PER-Antarctica-PER: over the ice in Ice.

[cove]

I like the Ice Class for JohnM.

 

[JohnM]

did you have your photo taken with Fat Cat

View attachment 89573

​Most definitely not!

 

[NZflygirl]

I've seen the 747 previously while flying out of Perth and was wondering what it was doing there - question answered! Although I'm sure I've seen an A380 there too.

I looked at these flights, was wondering if it was a good way to spend New Years. Undecided. I remember reading something about having to rotate seats part way through but also that it's a different flight in that people can be up and about and moving throughout the plane. Sounded different from the "seat belts on while seated" message you usually get but I'm picking people are up and about while over Antarctica (otherwise it's just ocean). Was also wondering how I would feel about being leaned over if I was in a seat closer to the window.

Ice class seems to be the way to go!!

Question - you have your AFF card there, was there a deal through AFF?

 

[snabbu]

Itching to see the pictures...

 

[JohnM]

OK, just a quick summary as I have other things to attend to today and it will take a while to sort through my photos. I'll get to that over the weekend.

For the spotters, the bird used was VH-OEF ('Sydney'). BNE-based crew, 363 pax, 178t fuel, near maximum weight at takeoff. Departure was scheduled for 0800 and we pushed back at about 0815. An interesting touch was to pipe through the PA the flight deck-ATC communications during taxi, takeoff and the very early stages of flight. After leaving PER to the NE, the course was a left turn N of the city, swinging S along the coast around Rockingham before a left circle for everyone to get a view of the city and surrounds, then setting course slightly W of S to cross the S coast to the E of Windy Harbour.

We then settled in for a few drinks and lunch - and some heavy cloud at times - over the Southern Ocean. As we came towards Casey Station, the flight deck raised them on the satphone and one of the guides on board had quite a long conversation with the head of the station that was piped through the PA. It was great to hear that the day was very clear at Casey and the staff were getting ready for a post-lunch Australia Day cricket match and for us to appear overhead. The hardier ones had earlier taken the customary, but very brief, Australia Day swim (no wetsuits allowed). Water temp was just below zero.

After reaching Casey and dropping to 10000ft, we circled around a few times then headed W along the coast in spectacularly clear skies, weaving and banking to take in the views in a pretty leisurely style. Apparently we provided a great sight for the 78 people at the base (plus 7 at Wilkins airfield). Over-winter staffing is 24 people.

The turn-around point after about 2h was the Russian Mirny base which we also circled several times. Some cloud started to drift across Mirny as we left there to head back towards Casey and then swing N for home. Similarly, a little cloud was forming around Casey just as we left there. So the weather gods certainly smiled on us! All-up, we had a good 4h cruising around, all at 10000ft.

Given the clear day and all that time, there was more than enough opportunity to take in the sights. People moved around very freely, at least in the front parts of the aircraft, and shared view points very willingly. Of course, having a window seat pair meant unlimited viewing and being in the front made for easy moving about but really there was so much time, with swapping and sharing, that window seats were certainly not essential. I can't comment on how well it worked in Y.

So, it was a great day IMO. An aspect that I found very interesting was the very relaxed nature of the day. Unlike a normal flight, there were no people wanting to sleep or work that had to be tippy-toed around. During the 4h over the ice as you might imagine no trolleys were brought through but pax were free to get snacks from the galleys and bottled water was brought around. The crew also had some opportunities to do a little viewing and take photos. So there was a real fun atmosphere.

To be continued with pics...

 

[love_the_life]

Sigh......

 

[ALH]

I flew close enough on Sunday/Monday from SCL to see thousands of icebergs. Spectacular. Had seat 1A on 4 class config 747. Spent a lot of time at the exit door staring down 34,000 feet to see emerald green lakes in the middle of gigantic icebergs

 

[blackcat20]

sounds amazing

 

[RooFlyer]

Sigh......

More like gnashing of teeth for me. And I'm going to have to listen to it all again in a few weeks, days on end.

 

[love_the_life]

I flew close enough on Sunday/Monday from SCL to see thousands of icebergs. Spectacular. Had seat 1A on 4 class config 747. Spent a lot of time at the exit door staring down 34,000 feet to see emerald green lakes in the middle of gigantic icebergs

Last time we did SYD - JNB so such luck - winds were mild and the plane tracked north of where we would have seen the ice. Time before it was spectacular though.

More like gnashing of teeth for me. And I'm going to have to listen to it all again in a few weeks, days on end.

Sure it won't be that bad

 

[bwhouse]

Sounds like an amazing experience, looking forward to the photos!

 

[love_the_life]

Waiting not so patiently

 

[opusman]

I have read previous reviews of the Antarctica flights, it sounds like even in the Y/PE seats you get plenty of time at the windows - everyone gets up and moves around anyway. I guess if you were in Ice class you would want to stay put though

 

[JohnM]

I remember reading something about having to rotate seats part way through but also that it's a different flight in that people can be up and about and moving throughout the plane. Sounded different from the "seat belts on while seated" message you usually get but I'm picking people are up and about while over Antarctica (otherwise it's just ocean). Was also wondering how I would feel about being leaned over if I was in a seat closer to the window.

