Trip Reports - HKG-KUL-LHR (RTW 1W First + Hotel)

I am starting this ticket from HKG with a 1W First Class ticket, but won't be completing all the segments on this ticket until Christmas.

HKG-KUL CX723 Seat: 1H (A340-300)

I checked-in at the Hong Kong Airport Express counter in Central 90 minutes before boarding and just made the cut-off for checking-in at those counters. If you arrive less than 90 minutes before the flight, you will have to take all your bags on the Airport Express train to the main terminal to check-in.

Check-in was quick and even though CX only operates a 2-class service (business & economy) on this route, they tagged my bag with a first class priority tag (probably because of my Emerald status). After taking the airport express train to the main terminal (25 minute journey) I headed for the Wing Lounge. I was able to use the first class lounge which was clean & quiet as usual. I still haven't had the time and reason to use their lovely baths. I took a look at them and it is just amazing to see such a nice facility in an airport lounge.

I headed for the gate (#4) which was located near the Wing lounge but was told that boarding was delayed because the incoming flight from South Africa was late. So I decided to checkout the new Elmis Day Spa they just opened at the Wing lounge. For those that are interested you can book your appointment ahead of time by calling +852-2747 7555 or e-mailing bsc@bsc-spa.com. According to the leaflet I picked up you need to give 4 hours of notice if you need to cancel or you will be charged for the time.

Once on board the flight, I had seat 1H. Even though CX operate this as a 2-class service, rows 1&2 are actually first class seats with 70" seat pitch. Unfortunately, seated behind me was a couple with two young kids who ran around the whole time and kept kicking the back of my seat. The window seat next to me was the only seat not occupied, so lucky me had two seats to myself. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif I moved over to the window to get a better view of the take-off and landing.

The flight attendants onboard where great. Service was excellent and the food was actually pretty good for business class. They had 1 flight attendant serving the first 2 rows so service was quick. I am not sure why they drew the curtains between the first 2 rows and the seats behind us because we all had business class tickets and were getting the same service.

This aircraft had the flight crew's sleeping quarters directly behind the flight deck. They had the flight deck door open while we were cruising. I suppose this is permitted on non-US airlines???

Upon arriving in KUL, I had to wait a long time for my bag to arrive. I thought that it was lost because it took as long to come out. When it appeared, my priority tag was missing which explains for why it took so long, but I have never had the tag missing before.

Getting a taxi to the city is really easy. I paid RM93 (around US$25) for the trip into the city which took just over 60 minutes. You can pay a little more and get an E-class Mercedes instead. The airport has dedicated airport taxis to take you into the city. You can purchase the ticket for the taxi just before you leave the secure area into the arrivals hall. I was saw a lot of people outside offering rides into the city but since I had already purchased the ticket for the airport taxi, it was too late even if they were cheaper.

Sheraton Imperial

(will cont. this report soon. I have to go to catch another flight)


[This message has been edited by bagold (edited 08-17-2000).]

I will be passing through Hong Kong on my way to South Africa in December and was wondering what services the spa offered?

CX really does sound great and I am happy that I will be spending a few days in first class getting to Jo'berg. Funny it costs less miles to go from New York via LAX, HKG to JNB in first (140,000) then it does to go via Europe in business on any of AAs partners at 150,000. What does that say about the loads on CX or how they value their first class?

Sheraton Imperial, Kuala Lumpur

I checked into the hotel at 3pm and the room they had assigned me was not ready. They said that I would need to wait for over an hour. They had pre-assigned me a suite so I asked them whether they had another suite that was clean and available. They checked and there was one (on the 31st floor) so I didn't have to wait. Would have been nice if they checked for a clean room without me having to ask since the pre-assigned one wasn't ready! They definitely honored my Starwood Platinum status because I had only book a regular room at RM250 (about US$65) and they gave me a suite. However, there was no platinum gift. Do they still do that?

I was also given access to the Executive Lounge on the top floor (38) of the hotel.

The suite was beautiful! If only the States had this type of quality for the regular prices we pay. I know that back in the States I pay anywhere between US$150-300 staying in a Westin, Marriott and Sheraton, but nothing matches this. This is part of their Luxury Collection hotels so I suppose it has to be pretty good.

