Trip Reports - RTW in 22 Days

Since joining FT, I’ve learnt a lot; I’ve also tried to give back a little. I’ve also picked up the addiction of miles and mileage runs. Summer is over down under, and spring has sprung (or so I’m hoping) in the Northern Hemisphere. Time to go away for a little while.

I’ve planned this trip for a long time – way back in July/August, in fact. Thanks to the tools and experts I’ve found here, I devised this route on a DONE4 to be completed in 3 weeks.

WLG-SYD-JFK-MIA-DCA-DFW-YVR-FDW-SFO-LHR-HEL-LHR-DXB-LHR-BKK-HKG-NRT-HKG-SIN-MEL-WLG

I’ve never flown like this before, so it’ll be interesting.

When I gave this itinerary for my TA to book, she was slightly surprised that I’m not stopping at some of the places. Then again, I’ve been dealing with her for several years now, and she knows I’ve these weird requests every now and then.

My original plan (back in July/August) was to book it, but only pay in the last minute – at least I could be earning interests on that money. However, (again thanks to FT), I found out BA were to impose a fuel surcharge. I took the gamble that once BA did that, other airlines would follow. So I rushed my TA to issue the ticket before the start of the surcharge. At first, it might have saved me around NZD$70, but after several rounds of surcharges from different airlines (plus a raise in DONE4 tickets), I’ve lost track of how much money that would have been. I estimate the cost will be around NZD$3000 more if I am to pay for it now. It almost sounds like an investment…! (On the other hand, I don’t know whether I can afford to do another one of these next year with all these extra charges…)

Between ticketing and now, I’ve been slowly arranging my accommodation. Again, thanks to FT, I’ll be moving hotels after one night even if I’ll be in a city for several nights… I’ll also write a few things about these hotels when we get to them… Also during this time, I’ve put myself on the waitlist on QF up to first class for SYD-JFK.

Fast forward to this week, it’s been an exciting week. Not only was work busy, the airport has been closed for some 5 days out of the last 7 due to fog. While it’s foggy season in Wellington now, I’ve never seen this much fog for such a prolonged period of the 15 years I’ve lived here. Although it cleared considerably in the last 48 hours, it was still foggy this morning. With nothing to see outside the window, I checked obsessively whether my upgrade has cleared. It still hasn’t cleared this morning, so I was on the verge of giving up. Then it cleared! Woohoo!

Now, I just have to pack, and wake up at 4am tomorrow to catch the 6am flight…

25 Mar
QF118
WLG – SYD
1C

I didn’t get much sleep the night before. The flight departs at 6am, so I’d to be at the airport by 4:30 at the latest. Spent a bit of time packing, and making sure I got everything I need. By the time I was done, it was about midnight. I decided to just spend some quality at the PlayStation and wait it out. By 2:30, I was bored, so managed to dose off for an hour or so.

As I mentioned earlier, the weather in Wellington hasn’t been the greatest lately. Heavy showers throughout the night, but at least it wasn’t foggy. I got to the airport at just after 4am. The queue for economy check-in was long; it nearly snaked outside the terminal. Perhaps it was due to the start of the Easter weekend or perhaps there were 2 flights leaving, to SYD and to MEL. The business class counters (there were 2) were all busy, but it was my turn in less than a minute.

Handed over my ticket and passport, apart from the standard questions, the agent also asked whether I’d a return ticket. I was never asked that before, and at that hour of the morning, I didn’t what to say. Anyway, she went through the tickets (commenting how many coupons I have), and saw the final one will be back to WLG. She checked me in and offered to arrange the departure tax for me at the counter. Normally, you’ve to queue at the Foreign Exchange counters to buy that sticker. Happily handed over my credit card and everything was done in less than 5 minutes.

I discovered this morning that both of my watches ran out of batteries. So I spent a little time going through duty-free for a cheap watch. While I found something simple and practical, I still think I paid too much for it. Anyway, I didn’t think I’d a choice.

I then headed towards the Qantas lounge. It has quite a nice décor and was attended by a cheerful staff – way too cheerful for this early in the morning. It was just simple DIY breakfast affair – nothing too fancy. Perhaps it was still dark outside or they didn’t have all the lights on, it was rather dark… Anyway, had a simple breakfast and it was almost time to board.

Business class was quite full (7 out of 8), and I had the spare seat next to me – not that it mattered much. These 737-300 workhorses have the old business class seats. Settled in and the FA offered to hang up my jacket. Pre-departure drinks were offered, then it’s time to close the door. Despite the check-in queue, the flight wasn’t 100% full, perhaps 90%... I was slightly surprised by that.

We were then offered a movie menu for our personal DVD player. Nothing appealed, so I settled in with the main overhead screen showing The Incredible. Not long after the movie started, it was time for breakfast. While there were no printed menus, there were 3 choices, cereal, pancakes and something I forgot. I’d the pancakes, they were a bit weird – fluffy yet dry. I don’t how they managed that.

After breakfast, I wanted to stay up for the movie, but I’d my noise cancelling headphones on, and managed to spend most of the time watching the inside of my eyelids. The headphones were as effective as I thought they would be, but with the sleep I managed to get, they were obviously good enough. (I normally can’t sleep on planes.)

When I woke up, the movie was about to finish and the sun was up. With about an hour to go, the FA still managed to squeeze in a couple of water rounds. Good stuff, the pancakes were a bit dry. All up, there were lots of drinks on the flight, I was probably offered 6 or 7 drinks for this 3.5 hour flight.

Due to favourable weather, we landed at SYD about 15 minutes early. On the other hand, we’d a long taxi and almost caused a crash when we had to brake hard before we crossed a runway.

Anyway, went through the Transfer Centre and got pulled over for an ‘additional check for explosives’, which apparently is a trial. They wipe pieces of paper on you and the inside of your bag and put them through a machine. Favourable beeps from the machine allowed me through. (Is this the Aus version of SSSS?)

I then went to the First Class Qantas lounge. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but I expected more from this lounge, given this is the flagship lounge for QF at their home airport. Only basic food (as per WLG) was on offer. When I first got in, the lounge was pretty full. Then a rush of departures to NZ emptied it out. As I sit here typing this, it’s slowly being filled again.

By the way, the PCs here are so slow, it’s not funny.

Anyway, I shall get going. I need a scroll around the airport and a shower before I ready myself for my first QF first class flight, can’t wait!

Leumas, I thought I should check out what hapening on the Trip Reports board s I haven't been here in a couple of weeks and I'm having a slow Easter (worked today a I'll be in SYD and CBR next week). I was rapt to see a RTW TR and one from somebody I feel I know (from the QF Board).

Excellent - a TR as-you-go, to boot!! And what a DONE4 routing :cool: ...I'm jealous :o . I can understand why you didn't have any sleep last night - sleeping can be done on the SYD/JFK leg in comfort. Really looking forward to your updates. Congratulations on getting the F seat on QF107.

To answer that question about the ion scanner, they've been in at all Aust Dom & Intl terminals for a while..maybe a year or more?? More post 9/11 madness. But then again, I've seen pax in BNE set them off...miners going back to central Qld who've had traces of explosives on/in their bags, etc.

You obviously haven't seen the Border Security program over in NZ. Was a ratings winner for Channel 7 (first season just finished) - the ion scanners have had a starring role catching contraband material and people.

Ah Leumas, even on the other side of the world I had heard about the WLG fog. Glad to hear you got out okay. Look forward to hearing about the rest of the trip.

PS Tip from someone who tries to travel every easter - fly out a week or several days before Easter. For some reason airports in NZ and Australia seem to be overwhelmed but in europe and americas its like just another day for business.

QF WP - now I am offended you havent read the start of my trip report. I think this calls for a shout or three at the QP at Oz fest (unless we meet up again sooner).

Great report so far....interesting to see no menus in J WLG SYD. Good thing you did not leave earlier in the week with all that fog in WLG.

Eagerly awaiting the next installment.

Thanks for the comments, guys. :)

To be fair, the food at the SYD QP did get better after I posted. They changed to the lunch menu with salmon and seafood based finger food. However, there was not a single bottle of HP in sight...!

The view from the QP overlooking the runway and the tarmac kept me well occupied though.

I was still expecting the SYD lounge to be like the BA first lounge at LHR or the CX lounges at HKG.

Anyway, no, QF WP, I haven't seen that Border Control programme.

25 Mar
QF107
SYD - JFK
2A

I left the lounge slightly before the advertised boarding time. QF107 departed from Gate 8, when I got there, the whole area was blocked off. It seems Gates 8 and 9 are for US-bound flights. An announcement came through that the flight would be delayed due to the usual ‘inbound flight was late’ excuse. I wonder where the plane came in from.

People essentially camped outside the blocked off area with no seats anywhere nearby. There were some seats near Gate 10, but that’s full with a flight. In total, we camped outside around 40 minutes. It was rather annoying when they could have done the secondary screen and allow the passengers near the gate where there were plenty of seats available.

Finally made it on board, and one of the few times I got to turn left. First impression, it was crowded, and the seats were narrow. The FA offered to hang up my jacket, pre-flight drinks and almonds and olives. The CSD also came around did her introduction. I was then offered a sleeper suit and the amenity kit.

