any means but I grabbed the opportunity! I also received my boarding passes for QF17 and my EXE-GRU flight with TAM.

The J lounge was almost empty, “not surprising you half wit” I hear you yell. It is, after all, 05:30 on a Saturday morning. It was the first time I had seen the J lounge hot breakfast offering. The bacon looked good, the eggs looked a little less scrambled and a bit more sort of big solid lump. I got no further than the beans. Why can they not just buy tins of Heinz Baked Beans? I don’t need Neil Perry inspired baked beans for breakfast. :p

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As it happens I wasn’t in the mood for food and settled for a dishwater cappuccino, in the absence of a barista. (Not complaining though it was 05:30 on a Saturday, and somewhat oddly I have become quite partial to the machine made cappuccinos.)

Two more things on my list of to do’s - WiFi and domestic boarding.

WiFi worked first time. :shock: No searching for the connect page, it just came up straight away. :cool: The speed wasn’t bad either. I put it down to the lack of pax in the QP and J lounge.

Domestic boarding....mmmmm....a major QF failure for it’s elite pax. With some trepidation I headed to the gate 30 mins before departure.

...........and the travel starts, MEL-SYD in what can only be described as Y+.
 
The Convenience of Boarding and Flight to SYD

This post is dedicated to medhead, johnk, gowatson and any one else who flies QF domestically regularly. How you tolerate QF’s domestic service is beyond my ken. :shock:

Gate 21 was where I was heading. I liked that, it was the first gate in what I call the “other bit” of the QF domestic terminal. At least I wouldn’t have to walk several kilometres to the gate.

Boarding pass in hand I arrived at the gate. This didn’t seem right. I checked the boarding pass again, definitely gate 21. The gate area appeared to be populated by deathstar passengers. Noisy teens, people in thongs, all congregated around the boarding area. Apparently I was in the right place. The flight was clearly delayed, although no announcement was made. I think the thing that gave it away was the scheduled 7:00 AM departure, however it was 7:05 AM and we weren’t boarding. :?:

I waited for the priority boarding announcement, ready to walk to the front as a WP flying J...and then it came.....”Qantas Flight 408, to Sydney, is now ready for boarding”. :shock: I was almost knocked off my feet in the stampede. There were two and a half queues, on the right a single line, on the left a line with another snaking off to the left near the boarding point. It was, at best, chaotic.

After ten minutes I was through, and heading down the second gangway to the J section.

“How are you today Mr Hancock?” the pleasant FA said as I boarded.

“I’d be a lot better if QF could actually provide the priority boarding I am supposedly entitled to” I responded grumpily. :-|

The FA was a little taken aback and was silent. As I placed my bags in the overhead locker I could hear another J passenger echoing my sentiments to the same FA.

Within a few seconds of being seated The FA appeared to discuss the issues I, and my fellow J passenger, had experienced in the less than convenient boarding process. She headed off to the gate to see what was going on and give her view on priority boarding. She made notes and assured us she would take the issue up in a report when we landed in Sydney.

In the meantime I checked my booking again. I knew I had changed from QF412 to QF408, but I now appeared to be seated in a premium economy seat. It certainly did not seem like a J seat. There was not much leg room, and the seat was narrow. The aircraft was a 332. It was only 56 minutes to SYD so I didn’t make a fuss, but it did seem odd. Had QF done away with J on domestic flights? I wondered if I had a case against QF for misrepresentation.

Unusually I still wasn’t hungry and made due with a cup of tea.

I was, supposedly, flying J on Australia’s premium airline.......it did not feel like it. :-|

To cap it all, we were late already due to the late arrival of the aircraft from Perth, there was a problem with the auxiliary power. This cause an issue with departure and then again with arrival at SYD. I know these things can’t be helped but it all went towards making the experience less than pleasant.

The arrival at SYD was 30 mins late.....or to put it another way we arrived at the scheduled arrival time of QF412, my original flight!

QF domestic flyers I salute you! :)

.....next up F lounging rapido style!
 
but I now appeared to be seated in a premium economy seat. It certainly did not seem like a J seat. There was not much leg room, and the seat was narrow. The aircraft was a 332. It was only 56 minutes to SYD so I didn’t make a fuss, but it did seem odd. Had QF done away with J on domestic flights? I wondered if I had a case against QF for misrepresentation.

love it! seat back ife in a 2x3x2 (or 2x1xgrey trayx1x2) or pull up in 2x2x2

be great to see a trip report on Club Europe in the new non-convertible seats!
 