For me, a good hotel needs to have a good bathroom. This one certainly did. The bathing area had a shining clean bathtub (unlike what we get in the States with stain marks!) and also 2 showers within the same area. The bathtub also had a rubber duck in case you had a kid who wanted to play with on during a bath. The bathroom was all covered in a tasteful marble with two sinks.

Next the dressing area. I love hotels with a separate dressing area where you can unpack your luggage and have somewhere to change that is not in the bedroom or bathroom but in a separate area. This place certainly had that.

The bedroom itself had a nice lounge sofa that was really comfortable. The bed was really nice, comparable to the heavenly beds.

The room also had a good working phone (the type you normally find in an office) with two lines and a separate fax machine. There was already a fax there with my name on it explaining to me how to use the fax machine.

I received a letter from the hotel Starwoord manager saying that I could use instant rewards! They told me how many Starwood points I had right now and that I could use either 2500 or 3750 points for services at the Spa. This is the first time I had seen something like this. For 2500 points I could get a 1 hour massage. The normal cost is RM140 (around US$35) so it wasn't worth it to me.

Another surprising thing I found was that when I had paid for my dinner in one of the hotel's restuarant the waiter brought me a piece of paper saying that I had a voice-mail in my room! I suppose when they typed in my room number for the dinner charge, it automatically checked to see whether I had any voice-mails! I think that is great service!

The next day, I had asked for a late 6:30pm check-out because my flight from KUL to LHR wasn't until 11:30pm. They had to check with the manager and after a bit of discussion, they allowed me the late check-out without charge! Have to love what Platinum status brings you! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Next... my flight from KUL-LHR on BA.

[This message has been edited by bagold (edited 08-18-2000).]

Hey GlobalFlight-

Just did a JFK-HKG-JNB on CX 2 months ago. Def. the best use of dis-AAdvantage miles. Was in First also and I can't wait to do it again. If not stopping over in HKG try to book a day room. I stayed at the Sheraton HK and they put me in a small suite for being Starwood Gold. Nice pool and great breakfast on the top floor. One of the best concierge level B'Fasts I've had. View was terrific! Went back to HK airport around 8:00pm and had a massage at the Elemis Day Spa. You must get one! Then went to the Wing F/C lounge for some Chinese noodles which were great. They actually cook them in front of you. Got on the CX flight to JNB and really did arrive as they say "refreshed". The food was pretty good and the FA's were terrific. Since you'll be in First, you might ask the FA if its possible to sit in the cockpit for landing! What a trip and something you can't do in the US. You might ask for the window seats in row 4 as you get a huge table to store all the goodies they give you and you also have a little compartment which provides more privacy while sleeping than do the other seats (if you're travelling alone).

Have a great trip.

KUL - LHR BA34 Seat: 3K (777)

I arrived 1 ½ hours before take-off at the check-in counter and all lines were very short. I checked-in and received my lounge invitation card and proceeded through immigration to the lounge. To reach the terminal where the lounge is and where half the gates are, you have to take a 2-minute rail journey. The train is self-operated and you get an interesting view if you sit at the very front of the train since there is no driver and you can sit right next to the front window.

The lounge is the new terrace type. There is no distinction between First or Club. They had cold and hot food at the bar and I would say the food is much better than most terrace lounges. Hot foot consisted of local dishes. Every time I visit this lounge they have different dishes on offer. They also had plenty of phones with free local calls which I made use of until we had to board.

Boarding was chaotic with everyone rushing to the front. Luckily I was at the front and was through the door before they made any announcement on boarding so I am not sure whether they boarded First and Club passengers first. The configuration of the cabin only had 13 seats. My favorite seats are 2K or 3K. The First cabin is between two galleys which are pretty noisy during meal times, so it is better not to sit in the first or last row. Seat 4K was replaced with the flight crews sleeping quarters. The flight attendants have their sleeping quarters below the deck accessed through a door in the middle of the World Traveler cabin.

The flight only had 8 of us, of which 3 were listed under BA Staff (one of the flight attendants told me it was the head of BA's SE Asia operations). So that means only 5 full revenue paying passengers. I think BA only use to operate 3 flights a week to London with 747-400s. They now replaced that schedule with 5 or 6 flights a week to London with 777. Shortly after the flight took off everyone had changed into the sleeper suit (including the resting flight crew) they provide.

