After literally years of planning, we travelled to Australia to visit Sydney, to cruise to the Pacific Ocean territories of New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Fiji and to hop over to Melbourne. The year was 2020 and it was just before the pandemic.

Obviously we had to get there. 

2020 was my fourth time in Australia after February-March 2011, October 2011, and December 2015 with Julien, Tim and Oriol. 

In February and March 2011 I flew with British Airways and Qantas via London and Hong Kong to Melbourne Tullamarine. In October 2011 I flew BA and JetStar via Singapore. In 2015 we flew in from New Zealand with China Airways and left with Korean Air to Seoul Incheon and then further on with KLM to Amsterdam Schiphol. All in economy.

Ten and five years later our incomes are bigger and Danny‘s ‘good deal searching’ skills are better. So in 2020 we flew business. 

Also the premise was different. Not the cheapest and quickest route interested us, but also how many airlines, lounges, plane types, hard and soft products and (for us) new airports we would experience. 

Itinerary

This was our itinerary. Danny reviewed these flights thoroughly.

• Swiss Business Class from Paris to Zurich
• Swiss Business Class Zurich to Bangkok
• Thai Business Class Bangkok to Sydney 
• Qantas Economy Class Sydney to Melbourne 
• Singapore Airlines Business Class Sydney to Singapore 
• Swiss Business Class Singapore to Zurich
• Swiss Business Class Zurich to Paris

So?

My expectations were very high. Not only because we took some two years to plan this trip, but also because Danny had let me taste flying business by going to Singapore. Flying business class is not always worth its money, but if you do your research right, it certainly is. 

The Paris – Zurich flight isn’t that extraordinary, but Zurich- Bangkok with Swiss certainly was. The seat was very comfortable, the food was yummy, the crew was ever so kind and the entertainment is pretty decent. I liked the colours, livery and design of the plane and I liked the service. 

Maybe therefor I was a little underwhelmed by the Thai flight to Sydney. The purple of the colour scheme is very purple. The cabin was older and it showed. It’s a philosophy of another time. Still, the crew was helpful and kind and the food was good. 

But we got to fly a Boeing 747 on the top level and that was important to us. 

I had the same slight disappointment with the Singapore Airlines flight on the way home. It was good. It’s a good product and the crew is friendly and helpful. But its reputation made me expect a bit more. But it was an Airbus A380 so we were happy.

I enjoyed Swiss and Cathay Pacific in 2018 much more. 

#FirstWorldProblems, for sure!