BDU: Flying to Sydney

BDU: Birthday Down Under - Trip Planning
BDU: Flying to Sydney
BDU: Park Hyatt Sydney
BDU: Sydney Activities
BDU: Sydney Opera House
BDU: Flying to Uluru and Back
BDU: Uluru and Kata Tjuta
BDU: Park Hyatt Melbourne
BDU: Melbourne Activities
BDU: Flying to Fiji
BDU: Hilton Fiji
BDU: Snorkeling Trip
BDU: Flying to Los Angeles
BDU: Hyatt Regency DFW

As I mentioned in my previous post, I'd lucked out and found an award seat in First Class on the Qantas flight from Dallas to Sydney.  For now, that's the world's longest flight at over 7400 nautical miles (or 8578 miles as we think of it) and blocked at 16h 50m.  (Emirates is planning a longer flight, Dubai to Panama City, starting in March 2016.)  If I have to be anywhere for 17 hours, I want to be comfortable so I was thrilled when I found this seat was available.

Since my flight to Dallas was on a separate ticket, I could arrive as far in advance as I wanted.  I chose to take the early afternoon flight which would put me in Dallas around 5 PM.  There was another, late afternoon flight that would have arrived in time for me to catch the flight to Sydney which left at 9:15 PM but I wanted to arrive in plenty of time in case there was a delay or worse, the MEM-DFW flight got canceled.  That way I had a backup plan already in place.

Fortunately I have a friend in Dallas who works not too far from the airport.  We met up for a light dinner and had a great time catching up.  I didn't want to eat too much as I was looking forward to the food I'd be served on board.  I sure don't say that about domestic flights!

My friend dropped me off at the airport a little after 7 PM and I took the opportunity to visit the Qantas lounge.  Most of the foreign carriers at DFW only have one or two flights per day.  As a result they have relatively small lounges.  Qantas is no exception.

I found the entrance on the concourse.  As you can see from the photo a number of carriers are serviced from this location.  I walked through the doors and took the elevator up to the second floor.  There I found a desk where my boarding pass was checked and I was directed down the hall to the Qantas lounge, which was the first one on the right.

Ground-level entrance in Terminal D

Luxurious, it's not, but it is a quiet place to wait away from the crowds. Qantas puts 484 seats on their Airbus 380 planes: 14 First Class, 64 Business Class, 35 Premium Economy and 371 Economy.  With that many people the gate area can get quite crowded, so it's nice to be able to relax in comfortable seats with free wi-fi and less-crowded restrooms.

Entrance area of the lounge

Once in the front door there's an attendant who once again checked my boarding pass and allowed me in.  I immediately went to the business center to plug in my electronics and do a last check on my email.

Business Center

After finishing email I did a bit more snooping around.  While the lounge does have a tarmac view, we couldn't see our plane, which kinda took the fun out of it.  It was quite busy as the lounge is for both Business Class and First Class passengers.  There was a buffet with some food and drinks available.  I felt a little conspicuous taking photos, so these are a little blurry.  I didn't eat anything since I'd just had dinner but I did grab a bottle of water.

Food Selection

There is a First Class room, presumably only for those with the correct boarding passes.

First Class Room entrance

I stuck my head in, just long enough to take photos but didn't stay because I didn't see any handy plugs and wanted to keep my electronics charging.  As you can see it had its own small offering of food and drink and, unlike the business class area, a TV.  I didn't really care about that because I was starting to get really excited.  Inside. Where it counts.

First Class Room

Finally, I could stand it no more, even though no announcement had yet been made for us to go to the gate.  I packed up my electronics and took the elevator back downstairs.  The A380 is a double-decker plane with First Class and Economy on the lower level and Business Class and Premium Economy on the top deck.  Two jet bridges are needed to keep boarding (and disembarking) flowing smoothly, so DFW uses gates D14 and D15 to access the aircraft.  I believe that the folks in Economy - and possibly Premium Economy - used the D15 jet bridge while Business and First used D14.  All I remember is being virtually alone walking down that jetway and as excited as I've ever been to get on a plane.

QF 8, DFW-SYD
Aircraft: Airbus A380
Seat 3A (First)
Depart: 21:15
Arrive: 06:05 (+2)
Duration: 16h 50m

As I boarded I was warmly greeted by several members of the crew. We walked past the stairs that led up to Business Class and down to my seat, 3A, right in the middle of the cabin.  At the time I bought my ticket I was the first person to make my seat selection so I had my pick.  I selected a seat on the left side of the plane (when facing forward) because the seats in the middle section open up toward the right aisle.  Nice if you're traveling with someone but there's more traffic down that aisle, so the left aisle is quieter.

The flight attendant for my area, Cesar, introduced himself and pointed out the features of my suite.  Yes, it's a suite.  Really.  We chit-chatted a bit and I found him to be just delightful and thoroughly enjoyed being in his section for my trip.  A bit later Gil, the purser, also stopped by and introduced himself.  Every staff interaction I saw was polite and professional.  Can't compliment this crew enough!

So let's get to the suite.  First we had this enormous seat, even wide enough for me.  In addition to the lap belt it also had a shoulder strap to be worn on takeoff and landing.  That was a first for me!

