Review: Asiana Airlines Business Lounge, Seoul Incheon, South Korea

Posted on June 21, 2021 By World Traveller 73 in Asiana Lounge + Lounges + Round The World #3 via Vietnam, Maldives and India in Air Canada, Asiana, Singapore and Turkish Airlines Business Class + Trip Report

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Our departure from Seoul, Incheon International Airport in South Korea entitled us to visit the Asiana Airlines Business Class Lounge. Asiana Airlines always puts out an excellent product and is admirable competitor to the major class leader Korean Airlines in South Korea. Our visit to the Asiana Business Lounge had us take in a reasonable breakfast in advance of our early morning flight down to Vietnam.

This post is one chapter on our third Round the World trip via South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, the Maldives and India. This trip was redeemed through Air Canada’s Aeroplan and through Starwood Preferred Guest (Marriott Bonvoy) and Hyatt Gold Passport (World of Hyatt) loyalty programs. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.

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Review: Asiana Airlines Business Lounge, Terminal One, Seoul Incheon, South Korea

This review is of the Asiana Airlines Business Lounge in the main International wing of the Seoul Incheon International Airport. For other lounges in the Seoul Incheon International Airport, please see our review of the Asiana Airlines First Class Lounge or the Asiana Airlines Business Class Lounge Outer Concourse.

Checking into Asiana Airlines Business Class:

We woke up at 4:45 AM to catch the first shuttle bus back from The Nest Hotel Incheon, to the airport. The buses were on an hourly schedule and we didn’t want to get left behind by Asiana Airlines again. I was up and awake at three in the morning anyway thanks to the effects of jet lag.

We arrived to the opening of the Asiana First and Business class counters with the Asian morning ceremony, featuring a brief welcome bow. We were checked in. We had a visa check conducted at the check in counter for Vietnam. I asked about our mis-connected bags, not really expecting a real answer, but more to make a note of it on file that we had bags and that they weren’t currently with us. After a few phone calls, we were assured that they would be checked in on our flight today.

Incheon Airport proudly advertises that they are the world’s best airport ten years running through prominent advertising. It’s a nice place, within a beautiful building, but every time I come through here the place is chock full of lines and crowds. Making matters worse is that there are limited priority services for premium travelers. This means that you have to line up with everyone else taking a low cost carrier services. Normally, this isn’t a bit deal, but when there are over 500 people in line a head of you for security screening, it’s a bit of a let down. Thankfully, as in the past, both security and passport screening were relatively quick. Incheon appears to be at or near capacity during the busy hours.

Security Screening Check Point Queues at Incheon Airport

Locating the Asiana Airlines Business Class Lounge:

After a failed strike at duty free shopping for some BB Cream for MrsWT73, we headed to the Asiana Business Lounge.

Seoul Incheon Terminal One – Secure Side

I got a bit turned around as I seem to recall that the entrance used to be adjacent to the First Class Lounge. The lounge appeared to be expanded with the old entrance blocked.

Asiana Business Class Lounge – Seoul Incheon

Asiana Airlines Business Lounge Entrance

Accessing The Asiana Airlines Business Lounge:

The Asiana Business Lounge is designed as the departure lounge for all Asiana Airlines passengers in addition to Star Alliance Business Class travellers. Access is provided for

Asiana Airlines /Star Alliance members departing on regular flights:

Business Class passengers
Economy Class Asiana Club Diamond Plus members (with 24 month membership) plus one guest
Asiana Club Diamond members plus one guest
Star Alliance Gold members plus one guest

Departing on Asiana Airlines operated flights :

Economy Smartium passengers taking an Asiana Airlines A350 long-distance flight (to the U.S., Europe or Australia)
Priority Pass Card holder on Asiana Airlines/Star Alliance Member carrier operated flight(please direct any inquiries regarding entry requirements and costs to the card issuer.)
- Check conditions of lounge use based on mileage

Today’s access was granted courtesy of an Asiana Airlines Business Class ticket.

There was a model of the Asiana Airbus A380 on display at the top of the stars across from receiption. We were admitted access with a light bow and welcome at the top of the escalators.

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Inside the Asiana Airlines Business Lounge:

The Asiana Business Class lounge appears to be a complete copy of the Asiana First Class Lounge. The main terminal Asiana business class lounge is a much nicer place than the Asiana outer concourse lounge. The two couldn’t be more different, as the main concourse lounge offers wonderful views over the apron, and excellent natural light. The outer concourse Asiana Business Class is a bit of a dungeon with no windows.

At this particular location, we were treaded to a nice large space, with natural light windows. There were plenty of areas to sit in, coupled with a library decor reminiscent of a gentleman’s lounge.

The Asiana Lounges are typically anchored by a large opulent black Grand Piano. I’ve never seen anyone ever play it, but it’s always there whenever we pass through.

Food and Beverage:

At one end of the lounge was a food and beverage counter. Unlike our other Asiana Lounge Experience which offered limited food and beverage outside of scheduled hours, there was a full on breakfast offering available today. We settled in with a view over the apron and had a great breakfast. Salads, eggs and sausage / Sauerkraut, along with espressos, lattes, toasts / croissants and stir fried glass noodles topped us up.

Bread Rolls and Other Breakfast Pastries

The lounge filled up quite a but during our time here. Given the morning hour, the breakfast bar got to be quite busy and many tables were occupied with breakfast seekers.

Views from the Lounge:

Given that the design of the airport features one side of the building with massive floor to ceiling windows, it goes without saying that you’ll have terrific airplane views from this lounge. Today’s views featured many Asiana Airlines livery planes, decorated in colorful greys, yellows, red and purples

Asiana B747-4 as viewed from the Asiana Business Lounge

The Bottom Line: The Asiana Business Lounge

Although lacking any one standout feature (aside from the cool piano), the Asiana Business Lounge is a comfortable place to exist prior to your flight. It offered a decent amount of food and beverage, lots of space, comfortable seating along with decent aircraft views. That’s sometimes more than you can ask for when you travel.

If you’ve visited the Asiana Business Lounge, what was your visit like?

Tags: Asiana Lounge, ICN, Star Alliance Gold

Review: The Nest Hotel, a Member of Design Hotels, Seoul Incheon, South Korea

Posted on June 20, 2021 By World Traveller 73 in Design Hotels + Hotels + Round The World #3 via Vietnam, Maldives and India in Air Canada, Asiana, Singapore and Turkish Airlines Business Class + Trip Report

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We ended up mis-connecting in Seoul Incheon as a result of mechanical problems from our Air Canada flight. Instead of continuing onwards on a connection, we happened upon the Nest Hotel, a member of Design hotels as our temporary home for the night. Our stay ended up being in a hotel which was a hip urban contemporary property. It was something surprising and a stark contrast from the usual drab cookie cutter airport hotels.

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Review: The Nest Hotel, a Member of Design Hotels, Seoul Incheon, South Korea

This review is of the Nest Hotel, a Member of Design Hotels, at Seoul Incheon, South Korea. For a review of a different and more corporate styled airport hotel at Seoul Incheon, please see our review of the Hyatt Regency Incheon.

How we ended up at The Nest Hotel:

On arrival from our Air Canada Business Class Vancouver International – Seoul Incheon flight, we landed two hours and 10 minutes late. After we deplaned, we looked for a golf cart or a limo transfer to our next flight, which was departing in 40 minutes. Just kidding. . .

Despite broken dreams of a personalized golf cart transfer, Asiana Airlines had a suited representative waiting for us at the top of the jet bridge with our names on a sign along with our flight number. We had about 40 minutes to make our connection and at that time, with the handler, and a small army of Asiana representatives handling the mis-connects, I was feeling pretty confident about the whole thing.

He assisted with getting us to the front of the train lines, and the security lines and through the maze over to the international transfer area of Incheon gate 47. Of course, this international transfer couldn’t have been any worse as it was from one end of the outer terminal concourse, to the other end of the main terminal concourse. We had to travel from the complete opposite corner of the airport to the other corner, or the longest possible distance. It was a mess and maze of people as we, with his help, expedited us through the masses.

We bypassed security with an express cut to the front, and transferred by train between the outer concourse to the main concourse. This was another full out race through the departure hall. I thought I was done running through airports after my spastic Syd n ey Australia departure experience 5 months ago but here I was again, tearing down moving sidewalks toward the next chapter in this story.

Unfortunately, his magic was limited. I also happened to notice on the trot (with his running like a suited ballet dancer) that our handler didn’t seem to have a two way radio with him. As we arrived at Gate 47, at T-10 minutes to spare, we presented our already printed boarding cards to the gate agent and were told to “please wait to the side”. The gate signs were showing in “final call” Some frantic phone calling, radio squawking in Korean and we were ultimately politely informed that we weren’t able to board us and to “please wait for the Air Canada manager”.

Likely, it seems that our seats were given away to other travelers, operational upgrades or contingent travelers. I did happen to notice two other travelers (traveling separately), with boarding cards on Asiana stock in economy class, successfully board the flight after us. It was a bit useless having run all the way over from the other concourse since Asiana could have confirmed that we were coming by radio or phone call. Despite Star Alliance’s claims of “the way the earth connects”, it certainly didn’t work in our favor today.

To make first world problems worse, we had pre-selected seats in the first class cabin (Asiana operated a three class cabin with two class service on this route), meaning that we missed out on a very comfortable ride down to Ho Chi Minh City. We had used this trick on our previous Asiana Business Class Tokyo Narita – Seoul Incheon flight last year. I had thought about asking them to off load the other contingent travellers (if they were of a lower status) but I thought that it was a bit of a cheek.

After some deliberations, we ended up mis connecting and were denied boarding for our connection. Ultimately, Asiana passed the mis-connect buck to Air Canada and asked us to wait while they pulled back the jetway. We waited for the Air Canada manager whom arrived to the gate on foot and bid farewell to the Asiana handler. I later learned from Flight Track Pro the next morning that the plane actually didn’t depart for another 45 minutes AFTER we had left the gate with the Air Canada Manager. Groan.

The Air Canada Manager had re-booked us on the next Asiana Airlines flight the next morning. She escorted us back downstairs through Immigration and Security, indicating she would get our bags re-tagged for the new flight. I’d heard that one before! Thankfully we had carry on’s with us containing some overnight clothes in them, since I’ve lost my bags about 50% of the overseas trips that I have taken lately.

We met up with the other Air Canada mis-connects in the arrivals hall on the public side. It turns out there was 22 of them from our flight. Wow – Air Canada lost some money on that one! We got an old fashioned ticket voucher with red carbon print for our flight the next day, where we were thankfully confirmed and protected in Business Class on the next non stop Asiana flight Incheon to Ho Chi Minh.

