7 Days in Lisbon, 8 Hours in London: Qantas A380 Y, Heathrow Lounges, TAP to Lisbon

[yflyer]

The comfortable Marc Newson-designed seats had adjustable headrests...



Each Y seat came with a large white pillow with real fabric pillow case (Possibly the best Y pillow in the air today...) and a thick blanket...



USB charging in the armrest...



A/C power in between seats, but note that this was not a universal plug...



Arm rests went all the way up, including the armrest by the aisle, if you pushed the ever at the base...



Bathrooms in a basic grey colour scheme...

[yflyer]

On the IFE screen in front of me, I watched the push back...



...and take-off into the night sky...



An estimated flight time of 12 hours 48 minutes to Singapore...



Amenity kits were distributed...



...along with bottles of water...



Great cabin ambience on the main deck, which felt spacious and roomy.

[yflyer]

The inflight menu...



Three choices of main course for dinner: Salad with chicken, vegetarian pasta or beef.



Beverages...



Just for comparison purposes, I found a stray copy of the Qantas menu for a Hong Kong to Australia sector onboard. In this menu, there were also 3 choices of main, but it was interesting to note that on this sector, 2 of the 3 selections were Asian dishes. It was nice to know that QF tailored the menu quite extensively in order to cater to local tastes, depending on the origin/destination of the flight.

[yflyer]

For dinner, I opted for the beef selection...

The meal as served, along with a small bottle of red wine...



This meal looked quite impressive...



...and tasted very good as well, with tender beef chunks and vegetables which weren't overcooked till they were mushy...



Dessert was satisfying too.



Post-dinner coffee and tea...



After dinner I headed to the galley and asked for a whisky on the rocks as a night cap...

[yflyer]

Snacks were available mid-flight...







The flight took us over Ankara...



...and Abu Dhabi...



A hot calzone was served as a mid-flight snack...I was asleep when they came around, so when I awoke mid-flight, I headed to the galley to claim my share, which I devoured along with a bottle of Willow Bridge Estate Sauvignon Blanc Semillon...

[yflyer]

I slept for much of the flight, only waking up about 5 hours before landing, just as we were about to make landfall over India, just south of Mumbai...



By then, the sun was up outside...



Always nice when what you saw on the Airshow display matched what you saw on the ground...





Coffee to start the day...



I browsed the IFE while waiting for breakfast...





Needless to say, this was full on-demand audio and video, with a very good selection of movies, TV and music.

The only thing missing on this aircraft was inflight wifi, which might be introduced on international flights at a later time, but is currently not available on any of QF's A380s.

It was soon time for breakfast, and by then many pax had also woken up...



A hot breakfast of sausage and egg omelette was served...



This was absolutely delicious...



Cabin crew on this flight were superb: very warm, helpful and professional.



I was particularly impressed with the lead cabin crew member, who was exceptionally warm and friendly, and took a lot of care with Qantas frequent flyers. She was often on her rounds of the cabin, Qantas-issued iPad in hand. The iPad seemed to be very useful in identifying frequent flyers and their inflight preferences.

[yflyer]

I slept very soundly on this flight. I normally sleep fine in Y, but this flight was especially comfortable.

Part of the reason might have been my choice of seat: My seat on this flight was 80C. This was an aisle seat just behind the row 79 emex row where row 80A had no seat in front of it.



Which seat was better? 80A or 80C? At first glance 80A (Or 80K across the aisle) would be a top choice, and Qantas charges a fee to select that seat, however remember this: 80A had a fixed armrest, whereas the armrest between 80B-C was movable. That meant if no-one was in 80B, the lucky passenger in 80C could raise the armrest and have some additional space -- there was no obligation to share the empty space with 80A as the 80A-B armrest was a fixed solid armrest.

On this flight, 80B was empty, and the lucky pax in 80C was me...

[yflyer]

Off the coast of Malaysia...



When I took the next photo，I thought the coastal town and river mouth might have been the town of Batu Pahat, but upon closer inspection of the river mouth, it turned out to be Muar, just a little further up the coast.