The appetizer and desert was pretty good this time. I was pretty hungry so I had 2 appetizers and a main course. The first appetizer was prawn and lobster (a cold dish) and the second appetizer were chicken and beef satay (a local dish which I love!). I had the same first appetizer 10 days ago on a LHR-HKG flight. I suppose they recycle some of the dishes on the menu within the same region. The main course wasn't that good but maybe I just didn't enjoy the dish I ordered which was a local Malaysian chicken dish (I cannot remember the name) with rice and vegetables. Desert was Mango and Strawberry sobert which was really good!

This plane had the upgraded video system with the larger screen and touch screen buttons to adjust the volume, brightness, language selection and control for the video player. Another interesting display on the video system is that it pauses when an announcement is made. The interesting is that when there are announcements for other cabins (not in First), the message says that the system is paused while there is an announcement in another cabin. This happened quite often but I am not sure what those announcements are but thankful for them not disturbing us with needless announcements.

The video selection was equally good. For the month of July & August, they had most of the Oscar nominated movies that you could choose from. I had already watched the Green Mile on a previous flight (LHR-HKG) so I watched Cinder House Rules. I didn't manage to watch the whole movie before having to stop the tape and sleep. It was pretty late and I couldn't keep my eyes open even though it was a great movie. I used some of the enhancing sleep spray that they provide in the AH bags on the pillow and had a good 5 hour sleep before I woke up to continue watching the movie. I think those enhancing sleep sprays work pretty well and I like using them when I arrive at my destination to enable a better sleep. Maybe it is all physiological but I think it really works! J I also had a second helping of the desert. This is another thing I like which is to be able to order anything on the menu at any time. I really wanted some more chicken and beef satays but they had run out.

I finished the movie and got a second movie which I didn't manage to finish, but luckily it is on tape so I can watch it on my next flight (in 5 days) at the point I left off. Another good thing about the personal video was that I started watching the movie even before the flight took off and did the same when we were landing. I am not sure whether we are allowed to do that but the flight attendants saw me many times and didn't see anything. The video screen is on the side so doesn't prevent a person leaving in the event of an emergency so I suppose it is okay. I am not sure if the personal video interferes with any electrical equipment but I would guess they would disable the personal video during take-off and landings.

I think even with the introduction of the new Club World beds, first will continue to be a great product with very personalized service.

globalflight,

I have posted the information about the Elemis Day Spa under the OneWorld postings. Here is the link: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum83/HTML/000309.html

I hope this helps.

With regard to CX's first class, I believe that they do value their new product and this can be seen with the reduced number of 'A' class seats available. It used to be easier to get RTW First Class seats on CX, but with the introduction of the new beds it has become more popular and given the fewer number of seats I think they have reduced award and 'A' class inventories.

I hope you really enjoy your trip! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Thanks for the report bagold. Very good reading.

Wow bagold!
You really got my attention with the mention of that open menu. I can definitely see where I would use that. Working the hours I do, regular meal times are a joke and I tend to mostly munch at random intervals. I can definitely see the appeal of satay sticks @ 02:30.
JD

Thanks for the report! Gave me a good idea of what to expect at KUL apt. I'll be passing through KUL for the first time in about a month. I'll be flying out on BA KUL-LHR. Unfortunately in Business...

I'm booked at the Ritz-Carlton. Do you know how it compares with the Sheraton Imperial? What about the two hotels location for sightseeing?

nilsman,

I have stayed at the Ritz a few times in KUL. I decided to stay at the Sheraton because of the points and knowing that they will probably upgrade me to a suite and access to the lounge.

Location wise, Ritz is better because shops are within walking distance. Ritz also has a lounge which is good when compared to regular hotel lounges, but average when comparing against other Ritz lounges. However, Ritz normally don't give lounge access unless you pay for it (then it is not worth it).

If you compare regular rooms, Ritz has a better room. If you compare the Sheraton Suite vs. a Regular Ritz room, then Sheraton Suite is better. If you compare Sheraton Suite vs. Ritz Suite (I have stayed in their suite once in KUL), then Ritz has a much bigger suite but I felt the furniture was more comfortable at the Sheraton.

Both have a good chinese restuarant. Both have nice gyms and pools.

Overall, the decision was tough for me but starwood points won this time.

Thanks for the info http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. I'm confirmed in a Ritz-Carlton Club room so I guess I will have lounge access? I'm only going to stay one night so a good location is a top priority for me. I guess I'll stick with the RC...