Old School Style Flight Re-Booking Voucher Ticket

There were others in our group headed to Denpasar, Bali on Korean airline who were waitlisted for seats. Aside from the disappointment of missing out on our connecting flight, we came out of it with seats still in business class. I asked the Air Canada manager what hotel we were headed to and got a very vague comment

“The Nest Hotel. I think you will like it”.

Gosh – wonder what that means ? It’s either really good, or really bad!!

Getting to the Nest Hotel:

We bid farewell to our Air Canada manager. We were transferred as an Air Canada mis – connection group to the Nest Hotel by motor coach. It was about 10 minutes away by bus.

Heading to the Nest Hotel by Motor Coach

The property is located quite close to Seoul Incheon airport, and is approximately forty five minutes by bus on public transportation, or ten minutes by Bus on private transportation.

Nest Hotel, a Member of Design Hotels™

19 5 Yeongjonghaeannam ro, Jung-gu

Incheon, 400-719 South Korea

Arriving to the Nest Hotel:

We arrived to a very modern looking and sleek hotel. We had a prompt check in and were given a dinner and breakfast voucher for the next morning. This is one of those places that you never expect to end up in, and never happened to see in day light, but I figured that this review might be of help to someone.

The hotel has a soft partnership with Marriott Bonvoy. The partnership allows you to book through Marriott Bonvoy marketing channels, earn points and receive some loyalty benefits. You could also book directly with the hotel on their own website, and not earn any benefits (or points for that matter). Although we were tiered Starwood Preferred Guest (Marriott Bonvoy) customers, we didn’t earn any points nor press for any upgrades since the room was paid for by Air Canada as a result of the mis connection. We were also on a full vouchered stay with meals included, and were only at the hotel for approximately ten hours. Being a little jet lagged, we weren’t super in the mood for haggling for possible suite upgrades.

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The Room: A Standard Double Mountain, Guest room, 1 Double, Mountain view, Balcony

We received a comfortable base level room, with attached balcony. The base level room, although advertised as a “Double” was actually just a little bit smaller than a Queen Sized bed and was comfortable with the two of us.

A small desk was available for working, or as a small vanity area.

The Room also contained a tea / coffee service

The bathroom was functional. It contained a single vanity with enough counter space for two persons. The shower was of the stand up wand variety. The ability to have a great shower is always appreciated after a long flight.

The room included a very neat cargo flight information display on the television.

Cool Cargo Departures and Arrivals Flight Display on the in room Television

In other in room comforts, there was free wifi throughout the hotel, without the need for any code or password. I used the wifi to get in touch with our next hotel stay at the Sheraton Saigon and to change the time our driver was scheduled to picking us up.

Around the Hotel:

The hotel was sleekly designed with its modern concrete structure. It left with a strong modernistic impression, with large open spaces.

The Platz Restaurant:

We had dinner in the Platz restaurant. The food was European styled – chicken with bread crumbs and balsamic vinegrette. The voucher menu we were provided was a set menu offering. I did happen to notice the complete absence of any Korean dishes from the room service and dinner menus, which I found to be a bit strange as I was half hoping to get some Korean food in thanks to this unexpected stopover.

The Kunst Lounge:

There was also a hotel lounge called The Kunst Lounge, but given we had a 5 AM wake up, we didn’t partake in any libations tonight. The lounge had a European contemporary feel to it, much like other areas of the hotel. Books anyone?

There was also a hotel pool available for use, although we didn’t get to experience it during our short stay at this property on our unexpected stay.

Our stay experience with The Nest Hotel, a Member of Design Hotels:

Overall, it was better than expected for an unexpected hotel stay. I doubt I would return to stay here again, but perhaps this information is worthwhile to those that are considering a stay here, or wanting to experience once of their other hotels. Based on my experience here, I’d easily consider a Design Hotel if no other options were available. The room was modern, clean and the place had a cool vibe to it.

If you’ve stayed at The Nest Hotel Incheon, what was your experience like?

Tags: Design Hotels, Hotel Review, ICN, Marriott Bonvoy

Review: Air Canada Business Class B787-8, Vancouver International – Seoul Incheon

Posted on June 19, 2021 By World Traveller 73 in Air Canada + Airline + Boeing 787 + Business Class + Round The World #3 via Vietnam, Maldives and India in Air Canada, Asiana, Singapore and Turkish Airlines Business Class + Trip Report

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Our Air Canada Business Class International Departure had us on one of the newest Air Canada configurations in the Boeing 787-8 long haul aircraft. It featured the newest Business Class reverse herringbone suites; which are incredibly private and comfortable for working. Despite a mostly comfortable flying experience, and some somewhat absent service, unfortunately, our flight was set by a two hour delay that made us mis connect.

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Review: Air Canada Business Class B787-8, Vancouver International Airport – Seoul Incheon.

“Air Canada’s newest International Business Class offered a comfortable class leading fully flat suite, highlighted by some sterile service and a two hour delay”

As it came time for our International flight, we departed the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Vancouver International and headed down to the gate through the beautiful Vancouver International Departure concourse. It’s always been one of my favourites in the world. It just looks so fresh as far as airport spaces go.

First Nations Art in the Vancouver International Airport Departures Concourse

Tropical Fish Tanks mark the departures hall

We headed down to the boarding gate D54, which was a little ways down the concourse.

The boarding area was a slight mess. The gate agents did their best at managing to keep a priority boarding zone. This meant that they flipped around the priority boarding Zone 1-2 sign to the empty side away from all the travellers that were blocking the entrance.

Air Canada
Business Class
YVR-ICN (Vancouver International Airport – Seoul Incheon Airport)
AC 63 – Business Class (I)
1:35 PM – 4:20 PM
April 2, 2015
Booked: Boeing 787-800
Flown: Boeing 787-800

The Air Canada Boeing 787-8 is Air Canada’s newest long haul equipment type. It is designed to service the long haul routes when lower capacity seating from a Boeing 777 is needed.

Air Canada Boeing 787-8 livery looking smart in Glacier Blue

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On Board Air Canada Business Class:

We made our way through the boarding crowd and made our way on board through a single jet bridge. Once on board, we had a left turn from the boarding door and a clean and fresh looking cabin in the reverse herringbone seats. The Air Canada Boeing 787-8 Business Class configuration is 1-2-1 seating up front.

Air Canada Business Class B787-8 Cabin Overview

Air Canada Boeing 787-8 Business Class Cabin Overview

Air Canada Business Class Cabin, looking aft

Getting to the seat itself, the seating layout wass a little more compact than the past AC Extreme Makeover (XM) Business Class herringbone pods. However, the space is highly functional and well signed for working. There was a load of 10 / 20 today in business class, making for a nice quiet and relaxing ambience.

An Air Canada Business Class Pod – Seat 1A

Air Canada Business Class- Bulkhead Seat 1A

Well designed shelving offers space for storage or work

The space featured many spots to stow articles like phones, and plugs in’s, USB chargers available, although this time there are compartments to actually put them in, as opposed to having them skid all over the countertop. The space was very well designed and is among the best business class spaces that I’ve had the opportunity to sit in; an exceptionally private and productive space.

A magazine rack offered space for promotional material, and a reading light was embedded into the structure of the pod.

The hand controller for the movies features a plug in nearby, along with a touch screen to control the seat movements. I see this as an improvement over the old blue lights. There were additional compartments available to stow devices, that allowed for sufficient space to allow for device charging while securely stowed.

The seat adjustments themselves were controlled by touch screen. The design allowed for sit, relax and recline positions.

Over time, the Air Canada Boeing 787 Pod takes a bit of getting used to. It has some unusual ergonomic features – arm rests that raise on levers, tables that extend after some fiddling. The on screen seat computer is much darker than the classic pod which has annoying bright blue lights, making it easier overall to get some rest. The large screen monitor is also a nice feature.

Overall, the layout appears much fresher than the older blue pods. The design of the business class layout is much easier to work and relax in, than the last generation.

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Pre Departure Beverage Services:

When we arrived to the seat, a bottle of Naya Still Water was waiting for us. A Pre Departure Beverage of “Italian sparkling” was offered. This was topped up with Drappier Champagne about 10 seconds after the aircraft door was closed.

Naya Bottle Watered Made Available on Every Seat

The television monitor is much larger, and is now permanently mounted (no swivel). It now smartly features your seat number.

It was not the best on time performance from Air Canada today. We were a bit late pushing back at about T + 30. We taxied out to the immediate apron and sat there for about 30 minutes. At about T+ 60 minutes, the captain came on and announced:

“There’s a problem with the air conditioning unit. We will have to return to the gate for a hard re-boot of the Avionics.”

It seemed fine to me based on the ventilation from the air nozzles, but it was probably different at 40,000 feet.

“We’re going to have to return to the gate to get it sorted out.”

We returned to the gate and jet way was put back up to the aircraft. An army of “ACM” vested Air Canada Maintenance Crew boarded the aircraft (6 plus). One person appeared to doing most of the work, with the others standing around. It was sort of like the union break situation at the construction sites I pass by on my drive to work (laughing).

The Captain was out and about during the maintenance process, doing his best to assure passengers of the sustainability of this particular flight. “Looking good” he said with a wink and a smile.

Air Canada Amenity Kits:

While the maintenance review is was happening, I took a look at the amenity kit. It’s been re-designed to match the new interior. The case of the kit is unbranded like many other Air Canada kits, but contained Escents lotions. It’s a pretty middle of the road kit. Slippers were also offered to passengers (not pictured).

We had another announcement at T+80 that the re-boot has been solved and now a pre-flight check needed to be completed. All the maintenance people deplaned while the check was underway. The reboot took much longer than my Windows terminals in my office, lasting about 30 minutes. . .

We were finally underway from Vancouver on the usual Runway 26 L at T+120; approximately two hours late. We had a quick clear climb to altitude as we finally got underway.

The Meal: A Full Lunch

While we were waiting on our two hour delay sitting on the ground, the menus were passed out. The dinner orders were taken at seat prior to departure. Today’s dinner menus and bar menus…

Air Canada Wine Consultant Ken Chase was killing me softly again today, advertising wines that were “not available locally”. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything over the top exciting on the menu today, but I was surprised to see some British Columbian Okanagan White Wine on the menu from Quail’s Gate winery about 500 kilometres from the house.

Getting to the meal service itself, the meal services started with a pre-meal cocktail of Drappier Champagne along with mixed nuts.

