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Review: Cathay Pacific Lounge, Taipei (Terminal 1)

11 Years On, Still Worth Arriving Early?

If there’s one thing Cathay Pacific is really good at, it’s consistency across its products, and this holds true for its lounges as well. If you have been to several of their lounges across the world, you’d realise the immense discipline they put into ensuring a single vibe, no matter where you are in the world.

For this review, I was leaving Taiwan on Cathay and had the chance to spend a couple of hours at its lounge in Taipei. This is a very well reviewed lounge, so let’s take a different angle: how does it hold up with time?

At a glance 7.5/10

WhereTPE T1, Level 4

Hours05:20–22:00

AccessCathay Silver^*, Business Class, or oneworld Sapphire/ Emerald

First Opened2015

Must DoNoodle Bar

Can’t doShowers

^* Only when travelling on Cathay-operated flights

Verdict: Eleven years on, it has aged gracefully. Come hungry, and come early.

Cathay Pacific opened its Taipei Taoyuan lounge in November 2015. Most English-language reviews date from the few years after that, and the fit-out is still the original.

Rather well. I dropped in before CX421 to Hong Kong, and found a lounge that still held up very well. There are a few scuffs at the edges, and the Noodle Bar is still the best reason to show up early.

In this review

Getting to the lounge
Access Policy
The layout
Eleven years on: how it’s aged
The Noodle Bar
Food Hall
The Bar
Working in the lounge
Washrooms
Final thoughts

Getting to the lounge

Lounges at Taipei Taoyuan Terminal 1 are either incredibly easy or difficult to find: most of them line up in a row, or you might have to wander the terminals to find it. Lucky for Cathay Pacific passengers, they have a pretty good location, pretty close to immigration.

To get there, clear security and immigration in Terminal 1, take a left turn towards the B gates, then once you are past the duty free shops, you will see a flight of stairs on the left. Take that stairs up to Level 4. Once up the stairs, Cathay is the first lounge you will see.

Taipei Taoyuan Airport Terminal 1 lounge directory

Six lounges share this corridor: two China Airlines lounges, two Plaza Premium lounges, STARLUX’s Galactic Lounge, and Cathay Pacific’s lounge. Cathay’s is the only oneworld option, so if you are taking other oneworld carriers, this should be the lounge you head to.

The entrance is styled in typical timeline Cathay style, a dark grey wall panelling, with a warm cherry-wood reception. Once in, the reception will scan your boarding pass and whisk you into the lounge pronto.

Cathay Pacific lounge entrance at Taipei Taoyuan T1, with a wood-panelled corridor — Cathay Pacific Taipei lounge entrance

Cathay Pacific’s dozen flights a day typically depart from the B gates. The board inside showed the evening’s Hong Kong flights leaving from B4 to B9, so you should allow yourself at least 10 minutes for the walk. My gate for the day was at B9 and I took about seven minutes to get there.

Access policy

At Taipei, Cathay offers lounge access for business and first class passengers travelling on Cathay and other oneworld carriers, as well as oneworld Sapphire or Emerald members.

For travellers on Cathay Pacific, the airline has a policy of honouring the highest class of travel within the same journey to determine your lounge entitlement, so if you are travelling in economy out of Taipei but connecting to a business or first class flight from Hong Kong, you will still get lounge access.

Class of travel	Access	Guest POLICY
First	Yes	CX Diamond – 2 guests oneworld Emerald – 1 guest All others – 1 guest
Business	Yes	CX Diamond – 2 guests oneworld Emerald & Sapphire members – 1 guest All others – none
Premium Economy & Economy (CX-operated)	CX Silver oneworld Emerald, Sapphire	CX Diamond – 2 guests oneworld Emerald & Sapphire members – 1 guest All others – none
Premium Economy & Economy (oneworld-operated)	oneworld Emerald, Sapphire	CX Diamond – 2 guests oneworld Emerald & Sapphire members – 1 guest All others – none

The only thing worthy of note is that Cathay offers its own Silver members access to their lounges when flying on Cathay Pacific-operated flights. While they do not get guest entitlements, this is still a pretty solid perk of being a Cathay member.

Note that Cathay can limit access for partner-airline passengers at peak times, but this rarely happens given the size of the lounge.

Important!

Cathay Pacific has tightened lounge access rules earlier this year by strictly enforcing that a passenger’s eligible Frequent Flyer Program (FFP) number must be printed on their boarding pass to gain entry.

What this means is that if you are flying with Cathay Pacific, you must have your FFP number (with the corresponding status) printed on your boarding pass in order to gain admittance into the lounges.

Once you have completed check-in, lounge agents will no longer be able to manually change your FFP on your boarding pass, and they will also not be able to grant you access just by showing a valid FFP card.

The layout

When it opened, the lounge covered 1,253 square metres with seats for 245, about 100 more than the lounge it replaced. It was also one of the first to get Cathay’s Studioilse “home away from home” design, which has since rolled out across the network.

Laid out across a long rectangular space, the various spaces is arranged neatly across: first you enter into a beautiful food hall (quite a misnomer, more on that later), then to the noodle bar, before you reach the living room where the bar is located.

Eleven years on: how it’s aged

The good news is, the lounge doesn’t look like it has got 11 years on it. The bones are intact. Cherry-wood panelling, limestone floors, wooden grid screens and the green-glazed Noodle Bar tiles all look much as they did in the launch photos. The zoning still works too: a dining room of mustard leather booths, a long central aisle of armchairs, a bar at the far end, and quiet corners off to the side.

Direction signs to the Bar, Lounge, Bureau and Washrooms — Direction signs on a faded wood panel wall

A little known fact: this is also where Cathay debuted its Solo Chair, the high-backed armchair with privacy wings, a reading lamp and its own side table, which is a favourite so much so some other airlines have also copied the concept. It has since spread across Cathay’s network, and Taipei’s originals are still here. The linen cushions have gone a little slouchy, but these remain the best seats in the lounge if you want to be left alone.

Row of dark green Solo Chairs with brass reading lamps — Solo chairs

The wear shows where hands go: scuffed power panels, scratched tabletops, and one of the two self-pour beer taps out of service on my visit. None of it is shabby, but instead, it reads as a well-kept older room rather than a new one.

Cathay Pacific Taipei lounge power sockets — Worn power sockets

Self-pour Taiwan Beer taps, one marked out of service — Out of service beer dispenser

While I was there mid-afternoon, most of the lounge spaces was quiet despite a couple of flights departing within the hour, except for the Noodle Bar.

The Noodle Bar

The Noodle Bar is practically a signature across all Cathay lounges, and at Taipei, this is still the star. Despite being nested in a relatively small area, the space feels like a posh canteen, with two large communal tables and a dozen booth seating spaces for smaller groups.

Green-tiled Noodle Bar counter with stools — Noodle Bar

Noodle Bar dining area with mustard leather booths and communal tables — Noodle Bar dining area

In the morning hours the bar serves up breakfast fare, and from 11am, the lounge offers an all day menu. The all-day menu is printed in English, Chinese and Japanese, presumably for the Japan-bound crowd on Cathay’s Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya flights from Taipei.

Noodle Bar all-day menu in English and Chinese — Noodle Bar menu

For the menu this season, there are 12 dishes:

Signature noodles: wonton noodles, dan dan noodles
Taiwanese specialities: tomato red-braised beef noodles, braised pork rice, crispy pork chop rice
Dim sum: shrimp and pork siu mai, king oyster mushroom siu mai, radish and soy-meat bun, black sesame bun
Everything else: Japanese udon with tofu skin, pumpkin vegetable pasta, rosemary chicken with seasonal vegetables

Five of the twelve are vegetarian, which is very Taiwan.

I didn’t try any of the food this round, but based on how busy the Noodle Bar was, one can only conclude that the food can’t be too shabby.

Food Hall

This hall is a bit of a misnomer: there’s no hot buffet, given all the hot food comes from the Noodle Bar.

What the Food Hall offers is only a cold spread: salads (garden greens, seasonal fruit, quinoa and edamame chicken), bread and nuts. Next to it, a chiller holds brie, smoked cheese, Parma ham, smoked chicken, sandwiches, York cheesecake and panna cotta. Jars of seaweed popcorn with rice crackers, strawberry cookies and pretzels sit by the newspapers. Very Scandinavian, and very sad if you ask me.

