Travelling to Vienna

We were due to leave Melbourne at 4:40 pm for Vienna yesterday, but didn’t eventually leave until just after 8:00 pm. The emergency door lighting function on the plane had failed and they had to fly a new part down from Sydney and then install it.

This was my third flight on The Qantas A380. The first part of our flight to Singapore was very much routine, but we were really feeling the late hour by the time that we arrived nearly 3 hours late. When we checked back in again for the onwards flight to London, we were very surprised to find that we had been upgraded to First Class. Many people had missed connecting flights, so Qantas were reshuffling people around the plane In order to consolidate those that couldn’t now travel to London in other ways.

Therefore, the second part of our trip was exceptionally memorable. After takeoff, the crew immediately made our seats up into beds by laying out a lambs wool mattress, sheet and a duvet over the seat. We given a pair of Qantas first class pyjamas, hung up pur travelling clothes in the wardrobe and made ourselves comfortable.

Meals were prepared to order, so I found myself sitting up in bed in my PJs and served a light dinner from various selections on the menu by a very engaging cabin attendant and enjoying a nice glass of wine. What a way to travel!

The crew provided an excellent standard of service throughout the flight and stopped by many times for a conversation and chat about our travel plans. This was quite a difference to our miserable experience on United Airlines a month or so ago when we were switched to them to come home from the USA. Apart from the fact that their cabin crew was surly and disinterested, the standard of United’s first class product is somewhere between the Qantas’ Premium Economy and their Business Class..

Right now, we are sitting in the BA lounge at Heathrow waiting for our onward connection to Vienna. We will arrive there in the mid afternoon and will look forward to a shower and a change into clean clothes.