Ice class seems to be the way to go!!

Question - you have your AFF card there, was there a deal through AFF?

The flight was as smooth as silk the whole way - not a ripple in any wine glass . The seat belt sign seemed to get switched off considerably earlier than usual, which gave people a chance to move about and take photos as we did the loop over the southern coastal suburbs. I never put the belt on again until prepping for landing - and I'm someone who religiously keeps my belt 'comfortably fastened'.

I can't speak for how people in the back would feel about being leaned over. We were requested to remain in our allocated cabin and the lanyards were colour-coded. I saw no evidence of tension or disputes - in fact far from it. People in the old F cabin (Ice) obviously had heaps of space to move about and sharing was just brilliant. The people who lucked out the best were probably the two in 3E&F. Those seats were classified as 'Business Centre', the the third tier of pricing but they got the roominess of the old F cabin - and the generosity of all the 'Icers' . In effect they got an Ice experience. The two women sitting there claimed to have been 'upgraded' but quite what they meant I did not explore in any detail. They did not seem to have any specific information on why they felt they were 'upgraded'.

As far as I am aware, there was no way to pre-select seating.

Sharing also seemed very good in the main J cabin from what I could see when going back to the toilet. They did close the curtains to the front cabin and I presume they did the same at other curtain points.

While Ice was certainly good, I would say that given a day of excellent weather and many hours over the continent Business Centre would be pretty darn good. That class does not have seat rotation - but the seat rotation we had (2A/B) was really pretty academic. Scroll down here to see the seating plan: The Best Way To See Antarctica is on our Sightseeing Flight. Antarctica in a Day. | Antarctica Flights

Regarding the AFF luggage tags, IIRC they were the invention of a member some years ago and could be ordered directly from him (ie. it was not merchandise produced by Admin.) I think the best people to ask about these is Admin or QF WP.

Photos will be coming soon.

 

[Pushka]

I just read some TA reports on the flight and hopefully they have wrinkled out some of the issues of people paying for Ice but having Y people pushing in front of them to get to the windows!

 

[JohnM]

I just read some TA reports on the flight and hopefully they have wrinkled out some of the issues of people paying for Ice but having Y people pushing in front of them to get to the windows!

I saw that as well. It seemed hard to believe.

As I said above, there was absolutely no sign of any poor behaviour - in fact quite the opposite.

 

[Pushka]

I saw that as well. It seemed hard to believe.

As I said above, there was absolutely no sign of any poor behaviour - in fact quite the opposite.

That's great to hear. I think the lanyard system was implemented in response.
Maybe they put 'something happy' in the welcome drink.

 

[JohnM]

OK, the start of picture time.

First, some flight path stuff. I couldn’t find a full flight path on Flightaware or Flightradar. I think the same origin and destination may confuse things. Strangely, one showed the start and the other the end. Neither had any detail over Antarctica.

Pics of the inflight screen were affected by reflections and while we were over the continent almost continuous PA descriptions by the Antarctic experts meant the flight path was often not viewable – plus most screens were stowed to make access and movement easier.
The loop just after takeoff is clearly visible here. From what I could make of the talk between the flight deck and ATC, it sounded like some special dispensation was granted for the departing track.

During the flight at least two of the pilots came down and walked about the cabin. One of them was describing the system QF has for the Antarctic flights. Apparently they have had five Captains accredited for the run but there are some recent or imminent retirements so on our flight they had four Captains, which I understood to be two accredited and two gaining experience for future trips.



Boarding time. Check-in was at the gate. All BPs were pre-printed and filed in the boxes.

Lining up on 03, rolling and swinging over Perth.



Boats streaming towards Rottnest. Garden Island with the naval base in the large bay, on our way, crossing the S coast, settling back with a post-departure Duval-Leroy, track just slightly W of S.



The flight track having trouble computing PER-PER. Seems to want to draw a straight line back. Getting close and finishing the last post-lunch red. Drawing the line back to PER as we head E along the coast from Mirny to the left turn point at Casey. Track along the coast. Approaching home and it is Australia Day…

 

[JohnM]

Food and wine pic time. Very good prawn dish entrée for lunch. Viognier was very good but after a small taste I opted for the Chardonnay with the prawns. Had to have the lamb. It looked a little over-cooked but in fact was very tender and much better than it appeared.



I opted for the Woodlands cab merlot with the lamb. It was excellent. While on the food, jumping ahead to dinner. The stir-fried beef was excellent. However, the shiraz fell short. Nothing totally wrong with it but it seemed a little too sweet and it had a fine fizz on the eges that suggested a little secondary fermentation in the bottle that I guess alos became more obvious with the lower air pressure. My friend and I both sent it back and changed to the cab merlot, which also went very nicely with the cheese.



Coming... some ice.

 

[love_the_life]

Still patiently waiting here and looking forward to the ice (as distinct from Ice)