I changed into my sleeper suit quickly, and when I returned to my seat, the cabin was full. Row 4 was occupied by a family, who turned out to be going to NY. I think I might have seen the gentleman of the family on TV before, but I have no idea what his name is. Row 3 was occupied by 2 couples, who know each other. 2D/E were occupied by an elderly American couple. The lady had never flown in first class before, and she was 60 going on 16. Rather scary, if you ask me. I don’t mind people enjoying themselves, but laughing loudly and kissing each other every minute during the first 30 minutes was just annoying. I was in 2A, and the other seats were also occupied by single passengers.

Canapés were offered, before a late lunch. Lunch was interrupted several times due to turbulence. I was getting rather tired; I actually fell asleep between entrée and the main (during one of the turbulence breaks). The FA had to wake me up for the main. I’d the seared kingfish. It was OK, a bit tough, but it was kingfish. The highlight was the ice-cream dessert though. It was a huge slice (served in the form of a cheesecake) and I asked for additional fruit. The ice-cream was simply magic.

After lunch, I quickly settled into for sleep. Drifted in and out of sleep while I watched Ray. The movie was average I felt, but Jamie Foxx was very good. I always felt he’s a very good actor when he was in some bad sitcom shows years ago. Anyway, the FA offered to lay out the bed. The duvet was rather dirty looking, she explained it was just fluff from the blankets, but still…

I didn’t sleep much during Ray, so I chose a tape to watch – The Manchurian Candidate. The movie had a slow start, and I slept right through it after the first 20 minutes or so. When I woke up, the screen was off. Thankfully it was a tape, so I re-winded it and watched it again.

It’s breakfast time. I’d everything, cereal with yoghurt, bread, and the full cooked breakfast, washed down with some mango juice. I didn’t get a chance to try the famous steak sandwich though – maybe next time.

Due to the late departure, the changeover time were cut down to about 90 minutes.

Great report, look forward to the rest. :)

Would you care to elaborate a bit on the seats? Were these the skybeds?

Would you care to elaborate a bit on the seats? Were these the skybeds?

Skybeds are business class seats, but this plane does have it. :)

Left the plane through door 2L. Thankfully, there were no other arrivals, so I got through the immigration process, including the finger printing and mug shot in about 5 minutes. After I collected my luggage, and dropped it off at the transfer point, I went back upstairs (not before being asked for donations, only at LAX).

Security line was huge. There were 6 lanes going, but it still took some 15 minutes to go through. They weren’t asking people to remove their shoes, but people were taking them off anyway. I didn’t take mine off, and I went through the mayhem without grief.

Gate 41 was the first gate after security. The board said I’d 30 minutes, so I’d a quick dash to the Admiral Club. I confused the reception lady by presenting a business class BP (WLG don’t have first class flights, so no first class BPs) with a first class seat number. After asking me and herself (several times), she gave me a key card to go to the Flagship Lounge. I asked the FL reception lady how much time I had, she said there should be enough for a shower since the flight is likely to be delayed as we (from SYD) were late, and they were also waiting for the connecting flight from MEL.

Had a quick shower, a quick tour of the lounge showed that it was filled with many people from the earlier leg. We started to board about 10 minutes after the advertised time. This leg also had a full first class, but half the people were new.

While they served lunch almost straight after we levelled off, most people from SYD (myself) went straight to sleep and skipped lunch. I’d a late lunch - banger and mash. The bangers were rather disgusting, but the mash was very tasty. No magic dessert this time, but I was determined not to sleep again in case I couldn’t sleep anymore that night (i.e., now). One movie later, I surrendered and slept for another 45 minutes or so.

Despite the delay, we landed at JFK pretty much on time. We flew over Las Vegas, Denver, Chicago, then New York. We had a good view over Manhattan , the Statue of Liberty, then towards JFK.

My only other first class experiences were with CX (once on an Airbus, the other on a 747). A bit unfair to QF, but nothing wrong with comparing yourself to the best.

Summary
Services were good on both airlines, although I suspect CX is the more consistent of the two.

Catering, perhaps a slight edge to CX. QF have Dom ’96, but CX had caviar.

Cabin layout, a definite edge to CX. I think both the QF 747 and the CX 747 have 14 seats, but CX is so much roomier. QF only have 4 rows (vs CX 5 rows), so QF have 3 rows of 4. Row 2A/K are very close to the central block (D/E). Row 1 essentially have no overhead bin. Row 2A/K have some, but have to step into 2D/E space to reach it. You’ll be better off putting your luggage under your visitor seat. If you’re a single passenger, I’d suggest 1A/K or 3A/K. Row 1 is difficult to get though.

Seat – advantage CX again. QF seats are beginning to show their age. They’re narrow, but they have the visitor seat that CX don’t. The QF seat is more comfortable in an up-right position, but you don’t spend much time in that position anyway. In a bed position, the CX bed is more comfortable. Both airlines have noise-cancelling headphones.

Lounge, a definite edge to CX (already described).

Skybeds are business class seats, but this plane does have it. :)
I know. You mentioned they were small? In what way? Were they comfortable?

Again, we left through door 2L. I think it was supposed to be 1L, so we can get off first, but they put the bridge into 2L, oh well. We waited some 20 minutes for luggage. After that, the process was straight forward. Caught the Air Train to Federal Circle. The Air Train facility is very good, tidy and efficient. The last time I was at JFK, the Air Train was under one of its many delays.

Rang the hotel (Courtyard by Marriott) for the shuttle at the train station. After a short ride, check-in took all of 2 minutes, and I got my room. I also got a letter welcoming me, it’s a 10% discount on breakfast (which I won’t have time to have) or 500 Marriott points if I spend $25 at the restaurant (which I won’t use, since I spent the last 30 hours sitting around and eating, I’m not hungry).

This Marriott property is a standard commuter hotel. It’s quite a crowded/small property, only one restaurant/bar, but it does have a gym. No room services on Friday and Saturday, but it does have free wireless Internet. Like many areas around JFK, you won’t want to walk around the neighbourhood alone, especially at night. So I’ll sign off here as I’ve a 5am start tomorrow.

I know. You mentioned they were small? In what way? Were they comfortable?

Hope I've answered your questions? :) Just ask if you've more.

Hope I've answered your questions? :) Just ask if you've more.

Yes, muchos thank yous!

26 Mar
JFK - MIA
AA1373
3B

After answering Fliar’s questions the previous night, I fit in a few hours of quality shut-eye. Despite its surroundings, the room isn’t too bad, but everything else is so crowded, it’s not funny.

Check-out took approximately 20 seconds, then waited for the shuttle. The next one was a few minutes away. By the time it was ready to go, it was full. When it’s not even 6am, it’s not time to be cheerful and talkative. There was one family going somewhere on holiday, and just wouldn’t shut up. Thankfully, the trip to the terminal wasn’t long, even if I’d a feeling that they’re on the same flight as me.

Check-in was smooth, only one slight comment about going all the way to MIA just to go to DCA. I then had to take my luggage to screening. The TSA, as always, were busy chatting despite seeing me (and others) queuing up. Finally they decided to do some work and took my luggage away.

Without looking, I went straight through security. While they had a premium line, it was empty and led to the same security area anyway. This time, I’d to take my shoes off. After I located the gate, I was trying to look for a lounge. I think the lounge is landside in this terminal (T8), d’oh! I was hoping to get something to eat and quiet place to site down. Now, I’ve about an hour to people watch and nowhere to seat.

My gate (4X) is a ‘sub-gate’, with gate 4 being used for a flight to somewhere in South America. Boy, is there a lot of bling around or what… I’d hate to get stuck after them at security.

Finally, my flight was called and I was the second person to board. ‘Welcomed’ by one of the FAs (please note the quotes). I don’t know who she was, I think she might have been the one in charge as I never saw her outside the gallery. The FA that served first class was friendly and sufficient enough though.

This flight was a 767, which had some very nice leather seats with plenty of recline and legroom. Load was only about 50% in first class (including one AA pilot in uniform), but looked quite full in coach.

I’m always amazed at how much luggage people can carry on board. If the same luggage is carried for flights in just about anywhere (Europe, Asia and Aus/NZ), it will be checked so fast…

Catering involved pre-departure drinks and a breakfast (cereal or an omelette). I’d the latter, which turned out to be OK. It came with a tasty salsa. No individual IFE here, the main screen showed a programme ‘produced by CBS especially for AA’. It’s essentially a big pile of CBS commercials and programme highlights.

30 minutes out, it got rather bumpy, and we were strapped in until landing. (BTW, that cheerful family on the shuttle was on this flight.)

26 Mar
MIA – DCA
AA1502
3E

This next flight departs from a different concourse, so an easy walk was required. MIA to be a zoo this morning, don’t know whether it’s always like this or whether it’s spring time/break. If it’s due to spring holiday, then why are they leaving MIA on a Saturday morning?

I went to the Admiral Club for some peace and quiet. Err, no, it was even more of a zoo than outside. Spare seats were difficult to find. After using my drinks coupon, I headed to the gate. Boarding was well under way (down to Group 3).

I boarded and found my seat to be taken. I asked the young lady whether she’d the right seat, she then asked her mother across the aisle which seat was she supposed to be. Mother told her, she’s supposed to be at the window, so I took my aisle. This flight was 100% full throughout.

This 737 offered a far inferior seat compared to the 767 (not surprisingly). It’s even worse than the QF 737 J seat. It’s narrow and old. The flight was delayed with an excuse that I’ve never had before. ‘We didn’t have a pilot.’ We waited about 30 minutes and he quietly slipped in. He apologised and explained that DFW (where he came in from) was affected by bad weather. I later found out that there was a major storm system across the southern states. Here at DC, we’re seeing the fringe of this system.