The SYD F Lounge............in and out

QF408 reached gate 10 at 08:55. I do have to say that the FA’s were very good on the flight. In a way I do feel sorry for them, they are rather been left to deal with pax who are fed up with enhancements and non delivery of stated benefits, by QF management.....but that is for a different thread. :-|

The walk to the international transfer took a couple of minutes or so and a bus arrived within 5 minutes of sitting down in the transfer “lounge”. (Lounge, like enhancement, has a whole different meaning to the one I knew, I can’t blame QF, it appears to be airports and airlines in general. Transfer “lounge” and gate “lounge” conjure up images of uncomfortable seats, few amenities, and swarms of people.)

It appeared I was relatively lucky compared to the pax destined for JNB, their flight was already boarding. :shock:

Maybe it is the times I fly, but SYD always seems incredibly busy compared to MEL, and yes I do expect it to be a bit busier than MEL, but it is a LOT busier. The queues at immigration were almost to the door, and I was fortunate that my express departures card took me to the front of the queues.....same again with security.

The duty free trap was crowded, I always feel sorry for the occasional traveller, they must feel as if they will never be able to find a way out of the maze. It was already 09:35 and I had given up on breakfast in the F lounge. My sympathy for the occasional traveller lasted for about a minute as I wondered to myself why pax who wanted to pay for duty free and pick it up on the way in couldn’t at least have their arrival information at hand.

09:45 and I arrived at the F lounge. I assumed that boarding had already commenced for QF17 but was told by the lounge staff that it would be 10 more minutes. Surprised I settled in at the far end of the lounge to get my electronics prepared for flight!

I’m not a lover of things Marc Newson, but I will begrudgingly acknowledge that I do like the SYD and MEL F lounges. In particular I like the amount of natural light and the views out over the airport. :)

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One mineral water, and 10 minutes later I was heading to gate 9 for boarding, which was announced as I was heading down the escalator. One hour and 25 minutes was not enough transfer time for me, I wouldn’t be making the same mistake on future bookings....unless I already had!

......up next QF17 and a surprise waiting in F.
 
The Flight to EZE

Those of you that have been bored senseless by my TR posts will know that I am not a great lover of travel, and in particular not a great lover of long haul flying. Don’t get me wrong I have no fear of flying, it is just that my attention span is about 5 seconds and I get bored easily and quickly.

Fourteen (ish) hours on a metal cylinder does not appeal to me. So it was unusual for me to have a feeling of anticipation before my flight to EZE. I think the driver was my seat choice. I had been lucky and managed to snag 1A on a four class metal cylinder with a hump. The prospect of F class seating was appealing, if only for the number of buttons I’d be able to press.

As I boarded (oh the DYKWIA satisfaction of turning left. :cool:) I had a sense of disappointment. It had been five years since I last flew in an F seat on a QF 747, and my memories were of more space in the F cabin. I was one of the first aboard so I was able to take the overhead locker space for row 2, and claim a small space for my backpack in the cupboard at the front.

The seat was less roomier than I remember, although I was a little more “roomier” than I was five years ago. The interior was pretty shabby and very tired and worn, but then I guess that this was an aircraft that was soon to be refitted with Skybed MkII shortly, so why bother to spend much money on it now. A light above me flickered on and off but proved much less of an annoyance than I anticipated.

I had been spoiled by my F class experience on the 380, so dropping down to the 747 was an anti climax in comfort. The seat had far fewer controls, less than the J Skybed MkII, but it was still an F seat and did have more room. As I sat back pretending to read The Financial Review (I wanted to at least look like a business sort of person) the captain announced we would have a delay as we waited for 16 passengers connecting from Melbourne. (Yes the flight I was originally scheduled to be on.....it actually arrived at 10:00. :shock:)

Amenity kits and pyjamas were handed out, I opted for my usual Fat B******d size, and for the first time in my life found myself using both the hand creme and lip salve. I felt quite metrosexual, although I wasn't sure if this was a good thing.

Take off was uneventful, apart from my discovery of a present left for me by the previous incumbent of seat 1A. The blanket and small pillow were on the footstool and both slid off, as we ascended to the heavens, to reveal a pair of worn F pyjamas, and an opened F amenities kit.:shock: Even with my new found metrosexual status I don’t consider myself particularly precious, so when the FA came to take my drinks order I just asked them if he could take them away. It was relatively trivial, but to be a “premium airline” you want to make sure the cleaners were doing their job. If this flight had had an F service I could image someone paying $15k might be a bit disappointed to find a pair of used pyjamas after take off.

