Business Class Cabin Review

Hello folks from Melbourne international airport. For those who don’t know this is my home airport, so I felt it be fitting to do my first ever flight review departing from here.

Today I will be flying from Melbounre to Hong Kong with Qantas in the business class cabin for the very first time. The flight will take place aboard a Airbus A330-300. In this post I will be taking you along to see if it live up to hype and worth the cost! But most importantly.

What is the food like?

So my day start pretty early, and I get to the airport at 7.00am for a 10.15am departure. I head to the Qantas first priority check in, this was really nice and convenient as there was no one in front of us and we checked in straight away. The check in area is very exclusive and the staff were very friendly. There are leather lounge chairs in case you did have to line up. I’m not 100% sure if that is as I’m not use to living the high life like this but I’m guessing that is why they are there.

Once my bags were checked in, I headed to the security and immigration area. I was given a Express pass which allowed me once again to skip the queues and use a express lane. From checking in through immigration in less the 10 minutes. No way I can complain with that. The trip was off to a good start.

The first class lounge!

Now I had got all the formalities out of the way it was time to head to the lounge for some breakfast. I was using The Qantas International First Lounge today. It is located in T2 on level 3 up the escalator at gates 9 and 10. To gain access to the lounge you must be a first Class passengers traveling with Qantas or Emirates. Qantas Platinum, Platinum One, and Chairman’s Lounge members. Oneworld Emerald frequent flyers. Emirates Skywards Platinum members. Holders of a single-use Qantas First Class Lounge pass.

Wow this was to fancy for a simple bloke like me, but you know what they say when in Rome!

So I was going to make the most out of it!

The lounge has a restaurant with a menu designed by Neil Perry offering seasonal a la carte dining, a full bar featuring premium Australian wines, craft beers, and real barista coffee.

The breakfast menu was quite varied with plenty of dishes to choose from both cold or warm.

After much consideration we finally settled on

Yoghurt with red plum, toasted almonds and raw honey

Eggs benedict with smoked salmon

Open omelette with char siu pork, coriander, chilli and spring onions.

All 3 dishes here were fantastic, the eggs beeny were perfect, the yogurt was nice. The only negative was the char siu on the omelette was a bit dry and not what I would really call char siu. The omelette it self was light a fluffy and the chilli was perfect. Just what you need in the morning to get you up and going. The barista made coffee was also much needed at this time of the morning.

ALL ABOARD!

With breakfast out of the way it was now time to make our way and board the plane. So off we went. We had got to the gate right as boarding had just started. We were part of group A so we were able to go straight on. I was seated at 6A, which is a window seat. It actually had 2 windows, so I was very lucky. I don’t usually sit on the window side, as in economy class I would usually book an aisle seat just so I can stretch my legs out whenever I needed. But of course, on this flight that wasn’t going to be an issue. The seat layout on this flight was a 1 – 2 -1 formation which meant every seat would have direct aisle access. The seat can fold down fully flat to a length of 80 inch. So leg room was certainly not going to concern me.

On arrival you will have placed on your seat a pillow and blanket and also a seat cover which is called a mattress. All very nice amenities which I’m hopping will help me get some shut eye later in the flight. For those who have been with me for a while will know me sleeping on a plane is as rare as a well-done steak. They also give you a very nice R.M.Williams amenity kit filled with all sorts of goodies for you to use on the flight. Grown Alchemist Lip Balm, Grown Alchemist Hydra-Restore Day Cream, Grown Alchemist Hand Cream, Colgate toothpaste and Qantas bamboo toothbrush, Qantas blackout eyeshade and earplugs, and tube socks. Very nice!

Once I get myself seated I’m welcomed with a glass of champagne. A very nice gesture indeed. If I’m being picky, it would have been even better to have it served in a champagne flute but that’s just me being picky and who am I to complain anyway hahaha.

At least it was a real glass.

The Entertainment!

The entertainment is such an upgrade from the back of the plane. Starting with the 16 inch HD screen with remote control so everything is at your finger tips. There was a wide selection of movies and shows to watch. They offer Paramount so that was great as I’m a big fan of the Land Man series so that was a plus for me. I guess you can say a Paramount plus hahahha. There are also built in video games to keep you busy if thats your thing. The supplied headphones are quite good but I prefer to use my own. But I wouldn’t complain if I did have to use them in a pintch. There was plenty of power and USB outlets to charge all your devices. One little complaint is the power output is quite low so will take quite awhile to charge your phone from empty. But I was on a 10 hour flight so that wasn’t an issue for me. The seat has a built-in massage function perfect to get all the knots out before you land. There is plenty of storage space as well. So all in all a good use of the space and quite a bit of things to keep you entertained on your flight. But I only really need one thing to keep me entertained.

So bring on the food!

The snacks!

