The BEHEMOTH - 48K DONE4 with more than a few twists

[littl_flier]

Simongr, First Class as always! Can't wait for the SOB.

 

[opusman]

Great write-up, I think I'm looking forward to your next trip as much as you are

 

[Hawkeye]

We have been spoilt by 2 great trip reports in the last month - thanks simongr and QF009.

Definitely on par with the best from NM and Kiwiflyer (may his AFF handle rest in peace).

 

[Shano]

Excellent report Simon!!

Perhaps your next job should be as a travel writer.

 

[NM]

I feel exhausted now. Perhaps its the jetlag I received from following your exploits .

 

[Maca44]

A great read, but what about your luggage?? Is it still travelling..

 

[simongr]

Las bag arrived last night - before 9PM!!!

 

[serfty]

Good report, nice reading. It makes me wonder ... I found my Mar 2006 DXB notes the other day; perhaps I should finish that report. :-|

... I swing down to the people transporter (quite why I never used to follow serfty’s advice and use this before is a mystery to me) and am in the Pier in a matter of minutes. ...

LOL

It was only August 2005 when I myself did the long 800m march from the Wing to the Pier via the concourse, believing the people transporter was for arrivals only.

Even worse, it then took me another 25 minutes to locate the Pier itself. :shock:

 

[Keith009]

We have been spoilt by 2 great trip reports in the last month - thanks simongr and QF009.

Definitely on par with the best from NM and Kiwiflyer (may his AFF handle rest in peace).

[speaking for myself here ]

Thanks for the compliment mate.

 

[auriga]

wow... very impressive report! Thank you!

 

[simongr]

Wait, there’s more!

There are days when you think that a journey is at an end but in reality a journey only ends if you know your destination and for some of us that destination may not be as obvious as we would desire.

So what am I trying to overcomplicate now? If go go back to the rock and see it in 440 the original routing was syd-excessively-complex-itinerary-with-added-baggage-farragoes-syd-adl-per-syd. The original intent had been to actually do a whistlestop tour of Oz – around the continent in a day leaving home at 5AM and getting home at 11PM. As time progressed (as it has a habit of doing at the most inconvenient of times) there became a need to catch up with some colleagues in Regional Offices. As it worked out we could carve it up so that I could visit the PER and ADL offices for an afternoon each and my colleague would factor the other offices in already scheduled visits.

So after quite a lot of jiggery pokery trying to find a flight out of PER in a two week window (only 1 had D availability!) I had my itinerary set. I almost messed it up as I initially wanted to overnight in ADL before going to PER but that would not have been allowed on a DONE4 – breaching the 2 stopover rule.

My biggest struggle was actually ensuring that I could get the changes updated on my ticket. This was a paper ticket issued in the US by a Corporate Travel Agent that we no longer use on CX stock. The changes were to QF flights… not sure I could have made this more difficult if I had tried and try I did – by forgetting this was on CX stock and my first port of call was to AA! AA flicked me to QF and QF flicked me to CX. The hot potato was then flicked back to QF! The CX staffer did try to make the changes by booking me onto the QF flights but not linking that to my tickets for some reason… On the phone then to QF and the QF guy initially was not on board with this but agreed to look at and after much furious tip-tapping in the background he advised me to take my ticket to a QF ticket office to get the post it notes applied. I duly did this and that is where things got interesting.

Just to give some context I refuse to deal with QF after they had refused to issue DONE4’s with domestic segments after return to POO (see below for an update on that). So I decided not to push the issue and just get this ticket fixed up. Sat in front of the QF staffer at the ticket office I could feel my resentment building up inside me as she happily updated my ticket with domestic segments after return to POO. I enquired as to why QF refused to issue DONE4’s with domestic segments after return to POO and she advised that it was against the rules. After pushing this by saying that I had done this three times she advised “people should stick to the jobs that they are trained for”… Ah well as you can see below – a month later she was correct – just a shame she wasn’t at the time.

What is poignant for me is that during this trip the news leaked out that the xONEx rules were changing to prevent this nice little earner and in future I will have to originate in BNE or MEL for my next DONE4.

