Sweet Home Sydney
9 total flights
SYD-xLAX-xJFK [QF107]-BOS [AA4616]
BOS-xPHL [US 779]-SCE [US 4488]
SCE-xPHL [US 4466]-BOS [US 1612]
BOS-LAX [AA25]-SYD [QF150]
Okay, so I’m cheating. QF107 is technically one flight as it has one flight number from Sydney all the way to New York, but we did have to disembark in LA for immigration and then re-board.
8 hours of the best sleep I’ve ever had in an airplane
I passed out cold for a solid 8 hours on the way back from LA to Sydney. Just when my body had finally adjusted to US East Coast timezone, I got shifted to LA which meant that 23:55 departure was now a 02:55 departure. I recall debating whether or not I should ask for the pre-flight champagne (having only taken a glass of water instead) but it soon became a moot point as I was suddenly passing in and out of sleep even while sitting in the upright position.
I wanted the plane to take-off as soon as possible and turn my seat into a bed after we reach cruising altitude (or whenever it is that the captain turns off the seatbelt sign) but then the plane moved away from the gate, and just sat on the runway. Later on I found out we were delayed about 40 minutes. I finally woke-up again around 1am and noting the seatbelt sign had been turned off I put the seat into bed mode, covered myself up and slept through the supper service.
Finally woke-up around 9am Saturday morning LA time/2am Sunday morning Sydney time. Picked-up little munchies from the “bar”, listened to my music, and just relaxed for the next 5 hours.
Now having tried Qantas’ SkyBed, I have to say I much prefer it over Singapore Airlines’ SpaceBed which was long my favorite. As a whole, it seemed to have been very well thought-out. Though like any other seat, that personal “reading light” wasn’t all that great, the light falling off just short from my book. But that aside, I really liked the meal-tray storage on the side of the seat, where the side panel opens inward at an angle from which the meal tray can be pulled out from up top.
The presets on the seat were also very well done. Regular upright mode, work/meal mode (the back slightly leans forward to provide more support), “Z”/relaxation mode, and of course the bed mode. Very simple. As for the actual seat itself, it was also quite comfortable, the same if not more so than the SpaceBed. (And yes, Cathay’s current business class offering is still at the bottom of this list. Their re-launched product, however, is an entirely new ballgame.)
6 days in the US of A
Meetings in Cape Cod followed by a quick trip to State College, PA and then a day in Boston followed by a day in LA (extended layover, really) before finally taking off for Sydney.
5 airplane meals eaten
Yeah, I’m getting desperate here. Notice I skipped 7. On the positive, the fresh fruits on QF were actually decent, and I also liked the muscat they offered during dessert. I made a note of it but have since forgotten it. On the other hand, I must note that my BOS-LAX flight with American Airlines was a two-class flight and my business class booking netted me a first class seat. WHOO-HOO. Not.
True, the seat was bigger and more comfortable than economy, but with the lack of sleep, that flight could’ve been in economy and in all honesty I wouldn’t have noticed.
But this section is about the meals, so let’s talk about the breakfast service, which was decent. Though that had to be the first time flying in a premium class that I heard of a meal selection not available. Depending on the cereals offered I was thinking of going for cereal + milk + fruit instead of their fluffly egg omelette. Turned out the cereal wasn’t available by the time they got to me so I had the egg .. it was quite decent and not bad at all, even if in other airlines this would’ve been an economy class offering and not a premium class meal, much less a first class offering. (I mean, hell, SQ hands out hot-towels in economy for crying out-loud. AA’s first class netted heated wet wipes! Setting aside that I truly hate wet wipes, heated wet wipes, which I encountered here for the first time, are disgusting.)
I honestly can’t imagine why anyone would want to pay the premium to fly business/first within the US. I wouldn’t mind paying for United’s p.s. flights, I’ve heard that the business and first class offerings for these flights are within par of other airlines’ international business and first class offering. But in general? Maybe if I wanted heated wet wipes. Yikes.