Cathay Pacific Taipei lounge food hall — Food Hall

Salad counter in the Food Hall — Cold food options

Chiller with cheese, cold cuts and desserts — Cold food options

The Bar

This is where the bulk of the lounge seating is, complete with different variants of seat choices and configuration.

Cathay Pacific Taipei lounge bar — The Bar

Right at the end of the lounge was the bar, where you could grab a glass of wine, or order a coffee. On the menu, the Cathay Delight (kiwi, coconut and mint) is still on the list, alongside two newer signatures, Ginger Forest and Orange Dream. Iced bubble tea is billed as the “Taiwan specialty”. For those who need their caffeine fix, the bartender is also a barista who handles coffee.

Cathay Pacific lounge beverage and wine list — Beverage and wine list

Drinkers will be happy to know that champagne is now on the list, with the bubbly of the season as A. Robert Cuvée 1722 Brut. There is also Taiwan Beer, which comes in Gold Medal and Classic, with Gold Medal on a self-pour tap.

The one miss: for a lounge this proud of its local food, there’s no Taiwanese whisky. Macallan 12 is the only single malt on the list, and Taiwan’s own Kavalan is nowhere to be seen.

Working in the lounge

If you have work to do, there will be several options for you to get it done.

The Bureau: Cathay’s term for a business centre, this is still here nearer to the entrance, but the dual-OS iMacs it launched with have mostly given way to Windows PCs. I counted only two iMac stations.

The Bureau work area with PCs and iMacs — The Bureau

The Lounge: this is where the couches and armchairs are located. Where there are side tables, they have a pull-out drawer with universal sockets and USB-A ports but no USB-C, so a Singapore three-pin plug works without an adapter.

Wifi: The lounge wifi runs at a reliable speed. When I conducted a speed test in the afternoon, it clocked 22.6 Mbps down and 17.9 up, which was fine for email and streaming.

Wifi speed test showing 22.6 Mbps down and 17.9 Mbps up — Wifi speed test (Google)

Washrooms

First things first: similar to the Singapore lounge, the Cathay Taipei lounge has no showers.

For the washrooms, Cathay stocks Bamford hand wash and lotion sit on travertine counters, though the scent was forgettable.

Bamford hand wash and lotion on a travertine counter — Bamford handwash and body lotion

Final thoughts

Design8.5

Seating8.0

Food8.0

Drinks7.5

Service7.5

Amenities6.5

Work facilities6.5

The Cathay Taipei lounge is still a very solid lounge despite its age, and is arguably the best lounge among its peers on the same floor.

My top-most wish for this lounge, as with the Singapore lounge, is for showers. While Cathay’s argument may be that short haul passengers do not need showers, a little extra perk such as this will allow passengers on evening flights to Hong Kong a chance to wash up at the lounge first before taking their flight, especially if they had to check out of their hotels earlier in the morning.

All said and done, eleven years is a long time in lounge years, and this one wears it well. The Noodle Bar seems to still do its signatures and local delights properly, the Solo Chairs are still the quietest seats in the lounge, and the wear is largely cosmetic.

21 October 26

Review: Cathay Pacific A350-1000 Business Class, Amsterdam to Hong Kong (AMS-HKG)

This is a long overdue trip review that was meant to be a restart of this dormant website. My day job has gotten the better of my time over the past years, so much so that the inertia to jumpstart this sleeping baby took a while to go.

After going to Tomorrowland for the first time in my life (that’s another story for another day), I spent a couple of days in Amsterdam before heading back to Asia on Cathay. Why Cathay? It was a very practical reason: beyond the ME3 carriers who were trashing fares due to the Iran war, it was much cheaper to fly with Cathay during the typically busy summer season.

Amsterdam also turned out to be a good choice of airport to fly out of, as several of my friends who flew out of Brussels had missing luggage, only recovered after dozens of emails and two weeks later.

I decided to do a review of this flight, simply because of how good simple can be. Cathay runs a consistent product, and while it’s not entirely life-changing, the reliability triumphs.

Cathay’s A350-1000 business class is a very comfortable way to get from Europe to Asia. The seat is a proven performer, wifi is free, and the catering (especially the burger and pork rib soup) was genuinely solid.

At a glance 8/10

FlightCX270

RouteAMS → HKG

DateJul 2026

Departs12:20

Arrives06:10 (+1)

Scheduled time11h 50m

AircraftA350-1000 · B-LXQ

Seat15K · Business

Verdict: A proven seat, free wifi and a burger worth staying awake for. The lunch service, however, needs a stopwatch.

In this review

Booking
My Flight Today
Check-in at Schiphol
The oneworld Lounge
Boarding and departure
The cabin and seat
Amenities
The bed
Lunch
Mid-flight snack: the burger
The wine list
Breakfast
Entertainment and Wi-Fi
Service
Arrival
Final thoughts

Booking

For this trip, I made a cash booking, with my trip originating from Kuala Lumpur. Across Southeast Asia, you can generally find significantly lower fares on premium cabins from other cities, even after factoring in repositioning flights.

By starting and ending in Kuala Lumpur, I spent only about MYR10,700 (USD2620) on the return business class fare. A similar trip out of Singapore or Bangkok will cost at least MYR3,000-5,000 (USD740-1220) more.

As a Qantas platinum frequent flyer, I naturally credited my points and status credits to Qantas Frequent Flyer. While this gives me less points than what I’d have earned crediting them to Cathay’s own programme, I needed the status credits to requalify for platinum the following year.

This is what the trip would have earned you on Qantas and Cathay’s programme:

Earns	KUL-HKG (each way)	HKG-AMS (each way)	Return total
Asia Miles	3,500	10,000	27,000
Cathay Status Points	35	100	270

Earns	KUL-HKG (each way)	HKG-AMS (each way)	Return total
Qantas Points	2,500	7,400	19,800
Qantas Status Credits	80	120	400

For context, both Cathay Diamond and Qantas Platinum get you oneworld Emerald. Cathay Diamond takes 1,200 Status Points, so this one trip covers 22.5% of it. For Qantas Platinum, I only needed 1,200 Status Credits to requalify (1,400 from 2027), so the trip covers a third of my requirement. Not bad for a summer holiday.

My Flight Today

My journey home today flew as follows:

CX270 Amsterdam (AMS) to Hong Kong (HKG), departing 12:20, arriving 06:10 (+1)
MH79 (sold as CX6011) Hong Kong (HKG) to Kuala Lumpur (KUL), departing 08:45, arriving at 12:45

Check-in

At Amsterdam Schiphol, Cathay Pacific’s check-in row is located at Departure Hall 3, rows 23-24. As a oneworld Emerald, I could use the first class counter, which had no queue. Fair enough, since Cathay doesn’t fly first to Amsterdam, this was essentially a counter for oneworld Emeralds, including Cathay diamond members.

Naturally, check-in was very fast and smooth. The agent was also very helpful in providing advice on tax refunds: she handed us our boarding passes first, and pointed us in the right direction to get our tax refunds done before coming back to drop our bags.

Schiphol is running at a very high volume, and it shows. After bag drop, we were sent to the security screening at Departure Hall 2, a five-minute trek through a packed terminal. Thankfully, business class passengers get a separate entrance at security, which made short work of the queue.

The funny thing about Schiphol is the awkward walk you didn’t sign up for. We checked in at Departure Hall 3, then were made to trek to Hall 2 to clear security and immigration, then walk back towards the non-Schengen gates in Hall 3. I suspect the layout was designed by someone with a daily step target.

The oneworld Lounge

Cathay sends its premium passengers to the alliance-branded oneworld Lounge, which is thankfully a short walk after immigration in Departure Hall 2. After the step count so far, my legs were grateful. It sits between the D and E gates, one floor above the main walkways on Level 3, and is signposted as Lounge 40.

The lounge is fairly new, having only opened in February 2024 as oneworld’s second branded lounge after Seoul Incheon, and its first in Europe. It took over the space of the former British Airways lounge which closed after the pandemic, and covers 473 square metres. Swissport’s Aspire brand runs it day to day, sharing a kitchen with its own Aspire lounge next door.

Access is for oneworld Emerald and Sapphire members, plus First and Business passengers on oneworld airlines, departing outside the Schengen area.

Boarding and departure

Our departure today was was from gate G3, about a ten-minute stroll from the lounge. Waiting there was B-LXQ, a 2022-delivered Airbus A350-1000.

