The First taste.

When Wilbur and Orville Wright flew the very first airplane for the very first time, they managed a distance of just over 35 metres. 100 years on, double that distance and you have the length of the flagship Qantas Boeing 747-400 aircraft that will fly me to Hong Kong.

The Boeing 747 itself is an aging craft, but still the reigning Queen of the Skies until the mighty double-decker Airbus A380 come into service later this year. I do have a soft spot for it as it was the plane I dreamt most of before my very first plane trip. And there it was, perched majestically on the tarmac gleaming white and red in the midday sun.

Bypassing the 300 person economy queue at the boarding gate, I have to give some credit the person at the Qantas Frequent Flyer booking centre. Somehow, she’s managed to book me into what are regarded as the best of the best first class seats available, on every leg of this trip. Seats that are normally reserved for paying customers with uber-status in Frequent Flyer programs, that are more discerning with the subtle details of their flights. Even though I, who have not flown much recently, currently have the status somewhere near that of amoeba.

For this first trip, I was assigned seat 1A. This is the most private seat as you can’t see anyone else (other than seat 1K directly opposite on your right), and is the furthest distance from any other seat. It’s also in the curved pointy end of the plane, so you have a slightly forward view out the windows – the only seat better is the pilot’s. For today, 1K was also kept empty, so it felt very secluded indeed; like the entire cabin was mine alone, despite there being 7 other passengers.

After settling down in a spacious seat with plenty of leg-room, the goodies started arriving.

First, I was offered a choice of pre-flight drinks.

Then steaming hot towels.

Followed by newspapers and magazines.

And an Oroton cabin bag full of various creams, eye-shades, earplugs, hygiene and shaving hygiene products.

Then a dinky set of black Qantas pajamas, to enjoy the flat bed experience.

And finally, a menu for lunch. For those who are interested, the menu was as follows:

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Sydney to Hong Kong

Lunch

Our extensive Rockpool designed menu allows you to enjoy a completely personalised dining experience. To complement your choice of main meal, select your own side dishes as accompaniments. Alternatively, your Flight Attendant will be pleased to assist you with your selection. As your flight continues, feel free to snack from a variety of lighter sweet or savoury refreshments at your convenience.

Canapes

Entrees

Chinese Style Pork and Mushroom Soup

Salad of Smoked Duck, Shaved Radish and Baby Beetroot with Walnuts

Salad

Our signature salad of Baby Cos, Radicchio and Frisee is available to accompany your main course, or can be enjoyed as an entrée, dressed with your choice of Aged Balsamic Vinaigrette, Palm Sugar Vinaigrette, Lemon Vinaigrette, or Blue Cheese Dressing

Main Courses

White Poached Chicken with Chilli Sauce and Sweet Soy

Roast Beef Fillet with Thyme Jus

Seared Kingfish with Tomato and Saffron Broth

Wok Fried Omelette with Shredded Asian Vegetables

Side Dishes

Chicken Rice

Blanched Gai Lan

Skordalia

Char Grilled Vegetables

Kipfler Potatoes

Sugar Snap Peas with Speck

A choice of mustards and condiments is available

Cheese

Blue, soft and hard cheese, hand selected by Will Studd, Maitre Fromager Calendar Cheese Company, served with accompaniments

Dessert

Nice Cream Ginger Ice Cream and Pineapple Sorbet Log with Passionfruit Syrup and Macaroons

Summer Berry Tart with Raspberry Sauce

Sliced Fresh Seasonal Fruit

Assiette – a tasting plate of desserts

Petits Fours

A selection of Kennedy & Wilson chocolates and petits fours

Refreshments (available throughout your flight)

Asparagus and Pancetta Soup with Pecorino

Fried Rice with Barbecue Pork, Capsicum, Green Beans and Shiitake Mushrooms

Steak Sandwich with Tomato and Chilli Relish

Manna from Heaven Chocolate Praline Cakes

Manna from Heaven Pistachio and Almond Biscuits

Fresh Whole Fruit

Nice Cream Chocolate Coated Vanilla Ice Creams

Wine List

Dom Perignon 1996 Vintage

Mesh Riesling 2004

Dominique Portet Fontaine Rose 2004

Bannockburn Chardonnay 2002

Curly Flat Pinot Noir 2001

Mount Ida Shiraz 2002

Cape Mentelle Cabernet Sauvignon 2000

Mount Horrocks Cordon Cut Riesling 2004

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All sounding very good so far, right? It's about here that, at the risk of sounding very snobbish, that some of the allure of First Class started to get tarnished.

After take-off, pre-lunch drink orders were taken. Not being able to resist some of the Dom Perignon, I asked for a splash of the champagne and a glass of water. About five minutes later, my order was delivered... to the empty seat 1K.

Now, bear in mind that there are three crew members serving just eight passengers in first class. It's after take-off, and there's only two seats in the first row, one of which has always been empty. At no point has any crew member offered greetings, newspapers, refreshment orders, pajamas, or even so much as looked at the phantom passenger in seat 1K. Most likely because he doesn't exist.

And yet the crew offered him (her? It?) my drink.

I was not quite sure what to make of it - was this a ritual for good luck? Perhaps a First Class initiation/hazing, soon to be followed by the spanking of the buttocks and a lap around the cabin with pants down and a marshmallow between one's butt cheeks? Was this a sign that I just obviously don't belong in this cabin, and I should return to steerage where passengers pass away the time dancing a vigorous irish jigs?

I patiently waited ten minutes, forlornly staring at the menu until a sharp eyed attendant realised that with a 50-50 chance of serving food to the right seat in the front row, their first guess was wrong.

