Travel Diary: and we're off!

[El Presidente]

No good news ever comes from being called to the Qantas lounge service desk. 

"Mr Ayala...please come to the service desk and see one of the customer service representatives". 

Over the years I have had my name called out many times and not once has it been "a positive". 

"Oh Mr Ayala you have just won a new car!"  "Oh Mr Ayala we have moved you to first class"   Not once 

"Oh Mr Ayala your flight has been cancelled" "Oh Mr Ayala we have had to move you" ......Plenty

And so it was today.  An elderly couple wanted to sit together and the Qantas customer service representative politely asked me to move from my favourite seat to allow these two to sit together. They look to be about my parents age......and I know full well my father would gladly give his little  pinky to have 4 hours by himself from my mother. 

Before responding I looked into the grey eyes of the elderly gent for a good 10 seconds searching for the agony....... and I saw it."DON"T DO IT SON! KEEP YOUR SEAT AND LET ME HAVE 4 HOURS OF PEACE"

It was at that point that the wife placed her hand on my arm and said "please".  Game over. 

So I am watching them now. Husband traumatised as the wife hasn't stopped yacking to him since takeoff 35 minutes ago. 

Meanwhile I have been trying to get the attention of someone to give me back my confiscated laptop stolen at takeoff. 

I have worked out that pressing buttons for attention doesn't work.  Take off your mask however and watch the coven grab a broomstick and fly into action! 

It is going to be an interesting flight 

[BigGuns]

Looking forward to watching this thread continue…safe travels, Rob!

[TheDonTX]

36 minutes ago, BigGuns said:

Looking forward to watching this thread continue…safe travels, Rob!

Same here. Safe travels! 

[El Presidente]

Landed at Darwin Airport to get the connecting flight to London. 

Qantas started using Darwin when the Hermit Kingdom of Perth locked itself away from the world. No one is quite sure if they have opened still. No one cares 

Darwin is the  "Dodge City" of Australia. Darwin is as close to Crocodile Dundee as you are about to find. Ton of fun and full of nutters. 

The airport houses both International and Domestic together under the one roof. I have been to bigger night clubs but in all fairness it is the friendliest airport in Oz.  The lounge buffet is apparently Asian inspired as they have warmed up spring rolls. The tamarind chicken reached new levels as it takes special a skill to cook dry chicken thigh with the bone in. Still you have to smile when you receive a huge welcome back from the bar waitress who pours me a large flute of Jacobs Creek Sparkling....and then pours herself a half. it's OK as we are pretty much the only ones here and I am used to Di and Lisa drinking at work 

I have never met her before but she is in my good books. 

Cheers to Darwin!

[Ken Gargett]

2 minutes ago, El Presidente said:

Landed at Darwin Aiport to get the connecting flight to London. 

Qantas started using Darwin when the Hermit Kingdom of Perth locked itself away from the world. No one is quite sure if they have opened still. No one cares 

Darwin is the  "Dodge City" of Australia. Darwin is as close to Crocodile Dundee as you are about to find. Ton of fun and full of nutters. 

The airport houses both International and Domestic together under the one roof. I have been to bigger night clubs but in all fairness it is the friendliest airport in Oz.  The lounge buffet is apparently Asian inspired as they have warmed up spring rolls. The tamarind chicken reached new levels as it takes special a skill to cook dry chicken thigh with the bone in. Still you have to smile when you receive a huge welcome back from the bar waitress who pours me a large flute of Jacobs Creek Sparkling....and then pours herself a half. I have never met her before but she is in my good books. 