However, we still couldn’t get away. The pilot told us that no planes were allowed to depart MIA, so everyone was stuck. We sat like that for about an hour. After a drink and some warmed nuts, I stared at the inside of my eyelid for the rest of the time.

Lunch was a choice between chicken fingers or a vegetable pizza. I’d the chicken fingers, while they tasted like a product from the golden arches, they were still a lot better than the pizza.

Given we were flying roughly the same route from earlier this morning, 30 minutes into the flight, we hit some nice big turbulences. So we were pretty much pinned to our seats for the rest of the flight. During the few minutes that we were allowed to move about, there was a constant stream of people waiting to go to the restroom.

We finally landed about 90 minutes behind schedule. First thing, I did was to go to the bathroom, and I could tell you I wasn’t the only one. We had to wait some 10 minutes before the luggage started to appear. All up, it took some 20 minutes before I could leave the airport.

I quite like the DC metro system, although it did seem a bit illogical for arriving passengers to go back to where they came from (upstairs) before they get to the station. Perhaps they could think of a more logical flow the next time.

20 minutes later, I’ve arrived at my hotel.

I am really enjoying this Trip Report and love the daily updates............I have bought a RTW * for this November - not anywhere as extensive as yours. I am wondering if I should pay for it soon and avoid all those extra charges that might suddenly appear?

Cheers

4 Points by Sheraton Washington DC

Check-in was a simple process. All I had to do was to present my Amex that I used for the booking. Staff recognised my Starwood Gold status by allocating me a Preferred Guest room on the top floor, plus a coupon for breakfast. Essentially, I got all the benefits as outlined by the Gold status.

I also have an upgrade coupon from Air NZ, which I tried to use. The staff asked me whether I want to use that or whether I want to utilise my *wood. He said *wood is better since I’d get the same room as I’m getting now (a Preferred Guest room), but without the *wood points. So I stuck with my *wood and save the coupon for another time.

This ‘Preferred Guest’ room isn’t anything spectacular. It wasn’t any bigger than a standard hotel room, my window overlooked a construction site across the road, but it’s quiet. As I arrived late afternoon/early evening, I spent some time freshening up before I head out for a walk around the neighbourhood. For some reasons, I decided to take out the bed cover before I head out. A surprise was waiting me on the bed – a family of dead fleas. On my way out, I told the front desk what I found and asked them to have the sheets changed. I still suspect there was something on the bed because I got bitten a couple of nights later. I suspect it’s the wool blanket, since they’d probably change the sheet, but never the blanklet.

This room also have free high-speed Internet. It seems to work fine if you don’t use it more than 10 minutes at a time; as the performance will drop so much that it’s virtually unusable after a while.

Since it’s a downtown location on a weekend evening, the neighbourhood is dead quiet. Apart from homeless people, there was hardly anyone around. So I retreated back to the hotel after grabbing a quick bite.

Room service was quick and prompt. I order breakfast on Sunday morning. While they took me it’d take around 20 minutes when I ordered, it only took about 15. Laundry was also good, except it was a bit late one day and I’d to call for it. The Club Lounge is not unlike many airline lounges, except I could only get there during breakfast hours. I couldn’t get in during the day.

As the locals will tell you, this is very much a business hotel despite the holiday seasons. While I saw quite a few families during the weekend, the clientele was very much business oriented. It’s easily accessible by subways and close to the local sites. I think it’s a good enough *wood property at a cheap price. If you’ve a bigger budget and not especially brand loyal, there are other bigger and better hotels around that area.

Check-out was simple, but I made it complicated. I could have easily asked them to charge it to my card, but since I’d a good chuck of American dollars left, I asked whether I could pay some of it by cash. After having the front desk to count the money, I ended up having to pay 33c by card. After much tapping on the keyboard by the Front Desk, they managed to round it off, so I was sent my merry way.

Unless I’ve missed something, DCA has to be one of the more illogical airport I’ve been to. In an earlier part, I’ve commented that it doesn’t seem to flow for an arriving passenger. It also doesn’t seem to flow for a departing passenger either. The walkway from the subway delivers to the middle level, which only leads into security. You’ve to go up one level to check-in (and back-track to this middle level after collecting your bags when you arrive). Someone, please, tell me what I’ve missed.

After finally locating the AA check-in desks, I presented my ticket and passport to the agent. The process was simple enough, but it involved a lot of typing by the agent. I think she eventually got bored herself and started asking me about when is a good time to visit NZ. She told me my bag would go directly to YVR, and I didn’t even have to collect it at my stop-over at DFW. Excellent, that’s what things should be.

On the other hand, I got a SSSS on my boarding pass leaving DCA. There were no premium lines and after the metal detector, I got put into a separate area with other passengers that also got SSSS’ed. The TSA was nice enough, asked me whether I’ve done this before (which I have), so we just aimed to get through it as quickly as we could. The whole process took about 10 minutes, but the majority of it was waiting for an agent to be free.

I then went upstairs to the Admiral Club. It’s a small joint, but with a bar area. It does have a good view onto the tarmac with mostly AA and Delta flights and a runway. It also has a business area, with 2 PCs, one doesn’t work and the other can’t get on the Internet. I didn’t stay there for very long. My gate (30) was at the very end of the terminal and it was filling up nicely. I arrived approximately 15 minutes before boarding started and pretty much for the whole time, the gate agent kept calling passengers to come up. There seemed to be quite a few seat reassignment and stand-bys.

The flight was pretty much 100% full. Pre-departure drinks were offered. After departure, we were offered more drinks and warm nuts. The FA that looked after first class was probably one of the better ones I’ve ever encountered on AA, she even smiled – regularly.

Lunch was offered. Again, it was chicken fingers or vegetables pizza. With FEBO in action (and I picked 6E in mind of that), I picked the chicken fingers. The gentleman next to me asked the FA which one is nicer, and she answered the chicken always seemed to be the popular choice. I recommended the chicken fingers to my neighbour too.

On this 737, IFE was the same pile of CBS commercial as I sat through come from MIA. With this longer flight though, we get bonus episodes of Everyone Loves Raymond.

Nice report leumas ^^ - looking forward to the next instalment

When I checked in at DCA, the gate to this flight wasn’t available. So I went to the departure screens to locate my gate. It’s at Terminal A, I’m at Terminal C. I caught the AA Train to Terminal A. I even managed to get off at the appropriate stop (there’re 2 for Terminal A for different gates). Having said that, to go to the Admiral Club, it’s better to get off at the other Terminal A stop.

With DFW being a hub for AA, this lounge is pretty good. I didn’t have much time here, and I didn’t feel like spending my drinks coupon. The lady sitting next to me was quite cute and I thought ‘buying’ her a drink. However, she was getting rather annoying with her non-stop phone calls, and with the design of the lounge, she was getting a bit loud with the echoing too.

Eventually, it was time to go. I took the lift back downstairs to the concourse level and decided to give my coupon to the first person I saw. With some strange co-incidence, the first person I saw was wearing an All Blacks jersey, more the reason for him to get my drink coupon.

Off I went to the gate. As I approached, I saw the gate agent putting down the microphone and all the people leaving. Hmmm, I wondered it was a gate change. I checked the departure screens, and there it was – a new gate.

This terminal is an absolute zoo. Not only were there not enough seats, there were plenty of people walking around in addition to the constant back-and-forth of the cars for the disabled. With less than 10 minutes to go from boarding time, I saw passengers arriving – there went the chance to leaving on time.

Boarding time came and went and the crowd got bigger. No announcements yet. Departure time came and the gate agent finally made the announcement that we’d be late. D’uh… The plane was undergoing final checks.

Finally, we boarded about 30 minutes late. First class was about 50% full. My neighbour and I were the only ones without an empty seat next to him (yes, all first-class passengers were male). Coach only had a handful of spare seats. However, we were stuck on the tarmac again because the catering went missing.

The crew took some 20 minutes to find out that the catering truck had an accident on the way to us. Someone’s infinite wisdom decided to turn the truck back to the depot rather than sending it to us. So we’d to wait for another truck to come around. After about 30 minutes, it truck finally arrived. Loading took another 10 minutes and we were finally off. I felt sorry for the coach passengers, they’d to wait for about an hour for ‘catering’ (junk food boxes) that they’d to buy.

Arrived into a rainy YVR night. Hopped into a taxi for the hotel and got one of those chatty taxi drivers. He asked where I came from. In these situations, I often don't tell 'the truth' - I told him I flew in from DC. (I didn't exactly lie, I did fly in from DC, but that's not where I come from.)

Anyway, he started *****ing about Vancouver people don't like minorities (he's Indian) and he's taking his family to Toronto. Having never been to Vancouver before, I couldn't exactly argue, but all Canadians I've met are pretty nice. However, I did say one has to make the best (s)he can. He said the Indian community is very close and look after one another, so I asked him wouldn't that make the 'racial situation' even worse? That kind of shut him up, but he was fixed on moving, so there is little point in discussing it with him.

Arrived at the hotel and was directed to check-in upstairs. Got allocated a suite on a SPG floor. This being an all-suite hotel, getting a suite (and a small one at that) doesn't mean very much. The shower and bed were very nice though - much better than the 4 Points.

Checked out of the hotel at lunch time the next day, and set off to meet some friends for the day.

With an early start the next day, I moved to this hotel. Not much to report here really, since I only really stayed here for about 6 hours.

