Carfield
Nov 30, 00, 6:20 am
Trip Report: Taipei
Hi Everyone,
I have not written a trip report for quite a while. Due to my grandfather’s sudden leg injury and surgery, I was forced to cancel a couple day trips and to postpone my return to the US until January 2001. But despite of everything, my Taiwan trip did not get postponed. My friend, Pat, and I went to Taipei for five days and bought a resonable tour package from Japan Asia Airways. Upgrade to J class is HKD$700, which is okay, so I decide to take it, especially Japan Asia Airways is a pretty good airline. Here is the detail:
November 25, 2000
EG 206 HKG-TPE Lv1405 Arr1535
Boeing 767-300 JA8976
The day began with an efficient check-in by a somewhat polite, but bored agent. I requested a ticket holder (for Nightflyer) but was told to get it from the counter. I did not understand why getting a ticket jacket was so difficult at Hong Kong airport, except United. Anyway, the counters were relatively empty, even economy class. But soon a large group (about 100 students) walked into the check-in area, and the agents were completely occupied by these students. Fortunately, Japan Airlines opened a few more counters for specific flights, so other Taipei-bound passengers did not have to wait for a long time. We were offered lounge passes to Japan Airline’s Sakura lounge, which we did not take advantage of.
Boarding began at 1:53pm and we anticipated a completely full flight. We waited till the line got shortened. J class was completely filled, and Y class was about 80% full (mainly tourists). Miraculously, the plane was completely boarded in about eleven minutes. It took twelve mintues from taxiing to taking off. We took off at 2:20pm from runway 7R. The pilot did not make any announcement, but the F/As informed us of a flying time of an hour and fifteen minutes, with a cruising attitude of 33,000ft. After a duty free video was shown, the flying map was turned on until final approach. The flight was relatively full and the F/As immediately began the snack service. Economy class got a cold snack and super business class got a hot snack service. It was basically a one-tray affair -- appetizer, entrée (no choice), roll, and fruits. Due to the heavy load, the F/As used the trolley service. They served both the snack and beverage at the same time. Here is the menu transcipt.
Snack
Hors d’Oeuvre
Smoked Norweigian Salmon with Tabouleh Couscous Salad
Nice two slices of salmon
Entrée
Chicken Piccata with Tomato Concasse Sauce
Linguine Pasta
Dessert
Fresh Fruit (2 slices of watermelons, melons, and kiwi halves – very nice fruit…)
Roll and Butter (Pre-packaged white roll – cold, but soft)
Approach began near Penghu Islands and we landed at TPE early. At 3:29pm, we touched down at runway 6 and taxiied into Gate B1. The F/As are very friendly and the service was very great. We got lots of refills and I highly recommed Japan Asia Airways, despite of the fact that JAA got one daily flight only.
Then we took a bus into Taipei. The bus driver was new and we spent more time on the bus than ever. After we reached the bus station, we took a cab into the Cosmo hotel. Cosmo hotel is a three-star hotel, and is okay for the price. It gets all the basic amenities and the best thing about the hotel is the location. It locates near the Taipei bus station and subway station. However, Pat and I both caught small crockcroaches in the bathtub on two sepearate nights. Then all the electricity went out temporarily for two hours on our third night there. It was not too cool. No explanation whatsoever… The subway system is pretty nice and the trains are very spacious. However, if you are a non-Chinese speaker, you will find it difficult to travel around. Anyway, after a couple days of shopping, our trip came to an end.
November 29, 2000
EG 205 TPE-HKG Lv1305 Arr1450
Boeing 767-300 JA8976
The return began with a long bus ride back to CKS Airport. Japan Asia Airways used the checkin counters furthest away from the entrance. China Airlines handled all the ground handlings and the agent was very polite and friendly. The JAA lounge was closed till December 5, 2000, and they temporarily used the Northwest’s World Club, which was too small to handle tons of J class passengers (JAA had three flights heading to Japan within the hour). I personally think that it is even small to handle a load of J class passengers of Boeing 747. Maybe due to the early hours, the usage of the lounge was light. There were soft drinks, sandwiches, Japanese snacks, and a reasonable liquor bar. However, the lounge staffs were very friendly and helpful in finding us seats.