The A350-1000 is the stretched version of the A350-900, and Cathay uses the extra length to fit 54 more seats:

Cabin	A350-900	A350-1000
Business	38	46
Premium Economy	28	32
Economy	214	256
Total	280	334

Boarding began at around 11:40 and wrapped up well before the 12:20 scheduled departure. This was also just about enough time for me to finish up the pre-departure glass of champagne offered.

We pushed back at 12:37, then spent 17 minutes taxiing. Schiphol’s runways are spread so far apart that taxiing can feel like a tour of the Dutch countryside. We were finally airborne at 12:54.

The cabin and seat

Cathay’s A350-1000 has 46 business class seats in a 1-2-1 reverse-herringbone layout, all in one long cabin between the first and second set of doors. Every seat has direct aisle access.

Cathay Pacific A350-1000 business class cabin layout (source: AeroLopa)

As you can see from the layout above, there are only two lavatories for the cabin of 46 seats, both of which are located at the front of the cabin. For those seated towards the rear of the cabin, there are also two more lavatories in the galley section behind the cabin.

For the flight today, I was seated in 15K, a window seat on the right side of the cabin, with two windows all to myself.

Surprisingly, when I first made my booking, all the centre pairs were already taken. Travelling with a companion, I’d hoped for one of those, but none were available even four months before the flight. Apparently every couple in Europe had the same idea. In fairness, the centre seats are so private that you’d have to lean well forward to chat anyway.

Travelling as a pair?The centre pairs in Cathay’s A350-1000 business cabin were all gone four months before this flight. If you want to sit together, select seats the moment you book.

The seat is Cathay’s customised version of the Cirrus reverse herringbone, originally made by Zodiac and now by Safran. Cathay has flown versions of it across its long-haul fleet since 2011, and apart from the newer Aria Suite (which I’ve yet to try), this is still the airline’s main workhorse. It’s one of the roomier reverse herringbones around, especially at the footwell, which doesn’t taper into the usual narrow cubby.

Here’s what’s where:

Side panel: a touchscreen IFE remote, a reading light, and seat controls with presets for upright and full-flat.
Side cabinet: this is where you can find your headphones, a Bamford amenity kit and a bottle of water when you first get to your seat. There is also the AC and USB-A power sockets located in here. The door has a small mirror, handy for checking for vegetables stuck between your teeth, or to make sure you don’t have the odd hair out of place after a nap.
Console: a generous side table, with the tray table pivoting out from beneath it, so you can still get in and out with the table deployed.
Storage: a lidded compartment beneath the side console, big enough for shoes and small gadgets, and still reachable in bed mode.
Overhead: reading lights only, with no personal air nozzles, so dress for the cabin temperature.

Side console with headphones, amenity kits

It’s a very solid business class seat, and still one of my favourites: direct aisle access for everyone, plenty of places to stash things, and a proper view out.

Amenities

When I got to my seat, the menus were already waiting, along with a pillow and a bedding kit and slippers tucked into the footwell. Cathay added mattress pads to its business class bedding in 2019, but only for long-haul flights from Hong Kong to Europe, North America and South Pacific.

Cathay Pacific bedding in a bag, plus bedroom slippers

The Bamford amenity kit and Cathay’s noise-cancelling headphones live in the side cabinet.

Cathay’s current partner for its amenity kit is Bamford, which are also the same amenities found in the lounges and bathrooms across its network on the ground.

The amenity kit is one of the more substantial ones offered in business class. Packed in a slick pearl-white faux leather pouch, the kit contains an eye mask, dental kit, ear plugs, body gel, and even mouthwash and a pillow mist.

The bed

A note about the bed first. The seat reclines into a fully flat bed at the touch of a button, and Cathay adds a bedding set on long-haul flights for better comfort. The bedding was comfy, but the pillow was a little too soft for my liking, with roughly the structural integrity of a German pillow. A second pillow would have helped. While this was a 12-hour red-eye flight, given I was already adapted to European hours, I only managed maybe 3-4 hours of sleep throughout the flight.

Lunch

On this flight today, there are two main meal services: lunch served after take-off, and breakfast just before the early morning arrival into Hong Kong.

While we were still on the ground, the crew came round to take lunch orders.

The food and wine menus are as follow:

As you can see from above, the menus were significantly more substantial than the intra-Asia business class service that I take a lot more frequently, both in terms of food choices and beverage options. For lunch alone, there was a whopping five menu options to choose from. Even though two of the options were all-day options, it’s still an impressive selection.

For lunch today, I went for the octopus salad to start, and the stir-fry prawns with jasmine rice for main, which came with a side of pork rib soup.

Kudos to the crew: service began within 30 minutes of take-off. First up was a canapé of prawn cocktail in an unnamed sauce, with another glass of champagne.

The octopus salad arrived ten minutes later on a tray, with a second crew member following with the bread basket. I took a customary piece of baguette, which was cold and hard enough to count as carry-on.

Octopus salad, sans bread (it came later)

I’m a fast eater and typically inhale my food in minutes. Most of the time the on-board service speed is able to match my eating pace, but to my dismay today, the main course arrived almost 30 minutes after the starter. The octopus salad turned out to be mere foreplay: there was time for a toilet break before the main event. At least the business class lavatories at the front of the cabin have windows and Bamford toiletries, so the wait came with a view.

The main course came just as I was starting to turning hangry. The prawns were passable, though the sauce did a much better job with the rice. The glorious winner was the pork rib soup, although I’m not entirely sure that wasn’t homesickness talking. It was so good I asked for seconds, which the crew gladly served.

Stir-fry prawns with spring onions and ginger in tomato sauce

For dessert, I asked for both the ice cream and the fruit plate, because holidays. Cathay serves Häagen-Dazs in every cabin, and today’s flavour in business was Belgian chocolate.

The fruit plate was a delicately arranged plate of four slices of different fruits. Cathay has always had an eclectic fruit selection: the watermelon, orange and dragon fruit were easy to identify, but the pale green crescent had me stumped for the rest of the flight. Back on the ground, forensic analysis of my photos says honeydew melon although I swear it didn’t taste anything like that.

And with my double portion of desserts, the entire meal service wrapped up a little over two hours into the flight. I made up the bed myself, then carried on sipping wine in front of a movie.

Mid-flight snack: the burger

About four hours after lunch, I was peckish again, perhaps due to it being closer to dinner time in Europe. So I guess it was time to check out the mid-flight offerings. And of course, the Cathay burger caught my eye.

Cathay’s burger is famous on its long-haul flights, and I was curious whether the fries would survive the journey from galley oven to seat.

The all-day menu, available on request throughout the flight:

Barbecued pork noodle soup
Vegetarian lasagne
Classic beef burger with cheddar, bacon and pickles on a toasted brioche bun, with fries
Galley snacks: Häagen-Dazs ice cream, Garrett caramel popcorn and other sweet and savoury nibbles

I pressed the call bell, and a crew member appeared pronto.

“I’d like a cheeseburger, please.”

“That will take about 20 minutes. Is that okay?”

“That’s fine. But can I have a glass of champagne first?”

Priorities. The glass came first, and I took my time nursing it. Like clockwork, the burger arrived shortly after.

The burger came assembled without vegetables, its lettuce leaf and tomato slice waiting on the side like optional extras. The thick-cut fries looked almost too glossy, as though someone had brushed them with oil before serving. The tray also had a knife and fork, and a small glass tub of Heinz ketchup. Bonus points for elegance.

Time for the verdict. The patty was surprisingly juicy and hit all the right spots. The fries deserve an honourable mention: deep-fried food rarely holds up at 30,000 feet, so I have to applaud Cathay for even trying. I prefer thick-cut fries anyway, so these were still pretty enjoyable with the ketchup.

Feeling greedy, and firmly of the view that calories don’t count above 30,000 feet, I asked whether the San Sebastian cheesecake from lunch was still available. Boy, it was, and I inhaled it along with another glass of the Chinese red.

The wine list

Speaking of wine, Cathay’s list plays it safe on paper: a champagne, then two whites and two reds from French, Australian and American labels. Look closer and there are quiet stars. La Dame de Montrose is the second wine of Château Montrose, a Saint-Estèphe second growth.