As an appetizer, I enjoyed Poached Nova Scotia Lobster, marinated shrimp and sautéed scallop on tapenade with cucumber, mango salsa and yellow pepper sauce, along with Mixed greens, grape tomatoes, and parmesan served with Balsamic Vinaigrette, paired with Quails Gate Chardonnay.

Poached Nova Scotia Lobster, marinated shrimp and sautéed scallop on tapenade with cucumber, mango salsa and yellow pepper sauce

The main course consisted of stir fried pork and mushroom with Korean chilli paste, presented with steamed rice, and bok choy. It was surprisingly tasty with a bit of a zip. I congratulate Air Canada for getting away from the usual offerings that they’ve had year after year. It was satisfying to try something different on Air Canada for a change.

Stir fried pork and mushroom with Korean chili paste, presented with steamed rice, and bok choy

The third course was assorted cheeses. Oka, camembert and medium cheddar with crackers. The water crackers were served onto the tablecloth no less.

I was still a little hungry at the end of the meal service, so I went with the fourth course and enjoyed a Chocolate marble cheesecake and Bailey’s liqueur.

Chocolate Marble Cheesecake with Chilled Bailey’s Irish Cream Liqueur

I am sad to report that the service on today’s flight was much like our experiences on Thai Airways. After the food service was dropped off, the crew pretty much disappeared for the rest of the flight. I never got a single beverage re-fill offered, or even the attendants coming through to offer water. Drop and go was pretty much the set up. This isn’t a direct criticism, but it is in some ways.

Partway through the flight, we had an announcement that they had to re-boot the in flight entertainment as it was crashing throughout the plane. This wasn’t so bad, except that every announcement was repeated in French and Korean. Those that fly Air Canada regularly will know that every announcement is repeated in several languages. When you start traveling, it’s a bit of a thrill, but after a while, I find it gets pretty old quickly!

After lunch, we had some great photos of the Alaskan handle after lunch.

Photos of Mountains in the Alaskan Coast Line

After lunch, the cabin went down for rest 4 hrs into flight, or at about 6:30 PM Vancouver time.

After the meal service, my pod seat adjustments recliner decided to quit and freeze in a partially reclined state. Since it was impossible to sleep, I had cabin staff restart the software, which took a few minutes and a small commotion as the in-charge figured out who knew how to open the under seat aisle compartment in order to complete this process.

Once the seat was able to recline, I crashed out for about 5 hours. While I was sleeping, the size of the pod is smaller than the previous Air Canada XM Extreme Makeover configurations. As a side sleeper that likes to bend his knees, I found the leg cavity to be a bit tighter than I would like. I had my laptop charging throughout the flight but somewhere along the way the Empower in seat plug decided to quit and cease to work. It’s strange as MrsWT73 power in the seat behind me was working throughout the flight without any issues, meaning that it was a localized problem specific to my seat.

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The Second Service: A light supper

As we were over the Island of Japan, we were set for our second service. The second service consisted of a full meal, including a fruit starter, and a main course. The main course was a vegetarian option, consisting of peppers with Korean glass noodles.

On the final approach, we had some views of Incheon Airport at dusk; with some haze oversetting the horizon.

Korean Air B777 being towed at Seoul Incheon

We landed at Seoul Incheon International Airport and had a “Follow Me” car that led us to our international arrival gate.

Follow Me Car leading us to our Arrival Gate

We ended up arriving to Seoul Incheon over two hours late, which placed us in jeopardy for our connecting Asiana Airlines Business Class Seoul Incheon – Ho Chi Minh flight. We would end up missing this connection, as a result of the delay. Air Canada put us up on a complimentary basis at The Nest Hotel, a Member of Design Hotels during our mis-connection down time.

Our experience on Air Canada Business Class Long Haul:

To sum up the whole experience, Air Canada is offering a slightly better product than the legacy North American carriers. Despite massive investments in new hard product, the 787 suite, although clean and well appointed, it wasn’t as comfortable for a tall person side sleeper like myself. However, it was terrific for working and relaxing.

The food was slightly above average, and the wines were just okay. The service levels were nowhere near the Asian carriers or the Middle Eastern Three. When you add large fuel surcharge fees that apply to some reward programs to the above and there’s a clear reason why there are less trip reports being featured around here with the Air Canada product. Add a two hour flight delay on top of this, and it sums up why I was not completely overwhelmed with joy over the experience.

If you’ve flown Air Canada International Business Class Long Haul, what was your experience like?

Tags: AC 63, Air Canada Business Class, ICN, YVR

Review: Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge International, Vancouver International Airport, Canada

Posted on June 18, 2021 By World Traveller 73 in Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge + Lounges + Round The World #3 via Vietnam, Maldives and India in Air Canada, Asiana, Singapore and Turkish Airlines Business Class + Trip Report

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Our Air Canada Business Class International Departure had us departing through Air Canada’s top lounge offering on the West Coast. Air Canada doesn’t offer an international lounge at this level west of Toronto, making this location among the most exclusive that the Vancouver International Airport has to offer.

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Review: Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge YVR International, Vancouver International Airport, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

This review is of the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge in the International wing of the Vancouver International Airport. For other lounges in the Vancouver International “D” Wing of the airport that are accessible with an international departure boarding pass, please see our reviews of the Plaza Premium International Lounge, the SkyTeam International Lounge, or in the competing One World Alliance, the British Airways Galleries Lounge and the Cathay Pacific Lounge.

Checking into Air Canada Business Class:

We left the house on a grey Vancouver day and took the always-convenient Aerocar to the airport. Today’s ride was a Lincoln Town Car.

The Air Canada priority check in desks for Vancouver International has now moved all together to the domestic terminal (with the sole exception of Transborder flights that require US Customs Pre-Clearance). We were checked in for our Air Canada Business Class Vancouver – Seoul Incheon flight fairly quickly with boarding passes issued on AC card stock all the way to Saigon.

Air Canada Executive Class Priority Check In Vancouver International Departures

Air Canada Priority Check In – Vancouver International Airport

Air Canada / Star Alliance Gold Check In

We were issued YVR Fast Track stickers on our boarding cards. We had a leisurely walk today past the regular international departures check in desks, filled today with Asian flights. Although we qualified for the Fast Track line, the Nexus line was actually quicker and was absent of any airport staff actually checking to see if we were cardholders.

Vancouver International Airport Departures Hall

Locating the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Vancouver International:

We headed to the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge International, which was Immediately after the security screening checkpoint. It is hard to miss and is immediately after security.

The Lounge is Located in the International “D” Finger
Map Courtesy of http://www.yvr.ca

In practical terms, after you clear security, the lounge will be right in front of you. It’s so close, you can see the security screening ribbon in the bottom right hand side of the photograph.

The access to the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge is immediately after security

International Signage for an International Market

Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Hours 9 AM – 11:30 PM

Accessing the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge:

The Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Vancouver International is accessed through a variety of means.

The easiest way to gain access is to purchase an international ticket on any Star Alliance Carrier in Business Class. As we were travelling in Air Canada Business Class on our Air Canada Vancouver – Seoul Incheon, we were permitted access courtesy of the class of our ticket.

Access is also available for Star Alliance Gold members departing in any class of service on Star Alliance Carriers. Aeroplan Top Tier members at Elite 50K and higher members are also able to access this lounge courtesy of Star Alliance Gold Status. The lounge does not belong to Priority Pass, although you may get an opportunity to purchase a day pass at your point of purchase if purchasing through Air Canada’s ticketing channels for $50 CAD.

It’s also worth noting that this particular lounge is not accessible if departing on a domestic or Transborder ticket to the United States, as those flights depart from a different portion of the airport.

Inside the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge:

I’ve been through there several times over the years. Initially, I was expecting great things but I fear that over time, this place has been outclassed and out done by its competition. There were small seating areas that have been modernized with slightly newer chairs.

The Lounge Seating Area: Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge International

Stand Up Computer Tables Compliment Lounge Chairs

A light flight board of Star Alliance flights departing from this lounge. Only the Star Alliance flights were listed today on the in lounge flight display.

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Food and Beverage:

The Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge was offering a small selection of small man sandwiches available at the food island, along with the usual Maple Leaf Lounge contemporary salads. I generally find with Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges that there is usually enough for a serious snack at meal times, but not enough for a meal replacement within the lounge itself.

I’ll give Air Canada some credit here for offering a Pho soup station within the lounge. It’s been marketed as innovative food concepts within their lounges. This was more like a grade school attempt since the products weren’t super fresh. I offer the “Thumbs Up” anyway for offering something different. However, thumbs down for the small cup-o-soup style containers that the Pho is supposed to go into. I could barely fit two pieces of chicken and a small thimbleful of noodles in mine before it started overflowing.

In terms of wine and liquor, they have shrunk the wine glasses here in that they are so small, I thought they had put out liqueur glasses instead of the actually wine glasses. It was a bit of another example of cost control going overboard…

Air Canada Self Service Liquor and Wine Selection

The boarding cards now have classy markings that indicate that you are on a “Business Reward” and an AC Credit Card Holder.

Boarding Cards now Sport Class Categorization “Business Reward” Markings

A View from the Lounge:

The nicest feature here were the natural daylight windows and a great view of the apron. With the lounge being close to security, and not further out on the pier, the views were reasonable, but consisted of more far away views of aircraft. We had views of Air Canada’s newest Boeing 787-8’s aircraft immediately outside the windows.

An Air Canada B787 between the leftover luggage carts

An Air Canada B787 with cool “fan” engine cowling covers

We enjoyed the lounge before heading out to our Air Canada Business Class Vancouver – Seoul Incheon international flight.

My Thoughts on the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Vancouver International:

All in all, this place was slightly past its prime on this particular visit. There even exist much nicer Maple Leaf Lounges within the system and the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge at Toronto International comes to mind. I even preferred the Plaza Premium International Lounge for nicer furnishings up the way but Mrs WT73 preferred this location. Indeed, it’s a bit of a toss between the two. The Plaza Premium Lounge has the advantage of being brand new with higher quality and clean furnishings, where as the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge has much better food and beverage. Maple Leaf Lounge regulars will note that the product in these lounges aren’t outstanding or world class my any means – easily trounced by any American Express Centurion Lounge found at other airports such as American Express Centurion Las Vegas or American Express Centurion San Francisco or even more locally at the Cathay Pacific Lounge further down the concourse.

If you’ve visited the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Vancouver International, what did you think of the lounge?