Boarding took place at 12:48pm at Gate B10. The boarding process was chaotic because we were late boarding for ten minutes. There was no priority boarding, as passengesr lined up randomly. I recommend JAA to have a separate J class lines with clear signs. Anyway, the boarding was delayed till to unknown reasons. The plane actually got in early from Nagoya. But the boarding process was done quickly and the load was light. About 65% full in Y class, and there were only four passengers in super business class. The service was done by a very nice JAA purser based in Taiwan. Door was closed at 1:05pm and there was not much traffic at TPE this afternoon. We took off from R/W 06 after an EVA Boeing 767-200 landed. A few notes about planespotting – JAA’s Boeing 747-200 (JA8129), CX’s A330 (B-HLK), 2 CI’s B737-800s, and CX’s 744 (B-HUJ) to NRT.
Flying time was an hour and twenty minutes. A few chops into our cruising attitude… but then everyone smooths out. A hot snack was served, but the service was done in a more relaxing way. I started off with a glass of Piper Heidrick champagne. The F/A had time to do a separate beverage service. Then she gave us the hot lunch, which was:
Hors D’Oeuvre
Seafood Flan (excellent)
Smoked Salmond Roll (fresh and tasty)
Hot Snack
Crisp Shrimp Rolls (two of them… not crispy at all, but tasty)
Spnach Tomato Cup/ Braised Broccoli
Dessert
Fresh Fruits (grapefruit slice, two large grapes, watermelon, and melon slice)
Roll and Butter (pre-packaged white roll)
Cruising attitude was 10,700meters. Duty free began after hot snack, and the flight went by quickly. We landed at 2:36pm at Runway 25. Gate was 61 and the flight was very nice.
I hope you enjoy this report!
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------------------
Carfield
Menu Scavengers
Inflight food critics
Hi Everyone,
I have not written a trip report for quite a while. Due to my grandfather’s sudden leg injury and surgery, I was forced to cancel a couple day trips and to postpone my return to the US until January 2001. But despite of everything, my Taiwan trip did not get postponed. My friend, Pat, and I went to Taipei for five days and bought a resonable tour package from Japan Asia Airways. Upgrade to J class is HKD$700, which is okay, so I decide to take it, especially Japan Asia Airways is a pretty good airline. Here is the detail:
November 25, 2000
EG 206 HKG-TPE Lv1405 Arr1535
Boeing 767-300 JA8976
The day began with an efficient check-in by a somewhat polite, but bored agent. I requested a ticket holder (for Nightflyer) but was told to get it from the counter. I did not understand why getting a ticket jacket was so difficult at Hong Kong airport, except United. Anyway, the counters were relatively empty, even economy class. But soon a large group (about 100 students) walked into the check-in area, and the agents were completely occupied by these students. Fortunately, Japan Airlines opened a few more counters for specific flights, so other Taipei-bound passengers did not have to wait for a long time. We were offered lounge passes to Japan Airline’s Sakura lounge, which we did not take advantage of.
Boarding began at 1:53pm and we anticipated a completely full flight. We waited till the line got shortened. J class was completely filled, and Y class was about 80% full (mainly tourists). Miraculously, the plane was completely boarded in about eleven minutes. It took twelve mintues from taxiing to taking off. We took off at 2:20pm from runway 7R. The pilot did not make any announcement, but the F/As informed us of a flying time of an hour and fifteen minutes, with a cruising attitude of 33,000ft. After a duty free video was shown, the flying map was turned on until final approach. The flight was relatively full and the F/As immediately began the snack service. Economy class got a cold snack and super business class got a hot snack service. It was basically a one-tray affair -- appetizer, entrée (no choice), roll, and fruits. Due to the heavy load, the F/As used the trolley service. They served both the snack and beverage at the same time. Here is the menu transcipt.
