Aussie Flyer

I had the great privilege to fly on what is probably the world's most luxurious first class product late last year, the Etihad Airbus A380 Apartments. Here is my experience on this wonderful aircraft! FLIGHT : EY19 AIRLINE : Etihad Airways AIRCRAFT : Airbus A380-800 A6-APB SEAT : 4K ROUTE : Abu Dhabi to London Heathrow I arrived at T3 checkin simply by walking across from the Premier Inn hotel which joins the terminal complex. Upon arrival I was met by the porters but I declined their assistance with my bags. I headed to the dedicated first class checkin zone and soon had my boarding pass and was on my way through security and into the terminal. At the time of this flight and still at the time of writing there is no Etihad first class lounge at Abu Dhabi, instead it is the 'Premium' lounge in T3 which is shared with business class. There is however a small roped off area for first class passengers. The lounge is quite good with a salon and spa available...

Singapore is one of the destinations that saw the introduction of Dreamliner service in 2015 with Etihad Airways, previously the Airbus A330 operated on this route. This review is of flight EY473, a 7.20pm departure from Singapore. Firstly, the lounge. Well it is a massive disappointment. The lounge is the Terminal 2 SATS lounge, which is a generic lounge used by various airlines (including TIGER AIRWAYS...  yes that's right, Etihad First class passengers are using the same lounge as Tiger Airways). There is a very small area reserved for First Class passengers, separated by a few pot plants from the rest of the lounge. The 'First Class Zone' in the SATS lounge

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 !

After arriving from Melbourne  on Singapore Airlines in First Class, I had a 2 and a half hour transit at Changi Airport before flying onwards to Hong Kong. Singapore Airlines First Class and Suites passengers have access to the exclusive 'The Private Room'. Upon arrival at the SilverKris lounge and when presenting a First boarding pass you will be personally escorted through the business and first class lounge (available for those flying Star Alliance first class) and into the sanctuary of the Private Room. Seating Area at The Private Room

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...

Having recently arrived from Sydney  I found myself in the wonderful surrounds of the Thai Airways First Class lounge at Bangkok's Survanabhumi airport. One of the ground services available to First Class passengers is the spa facility. On this occasion I decided not to have the full body massage and instead I had a 30 minute foot massage which was very enjoyable. Once that was over I headed back to the lounge for some food and beverage: Cocktail in the lounge

After arriving from Melbourne on QF400 I collected my luggage (Qantas won't interline to non alliance partners on separate tickets anymore), and took the train between terminals. They charge $5.70 for this 2 minute journey, which other airports in the world charge to transfer between terminals I wonder? Qantas does offer an inter-terminal transfer but I couldn't use this as it is airside and I had to go landside to get my luggage. Fortunately the luggage didn't take too long and I was over at the Thai check-in counters by 8am. Here are the details of todays flight: FLIGHT TG476 AIRLINE Thai Airways  International ROUTE Sydney to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi GATE DEPARTURE 10.00 (Scheduled) / 10.02 (Actual) GATE ARRIVAL 15.25 (Scheduled) / 15.44 (Actual) FLIGHT TIME 9 hours 12 minutes airborne AIRCRAFT Boeing 747-400 HS-TGO Check-in for Royal First, Royal Silk and Economy ...

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:

Here's something a little bit different for the blog. A train report. I did a cruise report last month so why not a train!? This was one I had been wanting to do for quite some time, Virgin Trains in First Class. The route I was travelling was London to Manchester which operates every 20 minutes and takes just over 2 hours leaving from London Euston station.   Arriving at Euston

This is the continuation of my trip from Melbourne to London on Qantas' flagship Airbus A380, flight QF9. For part 1 go HERE . After landing in Dubai on schedule with 13.5 hours of flight behind me it was time to head to the Emirates First Class Lounge in terminal 3. This is the lounge which features direct boarding  to the aircraft, but more on that later. As I was among the first off the flight there was nobody waiting at transit security so I was through and up to the lounge in no time.  First up it's time for a shower since Qantas don't have them onboard like Emirates do!

