FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Miracle. Mystery. Myanmar! (DTW-RGN/NYU, an RTW: DL F, PR J, 8M Y, 6T Y, TG F, UA F)
Old Dec 26, 2012, 11:23 pm
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SEA_lurker
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
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Part 1. The Journey. (continued: BKK-RGN-NYU-RGN-BKK...)

Myanmar: a mysterious country and its mysterious airline.

BKK-RGN (8M 336; Y)

Myanmar, Day 1. Checking out of the trusty Town Lodge BKK – where the 900-baht-a-night rooms were surprisingly functional,
a terrific value in this day and age of BKK hotel price inflation – in the predawn hour, I thought again of the life-in-flux that I had
temporarily left behind at DTW, seriously wondering: “Why am I doing this?” The soi dogs of Sukhumwit 18 were still sleeping on
the sidewalks, and the shops were still closed, as one of Bangkok’s garish red-and-fluorescent-blue taxicabs picked me up for
the short ride to “Swampy” (as the new BKK airport, Suvarnabhumi, is sometimes facetiously referred to).
Traffic on the eastbound tollway was sparse at this early hour.

8M’s Y check-in was staffed by TG contract agents. My request for an exit row seat was honored with a huge smile by the
young lady at the counter, at no additional cost (take that, UA E+ and DL EC… no charge for “premium” exit seats here on 8M).
After a check of the visa in my passport, my boarding pass was printed, and my bag was checked to RGN with a “fallback
sortation tag” (I have no idea what this means):



At the gate, this morning’s ride, an 8M A320:



Myanmar, Madagascar, Taiwan, and Japan – where else, other than BKK the planespotters’ paradise, could these nations’
flag carriers be casually parked at nearby gates?

It is hard to imagine, for the contemporary reader who might be braving full flights and hotels booked-out a year in advance
in Myanmar, but flights to RGN in Feb. 2012 were not completely sold out. The load was around 65-75% on 8M-336 this fine
February morning. Among the pax, there were: (remarkably few) Westerners; several Buddhist monks as well; and, apparently,
a couple of well-to-do Myanmar families returning home. The cabin was staffed by youngish female FAs, looking sharp in uniforms
that perhaps were inspired by, if not fully representative of, Myanmar traditional attire. They were presided over by a jolly young
expatriate fellow, “your purser, François from France.” Perhaps, 8M invested in hiring foreign cabin crew to train the local FAs?

Phenomenal legroom in Y, at an exit row seat that I obtained at no extra charge on a less-than-full flight – or, what UA and
DL could learn from 8M:



8M flies several A320s; this was a Y-only config. Mingalabar (“Welcome”), 8M’s magazine, with images of things distant
and exotic:



We pushed back… taxied to the active runway (approximately 20 minutes late)… I heard the engines of the A320 being spooled
up to not-quite-full power… and then we gently braked (there were no alarming sights or sounds) and very quickly taxied off
the runway and onto a parallel taxiway. There were no announcements at all. We sat on the taxiway for approximately
another 20 minutes, and I began to seriously suspect that our A320 had quietly gone mechanical and that my Myanmar
misadventure was over before it could even commence. In fact, when we lurched forward, I anticipated a return to
the gate. Quite the opposite: we quickly turned around, and almost before I knew it, we were on the active runway and
taking off, in no time at all. Myanmar, here I come!

The flight route was toward the W-SW out of BKK, and out of my port side window through the clear morning air, I could see
the majestic stupa of Nakhon Phanom. A sickly-looking sweet cake, a similarly-forlorn fruit cup, and hot drinks as well as
juices were offered. The densely populated green plains of Thailand then gave way to a dramatically different, drier and
more desolate, landscape beneath. As we began a slow descent into RGN, my initial glimpses of Myanmar on this trip
looked like this:



Touchdown: RGN!



We parked next to another 8M A320, XY-AGM:



For the rest of the day’s happenings, along with the other details of what I experienced in Myanmar, please see the Destination
section (after the air portion of this TR), below. One amusing tidbit: The sole official money changer at the airport exit was
“closed for break” at this mid-morning hour.

