When I arrived at check-in had not opened yet but they were in the process of setting up the desks. After about 30 mins people started queueing at the economy desks. OS only operate a economy and business class service.
I had my VS FC number on the booking but decided to try my luck checking in using the business class desks with my *A Au card - no problem at all. The agent actually told me it doesn't matter which FF number is on a booking as long as your are the holder of a *A Au card you get full *A Au benefits (including extra baggage allowance, lounge access and business class check-in) [y]
Made my way though immigration and security which was pretty quick again. Headed to the ANZ lounge which is the *A Au lounge. At least I now now where it is for my VS201 flight in a couple of days [:)] Again the lady on the door welcomed me and said there was no problem in not having my A* Au FF account on this booking. The lounge is pretty nice with plenty of room, although there's not much to eat. There's also only 2 internet PC's so you do have to wait to use them. Just caught the VS201 pulling back although didn't get the reg.
Had the couple of drinks and some cake (as that's all there seemed to be to eat) with a few detours down to the smoking area in the international lounge. Before long the flight was called so I made my way down to the gate. The OS A/C was a B772 and all boarding was at door 1. I was sat in 35K which is pretty much at the back of the bus. Found my window seat and settled in. The seat is quite good and the leg room is again better than VS (let's be honest hear most airlines do have better seat pitch than VS and BA)
The IFE is an Odyssey type system with V:Port sized screens in the seat backs. Similar to V:Port seats where the table folds in half under the screen. The IFE controlled is bellow the screen. These seats do sound to be very much like what the new VS Y seats are going to be like going off what VS crew have said on hear. They have a movable head rest (up and down and forwards and back) with wings and a small fold-down leg rest under the seat in front (which I only discovered 30 mins before landing!!!) The departure time was 16:50 but at this time luggage was still been loaded, it looked like a bag had to be off-loaded as well (I was sat above where the back cargo hold door is).
Loads where 100% in both cabins and I heard that they had over-sold by 2 in both Y and J.
Most of the pax seems to be going home to Austria. Flight time would be 8hrs tonight to KUL. We finally pulled back some 20 mins later. Being a nose-cam/belly cam virgin I was impressed to see these as part of the IFE [:D] although they were switched off about 15 seconds after rotating.
The drinks service was started very quickly after take off and the meal service followed shortly afterwards. There was a choice of chicken or beef. I went for the beef which came with rice. It was pretty good actually but the thing that amazed me was the metal fork and spoon that came with the meal which I think is a first for me in Y. The knife was still plastic though. The service did seem to be rushed and didn't seem that organised as rows seemed to be missed.
One thing that did strike me on this flight is why OS feel the need for seat belt signs and many many people were simply ignored them and none of the crew didn't bat an eye-lid even when we it got bumpy. Like the VS flight the seat belt sign stayed on for a lot of the flight (I was talking to a QF pilot in the ANZ lounge and he told me there are a lot of jet streams which can cause quite a lot of turbalence on the Kangaroo route, hence the reason all airlines tend to keep their seat belt signs on for most of the flight)
Again most people simply ignored them most of the flight. I would hate to think what would happen if we hit something like CAT [:0]. Would the crew be liable in such a situation, where they where not getting pax to take note of the seat belt signs, we hit something like CAT and pax were injured [:?]
Another first for me in Y - hot towels were handed out after the meal. During the flight several bar/drinks rounds were made.
My IFE kept crashing as I kept getting the Windows NT sytem error message you get with Odyssey on VS. I saw this on several other screens during the flight as well. To be honest the film choise was dire and really wasn't worth watching. There were only a choise of about 6 films and 1 TV channel. There were 3 games and the system has SMS messaging and phones. There's also a fax service where the crew will fax documents for you ast $2.00 per page.
2 hours beofre landing a snack service was offered which consisted of a sandwich roll and cake.
On arrival nearly all the pax where carrying on to Austria. They got a some total of 20 mins off the A/C before they had to get back on again [:0]
Not much else to mention really - not a spectacular flight but some parts of the service did pleasently surprize me.
Austrain Airlines leave FC at the end of June so after that no more miles or TP's will be earned on OS flights.
Edit - The other thing I noticed was how noisey B777's are when sat at the back of the bus. Only ever sat at the front of SQ B777's before this flight. There's also quite a lot of vibration as well. The A346's are much smoother and quiter even down the back.
Regards
Regards
James Mitchell
James Mitchell
