Aussie Flyer

I have flown VA business a couple of times across the pacific but earlier this year was my first time in the new 'suite' style seat. Here is my experience... After arriving on a connecting service from Melbourne I took the Virgin Australia shuttle bus over to the international terminal. My bags were checked through so there was no need to stop by the check-in desks but this is what they looked like:

FLIGHT Virgin Australia VA7 AIRCRAFT Boeing 777-300ER VH-VOZ (7 years old) ROUTE Brisbane to Los Angeles CLASS Business Class seat 4A DEPARTURE 10.50AM ARRIVAL 6.55AM DURATION 13 hours 05 minutes So, this review is already out of date because the seats have been replaced but here is a quick look at a flight I took in April this year with Virgin Australia from Brisbane to Los Angeles.  Virgin Australia operate a small fleet of 5 B777-300ER's, serving Los Angeles from both Brisbane and Sydney, along with the Sydney to Abu Dhabi route. This is flight VA7, the daily flight from Brisbane to Los Angeles. Virgin compete with Qantas on this route who fly a daily B747-400. Brisbane International Checkin

First an apology.... this report is well overdue. I completed this flight in November last year. This is Singapore Airlines flight SQ323 from Amsterdam to Singapore. Currently a B777-300ER route but it will soon feature the brand new Airbus A350 instead. When that change is completed then Amsterdam will lose First Class service from SQ. This flight departs Amsterdam daily at 10.25am, arriving in Singapore at 5.55am the following day. On my flight the aircraft operating the service was 9V-SWA, 9 years old at the time of the flight. I believe it was the first -300ER in the Singapore Airlines fleet. It's still flying in the same interior configuration now as it was when it was delivered. Despite the age of these seats, they are still market leaders in terms of their size! 9V-SWA waiting at the gate at AMS

A little under 3 years ago Cathay Pacific debuted their new 'Regional Business Class' product. It's a recliner seat in fixed shells and now features throughout the Cathay fleet on regional configured Boeing 777's and A330's. Cathay Regional Business Class

After a pleasant stay in The Private Room at Changi, I headed to the gate for SQ2 to San Francisco via Hong Kong. I was taking only the first leg today, but since this is a long haul flight the latest generation 2013 product is offered on board. Today's flight was operated by Boeing 777-300 ER 9V-SWW, delivered to Singapore Airlines in March 2014 which made her 20 months old at the time of this flight. 9V-SWW at the gate

I have just finished putting together the video of SQ238, Boeing 777-300 First Class flight from Melbourne to Singapore, it's available on my Youtube channel, or watch it below. Please subscribe to my youtube at www.youtube.com/c/aussieflyer !

FLIGHT SQ238 AIRLINE Singapore Airlines ROUTE Melbourne to Singapore GATE DEPARTURE 11.30 (Scheduled) / 11.39 (Actual) GATE ARRIVAL 16.10 (Scheduled) / 16.10 (Actual) FLYING TIME 7 hrs 11 minutes airborne AIRCRAFT Boeing 777-300 9V-SYI (Age 11 years) It's been quite a while since I flew with Singapore Airlines so it was quite exciting to be flying with them again, especially in First Class. I took this flight as part of a series of flights to get to London from Melbourne on a trip I took recently. This first sector is the late morning service out of Melbourne, SQ238, operated by the older Boeing 777-300's. It is one of 4 daily flights that Singapore Airlines operate to Melbourne and the aircraft today was 9V-SYI, an 11 year old bird and one of 7 of it's type in the SQ fleet. These aircraft have 8 first class seats which are almost the same as those installed on the B777...

