Qantas First Class to Melbourne

At around T-50, we headed downstairs for Gate 152.

We timed our departure and walk just right as boarding began a couple of minutes after we arrived at the gate.

Nice to see a separate jet bridge just for First Class.

With the other F pax waiting for the boarding announcement in the lounge, we had the cabin to ourselves for 10 minutes.  Still a nice comfortable cabin and seats although a little dated and showing their age.

Pre-departure Taittinger Comtes was delicious...

... but the canapés were awful.  The duck was so dry that it could have been left out all week.

The QF First amenity kit.  No idea who Martin Grant is, but he must have paid for the exposure.

Not a bad kit with some usable take aways including the deoderant and facial mist. 

PJ's were a one and done and not worth taking home.

The IFE system was pretty dated, although better than Alitalia's.

Tonight's menu which given the hour, was available on demand throughout the flight. 

And wine list.

Not sure about the bad print job but clearly Qantas wasn't going to spend any money on a reprint.

Since we had both eaten in the lounge, we changed into our PJ's and went to sleep shortly after take-off.  Kudos to Qantas for at least getting the bedding right.  Nice mattress pad, sheet and comfy duvey and we were out.   

I slept really well for a little over 7 hours.  Mrs. SFO777 slept even longer... for nearly 9 hours.   For food, I went with the "signature steak sandwich" with tomato and chilli (as opposed to chiii) relish.  It was tasty.

The stairs to Business Class.  Didn't take any pics but the snack offerings in the Business Lounge seemed better than those in the First galley, which you wouldn't know about unless you wandered back.

For the pre-landing meal, Mrs. SFO777 went with the cheese plate which looked and tasted pretty good.  

I made the mistake of ordering the Ricotta pancakes with carmelized berries and maple cream, which I mistakenly took for maple syrup.  This was dry and simply awful.

Although the sausages were delicious. 

We landed about 20 minutes late and were at the gate a few minutes later.   All in all, a disappointing and uninspiring fligjht, with no Wifi.  But it was nonstop and you can away with a bad marginal product when there is no nonstop competition.  Although if I was buying a ticket to Australia, I'd dump Qantas and go with AA's 77W 1-2-1 Business Class.  Although if it was just me traveling, I wouldn't fly either of them but go with an Asian or Gulf connection on a real airline. 

We decided to bypass the e-passport control and just followed the Fast Track lane which turned out to be the right choice as we waked to the front of the customs line.