On QF's first 744 VH-OJA to Sydney, and the Qantas First Lounge in Sydney

[yflyer]

VH-OJA Final Flight

The first 744 in the Qantas fleet, VH-OJA, has flown her final flight, after 25 years of service.

http://www.ausbt.com.au/qantas-first...ght-on-march-8

[yflyer]

Interesting bit of news about VH-OJA, QF's first 744.

She was due to be retired in Dec 2014, with a final flight announced, and even flown in December...

http://www.ausbt.com.au/qantas-retir...boeing-747-400

But even after that, she has continued to fly, most recently operating QF108 JFK-LAX-SYD today...

[Kyo]

Must be the (lack of) lighting

[CarbonMan]

Got this today - Intensive hydating facial (50 min)

No wonder you look so young in all your photos.

[Kyo]

30 minutes, actually.

Yep.

They didn't follow the spa menu exactly...

[yflyer]

Got this today - Intensive hydating facial (50 min)

They had only reserved this one particular slot/treatment for BA pax. Didn't have to wait as I arrived on the dot at 2:59PM

It was better than I had expected (in contrast, BA's LHR CCR Elemis Spa was worse than I had expected, by quite a lot!)

Wow...sounds like 50 min of bliss!

[Kyo]

No, I have never tried the spa in the QF lounge, but the treatments on the spa menu were:

REVIVE
- Express energising facial (30 min)
- Foot and leg wrap (30 min)
- Neck, shoulder and arm massage (30 min)

RELAX
- Hand treatment for men and women (20 min)
- Foot massage (30 min)
- Back massage (30 min)
- Body massage (50 min)

MOISTURISE
- Eye contour and lips (20 min)
- Men's hot towel facial (30 min)
- Intensive hydating facial (50 min)

I somehow never manage to budget enough time at the airport to try these, though.

Got this today - Intensive hydating facial (50 min)

They had only reserved this one particular slot/treatment for BA pax. Didn't have to wait as I arrived on the dot at 2:59PM

It was better than I had expected (in contrast, BA's LHR CCR Elemis Spa was worse than I had expected, by quite a lot!)

[hsf]

Enjoyed this report very much. Excellent photos. Thank you!

[eminere™]

Ok probably not the best idea looking at all your pictures just before going to bed... Feeling peckish now!

[yflyer]

Wow the food offering looks fantastic! Looking forward to the other pictures.

Thanks, eminere!

Nice crop!

Thanks, CarbonMan! I usually only have an iPhone with me on my trips, but this time I was on vacation, and brought an Olympus E-P2...really went overboard taking pictures!

Looks very nice indeed, any idea if we were flying on BA, how early we could get a BP and get checked-in? Were you able to try the spa?

Thanks, Kyo! Good question...I have never tried checking in early on BA at SYD. It is amazing how few airports have early check-in facilities. We are really spoilt at Changi.

No, I have never tried the spa in the QF lounge, but the treatments on the spa menu were:

REVIVE
- Express energising facial (30 min)
- Foot and leg wrap (30 min)
- Neck, shoulder and arm massage (30 min)

RELAX
- Hand treatment for men and women (20 min)
- Foot massage (30 min)
- Back massage (30 min)
- Body massage (50 min)

MOISTURISE
- Eye contour and lips (20 min)
- Men's hot towel facial (30 min)
- Intensive hydating facial (50 min)

I somehow never manage to budget enough time at the airport to try these, though.

[yflyer]

Dessert, which we shared, was Pavlova, which was a big hit. Apart from the Pavlova, it came with ice cream, passion fruit and a sugary/candy-floss-like topping that made for a heavenly combination.



We also had coffee and hot chocolate, which were almost works of art...



All in all, a very pleasant transit before heading back to Singapore. Next time I do this, I am tempted to plan for an even longer transit time to enjoy the lounge and shopping at SYD...

[yflyer]

The mains we had were...

Tagliatelle..



Ravioli...



Ramen with dipping sauce...



And their signature burger...



Almost without exception, the starters and mains tasted excellent. I think Qantas made an excellent decision to entrust their catering (both on the ground and inflight in J and F) to Neil Perry.

The only dish that did not live up to admittedly lofty expectations was the burger, strangely enough. Given Neil Perry's reputation (and based on the burger sliders I ate at Rockpool Bar & Grill in Sydney) I was expecting a spectacular burger. This burger was good, but unexceptional. Maybe the chefs had an off day...

[yflyer]

By now, my wife and kids know the drill: no one eats off the plates on the table until after the food pics are taken

And the benefit of a group of four is that we got to try many different dishes from Neil Perry's menu....

Spiced carrot soup...



Salmon sashimi...



Salt & Pepper Squid...

[yflyer]

We requested a table for 4 at the dining area, and after a short wait, a table was prepared for us.



I picked a seat with a tarmac view...





Today, aircraft were taking off to the North, on Runway 34L, so instead of views of aircraft landing, we were perfectly positioned to view aircraft taking off.

I entered the lounge too late to take a picture of SQ's afternoon A380 flight, which took off a few minutes before we arrived at the lounge, but I did manage to snap a pic of Scoot's 777 taking off bound for Singapore.

[Kyo]

On the return leg, we found ourselves back at Sydney Airport in transit before our flight back to Singapore. Here are some pictures from the QF First Lounge in the International Terminal, as an appendix to the earlier coverage in this TR of this lounge.

*snip*

Looks very nice indeed, any idea if we were flying on BA, how early we could get a BP and get checked-in? Were you able to try the spa?