RGN-NYU (6T 405, Y)

Myanmar, Day 3.

I love the security check at Myanmar’s domestic airports.
There is no TSA. Nobody checks the liquids in their little “freedom baggies.” Heck, there is no nudeoscope. Foreign tourists
are casually waved through with hardly an inspection. After a strong, hearty cup of espresso from the domestic terminal’s
coffee stand, it was time to board 6T 405. (If NYU doesn’t stand for “New York University,” then you’re very far from home…)

Good morning, Six Tango!

Air Mandalay, affectionately referred to as “AirMan” by some in Myanmar, int’l airline two-letter code 6T, is one of several
quasiprivate, quasigovernment domestic airlines that have sprung up in Myanmar as the tourism restrictions have relaxed.
6T and its competitors operate small fleets of (mainly) ATR turboprops out of RGN to the key tourist destinations (Bagan,
Mandalay, Inle Lake) as well as to lesser-visited places further afield. Bagan is served by the airport at Nyaung Oo
( “Nyaung U”), the town that gave rise to the abbreviation. The approximately one-hour flight was as overpriced
($100 for a domestic turboprop hop? Back in the USA, WN could fly you almost cross-country for not much more) as it was
smooth and pleasant. A filling breakfast (a fish sandwich and a cold boiled egg) was offered, along with coffee / tea /
water; the full meal service on short-haul sectors is something that I never fail to admire in domestic Y on little-known
Asian carriers (now that domestic food service im both Y and F in the US has all but disappeared on short to mid hauls).

Touchdown: NYU!



A beautiful cloudless early morning at NYU, a fitting prelude to a fantastic day in Bagan, the spirit of discovering a new
destination, dramatically different from anything I’ve known… that’s what comes to mind whenever I reflect upon this
“just deplaned” view, looking back at XY-AIJ, the bird that brought me here:



Welcome to Bagan: arriving pax are greeted by traditional dancers, whose performance was charming, even though it was
at the same time a bit distracted and visibly desynchronized.



An entertaining detail: the restroom at NYU arrivals area (its entrance door is seen in the photo above), apparently had no
working lights (or a light switch hidden at some unusual location), leaving bemused travelers to do their necessary business
in the dark.

NYU-RGN (6T Y)

Myanmar, Day 4. XY-AEY was our ride this evening. Boarding was from the rear door, where a 6T agent stands by:



Climbing out of NYU, looking out at The Golden Land below:



Two details stand out about this evening return flight. First, in contrast to assigned seats ex-RGN, there was WN-style open
seating on a first-come first-served basis (but sans the A B C groups of WN, of course). Second, having not flown on ATRs
for many years prior to this trip, I was quite concerned about the overheating of the plastic panels (the inside wall) next to
my seat, 8A. The wall was too hot to touch, which made me uncomfortable and my puny individual air duct / fan above the
seat ineffectual, so I reluctantly called an FA, who opined, in very passable English, that it was not overheating, but rather,
“a normal situation from engine exhaust.” (I trust that ATR experts on FT will be in a better position to comment as to
whether my overheated panel was abnormal.)

RGN-BKK (8M 331; Y)

All good things (a sample of which is described under “Part. 2. The Destination” below…) come to an end, and all too soon
it was time to leave Myanmar, the enchanting and beguiling place that by the end of those five days began to feel just the
slightest bit like home (as odd as that sounds), and just the slightest bit less mysterious. Here, in the filtered late-afternoon
RGN sunshine, was my ride back to BKK, back to the Western/ized world of unbridled consumerism, Coca-Cola, and
brand-name goods that are largely absent in Myanmar (and Cuba and North Korea). I was sad to leave…



At the time of this trip, RGN was served mostly by narrowbody shorthauls to regional SEAsian destinations, as seen on this departure board:



More recently, Germany’s Condor, along with NH, KE, BR, and QR, have begun serving RGN.

This A320 had a two-class config, unlike the one that took me to RGN on Day 1, and after an hour-and-a-half long, uneventful and
smooth flight, we landed in a busy BKK.

Last edited by SEA_lurker; Dec 27, 2012 at 12:35 am Reason: formatting line breaks
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