After familiarizing myself with my surrounding and making myself comfortable for the inevitable 10 hour journey it was time to take off. Shortly after that the cabin crew had come around to offer a drink and a snack. I opted for a beer and some nuts. Yes it was before noon but its 5pm somewhere in the world right? My beer of choice at this stage was James Boag’s premium. I figured I’m heading to Hong Kong so won’t be to many Aussies beer to choose from there. The beer came out nice and cold so two thumbs up there.

The Starter!

After finishing my beer and nuts it was time to get to the real stuff. my first choice was the chicken satay skewers. These were delicious, juicy and very fragrant. You could really taste the lemongrass and coconut through out them. I was actually impressed and really surprised that airplane food could taste that good. I would recommend this one. Alongside the chicken skewers was a simple leaf salad and some bread and cultured butter. All good there, bread was reasonably fresh and the cultured butter was a nice touch. the salad was ok nothing special but nothing to complain about. For the drinks I opted for some water and a glass of bourbon and coke. The bourbon was just because I could. Over all the starter was great and I was really excited for the main now!!!!

The Main!

After my delicious start I waited with much anticipation for the main. So many thoughts were running through my mind. I had ordered the seared Barramundi. I had read about this dish before my flight as it was doing around on the internet and after that great start I already had, I knew I was in for something special. Oh my, I as wasn’t wrong. It was special alright.

Especially bad!!

My oh my, I was so disappointed from the moment it came out. It looked so sad and the colours were so dull and not appealing to me at all. The dish had obviously not survived the reheating process with much success. The barra wasn’t super dry but was not moist at all, and the skin was less then crispy. But to their credit it wasn’t leathery. The barra was severed along with some very flimsy sad looking discolored broccolini. To be honest this was my least favorite part of the dish, and I could not eat them. There was a piece of fennel as well which wasn’t much better then the broc. The dish was finished with a red sauce which I believe was tomato based which wasn’t too bad. At this point I had wishing I had just ordered two serves of the satay instead, to tell you the truth. I’m sure if this dish was served on the ground in the restaurant it might have been a good dish, but I didn’t enjoy it in the air on this occasion unfortunately.

Something to soothe the palate!

After the main I really needed something to clear the palate, so I washed it down with my bourbon and coke and ate a lindt chocolate the crew had given me earlier. After the meals were cleaned away, the lovely crew members came around and asked if I would like an ice cream to which I could not refuse. It was a Bulla branded chocolate salted caramel slice. It was a nice way to end the meal and as I was getting tired so I thought it would be a good time to get some shut eye. So, I finished the ice cream and proceeded off to dream land. Oh I should mention the crew also handed out Qantas PJ’s to make my sleep just that little bit better!

The midnight snack!

So I managed to get in about four hours of solid sleep before I woke up feeling a bit pekish. It’s funny cause I don’t usually wake up for a midnight snacks, but I guess because I was on the plane and not in my bed at home. It was dark and the lights were out. So I buzzed a crew member over and asked if I could grab a coffee and a snack. She said they had some cheese and crackers if that would surfiest. I thought that was a great idea as I love me some cheese and crackers. I was expecting it to be prepackaged cheese and crackers as that is what they usually give you in economy class but to my surprise when it came out it was some fancy crackers and a nice selection of cheeses. There was a soft cheese, a hard cheese and a blue cheese. All very nice.

Fantastic!

Breakfast!

After my midnight snack and a movie I managed to sneak in another hour of sleep. At this time the crew started waking up passengers for breakfast. I wasn’t hungry at all so I opted for a simple plate of fruit. The plate consisted of a nice selection of rock melon (cantaloupe), honeydew melon, Pineapple, orange, a large strawberry and some blue berries. The fruits were nice and firm with enough sweetness in them. The strawberry and blue berries were a little on the tart side but were fine. Not too much to say here, a nice light healthy breakfast and a great way to end my flight.

Final thoughts!

Being my first long haul business class flight ever, did it live up to expectation?

Indeed it did!

Theres not too much I can fault about this flight, the check in process was quick and efficient. The lounge was great and the food in the restaurant was delicious and well cooked. I was comfortable the whole flight and arrived at my destination the most rested I ever had from a long-haul flight. The service from the crew was second to none. The selection of food was great, and the only real negative was my main meal but all in all a very satisfying experience, nonetheless.

Now in having said that, flying business class is not a cheap exercise, this one flight alone was over $3000 AUD each way. Quite a lot of money for the average person, myself included in that group. I think for the experience it was worth it, not something I would do or be able to afford every time I fly. Although I wish I could. But being that we only get one shot at this thing we call life. I’m all for it as a treat or travel experience goal, cause lets faces it, all we have in the end is our experiences right.

And this was a lovely one!

There you go peoples Saba’s first airline review.

*I must note these are solely my own opinions, and I have no affiliation with the airline or any eatery’s mentioned in this post. 

Find more of my reviews here

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Tags: Airline Review, Business Class, Food Review, Qantas