[QF009]

Featuring:
1) Qantas First Lounge Melbourne
2) Air New Zealand Business Premier, MEL-AKL-PVG-AKL-MEL
3) The Westin Bund Centre, Shanghai
4) Le Royal Meridien, Shanghai
5) Pics of lovely Shanghai
6) The Maglev

Coming soon...

[Shano]

I look forward to this report QF009. Shanghai is one of my favourite cities so I look forward to hearing your experiences there.

[turtlemichael]

Yes QF009. Becoming one of my favourite places too. All the details.

[simongr]

Well maybe not all the details

[QF009]

The Planning

I'd accumulated a huge bunch of Miles & More mileage the past year from all the *A flying I'd done, and so I'd made the decision to expend some of those mileage on a trip to PVG. A 90 000 miles business class award it was; a nice, rewarding way to treat myself after all the hard work earning those miles.

M&M uses an inflexible zones system in determining award redemption levels, and makes no exceptions for going via a third zone unlike some other programs like AAdvantage. MEL is in "Australia/New Zealand/Oceania" whilst PVG is zoned "Central Asia/Far East." Going via a third zone like "South East Asia" would require extra mileage, and this eliminated the more direct options like SQ and TG as those itineraries would've required stops in SIN and BKK respectively. I then had a choice between UA/OZ via SYD and ICN, or NZ via AKL. After all the rave reviews about NZ's long haul Business Premier product, I had no hesitation in purchasing seats on NZ's business class MEL-AKL-PVG-AKL-MEL.

To understate it, travelling on an award ticket always brings out that nice, fuzzy feeling of traveling for 'free.' This was especially heightened when the taxes on my ticket only came up to approximately A$80, ie only legit airport taxes! ^

Next: The Qantas First Lounge Melbourne

[QF009]

Pre-flight at MEL: An unexpected visit to THE Flounge

There was a lot of queuing at the NZ Premium check-in lane. A big group of mainland Chinese tourists discovered that they were standing at the wrong lane but were quite determined to stay put anyway, until security was called to escort them over to the whY queues.

I was a little worried that my ticket wasn't entirely kosher as there'd been some reissuing and Lufthansa had mucked up a few times, but all was well and I was checked through to PVG with my bag tagged the same.

I'd arranged to meet Reggie from AFF who'd offered to guest me into the QF Flounge. Reggie was also traveling to AKL but on QF. The QF website indicates that Reggie, as a QF WP, is entitled to bring in a guest who's 'travelling together.' To us FF nerds, this inevitably led to some debate about whether flying to the same city would suffice for 'travelling together' or whether we're supposed to be flying with the same airline. On the way to the Flounge, we'd strategised on various ways to slay the lounge dragon...

Our fears about having to fend off a snarling dragon were unfounded - I was allowed in without even the slightest 'please explain.' It was also a rather quiet time in the Flounge so that could be it. Besides, Reggie's flight was massively overbooked and they'd had to bump people on to my flight. So my first visit to the Flounge had occurred sooner than I'd expected. Christmas had literally come early.

It is almost always the case that the promotional pictures always make lounges/hotel rooms/airline cabins and what not seem much nicer than they actually are in reality. The QF Flounge however was not done any justice at all by its promotional literature!

The combination of colours in the Flounge established a very relaxing and soothing atmosphere - white marble surfaces matched with dark purple carpets, ruby red leather seats, dark furniture framed by Jarrah. The design of the furniture, widescreen tvs and the decor lent a cozy, ultra-modern feel to the place. Unlike the rather formal and stiff eating areas of the LH FCL/FCT, the QF Flounge restaurant area was more casual and looks much more relaxing. The only feature that I wasn't really thrilled about was the flicker style flight display - the noise it generated whilst flicking was pretty distracting especially when trying to have a convo.

[QF009]

As it was such a quiet time in the Flounge, the service was reasonably prompt. I had a delicious cheese, gruyere and ham omelette. Portion was a little bit on the small side but I wanted to have room for the onboard cuisine anyway. There was a good range of alcohol including some of my favourite Victorian wines, as well as the bubbly stuff. I had a glass each of the Veuve Clicquot NV and Moet NV, the former of which washed down my breakfast very well.



I almost had to be dragged out of the Flounge when the time came to board my flight, as Reggie would attest to. It'd be a long 7 months before I achieved AA EXP status and be able to access the Flounge in my own right; but for now I'd simply scan various lounge meets directories very religiously

Next: NZ124 MEL-AKL J

[QF009]

Sector - MEL-AKL
Flight number - NZ124
Class - Business
Seat - 3K
Aircraft - B747-400

I'd missed my boarding call and NZ did not have a separate queue for premium passengers. Consequently I'd to join the hoi polloi in boarding the aircraft. At least it was orderly.

I'd picked a seat in the nose as the upper deck cabin is shared with Premium Economy, and appeared to lack any ounce of exclusivity. That sounded just a touch snobby but if I'm flying Business - I do not want to have a shared cabin, and crew with a lower tiered cabin. I also do value priority dis/embarkation...

Sitting in the nose turned out to be a fine choice. I was in the forward-most cabin which was smaller and hence felt pretty private. There was a family with 2 young children in the same cabin but the kids were mercifully rather well-behaved throughout the entire flight.







Pre-take off drinks were offered as soon as I was seated. A choice of orange juice, water and sparkling wine were available - no prizes for guessing what I'd picked.



The cabin crew were generally friendly and attentive. My constant picture-taking must have conveyed the impression that it was my first time on NZ Business Premier, and one of the crew explained at length the intricacies of seat and the IFE system.

We then took off very much on time. Taking off in the herringbone configuration proved to be interesting, but not as 'different' as I'd thought it'd be. Drinks were again offered post take off, along with a bag of crisps. There wasn't any champagne offered on this trans tasman service and so I stuck with the sparkling wine, which was rather decent tbh. At this stage I was staring to notice that the cabin crew did not greet anyone by name. That took away some brownie points I was hoping to dole out in the inflight survey I was picked to respond to.

The seat, along with the ottoman were every bit as comfy as I'd expected for lounging. However I did find the herringbone configuration a bit anti-social as it wasn't possible to see my seat mates. This made it impossible to turn around to chat with the person next to me like I normally do.

[QF009]

Some wear and tear...

A full lunch was served shortly after the drinks service was completed. I accompanied my meal with NZ's very well-done garlic bread. We started with a rather bland appetiser of Karengo seasoned prawns on black bean angel hair noodles with cerviche dressing.



The meal was then immediately redeemed by the extremely succulent Seared peppered Cervena with roasted thyme vegetables and potato wafers.



I concluded with the adequately tasty Mango and pineapple trifle with caramelised pineapple and vanilla compote,



and had to decline the cheese plate as I was feeling very bloated by that stage, as tempting as the blue cheese and brie both looked.

I did not really employ the use of much of the IFE as I was trying to finish reading a newly acquired biography of Marie Antoinette. However the sight of Rockwell Collins did not fil me with a whole lot of confidence.

We landed in AKL in good time, and transmitting devices were allowed to be switched on once the plane had left the run way.

Full menu here.

Next: NZ89 AKL-PVG J

[turtlemichael]

Thanks QF009. Very good report and terrific pix. Looking forward to the next section. By the pic of (I imagine) your jeans and shoes you don't believe in dressing up for a flight?