A journey to Sofia and back on CX/BA/QF/SQ

[StarG]

Had to travel to Sofia, Bulgaria for work. Thanks to SQ for not clearing my waitlist on the A380 flight LHR-SIN, I was able to try BA and QF J long hauls for the first time, which turned out to be excellent!

CX776 CGK-HKG sold as BA4574. I am going to miss this boarding pass. Not really fond of their new style generic BP for all three classes.


Upper deck of B-HUF. A bit worn today but I liked the look when they launched it several years back.
Of course as expected, CX did an equipment swap on me from 74A to 744.


A beautiful afternoon...


Sauteed beef with assorted mushrooms in oyster sauce with steamed jasmine rice and Chinese mixed vegetables
Not really visually appealing but very tasty. I suspect this is catered ex-HKG?


First time on the upper deck of a BA B747-400. New generation Club World seat. Dare I say that with the window seats on the upper deck, there is really no need for First Class. Those are actually more private than SQ SkySuites or CX old F Suites. The upper deck side bins give you more space too.
The seats are very comfortable in any position. I was in one of the window seats - facing backwards. It turned out that sitting facing the back of the aircraft is not at all a problem. It was quite nice actually.






Seared tuna with lentil and grape tomato salad and dill mayonnaise dressing


Mushroom and sun-dried tomato ravioli in a Mornay sauce
Yeah should have taken the pic at the beginning of the meal.


Passion fruit and white chocolate cheese cake with a passion fruit coulis

[StarG]

BA Galleries Club (J lounge in LHR T5). Plenty of nicer pictures have been posted here before, so not posting my other blurred pics.


BA Club Europe seats LHR-SOF. Or should I say Economy Plus...


Club Europe breakfast on BA890.


SOFIA

The courthouse building in downtown Sofia.


Sheraton Sofia




The beautiful statue of St. Sofia


From inside a bazaar in downtown Sofia

[StarG]

Excellent weather throughout my stay in Sofia. Not so excellent traffic conditions though.
Beautiful sunset on my last evening there.



Traditional mixed salad with cheese.


Mixed grilled meats.


French fries: good. Cheese: good.


SOF - Sofia Airport


Check in area


Ugly BA boarding pass. Now I know what jjpb3 was talking about.

[StarG]

Very plain airside area of SOF


G-EUUH waiting to take me to LHR


The only First Class leg of my trip: LHR T5 - Paddington on HEX.


Grosvenor House by J. W. Marriott.





I was fortunate that jjpb3, jhm and phaleesy were in town that evening. Had a very good time catching up with them over dinner at Cigala.

[StarG]

The famous Four Seasons Restaurant on Queensway.


Inside the restaurant


Roast duck with rice


Barbecue pork


A couple of hours at Knightsbridge


Back to LHR - nice QF boarding pass with new Qantas logo


The only operational BA/QF lounge in LHR T4 for the time being - nothing to write home about.


QF10 LHR-SIN, B747-400 upper deck. (VH-OJM)
Just to report back - my 20" Tumi rollaway got into the upper deck bin just nicely. Anything bigger, or if the 20" bag was overpacked, they won't fit in.

[StarG]

Supper LHR-SIN
Note that supper is offered on demand - at anytime you wish, something SQ offers only in First Class.
Green Leaf Salad with Feta and Beans



Argentinean Beef Fillet with Horseradish Cream, Celeriac Gratin and Asparagus


Ginger Cake with Butterscotch Sauce & a piece of Valrhona Chocolate to finish things up.


Breakfast LHR-SIN
Breakfast service is definitely much better than on SQ J. You can pick and choose whatever you want from a hotel style breakfast order sheet (the thing you hang on the door knob outside your hotel room for next morning's breakfast order), leave it on the coat hook and they will come around and collect those.
You can pick and choose your own breakfast main course items for the plate. Again - something on par with SQ First Class.


Nothing much to report on SQ SIN-CGK - it was an uneventful, pleasant flight on my familiar airline.
The QF agent at LHR was able to check my luggage through LHR-SIN-CGK and print my boarding pass.
Arrived at SIN T1, went to Sony Style at T3 then to SKL where I saw Kiwi typing away on his computer.
My flight then departed T2 from gate F41.

Interesting to see SQ CGK recognized my QF Business priority tag and loaded it with the rest of J bags.

More menu booklets from the trip. BA First menu looks the classiest IMHO.
(Clockwise from top left: CX J menu & wine list, BA J & BA F menus, SQ J SIN-CGK menu, QF J menu & breakfast order form, QF F menu.)

[StarG]

In summary, I find BA & QF to be two very strong competitor to SQ for long haul J.
BA New Club World seats are VERY comfortable and private. QF seats are very similar to SpaceBeds, but slightly better with more sturdy feel & better table. As I understand, the J on their A380 is a non-angled fully flat version.
Service was great on both BA and QF, not much different from SQ in terms of level of service, warmth & attentiveness.
Both offer proper amenity kits (Elemis for BA & Korner for QF) and QF goes even further with sleeper suit (designed by Australian designer Peter Morrissey), something obviously SQ doesn't feel the need for long haul Business Class flights.
Meal service & quality is good on BA, and excellent on QF (do note that I didn't order all that was available on the menu on both long hauls).
The flexibility for time and choice is something that I am sure most passengers would appreciate.

