‘This is my first time on a QANTAS Airbus A380 and I’m curious how it stacks up to the others I’ve flown on, Emirates, China Southern, Thai Airways and those I have visited, Etihad and Qatar Airways.

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I’m heading to Paris, via Dubai and London, I have one heck of a journey ahead of me and as much as I love flying, a slight part of me is nervous at the length of the journey… HA! No I’m not! I’m hungry though, so my focus on this flight is food!

I’m on the first Qantas Airbus A380 registered VH-OQA, named after the first Australian queen of the skies Nancy-Bird Walton. The aircraft was delivered to the airline in September 2008 making it 10 years old at the time of my flight.

I walk to the rear of the main deck and the cabin seams quite spacious and neat. There are 371 Economy Class seats on the Qantas a380, of which 339 are located on the main deck.

I am seated right in row 87, the second last row of  Economy Class on the main deck. I’ve got an aisle seat in the middle section and there are two seats free between me and the other aisle where a lady is sitting. We make polite hand gestures to each other indicating we will have a spare seat each. I settle and and peruse the inflight entertainment and there is heaps to choose from. I opt for a new release, Whitney Houston: Can I Be Me. It’s good but I’m still hungry and about half way through it’s time for dinner.

Prior to take off we were all given a menu for the flight, such a nice touch. It’s now time to make my choice and from the menu there is a selection of:
✈ Tabbouleh and felafel salad with mustard yoghurt dressing.
✈ Roast chicken with honey mustard sauce, sweet potato and beans.
✈ Chermoula braised lamb with cauliflower masala and basmati rice.

I go for the chicken. It looks worse than it tastes but the chicken is moist and the sauce moorish. I’ve always been a fan of the larger QANTAS main meal servings, however, I do miss the mini side salad.

I really like QANTAS Garlic bread, the garlic butter is injected into the roll and I find it not only tasty, but it prevents that rock hard roll so often served on flights.

There is a small gooey chocolate pudding on the side, but I put this aside for later. This is a long flight. I manage to get a few hours sleep after dinner before the next service.

After my wee nap, it’s time for a snack. The Turkish Beef Sausage, Halloumi & Egg Gozleme as per the box was written on the menu as ‘Pide with Turkish Beef Sausage, Grilled Haloumi and Egg’. A mere oversight maybe? (Note: the spelling of halloumi is also different)…

I think it is more like a gozleme then pide. It’s nice but the bread a little soggy in parts.. ah well what can you expect at 35,000 feet? I still devour it.

About 2 hours prior to landing, we were offered the last snack. Now by this time I’m thinking breakfast, but it is just coming on 1am Dubai time, so it hits the spot being kinda breakfasty.

This tart is really good! Jam packed with pumpkin and feta chunks, not too eggy and I could easily eat a couple of them.

There is also a yummy pear and raspberry bread. Now I’m not usually a fan of pear, but this was quite nice, moist and fresh.

There are other snack available in flight, Kit Kat’s for a sweet fix or Carmens Muesli bars for something a little healthier, set up at the rear of the aircraft in a self-serve style set up. Soft drinks and water is also available.

I arrive in Dubai feeling not too ratty, I’m definitely not hungry, QANTAS ticks the box on keeping you replenished, but it’s now onto the next leg of my journey – Dubai to London.

FreakyFlier paid for his ticket independently. 

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