Arrived with Elvis music blasting from the lobby - hmmm... Greeted by very polite staff - here's one big positive about this hotel, everyone I encountered was very polite and professional.

This hotel is in Richmond and opposite a large number of mainly Asian restaurants. The hotel also seems to be run by some of the local Chinese.

Got allocated to a corner room on the top floor. By more good luck than good management, I charged up all my gadgets and packed for an early start tomorrow.

Check-out was simple and got the free shuttle to the airport. Since it was dark when I checked in and dark when I was leaving, I didn't know how far the hotel was from the airport. The ride was some 5-10 minutes with no traffic though. Where do you get traffic when it's not even 5am?

Vancouver is still wet, but at least the airport is interesting. With lots of interesting artwork and crafts around the terminal. When I arrived a couple of days ago, the terminal was dead quiet (and it wasn't even that late). Now, early in the morning, it's rather busy with quite a few flights leaving to various parts of the US - LAX, PDX, PHX, HNL, etc...

With 4 flights in a row (YVR-DFW-SFO-LHR-HEL), I was a bit anxious whether the luggage will make it all the way through. I double checked with the agent whether I needed to pick up the luggage anywhere in the US, for instance, or whether I needed to re-check-in. The agent re-assured me that it'd be checked right through to HEL because the TSA are at YVR and I needn't worry.

For some reasons, I asked the TSA whether I could lock my bag. I've never locked my bag when I go through the US, but this time with such a long trip (and going through LHR), I decided to lock it. The TSA said no problem, so I locked it.

I was in the only full row when I flew into YVR. This time, I was the only one without a neighbour. Breakfast was a simple affair, but at least it's something edible. Frankly, I can't remember much from this flight. I spent a good chuck of it catching up on sleep. :)

Having caught the train to the appropriate terminal under the hot Texas sun, the first task was to ensure I know where the gate would be in relation to the lounge. The way the track curves, it reminds me of a rollercoaster but a lot slower.

There is a constant flow of people around the terminal. However, the Admiral Club seemed relatively quiet. Originally, I chose a downstairs seat for my upcoming SFO-LHR BA leg. I thought I would try to get an upstairs one while I was still a few hours before the flight. The reception lady at the Club was very helpful. She didn't know how to change seats for non-AA flights, she didn't know what seat numbers are upstairs. When most staff would have given up and told me to try again when I got to the right airport, she just kept trying and asked people until she managed to get me a seat upstairs.

After the customary drink and junk food, I explored the lounge. It was interesting enough with a couple of TVs, I would have watched it if it wasn't for a couple of girls on TV having a grunting/moaning match (otherwise known as a tennis match). I always wondered why the grunt always come a second or so after she hit the ball. Wouldn't it be the same time she hits the ball?

I took off for the gate. The flight seemed to be full. Boarding, and therefore, the flight was some 30 minutes late. Even with a relatively big gate lounge, it was filling up fast. I managed to get a seat in front of the TV showing CNN.

The news finally arrived. The Pope has passed away. Not many people paid attention, to be honest, and I was slightly surprised by that. Maybe people was expecting that and with CNN non-stop coverage of Terry Schiavo over the past few days, and now the Pope, it was getting a bit tiring. While I'm not a religious person, I do feel a bit of sadness since he was the only Pope I know. He became Pope when I was an infant. If nothing else, him giving up his life to one cause till the last moment is worth plenty of admiration.

Not long after that, it's time to board another full flight. How can AA be in trouble when most of my flights are full in all cabins? :) One girl boarded (seated in the row in front of me). At first, I thought she was by herself, then her (grand) parents followed. She was about 10-12 years old, and why did she need some 12 dolls and stuffed toys with her? Can someone explain this for me? None of these toys looked new, by the way, but she certainly has an obession with Minnie Mouse.

Some more chicken strips for lunch while we'd a very smooth ride to SFO. Not being familiar with SFO in relation to the city, I was surprised with the amount of ocean I managed to see. The city surrounds certainly have an interesting geography with a lot of flats and swamp-like land with high mountains just behind them.

We landed a bit late due to the late departure. After landing, I began my long walk to the International Terminal...

Well, this concludes the AA portion of the trip. Here're some of my ratings...

Check-in = 8/10
Lounge = 7/10
Boarding = 8/10
In-flight catering = 5/10
IFE = 2/10
In-flight service = 7/10
Seats = 4/10 (Apart from the 767, the MD-83s are pretty poor)

Total = 41

I realise my flights were domestic (even the Canadian flights weren't that different), but I don't see that to be any different from any other airlines' short-haul flights...

After the long walk to the international terminal, I hunted down the BA lounge, which was nicely hidden down some stairs...

After I checked into the lounge, the next guy was saying that he's in F but he only got a J award ticket for her daughter... I was walking away when he was about to ask his question, but I also volunteered to take his F ticket so he can be with his daughter... As I understand, BA don't allow parent and child cannot travel on separate cabins...

Anyway, the lounge was pretty small and it was pretty full with lots of families. I went to have a shower and found the shower area unattended, so I just helped myself. After a quick drink, it's time to board. The lounge had an unmarked entrance, which looked more like an emergency exit, for boarding. There was an announcement, but no one could hear it properly. People slowly started to drift towards the door, so I followed.

Went upstairs and was treated with some excellent service. Upper deck was looked after by 2 male FAs, one was quite young. They were both quite good, offering drinks, wash bags, newspapers, menus for each of the passengers.

With favourable winds, the flight was only slightly more than 9 hours. This is only my first time on BA's famous flat seat. My first impression wasn't that positive. I'm not a big guy, if I say so myself, but I could hardly move. I didn't even get the 'bed' flat, it's way too short. My feet keep hitting end-board while trying to sit further up the seat.

Having said that, with the seat reclined, I slept quite well during the flight. After dinner, I started watching a movie and I fell asleep half way through. This must be the 4th movie I started watching during this trip that I haven't managed to finish.

The catering was disappointing though. While the dinner wasn't bad, 'breakfast' was non-existant. I'd some fruit and nothing else - there was nothing else.

Service - very good. Seat - average. Catering - average...

Leumas, enjoying your trip notes immensely. DFW and SFO may have been zoos in the concourses, but is that any diferent to LHR???

Keep up the typing...I'll promise to keep reading.

My flight from SFO and this flight both operate from T1, so that made things easier. Having said that, the Flight Connection Centre was packed. In fact, there was a queue for the main queue. A guy would periodically allow passengers to go through to the main queue. Processing about 100 people (roughly how many that were in front of me) in about 20 minutes was pretty good though. Thank God I got my boarding pass at SFO, otherwise, there would be more queuing...

The Terrace Lounge was full as usual with plenty of European flights. After checking my messages and FT, I went to look for a spare seat. One of my messages told me that my good friend just got out of hospital in London. I'd be staying with them in a few days, so I gave them a call to see what happened. They'd to cut short their trip in South America. While they said they were fine, there was a lot more they wouldn't disclose over the phone, so I guess I just had to wait until I see them.

By this stage, my body clock is completely whack. Sitting still for more than 20 minutes would get me to sleep, so there I was dosing off in the lounge. I must have slept some half an hour. Once I woke up, I decided to walk around the terminal otherwise I might miss my flight.

I arrived at the gate just as boarding was starting. Somehow I got allocated a window seat, not exactly my preference, but I didn't bother to change it. This flight was a Finnair flight on an Airbus 319. I booked it with a BA number to gain more QF miles.

I should have changed my seat, their business class seats were like economy seats - 2x3 seats, and I was on the 3-seat side. Even my seat at 1F, i.e., bulkhead, didn't give me any extra room. As I fiddled with the seat, I found out the arm-rests could be raised. I was so hoping no one will get into my row - no such luck though, as an elderly couple sat down next to me.

Finnair have outside cameras to show its progress, but it was getting dark so there wasn't much to see... Since there wasn't much to see and I sat still for about 20 minutes, I fell asleep.

I woke up with a menu tucked into the magazine packet. I usually avoid beef on planes because they were generally quite dry and tough, this one was different - it was quite tender. Service in the business cabin (the flight was full, BTW) was by 2 ladies, who apart from the different hair colour looked exactly the same.

The lady next to me and I got chatting, and she and her husband gave me a brief introduction on Helsinki and what to see and how cold it could still get even when in April. In fact, she said it may still snow all the way in May - that's way too cold for me... Since we were flying north, it actually got slightly brighter outside. It's amazing to see deserts (in Arizona) and now snow and frozen lakes all in 24 hours...

For some reasons, we landed some 30 minutes late. Immigration was no problem, but my luggage never made it... There were a few other passengers also waiting, I gave up and went to the luggage desk when I saw the same bags circling several times...

The lady at the luggage desk was helpful. She took my details and was quite certain that it was left at LHR since she said it happens just about every flight. There was another flight later that night and it would probably turn up then. She noted my long route to HEL, and gave me a toiletries bag. I asked her whether she could check any systems to see where my bag might be, but she didn't have any systems like that... So, off I went to my hotel...

Wow! :) I've never stayed at such a nice hotel...!

Check-in was easy and I was 'upgraded' to a large room/suite... This hotel used to be a nice hotel and restaurant, then office, now back to a hotel. Everything inside was grand and smelled of oak. My room was probably the only one on my floor that wasn't an official suite, but it's still pretty smart...!

I didn't miss the irony that while I was in the nicest hotel I've ever been in, I was washing my own underwear in the bathroom the first night (since they'd lost my luggage and it's 11pm and nothing was open)...