Type	Wine	Region
Champagne	Charles Heidsieck Brut Réserve NV	Champagne, France
White	Chartron et Trébuchet Chablis 2024	Burgundy, France
White	Westmount Pinot Gris 2023	Willamette Valley, USA
Red	La Dame de Montrose 2017	Saint-Estèphe, Bordeaux, France
Red	Kilikanoon Killerman’s Run Shiraz 2021	Clare Valley, Australia
Dessert wine	Graham’s Late Bottled Vintage Port 2020	Portugal
Chinese showcase, red	Puchang Vineyard Beichun Limited Edition 2019	Turpan Valley, Xinjiang, China
Chinese showcase, sparkling	Silver Heights Bloom Sparkling Wine 2023	Ningxia, China

The list also showcases two Chinese wines: a red from Xinjiang and a sparkling from Ningxia. I’d tried Ningxia reds several years ago and was already intrigued by how decent they were. Piqued, I asked for the Xinjiang red. The wine held up surprisingly well in the air, with enough depth and complexity for altitude. It went down rather well with San Sebastian cheesecake too, a pairing no sommelier will ever sign off on.

For the teetotallers, the signature drink is the Cathay Delight (kiwi, coconut milk and fresh mint). Coffee is by illy, tea is by JING, and there’s Hong Kong-style milk tea too. Don’t ask me how they tasted, because I hardly consume any non-alcoholic drinks beyond water.

Breakfast

Cathay asks business class passengers to pre-order breakfast on a card tucked into the menu. That spares everyone an ordering conversation at 4am Hong Kong time, an hour at which nobody should be making decisions about omelettes.

Breakfast came round about two hours before landing, with four choices:

Wellness breakfast: chia seed pudding with kiwi, Amarena cherries and dried apricots
Lighter breakfast: cold cuts with cheese, olives and bread
Chinese breakfast: chicken congee with stir-fried egg noodles and mixed vegetables
Western breakfast: cheese omelette, pork sausage, cherry tomato ragout and roasted baby potatoes

While it’s approaching early morning in Hong Kong, my tummy was clearly still in the mood for supper. Hence, I went for the Chinese option.

To my relief, the set arrived on a tray: a half-filled bowl of chicken congee, a side plate of stir-fried egg noodles and a small bowl of strawberries, blueberries, melon and mandarin. The congee had some flavour to it, although the noodles was pretty much bland with a rubbery texture. Noodles never really quite do well after a long time in storage, considering we were towards the end of the flight.

Entertainment and Wi-Fi

Cathay’s StudioCX entertainment system plays on a large high-definition screen, and it was competent. I’ve always liked Cathay’s selection of Asian films, and this flight was no exception.

Wifi was complimentary for all first and business class passengers, regardless of whether you are a Cathay member. You can connect one device at a time and switch between devices whenever you like. Having said that, travelling between Europe and Asia is always a bit of a toss-up as far as wifi coverage is concerned, there are pockets of times throughout the flight where wifi was unavailable.

However, if you are travelling in premium economy or economy, you will need to be either a Cathay member (for premium economy) or Cathay Gold member (for economy) to access free wifi.

Service

For those who are familiar with Cathay Pacific, its business class service tends to be efficient rather than effusive, and this crew fit that mould to the point. They were friendly and professional, from boarding through to landing. They greeted by name, and were fairly attentive throughout the flight.

The small things went well: meal orders were taken on the ground, lunch commenced fairly quickly after take-off, the call bell was answered almost instantly, and a second bowl of soup arrived without a second thought.

Between meals, the crew kept a low profile while the cabin rested. I generally prefer this than a prowling cabin crew, because if I needed service, I have the bell to use.

The one real wobble was pacing of the meal service. A near 30-minute wait between starter and main is long for anyone, although this might be a galley process problem. Having said that, the service was still very competent, and by this time I could be picking at bones for a weak spot.

Arrival

We touched down in Hong Kong at 05:48, 22 minutes ahead of the 06:10 schedule. It’s the kind of early nobody asks for at dawn, but landing early in Hong Kong does has its perks: a lighter transit security screening load, and also ample time to freshen up in the lounge before our connecting flight to Kuala Lumpur.

Final thoughts

Seat & bed8.0

Food8.0

Drinks8.0

Service7.5

IFE & Wi-Fi7.5

Value9.0

Cathay’s A350-1000 business class remains one of the most dependable ways to get between Europe and Asia. The seat is a proven performer, the wifi is free (although not necessarily fast), and menu hits all the right spots, with the burger and pork rib soup being genuine highlights for me.

The gripes were small but real: a lunch service that needed a stopwatch, and a pillow that needed a backbone. For a cash fare starting in Kuala Lumpur, it’s a solid 8/10. Unfortunately, with the additional fuel surcharge that Cathay Pacific has levied this year due to uncertain fuel prices, one will be hard pressed to find such a good deal in the near term.

16 October 26

Use Qantas points for Philippine Airlines award flights

Qantas Frequent Flyer has added Philippine Airlines as a new redemption partner to its fold, allowing members to book Classic Reward seats across the entire PAL network.

For Asia-based members, this is a meaningful addition to the award network, especially if you are planning your next Filipino holiday.

What’s new

Frequent Flyers can now use their points to reach 15 island destinations across the Philippines, including Boracay, Cebu, Palawan and more. Beyond the Philippines itself, you can also redeem your Qantas points for Philippine Airlines-operated flights to USA, Canada, Australia and even the Middle East.

The arrangement is two-way, so Mabuhay Miles members can also now redeem miles on Qantas domestic and international flights, including regional Australian destinations such as Adelaide, Hobart, Byron Bay, and Cairns. Outside of Philippines, I imagine there wouldn’t be many Mabuhay members anyway, so this may not be of interest.

Notably, this new partnership marks Mabuhay Miles’ fourth airline collaboration as PAL continues to expand its global loyalty footprint. Philippine Airlines most recently signed a similar tie-up with Qatar Airways, allowing members of both programmes to redeem miles for flights on both airlines.

A redemption-only arrangement for now

Before you get too excited: the partnership only allows you to redeem for flights on Philippine Airlines. You will not be able to earn Qantas points, nor can you receive lounge access (even Qantas lounges!) if you are travelling on Philippine Airlines.

How much does it cost?

Redemptions on Philippine Airlines will fall under Qantas’ partner classic rewards chart.

From Singapore, you are looking at 23,000 points and $177 in fees for a one-way economy class ticket to Manila, and business class will cost you 46,000 points plus $187 in fees.

Most domestic destinations in the Philippines will unfortunately require a one-stop journey via Manila.

For a journey to Davao, this will jack up the cost of redemption to 26,500 points and $205 in fees in economy, and for business, this goes up to 52,900 points and $215.

You can even go beyond Manila, to anywhere on Philippine Airlines’ network from Japan, Australia and even the US. I’ve outlined some of the redemption costs below for ease of reference.

Destination from Singapore	Economy (one-way points + fees in S$)	Premium Economy (one-way points + fees in S$)	Business (one-way points + fees in S$)
Tokyo, Japan	28,200 + $218	–	73,400 + $227
Beijing, China	28,200 + $205	–	73,400 + $214
Sydney, Australia	50,100 + $298	97,800 + $298	124,000 + $298
Honolulu, USA	51,800 + $374	98,200 + $384	125,400 + $384
San Francisco, USA	70,700 + $374		167,000 + $384
Toronto, Canada	76,100 + $320		182,900 + $330

One important thing to note is that Qantas calculates a mixed cabin itinerary as the sum of redeeming two individual sectors. Given that Philippine Airlines only offer premium economy on some routes, please be careful if you are booking — sometimes the premium economy option is more expensive than the business class option!

Redemption costs to Honolulu – See how Premium Economy is more expensive!

Final Thoughts

While Philippine Airlines is not exactly a world-class 5-star airline, this new partnership is a welcome addition that unlocks redemptions to new destinations.

With Philippine Airlines signing two new partnerships with oneworld carriers, one can only wonder if this is a sign of the airline considering to join the alliance. If so, this is definitely a boon for oneworld to further entrench its Asian network.

Nonetheless, given that Philippine Airlines does not belong to any alliance at the time of writing, their award availability should be fairly high since only a small number of partner programmes have access to the inventory. I’d imagine that Philippine Airlines will be a viable option to fly to some destinations out of Asia, such as domestic destinations within the Philippines, as well as some further destinations such as Honolulu, USA, Vancouver and Toronto, Canada.

