coriander
Established Member
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2014
- Posts
- 1,812
- Qantas
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- Red
"The birds and the airplane did fly
Three days of understanding
Of moving with one another
Down in Monterey"
~~ Eric Burdon and the Animals (1967)
A short trip to the West Coast LOTFAP for a conference was planned back in March 2015. Unfortunately, that also coincided with my youngest son's final year twelve exams meaning Mrs C had to stay at home to mentor him throughout the stressful period. Exquisite timing meant that in October I flew out on day one of aforementioned son's first exam, and arrived back in Melbourne on the morning of this last exam: Mrs C NOT happy.
My trip took a decided turn for the better when the Qantas upgrade angel tapped me on the shoulder to tell me that I had been upgraded from PE to J, and that furthermore, the only seats she would offer me were in Emerald City. Wow! Off to a good start.
Taxi to Tullamarine airport at 7.30am, checkin at Qantas with a minor delay as the checkin person wasn't sure what do do about the note in the PNR about my CPAP machine. All sorted and soon through Immigration and the long walk through the shopping mall masquerading as an airport terminal with departure gates attached.
Into the QCclub and settled in with a glass of sparkling - decadence at 8.30am.
I was looking forward to a cooked breakfast, but when I asked, I was told they went off at 9.00am.
Huh? It's only 8.40am.
A shrug of the shoulders closed the conversation.
Never mind, a tasty caffe latte and some fresh fruit would have to suffice.
Departure was scheduled for 1020am, but was delayed because engineers weren't happy. What's jb747 say "I'd rather be on the ground wishing I was in the air than the reverse"?
No matter, flight was eventually called - walked past a Vietnam Airlines aircraft (I wonder if they do the 45 degree take-off with passengers?) -
- briskly with some excitement onto the upper ramp into the A380 and turned LEFT - never done that before.
Three days of understanding
Of moving with one another
Down in Monterey"
~~ Eric Burdon and the Animals (1967)
A short trip to the West Coast LOTFAP for a conference was planned back in March 2015. Unfortunately, that also coincided with my youngest son's final year twelve exams meaning Mrs C had to stay at home to mentor him throughout the stressful period. Exquisite timing meant that in October I flew out on day one of aforementioned son's first exam, and arrived back in Melbourne on the morning of this last exam: Mrs C NOT happy.
My trip took a decided turn for the better when the Qantas upgrade angel tapped me on the shoulder to tell me that I had been upgraded from PE to J, and that furthermore, the only seats she would offer me were in Emerald City. Wow! Off to a good start.
Taxi to Tullamarine airport at 7.30am, checkin at Qantas with a minor delay as the checkin person wasn't sure what do do about the note in the PNR about my CPAP machine. All sorted and soon through Immigration and the long walk through the shopping mall masquerading as an airport terminal with departure gates attached.
Into the QCclub and settled in with a glass of sparkling - decadence at 8.30am.
I was looking forward to a cooked breakfast, but when I asked, I was told they went off at 9.00am.
Huh? It's only 8.40am.
A shrug of the shoulders closed the conversation.
Never mind, a tasty caffe latte and some fresh fruit would have to suffice.
Departure was scheduled for 1020am, but was delayed because engineers weren't happy. What's jb747 say "I'd rather be on the ground wishing I was in the air than the reverse"?
No matter, flight was eventually called - walked past a Vietnam Airlines aircraft (I wonder if they do the 45 degree take-off with passengers?) -
- briskly with some excitement onto the upper ramp into the A380 and turned LEFT - never done that before.