This past Christmas I gave myself a gift. It was a first class ticket to London on Qantas and flying on Christmas day too! It was to be my first First Class experience on the Qantas A380 and I was looking forward to it for months. Did it live up to my expecations? Let's see....

First Class is nothing new on the Melbourne - Auckland route with Emirates having flown it for some time on the Airbus A340-500 and Boeing 777-300ER, but in October 2012 the route was upgraded to the superjumbo Airbus A380. With this came the arrival of the First Class suite on trans tasman flights from Melbourne.  I had been wanting to sample it for a while and finally after 10 months of operations on the route I had a ticket for EK407 in First Class. I chose the Auckland-Melbourne route instead of the other way round as due to headwinds it is a longer flight time by about 30 mins. That means more time for champagne!  

I recently flew on the Emirates A380 in First Class. I was very impressed and decided to upload a video. I will follow up soon with a full trip report but in the mean time, check out the video:

Earlier on in the year I took a flight on Thai's 747 in First Class from Bangkok to Sydney. This is not going to be a full review but a quick run down of the Royal First experience. The flight was operated on an aircraft configured with 10 First Class seats which is typical for the Sydney run and half of the Thai 747 fleet is configured this way. The other half are now in a 'suites' configuration but mostly those aircraft fly to Europe and Japan.   

Towards the end of 2012 Thai Airways took delivery of their first Airbus A380. The first couple of aircraft were used initially on short haul flights to Singapore and Hong Kong before starting long haul operations to Frankfurt. Although the whalejet no longer flies to Singapore it does operate one daily return trip to Hong Kong. At about 2.5 hours this is the shortest route on the Thai network that offers a first class cabin (the 747-400 operates the 2nd daily first class service to HKG).  Finding myself in Hong Kong this last January I decided it was the perfect opportunity to give the Thai A380 a go. I was most interested in first class so booked a first class ticket from Hong Kong to Sydney via Bangkok. The first leg being on the 380 with the second being on a standard B747-400.  HS-TUC AT THE GATE

 After my arrival from the USA into Tokyo Narita I checked in at the airport Hilton for an overnight stay. My onward flight would be departing from Haneda, quite a distance away so it meant a very early start the next morning. I specifically chose Haneda as Cathay offers First Class on that route but they don't from Narita. Firstly, the hotel. Hilton Narita is a short free shuttle bus ride from the airport and they have excellent rates. I payed the equivalent of approximately $100 AUD for the night. It would be even cheaper at today's exchange rates. The hotel is quite isolated but does have free shuttles to the nearby town. I was just here to relax so stayed in my room and ordered room service which was pretty ordinary.

It's already over 5 years since Singapore Airlines introduced the Airbus A380 back in 2007, but its taken this long for me to finally sample the premium cabins and write about it. Previously I've flown only in economy on the Singapore whalejet so I was very excited when the time finally came to try the suites. My journey had started in Myanmar and I'd flown in to Changi airport with about 7 hours to spare before the 1am departure to Zurich. I decided to hit The Private Room, Singapore Airlines exclusive lounge for first class passengers. As you enter the Silverkris lounge area in terminal 3 and present your Suites boarding pass you will be personally escorted past the business class and first class lounges and into the Private Room. I was warmly welcomed and shown to the shower facilities after I requested directions. Shower Room

I recently had the good fortune to travel on an A380 with Singapore Airlines in Suites (First) class from Singapore to Zurich. I absolutely loved it and have just uploaded a video at my youtube channel which shows the suite and meal services along with takeoff and landing, even a sneak peak of the private room. I will follow this up with a written review but in the mean time please check it out:

After my recent review of TG660, Bangkok to Haneda on a Thai first class suite I thought I would point out a video I just uploaded to YouTube. If you are interested in what flying on the Thai 777-300ER in First is like, check it out!