6 June 26

FLIGHT REVIEW: Qantas A380-800 Premium Economy, Singapore – London Heathrow (SIN-LHR)

This is a long overdue review, but I thought it might still be good to put up one given the dearth of premium economy reviews, as I have realised while looking at whether it’s worth its price.

Having to head off to London for a short trip to attend to a personal matter earlier this year, I was choosing between Singapore Airlines or Qantas in premium economy, and decided to go with Qantas this time round.

While I have previously tried both Qantas’ first and business cabin, I was pretty excited to check out its premium economy cabin this time round for a couple of reasons. Right before Covid-19 hit Singapore, I had a trip planned to Sydney to try this cabin back in 2020, but obviously the trip got called off. This cabin is also a little bit of a unicorn, given that Qantas only has this class of travel on its A380s and B787s, of which Singapore only gets 2 A380 services a day: one to London and one to Sydney.

In this post:
• Flight today
• So what’s so premium about Premium Economy?
• Qantas Premium Economy
• Checking in
• Boarding
• The seat
• The service
• Qantas premium economy amenities
• In-flight entertainment
• Final thoughts

Flight today

Qantas QF1
Singapore (SIN) – London Heathrow (LHR)
28 February 2023
Scheduled departure: 11.55pm
Scheduled arrival: 6.25 am (+1 day)
Duration: 13 hr 50 min
Aircraft: Airbus A380-800
Seat: 34B (Premium Economy)

So what’s so premium about Premium Economy?

In an era not too long ago, business class seats were generally just a nudge up from economy class: a wider seat with a better recline, better food (remember, in the olden days, economy class food was actually quite a treat), and the perks of being upfront in the cabin.

But that era is long gone and forgotten by many (except if you are a frequent flyer in domestic US). Business class today, at least in the international sense, have evolved into an excellent experience for many if not most travellers, offering flat beds, sufficient dining, lounge access, and actually treats you like a normal human being, while economy class has all but improved since decades ago, with reduced practically everything from seat width to meal sizes.

Correspondingly, the price gap between the two has also widened, with business class seats going for as much as between 4 to 8 times of economy class seats. In airline economics, the pointy end of the cabin typically brings in most of the revenue for the flight.

So there is obviously a gap in between, airline managers said. What will people be willing to pay a good premium for to make air travel more bearable?

Enters premium economy.

The case for premium economy is a peculiar one. It first came into the market in the early 1990s with EVA Air purportedly being the first to do so, and many long haul airlines followed suit.

Singapore Airlines itself introduced its own version of premium economy, called the “Executive Economy”, in its non-stop flights between Singapore and New York, on the A340s, back in 2004.

This is what Singapore Airlines said about these seats in its annual report:

Designed in a very spacious 2-3-2 configuration, Executive Economy offers the industry’s widest economy class seats at 51cm, with an expanded seat pitch of 94cm. The seats also come with a larger 23cm personal
monitor and laptop power supply.
Singapore Airlines Group, Annual Report 04/05

However, Singapore Airlines took the cabin off the market later in 2014. The latest wave of premium economy cabins being widely available probably came in the last ten years or so, as demand for a in-between product picked up. The cabin has become so commercially popular that even carriers such as Emirates who are traditionally resistant to it, have also jumped on the bandwagon.

Qantas Premium Economy

Qantas runs a pretty solid premium cabin, with its first and business class cabins stacking up fairly well against major international airlines. As far as premium economy is concerned, this is a lesser researched and reviewed area, but for good reasons.

Qantas A380 Premium Economy cabin

The Aussie airline has an incredibly limited offering of its premium economy cabins, as only its fleet of 10 A380 jumbos and and 14 Boeing 787-9 birds have these seats.

Qantas introduced premium economy in 2008, a good 15 years back. The first generation premium economy seats were available first on the A380 and later on the Boeing 747s, but this seat was never placed on any other aircraft that Qantas operates. Even on the A380, the airline originally installed only 35 such seats, even lesser than the 36 on the B747!

The next refresh took place only in 2017, when Qantas introduced the Dreamliner into its fold, making it only the third aircraft type flying the Qantas flag to feature premium economy. The same seat was then used in the reburbishment of the A380, which is the highlight of today’s review.

Even up to as recent as just before the pandemic, the availability of premium economy on Qantas is therefore fairly limited.

The new Qantas A380 features four cabins – first, business, premiun economy and economy, with the premium economy cabin located on the upper deck, at the rear of the deck behind the business cabin.

The main deck contains both first and economy cabins. I have previously done a First class cabin review on this route here.

Prior to Covid-19, Qantas launched a refurbishment project for its fleet of 12 A380s. Both the business and premium economy cabins got a complete overhaul. In premium economy, this meant a significant upgrade to the latest seat first debuted on the airline’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner fleet.

Qantas has chosen to go with the Thompson Aero seats, with a customised by leading Australian industrial designer and design consultant for Qantas, David Caon.

The premium economy cabin is spread across 10 rows, with a 2-3-2 seating configuration, for a total of 60 seats.

Qantas A380 premium economy cabin (image: AeroLOPA)

The cabin reduces in the number of seats across each row towards the rear, where it’s closer to the galley, so if you are slightly claustrophobic I would recommend avoid rows 38 to 40.

The premium economy cabin also comes with its own dedicated toilets, which is a rarity. This puts the passenger to toilet ratio at 30:1, which is still a decent figure. The pair of toilets are located behind the cabin near the galley.

There is also a spiral staircase at the rear of the cabin that leads downstairs to the economy cabin, but there is a gate that is closed throughout the flight so you shouldn’t be expecting anyone coming up or down, save for crew members.

Checking in

Qantas operates out of Changi Airport Terminal 1, Row 8.

Check in Row 8, Changi Airport Terminal 1

Qantas uses self check-in kiosks for its passengers which peppers the front of the counters. As a premium economy passenger, you will be directed to one of these kiosks to check-in, before heading to the baggage drop counters to drop your bags. But of course if you are holding oneworld

Note that Qantas closes check-in a full hour ahead of all its A380 services, so be sure to arrive ahead of time if you have the habit of cutting it close.

Do you get lounge access?

The short answer is: typically no. Premium economy class passengers by default do not get lounge access, so you will have to rely on your frequent flyer status to gain access.

If you are a Qantas Frequent Flyer Gold, Platinum or Platinum One member, you can use the Qantas Business Lounge (for Gold or higher members) or the very awesome Qantas First Lounge (for Platinum or higher members). Similarly, oneworld sapphire and emerald members also get access to the business class and first class lounges respectively.

Qantas First Lounge Singapore

Boarding

QF1 is a through service from Sydney to London via Singapore. Commencing from Sydney, the flight makes a brief stop in Singapore before continuing on to London.

The flight today arrived about an hour late, and therefore the departure is expected to be delayed as well.

When I got to the gate about 11.30pm, boarding was just about to commence, which meant that there was a good chance we could still depart fairly on time, despite the torrential rain.

Qantas segments the boarding gate into two portions: one for all premium passengers, including first, business and premium economy, as well as all oneworld status holders; while all other economy class passengers are kept to the rear of the boarding area.

Once boarding commenced, passengers requiring special assistance and first class passengers are asked to board first. Shortly after, business class and premium economy passengers are also invited to board.

There is an aerobridge that leads directly to the upper deck. As both business and premium economy cabins are located on upper deck, you might be better off holding off until business class passengers are also done boarding before heading on board, given that the premium economy cabin is located at the rear.

Once you are at your seat, you will find a menu, a full sized pillow, a full fluffy blanket, as well as an amenity kit placed on the seat for you.

Amenities at the seat

The seat

Qantas has gone with the Thompson Aero seats, with a customised by leading Australian industrial designer and design consultant for Qantas, David Caon.

Qantas A380 Premium Economy seat

Arranged in a 2-3-2 configuration, there are 60 seats across 10 rows at the rear of the top deck. Qantas’ premium economy seat measures 20.5 inches wide across, with a pitch of 38 inches. As a point of comparison, Singapore Airlines run 19.5 inches wide with the same amount of pitch, so you may or may not notice the additional inch.