I took a long bath the first night, it even had a rubber duckie, even if it was green... It helped a lot after some 24 hours of travelling and the annoyance of losing my luggage.

On the other hand, I still couldn't sleep very much, maybe it's because I was lying down and not sitting on an airplane seat... I rang up Amex in NZ for my insurance. I called collect, but at first the hotel didn't know they could do that from the hotel... The hotel called me back a few minutes later and arranged the call for me... They were probably saying, you were staying in a flash hotel and you're calling collect...?! They didn't know I was washing my underwear in the bathroom earlier either... The next day I'd another weird request - I needed a pair of scissors at 5am... :) (It was to cut up some clothes tags from the new clothes I bought.)

Anyway, I couldn't find a fault with this hotel, maybe except for the price. It was pricey, but I think one should experience at once if you're in Helsinki...

When I arrived the first night, the room was already turned down. The next night I went out after an afternoon nap (I've developed this habit now since I would wake up at about 3am each day)... By the time I got back at about 11pm, the room was nicely turned down with slippers and a bathrobe nicely laid out... Nice...

Check-out was easy, but if I ever make it back to Helsinki, I'd definitely stay here again...

This marked the second half of my trip – flight 11 out of 20. I asked my taxi to take me to the Arrivals level of the airport. I needed to visit the Finnair luggage office. There was still no signs of suitcase. I lodged an official claim. The agent asked me whether I’ve spent any money for new clothes and so forth. I handed him the receipts and he gave me €100 cash as a start. He said more would be fore coming if the suitcase is still missing after a couple more weeks. I asked whether there’s anything more we could do apart from wait. He said no because all they could do was to wait for other airports to record unclaimed suitcases for it to appear on the system. I didn’t feel quite satisfied with that answer, but I couldn’t think of any more alternatives, not from Helsinki anyway. I got the feeling that my suitcase never made LHR, maybe the TSA blew it up...?

I went upstairs to check-in. The terminal was pretty empty at this time of day. The sole business class agent was confused when I presented my ticket. My ticket indicated an earlier flight, but I changed it to this one after ticketing. My original plan was to compare Finnair with BA Club Europe, but somehow I didn’t feel like rushing to the airport in the morning (enough of that already)…

I digress. The agent told me to go to the Ticket office, which was directly opposite him. The office punched a few keys into the computer and sticker-ed my ticket. I then went back to the same check-in agent, and everything worked. Maybe it was something in the computer, because the sticker didn’t say anything more than what I told him the first time. I was also going straight to DXB on a mileage run after this flight, but he couldn’t check me in. He probably couldn’t do more than the standard check-in.

I went to the lounge, as per the rest of the airport, it was quite empty. A couple of businessmen were having a meeting, another guy was asleep in the corner and myself. I wandered in the first class section by mistake. The agent came after me and apologised that she didn’t explain it clearer, but it was my fault, I didn’t see the signs behind her at the desk. The first class lounge had nicer food than the biscuits on offer at the business section though.

I was bored and went back into the terminal. It was still empty, but they’d a Playstation for you to play and some nice seats with leg-rests.

Boarding was a simple affair, people just queued when the agent was ready; none of these scrums that you see at other airports. The Finns are a very polite people and follow instructions to the letter. I found myself crossing the road a couple of times with the red man showing, but the Finns would wait until the green man even if there were no cars in sight…

Anyway, load was light for this Airbus 320 flight (50% in business). I’d the whole row to myself, but on the port side of the aircraft, where the arm rests couldn’t go up. There was this mini-seat that was between the two seats, so I was stuck sitting again…

As with the other flight, IFE was basically non-existent. There was the outside camera that was shown during take-off and landing, but the rest of the time, some silent video was shown. The view outside was more interesting…

We landed back at LHR T1 and off to the Flight Connection Centre I went…

Only 2 flights, but here's my impression...

Check-in = 4/10 (only one check-in, but no idea of my OW seat preference)
Lounge = 7/10
Boarding = 7/10
In-flight catering = 7/10
IFE = 2/10
In-flight service = 8/10
Seats = 3/10 (one hopes their long-haul seats are better)

Total = 38

Nice report. Hope your bag turned up quickly. Its a bit of a sinking feeling when bag goes missing and you know will be travelling a lot in the following days.

Great trip report so far.^ Keep the segments coming.

Back to the same place as I was 2 days ago - T1 Flight Connection Centre. Even though it was roughly the same time as I was 2 days ago, today there was hardly anyone around. I went through security in around 5 minutes.

I originally wanted to get my boarding passes at this centre, but the queue agent said I could get it at T4. So I went downstairs to catch the transfer bus.

There was a bus waiting already, but most people were going to T3, so the bus was relatively empty. It's interesting to go through LHR 'behind the scene'. Despite the various times I've used LHR, I've never transferred to another terminal. The 5-minute bus drive took us through various back-roads and tunnels of various cargo and luggage bays.

At T4, there's a special BA connection desk. No customers were around, so the agent took my ticket and gave me a boarding pass. I also asked whether she could issue my return boarding pass straight away. She asked whether I'd any checked luggage, with my lost bag, I guess I didn't. So she gave me my return boarding pass too. She asked whether I’d any checked luggage, with my bag lost somewhere on this planet, I said ‘no’. One advantage with no bag was that I could get my return boarding pass now. Before the trip started, I was wondering whether I should go through customs when I returned from HEL and check my bag to Left Luggage or just check my bag straight through to DXB and return straight back. With them losing my bag, I didn’t have to worry about that anymore…

We also had a nice chat about how nice Dubai is and how she loves it. Whenever she goes to Dubai she catches the 109 flight... It doesn't leave LHR too late, and arrives at a civilised hour at DXB.

After our chat, I went upstairs to the lounge near Gate 1. I forgot that the shower and the Molton Brown is at the lounge near Gate 10... So I went over there, and headed straight to the Molton Brown downstairs. I booked myself a back-and-neck massage close to departure time.

With a few hours to burn, I went through the lounge and the terminal with a fine comb, spending my time between the computer terminals, the food and drinks and outside among the shops.

Finally, it’s my time for the massage, the receptionist asked me to sit down and wait for a little. Before long, the masseur showed me into the room. The massage was good and it was amazing how tight my shoulders and neck were… After the massage, she offered some herbal tea or water. Not wanting to stay awake due to the tea, I just had a glass of water. After a long shower, it’s time to leave.

The gate was one of those remote gates (22, I think). It’s a good 10 minutes from the main terminal. It looked to be a full flight, with plenty of people milling about. It looked like a plane full of holiday makers – families, friends, etc… Boarding was a complete free-for-all. Only families with children were asked to come after. After that, people just formed a loose queue. No premium passenger or OW elite queues, just board when you can get to the front of the queue.

The flight was operated by a 777, everyone entered through the one door, so while the FAs are busy serving drinks, handing our wash bags, etc, they also had to deal with passengers passing through the cabin… For some reasons, I’m never keen on the 777 or some of the mid-size Airbuses (e.g., 330)… They always seem so crowded…

Dinner was served after levelling out and the lights were dimmed almost straight afterwards. The 777s have a slightly inferior IFE system, with smaller screens than the 747s. As I mentioned, the flight was full of families, and the business class cabin was no exception. Most of the kids were behaved well enough, there were only occasional screams and fights – at least here were no yucky smells. The parents were doing the best they could to keep their kids quiet, so what else could one do…

Before I knew it, it’s time for breakfast. Again, it was disappointing; there was hardly anything to eat. With favourable winds, we arrived slightly early… Once could only hope the food would be better on the return flight.

After a quick walk around the terminal and loosen up, I went back through the gate and security. Most passengers went through security without problems, there were the occasional ones where their bags had to be emptied, shoes off and gentlemen had their belts removed. You could see some passengers in various state of undress while they walk away from security. The crew also went through security and pretty much all female FAs (along with the occasional female passengers) were led to a separate booth/shed for more screening individually. I don’t know what they do in there, but none of them take more than 5 seconds before they come back out…

Boarding again was totally unorganised. People started to queue as long as soon as an agent moved towards the door. There was an half-hearted attempt to board families with children first, but the general public basically followed straight afterwards, so there wasn’t much point for those families to settle before the wave of people followed.

Back on the same plane as my flight out here, but this time, at 12B, instead of 11B. Instead of a family-oriented crowd, this flight had mainly business people. There were the occasional families returning from holidays, but most passengers were in suits.

Breakfast was a better affair than the previous flight. Overall, it’s still disappointing. BA seemed content in feeding passengers bread to fill them up. Not much else in the food, but the FAs offered plenty of bread (at least 3 rounds)…

With favourable winds going into DXB, the winds were against us when returning to LHR. We arrived slightly behind schedule, but at least we didn’t have to circle. Immigration was surprisingly easy; perhaps because the queue was long – at least 30 minutes. There were also quite a few people asked to sit down and wait, so I guess as long as you didn’t have any big black stamps in the passport and you could show a ticket leaving the UK, they would be happy.

DXB flights operate from T4, and with the work happening at the Underground (for T5), the T4 station was closed. I caught the Express to T3 and walked to the T123 Underground station. Fortunately, for me, there wasn’t a long wait for the Express. The train arrived, but we were warned not to board until they did a security check. Some staff just boarded the train and had a quick look. All it took was about 30 seconds, and we were allowed onto the train.

The Underground was the same old Underground. At least at mid-afternoon, there were many people on the train and I’d a fairly easy journey to my destination.