Cheers to Darwin!

less exciting when you get to spend 24 hours in the club because qantas stuffed up - dead plane and the parts have to come from singapore and there is nothing else around. and everyone, including me for once, is trying desperately to get a new connection from brisbane to sydney (there were almost no seats because all planes were already full). a mate and i simply rang HQ in sydney to do it. got our connection for the first plane next day. qantas in darwin was claiming it could not be done. sending everyone away. crowds were very upset. i went to the desk to tell the seriously pissed off staff that they did not need to worry about me (thought i was doing them a favour). big crowd all yelling and shoving. was about to tell them this when the delightfully rude employee simply turned on me, told me they they were working on it, to shut up and go away. before i could say a word. 

so i thought right, you want to act like this when i was trying to help you! in my very loud outdoor voice (also known as the voice to use when you want as many people as possible to hear what the sods at qantas don't want you to share), told them not to worry me. i had my seats on the connecting flight. told them very loudly how easy it was. i had simply rung sydney. the crowd started screaming at the qantas employees. and the woman looked at me with utter hatred. i just smiled. 

love darwin but the airport, not so much. 

[El Presidente]

Plane delay; 2 for 2 so far. 

Coming up to 10 hours and sadly I haven't left Australia proper. 

Getting to love Darwin airport. Maybe it is the sparkling white after 6 hours. Best security ever. "Keep your belt on mate,  Just liquids and laptops people....we don't give a rats about the rest" 

Picture an airport in Mad Max "Beyond Thunderdome".    Mucho weird but everyone appearing to be having a ball. 

Good fun 

 

[99call]

3 minutes ago, El Presidente said:

"Keep your belt on mate,  Just liquids and laptops people....we don't give a rats about the rest" 

Love places like this,   I remember being stood on the train station platform in Weston-super-Mare.  And the girl on the announcement speaker was basically having sex whilst she was informing commuters of a delayed train to Bristol.  It went something like this. 

"Passengers on platform 6 please be aware......".........F**kin---ell John gerroff,   Jesus!, no not now.....  giggling....... "The 12:30 service to Bristol........"  Oooo! you dirty bugger, I'm trying to.........I'm trying to........shut the door..................(sounds of papers and pencils being swept off a table)  etc etc

I remember standing in a state of shock, looking around at all the other commuters on the platform,  you could sell all the locals weren't batting an eyelid, and the rest of the city slickers,  like me with stunned faces. 

Brilliant place

 

For those that don't know the accent, it sound something like this.  Everything they say sounds hilarious, even getting parking tickets. 

 

[Fuzz]

3 hours ago, 99call said:

Love places like this,   I remember being stood on the train station platform in Weston-super-Mare.  And the girl on the announcement speaker was basically having sex whilst she was informing commuters of a delayed train to Bristol.  It went something like this. 

"Passengers on platform 6 please be aware......".........F**kin---ell John gerroff,   Jesus!, no not now.....  giggling....... "The 12:30 service to Bristol........"  Oooo! you dirty bugger, I'm trying to.........I'm trying to........shut the door..................(sounds of papers and pencils being swept off a table)  etc etc

I remember standing in a state of shock, looking around at all the other commuters on the platform,  you could sell all the locals weren't batting an eyelid, and the rest of the city slickers,  like me with stunned faces. 

Brilliant place

 

For those that don't know the accent, it sound something like this.  Everything they say sounds hilarious, even getting parking tickets. 

Never been out that part of England, but oddly enough when reading that, the accent automatically popped in my head.

[Cigar Surgeon]

[riderpride]

Is anyone putting up odds that Rob misses/forgets to actually book a flight?

Gotta love the Oz TSA

 

[Toast & Taste]

You mean to tell me that FOH doesn't have a Gulfstream?

 

Big Al 

[GavLew79]

Will be good to finally meet after all these years!

Safe travels. 

I guess for Sydney to London, you still have to go via Dubai, yeah?

[SCgarman]

4 hours ago, Toast & Taste said:

You mean to tell me that FOH doesn't have a Gulfstream?

 

Big Al 

They should considering the price of cigars!😁

[LordAnubis]

Is @Ken Gargett in charge while you are away Pres? Asking for a friend.

[Ken Gargett]

1 hour ago, LordAnubis said:

Is @Ken Gargett in charge while you are away Pres? Asking for a friend.

mus, what does him being away have to do with it? 

 

not sure if rob is aware of this. 

apparently the stumbling wombat (because a break of two years to get things right was not long enough) has been offloading luggage in darwin. hopeless. from the SMH. 

