Paris, Bali, Auckland, round the world

Paris, Bali, Auckland... around the world

via Air France La Première, Q Suites and Qantas First

November 2023

Qantas 787 Business Class from Auckland to Sydney

Glad to be heading home this morning... with a 3 hour Qantas 787 Business Class flight to Sydney and then a 14 hour Qantas A380 First Class flight to LAX. My last encounter with Qantas was nearly 6 years ago. Sadly Qantas has not improved.

Apparently the feeling is mutual...

For some strange reason, Qantas has a First Class Lounge at AKL. Not sure why, because it's nothing special and indeed, the Business Class Lounge seemed much more inviting.

"First Class" Lounge...

Business Class Lounge...

At T-60, I dumped the lounges and headed to the gate.

Qantas boarding continues to be a joke. Despite a 45 minute delay, clueless AKL gate agents made no announcement or provided any explanation, even after I admonished them “why not tell people what’s going on?”. When boarding did start, Priority boarding was not enforced as before.

To make matters worse, gate agents started boarding a 2nd “Economy" line long before dozens of Priority passengers boarded. But of course.

Oh yeah, I've seen this cabin before, the one that turned Mrs. SFO777 into a "don't ever book me on this POS airline again". LOL.

Unfriendly and clueless cabin crew, who scurried back and forth around the cabin taking meal orders in some kind of crazed priority system. Neither my Qantas First Class ticket nor One World Emerald status got me any priority and I was pretty much the last passenger to be offered my choice. “If you don’t like it, speak to management”. At least the cabin was modern compared the A380 relic that I would get to LAX. And despite it being 2023, Qantas has still not heard of Wifi. This is going to be a long day.

So happy to see this is a plastic bottle blanket. I couldn't survive the flight thinking that I'm harming the environment by using a real blanket. If you are so concerned about the environment, do us all a favor and stop flying.

Fortunately I brought my own movies as Qantas movie options were mediocre.

Showtime: Qantas Business Class style...

Except for the dopey tomato, the dish looked pretty good.

Sadly, the quiche had the consistency of a hockey puck as I almost broke the knife trying to cut the thing.

OK, this part was pretty cool. I nice view of Sydney on our approach.

My Instagram video of my Qantas flight to Sydney.

Qantas First Class Lounge SYD

Qantas First Class Lounge - Sydney

My day with Qantas improved, at least for a few hours, on arrival in SYD when I was met at the plane door by a Qantas First Team representative (thanks to Flyertalker ianassum for the tip), who escorted me thru transit security and then to the best part of Qantas, the SYD Qantas First Class Lounge. She had even proactively booked a spa appointment for me, which was most pleasant. Lounge food, drink and views are excellent although crowding is a frequent issue as One World rules let any Emerald on any class ticket into the lounge. All in all, a mostly pleasant two hour stay and a far cry from another round of worst-in-the-world First Class boarding.

With numerous morning departures, the lounge was pretty packed with One World Emeralds this morning at around 9:15am.

Since my inbound from AKL was delayed a bit, my PA had rebooked my facial to accommodate the delay. Clearly real F pax get priority treatment over the hundreds of OW Emeralds on J or Y tickets.

After my enjoyable facial, a little breakfast...

Pics from a previous visit after most passengers had departed.

Fast forward to today. Yikes, perhaps a little refresh is in order? LOL.

My Instagram video of my morning in the Qantas First Class Lounge SYD.

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.

Sydney SYD to Los Angeles LAX

Qantas QF 11

A380-800

11:10a-6:00a (sked)

12:15p-6:00a (actual)

November 12th, 2023

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.

PS The Private Suite at LAX

PS The Private Suite at LAX

Arriving from overseas and connecting at LAX doesn’t get much better than PS at LAX, the Private Suite terminal at LAX. My PS rep met me at my arriving Qantas flight, and escorted me down the jet bridge stairs to my private limo across the tarmac to the PS terminal and a private CBP facility where I was the only person. Pleasant CBP agent cleared me and welcomed back into the US. Great breakfast and Blood Mary. At T-50 or so, private TSA where I was the only passenger, and then to a waiting limo for the drive around the LAX tarmac to Terminal 7 and my United Dreamliner flight home to Denver. Thanks P/S for another great experience.

Cool drive around the LAX tarmac.

Less than 5 minutes later, we're at the PS Terminal.

And private CBP...

A short walk to The Salon.

Time for breakfast at the bar.

Amazing bloody mary.

And fabulous chilaquiles.

Nice outdoor garden, for a warmer day.

After private TSA, my BMW to Terminal 7 and United.

Talk about up close...

Instagram video of my morning with PS at LAX.

United 787 Polaris to Denver

What a treat today with a major equipment upgrade from the usual domestic 739s on my LAX-DEN flights. United’s Polaris Business Class is an excellent lie flat hard product. Soft product? Not so much. But on a two hour domestic flights, more than acceptable. And PS lets me avoid United’s “worst in the US” First Class boarding where seemingly 1/2 the plane is Group 1 and that’s after the pre-boards.