The seat also reclines a full 9 inches, although it feels much more than that. This is where the Thompson Aero seat shines through. The seat is held in a shell of its own, which moves only slightly when you recline, therefore reducing the impact to your seat neighbour behind you. Upon recline, the seat slides forward slightly, with the seat lifting up to form a cradle to hold you. This solves the economy class seat problem of slipping of the seat in a reclined mode, and thereby allowing one to sleep better.

Adjustable footrest with netting

The seat also comes with a footrest attached to the bottom of the seat in front. When put down, the footrest also comes with a netting, so you can stretch your feet.

The shell nature of the seat also provides a ‘wing’ of sorts, offering a (false) sense of privacy. The headrest were however rather amazing: despite being fully adjustable, they also hold pretty well against pressure of laying on them, so that means they don’t need a lot of adjustments throughout the flight to keep them in the same position.

Adjustable headrest in all imagineable directions

Apparently, after the flight I read that you could actually slot your pillow over the headrest so that it stays there while you sleep! I obviously didn’t get to try it, but it looks like a very well thought out design.

Integrated ergonomic pillow, as Qantas styles it (photo: Qantas)

Between seats, there are unmovable armrests, where the trays are stowed. At the tip of the armrests is also a small surface where you can place a drink, but it’s usually not a good idea to do so, as it’s pretty easy to accidentally brush against the glass and push it off the surface.

The audio jack, as well as a USB port, can be found along the inner side of your armrest, so if you are slightly bigger in build you may find them cumbersome to use.

USB and audio jack

Each seat comes with a 13.3″ touch screen entertainment screen, with a high resolution and an intuitive user interface (more on this later). Under the screen was a nifty storage area, which was great for putting your phone in. Beside it is yet another USB port and also the release catch for the footrest.

Under screen storage, USB port, footrest release

Under this section at the seat level, was another storage area, where the in-flight magazine and safety briefing card can be found. While this is a larger storage area, I found them not ideal for placing thicker items, including my laptop, so you may want to avoid using that for another more than a magazine or an iPad.

Entertainment screen and literature pocket

There is also a power socket found next to the footrest, although there’s only a single socket for me and my seatmate to share. Fortunately we did not have to use it during the flight, so that was no problem at all.

The service

Upon being seated, this is when Qantas’ premium economy service starts, with a pre-departure drinks service.

The cabin crew dedicated to premium economy came through the cabin with a tray of pre-poured drinks, including a choice of Australian sparkling wine or water for a tipple before push-back.

Unfortunately, due to an engineering issue involving the engine, coupled with inclement weather, the departure time was further delayed by about three hours. While the captain was proactive in offering updates, the crew also came around rather frequently to offer refills and some packaged snacks.

The original scheduled push-back time was 11.55pm. By the time the captain updated that the engine issue was resolved and we were ready for take-off, it was 2.10am. By this time, I was probably about three glasses of sparkling wine in, while most of the rest of the cabin was soundly asleep, including my neighbour who has covered himself with the blanket.

At 3am, we finally hit the runway, with lights off, and took off on our 14-hour journey to London.

Shortly after we went into cruise mode, the cabin lights came back on, albeit half lit. The cabin crew quickly wheeled out their cart to begin the first meal service, supper – although by this time it was more like an early breakfast in Singapore.

For supper service, there are three options, but because I was given a wrong menu, I didn’t quite catch what were the options apart from “beef curry”, something something “chicken”, and a vegetarian pasta. I went with the beef curry.

I was pleasantly surprised at what came. A single tray was laid out in front of me, but it was beautiful presented, with a multi-course meal served up in proper tableware.

Supper service

The tray comprised a side salad, a side plate for bread and butter, the main course in the middle, as well as a slice of cake for dessert.

After the tray was presented, the cabin crew offered sliced sourdough to go with my meal, as well as a choice of water and drinks. I took a glass of Shiraz and some sparkling water, and happily started on my meal, even though I was terribly sleepy.

I walloped my meal in less than 20 minutes, and the crew then again promptly moved through the cabin again, clearing the trays and offering a round of coffee and tea. Against good judgement I went for a cup of coffee, before heading off to sleep at about 5am Singapore time.

Coffee service

About halfway through the flight, while we were cruising over the Middle East at about 11am Singapore time, the sky was bright. Most of the cabin seemed to still be sleeping, but I was bright awake due to the sunlight that came seeping into the cabin.

I was feeling a little hungry, so I called for the flight attendant, who came around and offered two options of a hot refreshment: a choice of a mushroom and cheese pastry, or ratatouille. I went with the pastry, along with another glass of wine since my aim was to get back to bed after the snack.

Mushroom pastry and red wine

The pastry fared much better than what I thought it was going to be, being fluffy and packed a punch in terms of flavour. I savoured every bite of it while enjoying another movie.

Given the overnight nature of the flight, note that the mid-flight refreshments will not be offered proactively, you will have to request for it. Mid-flight refreshments will only be available up to about 3.5 hours before the end of flight, after which they will be discarded as the cabin crew prepares for breakfast.

If the hot snack is too heavy for you, there is also a self-service snack bar prepared at the galley. Snacks include cheese and crackers, fresh whole fruits, sliced cake and chocolates. These are also the same snacks available for business class passengers!

Snack bar

After my little refreshment, I went back to bed and snoozed more, until the cabin lights were switched on in time for breakfast about 2 hours before landing.

Breakfast was a choice between a continental breakfast, comprising a large fruit plate, bircher muesli and a pastry, or a hot English breakfast. I went for the hot breakfast and it was pretty much a feast.

Pre-landing breakfast

Even without the side of fruit and muffin, the hot breakfast was pretty much a meal in itself.

In-flight entertainment

Let’s talk wifi first, given it’s all the rage today: Qantas does not offer any form of wifi access for all its international flights. Despite introducing high speed wifi domestically in Australia since 2017, it has not made any progress on this front for its international network, meaning that it is now becoming one of the few major airlines to not offer connectivity on board.

If this is a major deal breaker, you may wish to consider other optios.

In terms of in-flight entertainment, Qantas offers a 13.3″ screen in premium economy, significantly larger than its economy counterpart. The new premium economy seats also meant that these screens were upgraded for this cabin, so it has a more responsive screen and better display than the economy class screens.

Content wise, Qantas has several notable offerings in place, including original content from Stan and HBO. The airline also offers ‘box sets’, which are essentially entire seasons of popular TV series.

Headphones

Headphones are also offered in this cabin, which are the same as those in business class. Unfortunately they are not noise cancelling, so bring your own if you prefer to use those.

Amenity kit

Qantas offers an amenity kit in premium economy as well, although this is not as flashy as the one you receive in Business class. The amenity kit is a simple pouch made of felt, with a simple splash of offerings comprising a dental kit, eye shade and socks.

Final thoughts

I’m pretty much impressed by Qantas Premium Economy experience, with both the hard and soft products exceeding my expectations.

The seat is arguably one of the best-in-class, and I have slept arguably the most in a non-flat bed on this seat. The little details and functions around the seat features are also well thought out, maximising every bit of space the seat could offer. The amount of legroom is excellent for me, although it might still be a little tight for taller folks.

Service wise, I would argue that the Qantas Premium Economy is probably a notch down from business class, rather than a small step up from economy as most other airlines do. Meals are served on proper tableware instead of something similar to economy class grub, which may not sound like a lot but it does elevate the dining experience. In addition, Qantas offers its own selection of wines specially curated for the cabin, which again adds a nice touch to the service.

Overall this is probably one of the best splurge of money, coming in at almost half the price of business class. If you do ever come across a sale for Qantas premium economy – take it and try it for yourself.

23 May 23
FLIGHT REVIEW: Qantas A380-800 First Class, Singapore – London Heathrow (SIN-LHR)

Qantas made quite a fair bit of news in Singapore just before Covid-19 with the grand opening of its first class lounge, which sadly shuttered not long after it was officially opened.

The good news is, the lounge survived the pandemic; it is now reopened and received guests at full force, just as with before.

I have had the fortune to experience the first class cabin some years back, but it was from Sydney to Singapore. I had such a great time, it created a new bucket list item for me, to try the same product again but on a much longer flight, from Singapore to London or vice versa.

However, the first class cabin across all airlines is some what of a unicorn in the post-Covid era. Even with a bank full of points, it takes sheer determination and an awful lot of patience to find any kind of award availability.

And I finally laid my hands on it.