FLIGHT Etihad Airways AIRLINE EY170 ROUTE Los Angeles to Abu Dhabi GATE DEPARTURE 4.55PM (Scheduled) GATE ARRIVAL 8.00PM (Scheduled) / 8.30PM (Actual) FLYING TIME 16 hours 30 min approx AIRCRAFT Boeing 777-200LR A6-LRC Welcome to this report on the worlds 3rd longest flight by distance: flight EY170. Etihad's daily Boeing 777-200LR non stop service between Los Angeles and Abu Dhabi. At 13,502 kilometres in distance only two other flights are longer, being the Qantas flight between Sydney and Dallas, and the Delta flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg. On this flight I was flying in the business class cabin on the B777-200LR, an ultra long range variant of the B777 which was acquired by Etihad from Air India with this route in mind.

Yes, I have yet another review of Thai Business Class. I'm not sure why I keep bothering really, as nothing has changed much in the past 7 years with Thai and it's business class operations to Melbourne. We did see the B777-300ER for a while, but for now we are back on the -200 and -200ER, with the very occasional substitute. So here is another quick look at TG466, the 2.15pm service from Melbourne to Bangkok. First, the very tired and aging Air New Zealand lounge in the dungeons of the terminal (basement). This lounge is still ok but it really needs a refurb like it's Sydney counterpart is currently undergoing. Air NZ Lounge

I've reviewed this flight so many times before so here is a quick rundown and mostly pictorial report of my most recent trip on flight TG465, on board a Thai Boeing 777-200ER. This flight leaves Bangkok at 00.05 AM every night, arriving into Melbourne at  1.05pm, scheduled 9 hours. This flight offers a late night supper (basically a complete dinner service) and full breakfast before landing. It was my last flight on my series of flights around Asia late last year. After freshening up with a shower in the lounge and complimentary 30 minute foot massage in the Thai Airways spa it was off to get C5 for the secondary screening Australia bound flights are subjected to. Secondary bag check

FLIGHT BR177 AIRLINE EVA Air ROUTE Osaka Kansai to Taipei Taoyuan GATE DEPARTURE 15.00 (Scheduled) / 15.18 (Actual) GATE ARRIVAL 17.10 (Scheduled) / 17.35 (Actual) FLIGHT TIME 2 hours 55 minutes airborne AIRCRAFT Boeing 777-300ER (B-16709)

I was incredibly lucky a couple of months back to try out Etihad First Class on my flight home from Abu Dhabi to Melbourne. Here's my review of their premier product.... FLIGHT EY460 AIRLINE Etihad ROUTE Abu Dhabi – Melbourne DEPARTURE 22.20 ARRIVAL 17.30 FLIGHT TIME 13 Hours 10 Minutes AIRCRAFT Boeing 777-300ER (A6-ETM) My day actually started in the airport hotel, the Premier Inn Abu Dhabi International Airport. I was there during a long layover. It's a basic but very good quality hotel and I found it very comfortable. I would recommend it to anyone with long transits. It is connected to the terminal complex and very reasonably priced. I departed the hotel at about 7.30pm, and checked the departures board as I left:

Nepal is an amazing place and Kathmandu is an incredible city and I had a teriffic few days there earlier in the year. It was my first trip to the city and it was well worth a visit despite the ridiculous state of the roads in the town (dirt, full of pot holes, generally in terrible condition!). I recommend a visit to all. Anyway, my trip was over and it was time to start the journey back home to Australia and taking me out of Nepal was Thai Airways. Thai operate a daily Boeing 777-200 to Kathmandu and the widebody service is definitely my preferred method of travel from Nepal (compared to Malaysia Boeing 737 and Silkair A319/20).   After going through numerous checks just to get into the terminal and check in it was time to hit the Thai Royal Silk Lounge. Thai is one of the few airlines who operate their own lounge in Nepal. It is quite basic but it's a relaxing oasis compared to the madness of the city just outside! It's worth noting that the lounge is before the main ...

