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

[yflyer]

I recently made a business trip to Lisbon, the beautiful, romantic capital city of Portugal.

While there were many one-stop flight options to get from Singapore to Lisbon, I decided to fly there via London, on an unusual airline combination of Qantas on the SIN-LHR sector and then LHR-LIS on TAP Air Portugal.

Why would anyone do that? Qantas was Oneworld, TAP was Star Alliance. My London and Lisbon sectors were on separate tickets. I would need to transfer between terminals in LHR. This combination of tickets would take longer, time-wise, than a single carrier or single airline alliance ticket. The transfer process would also not be seamless. And there was an element of risk involved: With separate tickets, if a delay caused a missed connection in LHR, I was out of luck -- unlike a single ticket, the airline(s) would have no obligation to get me to my final destination, Lisbon.

But I had enough time on my hands, and I had the right precautions in place, such as travelling with hand luggage only to avoid the hassle of interline luggage, and ample buffer time for my LHR connection. Some folks might say my transit/buffer times were over-cautious, even excessive, but those hours in transit were very well spent! So this itinerary was eminently do-able. Cost wise, the total ticket price was very reasonable as well.

Of course there were other reasons as well for this itinerary...

I was keen to fly QF's A380 again on the SIN-LHR segment of the Kangaroo Route. I missed out on this for that dark 5 year period when Qantas switched from Singapore to Dubai as their transit hub on the Kangaroo Route. When they realized that pax actually much preferred connecting to London via SIN than DXB, and were voting with their feet, making BA's SYD-SIN-LHR a top performing route, for example, they switched back to SIN. This would be my first opportunity in a long time to fly the Qantas A380 to London -- I was looking forward to revisiting one of my favourite aircraft types on this sector.



In order to avoid a misconnect, and to allow time to transfer from LHR T3 to T2, I had very generous transit times built into my schedule. This meant that I had the opportunity to check out LH and UA Lounges in Heathrow T2, the main terminal for Star Alliance carriers in LHR.

I then flew TAP to Lisbon, where I spent a week. I had time in between work and meetings to see the sights in this stunningly beautiful city...



...and to head out for runs, meals and maybe a drink or two...



And then it was back to Heathrow on TAP, where an 8 hour transit stop meant that I could head into London, and spend some time in this wonderful city.

In London, I snagged a last minute reservation at Ottolenghi's in Spitalfields for lunch...



After lunch, I took a long walk along the Thames, to revisit many of my favourite sights and places...

Although this time round, my walk along the Thames took an unexpected turn, when i found myself wandering into the the closing stages of the London Brexit "Remain" march/demonstration on Saturday, 23 March...



I eventually managed to get through the (peaceful, even cheerful) crowds of marchers to get to an open tube station to Paddington, in order to catch the Heathrow Express to return to Heathrow T3 for my flight home on Qantas that evening, and also had time to check out the Qantas Lounge in LHR before boarding QF2 to Singapore.

In all a memorable week in Lisbon and London.

TR Index

1. Introduction
2. Flight - SIN-LHR on Qantas QF1 A380 Y
3. Lounge - Lufthansa Senator/Business Lounge at LHR T2
4. Lounge - United Club at LHR T2 Concourse B
5. Flight - LHR-LIS on TAP Air Portugal TP1367 Airbus A320 Y
6. Hotel - Corinthia Lisbon
7. Run - Lisbon City Run to Praca do Comercio and Ponte 25 de Abril / Docas
8. Dinner - 5 Oceans @ Doca de Santo Amarao
9. Dinner - IIIMPAR
10. Run - Praca do Comercio to Belem Tower
11. Run - Old Town & Castelo de Sao Jorge
12. Lounge - TAP Premium Lounge / Star Alliance Gold Lounge in LIS
14. Flight - LIS-LHR on TAP Air Portugal TP 1354 Airbus A320 Y
15. Lunch - Ottolenghi Spitalfields
16. City - A walk through London
17. Lounge - Qantas Lounge at LHR T3
18. Flight - LHR-SIN on Qantas QF2 A380 Y
19. Final Reflections

[yflyer]

My trip began at Changi Airport T1 on a late Saturday night in March this year. I had previously checked in online, and arrived at the airport fairly late in the evening, home-printed boarding pass in hand. By that time, the check-in area was quite empty.



These days self-service check in kiosks are the norm, with manned counters only for business class and frequent flyers.