‘I’ll be home before my luggage’: Qantas passengers’ fury after being left in Britain without luggage

By Latika Bourke

Updated May 4, 2022 — 3.37pm

Qantas has been offloading baggage in Darwin belonging to passengers flying on the route to the UK because works required on that airport’s runway meant Dreamliner planes could not take off with their full weight. 

A Qantas plane in Darwin. CREDIT:LISA MCTIERNAN

Department of Defence, which operates the Northern Territory-based airport jointly with the Airport Development Group, said the works were completed on Saturday, April 30.

Qantas has promised to courier bags to passengers pending confirmation of UK addresses. “All bags have now been re-accommodated on later flights and will be couriered directly to customers as soon as we’re able to confirm the correct address.”

But passengers like Corrie McLeod, who departed Australia on Sunday night, remain in the UK without their bags.

McLeod was told 15 minutes before arriving at Heathrow at 6am on Monday that her luggage – packed with her work clothes and warm coats – had been left behind in Australia.

She is due to return home on Thursday and said she doubted her luggage would catch up with her, as there had been no updates provided by Qantas on her missing luggage.

“I think I’ll be home before my baggage gets to the UK,” she said.

“I would have been fine to just pack more carry-on for the short trip if they’d just told me.

“These fares aren’t cheap, the minimum you’d expect for any class of passenger is a basic line of communication but Qantas is just silent.”

Anthony Neiland his wife Denise left Darwin last Wednesday for their trip of a lifetime – a five-week holiday around the UK to celebrate their wedding anniversary which had been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The recently retired 65-year-old said they specifically paid more for their tickets to fly the non-stop Australia-to-UK flight to avoid baggage troubles.

“We chose to fly Qantas because we thought if we fly direct to England from Australia that will minimise our chances of getting COVID and reduce the risk of our luggage being lost during a stopover in Asia,” he said. “COVID was the number one reason, baggage problems was number two.”

But they said they were only informed about the delay about 20 minutes before landing when aircrew asked them to fill in some forms identifying their luggage.

 

“These fares aren’t cheap, the minimum you’d expect for any class of passenger is a basic line of communication but Qantas is just silent.”

Corrie McLeod

Nearly six days later, they still have not seen their luggage nor heard from Qantas.

 

“We have tried ringing the numbers in Australia and in England but that just went through to the Australian one and after three hours on the phone, I gave up because it was clear they weren’t going to answer,” he said.

Denise’s email to Qantas also went unanswered.

 

“We still haven’t heard anything back, we’ve received no phone calls at all,” he said. “That’s been the biggest frustration, even if they lost our luggage they could contact us and give us some sort of update,” he said.

Anthony said he had fortunately packed his medicine with him but that they had no warm clothes with them.

“I’m very disappointed in Qantas, I’m worried they’ve cut back too much so they can’t offer the service.”

Anthony Neil

The couple had planned to travel across the UK but have now had to wipe the first week of their travel plans to stay put in the hope that Qantas will deliver them their bags.

“We’re worried that they’ll never quite get to us, or they’ll deliver it to the wrong place,” he said. “It’s been frustrating, annoying and stressful.

 

“I’m very disappointed in Qantas, I’m worried they’ve cut back too much so they can’t offer the service and in this day and age communication is not that hard,” he said.

 

Dreamliner nightmare as Qantas dumps economy luggage in Darwin for London flights

The Perth-to-London route, the first non-stop direct flight between Australia and the UK was launched in 2018 and has become Qantas’ most profitable route.

However, during the pandemic, the flight was rerouted via Darwin and the airline closed down its international service because the Australian government shut its borders while Western Australia closed itself off from the rest of the country.

On Wednesday, Qantas announced it would be rerouting one of the Darwin to London flights, QF9/10, back through Perth, three weeks earlier than anticipated.

 

This will enable Qantas to board more passengers per flight out of Perth because the route is shorter, meaning flights can carry less fuel.

Flights QF1/2 will continue to fly Darwin to London, until the Singapore transit stop is restored on June 18.

Qantas International CEO Andrew David said Qantas was grateful to the NT government for stepping up.