I recently visited Vietnam for the first time and flew in to the country via Hanoi on Malaysia Airlines as I reported here . My next city was the large commercial hub, Ho Chi Minh, and to get there I booked a Vietnam Airlines service on the Airbus A330. Around a month or so before the flight there was a change of equipment to the Boeing 777 and I decided to use the standby upgrade service provided by optiontown.com. For only about USD25 each I had a chance at being upgraded to business and I was happy to receive an email the night before the flight confirming I had been successful. Knowing this in advance I headed straight to the business class counters at Hanoi airport. Hanoi Airport Departures

The recent merger of Continental and United Airlines has created a mega-carrier with over 700 aircraft in the mainline fleet and nearly 90,000 staff. It is an absolutely mammoth operation with a route network covering the entire globe. The airline has so many different aircraft types it is hard to keep up with what's on offer! For my recent trip from the New York area to Japan I booked a flight on an aircraft which was formerly the flagship of the Continental fleet, the Boeing 777-200ER in a two class configuration featuring the airlines 'BusinessFirst' seating. Under the United brand the seating name has stuck and the airline has acquired a new hub in Newark. My flight, UA79, from a very cold New York would be operated by former Continental Airlines crew members. The United B777-200ER operating my flight

In recent years Singapore Airlines has introduced a regional business class pod style angled lie flat seat. It debuted on the airlines new fleet of Airbus A330-300 aircraft and since then many Boeing 777-200 aircraft have been refitted with the new seat. They are used on the longer regional routes (4-6 hours) out of Singapore to places like China, Korea and India. I recently  had the opportunity to try the product out of Shanghai on a red eye flight to Singapore.  So, after arriving from Seoul I cleared immigration as a transit without visa passenger and headed back upstairs to the check-in hall for flight SQ825 to Singapore. Shanghai Pudong Check-in Hall

I have reviewed this flight many times before but here we go again. This is the way I usually leave Australia, on this Thai Airways flight which leaves every day from Melbourne in the mid afternoon. The equipment has been a Boeing 777 of some sort for quite a few years and we have seen the -300, -200ER and the -200 versions being used. Currently Thai is flying the B777-200 refurbished configuration to Melbourne. This aircraft has had an update in economy class to include Audio Video On Demand (AVOD) in every seat. The business class seats which are angled lie flats have not changed. They are much the same as other seats on the B777 Thai fleet (with the exception of the -300ER).  The main noticeable difference in business class compared to the  -300 is the 2x2x2 configuration (compared to 2x3x2). This is a much  roomier cabin than the B777-300,  but the TV screens are slightly smaller.  So, onto my flight which I flew in early  December 2012. The a...

After last year's Royal Wedding trip, I decided to be in London during the celebrations for Queen Elizabeth II's diamond jubilee. My route to Europe on this trip was relatively simple. Melbourne-Bangkok-London Heathrow, all on Thai Airways in business class. Here is how the first sector went: Arriving at Melbourne Tullamarine Airport It was a miserable day in Melbourne for my departure. Freezing cold, raining with heavy low cloud. I arrived at the airport by Skybus and made my way into the international departure hall. I was nice and early and check-in was pretty quiet. Check-in was processed quickly and I was handed my boarding pass for seat 15K on the Boeing 777-300. This was a flight I had taken many times before so it was all very routine. Check-in Once I made my way through passport control I noticed our inbound flight was stopped short of the gate. The ground crew were standing in the rain with their headset connected to the aircraft. I wondered what had pre...

I recently took a flight on Air New Zealand business class. This trip pre-dates my recent Europe adventure but I had not got around to uploading the pictures. So here is a quick review. FLIGHT : NZ124 AIRCRAFT : Boeing 777-200ER CLASS : Business ROUTE : Melbourne to Auckland the Air New Zealand herringbone configuration in business class After lounging in the Air New Zealand Koru Club it was time to board and take my right hand side window seat. I was immediately offered drinks by the onboard crew and took champagne. We were soon ready for pushback and after a short taxi we were airborne on a beautiful Melbourne morning. Melbourne's south east suburbs Climbing out and heading to Auckland inflight entertainment screen I had been working all night before this flight and had only 90 minutes sleep so I was pretty tired. I decided to watch The Adventures of Tintin on the entertainment system. In business the screen pulls out from the side wall an...