Europe Self Recalibration

Ok so this ‘footprint’ is a long one as it’s about a flight. Carry on if that’s not your thing. With the aircraft’s coffee machine leak repaired I boarded the flight about 1 hour late and settled into my window seat. A quick welcome champagne was quickly consumed before we began a taxi that felt as long as my last flight. Up and away into the sunny Sydney skies on the 11’ish hours flight across to Bengalaru (Bangalore) India. 🇮🇳

My flight would take me across Australia crossing the coast in the northwest tip of WA before overflying Bali, Singapore and then across the Bay of Bengal and into Bengalaru.

The true window seats offer good privacy from the aisle and it’s comfortable in both sitting and bed modes. Slightly hard to lie on your side but overall ok for someone of my height. Entertainment is a tad limited to what I remember but I rewatched Wonka and binged A Gentlemen in Moscow (5 episodes - not sure if that is it?). Music was a flashback to Savage Garden and no TayTay to be seen.

Once up I the air I started the marathon of eating with the starter of Tandoori chicken skewer with flatbread, turmeric pickles and raita. Delicious. A side of green leaf salad accompanied the meal. I’m not a fan of the salad as it’s just leaves, but Qantas seem to think it’s fancy. I’d prefer an actual salad. All of this washed down with a margarita. As the song goes, one margarita you can…. (thus I stopped at one 🍹).

Shortly after that, the first main was served. I opted for a Bannockburn roast chicken with soft polenta, green beans and a tomato and caper salsa. Chicken was dry and flavourless while the polenta and beans were nice. Dessert took about 45mins to appear with me opting for the cheese plate and fruit plate and a cup of tea. The CSM tried to persuade me to have an ice cream sandwich too, but I declined - already full.

The last bite was barely consumed and orders were taken for dinner - to be served in a mere 4 hours. In that four hours I was offered many snacks. Why I accepted them is beyond me but I did keep eating. Sure enough, the next meal came around quickly. Fortunately no starters for this meal so I was straight into the spicy Chettinad style chicken curry with baby potatoes, sautéed broccoli and rice. Quite a refreshingly spicy dish that energized me although lacked said potato.

If I’m honest, both lunch and dinner meals were very similar in their offerings and the dessert offerings were the same for both meals (despite no dessert being offered for dinner - not that I needed it). I feel this is a little unimaginative and a bit of a let down. The plant based starters were the same as my flight to Jakarta back in April. Mix it up Qantas.

Despite being a day flight everyone had their blinds shut and the cabin was dark. I opted to have my window slightly open to try and stay in the right circadian rhythm (yep I’m ‘that’ guy). I still had a slight nap early on in the flight but only an hour or so.

I found most of the crew friendly, especially the CSM but the crew member looking after me just gave me a weird vibe. She asked ‘Is this your first business class flight, are you enjoying it?’. I found her tone quite patronising and we got off to a bad start when I was told I couldn’t take photos or film myself onboard. On the flip side the manager was lovely and when I checked this with her, she said I was fine to and offered to take photos of me. I ended up with a stash of chocolates from her to take with me. #waytomyheart

Overall an ok flight - the cabin crew member looking after me put me in a bit of a down funk, but otherwise a comfortable 11+ hours. Only in Bengalaru for the night before heading to Mumbai in the morning.

The plane got a wash as we passed rain on arrival into Bengalaru airport where it is a comfortable 24 degrees. #summeriscoming

I feel that “Do you fly business class often?” Is the equivalent to saying “She doesn’t even go here” to an Avgeek ✈️. #meangirlsRead more