In this post:
• Flight today
• The Qantas A380
• Checking in
• Qantas First Lounge
• Boarding
• The seat
• The service
• Qantas amenity kit & pyjamas
• In-flight entertainment
• In-flight lounge
• Final thoughts

Flight today

Qantas QF1
Singapore (SIN) – London Heathrow (LHR)
20 November 2022
Depart: 11.55pm
Arrive: 6.25 am (+1 day)
Duration: 13 hr 50 min
Aircraft: Airbus A380-800
Seat: 4F (First Class)

The Qantas A380

The A380 needs no introduction – the famous double decker jumbo is a favourite amongst both airlines and passengers; the latter for the number of passengers it can pack, while it also calls for a stable ride.

Prior to Covid-19, Qantas launched a refurbishment project for its fleet of 12 A380s. While business class and premium economy got a complete overhaul, the first class cabin saw relatively less major upgrades, including a reupholstering of the seats and a brand new in-flight entertainment screen.

Through Covid-19, Qantas has grounded all of its aircraft, only to bring it out of storage earlier this year in 2022.

Sadly, Qantas has retired two of the big birds, with 10 superjumbos left in its fleet. Even with, only five of the aircraft are currently in service with the other half still in storage.

At the time of writing, Qantas is only operating the A380 on two routes: QF1/2 between Sydney and London via Singapore, and QF11/12 between Sydney and Los Angeles.

Checking in

Qantas operates out of Changi Airport Terminal 1, and currently operates out of row 8, sharing the row with its low cost subsidiary Jetstar.

Check in Row 8, Changi Airport Terminal 1

The configuration has now changed a little since the pandemic. There is an agent stationed at the front of the kiosks and counters to check that you have all the necessary documents, before leading you to a self check-in kiosk.

Qantas uses self check-in kiosks for its passengers which peppers the front of the counters, but as a First class passenger feel free to skip ahead and head straight to the counters for assistance.

By the time I got there, check-in was almost closed and there were hardly anyone there, hence check-in was relatively fast and smooth.

Note that while check-in for most airlines typically close 45 minutes before the flight, Qantas closes check-in a full hour ahead of all its A380 services, so be sure to arrive ahead of time if you have the habit of cutting it close.

Qantas First Lounge

Qantas First Lounge – Singapore

One of the key highlights of the Qantas First experience is the Qantas First Lounge in Singapore. Unfortunately as I was only able to reach the airport right before check in close, I headed straight to the gate.

Milelion did a wonderful job of a recent review for the lounge, so you can find out more about it there.

Boarding

QF1 begins in Sydney, and makes a quick stop in Singapore before continuing to London. The flight today arrived about 40 minutes late from Sydney. Correspondingly, the scheduled departure was also slightly delayed, and according to the Qantas app, it was scheduled for 12.20am.

When I got to the gate about 11.20pm, the set of operating crew were still waiting to go onto the aircraft. Eventually they headed on in shortly after.

Departure from Singapore

Boarding eventually commenced closer to 11.40pm, 15 minutes away from the scheduled departure time. First class passengers, along with passengers with young children, the elderly as well as oneworld Emerald passengers were invited to board first.

I got onto the cabin a little later than everyone else, and the First class cabin was already in a furry of action when I stepped on. The moment I got onto my seat, one of the cabin crew, Luke, came over and introduced himself and asked if I’ll like a champagne (the answer is “always”). He also swiftly took my jacket to keep in the closet.

Minutes later, the cabin service manager Ginny also came by and introduced herself, as well as the names of the entire team, including Luke and Tania, working in First class. She also asked for my size, and quickly brought along a set of pyjamas, bedroom slippers and an amenity kit.

Luke returned minutes later with a champagne glass and a set of canapes. The champagne on offer today was the Pommery Cuvee Louise 2005, which was poured at my suite.

Pre-departure champagne and canapes

Subsequently, when everyone in First was more or less settled down, another crew walked around offering top-ups for whoever who wanted another pour, or five.

The two canapes on offer today are: caviar tart with crème fraiche, as well as a barbecue pork egg roll dressed in hoisin sauce. It’s rather novel to be served snacks upon boarding, although it may be rather pointless given that most passengers may have fed themselves at the lounge prior to boarding anyway.

Qantas first class canapes

The portions are also rather tiny as with all canapes, so if one was famished, this would have only teased one’s appetite in anticipation of something more.

My only feedback about the canapes was the need to use one’s hands to eat with it. It would have been appropriate to offer a hot towel service, or perhaps a disinfectant wipe if no cutleries were offered.

Eventually, we pushed back shortly after 1am, more than a full hour later than the scheduled time.

The seat

I have earlier done a review of the Qantas First class service from Sydney to Singapore, and the seat product has seen a modest upgrade since then. The cabin remains unchanged with 14 seats in a 1-1-1 configuration, but what has changed is a reupholstered seat, improved seat controls and an upgraded in-flight entertainment screen.

Qantas first class reupholstered seats (photo: Qantas)

Qantas first class in-flight 18″ entertainment screen

To recap, Qantas refer to its 14 First Class products as ‘suites’, which are in fact open seats. Packed in a 1-1-1 configuration, the cabin has 5 seats on each side of the plane (seats A and K), and 4 in the middle (seats F).

https://shanescape.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/21650f94-fa8a-4992-8a71-4f064a8f6312.jpeg?w=840
Qantas first class cabin layout (image: SeatGuru)

Each of the seat is designed to face forward during take off and landing, but while in the air, the seat can be rotated to an angle for you to stretch out and for more privacy. The window seats swings towards the window, while the middle column F seats swings towards the left.

As the seat swivels, there is a little ottoman underneath the foldable screen, one little known fact is that this allows for a companion in first class to dine together with you by sitting across you.

For those in the middle seats, there will also be a privacy screen that you can control and put up to avoid the awkward eye contact with anyone walking down the middle aisle, but this screen is modest at best.

This is why you need a privacy screen

The screens on my seat (as well as those in front of me, I later realised) couldn’t quite be pulled up all the way, but given that the lights were off most of the flight time, it didn’t bother us.

Privacy screen on the left of the screen (when put down); ottoman for buddy dining

The seat comes with a set of controls on the side panel, where you can adjust practically everything in your suite, from lights, seat position as well as the privacy screens. This is also where the call button is located, but in all honesty most of my flight I rarely used it.

Seat control panel

For those who constantly require good ventilation, you will be pleased to know that there are at least two air vents at the seat, one in front of you and another at the side.

Air vent at the top of the seat

For those who are in need of power sockets, they can be found right in front of you, at the bottom of the seat in front. With the upgrade the socket now comes with a USB charging port also, which is handy when you need to charge your phone while you sleep.

charging sockets

Right after meal service, the cabin crew offered to turn the seat into a bed for me. While that was happening, I went up to check out the in-flight lounge at the upper deck during this time (more about this below).

When I returned, my bed was fully made and ready for a good night’s rest.

Qantas A380 bed

Qantas uses bedding and quilts from Sheridan, which includes a thick memory-foam sheepskin mattress as well as a fluffy duvet to line the fully flat seat. You also get two pillows, one bigger one and a smaller, firmer one. There is also a pillow menu on board, so feel free to request for something else such as a memory foam pillow. For someone who usually can’t sleep on board, this heavenly setup also meant that I managed to pull about 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep on the flight.

Meal service

On this overnight flight to London, Qantas offers a supper and breakfast service.

Prior to take off, as we were still on the ground, one of the crew, Tania, came around taking meal orders for supper, which was to be served right after take off.

We ended up departing at about 1 am. With that, service only commenced at almost an hour later at 2 am Singapore time.

Supper service

The supper service was not exactly the most elaborate; you have a three course meal: a starter, a main course, and a dessert.

The options are below:

First class menu – Supper

First class menu – supper & breakfast

First class menu – beverages

For my first course, I went with the signature steak sandwich. Having had it a couple of years back, I was craving for it so I chose it.

I recalled the bread to a baguette and rather tough to bite, but this time round it was soft and fluffy, which was surprising. The beef was essentially a medium steak, and went very well with the chilli relish.

Neil Perry’s signature steak sandwich

Shortly after the starter, my plate was promptly cleared and my main course was served almost immediately after.

My choice for the main was the seared grouper with soy, ginger and shallot, bok choy and brown rice. The rice came rather dry rather than fluffy.