I decided to call all 3 airlines involved when they lost my luggage - AA, BA and AY. I probably could have called them when I was in Helsinki, but I didn't think of it (except to call AY every day). On the other hand, even if I did think of it, I wouldn't want to call them (probably international calls) at the hotel with their extortion rates...

Anyway, I dug up phone numbers for all 3 airlines from their web sites. First, I called AY. They just gave me their Helsinki number, as they said they didn't have any systems to trace lost luggage.

Then, I tried BA. No one answered the phone...

So I tried AA. The AA lady was helpful. I gave her the luggage tag number, and she told me it was stuck at SFO straight away. She couldn't tell me why it was left there, but it's somewhat irrelevant now... She offered to get it to me to London. However, with me leaving that day and changing hotels just about every second day from then on; it might be better for them just to send it back to NZ. She said OK, but she had to get approval from AY because technically they were responsible for the bag and they'd to pay for it to get it back to NZ. I kind of felt sorry for AY, they never saw the bag. It was between AA and BA, and possibly the TSA...

Still, I was the one without my bag... Let's see whether my bag would make it back to NZ and whether I've lost anything... I'd expect I'd get back to NZ first before my bag though...

Great report, Leumas. Between you and Kiwi Flyer with your very short multiple sector RTWs I feel like a novice, only managing 11 sectors on my last RTW (and I was pretty proud of that one!). Hope you had enough time to actually enjoy some of those flights!

Regarding the SYD-LAX-JFK portion of your excellent report -
A quick question: if the F cabin was full from LAX-JFK, and half of the people were "new", and not on the SYD-LAX leg, were they employees going to JFK?
Would that mean that half the cabin were non-revs?
I thought it was not possible to buy tickets for just the LAX-JFK lag on Qantas (without originating in SYD), since it's not a US carrier? :eek:
Is it possible to originate in SYD, layover in LAX for a few days, then continue on to JFK? :confused:

There's more than one QF flight to LAX. Pax dont need to arrive in LAX on the same plane that continues on to JFK.

Regarding the SYD-LAX-JFK portion of your excellent report -
A quick question: if the F cabin was full from LAX-JFK, and half of the people were "new", and not on the SYD-LAX leg, were they employees going to JFK?
Would that mean that half the cabin were non-revs?
I thought it was not possible to buy tickets for just the LAX-JFK lag on Qantas (without originating in SYD), since it's not a US carrier? :eek:
Is it possible to originate in SYD, layover in LAX for a few days, then continue on to JFK? :confused:

Thanks, Flyingfox.

In addition to what KF said, the flight is timed to connect with other QF flights. The QF flight from MEL can connect to this flight.

Also, if you're on an international ticket, you can use this flight to fly to JFK. So, technically, yes, you can fly in from Aus, layover at LAX for a few days then go onto JFK. The same goes the other way from JFK, of course.

I didn't notice anyone that looked like non-revs... However, I've noticed on a previous occasion that non-revs flying this route (QF108, JFK-LAX), but they were on business class, not first.

QF has between 4 and 6 flights a day arriving at LAX, so lots of feed onto the LAX-JFK leg. It tends to be remarkably full (plus QF has lots of cargo on this route -- not enough to make it a daily service though). Also many people want a stopover at LAX upon arrival from Australia and then go on to JFK with 107. Twice I've been unable to buy full-fare F tickes SYD-JFK as it was sold out! Tough route for A inventory much less awards.

Interesting comment about the AA 738 seat being "old and narrow". These are the newest and widest narrowbody seats on AA (and better than the QF 738 seats, at least in my memory).

Great trip report, it really captures the good and bad of doing this kind of travel. Wish I could write so eloquently. If you think HEL in April is cold, you should try it in January! Great fun.

Not so good news about the luggage, although at least they've been located. How are you managing without your clothes etc?

I bought a change of clothes and some underwear and socks in Helsinki. I also bought summer clothes in London (in preparation for Bangkok). I only bought minimal amount of clothes though because I thought I'd buy them in Bangkok where things are cheaper. But my suitcase was located by then, so I didn't buy anything in Bangkok... I also bought a suitcase in London because my carry-on luggage wasn't big enough with the extra clothes.

My insurance policy has an emergency fund that allowed for NZD$200 every 8 hours I didn't have my luggage (up to $1000). It may sound a lot, but it isn't really when you're paying things in Euros and Sterling...

I'd all my chargers (camera, phone, etc.) in my lost suitcase, so I'd to use my camera very carefully... That's why I didn't post any updates until I returned to NZ. My laptop was running dry...

After catching up with friends and enduring some freezing London weather for the past 2 days, it’s time to go. Had an early dinner with some friends near Piccadilly Circus, I hopped onto the Underground straight to LHR. Rather than changing at T3 for the Express, I just hopped on the connecting bus. I remembered the last time I caught this bus (when the T4 station was closed for another reason), the bus just dumped us at the Arrivals level. This time, it deposited us at the Departure level.

As soon as I walked into the terminal, I opened up my (new) suitcase and put away my jacket. I wouldn’t be needing it for the rest of the trip…

After getting past the queue dragon, I joined a decent queue for check-in. Most of the people in the queue had some sort of QFF tags – mostly gold and silver and QF club. I didn’t see a WP though.

There were that many agents to check people in the first place, but one of them was on a definite power trip. There was one family (2 screaming children and 3 adults) with several big bags and suitcase. The first bag was overweight (around 34kg), the agent asked them to take something out, fair enough. It was a soft bag, so if they put it back on the scale in a different position it would probably weigh different. Anyway, they took something out (mostly photos, which I thought wouldn’t make much difference), and it weighed under 31kg. So they decided to put something back in, and it weighed 32.1kg. 0.1kg over and the agent made them repack it. 0.1kg?! Come on, give them a break… Unless their limit was 20kg, then I’d understand, but it’s unlikely given they only took out paper (photos) the first time they were asked to repack, so they couldn’t be too far off the limit the first time… I’m sure the agent would have great pleasure in charging them excess luggage anyway. The man who was lifting the bag on and off the scale was clearly angry, but there’s nothing he could do and follow order from this power-hungry check-in lady… I started talking to the guy behind me in the queue, and we both agreed that she was on a power trip. It looked like she wasn’t enjoying working on a Friday night, and she’s letting people have it…

My own check-in was uneventful, given I only had an half empty suitcase. I was given 17D, I couldn’t get 16 (the exit row). I normally prefer 23D downstairs, but given it’s an overnight flight, I figured it was less likely to have screaming babies and children on upper deck, so I changed it to upper deck a few days ago when I was passing through LHR…

I was given a fast-track sticker, but of course, it’s never fast. In fact, people were being directed to the normal queue away from the fast track queue. The x-ray vision machine was also in operation, but they only took one or two random people, didn’t pick me though…

I went to the lounge for a shower, but I was given a pager, as the wait was roughly 20 minutes. I knew I wasn’t eligible for a massage, and even if I was, there’d be no way there’d be free slots left. Massages were only available for BA flights or QF2 or QF10 if you’re a QF CL or in first class. I was in neither, so a shower would have to do.

The lounge was busy with plenty of departures to Asia. Spare seats were hard to come by. After an orange juice, it’s time for shower. I wanted to do some shopping after the shower, but most of the shops were closing by the time I got out. I actually wanted to go to the Molton Brown shop outside the lounge, but it seemed to be the first one to close.

I went to Gate 6 for boarding. It was total chaos. There was a queue of 20+ people already, and it’s at least 20 minutes before advertised boarding time. When boarding time came about and they started boarding families, it just encouraged more people to queue.

Finally, it’s time to board – they opened up 2 agents/queues; one for premium cabins, the other for the rest. Of course, apart from the sign showing Club World and first cabins, no one knew. I was the first one to approach this agent (because the majority of the others were busy queuing at the other agent. I asked the agent whether she’s for business, and she took my boarding pass and wished me a pleasant flight.

Walked down the aerobridge to yet another queue. As it turned out, the flight wasn’t ready for boarding yet. The families that went ahead of us were all waiting there. Another 5 minutes of standing around while other passengers began queuing after me…

I was the first one to get upstairs. For a long time, there was only one other passenger upstairs. But with a Friday night flight, I would be very surprised if the flight was anything less than full… Sure enough, it began filling up. Part of the reason I abandoned my favourite 23D was to avoid any screaming babies or children. There was one baby though, but the entourage was right up front of the cabin and my seat (17D) was the last row. I only heard the baby once during the flight anyway.

This was the first time I got on a Skybed. First impression – it’s comfortable, certainly more comfortable to sit than the BA seat… Second impression – there’s next to no immediate storage space. There’s no seat pocket, there’s a space for everything, but no space for anything else. There’s a specific space for magazines, a specific space for shoes, a specific space for a water bottle, a space for the supplied headphones; but no space for anything extra that you may want with you…

Dinner was served after we levelled out. Service was pretty good during the flight. The BA service always seemed rushed even if it was professional. QF service was professional, but never made you feel rushed…

Even when I was in the last row (i.e., closest to the toilet and gallery), I hardly heard any noises. More importantly, I didn’t smell anything I didn’t want to smell… The only negative thing I could pick was the lack of AVOD, but I guess QF are already in the process of implementing that, or perhaps I was just getting sick of falling asleep half way through a movie again…

I didn’t have my seat flat for sleeping. I found my most comfortable position was an almost-flat recline. I did try the seat flat, and I probably could sleep on that, but it was just more comfortable with it slightly reclined. There was also a slight wedgie effect if it was flat…

With a good sleep, I woke up just in time for the start of breakfast. We arrived slightly early and formalities were quite easy to go through at BKK. Getting a car to the hotel was also very simple, although I suspected I got slightly ripped off here. I paid 700B for a private car to the hotel…

Check-in at this hotel was simple. Staff here was very polite, and I was given a room with a river view on a SPG floor. Most floors of the higher section of the hotel were SPG floors (lower floors have a separate set of lifts). The room was directly opposite the Millennium Hilton was near completion.

