So June is here already and my oh my it is a month of austerity. I have a completely unscheduled trip to the UK brought about by an incredibly sad story. A cricketing colleague of mine passed away last year, he was the sort of chap that there is simply nothing bad that could ever be said about him. A wonderfully talented cricketer, fiercely competitive, yet the sort of bloke you’d really want to have a pint with after the game. I played against him for many years at club level and with him at representative and then club level. He will be sadly missed by many. I am heading back to Blighty to attend a memorial match in his honour.
Thanks to munitalP I took my first ever TT flight, survived, and reviewed it here. It was followed up by an all VA return to SYD on Queen’s Birthday Monday to show the delights of Sydney to a UK colleague over for the week. A cheapo Y fare up and a points + pay J return. One of the problems with being an expat pom in Australia is the constant requirement to show visitors kangaroos, koalas, opera houses and bridges! The trip did afford the opportunity to make a visit to the QF MCA Lounge and it is covered in my lounge review here.
The trip to Blighty had the feeling of unreality about it. I was flying midweek, a couple of days after a public holiday. Parking had been prebooked, and seat 80A selected. (I really did not expect to be sitting here for both legs of my journey based upon past experience.)
I was still unsure about 80A, I would have preferred 35 J or K or 66A or K, I probably would have taken 32A, B, J, or K for the privacy of the compact upper deck Y cabin. As the day of my flight approached I checked expertflyer constantly to see if any upgrades had been processed that might free up my preferred seating. It was all to no avail and I feared I might actually have to fly the furthest back on the lower deck of a QF A388 in 43 sectors!
The day of travel arrived and unusually I was not prepared, my packing hadn’t been completed and I had odds and ends to tidy up at home. Usually I arrive at the airport three hours prior to departure, today it was only two. Constant rain forced me to take the long term parking bus, a rare occurrence, but surprisingly successful.
“There is a upgrade request to business in the system, but it hasn’t cleared yet, check with the service desk in the F lounge” were words that struck fear into my heart. Firstly my track record in upgrades at the F check in suite was 100% successful, and secondly those dreaded words had only one meaning for a WP1 - “You ain’t going anywhere!”.
There could not have been less purpose in my stride as I headed over to international departures, and my mood was not enhanced when a couple with a small child barged in front of the chap and family ahead of me in the security lane and then proceeded to take what seemed a Galapagos tortoise’s lifetime to unload all of their crap into the X-ray machine.
The F Lounge reception was chaotic with an older gentlemen attempting to organize his chauffeur service, and another gentleman checking the status of his upgrade. The system was apparently “not responding” and if my upgrade came through I would be called.
“Is priority boarding not available today” I asked as Y pax were processed ahead of F and FF’s. A red light and a beep at the gate was a welcome event...or was it.........
“You’ve been regraded”.
After some fiddling with the computer and a phone call it appears I had not been regraded. Pffft!
I can see why 80A gets such good reviews. A Y window seat with aisle access. The whole row was blocked too so plenty of room to spread out. As I got myself comfortable the screaming started. Zachary, bless his little heart, would have been about two, his parents had clearly got on the wrong flight with him. Bali or The Gold Coast would seem to have been more suitable destinations given their demeanour and manners. The parents were unable to learn from their mistakes as first orange juice flew across the cabin and then tea. The screaming went on for about two hours whenever he did not get what he wanted and pretty much all of the time he got what he wanted. He did sleep for a while only to wake and spill his mothers tea all over his seat necessitating a change of seat cover.
The CSS did know where 80A was and made frequent, although perhaps not quite frequent enough, deliveries of shiraz from F, followed up by a couple of Jamiesons. I fell into a stupor for a good 5 hours, opting not to dine at all.
The only downside of 80A is disembarkation. It does take a long time and leaves one at the end of a line for the security re-check, although the latter is very efficient. Little Zachary, bless him, decided to push and pull my carry on. His mother played hardball with him, “Zachary, that is not your bag” she said, as he just carried on, she lost interest at that point.
There is little more to say about the DXB F lounge than has already been reported. It is as good a lounge as I have ever visited, huge enough to be able to find plenty of quiet nooks and crannies and possessing an excellent restaurant. If I have a criticism I’d have to say boarding from the lounge starts too late. If one is in Y you miss the initial queues but are left at the end of a long queue on the aerobridge. My lounge review can be found here
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