4 hours hanging out with a friend in LA
Went to dinner at JiRaffe (review upcoming) in Santa Monica followed by a short walking tour of the area around it. Not bad at all–felt like a mini Sydney–and I wish I could’ve spent a whole day touring LA and the area around it but such is life.
(3.5 hours at a Westin Junior Suite.)
I checked-in at the hotel on Tuesday night to find out I had been upgraded to a Junior Suite because they were sold out–nevermind that I had made the booking far in advance. I dumped my stuff in the room and proceeded to go out for a drink with a friend of mine. Came back at midnight and slept at around half past midnight only to wake-up at 3am to catch my 5:30am flight to State College. Left the room around 3:30 or so.
-sigh-
3 lost luggage bags in one week
My two bags didn’t make it with me to Boston–and I’m not sure if it was in LA that it missed the continuing QF107 flight or if it was in JFK connecting from QF107 to AA4616. Fortunately it was delivered to me by about 10am Sunday morning (the next day) but unfortunately I noticed a particularly nice belt I owned was now no longer in my possession. On top of this Qantas had misplaced my jacket as they never returned it to me prior to landing in LA and I forgot to ask for it.
These didn’t make for a good start, but I thought I had left it all behind when my one bag (I had left the other in Boston) didn’t make it back with me to Boston from State College.
Again, thankfully, this was delivered later in the afternoon though I didn’t find out until about 6pm. With an 8am flight the next day I was nearly going mad!
2 new airports visited
Philadelphia (PHL) and State College (SCE). I wish all my friends lived in major airline hubs. SCE-PHL is served by a Dash 8 TurboProp plane. Fun! It really made me that much more appreciative when I finally stepped into a 744 in LA.
1 crazy loon on the plane
With about an hour or so left into the LAX-SYD flight one of the flight crews approached the man sitting in the aisle seat on the left side of the plane before turning to me. He had a lady with a mental stress disorder or something other and he wanted to get her off the plane as soon as possible when we arrived in Sydney, and since I sat in the first row right by the door, he was wondering if I would mind moving up into the upper deck. I really didn’t mind at all considering: 1) It wasn’t a downgrade and 2) I was hoping to sit upstairs anyway but check-in had told me that business class was oversold.
Turned out the seat I was re-settled into was free the whole night.
As for the poor woman, I wasn’t sure what happened to her. I hope she’s allright. Stories had it that it was her first time flying long-haul. Poor woman.
Other things of note:
1. Wait-list system for using the showers at the LAX Admiral’s Club. I guess this is better than having to stake out your shower, though for a minute I was quite worried I wouldn’t get a chance to take a shower before my LAX-SYD flight. Thankfully I got the summons just minutes after settling into my seat.
2. The AA pilot on BOS-LAX was the most chatty I’ve heard in awhile and I really wished he’d just shut-up. Of particular note was the instruction not to use the toilet for too long, or to congregate around the toilet area. Really makes me embarassed as an American.
3. When we landed at LAX from Sydney and were waiting for our bags I noticed two carousels: one for first and business and the other for economy. I was surprised such a system existed in an American airport and I was pleasantly surprised. NOT.
Turned out the first/business carousel was for our flight arriving from Sydney and the other was for a flight arriving for Melbourne.
When told that for a good 20 minutes or so the Sydney carousel had no new bags appearing, a supervisor asked us to be patient as they had two planes being unloaded.
Did they not know far in advance they were going to have two full 744s arriving from Australia at about the same time?
Thank you unions. You are the backbone of America indeed.
4. Screaming airport workers. It wasn’t until my return to Sydney airport that I realized what it was that really differentiated surly American airport workers and other surly airport workers in AsiaPac. Ours don’t scream and look annoyed at us honest paying passengers.
American ones even speak with atrocious grammar over the loudspeaker while making supposedly calming announcements.
5. I checked-in one bag in State College, PA, made a 30 minute connecting flight in Philadelphia onward to Boston and my bag didn’t make it in time.
Oh, thanks again to labor unions.
I get the feeling that Australia also has labor unions, but why is it that priority tagged bags still come out first, the airport pleasant, and things just work in general? (My missing jacket aside.)
Boy am I glad to be back home.