Main course – grouper filet

This was where the menu and actual product differed quite a bit; the fish came deep fried (rather than pan seared as I thought it was going to be). The problem with deep fried items is that they generally do not keep well, and tend to be tougher on the bite after prolonged storage. However, it was drenched in a watery sauce, so that helped to make it a little easier to bite through. Even at 30,000 feet, the sauce was a tad too sweet.

As for dessert, I was stuffed and sleepy, so I decided to go with a fruit plate, comprising a tad of everything you can find in Singapore: a slice of dragonfruit, papaya, pineapple, watermelon, plum and a whole strawberry. I had a glass of desert wine along with it.

Fruit plate

The meal service ended with 40 minutes, which was well and good for those who are considering going to bed quickly. My strategy however was to stay awake, so I continued on with more wine.

Those who are familiar with what some other airlines offer may be a little shocked at how scanty the menu is for first class. I spoke with the cabin crew, who said that this is a deliberate design given that most of the customers would have fuelled up in the lounge, so this is a pared down service. I was also told that the dining philosophy for first class is that passengers will never go hungry, as they strive to make everything on the menu available throughout the flight, effectively making it a dine-on-demand service.

Having said that, I don’t find the menu particularly exciting, so halfway through the flight, I did go up to the business class lounge and asked for a small snack.

There were two choices of snacks in business class, a Vietnamese chicken meatballs which I went for, and another which I didn’t quite remember.

Business class mid-flight refreshments

This was probably halfway through the flight, when I was working on this report in the in-flight lounge. As mentioned earlier, the service was excellent, as each and every single crew who past by checked in if I needed something else.

Let’s talk about the wine list. Qantas offers a printed wine list in first class, and here’s the menu for the day:

First class wine list

As you can see, one of the white wines was replaced with another, so that’s the downside of a printed wine list. You will also notice from earlier in this post that the champagne offered was different from what is printed here, and again, this was because they didn’t carry the Piper Heidsieck on this flight, but instead offered the slightly lower rated Pommery Cuvee Louise 2005.

Champagne Pommery Cuvee Louise 2005

Travellers familiar with Qantas service will know that the airline serves almost exclusively Aussie wines. Not exactly the top of the shelf items even in first class, but these are well considered to be excellent. My personal favourite was the Penfolds RWT, which I thought was exceptionally buttery and yet doesn’t leave a tannic aftertaste.

The breakfast meal service was towards the end of the flight. With two hours left on the clock, breakfast commenced. Breakfast once again comprised a multi-course offering, with a choice of fruit, cereal and yoghurt to start off, as well as baked options from the bakery. After which, a full breakfast main course was offered as well, accompanied by your choice of morning beverages.

To start off, I had a bircher museli, which I’m a personal fan of. The museli portion was a tad tiny, but good enough to start the meal going. I was also offered some bakery options, which I politely declined.

Breakfast – Neil’s healthy Bircher muesli

For my main, I went for the healthy bowl of kale, brown rice (again), pickled mushrooms and sesame dressing with a poached egg.

I have to say that I was pretty much blown away by the freshly cooked eggs on board. While frying was not possible, the team was able to offer a choice of either freshly poached eggs or scrambled eggs (available with the English breakfast option).

Breakfast – Healthy bowl of kale, brown rice, mushrooms with poached eggs

The bowl surprised me; it packed some really good flavours, and left me sufficiently satisfied and yet not overly salted. I was pleasantly surprised at how delicious the bowl was, with perfectly made poached eggs that oozed.

To accompany my meal, I went for a cold pressed juice of honeydew, cucmber, green apple and kale, as well as a flat white. Yes, espresso coffee is available in the premium cabins, as expected of an Australian airline!

First class amenity kit & pyjamas

Qantas offers a first class amenity kit and a set of pyjamas to all premium cabin passengers in both business and first class. The first class kits and pjyamas have been designed by Australian designer Martin Grant since quite a while ago, but the latest versions have been refreshed along with the cabin refresh back in 2019.

First class Martin Grant amenity kit and pyjamas

The kit comes in two colours: a dark navy blue version for the gents and a red one for ladies. The amenity kit is not particularly exciting, but contains quality skincare products from LaGaia, another Australian brand that Qantas signed in recent years.

Some other handy items within the kit include a dental kit, ear plugs, an eye shade and a pair of socks for those who need the extra warmth.

Martin Grant amenity kit and contents

Qantas also offers pyjamas for both business and first class cabins for overnight flights, such as the the Singapore-London service. The added perk for first class is the pair of bedroom slippers, which are incredibly comfy to don for the times you need to leave your suite.

Note that if you are taking a day flight out of Australia to Asia, PJs and the slippers will not be offered; if you ask, sometimes they do have a set or two lying around, but your mileage will vary.

In-flight entertainment

Let’s address the elephant on the jumbo first: Qantas does not offer any form of wifi access for all its international flights. Despite introducing high speed wifi domestically in Australia since 2017, it has not made any progress on this front for its international network, meaning that it is now becoming one of the few major airlines to not offer connectivity on board.

If this is a major deal breaker, you may wish to consider other optios.

In terms of in-flight entertainment, Qantas offers a 17″ screen for its first class passengers, the largest across any cabin. This has been upgraded to a high definition, touch-screen version in the most recent aircraft refresh, which is significantly better than its predecessor.

17″ entertainment screen

Content wise, Qantas has several notable offerings in place, including original content from Stan and HBO. The airline also offers ‘box sets’, which are essentially entire seasons of popular TV series.

The touchscreen is a little useless given the distance between the seat and the screen, but you can always use a handheld control that can be found at the side of the seat.

Entertainment handheld contol

Noise cancelling earphones are also offered, which I unfortunately didn’t take a photo of.

Beyond TV shows and movies, the in-flight entertainment system also offers a variety of (simple) games, as well as an audio library.

In-flight lounge

The Qantas A380 offers an in-flight lounge on the upper deck of the aircraft, at the nose of the aircraft. Both business class and first class passengers can access this space, which can comfortably seat 10 people at least.

Before you have in mind the glorious Emirates A380 bar, this is merely a little seating space on both sides of the stairways between the two decks. Facing the front of the aircraft, on the right is two booth-like seating space, while the space on the left is a single long couch with a small coffee table good for drinks.

In-flight lounge

In-flight lounge

The space is particularly versatile in a few ways, I have seen families with children coming out to hang around a table playing card games, and I personally used the space to hammer away on my laptop. This is also a perfect space for some reading if you are concerned that your reading light may be too bright for your neighbours at your seat.

Unpictured is a small self-service bar beside the long couch, where wines, water, snacks and fruit are stocked for passengers to help themselves. I probably spent about 2-3 hours in the lounge, during which I saw quite a number of business class passengers coming out to help themselves with snacks, rather than drinks.

Final thoughts

The Qantas first class cabin is definitely a significant level of luxury up from its business cabin. Despite not offering a fully enclosed suite, I felt the seat was still private enough for both work and leisure.

A special mention for the bedding: it’s probably one of the best I have had in the sky, with an extra thick and firm mattress and a sufficiently thick duvet cover.

The suite design, despite being a decade-old product, works well. The attention to little details, such as sufficient storage space for little knick-knacks were available where you need them, whether in bed or seat mode. The upgrade was a good mid-point recovery, with the previous seats looking worn and discoloured and also badly in need of a new screen.

The service was excellent, not overly attentive, but timely whenever I need someone or something. Case in point: when I was in the upper deck lounge working away at my laptop with a glass of champagne from first class, the crew proactively came up to the upper deck to refill my champagne. If that’s not mindfulness, I’m not sure what do you call that.

For an extended overnight service, the food and beverage service was sufficient, although considerably scaled back from pre-pandemic days.

However, if you compare its offerings with what other competitors, including Singapore Airlines are offering, I tend to agree that Qantas’ menu is the weakest of all, both in terms of quality and options.

Having said that, the A380 is still an incredible aircraft to travel on for comfort.

This is not the end of the line for the first class product; Qantas has unveiled a new first class suite concept to be fitted onto its ultra long-haul aircraft, the A350-1000ULR.

Comprising an enclosed suite that comes with a separate seat and bed, this will be definitely top of the line compared to many other major carriers when it starts flying in late 2025.

17 December 22

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