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Home / New Zealand

A380's quiet cabin with a view

NZ Herald
9 Oct, 2008 11:35 PM2 mins to read

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The Qantas A380 coming in to land over Manukau today. Photo / Pauline Smith
The Qantas A380 coming in to land over Manukau today. Photo / Pauline Smith

The Qantas A380 coming in to land over Manukau today. Photo / Pauline Smith

Send us your photos of today's flyover

Herald reporter Andrew Koubaridis was aboard this morning's A380 flight over Auckland.

KEY POINTS:

At first glance it didn't look that big ... but as soon as we got close to Qantas' A380 and saw it alongside all the other planes it was obvious what a monster we were about to fly on.

First class passengers I spoke to said they couldn't believe how much space they had. There are 14 private suites in the first class section, each of which have a dining room table and beds which allow passengers to lie down completely flat.

Back in business class - where I was sitting - the facilities were pretty impressive as well. The seats can fold back into beds and there's even a massage function for weary travellers.

Self-serve snack bars for the business and economy class passengers are another welcome addition for those who find themselves feeling peckish on a flight.

But perhaps the most impressive feature was the bird's eye view of the city afforded to passengers courtesy of a camera in the plane's tail.

The footage it captured could be viewed on the personal televisions installed in each seat and provided a unique view of this morning's takeoff - which was just as well because if we'd been relying on the usual firing-up of engine noises to let us know we'd left the ground, we'd have missed the moment all together.

That's right. All the rumours of the A380's legendary in-cabin quietness are true.

Even the passengers in economy class said they hardly heard a thing.

As we flew out over the Hauraki Gulf and then north to Whangarei, we were all party to some of the best views of the North Island outside of a postcard.

All of which made for a pretty spectacular flight - even for those who didn't manage to nab a window seat. And despite the first attempted landing having to be aborted because of wind sheer.

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