Furthermore, a couple of suggestions for SQ:

1) Please source more qualitative packaged snacks for your J & F flights. The in between meal snacks on BA & QF put SQ's to shame. BA offers a wide selection including organic chocolates, organic Duchy Original cookies, etc.

2) Instead of asking pax to put the seatback upright & fasten seatbelts even though seatbelt signs are not yet turned on (a quite recent 'enhancement' to pre-arrival preparations), it is much better to do it like BA. At 20 minutes before seatbelt signs are illuminated, an announcement was made so that people who want to use the toilets can do so during the next 20 minutes, 'after which you will not be allowed to move around the cabin or use the restroom'. Decent commenced approximately 30 minutes prior to arrival as in on most flights, after which ten minutes later the seatbelt signs are turned on. This way, passengers can plan better with no unpleasant surprises (being told that it is time to buckle up & seatback upright even though seatbelt signs are not yet illuminated). I am sure it would be easier for the crew too.

Anyway, that's all I remember for now. Will add more as I remember more.

[KeithMEL]

Breakfast LHR-SIN
Breakfast service is definitely much better than on SQ J. You can pick and choose whatever you want from a hotel style breakfast order sheet (the thing you hang on the door knob outside your hotel room for next morning's breakfast order), leave it on the coat hook and they will come around and collect those.
You can pick and choose your own breakfast main course items for the plate. Again - something on par with SQ First Class.

Your QF breakfast tray looks bare. I usually end up ticking too many things.

Thanks for the lovely report.

[jhm]

First time on the upper deck of a BA B747-400. New generation Club World seat. Dare I say that with the window seats on the upper deck, there is really no need for First Class. Those are actually more private than SQ SkySuites or CX old F Suites. The upper deck side bins give you more space too.

The seats are very comfortable in any position.
[...]

I actually prefer a window seat on the BA UD to BA F - it's much more private; you get the window storage bins; and a proper power socket instead of Empower. Plus with the exit row window seat (the other side of the above picture), there's no surround around the foot stool which makes sleeping much more comfortable (compared to the Skysuite where your feet are stuck in the space under the LCD screen). Some people have also posted that they find the snack selection on BA F not as good as what's available in the J Club Kitchen.

Ugly BA boarding pass. Now I know what jjpb3 was talking about.

You get worse! The OLCI check-in machines at T5 (at least) spit out the boarding pass on flimsyfloppy heat transfer paper rather than the stiff cardboard in this picture.

The only other significant advantages of BA/QF J over SQ J I can think of (without mentioning the advantages of the latter over the former, e.g. BTC and the general food quality) include pyjamas on QF and the amenity kit on both.

Was the roast duck an anti-climax ? Or worth the trip out there ?

[StarG]

Your QF breakfast tray looks bare. I usually end up ticking too many things.

I was still quite full from my previous meals so decided to take it easy on the breakfast menu.

I actually prefer a window seat on the BA UD to BA F - it's much more private; you get the window storage bins; and a proper power socket instead of Empower. Plus with the exit row window seat (the other side of the above picture), there's no surround around the foot stool which makes sleeping much more comfortable (compared to the Skysuite where your feet are stuck in the space under the LCD screen). Some people have also posted that they find the snack selection on BA F not as good as what's available in the J Club Kitchen.

Exactly what I thought. With J (hardware) product that good, I imagine not many people would want to pay much more for First Class.
Although according to the FA on my flight, BA is revamping F in 2009 with just 9-10 suites in the nose of B744s.

Was the roast duck an anti-climax ? Or worth the trip out there ?

Roast duck was good but frankly I have had better in Hong Kong (at Yung Kee for example). But still, very much worth the trip there, especially after one week of Bulgarian foods.

[phaleesy]

Oi! I am so so disappointed. I thought you were going to give us a detailed account of an eventful (e.g. blocked toilets, bits falling off from the aircraft, hanky-panky tales involving crew and pax - not you! ) kangaroo flight.

Roast duck was good but frankly I have had better in Hong Kong (at Yung Kee for example).

I have never seen Four Seasons so empty before. Did you have the roast duck or the soya sauce duck?

[SQflyergirl]

Fantastic report sir

Sofia looks really charming!

also - First Class on HEX! How much is the premium over "standard" for the 15 minute ride?

[milehighj]

Thanks for the report and pics. Hope the trip was successful.

[Kyo]

Thanks for this lovely report.

Will consider visiting Sofia in the future - looks very charming.

And thumbs up for Yung Kee!

[StarG]

Oi! I am so so disappointed. I thought you were going to give us a detailed account of an eventful (e.g. blocked toilets, bits falling off from the aircraft, hanky-panky tales involving crew and pax - not you! ) kangaroo flight.

The thought crossed my mind several times, but was worried that someone might have a heart attack from the thought of his favorite airline going down the toilet.

I have never seen Four Seasons so empty before. Did you have the roast duck or the soya sauce duck?

I was there exactly at noon and there was already several tables ahead of me. When I left the place, the whole restaurant was full.
Hmmm.. thinking about it I think it was roast duck but with a lot of soya sauce. Thanks for the correction. Post edited.