QF 8, seat 3A

When the seat was in its upright position, as for takeoff and landing, it faced straight ahead. Right in front of me at that point was this small fold-down tray, the safety briefing card and the in-flight magazine.

Small table and Seat Back Pocket

Just to my left was a small panel with the controls for the suite and in the left armrest was the controller for the in-flight entertainment.

Entertainment controller and Suite Control panel

Suite Control Panel

A little further to my left was a small cabinet, almost like a nightstand.  The main tray table was tucked into its side while there was a sunken holder for a water bottle.  On the front were two small drawers that locked into place so they wouldn't accidentally slide open.

Cabinet with hinged drawers

Once we took off and I could relax the seat a little, I found that as it extended it swiveled a bit to the left so it could eventually be my bed.  This also caused it to align with the IFE screen and the ottoman.  A light blanket was waiting on the ottoman for me.   If you're flying with someone else, the ottoman can be used as a place for that person to sit while visiting or dining.  It even has its own seat belt!  The IFE screen wasn't huge but was certainly adequate.

Ottoman and Entertainment Screen

Cesar brought me an amenity kit and pajamas.  The kit was SK-II brand and contained all the usual stuff.

Qantas First Class Amenity Kit

The pajamas were dark grey and featured the Qantas kangaroo.  The tag even says "First" on it.  Even if they'd only had business class PJs in my size, I'd have gotten over it, unlike some people!

Qantas First Class Pajamas

Eventually we got everyone on board and pushed back, I believe relatively on time.  For such a large aircraft, the plane sure is quiet!  You know how a seal is awkward on land but is so graceful in the water?  That's how the A380 is in a way.  As we were taxiing to the runway the word I can best use to describe our trek is "lumbering".  But once those powerful engines revved up we were suddenly a thing of beauty.  We were wheels-up by 9:44 PM and by 9:50 PM the captain had already turned off the seatbelt sign.  That's sure not something you see with US-owned airlines!

Shortly after takeoff the crew began the meal service.  Even though I'd eaten I was glad we could get started with the meal since I was getting tired from all the excitement of the day.

We started off with canapés of Ostreta caviar tartlet with crème fraiche and crostini of mozzarella with salsa verde and pickled fennel.  I ate the caviar...mostly because the puff pastry it was on was good.   Wasn't a huge fan of the crostini but was glad I at least tried it.

Canapés: tartlet and crostini(spell check doesn't know either of those words)

The soup course was a cream of mushroom with sourdough croûtons. This was pretty good.  I skipped the prosciutto and small plate options to save room for the entrée.

Cream of mushroom soup with yummy croutons

I debated about what to order for dinner.  The pan-fried Arctic char looked good as did the beef tenderloin. There was also a snack menu available anytime featuring a steak sandwich that I'd heard good things about, so I decided to have the fish for dinner.  I wish I'd had the beef.  The char was OK, just had a flavor I wasn't crazy about - perhaps it was the garlic aioli.  And I was never hungry enough to get the steak sandwich, which was probably a good thing but I hate that I missed it!

The Arctic char after a couple of bites. At least the zucchini was good.

The entrée came with a side salad with red wine dressing and bread.

Side Salad

Bread

I skipped dessert as by now I was quite full but enjoyed a pot of tea, something I don't usually drink at home but often do on vacation.  It was heated perfectly - plenty hot, but not too hot to drink - and stayed that way through both cups.

Tea service

The in-flight entertainment selections weren't vast but since I hadn't seen a movie in a theater in probably 3-4 years (until Star Wars VII came out) the selections were all new to me.  I watched A Royal Night Out, based on the true story of how Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret got to enjoy VE night celebrations with the masses and Inside Out, the Pixar movie about emotions.

Cesar came and made up my bed while I brushed my teeth and then it was off to dreamland for a bit.  Stretching out in a bed on a plane never gets old.  I'm getting so spoiled because now I don't even want to think about crossing an ocean any other way.

Breakfast started off with a glass of OJ and quickly moved to pancakes with raspberries, mascarpone and maple syrup.

This is OJ when the lights are dimmed

Pancakes!

I forgot to take a photo of the fruit plate but it was filled with orange slices, honeydew, cantaloupe, pear, pineapple and strawberry.  Good stuff!  We topped breakfast off with smoothies.  If only I could remember what was in it!

Smoothie

On one hand I couldn't believe how quickly the nearly 17-hour journey had passed.  On the other, I felt quite disheveled and teased the crew about how fresh they all looked.  They quipped they were only fresh on the outside and were really tired on the inside.  But they were delightful.

With a premium cabin seat comes a card that allows priority access through Immigration.  Considering we're also the first folks off the plane, it does give us a chance to beat the masses and keep from standing in line so long.  With only two or three people in front of me I was through there in no time flat and waiting for my luggage.  Since it, too, had a priority tag that was a short stop as well.  With one final check at Customs I was through the secured area and into the arrivals area.

My friend D's flight landed about an hour later.  We found the meeting point for our shuttle and spent another little while waiting for it but just so glad and excited to be in Australia.  Then it was off to our hotel, the Park Hyatt.