I picked this hotel for its ease to get to the major tourist sites. All one had to do was to walk out the hotel, take a right, and there's the pier for the river boat. There was also a free shuttle to a Skytrain station. Looking at the cliente of the hotel, it's certainly more of a tourist hotel...

Breakfast was pretty good. It'd a decent of range of Western and Eastern food and a range of tropical fruit. The first morning the staff asked whether I wanted to redeem 750 SPG points for the breakfast, I agreed. The breakfast was USD$10, but it might be a tad expensive, but I felt it was OK. I couldn't say I regretted it...

Check-out after a couple of days was simple. It took about 2 minutes... I thought of catching the shuttle and Skytrain to my next hotel, but I just missed one, and the next one wasn't another 40 minutes away... I gave up and caught a taxi instead...

When I got the concierge to tell the driver to take me to the Westin, he told something to driver, and we were on our way. At first, the journey seemed OK, but it gradually seemed that the driver didn't know where he was going. He went along Wireless Road, but that's about as far as he knew. He stopped about 3 times asking for direction, and left the meter running... When he finally arrived, I probably could have asked for change, but it could have been about 20B, which was less than NZD$1 - it wasn't worth it...

Being downtown and being a Westin, it's a slightly more business oriented hotel. However, the cliente seemed to be a mix of business and leisure. I was again put on a SPG floor in a rather large room. The room had a central console that controlled everything - lights, 'do not disturb', temperature, etc... It was quite cool, but it took me a few minutes to figure out it controlled the master light switch and it could disable the individual light switches in the room...

I picked this for its closeness to the shopping and to the nightlife (not to mention the FT madness of getting Starwood stays), and the rate was actually lower than the Royal Orchid...

Breakfast was slightly better (for the same price as the Royal Orchid), merely because it'd a slightly bigger range. More cooked options, more fruit and more pastries...

This was the first time I got on a Skybed. First impression – it’s comfortable, certainly more comfortable to sit than the BA seat… Second impression – there’s next to no immediate storage space. There’s no seat pocket, there’s a space for everything, but no space for anything else. There’s a specific space for magazines, a specific space for shoes, a specific space for a water bottle, a space for the supplied headphones; but no space for anything extra that you may want with you…

My thoughts exactly. I was in a window seat and kept losing stuff between the edge of the seat and the wall/window. The complete lack of storage is a really bizarre design flaw - surely most people like to have a certain amount of stuff within easy reach, eg iPod, book, toilet bag etc. There's not even really anywhere to put the amenity kit!

This hotel is directly opposite the Westin. I walked across the over bridge to the other side of the road with my luggage... This hotel is definitely more business oriented. There were definitely some tourists here, but nowhere near as many as the previous two... This hotel and the Westin were also close to the Skytrain (Asok station was right outside).

This Sheraton is part of the Luxury Collection, which Hotel Kamp that I also enjoyed so much also belongs... It didn't disppoint. Not that staff at the previous 2 properties were rude, but this hotel's professionalism and politeness was another level...

I was checked-in by an agent with excellent English (and very pretty too, I might add)... I was assigned a different room than original. She put a sticker on the room number in the welcome folder. My new room was at a lower floor than the original room, but it was quite large. I don't know what the definition of a 'junior suite' is, but I suspect this might be close to it.

She led me to the room and showed me the features. On the way up in the life, she told me it's the start of Songkran in Thailand, and asked me not to get offended when people splash water at me. I didn't know it was the Songkran until I arrived a couple of days ago. Next time, I might plan my trip better and not leave the city when it's the start of something big... I was early for DC's cherry blossom too. I blame this year's early Easter for that...

I digress... While the room was closest to the lift, I didn't hear any noises... The room overlooked Lake Rajada. The agent told me it's a bigger room with an excellent view (and it was good). The room also had a very nice bathroom, close to what Hotel Kamp had, and a walk-in wardrobe. (Hotel Kamp's wardrobe was almost a separate hallway in the room.) Regardless, I was quite happy with the room. I also had use of a butler. If I'd made use of it, I'd have some free laundry, shoeshine, making tea, packing luggage, etc...

I booked myself a Thai massage at the hotel spa. I was also given a note that with Songkran, the spa was giving a free hand treatment with every massage... Sweet...

Breakfast was the best among the 3 hotels. For the same price as the other 2 properties, this place had the biggest range and better quality food. Not only did it have Chinese and Western breakfast, it also had a small Japanese range.

Time for the massage. I never felt comfortable walking around the hotel with my bathrobe, so I went down there fully dressed. I was welcomed with the most polite staff. They asked me to take off my shoes, they really didn't have to be on their knees for that... They then served some very yummy ice tea with a hint of lemon and ginger...

I got the feeling that they don't have many male clients, and with me not a regular visitor, combined with the staff's broken English, it created some rather awkward but funny situations as I didn't know what to do when...

First, the hand treatment. They put some cream on my hands, and dunked them into a 'boiler' full of wax and perfume... Then, they put my hands in plastic bags and 'towel mitts'... Simmer for a few minutes, and I was done.

Next, I was led to a different room and was given a foot massage. After that, I was asked to change into a loose pyjama... The massage wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, I wasn't twisted into various impossible positions, but it was certainly relaxing and I did sleep a lot better from then on. No more waking up at 3am each morning...

The whole thing took just under 2 hours (including the hand treatment). Got back to my room for a quick shower, and it's time to go.

Check-out was by the same agent from the previous day. She then led me to the front door and told concierge to get a taxi to the airport. (Each time when you get in a taxi, make sure the hotel give you a card with the taxi's registration written on it. The card should also have the hotel's details written in Thai, in case anything happens.)

With the Songkran, the outside of the taxi was covered in white paint. On the way to the airport, we saw quite a few people with heavy duty water guns (not just pistols) and buckets. It looked like fun, and next time when I get a chance, I'd certainly try it. It certainly helps to cool down from the daily 36C heat...

The driver was in a hurry today. We went on the expressway. I don't know what the speed limit is in Thailand, but he was going about 140kph in a little Toyota... When you don't have a seatbelt going at 140kph, it's best not to focus on the dashboard and just look outside...

we must have been at the SGS at the same time! I *loved* this place, especially the pool, and the staff.

Songkran was fun - there was a massive 'streetfight' going on in Silom, where the whole street was blocked off and people were sitting on the back of pickup trucks loaded with big drums full of water going all out splashing anything and anyone as hard as they could; it was crazy (and fun!).

Went through security to check-in… There were a number of agents working so there was no queue at all. The only waiting was for the agent waiting for me to dig up my ticket and passport…

I was relatively early for my scheduled flight. The agent volunteered to put me on this earlier flight. That worked out well because I wanted to head into town after arriving in HK. Rather than going into town at roughly 11pm (or even later), I could go into town at about 9pm.

BKK, like most NZ international airports, wanted passengers to pay departure tax at the airport. Handed over my 500B, and off I went to Immigration. As usual, I managed to pick the slowest queue. To be fair, it was the shortest queue when I arrived, it was just single or adult passengers, no families. At first, I thought the immigration officer was just stuck with that passenger, but he was slow with everyone… I was perhaps the fifth person in that queue, and it took some 15 minutes to go through…

I had a quick look around the shops, nothing too exciting, and nothing especially cheap. Then I went to look for the CX lounge. The airport map was utterly useless. It didn’t tell me where any of the lounges were. I’d a walk around, but couldn’t see a CX lounge. I did find the CX first lounge though, so I went in to ask where the business lounge was. They told me it was directly opposite from this first lounge. No wonder I couldn’t find it, I was looking at the wrong side of the terminal.

The business lounge wasn’t large, and it was rather full. I probably should have gone into the bigger QF lounge, which was also closer to my gate. I didn’t know whether the staff at the CX lounge was understaffed or just lazy – empty plates, glasses and cans were everywhere. They eventually came around to go a clean-up, but it wasn’t enough. Food and drinks-wise, this lounge was like the CX lounges at HKG. There wasn’t as much of it, but the lounge here at BKK was smaller too. If you’ve a choice at BKK between the QF lounge or the CX one, go to QF.

There were also 3 computers at this lounge, one computer wasn’t working, and one was occupied by a kid, so there was only one left with plenty of people wanting to use it. Unfortunately, I managed to crash it when I was checking my Hotmail… With that, I left the lounge and headed towards the gate.

I took my time getting there and by then, boarding has started. Unlike the BA chaos, CX have separate queues for premium cabins and economy passengers and separate doors through to the plane. Load was light for this flight – roughly 30%. For some reasons, I always get to sit with someone when the flight was light. The CSD told me as soon as the doors were closed that I could go and sit somewhere else. I picked somewhere with no one behind me so I could recline as much as I like.

