First OWA/J to Europe and Japan

turnipapple

Member
Joined
Mar 14, 2022
Posts
115
Special thanks to all those who answered my newbie questions :)

Itinerary

  1. SYD > LHR QF1 J
  2. Surface segment by train - Paris> Frankfurt
  3. FRA > NRT JAL J
  4. (HND > KUL > SIN MH J) > SYD BA Y

Originally planned for Bruges and Cologne but I’m already tired of hotel changes and travel so scrapped it. Will do some day trips instead to Cologne/Heidelberg/Strasbourg etc.

My first ever J class and 3 years since flying internationally.

Qantas J lounge - somewhat terrifying. Extremely packed and a little kid almost punched me in the face while he was flailing around. Took a shower to escape from the masses.
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Tried to charm my way into F lounge. “Go that way. This is first class” the bouncer told me

Flight departed on time @ 5pm then had to go back for an engineer to check the systems. Delayed til 9:30pm which meant I got to visit the Emirates lounge. Much quieter and what I expected a lounge to be like.
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Back on the plane at 9pm. If I heard correctly, they replaced a faulty part and reset the system. Now there’s an issue with the vent not operating and we waited another 30 mins for that to be reset.

Finally departed around 9:30pm. The flight attendants were lovely although, from memory, wasn’t as good as Singapore Airlines Y class service from years back. The cabin felt like I was in some futuristic alien spaceship. Seat was relatively comfortable but after sleeping for a while I felt like my body turned into a 100 year grandma. Sadly there were no pyjamas for J class as apparently they trolley wasn’t handed over in Sydney. I wasn’t as unfortunate as some people who were wearing button up shirts which seemed rather uncomfortable.

Food -

Dinner: Pepe saya butter was good. Gnochi was good. Not a fan of the beef fillet. Skipped dessert as my stomach started hurting. A flight attendant later gave me a takeaway cake treat.
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Breakfast: Opted for toast and fruit. Ate 2 of 3 pieces of toast due to being very burnt.
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Was told by a flight attendant I could use the AA arrivals lounge. Later denied entry as Qantas didn’t renew their contract to use the lounge and my boarding pass wouldn’t scan.

Singapore Qantas J Lounge

Can’t remember if I wrote about this already. Only had 15 minutes here before boarding and didn’t eat. So much nicer than Sydney J
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Verdict: Mixed experience. I will probably start churning velocity points and hopefully use my Qantas points with other oneworld airlines.
 
41605D2B-46BC-4484-AFB6-F48D966DDBDC.jpegLondon

Due to poor packing, wasted time buying shoes from the Nike store the day after Boxing Day. Craziest and busiest area I’ve ever been in. I will be avoiding making such silly mistakes again in the future.

Westminster abbey was absolutely packed at 3pm. However only about 10 other people at Buckingham palace at 8am.

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Ducks or geese? I can never tell. Quack.7584D2D6-5270-4159-B124-27D9EBDD3307.jpeg
 
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Paris

  • Tried unsuccessfully to go into Basilique du Sacre Couer (massive line - gave up) and Sainte Chapelle (also massive line and didn’t get the memo I needed a ticket. Sold out for rest of year)
  • Tuileries Christmas markets
  • Most of my day revolves around cheese
  • The raclette got me good

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