Tags: Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge, Star Alliance Gold, YVR

Trip Introduction: Vietnam, Maldives and India. Round the World #3 in Star Alliance Business Class via Air Canada, Asiana, Singapore, Air India And Turkish Airlines

Posted on June 17, 2021 By World Traveller 73 in Asia + India + Maldives + Round The World #3 via Vietnam, Maldives and India in Air Canada, Asiana, Singapore and Turkish Airlines Business Class + Trip Report + Trip Report Introduction + Vietnam

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With another year, another frequent flier point de-valuation came and went. Thankfully, Aeroplan had the courtesy to announce the changes with several months in advance, unlike some other recent frequent flier program devaluations. It seemed like the logical time to burn more miles. I’ve pretty much given up on maintaining status after 8 years, since the miles are easier to obtain through other forms of accumulation.

Trip Introduction: Vietnam, Maldives and India. Round the World #3 in Star Alliance Business Class via Air Canada, Asiana, Singapore, Air India, andTurkish Airlines Business Class.

Trip Background and Planning:

All these stories seem to start the same for us. With another year of Aeroplan devaluations, it came time to burn more miles. Thanks to the One Mile at a Time blog, I learned in October that Aeroplan was switching to an automated Maximum Permitted Mileage routing calculation versus their old manual calculation within the week. It was cited as an improvement, but I was highly skeptical as most frequent flier changes. I was worried about the mini-RTW disappearing forever since Aeroplan had been pretty relaxed with its routing rules.

I’ve always wanted to see the Taj Mahal in India. MrsWT73 wasn’t easily convinced. When I suggested that we could return to our honeymoon spot at the Park Hyatt Maldives for a 5 day beach holiday, coupled with first class hotels within India, private hotel car tours, a handler, and airport transfers, and after probably too many vodka tonics after a gourmet dinner, she agreed. With that endorsement, I set off to plan a trip that fit this criteria.

With forty eight hours notice from the Aeroplan program rule change, we quickly put together a routing, called in and had our flights and ticketing within the hour. This was a wise move on our part as forum reports after the automated MPM calculation appeared to have been much more restrictive and limiting on reward routings.

In terms of booking hotels, the approach was a combination of paid and reward stays. For the Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam hotels, we were a little short on Starwood Preferred Guest / Marriott Bonvoy Points. As a result, we ended up paying cash for our four night stay at the Sheraton Saigon. In the Maldives, we returned to the wonderful Park Hyatt Maldives. We had some left over Hyatt Gold Passport Points, so we took advantage of a 40% points promotion and purchased points to redeem against the stay. I found that this was cheaper method that paying cash outright. For our India hotels, we were mostly concerned with staying in hotels that offered tour availability right form the hotel with a solid concierge network. As a result, we paid cash and stayed outside of our usual loyalty rewards networks at the Leela Palace in New Delhi, and the Rambagh Palace in Jaipur.

YVR-ICN-SGN (Air Canada Aeroplan Award)

SGN-SIN-MLE (Air Canada Aeroplan Award)

MLE-GKK-MLE (Maldivian Air Transfer – arranged by hotel)

MLE -TRV-MAA-DEL (Air Canada Aeroplan Award)

DEL-JAI-DEL (paid Air India Ticket)

DEL-IST-YUL-YVR (Air Canada Aeroplan Award)

Our Round the World Routing with stops in Vietnam, Maldives and India

I hope you enjoy our most recent adventure and third trip around the world.

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If you’ve put together and organized a trip to India, how did you go about doing it?

Tags: Trip Report Introduction

Review: Air Canada Rouge A319, San Francisco – Vancouver

Posted on June 16, 2021 By World Traveller 73 in Air Canada + Airbus 319 + Airline + Hitching a Ride to Sydney and Adelaide, Australia via Air Canada, United and Qantas Business Class + Trip Report

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Air Canada Rouge is the low cost carrier version of Air Canada. It currently services it’s leisure United States, Caribbean and European markets to and from Canada. It is supposed to offer a cheaper alternative to cater to its leisure markets. However, it seems to have turned into a way to lower labor costs, while keeping prices very similar to their mainline offerings. It would be our first (and last) experience flying Air Canada Rouge.

This post is one chapter in our trip to Australia on Air Canada & Qantas Business Class and United Airlines. This trip was booked using British Airways Executive Club Avios and Starwood Preferred Guest (Marriott Bonvoy) points. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.

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Review: Air Canada Rouge A319, San Franciso – Vancouver.

I don’t normally fly Air Canada Rouge. Air Canada Rouge is the airlines attempt at a Low Cost Carrier to serve it’s leisure markets to and from Canada. Truth be told, I have avoided Air Canada Rouge at all costs. However, those efforts weren’t based on any direct experience. Rather, it was based on other ratings, word of mouth reports from colleagues and complaints of how cramped the cabin was.

We departed the American Express Centurion Lounge San Fransisco and headed towards the International concourse. We stopped by for some duty free, on our way.

Our aircraft was on site and was parked at the Gate 91B as we arrived.

As we boarded, we had made it past the podium and while we were getting the duty free pickup from the clerk, one of the gate agents chased after us to gate check our rollies. I gave up my bag and boarded onto my first flight on Air Canada Rouge.

Air Canada
Operated by Air Canada Rouge
Economy Class
SFO-YVR (San Francisco International Airport – Vancouver International Airport)
AC 1847 – Economy Class
5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
December, 2014
Booked: NIL
Scheduled: Airbus 319
Flown: Airbus 319

On Board Air Canada Rouge:

We got on board and settled into new refitted cabin from Air Canada’s previous mainline Airbus 319. The plane was adorned with new, sharp looking, slimline seats and fresh looking, youthful and enthusiastic Rouge flight attendants. Air Canada Rouge use separate staff from Air Canada mainline. Seats, presumably in order to cut down on weight, do not have any video or entertainment screens. Passengers are encouraged to bring their devices, having downloaded the AC App, and stream videos from on board wifi. Select iPads were also available for in flight rental.

Unfortunately, that is where the comfort ended. I’m six feet two inch tall. Within 10 minutes of sitting in the seat, with the plane still parked at the gate, I subconsciously started to sit with my legs sideways on an angle. I didn’t realize it at first, but after recognizing that there was actually no physical space for my legs, I had to make adjustments. I don’t normally do leg room shots, but seated square, my knees were bumping the seat in front all the time.

I tried to work around this. I discovered that sitting with my legs straight out and slightly bent downward, meant that my feet passed under the seat and over the top of the lower cargo separation bar that’s used to prevent under seat stowage, regularly tickling the poor passengers feet in the seat in front of me. I was physically unable to sit with my feet flat on the floor as my knees would be firmly pressed against the seat in front. I crinkled my legs on an angle and partly into the aisle for the rest of the flight. I might add that this was made worse by my height, being 6 feet 2 inches and likely taller than the average customer.

The service was pleasant and enthusiastic throughout. Likely as a result of a much younger 25 something staff that hasn’t been de-habilitated with years of contract negotiations or wage freezes or cuts. Okay, that might be my cynical self talking after years of travel. Either way, they were very pleasant to deal with.

Entertainment in Flight:

Since there is no hard wired in flight entertainment, Air Canada encourages you to download their Air Canada App from the App Store to stream entertainment through their portal. I must be one of the few without an iPad, but I had previously installed the App on my iPhone. The product was functional, but not engaging enough for me to watch an entire movie on a tiny phone screen.

I got into a little Bill Murray greatness in Lost in Translation

Food on Board: Buy on Board Only

A buy on board was offered. Being a flight under two hours, there were no substantial meals on offer (nuts, chips and other light snacks only). One beverage service was offered. I passed on the food, opting for sleep instead.

It was a rough flight home with lots of bumps that felt like yaw. I was promptly sick when I got home to the house, despite having taken some Gravol on landing in Vancouver. This was probably due to a long day from the three 3 flights of shaking, all the way from Adelaide.

We landed in Vancouver amid a heavy rain fall weather warning. The Adelaide – Vancouver door to door journey across three airlines in two alliances was over after 32 hours, 8,946 miles and three flights. Wow – it hurts just thinking about it.

My thoughts on Air Canada Rouge:

Air Canada Rouge is aptly placed as a low cost carrier. While it offered a nice clean and new aircraft, it didn’t offer a whole lot for seasoned business travellers or hard core road warriors. The seating was exceptionally compact, and only a basic buy on board was offered. The in flight entertainment is self catering and, a a result, not all that exciting.

My Final Thoughts on Hitching a Ride to Australia:

It had been about 10 years since I had flown as a non rev with my sister. It was an interesting experience to do it again much older in life. When you’re in your early thirties, you’ll still saving for those big ticket expenses like a car, apartment or a house. An almost free economy seat when you’re starting to travel is still something that is cool. Now that I’m in my forties, having been fortunate enough to experience over 80 flights in business and first class cabins, the allure of cheap travel isn’t there as much as it used to be.

My conclusion is that flying as a non revenue is a great way to travel on the pocket book but it’s only for those that have lots of time. I personally found the non confirmed nature of the travel to be maddening. I prefer to examine and plan parts of the travel in advance, so that you can spend your time relaxing or getting the most out of your holiday when you get there. In this case, there was much more contingency planning than I was used to. At least in a snow storm, the airline will do it’s best to take care of you- even if it’s a computer taking automated action to re-book you on the next flight. Doing it all yourself means that you’re completely on your own. It involves making calls, checking loads and making reservations. You may or may not be up for this challenge.

In terms of Qantas, I was impressed with the overall experience. The lounges were pleasant, the employees friendly and food nice to eat. I’d be happy flying them domestically around Australia. Hey- I’d even hang out in their Qantas lounges for a few hours if I had nothing better to do. Sadly, I don’t think that this level of service is going to last. North America has cut back on their food and beverage services, Europe offers picnic bench seating in business and Asia’s footprint of Low Cost Carriers is expanding every year. If it’s on your list of things to do, I’d experience it while you can. The BA Avios experience was easy to achieve and a snap to book. Lastly, a big thanks for all the readers for following along.

If you’ve flown Air Canada Rouge, would you be keen to fly it again on your next trip?

Tags: AC 1847, Air Canada, SFO, YVR

Review: American Express Centurion Lounge, San Francisco, California, USA

Posted on June 15, 2021 By World Traveller 73 in American Express Centurion Lounge + Hitching a Ride to Sydney and Adelaide, Australia via Air Canada, United and Qantas Business Class + Lounges + Trip Report

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American Express started opening airline travel lounges, inviting its members a place to relax before a flight. American Express has done an outstanding job with their lounges that are located in high traffic airports around North America and the world. While the lounges are often busy places, they make up for these shortfalls in better food and beverage. Our visit to the American Express Centurion Lounge in San Francisco was outstanding with the lounge providing a terrific space to occupy before any flight.