One loop of the holding pattern prior to landing...







Final approach...





On the ground in Changi at 6pm local time...



...and through the airside area to T1 arrivals...



Hardly any immigration queues at T1...

[yflyer]

The recently renovated T1 baggage claim area...





On the day we landed, Jewel had not yet opened, but the T1 landside arrival area was already seamlessly integrated with Jewel.





Not much of a taxi queue that evening either...I was in a cab on the way home in minutes...

[yflyer]

Final reflections...

I had a great flight back from London to Singapore on QF2. Like my outbound flight on QF1, I found Qantas's economy class hard and soft product on the SIN-LHR sector to be very impressive.



Long arrival immigration queues aside, my experience at Heathrow was quite positive as well, especially the LHR transit experience. The competitive nature of LHR as a global hub has meant that airlines really have to put on their best show as far as lounge offerings were concerned. Who would have ever imagined that a UA lounge would have showers and/or a fully complimentary bar?

All the lounges at LHR I visited on this trip were quite impressive: the LH and UA lounges in T2, as well as the QF lounge in T3. I only wish I had more time, and a bigger stomach, to sample more of the cuisine and G&T concoctions at the QF Lounge, as well as the bartender specials at the UA Lounge.

I try to spend at least a little time in London whenever I travel to Europe. On this trip, I only had 8 hours, but those 8 hours left an indelible impression on me. As far as Brexit was concerned, who knows what the future holds? London has always been a great city, and I hope it will remain that way.

Although I only flew Star Alliance member airline TAP Portugal on short haul sectors this time round, I was very happy with my flights, and would not hesitate to fly them again.

As for Lisbon, I had a wonderful week there, where long, slow runs were a great way to see many of the sights the city had to offer. Apart from the history and attractions, I was also particularly impressed with the quality of F&B here: an wide range of local Portuguese and European specialities, making the most of the fresh seafood, meat and vegetables in the region, with excellent red and white Portuguese wine to match, all at very reasonable prices compared to many other top European destinations.



Although several of my friends had told me so, it never really registered how wonderful Lisbon was as a tourist destination until I spent a week there on his trip.



I am now completely sold on Portugal as a holiday destination. I hope to be back there some time soon, and next time it will be for a proper vacation!

Thanks for reading!

[balajih67]

That's a lot you typed in one day. Wish I could travel as much as you do... Maybe in the future.

[yflyer]

That's a lot you typed in one day.

Ya...spent the long weekend reliving my trip to Lisbon and London while writing it all up...

Wish I could travel as much as you do...

Be careful what you wish for!

[9V-JKL]

Thank you for sharing.

The food at IIIMPAR looks amazing!

I slept very soundly on this flight. I normally sleep fine in Y, but this flight was especially comfortable.

Part of the reason might have been my choice of seat: My seat on this flight was 80C. This was an aisle seat just behind the row 79 emex row where row 80A had no seat in front of it.

Which seat was better? 80A or 80C? At first glance 80A (Or 80K across the aisle) would be a top choice, and Qantas charges a fee to select that seat, however remember this: 80A had a fixed armrest, whereas the armrest between 80B-C was movable. That meant if no-one was in 80B, the lucky passenger in 80C could raise the armrest and have some additional space -- there was no obligation to share the empty space with 80A as the 80A-B armrest was a fixed solid armrest.

On this flight, 80B was empty, and the lucky pax in 80C was me...

The mark of a true professional traveller!

[SQGamespeed]

Wonderful TR, yflyer!

Great pictures of Lisbon as well! Almost everything I hear about Lisbon, and Portugal in general for that matter, for visiting has been consistently positive, and I too would love to visit sometime.

[yflyer]

Thank you for sharing.

Thanks, 9V-JKL!

The food at IIIMPAR looks amazing!

The reason I headed there a second time was to try their tenderloin steak with the egg on top, swimming in IIIMPAR's signature steak sauce! It looked so good on my colleagues' plate that I had to head back to try it!