SIN-LHR-BCN-LHR-SIN on QF Premium Economy and BA Y...and Nancy Bird Walton (PART I)

[yflyer]

Hi everyone! I am going deviate from my usual TR format and post this TR in multiple parts. This is because of the separate legs of the journey involved and the sheer volume of content (more than 100+ photos...), and also hopefully to see if we can turn this into an interactive discussion! I have no issue with lurkers on a forum...I was a lurker myself for a long time, reading posts without posting, until I felt I had something interesting to say...but I appreciate the feedback from other readers, and just the satisfaction of knowing that someone else is reading this, and finding it useful, or at least entertaining.

This is another TR on QF (and BA). I intend write an SQ TR sometime soon. In fact I am booked on SQ next week in Y. I do love SQ, but at this stage, it seems that almost all there is to say about SQ has been said, and well, until the new cabin products are announced, I doubt I will add anything new to the SQ or Star Alliance body of knowledge on this forum, that other folks on this forum have contributed -- and I have enjoyed many posts on this forum over the years!

So enough of longwinded introductions. Last week, I had the opportunity to attend an industry trade show in Barcelona, and I flew there on Qantas and BA, via London Heathrow. By an accident of fate, meaning the flights were too full in Y, I got to fly Premium Y, rather than back-of-bus Y, for the SIN-LHR and LHR-SIN legs. I also got to experience Heathrow T5, which I had previously known only from the press from their opening day hiccups. Thankfully things at T5 have settled down, and it was smooth as clockwork. I also got to try the BA lounges in T3 and T5 and experience BA Y from LHR to BCN.

But QF Premium Economy is the focus of this TR, and in the light of QF moving their hub from Singapore to Dubai, future opportunities to fly QF are likely to be very rare for me.

I literally experienced tingles down my spine as I left the aircraft in Singapore at the end of my trip. As I walked off the plane down the aerobridge, I glanced at the wheel well of the QF plane that brought me from Heathrow and saw the letters QA. This was the first A380 delivered to QF: VH-OQA, Nancy Bird Walton, that was operating as QF32 when it experienced an uncontained engine failure, and which Captain Crespigny and his crew flew safely back to Singapore. In Singapore, the aircraft was repaired, and VH-OQA entered service again in April 2012. My flight from LHR to SIN on VH-OQA was a near flawless flight...a fitting epilogue to many flights on QF in the last twelve months.

[yflyer]

The first leg of my journey was SIN-LHR on Qantas, and began at Changi Airport T1.

One innovation in T1 I had not experienced before was a separate queue and entrance to the gate holding area for business/premium/FF pax.



This enabled me to skip the long Y pax queue into the security/holding area. My outbound flight was delayed an hour arriving from Sydney, but they had telephoned me to inform me earlier, so I was able to plan my schedule accordingly. The catering trucks were still loading the aircraft when I arrived at the gate, probably in a mad rush to turnaround the aircraft after the delayed arrival. The aircraft today was Qantas A380 registration VH-OQH, Reginald Ansett.



Boarding was called, and I happily trotted up the aerobridge to the upper deck, premium economy boarding pass in hand. The curvature of the fuselage is quite apparent from the upper deck door.



While on my way to my seat, I passed the business class cabin, arranged in 2-2-2 layout. While not as spaciously laid out as SQ's 1-2-1, the Qantas fully flat Skybeds are comfortable in their own way, and I did not have any trouble sleeping on them the last time I flew QF J. The picture below shows the business class cabin.



On red-eyes, like this flight, the business class seats each have a little menu card, shaped like those breakfast cards that hang on hotel door knobs, for passengers to indicate their breakfast preferences. A nice touch.



Here is another view of the J cabin, taken from my return leg, showing the rear of the distinctive curved shell of the skybed.



Towards the end of the upper deck, we reach the premium economy cabin. The next picture shows Premium Economy.



The seats are laid out 2-3-2, and have both greater recline and greater width than economy seats.





The seats come with footrests and in-seat power. These are very comfortable seats, with good padding, and a design keeping with the same theme as the J and Y seats.



Pillows and blankets are large and full sized, similar to business class. The headphones are active-noise cancelling, similar to those in J as well.



The lambswool blanket is large and soft.

[yflyer]

Pre-take off drinks were served. In premium Y! You have a choice of juice, water or sparking wine.



I had a glass of sparking chardonnay before take-off.



This was my first experience on QF premium economy and it was starting to look very promising!

