[Anonymous]

[JonathanM8]

I travelled in the last week of the JSA between BA and QF, with both the Melbourne and London based crews on their last sectors in/out of Singapore before they move to the ‘delights’ of Dubai. Having travelled out to Sydney earlier in the week on BA CW (upper deck), it was interesting to compare and contrast service on the ground and in the air.

At Melbourne
Checking in was effortless and the agent gave me directions to the QF First lounge (I am BAEC Gold). She rang ahead to them to let them know I was on the way, which was an impressive level of personal service. The lounge itself, although fairly functional in design (what will passengers think of the Dubai/Emirates bling from next week?) offered a full dining option (even if you were not flying in First, BA take note) which looked (and tasted) good.

MEL-SIN
Boarding out of the lounge is direct, via a lift down to boarding gate, which keeps premium passengers separate from the masses (!). On board there was the usual pre-take off water, champagne or OJ offered. I was in 16A on the upper deck of the A380, two rows back from the entrance door. The flight was only around 2/3rds full and so the crew were in relaxed mode, but delivered prompt service, with the drinks trolley and then a full meal. Leek & Potato soup (soup is only offered on BA in First) was particularly good. The seat is definitely horizontal lie-flat (as opposed to the angle-flat on old 747s. There is now a padded cover for the seat provided (slips on over the seat) which certainly takes the hard edge off the seat. All in all a very pleasant sector.

SIN
Landed in the zoo that is Changi. The QF/BA lounge was packed and there was a queue for the shower. And the plane was parked at the furthest stand away (C26). It all made for a very unrelaxed stopover (unlike the way out on BA, where I was ahead of the crowd at the lounge and there just seemed more time available.

SIN-LHR
For this sector the flight was full and this is where the upper deck on a 747 wins hands down on a full upper deck on the A380. There are just too many people to serve comfortably. a two course ‘supper’ was offered, the tray arriving about 90 minutes after taking off. No drinks were offered before the supper, which i thought was poor. When I queried this, I was told that I could ask for a drink at any time, but they don’t proactively offer before supper as they want to get the meal out as fast as possible (90 minutes after take-off did not seem fast). Breakfast was served 2 hours before landing (so 3am UK time), based on the choice I made on a breakfast card (room service style) which was fine

LHR T3
Landing was around 20 minutes late, but immigration was empty so I was out in minutes

You cannot deny that the A380 is very quiet (quieter than the 747 in my view) and that did help in getting a good amount of rest and sleep. However, when full, Business Class is just too big – I cant help thinking that breaking up CW in the proposed layout for the BA A380 might help with this issue.

BA/OneWorld options for LHR-MEL from next week are either via Sydney (connecting into the BA flight, now moving to 777) or on CX via HKG. It wont be as convenient, but I personally won’t be sorry to miss the crowded sector on the A380.

[TominScotland]

Good review, JonathanM8, thanks.

Not sure you are correct about oneworld options out of Melbourne, however. If you book a Qantas ticket via DXB, you will still stand to get tier points and Avios as per normal. Likely the Avios will be significantly reduced but tier points should be unchanged.

[NTarrant]

I was looking at LHR-MEL_LHR recently and the offerings through ba.com were via SYD or HKG, but it did offer QF on MEL-HKG.So the options are right.

[TominScotland]

That is booking via BA.com but booking thru Qantas and inserting your BA number does the trick via Dubai – same as you can with any oneworld airline!!

[NTarrant]

Yes Tom, I think Jonathan was looking at non-DXB options.

[Binman62]

Personally would rather have a packed a380 upper deck with direct aisle access for most that upper dec club. The QF product is excellent and the room service breakfast a great idea.

I do think QF will rue the day they joined up with EK and their LHR operational is doomed….it is just a matter of time begore they pull out of Europe completely. I still reckon on a reduction by 1 this winter as DXB cannot sustain the volume of seats from LHR let alone from the UK generally.

[SimonS1]

If any capacity gets cut I personally think Virgin will end up pulling the Dubai route.

One flight a day from LHR is insignificant in the overall scheme of things, and even the new connecting flights are unlikely to make much difference with EK flying direct from Glasgow 2x per day.

[NTarrant]

I agree Binman the QF product is excellent and I too like the room service style breakfast.

I have looked at using QF to DXB but thier fares seem to be a fair bit more than BA.

[Author]

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