Brisbane
Never thought that Brisbane, of all cities in Australia, would be the next one to get so much service from United. t'was fun being on United's inaugural flight from Los Angeles to Brisbane, and the staff at LAX were clearly very excited about the new flight. Not one but two United employees were dressed up as koalas, Maggie Ronan (Director of Global Market Strategy. United Airlines) and someone I think was from Brisbane's Tourism Board lead the speeches, and of course the obligatory ribbon-cutting.
Swag was handed out at the gate for everyone-- the flight was very lightly loaded-- with koalas, meat pies, and a discount to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary for everyone. The Bronzed Aussie meat pies were a bit of a greasy mess by the time passengers got onboard, but the mood was festive and the hand-picked flight crew was also very excited. N25982, a 3 year old Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, had the honors of the inaugural flight, and it was a mostly smooth 13ish hour, 7,161 mile flight by initial calculation.