Snack
Hors d’Oeuvre
Smoked Norweigian Salmon with Tabouleh Couscous Salad
Nice two slices of salmon
Entrée
Chicken Piccata with Tomato Concasse Sauce
Linguine Pasta
Dessert
Fresh Fruit (2 slices of watermelons, melons, and kiwi halves – very nice fruit…)
Roll and Butter (Pre-packaged white roll – cold, but soft)
Approach began near Penghu Islands and we landed at TPE early. At 3:29pm, we touched down at runway 6 and taxiied into Gate B1. The F/As are very friendly and the service was very great. We got lots of refills and I highly recommed Japan Asia Airways, despite of the fact that JAA got one daily flight only.
Then we took a bus into Taipei. The bus driver was new and we spent more time on the bus than ever. After we reached the bus station, we took a cab into the Cosmo hotel. Cosmo hotel is a three-star hotel, and is okay for the price. It gets all the basic amenities and the best thing about the hotel is the location. It locates near the Taipei bus station and subway station. However, Pat and I both caught small crockcroaches in the bathtub on two sepearate nights. Then all the electricity went out temporarily for two hours on our third night there. It was not too cool. No explanation whatsoever… The subway system is pretty nice and the trains are very spacious. However, if you are a non-Chinese speaker, you will find it difficult to travel around. Anyway, after a couple days of shopping, our trip came to an end.
November 29, 2000
EG 205 TPE-HKG Lv1305 Arr1450
Boeing 767-300 JA8976
The return began with a long bus ride back to CKS Airport. Japan Asia Airways used the checkin counters furthest away from the entrance. China Airlines handled all the ground handlings and the agent was very polite and friendly. The JAA lounge was closed till December 5, 2000, and they temporarily used the Northwest’s World Club, which was too small to handle tons of J class passengers (JAA had three flights heading to Japan within the hour). I personally think that it is even small to handle a load of J class passengers of Boeing 747. Maybe due to the early hours, the usage of the lounge was light. There were soft drinks, sandwiches, Japanese snacks, and a reasonable liquor bar. However, the lounge staffs were very friendly and helpful in finding us seats.
Boarding took place at 12:48pm at Gate B10. The boarding process was chaotic because we were late boarding for ten minutes. There was no priority boarding, as passengesr lined up randomly. I recommend JAA to have a separate J class lines with clear signs. Anyway, the boarding was delayed till to unknown reasons. The plane actually got in early from Nagoya. But the boarding process was done quickly and the load was light. About 65% full in Y class, and there were only four passengers in super business class. The service was done by a very nice JAA purser based in Taiwan. Door was closed at 1:05pm and there was not much traffic at TPE this afternoon. We took off from R/W 06 after an EVA Boeing 767-200 landed. A few notes about planespotting – JAA’s Boeing 747-200 (JA8129), CX’s A330 (B-HLK), 2 CI’s B737-800s, and CX’s 744 (B-HUJ) to NRT.
Flying time was an hour and twenty minutes. A few chops into our cruising attitude… but then everyone smooths out. A hot snack was served, but the service was done in a more relaxing way. I started off with a glass of Piper Heidrick champagne. The F/A had time to do a separate beverage service. Then she gave us the hot lunch, which was:
Hors D’Oeuvre
Seafood Flan (excellent)
Smoked Salmond Roll (fresh and tasty)
Hot Snack
Crisp Shrimp Rolls (two of them… not crispy at all, but tasty)
Spnach Tomato Cup/ Braised Broccoli
Dessert
Fresh Fruits (grapefruit slice, two large grapes, watermelon, and melon slice)
Roll and Butter (pre-packaged white roll)
Cruising attitude was 10,700meters. Duty free began after hot snack, and the flight went by quickly. We landed at 2:36pm at Runway 25. Gate was 61 and the flight was very nice.
I hope you enjoy this report!
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
------------------
Carfield
Menu Scavengers
Inflight food critics