American Airlines would take care of my domestic travel, New Orleans to Dallas to LA. Company policy states that flights over 6 hours would be flown in business class. Over 6 hours applied for the whole trip, so I got to fly first class domestically also. The nicest thing about flying in first class was the glass that the drinks came in, rather than the usual plastic cups. While this is not big deal at all, it stuck out in my mind because I was so used to the small, plastic, difficult to hold cups that it was weird holding glass on a plane…weird and kind of nice. The flight to Dallas was too short to do anything but grab a drink, but the flight to LA included dinner service. I’ve flown first class several times in the past, but I don’t recall flying during regular meal times. Dinner was an edible piece of chicken and a small salad followed by an ice cream sundae – not too bad!
I had a few hours when I got to LA and decided to try getting into the American Airlines lounge, the ‘Admirals Club.’ I had heard that a business class ticket would allow access…it did, with two drink passes. The lounge was big with areas to do some quiet work, a bar, showers, tv lounge, tables, and internet café. I stayed in the lounge for a while, and then caught a train over to the international terminal.
The terminal was packed. It seemed like there were several flights lining up to leave at the same time and these big planes that fly internationally hold so many people that the crowd it created was almost claustrophobic. Accidentally, I walked right into the 'business class' line for Qantas and was able to get right on the plane. My plane was an A380 a fairly new Airbus double-decker that has separate jet ways for the two levels. The plane was really massive in person and was very refined and modern on the inside. The top deck was business class, premium economy, and some economy seats. The bottom deck, connected by staircases in the front and back was first class and economy.
The business class seats really made the flight bearable. They were roomy and folded pretty much flat to sleep on. There was space in the aisles and plenty of bathrooms onboard.
By the time everyone loaded, we took off around 11pm. I wanted to stay up a while to start adjusting my schedule. I wasn't hungry, but they had rack of lamb on the menu so I had to try it, and it was actually pretty good. It was served with an asparagus salad and some red wine. Dinner was followed by a chocolate cake, and even though it was around midnight, I couldn't say no....to the cake or the cognac.
The entertainment system on the A380 was nice; they had large 10" touch screens and plenty of movies and TV shows on demand. I watched a movie after dinner and fell asleep around 1am LA time.
I was able to sleep for a good 7 hours. I woke up and walked around for about an hour. They were serving breakfast in a few more hours, so I watched another movie. I tried to read a little bit, but my slight headache made reading unpleasant. Breakfast was a nice omelet and some veggies. I flipped through some magazines after eating.
We landed and deplaned around 7am, which was 30 min late. I’m glad I booked the 10am flight to Perth rather than the 8am one because I wouldn't have made it. To get through customs, I had to show my passport to an agent, then go pick up my bags and get in a line for quarantine (where they check bags for food, mud, dirt, illegal items). Qantas gave all the business class an express pass. After I got my bags, the first agent in the quarantine line asked me some questions and then sent me down to the end towards a yellow door. I wasn’t sure what to expect here since not many people were going through it with me, but it turned out to be a bypass for quarantine and I got to skip the whole line saving probably an hour. My next task was to take a bus from the international terminal to the domestic. I had to recheck my bags and go through security again, but that was a fairly quick process. There was another business lounge in Sydney to use. It's pretty similar to the one in LA…I guess they're all similar. I took a shower and munched a little bit before heading over to my gate.
The flight to Perth was in business class also. They served salad for lunch and I had a glass of wine to go with it. I stayed awake for all of the flight since I was trying to adjust to the time change (13 hrs). I found my bags shortly after landing and walked outside to a nice sunny day. The line for cabs was short, so I was soon on my way to the hotel. I had been told that it’s customary to ride up front with the cab driver, so up front I rode on the way to the city!
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