“The NT Government and Darwin Airport went above and beyond so that we could operate these services when WA kept its borders closed, and we’re extremely grateful for their partnership,” David said.

“While it has been great to operate from the Top End, we’ve always said that Perth remained the long-term home of these flights.”

[BigGuns]

Hahahah. Savile Row is just a hackney carriage ride away, @Elpresidente

[El Presidente]

Just landed in London

.........27 hrs from tarmac to tarmac including Darwin delay.

No WIFI cruelled it somewhat but managed to get plenty of work done.

 

Looking forward to lunch with Steven later today 👍

[gustavehenne]

14 hours ago, El Presidente said:

Just landed in London

.........27 hrs from tarmac to tarmac including Darwin delay.

No WIFI cruelled it somewhat but managed to get plenty of work done.

 

Looking forward to lunch with Steven later today 👍

Thanks for a brilliant lunch and a fantastic chat over a cigar. Thoroughly enjoyed 

[PigFish]

Sounds like a good book. "A Night in Darwin..." -LOL

... first stop, a bite at the Zinjanthropus Inn on the way to Leakey Lounge!

[wine_junkie]

12 hours ago, stevenhaugen said:

Thanks for a brilliant lunch and a fantastic chat over a cigar. Thoroughly enjoyed

How was that Tainos smoking?

[El Presidente]

Great lunch Steven. THANK YOU!

Found my Flat in Soho yesterday and pleasantly surprised. It is a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom which suits well as Ben lands later today for BR meetings next week. 

Pretty cool. 

 

 

I took a half hour kip on the couch and then a little grocery shopping around Soho where I also tried to find some RTW reading glasses as I managed to leave mine on the plane. I am idiot. I apologise to JohnS in advance as he will be having panic attacks correcting my spelling errors until I find some glasses 

Off to lunch with Steven at  "The Ivy". Lovely London upper market feel with those perfectly manicured staff. Steven selected a great bottle of French and we finally ordered some delightful meals.  Embarrassingly, sans reading glasses ....the lass assisted in my selection. 

Steven and I had a great discussion of cigars, work, life, loves, which continued as we walked the 15 minutes to AJ's lounge. Hats off to AJ. The whole environment and his team are top shelf. It really is one of the great Divan's of the cigar world.

Having selected a couple of  El Rey Del Mundo Kon Tiki, we sat down and spent three hours together over a couple of Cuba Libre. The 109 was very good. Coffee/cake and a touch of citrus.

I had hit the wall by 6PM having landed 5am that morning. 

Great nights sleep, up at 5am, some housekeeping, forum and now off to the gym in preparation for a long lunch with good mate Justin Seldis. 

I love London!

[El Presidente]

Beautiful morning. Beautiful city.

 

 

[JohnS]

2 hours ago, El Presidente said:

I took a half hour kip on the couch and then a little grocery shopping around Soho where I also tried to find some RTW reading glasses as I managed to leave mine on the plane. I am idiot. I apologise to JohnS in advance as he will be having panic attacks correcting my spelling errors until I find some glasses 

All good. As Alexander Pope said (in the 18th century), ‘To err is human; to forgive, divine’. You did well here El Pres, only two errors that I needed to fix and it was my pleasure to do so. What do you say to some Ron Zacapa XO and Pol Roger Champagne on me the next time we catch up to have a laugh about it all? 

[gustavehenne]

7 hours ago, wine_junkie said:

How was that Tainos smoking?

It was the ERDM Kon Tiki 1973. Mine was a bit plugged but after some tinkering it was very nice.

I got coffee, citrus and some sweet notes. There was some cream there but my unsophisticated palate couldn’t quite pick out everything. It was a nice smoke but I’d take a Choix Supreme over this…

One of the highlights of the lunch was somebody asking @El Presidente if he knew anything about cigars 😂😂 - which he handled brilliantly … a true class act.

[Fuzz]

7 hours ago, El Presidente said:

 

 

Great choice with that apartment! I noticed it has a fire blanket..... And you'd better check where the smoke alarm is.