Got a flight to Warsaw from Melbourne in March with Qatar, which will be my first with them. Enjoyed Royal Brunei to UK last 2 years, food was pretty decent too and would be happy if my upcoming flight with Qatar is a similar quality experience. Added bonus of Qatar is getting to down my sleeping pills with a beer to ensure most of that 14 hour first leg is knocked out.
Travel Best and Worst Airlines
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- Mar 11, 2012
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Delta planes are like Greyhound buses with wings, avoid if possible. I think most US domestic are bad although I found Southwest alright.
I really rate Virgin International and Emirates, and I've also heard good things about Qatar.
I really rate Virgin International and Emirates, and I've also heard good things about Qatar.
kaiserchief13
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Emirates is good but, from Dubai to Melbourne they sometimes put you on the Boeing 777 which has seating tight as *
Forward Press
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When booking I try and make sure it's the A380. The 777 is unavoidable for some of the smaller routes, but still shits over most other economy classes.
Weird transit, Colombo seems a bit out of the way to go from HK to Melbourne.
Was the cheapest fare back at the time and it gave me an excuse to visit Sri Lanka. Fare was very reasonable and on [par or better at the time than the budget carriers think in part to promote their new route.
The 777-300 is a beast, a far superior plane to the 380 except for one thing, no bar in business.
The 777 also has the best safety record, never crashed, (discounting being shot down with missiles or whatever foul play happened to MH370.)
380 is actually a dog of an aircraft and Airbus would have stopped making them long ago if Emirates didn't keep buying them.
Forward Press
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Asiana Flight 214 was a Boeing 777 that crashed.
Also I am fairly sure we're talking about the standard of service and the cabin, don't really care too much about safety because all airlines that fly in and out of Australia are extremely safe and reliable and their airplanes reflect this.
Personally I think the A380 is a marvel of modern engineering, it is enormous and watching it take-off is always a sight to behold.
Pilot error, nothing to do with the aircraft. You might be horrified to hear of the amount of constant maintenance required to keep a 380 in the air.
It may be big, but aesthically, it is one big ugly cattle truck.
Forward Press
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Oh don't get me wrong, I understand it is a glorified flying live human transport ship, but I actually admire how they got such a gigantic thing to fly.
It will probably be superseded by the 787 and the next generation of more efficient aircraft but the A380 will forever be a milestone in civil aviation.
- Oct 9, 2003
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I like the A350's. The 787's, not so much...
I don't mind the A380 but it's getting a bit long in the tooth, been in the air for 11 years now. And as recent as today there is talk that Airbus may kill it
http://www.independent.co.uk/travel...nes-heathrow-dubai-emirates-777-a8162731.html
I don't mind the A380 but it's getting a bit long in the tooth, been in the air for 11 years now. And as recent as today there is talk that Airbus may kill it
http://www.independent.co.uk/travel...nes-heathrow-dubai-emirates-777-a8162731.html
Yep as I said above, if it wasn't for Emirates trying to win the dick measuring exercise against Qatar and Etihad, they would have stopped making them long ago.
I thought the 787 Dreamliner was great. I flew it from Brisbane to Vancouver and it was easily the best trip between the two countries that I’ve had.
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I flew S7 from Novosibirsk to Moscow last year. Wasn't expecting much but it was actually pretty decent. Better than our domestic services.
Off topic but a lot of you seem to travel.
Do you recommend 10 days in Hong Kong/ Macau?
Or
In New York?
Do you recommend 10 days in Hong Kong/ Macau?
Or
In New York?
- Oct 7, 2002
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I genuinely can't tell the difference between any planes I fly on, the airline makes so much more difference than the aircraft for me.
That is a huge amount of time in Macau/Hong Kong. I go there heaps and 2 or 3 days per time is enough with 5 days being heaps. You could push it further but it will just depend on when you will think of going and what you want to do or see. Macau you really only need 1 day to do it from Hong Kong as the ferry goes 24/7 and thus you can leave early and come back late. Would suggest doing a day or two or more in Shenzhen China while in Hong Kong if you wanted to stretch the trip further as you can get a visa on arrival for that zone.
Morganashlee
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Seems like too long for one and not enough in the other.
Find more days and go to New York
Yes Shenzhen....seems to not get much publicity in Australia.
Thanks. ..September is when I am thinking and back in time to see North win the flag.
Shenzhen is nice, there is a bit to do as it is a massive city (would be probably as large in terms of the area as Melbourne or Sydney now) and has well over double the people. There is a good chance you will be able to snag a deal on return flights with either a QANTAS or Virgin for a good rate ($500 or so I've seen them at). If you go to Shenzhen then I'd suggest you stay there for a couple of days as it is easier and cheaper than doing multiple day trips as you will need a new visa and the cost of a good room in a standard hotel is between 33% and 50% of what it costs in Hong Kong too. If you think you'll visit there let me know and I'll give you a bit of ingo.
Forward Press
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Macau is an over-commercialised shithole (sorry President Trump for stealing your phrase) that caters to mainland Chinese tourists wanting to gamble obscene amounts of money. So gaudy and tacky and hard to find genuine Macanese culture and atmosphere.
I went there for a day trip from HK and felt it was more than enough time.
I went there for a day trip from HK and felt it was more than enough time.
Forward Press
Hall of Famer
I believe the new bridge between HK and Macau will be open soon so you may not even need the ferry any more.
I recommend basing in HK, it's fabulous even if its overpriced.
It should be open sometime this year according to government sources but when is the question as it has already experienced a few delays. It seemed to be getting toward the end of build when we flew over it last time. I agree basing in Hong Kong too. Only difference is if you want to see Shenzhen as the visa is a one entry and thus if you want to see more of the city then you should spend more days there to maximise its value.
Similar to me. Have flown Royal Brunei from Melbourne to London stopping Brunei and Dubai. A long bloody trip but their service is top notch and it was actually nice to have 2 stops on the way. Food was quite decent as well as far as plane food goes.
Flying Qatar to London in a couple of months so it'll be interesting to see how the 15hr flight to Doha goes, might try and sleep a fair chunk of it. Only a 1hr stopover so it's about as fast as you'll get from Melb to London with the 7hr leg from Doha.