And even more poignantly due to some considerations of changes in role next year this trip might in fact be my last business trip for a long time – the life of an international man of mystery hopping from one G&T to the next may soon be coming to an end…

 

[simongr]

Journey – SYD-ADL
Flight no. – QFxx_
Class – Business
Seat – 2C

So this is it, my first Domestic business trip in a long time (must be about 3 years since I last flew interstate on a jet aircraft for business). After all of the faffing around after the HKG trip and the finalisation of my kitchen installation it was sonly at the last minute that I remembered to book a car to the airport – as ever though my reliable driver had a car waiting for me exactly on time (well early in fact but he sat and waited until exactly the time agreed before knocking on the door) ready for my run to the airport.

Given this was two night trip it was definitely a no checked luggage instance What was strange for me was that after trying to cram three weeks of clothes into a rollaboard and suit bag – packing one solitary bag was a little strange. After 5 mins packing I was done and wondering what to do next!

The flight was at an inconvenient 08:20 – which given to get to the airport I have to drive under the city makes judging the time to leave a little tricky. Leave to early and it could take 35 mins and I will be in the lounge for two hours. Leave too late and it could take 90 mins and I wouldn’t be going anywhere. I opted for a 6A M departure and the journey to the airport was as quick as expected – not quite 2 hours in the lounge though.

As this was a paper ticket with international segments I was not able to OLCI so had to queue to check in (I didn’t think that quick check would work for me). More frustratingly the business class queue although it only had 2 people ahead of me was slower than the QP queue which had about 15 people in it

After a lengthy check in process, raised eyebrows at the paper ticket and a lengthy security check (no beep for me though ) I was up into the lounge and having some toast and tea whilst clearing the overnight emails from the US.

I headed off to board a little early (before the call) and trooped down to Gate 1. I was a little concerned that the flight number and destination was nowhere to be seen at boarding – I was not convinced until I heard the Captain over the PA that this aircraft was definitely going to ADL.

We pushed back pretty much on time and I was straining to see if the Airbus liveried A380 was viewable as we taxied but it was nowhere to be seen. As I was asleep on take off and only woke as they were handing out the hot towels I missed out on mine!

Breakfast was poached eggs, bacon and sausage – delightful in fact. A tad early for champagne. The flight itself was uneventful – I did a little work and read a little and before we knew it we were landing. It was a short hop through the terminal and out to find a cab. I had not been to our ADL office before so finding the office in [insert location of office here] was a little tricky, made more complex as I had not been to that part of ADL before.

It was nice to put a face to the name for the min-project I was working on and see the ADL office. Some work was completed and before I knew it was off to the airport. I decided to get there a little early for my 8PM flight to PER as the choice was sit in the office and work, then rush to the airport or sit in the QP at ADL. You can probably guess which way the decision fell.

I had my BP already so I was quickly into the new QP – quite swish really. Plenty of space and workstations. I tried the Coopers but for the life of me I can’t get myself to like – I like a much simpler lager style of beer, much more refreshing.

The food selection was ok – and unlike SYD/MEL the locusts did not swarm in every time a single plate of hot food was brought out. Some excellent Cheddar – but few cheese biscuits

I caught up with mrssimongr online and soon it was time for boarding…

 

[serfty]

... I almost messed it up as I initially wanted to overnight in ADL before going to PER but that would not have been allowed on a DONE4 – breaching the 2 stopover rule. …

As long as the scheduled departure time from ADL <24 hours after the scheduled arrival time into ADL it does not count as a stopover on a xONEx.

Qantas have a same day domestic rule, but this should not apply to international itineraries.

... … Ah well as you can see below – a month later she was correct – just a shame she wasn’t at the time.

What is poignant for me is that during this trip the news leaked out that the xONEx rules were changing to prevent this nice little earner and in future I will have to originate in BNE or MEL for my next DONE4. ...

Actually, this POO rule was more like being in a 26 month Hiatus - it existed until new xONEx rules were released in Aug '05 (when, for better, it disappeared from the revised rules).