V-Flyer

After a too brief family visit I prepared to return to a freezing UK - and my first concern was would my aircraft (G-VATL, Miss Kitty) make it to Sydney in the first place. It did - after waiting 5 hours on the ground at Heathrow - which can't have been much fun for pax or crew. With it safely on the way I completed OLCI and when collecting my boarding pass at the airport found I'd bagged Seq1! Trip to the airport via public transport (with the £ where it is vs the AUD, my Scottish roots much preferred $20 bus & train to $90 taxi) was easy - and as I had expected, the furthest I had to drag my luggage was within the airport itself! Check in opened at 12.00 and was handled professionally and promptly. My express security pass made no difference at this time of the day - but there were minimal queues so I was swiftly through and into the shopping mall...er, Departure Terminal.....After minor souvenir shopping it was up to the Koru Club - which seems to have raised its game since I was here last, a year ago. Still a great selection of Kiwi wines - but the food selection was much better - small, tasty hot things, rather than the cold cuts & sandwiches I remembered. The lounge also seemed busier with quite a few Virgin Australia flights. Some fine Kiwi Pinot Noir put me in a suitably philosophical frame of mind, and a shower to freshen up before departure saw me well relaxed.

When the call came to board the aircraft was already nearly fully boarded, so no queuing, and the friendly gate agent wished Mr Name a pleasant flight. Miss Kitty is the second oldest A346 in the air - but internally is in good condition. At check in I had enquired about the load and was told that PE would be full as they were carrying some other pax whose flights had been cancelled because of the UK snow - on the first leg, the seat next to me was empty, but it was filled from Hong Kong. Take off was on time and drinks service started after the towel/menu/headsets run. On this leg (the only one of 4) the CSD sent back a glass of fizz for some (I presume) AU pax - a nice gesture that costs nothing.

Food on both this and the second leg was fine - Tho the menu descriptions may be getting a bit above themselves - ex-Hong Kong the "Pork with vinegar sauce " turned out to be a quite tasty sweet & sour Pork! Crew was friendly on both sectors - I've seen more consistency in PE than in recent UC trips - they seem to have the PE product nailed.

Hong Kong saw a quick march to the Club House for a shower and Dry Martini or three then back onboard for a pretty full flight back to London. On the first leg I watched a few movies and finished "Death Comes to Pemberly" on the iPad, while on the second dozed fitfully to be occasionally woken up by someone's snoring (my own!). Breakfast was served 2 hours out from London - the worst meal of the trip - but I knew a delicious Revivals breakfast awaited. Only niggle on this trip was I could not get the moving map to work properly - and gave up.

In summary, having generally done LHR-SYD in UC and with a stop over at least one way I was quietly dreading this straight through trip in PE. My fears were unfounded - the extra space makes a lot of difference vs E and the PE experience seems pretty consistent - I'll have no worries, as the Australians say, of booking it for my next family trip down under.

Great TR - glad such a long flight was so pleasant for you

Sounds like a great trip all round - time to start planning for next year

Thank you for the great TR. I have to agree with you about the better consistency of service in PE than Upper Class, particularly after a most disappointing Upper Class flight back from Hong Kong last December and great flights to and from Jamaica in PE last month.

Thanks for the TR - UC is very nice but comes at a price and PE comes in very nicely with some good benefits

Thank you for the great return TR.