Qantas 747 Business Class San Francisco - Sydney

A Trip Down Under 2019
Qantas 747 Business Class San Francisco - Sydney
Qantas Business Class Lounge, Sydney Airport
Qantas A330 Business Class Sydney - Auckland
Holiday Inn Auckland Airport - Review
The Pavilions Hotel, Christchurch - Review
What We Saw In Christchurch
Hilton Queenstown Resort and Spa - Review
What We Saw In Queenstown including Doubtful Sound Tour
Avani Metropolis Hotel, Auckland - Review
What We Saw In Auckland
Oceans Mooloolaba - Review
What We Saw On The Sunshine Coast
Brisbane Marriott - Review
Qantas 787 Business Class Brisbane - Los Angeles

I was looking forward to this flight not just because of the destination but because it may very well be the last time I get to fly the Queen of the Skies, the Boeing 747.  As I mentioned in the intro post I paid 80K American Airlines miles + $28.20 in taxes but this included four flight segments: Memphis to Phoenix to San Francisco to Sydney to Auckland.  That's over 10,600 flight miles for one low price.  If you value those AA miles at 1.4 cents each that equates to almost $1150.  Considering AA wants over $4800 for a similar ticket for next October I'd say that's a bargain!

While my initial ticket had me arriving in San Francisco about 3 hours before the Qantas flight departed, that made me a little nervous cutting it so close as I knew there are often delays at SFO.  I kept hoping AA would open up award flights in domestic first class through either Dallas/Fort Worth or Chicago so that I wouldn't have to fly a regional jet to Phoenix, but they never did, so I ended up choosing to leave Memphis at 7:30 AM knowing I'd have a super-long layover.  Fortunately, as long as your award flight has the same origin and destination cities, American will allow you to change dates or routing at no charge.  When my flight from Phoenix to San Francisco was delayed due to fog at SFO, I was glad I'd made the switch.

Our flight was scheduled to depart at 9:25 PM and both C and I had arrived before 1:30 PM so we had a lot of time to kill.  We'd discussed going to a nearby mall for a movie but there wasn't anything playing that we wanted to see.  In the end we just explored the airport awhile before making our way to the international terminal.  We were disappointed that there was no way to get over there in the secured area, which meant we had to go through the security checkpoint again when we got there.  The good news was that our checked bags transferred automatically so we didn't have to wait for the Qantas counter to open.  That meant the security line was much shorter than it would have been once folks originating in SFO got to the airport.

Qantas B747-400
(photo courtesy qantas.com)

Qantas travelers may use either the Air France/KLM or Cathay Pacific lounges.  We stopped by each of them.  The AF/KLM lounge was smaller and more crowded.  I'd visited the Cathay lounge on my trip to China and found it hadn't changed, which was a good thing.  We had a few nibbles but had enjoyed a late lunch/very early dinner at a restaurant in the domestic terminal so we weren't hungry.

Shortly before 9 PM we boarded the aircraft through door 1L and turned left to our seats.  When booking their flights with partner miles, Qantas only allows a very limited selection of seats so we had our choice of the last two seat in the upstairs business class cabin or the two center seats in the forward business class cabin downstairs and we chose the latter.  The first two rows in the forward cabin (in the nose of the plane) are 2-2 while the last row has 2-2-2 seating so fortunately we didn't have to climb over anyone.

A number of items were waiting for us at our seats: an amenity kit, pajamas, headphones, a pillow and a duvet.  I loved that the mattress pad had fitted corners and was already affixed to the seat.  Why more airlines don't do this I don't know but I thought it was fantastic.  Though I asked, slippers were not provided on this flight so I was glad I'd brought my own.  (That's not water on the floor in the lavatories, you know!)

Qantas 747 Business Class Seat

Speaking of the lavatories, they were really quite small. It was a tight squeeze to change into the pajamas.  I also found that since I changed during the boarding process, I missed my chance for a pre-departure beverage.  Not the end of the world but the crew was in a big hurry to be sure we were able to depart on time.  As it worked out we pushed back late and even then ended up sitting just outside our gate for quite awhile.  The captain eventually told us we would have landed in Sydney too early if we'd left right away.  Finally, about 45 minutes after our scheduled departure time we started a very slow roll toward the runway.

The amenity kit had the standard items: socks, earplugs, lotion and a sleep mask.  We were also given a breakfast menu with a pen and allowed to keep the pen.

Qantas Business Class Amenity Kit

As the 747s are on their way out I knew we wouldn't have the most modern cabin in the world but it was absolutely fine.  For a 14-hour flight I'm not going to be too choosy as long as I have a lie-flat seat.  The IFE controller locked into position in the side of the seat.  The small screen popped up from the armrest between the two seats, even for the seating on the side where there was another seat in front.  One minor annoyance was that two minutes of commercials played before every movie and a minute of commercials before each TV show.

Business Class Entertainment Controller

Between the seats at shoulder level was a partition that could be raised for privacy if you didn't know your seat partner.  This is where the reading lights and headphone jacks were located as well.  There was a small compartment there that might be good for a glasses case but it wasn't big enough for a water bottle.  In fact, there was nowhere really to securely store the water bottle we were given.

Reading lights, headphones and small storage area

Seated as we were in the only two seats in the center section, there was no one in front of us and our view was of the back of rows 1 and 2 and the closet that's at the very pointy end of the plane.  It was kinda weird but we got used to it.

The view from the center section

We had this storage unit in front of us, with a couple of small lockers.  The clothes we wore didn't need to be hung so we put them and our shoes in here.  We used the center section for blanket storage until it was time to sleep.

Our storage locker

The TV screens were tiny but that wasn't because we were in the center seats.  Even the ones on the side were the same way.  However, those seats did have air nozzles overhead while we did not.  Fortunately we didn't get too warm.

Seats on the side

After reaching cruising altitude, dinner preparations began.  Here's the menu:

I wasn't extremely hungry as we'd eaten at the airport between 4-5 PM though it was well after 11 PM when the dinner service began.  I skipped the soup and salad so my first course was just a piece of bread and my beverage of choice, water.

My first course

I had the beef fillet with potato gratin, green beans and a brandy cream sauce.  The photo doesn't make it look too appetizing though it wasn't bad.  Of course it was no match for the waygu steak I had on ANA in 2017!  I skipped dessert and went to sleep.

My main course

I don't seem to sleep deeply on planes and in this case there was some sort of seam or or cross-support directly underneath my hip when I was on my side, as I prefer to sleep.  I think I eventually got about six hours of sleep which is not bad at all, considering the noise and unfamiliar surroundings.  It was enough to get me through the next day, which was the important thing.

About two hours before landing, the breakfast service began.  I failed to take a photo of the card we used to submit our breakfast orders but I had muesli with skim milk, OJ, hot tea and a sweet pastry.  Next time I'll know to use the flash or turn on my reading light before taking photos of my food when they've got the mood lighting turned on.

My breakfast

Although we departed SFO late and landed about 30 minutes late in Sydney, with a shorter-than-expected taxi time we arrived only about 13 minutes late.

The US and Australia have reciprocal agreements with the immigration process so we were able to use automated gates very quickly.  We then went through the international transfer area (and another security check) and made our way to the Qantas Business Lounge where we would spend a couple of hours waiting for our friend D to arrive from Los Angeles.

Final Thoughts

If this was my last ride on the 747, I'll have good memories.  The hard product is obviously not the newest but it makes me appreciate more modern interiors.  The crew was great and we got to fly for 14 hours in relative luxury.  I'll never complain about that!