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Review: American Express Centurion Lounge, San Franciso Airport, California, United States of America.

This review is of the American Express Centurion Lounge in San Francisco. For our experiences at other American Express Centurion Lounges, please see our reviews of the American Express Centurion Lounge Seattle Tacoma International Airport, the American Express Centurion Lounge Las Vegas, the American Express Centurion Lounge Dallas Fort Worth or the American Express Centurion Lounge George Bush International Houston.

Checking into Air Canada:

We headed upstairs and secured transportation arrangements home. For most travellers, international travel often involves a connecting flight. On paid tickets, for us North American residents, there’s usually a collection and examination of bags, a customs checkpoint, a baggage belt drop on the other side of the arrivals hall, followed by a dash to the lounge or the gate for your flight home. When you’re flying standby, there is no confirmed connecting flight. Once you’re confirmed on the ground, you have to re-book and find another ride at the next available opportunity.

My sister located some free wi-fi on the departure floor of the SFO International Terminal and re-started the booking process again- the fourth time today. Again, a bright and beautiful departure hall in the San Franciso International Departure Hall.

San Franciso International Terminal Departures Hall

Somehow, between United and Air Canada servicing the routes between Vancouver and San Francisco, we ended up with confirmed seats based on the available remaining space on Air Canada Rouge. Air Canada Rouge is the low cost carrier variant of Air Canada. We rolled over to the Air Canada desks and dropped our bags for checking.

Locating the American Express Centurion Lounge:

Looking for a little relief after that, I recalled the recent opening of the American Express Centurion Lounge. We had a five hour layover at San Francisco airport, before our next outbound opportunity so we decided to head up to for a visit. I find San Francisco a little challenging when it comes to lounges. As the airport is split up into separate terminals, I seem to frequently find myself in a terminal without a lounge that I can access, or a terminal that has no accessible lounge at all. All to say, it was great to have this lounge as an available option.

The American Express Centurion Lounge at San Francisco airport is located immediately outside the E Gates in Terminal Three of the domestic terminal of the San Francisco airport.

The American Express Centurion Lounge San Francisco
Map Courtesy of flysfo.com

Immediately inside the lounge is a tremendous two story green wall, which is a soothing way to enter a lounge; no matter how you cut it. The lobby reception desk is located on the second floor, almost immediately above the entrance.

Accessing the Lounge:

The American Express Centurion Lounge is accessible by holding American Express Platinum or Centurion Cards. Access with these cards are complimentary up to three hours before your flight, and include up to two guests. Additional guests may be invited in for $50 USD. If you are on a connecting flight, you are exempt from the three hour time limit.

At the time of our visit, access was also granted for other American Express Cardholders (non – Platinum / Centurion) by paying a $50 entry fee, per person. There was reasonable opportunity to make your money back on this fee. Unfortunately, this is no longer offered by American Express, thanks to heavy use of these lounges by their regular card holders.

Considering we had time on our hands, and the need of a well crafted drink, this seemed like a bargain to me. It was a much better value than the $50 voucher to visit the United Red Carpet Club lounge that would have offered sliced celery, the Copper Moon wine and the ripped up chairs further up the way.

Inside the American Express Centurion Lounge:

On first impression, the Amex Centurion San Francisco was a smaller space than the last American Express Centurion Lounge Las Vegas that we had visited. The American Express Centurion San Francisco lounge had been in operation for four weeks at the time of our visit. Despite this, it was a super comfortable place to lounge around and a much needed zone to be in after the ordeal of getting out of Australia.

There were shared workspaces available, similar to the Las Vegas Centurion Lounge.

Like with other American Express Lounges, it had décor reminiscent of travel from an era gone by.

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Food and Beverage:

The American Express Centurion Lounges are known for their superior food and beverage. The space at the American Express Centurion Lounge San Francisco had a few tables and chairs available for dining.

Dining Area with Chef’s Kitchen in the Background

Unfortunately, there was vastly less food over lunch hour compared to our experience at the Las Vegas lounge. Sharp observers will note a limited number of tables in this photograph. Despite this, there was substantially less meal oriented food, and more snack oriented food. This was despite the beautiful chef’s kitchen in the background.

One neat feature of today’s visit was that American Express had set up a “California Region” Wine tasting. A visit to the bartender would get you a bar code ticket that would offer you five tasting pours. It was a great way to discover new blends and a fascinating contrast in regions considering we had just spent three days tasting in South Australia.

The wine tasting lists were pretty comprehensive, and a great way to distract oneself during the time spend there.

Centurion Lounge San Fransisco Wine List – Whites & Rosé

Centurion Lounge Wine Tasting – Reds & Red Blends

As if a stand alone speciality wine bar wasn’t enough, there were wines from the bar available as well:

The advantage to the Centurion Lounge over other lounges is the bar. You can get an actual mixed cocktail that you’d pay $15 in any restaurant. The only minus is that the cocktails tend to take a bit of time to make. This usually results in a small line on our visits. Today was no different. Despite this, there was a great drink list that was different from our visit to the Las Vegas Centurion Lounge.

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Centurion Lounge Shower Suites:

After I had settled in for a bit, I listed for the shower. It’s only one room and the wait was only 15 minutes. The room was new, attired in slate and complete with an attached bathroom and l’Occitaine en Provence toiletries supplied, along with usual towels.

It was a welcome relief to get off an International flight and be able to have a shower available for use. In our case, we had travelled two hours on Qantas Business Adelaide – Sydney, then fifteen hours on United Airlines Sydney – San Francisco with a five hour layover in Sydney. We were pretty ready to be refreshed by this point.

My Thoughts on the American Express Centurion Lounge San Francisco:

Overall, I’ll be stopping by the American Express Centurion Lounge in San Francisco the next time my travels take me through here. Similar to their other lounges, it was a nice space to relax for a few hours and leaps and bound above the United Club down the hall. The only disadvantage was that the food offerings weren’t really substantial and coming off a long haul flight, we left a little hungry.

Do you appreciate the American Express Centurion Lounge in San Francisco when your travels take you through there?

Tags: American Express Centurion Lounge, American Express Platinum Card, SFO

Review: United Airlines B777-2, Sydney – San Francisco

Posted on June 14, 2021 By World Traveller 73 in Airline + Boeing 777 + Hitching a Ride to Sydney and Adelaide, Australia via Air Canada, United and Qantas Business Class + Trip Report + United

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No matter how you leave Australia for the United States, it’s always a long journey. Today’s flight was blocked at fifteen hours of travel from Sydney to San Francisco. Our standby travel efforts had us being among the last to be assigned a seat at the very rear of the economy cabin on a United Airlines Boeing 777-200, which is among the work horses of the United long haul fleet. It’s certainly an experience boarding among the last of any flight and the biggest puzzle of this adventure (getting home) was about to have its last piece fall into place.

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Review: United Airlines B777-2, Sydney Kingford Smith, Australia – San Francisco, United States of America.

Boarding United Airlines:

We got underway shortly after the final passenger list paperwork was processed. It seems as though I had run all through the Sydney International Departure Hall for nothing and we sat on the ground for about an additional 10 minutes past the scheduled 2:30 PM departure time. I had the sprint cough coming up in my throat as I settled into the seat. There was nothing like a little drama to start the next 15 hours of flying.

United Airlines
SYD-SFO (Sydney Kingford Smith International Terminal San Francisco International Terminal)
UA870 Economy Class
2:30 PM 9:23 AM
December 2014
Booked: NIL
Scheduled: Boeing 777-200
Flown: Boeing 777-200

Settling into United Airlines:

Somehow, my sister, Mrs WT73 and I, all ended up at the back of the plane and all together in the same center row. Regretfully, there were no great views on take off as a result of being in the middle of the plane. Surprisingly, they have updated the flight safety video to feature passengers, crew and pilots in travel settings. Once particular scene was filmed in a taxi, which I thought was quite amusing comparison to United.

There had been strong thundershowers throughout the day. The pilot announced on the flight deck that the winds had caused a runway change and that they were they were re-positioning for a different runway. During this announcement, the pilot had indicated a 45 minute delay. We ended up airborne with under 35 minutes from pushback. During this delay, I ended up toying around with the moving map and flight path.

The Meal Service: A Light Dinner

Todays flight service consisted of a dinner, mid flight snack, and a breakfast service 1.5 hours before landing.

The first dinner service started after a quick climb to cruising attitude.

Today’s delectable dinner choices were: beef couscous peas carrots or cheese tortellini. They had run out of cheese tortellini by the time they got to our row at the back. It was accompanied by a much needed Gin and Tonic at that point ($8 USD).

Couscous was an interesting choice as an accompaniment to the meal. I usually don’t see too much of it served on airline menus. It’s a terrific light meal but it tends to drip all over the place on the fork and isn’t all to filling for a long journey; which is a plus and a minus at the same time.

Entertainment on Flight:

After dinner, I played around with the advanced video on demand. United has upgraded its offerings and now features video on demand. The last time I had flown United Airlines Washington – Dubai, a number of years ago, it was the usual looping entertainment stream.

At that time, their aircraft was fitted with individual screens that looped a series of movies over and over. The AVOD system has vastly improved since then with a very large selection of movies, television shows and other content that could compete with amongst the best world class carriers. The Map feature wasn’t super detailed but it was clearly functional.

Having video on demand was a great upgrade that brought United into industry standards.

United Advanced Video on Demand – finally!

After dinner, I ended up watching Die Hard. The cabin lights were dimmed to darkness at around 5 PM Sydney Time.

I crashed out after the movie. It was a bit of a bumpy ride but was pretty tired from the early morning wake up.

The Second Service: A Mid Flight Snack

A mid flight snack was offered of a cello wrapped sandwich. It was a small bunwich and wasn’t all too filling.

The Third Service: A Breakfast

A breakfast service was offered prior to landing. The famous United sausage made another appearance here. Overall, it was actually not too bad at all. I was happy that we got two proper “economy” meals, but I was still quite hungry getting off the plane.

Arriving to San Francisco Airport:

After the fifteen hour journey, we finally landed at San Francisco Airport.

I was the last one off the plane thanks to being in the last row and my cabin baggage being on the opposite side of the aisle.

At US Customs and Border Protection, MrsWT73 and I snuck through immigration within 3 minutes thanks to Global Entry. My sister, who hasn’t yet gotten Nexus or Global Entry, waited an hour and 5 minutes in the regular line. We hung out in the SFO arrivals hall waiting for her.