I headed straight to the gate. Qantas A380 VH-OQD would be operating QF1 SIN-LHR, with a departure time of 11:55 pm.



There are no new Qantas A380s, with the currently operating aircraft all delivered between 2008 and 2011. VH-OQD, "Fergus McMaster" was the 4th A380 to be delivered to Qantas, in August 2009.

This 10 year old aircraft was still in good shape, and had been repainted in Qantas' new livery.



Boarding was called on time...

[yflyer]

The Qantas A380 is configured with First Class and Economy Class on the main deck, with Business, Premium Economy, and a small Economy cabin on the upper deck.

I boarded via the main deck, entering straight into the first of 3 cavernous Y cabin sections, laid out in a spacious 10-abreast 3-4-3.



The second Y cabin, in green upholstery...



My seat was in the 3rd Y cabin, the smallest of the 3 on the main deck.



Note that the emex row, row 79, in this cabin has a missing window seat, which means that the next row, row 80, has a very desirable window seat at 80A / 80K: this seat has both a window and unobstructed legroom as well as aisle access via the space in front. QF charges an additional fee to select seats 80A/K.

My seat was 80C, which was the aisle seat in the row with the preferred window/emex seat. This seat was selectable with no extra fee, and is a great seat because you don't have the window seat passenger trying to get past you in order to get to the aisle.

The QF Y seat itself is also one of my favourites. This is a Marc Newson designed Y seat, with a carbon fiber shell.



This is a very wide and comfortable Y seat which has stood the test of time very well.

A close-up view of the carbon fiber shell, which is quite unique to Qantas.





The shell was very thin and light, yet very strong, so you didn't feel anyone's knees in your back when you sat in the seat. (This was something Cathay Pacific forgot about in their new CX A350 Y seat, which had a very thin seat back -- a major flaw in an otherwise strong CX A350 cabin product.)

Recline was very good. The seat base moves forward slightly to cradle the passenger at a comfortable angle.



No major obstructions under the seat...



There was a foot net that could be used to rest your feet during the flight. I suspect many pax didn't even know this existed, but I found it very useful...



Each seat came with a large, soft fabric pillow, and thick blanket.



Seatbelts were car-style seatbelts, not the usual "lift flap to release" design.

[yflyer]

The widescreen IFE touchscreen was in the seat back. This was similar to SQ's first gen A380 Y screen, except that this was a touchscreen.



The armrests had a cover, which could be raised to reveal an IFE controller (which also had light and attendant call buttons.)



Headphones with 2-pin airline plug...



There was also a USB charging port and A/C power.

There was a single tail-mounted camera view available.



In terms of seat comfort, the seat was great.

While the IFE is not up to the standard of the latest IFE products on SQ, EK or even QF's newest IFE products, this 1st gen A380 IFE screen would still be considered ok for most passengers. Although the user-interface lags a little, and has less contrast and clarity than newest hidef screens, it is still a decent system.

The only major omission would be wifi, which is not currently available on QF's A380's or indeed any of Qantas' international services, including, surprisingly, their new ULH 787 Dreamliner PER-LHR service. Wifi is available on some Qantas domestic services, and they are planning to introduce wifi internationally at a future date (See AusBT article here) but for now, those seeking wifi on an A380 would have to fly other airlines such as SQ or EK.

Overall, IFE and lack of wifi aside, this was a very impressive Y cabin product, with a seat that was as comfortable as any, well suited for long haul travel on sectors such as SYD-SIN-LHR.

[yflyer]

Another view of the row 80 window seat with unobstructed legroom...



The Y lavatory, with sensor operated taps...

[yflyer]

Pushback, taxi, and a smooth take-off to the north...





Cabin service began shortly after take-off...

[yflyer]

Bottles of water were handed out...



Amenity kits...



A surprisingly well stocked Y amenity kit..



...although I thought the SQ Y eyeshades (Handed out on demand) were of better quality than the QF eyeshades...

[yflyer]

A very long flight time of about 14 hours this evening -- the longest I had ever experienced on the SIN-LHR sector...

[yflyer]

Menus were handed out...



3 choices of main for supper, and two choices for breakfast, with a snack in between.



A decent beverage selection, with good detail on exactly what drinks were on offer, rather than the simple categories that SQ's menu show these days.



Qantas has a fairly unique "trayless" Y meal service concept. They hand out large casseroles of mains, as well as rolls and dessert separately, without an actual tray. There isn't a starter or salad course, but on the flip side the main is more generous, and anyone who prefers salad can get a large salad as a main.