The IFE is the latest Qantas AVOD system, with the IFE screen stored in the armrest. This is the same screen size found in QF Y (and also SQ Y). While not a massive screen, it is large enough for an enjoyable experience. Video/audio quality is great, and the movie selection is good, with many of the latest Hollywood movies, as well as a more eclectic selection of regional and Australian movie and television selections. The only downside to the flip-out screen is that it has to be stowed on take-off and landing, which means that you cannot watch the take-off and landing on the Skycam mounted on the tail of the A380.

[yflyer]

Printed menus were handed out. Unlike some other airlines, whose premium economy food is similar to Y, Qantas has crafted a cabin-specific menu in between Y and J, and in fact quite close to J.



You have a choice of two main courses for dinner.



There are also hot sandwiches available as snacks during the flight, and a choice of hot or continental breakfast prior to landing.



There is a very good wine and beverage selection available. For wines, there were two reds and two whites, showcasing different wine regions and varietals in Australia.

[yflyer]

Dinner service began with a pristine white table cloth laid over the tray table.

I chose the braised pork with cider as my main.

A large tray with the full dinner was then presented, together with your choice of wine or beverage, presented in real glassware, ceramic plates and casseroles, and metal cutlery.

As you can see from the tray, apart from the fact that dinner was served all at once, and not course by course, this would easily make the grade as a business class meal.



The starter salad was crisp and fresh, and the braised pork was tender and flavourful.



Dessert came in a gold coloured cardboard box.



Overall, an excellent meal.

Service was very friendly and efficient. After dinner, the lights were dimmed, and the cabin rapidly quietened down as pax in the full cabin settled in for a good night's rest.

[yflyer]

I needed a little more help to go to sleep, so I ordered a gin and tonic. This was a G&T to die for: A large ice-cold glass of perfectly mixed G&T.



Many hours later, I awoke after a good rest. I decided to try a hot sandwich. The beef was not available, so I had a chicken schnitzel ciabatta instead. It took 15 minutes to prepare, but when it arrived, I could see why: this was a proper ciabatta, assembled fresh from its constituent parts in the galley, and tasted as good as any from a deli on the ground.

[yflyer]

By then, dawn was breaking over Europe, and soon the other passengers were awake and getting ready for breakfast.











Breakfast was served, and I opted for the cold breakfast with cereal.



I don't know why this should be, but there is something really cool about eating a proper bowl of breakfast cereal in cold milk onboard an aircraft, accompanied by a hot cup of coffee in a real coffee cup.



After quick landing preparations, the aircraft touched down smoothly at Heathrow on a cold, overcast morning, and taxied to the gate, where we parked next to an SQ A380.

[yflyer]

To sum up, an excellent experience, which surpassed my expectations of what premium economy could be. In fact, many aspects of the overall hard and soft product were closer to business class. The meals and the level of service on board certainly were.

Other airlines treat Premium Economy as a step up from Economy (a larger seat and precious little else), whereas QF Premium Economy is a major rethink of the product which is closer to the business class end of the spectrum. I have read on some other forums that some pax consider QF Premium Economy to be "business lite" and based on my recent experience I tend to agree.

I have already talked about other aspects of Qantas service in my TR on QF Y that I appreciate (SQ take note): Seatbelt sign hardly ever comes on (only in severe turbulence, not at every minor bump), you can use IFE all the way from start to finish (unless the screen needs to be stowed), you can use your cellphone as soon as the aircraft leaves the runway on landing, and the fact that the seatbelt sign comes on for landing preparations only 15 minutes or so before landing. These were all in evidence on this flight.

If SQ were to launch premium economy, this would be the product to beat.

Part II of this TR can be found here.

[9V-SIA]

Thanks for sharing yflyer

QF seats look very comfy

I wish SQ reintroduced premium economy like they had on A345s.

[yflyer]

9V-SIA: Thanks for replying! Yes it was a very comfortable QF PE seat. I tried the SQ PE once from SIN-EWRnonstop, back when they had exec economy on the A345...it was essentially a slightly larger seat (2-3-2 on an A345) but Y service and catering. Not as good as QF PE, but it was great for what it was (A little more space and comfort for a long flight). It was one of the most comfortable longhaul flights I had been on. I also wish they would bring back a similar service.

[SQtraveller]

Thanks for sharing yflyer

QF seats look very comfy

I wish SQ reintroduced premium economy like they had on A345s.

post deleted

[yflyer]

For SQ, their longhaul J hard product is so close to F (at least on the 77W) that I would think that they should be more worried about J cannibalising F than PE cannibalising J.