Arrivals Hall: SFO International Terminal

Arrivals Hall Flight Arrival Display containing entirely Pacific Rim Flights

After we cleared US Customs and Border Protection, we headed to the public side of the San Francisco International Terminal. I was able to see a few of the (now retired) United Airlines Boeing 747-400’s that made up much of United’s long haul fleet for a number of years.

United Airlines B747’s at San Francisco International Terminal

My thoughts on United Airlines Long Haul Sydney – San Francisco:

This flight would end up being my last long haul flight in economy class in almost seven years. Overall, the United flight was okay. It was better than anticipated in terms of service, food and entertainment. The video system was much fuller in content than I remembered it, which added to the experience. I wasn’t stuck in a middle seat either, which was what I thought might have happened having flown standby and getting assigned a seat among the last of the passengers. I certainly didn’t care for the drama of waiting to get out of Sydney and managed to live through the experience. I think I’ll stick to revenue tickets for the time being.

If you’ve flown on United Airlines flight to or from Australia, would you choose them again for long haul travels to Australia?

Tags: SFO, SYD, UA 870, United Airlines

Trying to Fly Standby out of Australia’s Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport

Posted on June 13, 2021 By World Traveller 73 in Activity + Australia + Hitching a Ride to Sydney and Adelaide, Australia via Air Canada, United and Qantas Business Class + Oceania + Trip Report

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Flying standby is a bit of a game of roulette. You can get very lucky and win big, or you can spend time over and over again loosing against luck. Our efforts to get out of Sydney, Australia on an international and intercontinental flight in advance of the holiday season were challenging and made for a drama filled day. Truth be told, I didn’t enjoy the waiting or the chance it took in order to get there. However, if you have the patience and the means, you might be able to see a lot of the world for not very much money.

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Trying to Fly Standby on an International Flight out of Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport, Australia.

After landing in Sydney after our Qantas Business Class Adelaide – Sydney flight, I shored up some free wifi from the Qantas Club to check in to see if my sister was able to make it on her flight out of Adelaide. She did (while we were airborne) and would be meeting us in an hour at the Sydney International Terminal.

Getting to the Sydney Kingsford Smith International Terminal:

We exited the Sydney’s Domestic Terminal 3 and took the Airport Link train over to the Sydney International Terminal. Since we weren’t connecting on a Qantas or One World flight, and had bags to collect, we didn’t attempt to take the airside bus made available to select One World connecting passengers. It’s a bit of a revenue sham as the International Terminal and the Domestic Terminal are on opposite sides of the same airfield with no free means of connecting between the two. We used the Airport Link and we were each $5.40 AUD poorer. At least it was an opportunity to use up some spare Australian coin.

After waiting around for an hour, we met my sister at the United airlines check in desk to plan our way home. Unlike our Air Canada Business Class Vancouver – Sydney flight departing Canada, non revenue passengers are not issued standby boarding passes to get into the secure side unless they have a confirmed seat. This means that once the flight has closed, and all the revenue passengers have checked in, the non-revenues are assigned seats based on priority. You then get the pleasure of rushing through immigration, and British style invasive security screening, to the gate with approximately 40-45 minutes to spare. This wouldn’t be so bad if the process wasn’t so intensive. As most of you have already experienced, it takes a while to complete the international departure process.

We decided on a first available and accessibleflight strategy out of Sydney, instead of waiting for one particular carrier. We could have played more leisurely by restricting to one specific carrier with higher standby priority but chose to maximize our opportunities in order to minimize time getting off the continent.

Attempt #1:

United Airlines 840: Sydney – Los Angeles

We listed for United Airlines 840 Sydney – Los Angeles. Even expert flyer was showing several seats available. However, several mis-connects probably caused by thundershowers and several late passengers who failed to check in on time were likely to fill up these seats. Regardless, we presented ourselves at the check in counter and weighed and measured the bags that needed to be checked.

United Ground Services at Sydney Kingsford Smith

Our ticket reservations were verified. We parked ourselves over at the departure benches along with all the other non-revenue passengers and waited for the flight to close. Based on demographics and judgment, I estimated that there were about 15 non revenue passengers around us waiting to get on. When there is nothing to do to pass the time, other than people watch, you can get pretty creative in wondering who is who.

At about T-50, there was a flurry of activity amongst the ground staff. Printers running, boarding cards being spit out, walkie talkie radios squaking information back and forth. The ground staff appeared to work their hardest under these time constrained environments. A bunch of names were announced over the PA system. I saw a cute older couple in their late sixties / early seventies say goodbye to each other in about thirty seconds as the husband left his wife behind for one last available seat. With a quick kiss, he was off on his way. She stayed behind to ply her chances like everyone else. The flight filled up in seconds and we were not among the chosen few. Strike one was over just like that.

Attempt #2:

Air Canada Flight 34: Sydney – Vancouver

We listed for the next available flight: Air Canada 34 Sydney – Vancouver. Although, it was interesting to note that some people waiting around for the United Flight just got up and left the airport entirely. We repeated the process. We rolled ourselves over to the Air Canada check in desks, weighed the bags and checked the identifications.

Air Canada Bag Drop Sydney Kingsford Smith

Air Canada Sydney Kingsford Smith Check In Counters

We waited amongst the kiosks for the non revenues to be called after the flight closed at the one hour mark. This time, it appeared that there were about 12 persons listed amongst the people in the holding non revenue waiting area. Less comfortable than any lounge, we were standing around some random displaced coffee table countertops awaiting our traveling fate. Similar to a close knit family, any attempt at humor and new friends are inevitable during these pressure filled situations. We ended up chatting with a Westjet Airlines pilot who was based out of Toronto, Canada. Familiar with the standby game, he was traveling on an even lower priority than us. The musings about the game of standby roulette were made a little more entertaining with his sense of humor. The standby crowd seemed to grow with every minute that passed by.

Standby Crowds: You Know it’s a bad sign when this…

At about T-50, even worse luck. I should have guessed it from the complete lack of activity around the Air Canada ground crew who were busy packing up the carry on container displays and other Air Canada branded priority check in signs. The lead announced that no contingent travelers were being permitted on board today. At this point, it was strike two for us within the past three hours. There was only one accessible flight to us remaining for the day.

Attempt #3:

United Airlines Flight 870: Sydney – San Francisco

We listed for the last North American flight of the day, United Airlines 870 Sydney – San Francisco. We repeated the process for the third time. We held over at the seated counters where we were 4 hours ago. During this agonizing waiting period, I started to check revenue air options and hotel rooms for the night.

Simply put, here is where the main disadvantage to stand by travel is. If you miss your last flight of the day, and you are completely stuck, without any form of protection or re-assurances that you will get out of town. You’ll have to turn up the next day and repeat the process without any seniority advantage or priority over others that are there for the first time. There is nothing like stress on something that is completely beyond your control without means of predicting or having any insight as to what will happen. Maybe it’s a situation of having meetings and projects to get back to, or maybe it’s just my impatience in my older age? It wasn’t a circumstance that I looked forward to repeating.

At about T-50, the lead manager approached the podium in the now deserted United Check in area, the first ten names were announced over the public address system. We were not among them. Crap.

I couldn’t help but recall the final scenes of the Hollywood movie Titantic; when Rose and Jack are at the top of the bridge of the almost sunk ship and Rose glances around at all the other passengers, wondering their fate. Well, okay, that’s a bit melo-dramatic. But in comparison, I was glancing around at the fellow standbys wondering who would be next and who would be stuck? Everyone waiting seemed to handle this news with a different reaction.

We started to sink to the realization that we might be spending an extra night in Sydney. It was not looking good. As the Christmas holidays approached, planes would be reasonably expected to be fuller and fuller with likely lesser and lesser opportunities to depart. Mrs WT73 started typing an email to her boss indicating that she would not be back at work as planned.

At T-45, somehow, with some amazing stroke of luck, our party of three was called. We pretty much leapt to the counter and got our boarding cards, reading “SBY” on the seat assignments. We said a quick good bye to the others who were unsuccessful, including our new Westjet pilot friend whom we’ll probably never see again, and tore off in a mild sprint through the airport towards the departures.

We entered the Sydney departure area with all the kettles. We joined a very long immigration departure line. Of course, flying as a non rev means that you don’t get access to fast track lanes or business class priority screening. A first or business class escort to the gate would have really helped here, but that’s just my inside voice talking. It was an agonizing wait in a line like this at about T-35 prior to your international flight. The other travellers were oblivious to my circumstances and certainly weren’t in a rush. Thirty five minutes to your flight departing with a line like this…

Throughout this process, I got separated from MrsWT73 and my sister. On my own, I tried to get a bit of “front of the line” treatment using my imminent departure time but the line dragons weren’t interested in helping me. “You should be all right”. I passed through the Australian Exit Immigration and was cleared through immigration without an Australian Exit Passport stamp.

It was T-25 when I made it out of the security screening checkpoint. Thanks to getting lucky with the security lines, my sister and MrsWT73 had gotten ahead by using a shorter maze and fully on board the plane. I got this message that sent me into a mild traveling panic. Read the white text:

I used to have this attitude of disbelief when I saw others running through airport concourses, trying to catch planes, buses and taxis. I often thought, how did things go so bad that you are so late for your plane? Well, here I was, through no fault of my own, running in a full mis fit sprint, laptop in hand from the security screening tray, running down toward Gate 53. My circumstances were especially dire as if the door closed, I wouldn’t be re-protected on another flight and would have to start the whole standby process over again. I’d been at the airport waiting around for 5 hours at this point, not to mention the 4 AM wake up and earlier flight in from Adelaide. It was certainly an endearing moment and gave me new sympathies to those travellers, for whatever reason or another, whom have ended up late for their flights.

I was in a full spastic sprint by the time I rounded out of the Sydney International duty free area. Through the concourse windows, I happened to see our United plane at Gate 53 with two cargo doors on the right side still open so I knew that I had a bit of time left. I got to the gate huffing and puffing in a full sprint sweat. I traded my standby boarding pass card for a seat assignment. I was surprised as I was actually assigned an aisle seat as I was fully expecting a middle given the difficulty we had in our group getting on.

A quick double document check by security and the UA ground agent and I was rolling down the bridgeway, onwards and out of Australia.

I often wonder how long it took before our pilot friend made it home. . .

If you’ve travelled standby internationally, do you find it to be as awkward and stressful an experience as I did?

Tags: Australia, Flying Standby, SYD, United Airlines

Review: Qantas Business Class B737-8, Adelaide – Sydney

Posted on June 12, 2021 By World Traveller 73 in Airline + Boeing 737 + Business Class + Hitching a Ride to Sydney and Adelaide, Australia via Air Canada, United and Qantas Business Class + Qantas + Trip Report

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We had a reliable and consistent short haul domestic flight on Qantas between Adelaide and Sydney. Our flights with Qantas were similar to flying in the golden age of flying. They were punctuated by terrific lounges, great in flight service and an actual meal in the sky that led you feeling full and refreshed. Our time flying the carrier with the red and white kangaroo on the tail was as special as could be, and gave us terrific memories of our time in Australia.

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Review: Qantas Business Class B737-8, Adelaide – Sydney Kingford Smith, Australia.

We left The Qantas Club Lounge Adelaide at the announced boarding call in the lounge at T-25. Our gate today was straight across the concourse from the lounge at Gate 22. We used the priority boarding line that was not obviously marked but seemed to be useable at any time. We had a few more hassles at the gate for MrsWT73’s rollie (which was not relieved from her like mine was at check in), laptop bag and purse. Headphones were dispensed from a bin at the top of the ramp.

Qantas
Business Class
ADL-SYD (Adelaide International Sydney Kingford Smith Domestic Terminal 3)
QF730 Business Class (I)
6:00 AM 8:15 AM
December 2014
Booked: Boeing 737-800
Flown: Boeing 737-800

On Board Qantas Short Haul Business Class:

Once on board, we settled into the usual recliner Boeing 737-800 seats featured across Qantas’ short haul fleet. They are attired in a casual grey, which is a stark contrast from their lounges which feature vibrant reds, blacks and other contemporary patterns.

Pre-Departure Services:

A pre-departure beverage was offered of water or sweet lemon juice, which we enjoyed while parked next to other Qantas airframes at the Adelaide International Airport.

We had quick taxi out to the departure runway on this damp morning and we were airborne before we knew it.

We had great views of the Adelaide Coast on our southwestern departure track from runway 23, as we headed up to cruise altitude.

A climb to altitude over the golf courses of Adelaide

Entertainment on Board:

As with our flight out, our cabin didn’t have any individual video monitors. Entertainment was given from the main screen entertainment and additional drop down monitors. This meant we had the flight safety video and the advertising telling us all about the Qantas Sydney First Class Lounge.

In Flight Videos, Set to Mark Newson Designed First Class Lounges

Instead of in flight movies or entertainment, we enjoyed early morning sunrise views over an Australian canvass.

Meal Service: A Full Breakfast

A Full Breakfast was offered on today’s flight. The selection was a choice of Muesli with Milk (in a bottle) or Eggs with Bacon, Mushrooms and a tomato ragout. I didn’t have a strong appetite given the early morning departure, but I thought that I’d better eat since you can’t turn down food when you travel.

We had another nice touch with fresh ground pepper from the mill, as offered by the flight attendant. We had friendly chat with the flight attendant on this flight about Whistler, Canada which is our second home it seems when we are not traveling.

A Tasty Main Course with Fresh Ground Pepper

After breakfast, it was down to sparkling wine for the last of the bubbles of this particular trip. We had a long journey ahead, trying to get home on standby and attempting to make the most of the best luxury of what’s left.

After a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere, it was a pretty prompt approach into Sydney and we were back at Sydney Kingsford Smith Terminal 3 Domestic Gate 1B where we had departed from a few days earlier.

Kangaroos at Sydney Kingsford Smith Terminal 3 Domestic

My thoughts on Qantas Short Haul Business Class:

Overall, Qantas Business was a surprisingly pleasant way to travel. It was made pleasant by a more than capable, personal and friendly crew and a great lounge experience. It was a great experience compared to the uncomfortable skinny seat intra-Europe business class, and the bland North American business class (potato chip snack basket anyone?). I’ll easily look forward to my next Qantas flights, whether they be long haul or short haul.

Do you find Qantas Business Class to be a pleasant and personable experience when you fly with them?

Tags: ADL, Qantas, QF 730, SYD

Review: The Qantas Club Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia

Posted on June 11, 2021 By World Traveller 73 in Hitching a Ride to Sydney and Adelaide, Australia via Air Canada, United and Qantas Business Class + Lounges + Qantas Lounge + Trip Report

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Our series of flights back home from Australia to North America had us starting off in Adelaide, Australia at about 3:20 AM. Since we were flying on standby most of the way, the only confirmed ticket that we had was our Qantas Business class ticket from Adelaide to Sydney. We were up bright and early for these travels back to America, and a friendly stop by The Qantas Club Adelaide.

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Review: The Qantas Club Adelaide Domestic Lounge, Adelaide International Airport, Adelaide, Australia.

After a quick 4 day visit, it was time to make an attempt to head back to Canada. We were up at the awful hour of 3:20 AM for a shower ahead of a full day of travel to the United States, then a taxi to the airport. It was a quiet drive from Adelaide Hills and only $67 AUD.

The airport concourse was a nice area with an outside walkway to the terminal (no immediate curbside check in) across a nice plaza. The only bad part to this story was that we were here in the cover of darkness.

Checking Into Qantas Business Class:

The Adelaide International Airport Departures Hall was another Qantas branded exercise, with prominent airline branding throughout the hall.

We checked in at the priority check in which was guarded by a Qantas host. As in Sydney, the majority of people were checking in with the computer kiosks. We experienced a bit of a glitchy IT system. Somehow my sisters industry ID90 Z fare attached itself to our revenue award fare causing our boarding passes booked in confirmed business to be printed out as being in business class standby without a seat assignment. The tickets weren’t booked together, booked through the same booking portal or one after another so it was a bit of a surprise between us and the agents. It was sorted out with several attempts with a colleague to override, and a phone call to a manager and we were underway.

However, at the last minute, the agent took a look at my bag and decided on a visual inspection that it was over 7 kilos and that it had to be checked. It was removed from me unfortunately. I don’t know what is with Qantas and their light carry on policy but it’s different than most of the world and a lot different than North America and Europe. The check in agent advised my sister that the Qantas flight we were booked on was +1 overbooked so my sister headed over to Jetstar to try her luck flying out standby over there. We parted ways here aiming to meet up at Sydney Kingsford Smith since the Jetstar kiosk wouldn’t print out a boarding pass for her and she had to wait on the non secure side to get her matter sorted out.

We headed over towards the secure side of the departure hall was nicely decorated for the holidays, complete with a Christmas tree.

Locating The Qantas Club Lounge:

MrsWT73 and I proceeded through security to a spacious concourse, complete with a Christmas themed gingerbread house with a train. The Adelaide International Airport is situated in a long rectangular shape, with both domestic and International flights leaving from the same terminal.

Adelaide International Terminal: Secure Side

There are two lounges located at Adelaide International Airport. This version, operating as the Qantas Club, was located in the domestic terminal and serviced its domestic travellers. The Qantas Club was centrally located after turning right after security. There is also a Qantas Business Lounge situated in the International Terminal.

Map of Adelaide Airport
The Map is Courtesy of the Adelaide Airport Authority

Accessing The Qantas Club Lounge:

Access to the Qantas Club Lounge is allowed for travellers that are travelling on a departing flight in Qantas, Emirates, Jetstar or One World Business Class. Two guests are allowed and do not have to be travelling in order to access the lounge. Access is also afforded to Platinum One or Platinum Qantas Frequent Fliers. Eligible One World travelers that have Sapphire or higher level status (eg: Emerald Status) are also afforded access. Paid Qantas Club members are also granted access with one guest allowed, provided that they are departing on a Qantas, Jetstar or Emirates flight.

If for some reason you don’t meet the requirements, and are desperate to visit, you can still purchase annual access to the Qantas Club. There is an initiation fee and an annual fee that is in the range of $500 AUD per year. You may also be offered a day invitation for fee, dependent on lounge capacity.

We were admitted access courtesy of the class of service travelled. Somehow with the seat mix-up our boarding passes printed out seats in separate parts of the business class cabin. Thomas at the front counter took our boarding cards and said that he would work on it.

Inside The Qantas Club Lounge Adelaide:

Once we were inside the Qantas Club Adelaide, we found another really spacious domestic lounge. The first impression was a spacious area with lots and lots of seating. Thanks to prominent reds and great interior design, you’ll never forget that you’re in a Qantas Lounge. They look like no other lounges in the world.

In addition to the regular lounge seating, there was also a cubicle farm. It was located near the lounge entrance, although at 5:15 AM, there weren’t many people doing that.

Almost Like a Regular Office: Qantas Workstations

Qantas seems to want its customers to use their space as workspace as they had several meeting rooms available to be booked. It was an interesting use of space considering they are probably only used during daytime business hours.

Despite the large space, most of the lounge customers this early morning were crowding around the food and coffee stations.

Food and Beverage:

Like I have mentioned earlier, the Qantas Lounges always excel in food and beverage options. There was also a full service barista coffee bar served by actual baristas. Wow – what a concept! No messy stations or discarded garbage belonging to other people at the coffee station.

The food offerings were above average for a domestic lounge. This morning there were baked eggs and tomato ragout along with the famous instant pancake machine “Just press ok.”

My sister indicated via Whats App that she could not check in on the public side until 6:40 AM (40 minutes after we were scheduled to have departed) so we virtually parted ways through What’s App messaging from opposite ends of the Adelaide Terminal and arranged to meet in Sydney at the Sydney International Terminal United check in desk. We had some nice airside views as the sun came up in Adelaide this morning.

My thoughts on The Qantas Club Lounge Adelaide Domestic:

The Qantas Club Adelaide was another impressive space in the spectrum of domestic lounges. It offered ample food, fresh coffee, actual food that could substitute for a meal, office space and lots of loungers to sit around in. It’s too bad that other domestic lounges worldwide don’t meet up to these standards. It certainly was a welcome respite and a great start to a very long travel day.

If you travel to and from Adelaide International Airport, is the Qantas Club Lounge your first choice of available lounges?

Tags: ADL, One World, Qantas Business Lounge

Tasting an Australian Wine Icon; Penfold’s Grange, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Posted on June 10, 2021 By World Traveller 73 in Activity + Australia + Hitching a Ride to Sydney and Adelaide, Australia via Air Canada, United and Qantas Business Class + Oceania + Region Visit + Trip Report

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Our last day of tasting in the Adelaide region was taking in an Austrian Icon and enjoying a boutique winery in the Adelaide Hills. The travels took us to the Penfolds Magill Estate to taste the world renowned Penfold’s Grange, arguably the most famous Australian wine. We would then continue onward to boutique sparkling wine cellar door Deviation Road, which was located in the Adelaide Hills a short distance away.

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Tasting an Australian Wine Icon; Penfold’s Grange Wine followed by Deviation Road Sparkling, Adelaide, SA, Australia.

Today’s Adelaide experiences were around the city limits and hillsides of Adelaide. After a visit in town, it was up for a visit at the Penfold’s Magill Estate for tasting of their wines, in addition to a tasting of their flagship Grange Tasting.

Visiting Penfold’s Magill Estate:

We headed over to the Magill Estate of Penfold’s for a Grange Tasting. The Magill Estate of Penfold’s is right in the heart of suburban Adelaide. It was probably at one time on the outskirts of town and is now surrounded by nice homes.

Penfold’s Cellar Door – Established 1900

Penfolds’ Memorabilia and Gift Shop Items

About Penfold’s Grange:

Mr Max Schubert was one of the first Chief Winemakers for Penfolds. In the year 1948, at the age of thirty three, he became Penfold’s Chief Wine Maker. As the story goes, he was initially sent to Spain and Portugal in the 1950’s to study winemaking Europe. On a side trip to Bordeaux, he was impressed by the French cellared wines. On this return to Australia, he sought to create a special vintage of his own.

In the year 1957, Max Schubert presented his special creation (which was predominantly made using Australian Shiraz Grapes) to the board. To his surprise, the board was not in favour of the project and shut down the endeavour. Max Schubert continued to make his special blend in secret through the years 1957 – 1959. He was eventually able to convince the board to accept his product and Penfold Grange was launched for the first time in the year 1960.

On the year of its fiftieth anniversary in the year 2001, Penfolds’ Grange was labeled an Australian Icon. In the year 2008, it received worldwide acclaim as receiving a perfect one hundred point score by two international wine magazines. Penfold’s Grange is considered the flagship Australian Wine.

Our Penfold’s Tasting:

We arrived to the tasting bar and claimed our reservation. We started by tasting some of the general wines During our general Penfold’s tasting, we tasted 10 wines. Within the 10 varietals tasted, we seemed to get an upgrade in the wines that they offered as many of the wines tasted were of the $300+ a bottle variety. Thankfully, I wasn’t driving.

Penfolds’ Reserve Wines for Tasting at McGill Estate

A Penfold’s Grange Tasting:

At the end of the regular tasting, it came time for our Grange Tasting. We were led off the bar and over to a stand alone barrel. Our Australian surfer wine host started the pours after a brief explanation of the wine and it’s history.

The wine was of terrific quality. I don’t profess to be a Master of Wine, or even have any international tasting certifications but it was indeed smooth, robust and delicately balanced. This 2010 vintage of Grange was a blend made from Barossa Valley, Clare Valley, Adelaide Hills, McLaren Vale and Magill Estate fruit that was aged 17 months in 100% new American oak barrels. As photographed, in color, it was very deep purple-black with fresh, vibrant and youthful black fruit notes showing blueberry aromas and accents of anise and the slightest floral hint, plus a trace of oak in the background. It presented as medium to full-bodied in the mouth, with a balsamic liveliness and an additional film of dark chocolate. The wine was very taut and finely constructed showing typically firm, grainy, uniform tannins, great concentration and wonderful persistence on the finish. This year’s blend was 96% Shiraz, 4% Cabernet Sauvignon

After the Grange tasting, we had a very brief private tour of the barrel and fermentation room at the McGill estate.

All the tastings at Penfold’s were free, with the exception of the Grange tasting which was $50. Given that Penfolds 2008 Grange is retailing for about $780 a bottle back home in Canada, I didn’t think that this was at all unreasonable.

The last stop for sparkling at Deviation Road champagne house:

We concluded our Adelaide wine tour with a last stop at Deviation Road, champagne house. Any winery that was coming after Penfolds’ Grange would be having a tough time but we had a pretty nice experience at Deviation Road. A short drive through the gum trees got us there quick.

Kate and Hamish (who wasn’t here today) are the winemakers and proprietors. Kate happened to be good friends with our hosts and we lucked into the deluxe tour, including a tour around the back of the house operations. Tour of the back of the house as well with a rustic facility that has been converted from a dairy.

Kate was initially trained in Epernay, France which is the traditional champagne region. Deviation Road is making some terrific tasting bubbles along with wonderful Sauvingon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir and Shiraz.

Deviation Road Sauvingon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Gris

We were fortunate enough to see some wild Kangaroos jumping around and through the vines here which was a truly unique experience I don’t think you’ll be able to replicate many other places in the world.

Our day at Penfold’s and the Deviation Road Sparkling Winery:

Overall, our Adelaide visit was a peek into a less visited corner of Australia. My other Melbourne Australian friends had made some inquisitive comments on my Facebook page as to why I was visiting Adelaide over Melbourne? I firmly believe, and am now convinced, that Adelaide is an up and coming food and wine destination of Australia. The wines were of exceptionally high quality and surprised us with their depth and structure. With several wine regions within 2 hours, fresh and fabulous food available at almost every opportunity, its’ easy to see that Adelaide will be hitting the majors as a food and wine destination very shortly.

If you’ve tasted Penfold’s Grange, did you find it met the calibre of a world class wine?

Tags: Adelaide Hills, Australia, Deviation Road, Penfold's, Wine Tasting

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Review: Asiana Airlines Business Lounge, Terminal One, Seoul Incheon, South Korea

Checking into Asiana Airlines Business Class:

Locating the Asiana Airlines Business Class Lounge:

Accessing The Asiana Airlines Business Lounge:

Inside the Asiana Airlines Business Lounge:

Food and Beverage:

Views from the Lounge:

The Bottom Line: The Asiana Business Lounge

If you’ve visited the Asiana Business Lounge, what was your visit like?

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Review: The Nest Hotel, a Member of Design Hotels, Seoul Incheon, South Korea

How we ended up at The Nest Hotel:

Getting to the Nest Hotel:

Nest Hotel, a Member of Design Hotels™

19 5 Yeongjonghaeannam ro, Jung-gu

Incheon, 400-719 South Korea

Arriving to the Nest Hotel:

The Room: A Standard Double Mountain, Guest room, 1 Double, Mountain view, Balcony

Around the Hotel:

The Platz Restaurant:

The Kunst Lounge:

Our stay experience with The Nest Hotel, a Member of Design Hotels:

If you’ve stayed at The Nest Hotel Incheon, what was your experience like?

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Review: Air Canada Business Class B787-8, Vancouver International Airport – Seoul Incheon.

Air CanadaBusiness ClassYVR-ICN (Vancouver International Airport – Seoul Incheon Airport)AC 63 – Business Class (I) 1:35 PM – 4:20 PMApril 2, 2015Booked: Boeing 787-800Flown: Boeing 787-800

On Board Air Canada Business Class:

Pre Departure Beverage Services:

Air Canada Amenity Kits:

The Meal: A Full Lunch

The Second Service: A light supper

Our experience on Air Canada Business Class Long Haul:

If you’ve flown Air Canada International Business Class Long Haul, what was your experience like?

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Review: Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge YVR International, Vancouver International Airport, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Checking into Air Canada Business Class:

Locating the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Vancouver International:

Accessing the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge:

Inside the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge:

Food and Beverage:

A View from the Lounge:

My Thoughts on the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Vancouver International:

If you’ve visited the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Vancouver International, what did you think of the lounge?

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Trip Introduction: Vietnam, Maldives and India. Round the World #3 in Star Alliance Business Class via Air Canada, Asiana, Singapore, Air India, andTurkish Airlines Business Class.

Trip Background and Planning:

YVR-ICN-SGN (Air Canada Aeroplan Award)

SGN-SIN-MLE (Air Canada Aeroplan Award)

MLE-GKK-MLE (Maldivian Air Transfer – arranged by hotel)

MLE -TRV-MAA-DEL (Air Canada Aeroplan Award)

DEL-JAI-DEL (paid Air India Ticket)

DEL-IST-YUL-YVR (Air Canada Aeroplan Award)

If you’ve put together and organized a trip to India, how did you go about doing it?

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Review: Air Canada Rouge A319, San Franciso – Vancouver.

Air CanadaOperated by Air Canada RougeEconomy ClassSFO-YVR (San Francisco International Airport – Vancouver International Airport)AC 1847 – Economy Class 5:30 PM – 7:30 PMDecember, 2014Booked: NIL Scheduled: Airbus 319Flown: Airbus 319

On Board Air Canada Rouge:

Entertainment in Flight:

Food on Board: Buy on Board Only

My thoughts on Air Canada Rouge:

My Final Thoughts on Hitching a Ride to Australia:

If you’ve flown Air Canada Rouge, would you be keen to fly it again on your next trip?

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Review: American Express Centurion Lounge, San Franciso Airport, California, United States of America.

Checking into Air Canada:

Locating the American Express Centurion Lounge:

Accessing the Lounge:

Inside the American Express Centurion Lounge:

Food and Beverage:

Centurion Lounge Shower Suites:

My Thoughts on the American Express Centurion Lounge San Francisco:

Do you appreciate the American Express Centurion Lounge in San Francisco when your travels take you through there?

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Review: United Airlines B777-2, Sydney Kingford Smith, Australia – San Francisco, United States of America.

Boarding United Airlines:

United AirlinesSYD-SFO (Sydney Kingford Smith International Terminal  San Francisco International Terminal)UA870  Economy Class 2:30 PM  9:23 AM December 2014Booked: NILScheduled: Boeing 777-200Flown: Boeing 777-200

Settling into United Airlines:

The Meal Service: A Light Dinner

Entertainment on Flight:

The Second Service: A Mid Flight Snack

Air Canada
Business Class
YVR-ICN (Vancouver International Airport – Seoul Incheon Airport)
AC 63 – Business Class (I)
1:35 PM – 4:20 PM
April 2, 2015
Booked: Boeing 787-800
Flown: Boeing 787-800

Air Canada
Operated by Air Canada Rouge
Economy Class
SFO-YVR (San Francisco International Airport – Vancouver International Airport)
AC 1847 – Economy Class
5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
December, 2014
Booked: NIL
Scheduled: Airbus 319
Flown: Airbus 319

United Airlines
SYD-SFO (Sydney Kingford Smith International Terminal San Francisco International Terminal)
UA870 Economy Class
2:30 PM 9:23 AM
December 2014
Booked: NIL
Scheduled: Boeing 777-200
Flown: Boeing 777-200

Qantas
Business Class
ADL-SYD (Adelaide International Sydney Kingford Smith Domestic Terminal 3)
QF730 Business Class (I)
6:00 AM 8:15 AM
December 2014
Booked: Boeing 737-800
Flown: Boeing 737-800