Plastic cutlery...



I opted for the beef selection...



This was very tasty, with generous chunks of tender beef...



I also appreciated the fact that Qantas carried a fairly large selection of small bottles of Australian red and white wine (Including a sparkling white wine).

I picked a Shiraz, "The Drives", from Seppelt Wines in Victoria -- a fruity and enjoyable wine with a Vivino rating of 3.1. Not bad for a Y class wine!



Dessert, a coffee crumble cake, was tasty too...



And after dinner, coffee and/or tea was served, although I skipped that as my plan was to sleep. I hoped to myself that the coffee crumble cake didn't have too much residual caffeine in it, as that would derail my sleep plans...



Overall a very satisfying supper meal service, although the range of choices available were more skewed towards the Western, rather than Asian, palate...

[yflyer]

I asked for a G&T, which came complete with ice and lemon slice...



...then reclined my seat and fell promptly asleep, only waking up 5+ hours into the flight, with 8+ more hours to run.



At that point, we were over the Arabian Sea, having crossed over India at a fairly southern latitude, bypassing Pakistan airpace.

I headed to the galley just ahead of the emex row in search of snacks...



Hmmm, bananas and assorted snacks were laid out.

I headed to the rear of the plane...



The staircase was blocked off at the upper level...



The rear of the Qantas A380 main deck had a small refreshment area, which I assumed was self serve, as there were drinks and snacks in the cabinets there, which pax were free to help themselves to.



Snack bars and Tim Tams...



Soft drinks...

[yflyer]

I must have been asleep when the cabin crew came round mid flight to distribute snack boxes, but the cabin crew were happy to give me a snack box containing a vegetable puff when I asked for one...



This was a savoury and delicious puff, still piping hot, which I washed down with a can of Bundabeer Ginger beer...

[yflyer]

The flight continued over Kuwait City and Baghdad...



...before crossing over the Black Sea to Bulgaria and Romania...



By then, I was all slept out and, feeling well rested after at least 6-7 hours of sleep, began my "morning". It was, after all, almost noon in Singapore by that time.

I began with a coffee...



By then, it was almost dawn over Europe...

[yflyer]

About 2 hrs before landing, breakfast was served...





A few minutes before meal service began, I had gone to the galley to ask for a bottle of sparkling wine. I opened it just as breakfast was served, and enjoyed my brekkie with a glass of Jacob's Creek Sparkling Pinot Noir...quite an indulgence...



My breakfast as served...



I opted for the hot breakfast, comprising eggs, ham and sausage...



It was a presentable looking meal, and tasted ok as well...



By then it was sunrise over Austria...





Some very nice views of the Austrian Alps...

[yflyer]

Now that I was awake, I spent a few minutes checking out the IFE...

A very good selection of movies, TV and audio....



Including box sets...



You could have spent the whole flight watching Harry Potter...



Fans of the Marvel Comic Universe were not neglected either...



But for those among us who feel that Marvel has gone out of hand with their movie franchise, piling on character after character into movies with confusing, complicated and ever more convoluted plot lines, there were also classic movies to enjoy...



Radio channels...



...and a Comedy Channel, "Smile High Club", how retro was that?



A very nice range of on-demand audio selections as well...



Notable movies included Bohemian Rhapsody, chronically the life of the amazing Freddie Mercury...



...which is worth watching just for a spine-tingling recreation of the Wembley Live Aid Concert...



And also "First Man"...



...which I felt was an excellent, very gripping, movie, but which may not be to all tastes...perhaps a movie for aviation and space exploration enthusiasts only...

[yflyer]

Very good Y cabin ambience on this very full A380, with many pax starting their trip in Australia.



Finally, we were over the English Channel...



...and over London, with great views of the Thames and the city...



...as we made a circuit due to airport congestion...



Final approach...the sharp-eyed reader would just be able to make out the silhouette of a supersonic airliner on the ground in the fuzzy tailcam view below...



A smooth landing, just before 7am, and a short taxi to our gate at London Heathrow T3.



Overall, an excellent flight...a great cabin product and good meals, IFE and warm, friendly and professional cabin crew as well, with the only thing I missed being a wifi connection in order to send a few WhatsApp messages and maybe a few pics to friends and family back home. Whatever the economics of a 4 engined superjumbo, the A380 is a great aircraft from the perspective of passenger experience and comfort. I love flying on it, whether on QF, SQ or any other airline, and hope that to see A380's in the air for years to come.