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I started off with a G&T, which I barely had time to consume before lunch was being served. It was a bit of a rushed affair with starters arriving immediately and the main course, I opted for some sort of stuffed chicken breast with scalloped potatoes, following on pretty quickly. The wine was a Shiraz but I didn’t get to the see the bottle. The alternative was a Pinot Noir, a grape variety that does not appeal to me. (The alcohol content always seems to be lower than shiraz.)

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The cheese and cracker selection was quite frankly poor. I’m getting a bit fed up with this in J, I’d expect something a little better, including at least one blue cheese.

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What I didn’t realise is that the flight path would take us over the South Island of New Zealand. I get to do so little sight seeing, so this was a great opportunity to see the snow capped mountain and glaciers I had heard so much about. Now I wouldn’t have to bother to go to NZ to see them. QF should try to market this for window seats, it doesn’t half save time bothering to visit places if you can grab a few snaps out of an aircraft window.

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After a couple more G&T’s and a few TV shows I managed to doze for a while. The cabin service was pretty average, the FA who seemed to be tasked with looking after the front section was sitting down with a newspaper on both of my visits to the loo. (I love the F loos on the 747, especially the bit when you lock the door and you can then see out of the window.) There was nothing particularly wrong with the service, but I couldn’t help thinking the the FA’s wanted to water and feed us as quickly as possible in the hope we would leave them alone for 8 hours.

I can’t really put my finger on it but time didn’t really drag on this flight, perhaps it was because I didn’t really want to face EZE at the other end.
Breakfast was served about two hours prior to arrival and was not bad. I opted for the smoked trout with scrambled eggs, although it tasted and looked like smoked salmon.

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We landed in bright sunshine at EZE and disembarked through one door to the delight that is EZE.

.........next up it is time to take in the EZE departure “lounge”.....
 
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The Departure Lounge - EZE

I had been to Buenos Aires before so knew what to expect, I had also read up on it in advance. My concern had been lounge access, given I was about to travel on TAM, but as a LAN codeshare. The Admirals Club was ruled out, as was the RCC which did not open until 13:30. I was left with the Sala VIP De Las Americas or the Amex lounge, both of which were the subject of less than inviting reviews on Flyertalk.

One internet review referred to the EZE departure lounge as a “cesspit” :shock:, and it would be very easy to jump on the bandwagon and post about “third world” amenities........but I’m afraid you will be very disappointed if that is what you are expecting.

The process of transferring from QF17 was quick and painless. I was through security in less than five minutes. Sure, the departure lounge is looking a little tired and could do with a refurbishment, but there are plenty of airports around the world that are like that.

I made a conscious decision not to run to the Amex or Sala VIP De Las Americas lounges, even though I had about one and a half hours to kill. Instead I had a wander around the “cesspit”.

Given my innate dislike of all things other than myself, and even then my own self loathing is something to behold, you may find it surprising that I actually like Buenos Aires and the people of Argentina. The city is one of the more spectacular cities I have visited, you could be in Madrid or Rome. For all of the Falklands/Malvinas grandstanding of the politicians the people are warm and inviting to the British.

Unfortunately on this trip I wouldn’t be leaving the confines of the airport to visit the city, but even the departure lounge gives a few glimpses of life in Argentina. :)

There are several places to settle down for a drink or a snack, plenty of seating, and a decent size duty free. (I’m not sure what drew me into the duty free but the three young ladies in very tight fitting red leather pants captured my attention. :) Funnily enough as a marketing stunt it was a failure I have no idea what they were promoting.)

Monitors were everywhere offering details of departures in Spanish and English, and the gates were clearly signposted. If I were to be critical I’d say that the airline lounges need to be signposted, but in reality they are not difficult to find. It is not exactly LHR T3.

Settling down with my iPad to watch a little TV the time passed quickly. This is not something I could have done easily at LHR T3 where I would have been lucky to find a seat.

Overall EZE is not the best airport in the world, but it is not the hellhole others would have you believe.

.....next up chickens* on the Tam flight to Sao Paulo..



*Sorry I meant chicken, singular.......my main meal choice!!!!
 
The TAM flight to GRU

It is time for a bit of context, I do so like context. Other than three return flights to NTL with JQ, which whilst not exactly my cup of tea were not as bad as I thought they might be, I have not flown anything other than oneworld since 2006.

