The first ever Qantas Dreamliner 787/9 took off for Australia from Boeing’s Everitt delivery factory in Seattle yesterday, and KarryOn Founder Matt Leedham was onboard to experience the special occasion.
I doubt that i’ll get to experience an event again as special as this many times in my life, perhaps never again.
So you can only imagine the giddy level of excitement my fellow lucky travelling colleagues and I felt as we eagerly waited to board the inaugural Qantas flight and fly the first ever sector of this shiny new aircraft’s journey home to Australia via Hawaii.
Welcome aboard!
After a ceremonial handing over of the ‘keys’ and offical delivery from Boeing to Qantas and Alan Joyce, 91 of us lucky souls boarded the special ‘ferry flight 7879‘ and finally got to see for ourselves what we’ve all been talking about for what feels like forever.
Alan Joyce (CEO Qantas) gets the keys to the new Qantas Dreamliner 787/9
Once we’d boarded and been handed glasses of champagne by the equally excited crew, excitement levels were truly now at fever pitch and it was quite an effort for the crew to get us all to actually sit down.
But sit down we did, and once Alan Joyce had made a celebratory announcement over the PA, the cabin fell silent as we all settled somewhat to take in the special moment.
Then ‘The Great Southern Land’ taxiied slowly down the runway with a number of proud Boeing staff waving to us. The twin engines started to roar and we were off – up, up and away to the sound of loud cheers and applause in the cabin as the aircraft officially began its commercial life, which will see it and seven other sister Dreamliner 787/9’s carry international passengers firstly to Los Angeles from November, and then to London on the historic direct route from Perth starting in March 2018.
Neil Perry and Flight Attendant Stephen Carter
Among the guests onboard were Alan Joyce (CEO Qantas Group), Gareth Evans (CEO Qantas International and Freight and soon to be Jetstar CEO), Rockpool Chef and Qantas Creative Director Neil Perry, members of the band IceHouse and Fashion Designer and Qantas uniform creator Martin Grant.
The rest of the lucky contingent was made up of TV stations, media and of course the fantastic crew and our two wonderful pilots Lisa Norman and Alex Passerini.
Channel 9’s Lara Vella from the Today Show interview Qantas Captain Alex Passerini
The five hour, twenty minute flight itself to Honolulu was a fun but busy affair, with people walking around the plane snapping pictures and excitedly discussing every major and minor detail of the aircraft whilst fully testing out the seats for themselves, inflight for the first time.
Given there were no passengers onboard this flight, virtually the entire economy section was empty which meant we all got the unique chance to roam at will, sit in every free seat and push any and every button we felt like.
Qantas Economy – Surprisingly good and spacious
Qantas Dreamliner 787/9 Business Suite
I was sitting in seat 12E in a Business Suite, which is essentially the same design as the excellent lie-flat Business Class product on the A330 in a 1-2-1 configuration with all aisle access.
Beautifully designed, ultra comfy and with a seat pitch big enough even for me (at 196cms) to stretch out full in lie flat mode, it’s a whole new world compared to that of the existing Qantas SkyBeds on other aircraft.
There was also a special ‘7879’ menu that included a dangerously good Aperol Spritz and Tequila ‘Great Southern Land’ Cocktail accompanied by some hors d’oeuvres of Piquillo peppers and Anchovy, Crab with pea Guacamole and Neil’s steak tartare with potato crisps to start.
This gastronomic delight was followed by ‘Spot prawns with grilled chorizo and manzanilla olives’ and then the best steak (the Rockpool Bar and Grill rib eye with wasabi butter, greens and potato gratin) i’ve ever eaten on an airplane.
Given there are no flames onboard (most definitely a good thing), I still can’t fathom how they make meat taste as incredible as it does at 41,000 feet. They wouldn’t tell me their special secret either.
Spot prawns with grilled chorizo and Manzanilla olives
The Rockpool Chefs and staff onboard, led by Neil Perry did an amazing job to get all of the meals out with the precision and love they’re renowned for. Perry himself quipped that “this is the probably the only time we’ll ever serve 91 first class meals on one flight’.
The Rockpool Bar and Grill rib eye with wasabi butter, greens and potato gratin
There was a new ‘Oroton’ amenity kit to try out as well as a pair of limited edition Martin Grant black Pyjama’s which many people wore and in some laughable way made us all look like some kind of slightly older ‘Qantas boy band’.
With all that excitement going on, it’s no wonder that the six hour, ten minute flight seemed to go in a heartbeat, and so before we knew it the seatbelt light was back on and the big blue and green of Hawaii and Waikiki Beach was stretching out below us as we came into land.
Qantas Premium Economy – A game changer
For some it was all too much… The Premium Economy Seat
Landing gear down, we hit the tarmac to more applause and cheers as we taxied towards a special area of excited, waving ground staff where we were met by Hawaiian dancers, guitar players and of course a ‘lei’ for all as we disembarked the plane.
A truly amazing experience. And that was just the first leg.
Arriving into Honolulu….
Tonight (Hawaii time) we’ll set off from Honolulu on our second leg to Australia, which will take around nine hours and forty five minutes and arrive in Sydney on Friday morning at 0720.
Aloha Great Southern Land!
There’s rumours of a Sydney Harbour fly over before we touch down and taxi into a special Qantas Hangar where we’ll be met by 1800 excited Qantas staff at a special invite only event.
Meanwhile, right now i’m still pinching myself here.
Look out for a full seat class review to come and more from the welcome event itself on Friday.