Qantas disgraceful A380 to Los Angeles
Qantas A380 First Class from Sydney to Los Angeles
Welcome to what Qantas calls charitably calls “First Class”. After a pleasant visit to the Qantas First Class Lounge, sadly it was all downhill. Ridiculously disorganized gong show boarding. A run down A380 (apparently not all A380s have been renovated). Well meaning but challenged, glacial pace service. And still no Wifi. The best part of the flight was the bed which was very comfortable and made the 14 hour flight mercifully shorter. Our First Class flight attendant inadvertently came up with a great new and accurate Qantas marketing slogan… “I’ll do my best but we’re not Emirates”.
Our A380 being towed into gate... just 30 minutes before scheduled departure. LOL.
The masses assemble. As with gate agents at AKL, not a single announcement about... anything.
I worked my way as close to the front of the queue as possible.
As the masses converge.
After a whole lot of (chickens running around with their heads cut off) scurrying around, the seemingly senior scurrying-around gate agent yells out "Any First Class passengers?" Not on the PA, just at the top of his lungs. LOL. A few of us were able to navigate our way to the front of the queue.
Finally on board to peace and quiet, only to discover that this A380 has not been refurbished. Say what? I guess not all A380s are refurbished.
My Suite 1A
Yep, that's about the state of this rundown aircraft.
With 1980s IFE technology. And no Wifi. It's 2023 but who needs to be connected on a 14 hour flight?
At least the champagne was nice.
I headed upstairs to make sure that it wasn't just First Class that was not renovated. Nope, same old "lounge" area and 2-2-2 Business Class seating.
Today's menu...
And wine list, spell check optional. LOL.
Once in the air, no service for nearly an hour. With a pathetic selection of movies and garbage TV monitor, glad I had a few brought my own downloaded Prime movies.
Finally, drinks and today's amuse-bouche at 1:08pm.
Then another hour later, at 2:02pm, Showtime: Qantas "First Class" style.
The Roast tomato soup with Queensland spanner crab was very good.
As was the seared tuna with charred corn, tomato salsa and smoked paprika mayonaisse.
A half hour later, CopperTree Farms beef filet. This was very good. I had requested my beef as medium rare as possible and in remarkable bit of honesty, our flight attendant said "I'll do my best, but we're not Emirates". LOL
Nearly an hour later, dessert.
And then bedtime. Credit where credit is due. The mattress pad and Qantas bed are very comfortable and I slept very well for nearly 5 hours.
Let's take a look as the amenity kit. About what I would expect from this airline.
Ooops. Apparently not to be opened at altitude.
About 90 minutes from LAX, I tried breakfast. The Granola was inedible.
The Avocado Toast was so hard that it was nearly impossible to cut with a knife.
Gorgeous morning in LA.
My PS chariot awaits...
Glad to be in LA after a long day with Qantas, still one of the worst airlines in the world.
Instagram video of my Qantas A380 flight from Sydney to LAX.