I was about to embark on a journey as a non status passenger. Admittedly it was at the pointy end of the plane in something called “Classic” class, but nevertheless my WP card and tags meant nothing. I was a nobody, a worthless wretch. DYKWIA would have no impact. I was uncertain as to how I would cope. Would there be priority boarding and if so would “Classic” class allow me to board with priority or at my convenience? :?:

I was in the gate lounge a full 55 minutes prior to scheduled take off just in case, and I was pleased I was there early. TAM opted for the QF domestic experience, so I and about six or seven others who had been on QF17 made a dash for the boarding gate as soon as the first call was made. I say call, but I’m not so sure it was. It was either in Spanish or Portuguese so I had no idea what was being said. That didn’t stop me though and I was positioned nicely in 8th spot for boarding. A position I was to hold for the next 15 minutes, when boarding was actually announced in English, which I thought unusual, as well as Spanish and Portuguese.

The aircraft was a 330 fitted out with “sleeper” seats in business. The were lie flat, but angled...and a pretty steep incline. If you were traveling long haul you’d be sliding down the seat. I was not, however, traveling long haul and for a two and a half hour flight they were more than acceptable.

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The FA’s handed out the relevant documentation for landing and apologised for not having any English newspapers of magazines. I do find it quite extraordinary that on a flight from a Spanish speaking country to a Portuguese speaking country the FA’s spoke fluent English and handed out menu’s with English translations on too. I briefly thought myself both lazy and ignorant and resolved myself to learn at least some basic greetings in Portuguese.

There was at least one chicken, half(ish) would be more accurate, on the flight, however to be fair it was cooked and on my plate. The meal was quite tasty, no Neil Perry inspired affair thank god.

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The service was attentive without being obtrusive and I settled down to an episode of Top Gear on my iPad. I was on the verge of dozing when a thunder rumbled through the J cabin. Oh joy an obese child rampaging up and down the aisles. :shock: He appeared to be traveling with his father who was seated in the first row of Y. The child was seated in J. He seemed to be taking food to his father which required multiple trips all conducted with the grace and ease of a wildebeest trying to outrun a cheetah.

Despite this, relatively minor, annoyance the flight was uneventful and short, and it wasn’t long before we were taxiing to the terminal, on time, at GRU. It was interesting to see QF’s main competitors at the terminal, Emirates, Singapore, BA, SAA, Air France. I’m not suggesting this should be a route for QF but being based in Australia is not as convenient as Europe or Dubai for a “world” airline.

GRU had a similar “run down” appearance as EZE but clearing immigration and customs was quick and painless. All I had to do now was pick out the driver holding the “Tony Hancock” sign!

...........getting from GRU to the hotel without getting kidnapped up next.....

Apologies for the poor quality photos I used my Blackberry!
 
An immensely enjoyable report!

Though I'm terribly disappointed as there has been no picture of chickens...the obese boy for sure took them all for his dad in Y ;)

On a serious note - TAMs J seats look almost identical to those of China Southern on their A330. The colour is different (China Southern has them in blue) but even the fabric pattern seems to be same. From the same batch?
 
Is it NOT that surprising!?

Latin/South America is like Europe in most respects of the "New World". Also those TAM FA's are international ones and they fly that SAME A332 to North America (MIA, MCO, JFK) and Europe (LHR, FRA, CDG, MAD, MXP).

Finally I suggest QF expand the QF17/18 744 service to GRU by flying SYD-EZE-GRU.

BTW the UNIQUE point of flying QF on this trans-polar sector is the SPEED in TIME! Why the hell if you were a ACTUAL BUSINESS TRAVELER fly SYD-DXB-GRU and take 24+ hours longer when you can simply fly SYD-EZE-GRU and have the ABSOLUTE FASTEST TRANSIT TIME from Sydney to Sao Paulo!? With QF/JJ (TAM) I can get from SYD to GRU in a RECORD BREAKING 19 hours! Beat that Asian airlines!

SQ and EK/QR are aiming for East Asia passengers on that 3x weekly SIN-BCN-GRU flight and DXB/DOH-GRU in which the Qatar flight continues onto EZE.

But they have a lower cost in that they don't need to fly trans-polar on that leg (which REQUIRES 4-engines currently unless ETOPS207!) from Oceania to South America instead of flying the ETOPS 777 route via Europe or over-flying Africa.
 
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And replaced with SYD-SCL which I think it better since it allows connections to ALL the destinations in Latin/South America!
 
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