After a profuse apology, my drinks were delivered with the canapes. Okay, mistakes happen, and the crew were very friendly and professional about it all.

The only harm done was a slightly flat champagne, but I'm not used to the lifestyle yet - it's only an hour into the flight afterall - so it's all good ;)

After finishing up the drinks, my gadget lust took over, and I looked for buttons to press, push and prod. One of them released an LCD monitor out of the side console in a pretty cool fashion, so I started playing with that.

Except that nothing happened, other than Qantas in-flight news. And the remote was jammed into the console in a way that it couldn't be removed.

Hmm. It's a good thing that the LCD panel was a touch screen. So I pressed it and... nothing happened. Still the news. I tried the remote again. Then the touch screen panel. Then I searched for the entertainment guide, to find instructions on how to use the system. It advised pressing the buttons on the remote.

So I pressed random combinations of buttons on the remote. Then random parts of the touch screen. Then gave up, and watched the news. This cabin does not like me.

Once the news ended, and all the in-flight commercials were screened, the system came to life and responded as it should. So it's all just a ploy to force you to watch the advertising. And I have to admit, the touch screen element was very cool and intuitive - the only downside was that you couldn't get video on demand (which Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines both had in Business Class years ago), so it was just a very fancy way of skipping channels and missing out on half your movie.

Thankfully, distraction came in the form of lunch - as catered by Neil Perry of Rockpool. A massive table (by airline seat standards) retracted from a panel under the LCD screen compartment, and crisp white linen was laid out along with some bread, butter and sea salt.

Then the first course was served - a very nicely presented Salad of Smoked Duck, Shaved Radish and Baby Beetroot with Walnuts.

Laid out very nicely, it tasted as good as it looked - with the sharp, tangy sweetness of the beetroot a perfect accompaniment to the lightly smoked, savoury lean duck breast.

This was followed by the beef fillet and green leaf salad - again, quite nicely presented. The steak was beautifully tender and perfectly cooked to a medium - quite a feat on board an aircraft.

The taste, however, was somewhat odd. I can't quite put my finger on it, other than to say that it tasted of something that was almost, but not quite, like a raw cow (yes, I know it's a beef steak).

Finally, having another look at the menu, I couldn't resist ordering some dessert - in particular, the tasting plate, as it made choosing easy by removing the need for choice.

The presentation of this was once again superb, with the highlight definitely being the Ginger Ice Cream and Pineapple Sorbet Log with Passionfruit Syrup. The other two items were an anti-climax after that.

The tables were all then cleared, and the cabin dimmed so that passengers could get some sleep. I went to the bathroom to change into my pajamas, and admired the view from the window there. It certainly was the nicest aircraft bathroom I've ever been in.

The PJs, though slightly oversized and making me look like a midget reject from the Biggest Loser, were surprisingly comfortable. Those PJs, together with the flat bed, have made this easily the most comfortable flight I've been on. As it was relatively early in the afternoon, I only took an hours nap before waking up and being bored (all the in flight programming was not appealing at all).

I spent my time reading a few magazines and some books, and noticed that since the lunch service ended, the cabin crew had virtually disappeared. If you pressed the service button, they came promptly enough, but it just seemed a little polished, compared to the constantly visible crews of the major asian airlines, even in business and economy class.

What also seemed a little odd was that whilst economy and business class were given a second meal (I know because the Captain made a cabin announcement), there was no such prompting in the First Class cabin.

With just one hour to go before touch-down, one passenger in the cabin asked for some food, and so began a chorus of requests. Hearing good things about the steak sandwich, I ordered one to try out.

After a 10 minute wait, it was brought out, but without the linen service - just eating off the bench. Not a major problem, but again, just a tad uncivilised when even the business class offering a few rows back have clean linen to eat off...

After wolfing down the very tender beef and sourdough, with a fantastic tomato relish, the "special seasonal" dessert of Lychee Salad with Sauterne Jelly and Saffron Citrus Soup was brought out.

Another very nice dish, and one which I'll have to hunt down the recipe for (I think my tastebuds have reverse engineered most of it already). The lychees and saffron complemented the subtle fragrant sweetness of the sauterne jelly very nicely indeed.

At about that point, it was 30 minutes to touch-down. I went back to the bathroom to change out of my PJs back into my non-crushed clothing, and settled down for a very smooth touch-down in a very cloudy Hong Kong - with a fantastic forward view out of the window.

So all up, how was this first taste of First Class? It was definitely the most comfortable plane trip I've ever had, but I still do leave it feeling somewhat disappointed.

And it's not because I didn't see the Oompa-Loompas on board either. It's more that, for what is effectively a $15,000 ticket - what you get out of it was nothing more than a business class experience with slightly more legroom and slightly better food. For all those "slightly's", it certainly was not worth double the asking price of a business class ticket.

Coupled with the fact that the cabin was starting to look very dated - scuffed seats, slightly faded and worn fabrics - it stacks up poorly compared to the recently upgraded business class product that Qantas has.

And whilst the service was friendly, it just lacked the extra polish to make it a truly memorable experience. It's the little things - having your name remembered, being visible, putting the "class" back in First Class - that Qantas just seemed to fall short of on this flight.

Overall, nothing for me to really complain about as I didn't pay a fortune for this trip - but if I were a more discerning traveller, I'd definitely question flying with Qantas in First Class again. Now let's see what British Airways, my next flight, will offer by comparison!

To finish off this entry, here are a couple of random photos of the view taken from my seat: