Trip Report: SYD-LAX (QF A380) and LAX-SFO (VX A320)

[Shameel Kumar]

G'day folks, ... or should that be Howdy Y'all since I'm living on the other side of the Pacific Ocean now.

This will be my final trip report for quite a while, so I thought I'd make it a good one. Good as in lots of photos, my usual 2-line caption for each photo, and of course added rambling about this, that and the other.

So the reason for the flight?... I made the big decision to migrate to the States. Condition of my visa is that I can't leave USA for at least 2 years, so I thought I'd treat myself to a flight on the A380 (since I was still heart-broken from the V Australia delay)..and then further treat myself to a First Class seat on Virgin America (VX) to get up to San Francisco.
So now that you know the background info, let's get rolling with the trip report. Upwards and onwards!

Date: January 25, 2009 (yeah I know, the day before Australia Day..what a date to bid farewell to Australia)
Flight: QF11
Route: SYD-LAX
Aircraft: Airbus A380

So yeah, I purposely chose QF11 to get a flight on the A380 to make-up for my missed opportunity to fly VA and their 77W. Check-in, immigration and security were simple as per usual. Thanks to Sam Chui for the Business Lounge access, so my girlfriend and I enjoyed a little bit of time in there before we boarded our aircraft.

Prior to going through immigration, I went up to the Observation Deck to check-out the midday action. Here's an Etihad A340-600 being taxied back from The Pond for its usual afternoon departure (A6-EHH).
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The A340-600 has to be THE most beautiful aircraft to look at head-on! Perfect proportions all-round, and the EY livery further accentuates the A346's beauty.
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Inside QF's Business Lounge about 20 minutes before boarding. Mainly just relaxed in there to kill time (and of course to get some bottled water for the flight). 'Lounging' is not my sort of thing, I prefer to wonder around checking-out all the planes at their gates, but this trip was an exception because it was rather hard to say good-bye to my parents and friends.
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Two icons in one frame. The Flying Kangaroo and Sydney's Centrepoint Tower. The new 'Roo doesn't look all that bad here.
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A closer view of one of the four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines that hang under the A380's massive wings. Makes the B744 engines look... well... small.
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Wider view of VH-OQA just seconds before boarding. This was taken behind the glass window of the new A380-compatible aerobridge. The new 'Roo looks like a ballerina right there!
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A shot of QF's new AVOD system. I have to admit this new system is very nice to use and very user-friendly. It can be controlled by either the handheld controller (which is stored in your armrest, good thinking as clipping the controller to your seatback gives an unpleasant look) or by touchscreen. The screen image is the introductory screen of iQ.
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The view across the 10-abreast Economy cabin. Taken from seat 82K which is in the rear of the lower-deck. Soon after take-off I moved back to 86K to get a slightly better view since there were only about 7 people in the rear-section of Economy. I'm hoping that guy just had an itchy nose...
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Don't let any one tell you that size doesn't matter! Okay okay, perspective can be deceiving, but the big (yet still boring) 'fence'-tip of the A380 makes the Rex prop' look like a toy!
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The rear section of the QF A380 Economy cabin (seat colour: Desert Orange). Quality's a bit crap because I couldn't be bothered holding the camera real steady so I just jacked-up the ISO.
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Trip report continued below...

[Shameel Kumar]

Flying high and on our way to L.A. Varying shades of blue really made this an interesting wing+engine shot. This was taken no more than 20mins out of Sydney.
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Sunset city! You gotta love the sunset scenery when flying across the Pacific. The peaks of each of those clouds is lit with an orange glow as we head onwards into the impending darkness.
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Yup! This time I was bothered enough to actually get out of my seat, put the ISO down low and shutter-speed low as well. The smooth-flying A380 made the seats a good make-shift tripod. Took this just before the cabin lights were dimmed because I sooooo wouldn't be bothered to take this same photo 8hrs later after breakfast.
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The best part of of sitting at the rear of an aircraft which is more than half-empty? Being able to lift your window-shade after they've told you to pull them down. There's was no way I was going to miss those few minutes before it really went dark outside. Amazing scenery guaranteeeeeed!! So amazing I made a little song:
Orange and yellow and blue and black,
How can you not be taken a-back,
Make sure you sit on the starboard side,
And get your camera ready for an amazing sight!
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Crusing over Los Angeles (hey, I actually really like this shot!). Cloud-cover was a little bit of a suprise, but good news was NO RAIN unlike my previous trip into LAX about a month ago (refer to my signature).
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Now THAT'S the L.A. that we don't really see (there is more to L.A than just Hollywood ya know!). In this shot we're flying alongside a tiny SkyWest EMB120... talk about opposite ends of the spectrum. Let's compare: 30 seats verse nearly 500. Max range of 800nm verse 8,000nm. Length of 20m verse 72.5m. Wingspan of 20m verse 80m....and my personal favourite: Max. Take-Off Weight of 26,430 lbs. compared to 1,234,000 lbs.
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After touching-down in LAX, we hadn't even yet turned off the runway (thankfully) when this AA 767 zoomed right alongside and took-off on the parallel runway. I'm happy I had the camera held level to the horizon and had the clouds to add a dramatic backdrop!
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Docking at our gate in LAX..viewed from the tail-cam. Qantas allows you to watch the tail-cam (which they refer to as 'Skycam') all flight long. It really is a neat feature and definitely something more interesting to look at than just the flight map when I don't feel like watching movies on the AVOD. At nighttime of course all you see is the red beacon blinking intermittently amongst the pitch-black darkness, so you might want to put the flight map on then...or watch Top Gear like I did!!
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Crap quality.. I know! I wasn't even going to bother with this shot due to the unfavourable lighting (taken from inside the Tom Bradley Int'l Terminal, eatery area)...but the amazing diversity of airlines in this photo gave me enough of a reason to snap a shot or two. El Al B772, Air Tahiti Nui A343, Emirates B772LR, Lufthansa B744, and China Airlines B744. Strange though.. two waving-flag tails, two floral tails..and an old and boring bird tail (referring to Lufthansa).
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Supri-iiiiiiii-se!! This is one end of the check-in area of Terminal 3 at LAX. Virgin America just moved into T3, and to my happy suprise I discovered V Australia's check-in desks lookin' all spiffy and clean. In less than a month those check-in counters will be switched on and VA will finally be alive in LA!
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Trip report continued below...

[Shameel Kumar]

V Australia and Virgin America side-by-side in T3 at LAX. Their logo seems fresh and inviting, and let's hope they use that neon-blue mood lighting in their aircraft cabins! There's a new crew in town!! I just wonder how many people will walk-by their logo and say "Hey check that out, there's a new airline called vaustralia" (pronouncing it is 'vostralia' as opposed to vee-australia).
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This is the small chariot that carried us from LAX to SFO. This specific aircraft was an A320-200... oh wait... yeah you got me!... This was N633VA sitting at Gate 35 refuelling and getting ready for our short dash up to San Francisco.
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Hey hey.. check it out! The first time I've ever seen an Air France aircraft in the metal!! Pity it had to be their A343 instead of their 77W, but really nice to finally see an AF aircraft. After arriving from CDG (I assume) this AF A343 (F-GLZS) soaks up the California sun as it taxi's to T1 to park alongside the earlier-arriving AF 777-300ER.
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Close-up of one of the CFM56-5B's that hang under each of VX's A320s/A319s. Nice fan-blades and nice reflection of the wing on the engine cover.
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This is one of the rare 10 A319's in the VX fleet (N522VA - the name you can see for yourself. Cute). This was parked at Gate 36, and this small pocket-rocket was just about to head-off to JFK.
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Another rare catch. This is one of TACA's A320s (N682TA)...this specific aircraft has only been in TACA's possession for about 5 months now ( TACA is based in El Salvador). Alongside this little tucka is the AF A343 and the even larger AF 77W!
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This was our inflight 'snack'/'meal' on our VX flight from LAX to SFO... complimentary of course since we were in First Class (seats 1A anf 1C... no 1B). The first 'cup' was a fancy small salad. The second was some real tasty chocolate mousse...and the third... err, I didn't try it because it reminded me of a science experiment I did in primary school where we had to try and grow a seed in a plastic cup. It's funny that the napkin, knife, fork & spoon took up as much space as the food itself. Hey, at least we got unlimited drinks...big recline white leather seats with in-built massage feature... hehehe!
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Oh hey there's my Pepsi...and there's the inflight entertainment. Impressive thing about VX is that even the Economy cabin has AVOD at each seat...which makes VX light years ahead of most other American carriers. I'll definitely be looking to fly VX if/when I travel to Las Vegas or Seattle.
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I didn't want to get up out of my seat, stand in the middle of the isle and point my DSLR straight down the cabin and freak-out every passenger, so I just turned the camera around as I stayed-put in my seat and literally just hoped for an interesting shot. ...and an interesting shot is what I got!! The mood-lighting looks awesome (I hope V Australia does something very similar) and the stylish design elements really set VX apart from other airlines!
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Taken after we arrvied at SFO. The weather looked rather daunting (it got a lot worse on the drive home!) but I had enough patience to fiddle around with the camera settings to get a nice lighting and colour mix.
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So there ya have it folks... a detailed trip report of my migrating flight to the United States! As I said, this will probably be my last trip report for quite a while, so I thought I'd treat everyone to a lot of photos. I hope you guys enjoyed the photos and the quirky captions!

Feel free to ask a whole bunch of questions about the QF A380 or any other aspect of this trip. ... I don't bite! .. hehe.

I hope everyone had a great Australia Day.... and I hope you're all starting to catch the V Australia excitement bug as their delivery flight to SYD nears!! Just remember... when it comes to V Australia spotting, remind yourself to: "Do it for Shameel!!"..... just kidding!

[Matt_L]

Shameel,

once again you have outdone yourself. That was incredible!:)

Hope you have been settling in well in the USA!

All the best,

Matt

[Mike W]

As always Shameel, great work and a good read to boot. Thanks for sharing.

After seeing that last photo of the Virgin America 320, it got me thinking about the tail colour and design. It replicates the new VS look and I wonder if DJ will also head down that route or will it look a bit bland with the white tail on the red fuselage without the blue border?

[Sarah C]

Shameel, another excellent post. I too hope your neighbour across the aisles was just 'scratching' his nose! Lovely pictures too - amazing to see a relatively clean Air France aircraft. I love LAX for that reason - all the heavies and such variety too. Still, it is surprising to see such a low load factor on the A380 in January.

[Dan Hammond]

An excellent trip report mate, One question, was Virgin America as good as it has been made out to be, i just havent had any feedback on the airline itself.

[Rhys Xanthis]

Fantastic trip report, really liked the photo's in the a380!

[NickN]

Shameel great read mate!!!

Just one question, I hope you don't mind me asking....

Why aren't you allowed to leave the US for 2 years? That seems really strict and to be honest unfair in my opinion. Is that what every person who migrates to the US has to abide by?

[Shameel Kumar]

Shameel great read mate!!!

Just one question, I hope you don't mind me asking....

Why aren't you allowed to leave the US for 2 years? That seems really strict and to be honest unfair in my opinion. Is that what every person who migrates to the US has to abide by?

No problems with the question Nick, I anticipated that someone would eventually stick their neck out and ask it. :)

I successfully applied for a Fiance' Visa so as to move to America, and one of the key conditions of this visa is that I am not allowed to leave the United States for approximately 2 years. Apparently this time-restriction used to only be about 3-6 months not too long ago, but many petitioners of this sort of visa (predominantly from Mexico) were abusing this visa by successfully gaining an immigrant visa to USA, and then after that 3-6month period they would go back to Mexico and keep working there....something along those lines. So the government increased the travel-restriction time to approximately 2 years now to try and deter 'un-true' migrants (for lack of a better term to describe those migrants who abused this visa).
I don't think this 2-year rule applies to ALL visa's to the USA, but it may apply to all immigrant visas. Thing is, once you migrate to The States, you have to apply to have your status as an 'alien' changed. For me, it will take approximately 2 years to gain my 'Green Card', so in that time I cannot travel out of the United States otherwise I would have voided my current Fiance visa since it is a one-entry-only visa. I'm sure in emergency situations (probably strictly family-related emergency) they will grant you a waiver, but you have to apply for that waiver.

In my opinion, yeah it is a bit unfair because 2 years is a lot more than the previous 3-6 month restriction that was inplace, but I'm not mad or anything because I understand why they increased it to 2 years. Just makes it hard for me because I said good-bye to a lot of family and friends, 2 cute dogs of mine, and of course the country I still call home (Australia), so it's difficult to accept the fact that I won't be back in Australia for a couple years....but that's the sacrifice I've had to make so my Fiance and I can now live a normal life together rather than one based on daily phone calls, internet messaging and webcamming (not to mention the endless COSTLY flights between SYD and LAX/SFO). Sacrifices, Sacrifices aye. :)

[Shameel Kumar]

An excellent trip report mate, One question, was Virgin America as good as it has been made out to be, i just havent had any feedback on the airline itself.

Hmmm, now that's a bit of a tricky one. I guess firstly it depends on what level of hype you've been exposed to, and therefore what perception and expectations you now have of VX.

I'll be honest and say that my key reason for choosing to fly VX was because I was persuaded by the hype and buzz surrounding VX. I mean, how can you NOT be?? Economy fares which are damn cheap when on sale, AVOD system at each seat .. even in Economy, an impressive First Class cabin which is right up there with AA and UA but at a much cheaper price, and finally the fun, friendly, and cheerful flavour that 'Virgin' is known for. It's hard not to get hyped up and excited.
I was very much excited about my flight with Virgin America (even more so since I had booked First Class), but did my actual experience match-up with my expectations and initial perception of VX?

Hmmmm.... so so I have to say. Let me explain...
I'm the sort of person who has to research the hell out of something new I'm doing (or somewhere new I'm travelling to) so as to get a realistic idea of what to expect. So I had researched a whole lot about VX (from their website to passenger reviews and so on) so to be honest there was next to no 'suprise' factor involved. I knew exactly what the cabin would look like, I knew exactly what each button on our super-comfy First Class seat did and I knew what was available on their AVOD system well before I even stepped foot on my first-ever VX flight... so I guess you could call me my own buzz-kill. Anyways... so what all that meant was that eventhough this was my first experience with VX, I felt like I already knew everything and nothing was new and 'cool' to live up to that buzz and excitement.
Secondly, to be COMPLETELY fair though, over the past 3 years or so I have predominantly done long haul flights (pretty much SYD-LAX/SFO return), so the vast vast vaaaassssst majority of my flying experience has been far above what a normal domestic flyer would experience. What I mean is, it's a tad 'unfair' for me to comment much on VX's offering when the main yardstick I have compare them against is long-haul international flights with either QF or NZ. I did however do a previous LAX-SFO trip with AA (on one of their MD80's), so to compare my experience with AA against VX, I can unequivacly say (my my that's a fancy word!!) that the experience with VX was much much more impressive! ...But the kicker to that statement is that I flew First Class with VX as opposed to Economy on AA. But even just having a look at VX's Economy offering, it's a no-brainer hands-down win to VX.

So to try and answer your question, in simple terms, YES, VX is really as good as it's made out to be (especially in the US domestic scene!). Their fares are very very attractive, their baggage policy is reasonable (again, compared to most other US domestic carriers), their in-flight offering is about as good as you can get for a domestic trip (except for the usual LCC 'pay for food' scheme...you have to remember VX is still an LCC like Jetstar/Virgin Blue, etc.)...and their First Class offering is very good for an even better price (not to mention the extra baggage allowance which comes very much in handy for international flyers who have a domestic connection to make!). Their in-flight service (as in people skills) was very polite, courteous but they still have a good sense of humour to keep you entertained!

Out of 10, I'd give this first experience with VX about a 8.5. Main reason for the not giving it a full 10 was the food we received in First Class was of a very small serving (as the photos show), but you have to remember the flight time was no more than 50mins, so to be fair to them, it wasn't so bad...but a simple Choc-chipped Muffin would have been better!
Overall though, I was very much impressed with VX. A great mix of value-for-money and inflight entertainment & service! ....and that's why I definitely intend to fly with them next time I fly within USA.

... little disclaimer: only problem with VX is their limited destinations. They only operate to 9 destinations (4 of which are in California alone), so their scope of travel is very limited compared to the legacy US carriers and even compared to Southwest. But put simply, if I'm travelling to one of their destinations, I'm definitely flying with Virgin America!

I hope that helped Dan. :D

[Dan Hammond]

Thanks Shameel, Sounds to me like its an airline to watch and see how it grows against the majors over there.

Thanks again for answering my question.

[Shameel Kumar]

Thanks Shameel, Sounds to me like its an airline to watch and see how it grows against the majors over there.

Thanks again for answering my question.

You're welcome Dan. :)

Yeah, Virgin America is definitely an airline to watch for over the next few years. Even with this economic downturn and travel downturn, I think VX will continue to expand to new ports throughout USA. In a week or they'll have their inaugural Boston service, and they've just added Orange County as their latest destination, so they're not sitting around simply trying to ride-out this downturn.

For my fellow Australian flyers: If you do fly over to the States and you're flying a route that VX operate, I strongly suggest you give them a go (if your travel plans permit). Just about a month ago I flew SFO-LAX on Southwest and for a 50min flight flying a bare-nuckles LCC carrier was no problem...but when you think that for an extra ~US$10 you can fly VX and enjoy your own AVOD system, warm inviting cabin atmosphere, and a laugh or two from the cabin crew... they're definitely worth a go. You won't regret it if you have the opportunity. :)

(Disclaimer: this is not a paid word-of-mouth marketing scheme from the folks at Virgin... believe me, if it was, I'd be flying seat 1A on V Australia's inaugural flight!! :p :D )

[Philip Argy]

Loved that pic of the Rex under the A380 fence, Shameel - that ought to be entered for an award somewhere as it's possibly unique and very hard to repeat.

[Joseph Saragozza.]

great trip report shameel
really enjoyed reading the captions and epically looking at those fantastic pictures of yours.
well done, wish you all the best with the move ;)