This flight was a 777 with their new regional business seats and as many have reported, they were horrid. It was uncomfortable, it didn’t recline much and for some reasons, they stuck a piece of plastic underneath the seats so you couldn’t put your feet or anything underneath the seat in front of you – perhaps there were too many electronics stuff under there…

Service was up to the usual high CX standard. The CSD went around and introduced herself. Not just the CSD but some of the FAs also took the time to learn the passengers’ names. The CSD came around and handed out surveys for pretty much everyone in the business cabin. It was somewhat odd that only one or two passengers didn’t get the survey. The survey was some 10 pages long and it asked questions on pretty much the entire experience, from check-in to in-flight service and catering. The only aspect wasn’t covered was the lounge, which I put down some of the issues the BKK lounge had. The survey also came with a nice looking pen that we were allowed to keep.

We landed roughly on time, but it was a long walk and train to Immigrations. HKG is still one of my favourite airports. Everything is clean and tidy and nicely organised. Despite the long walk, there was still a slight wait for the luggage. We came out at Arrival Hall B. It took me a while to locate a sign to the Regal Airport Hotel. While it wasn’t too far, it was just a good 3-5 minute walk, since Arrival Hall B and the walkway to the hotel was at opposite ends of the airport…

(The Regal Airport Hotel segment will be posted 'when I check-out' of the hotel.)

Woke up probably earlier than I needed to this morning (not the first time in this trip), especially given the airport was literally a short walk away. When I headed downstairs at 6:30am, the lobby was quite busy with people checking out and checking in. Among the people checking out was a crew from Thai Airways, they were all quite pleasant to each other despite the early hours, and some of them seemed to be meeting for the first time... Most of them were busy puffing away at the sofas near the counters though.

After arriving at the 'wrong' Arrival Hall last night (i.e., having to walk the entire width of the terminal to get to the hotel), the CX check-in counters were located at the 'wrong' end of the terminal, so I'd to walk the entire width of the terminal again to get to the counters at the far end of the terminal. If this was CX's home terminal, which I assumed they'd get preferential treatment here, why didn't they pick counters in the middle of the Departure Hall...

Got to the 'check-in with hand luggage line' (aisle C), and while one agent was busy with another customer, the other just ignored me... So I stood there for about 30 seconds and with no service forecoming, I walked off... The next aisle (B) had the premium passenger lines. Was checked in by a very polite agent, but she wasn't able to give me my return boarding pass. I was slightly surprised by that, especially when I'd no checked luggage, it's not like the flight was the next day or anything. She said I'd to get out of Immigration and Customs to get my boarding pass. Perhaps she didn't know people would be so weird to sit in a metal tube for the whole day and not go anywhere...

The check-in hall was buzzing with activities at this time of day already, but it was very quiet at airside. Shops were in various stages of opening and there didn't seem to be that many early flights...

The flight was leaving at Gate 3, so the Wing it was. Presented my invitation to the lounge agent, and after a brief walk around, I discovered I was their customer of the morning.

Talked to the agent upstairs to see whether I could get my return boarding pass, and after a few minutes of keyboard tapping, she asked whether the first row would be OK, fine by me... :)

Went to the Noodles Bar for some hearty breakfast. It's quite tasty, if the serving was a bit small. The pan-friend pork bun and the Chinese soya milk (not sure what the English name is) were served warm and I needed 2 servings, plus some dim sums from the buffet section to quiet my stomach. Who knew sitting in metal tubes being fed all the time could make one hungry...

A few more suits arrived at the lounge, but there were at most a dozen customers at this hour of the day. After some email checking, my attention span ran out so I left the lounge and walked around the shops. BTW, I got an email from home that my 'lost' luggage had arrived...

I didn't do any shopping, but I planned my purchases for tomorrow when I leave HKG for home. I didn't want to buy them now and only to carry them back here tomorrow. Flights at this hour seemed to have relatively light load, there was a CX flight to SYD at my neighbouring gate. That flight was an Airbus something-or-rather (not too hot on plane-spotting), but there were 150 passengers at the most, and I was being generous... It was probably closer to 100.

It's time to board my flight, again with separate queues and separate doors for first/business and economy passengers. I didn't ask for any seat assignments for any of my CX flights as there seemed to be a reputation for CX to swap planes in the last minute from previously advertised. However, none happened during my trip, and this flight was served by a 747. I got a seat upstairs and the load was about 50% upstairs. Yet again, I was stuck with someone next to me when there were plenty of empty seats about. Pre-departure drinks, newspapers were offered and gladly accepted. For some reasons, I was especially hungry and I had 2 of their Kiwi Delight drinks even before the doors were closed...

Anyway, just before the doors were closed, I moved into an empty row at a window seat. The CSD came around and introduced herself and welcomed each individual passenger. The menu was also offered at the same time.

After levelling out, breakfast was served. It was all laid out on a trolley for your selection. Lucky I'd a decent amount of food at the lounge, as the breakfast (regardless of which choice) was swimming in oil. I didn't what type of oil they used, but it surely couldn't be good for you...

As it turned out, the window seat wasn't that flash and the IFE screen would flicker every few seconds, so I moved across to the aisle seat - my 3rd seat of this flight... Since this was a long-haul aircraft, the seat was the better long-haul seat and the IFE also had AVOD. With AVOD (and probably it being morning), I was able to watch the whole movie without falling asleep for once...

With very favourable winds, we only needed some 3:45, instead of the 4:15 advertised in today's programme... Hmmm, I wondered how long the return flight would need...

Went through security with quite a few passengers as they connected to various AA flights... Shaped like DFW, gates were housed in a circle. Gates and airlines were grouped by alliances. CX share the area with AA. Star Alliance have their own area, and so do Sky Team.

I wanted to get back the 747 I arrived in, but I knew my return flight would be in an Airbus 330... I asked the Transfer Desk whether they could move me to the 747 flight which also departs earlier than mine... She told me that flight would stop at Taipei and would make it back to HKG later than mine... Hmmm, OK, I guess I would stick to my programme...

Went upstairs to the lounge, and it seemed pleasant enough, and maybe slightly bigger than the BKK lounge. This lounge also have free wireless Internet, (just as the HKG lounges), but my laptop has died a long time ago... The lounge would have a very good view onto the tarmac, but the windows were strategically frosted at eye level when you sit down, so you couldn't see anything... Smart...

Just as the HKG lounges, this one was maintained with absolute efficiency, everything was clean and tidy. I could have stayed longer if I haven't read all the offered magazines that I was interested in or perhaps it was the guy who wouldn't blow his nose and preferred to sniffle every 5 seconds...

The Departure area was buzzing with quite a few AA flights leaving to New York, LA, San Jose and somewhere else I couldn't remember... I've never been to this terminal (1) before, so I decided to explore. The range of shops on offer wasn't that impressive, but to make the trip slightly less weird, I bought something. At least I could say I went there to shop and not to just earn air miles and enjoy flying. Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Still had plenty of time left, what to do...? As I walked further and further away from my gate, I ended up using many of the moving walkways. I could now say I've the wonderful achievement of using every single moving walkway at NRT Terminal 1. Could you say that? :)

On the other hand, that almost got me into trouble. I didn't realise the terminal was actually really big. I started to hear boarding calls from my flight, and I was at the UA side of the terminal... Man, was it a long (and hurried) walk back to my gate... By the time I got there, it was 'final call' already... But the credibility of 'final call' had somewhat gone out of the window for me. Various airlines and airports cried wolf by announcing every single call a 'final call'. Even at NRT, I've heard at least 5 'final calls' for the same flight here this afternoon...

Anyway, by the time I got there, I was the last business passenger to board, but there were still a handful of economy passengers queuing. (Separate queue and separate doors again.) Wow! Business was full, with many suits. Perhaps it's a good 'commuter' flight for people finishing a day's work in Tokyo.

This flight had the old long-haul business seats and the older IFE system. With a full flight, it wasn't practicable for the CSD to introduce herself to every passenger individually, and certainly pre-departure service was rushed. I hate it when people take over your overhead storage space. I know that space is shared, but I'd to put my bag about 4 rows behind me. It's just stupid when you leave the plane and had to go against the flow. At least with the bulkhead seat, I was able to put my legs up a bit.

If you're still reading this trip report (thanks!), you'd notice that I don't pay too much attention to the food and drinks in flight. From memory, dinner on this flight wasn't too exciting either. The only stand-out things from these Japanese flights were small bowls of cold udon that weren't available on any other CX flights, and the smoked salmon. It was yummmm... (I've a soft spot for salmon, particularly smoked salmon...)

Now flying against the wind, our scheduled flying time of 4:45 took well over 5 hours. We were about an hour late by the time we arrived at HKG. With our late arrival, CX had already arrived connecting passengers (mainly to MNL) to be met once we arrived.

This time, our walk back to the main terminal wasn't as far (still needed a train ride though), and without checked luggage, I was able to get back to landside in minutes. Again, I was at the 'wrong' Arrival Hall, so I'd to walk all the way across the airport to get to the walkway to the hotel...

I considered going to the Sheraton in Kowloon during my 2 nights here. While it's certainly easier to get into town than from the airport, it also meant waking quite a bit earlier for both mornings to catch my flights, plus the Sheraton was quite a bit more expensive than this hotel. $1400 versus $2200, plus the expenses to get to the airport each day - I only needed the room to sleep, wash and somewhere to leave my luggage...

The Regal Hotel was certainly very nice. Nice big open area, marble floors, fountains, etc... Check-in was a bit slow though. When I first arrived, they only had 2 agents working, and the queue was getting longer. It didn't help when people didn't care about the clearly labelled signs and just waited where they wanted. Gradually, a couple more agents started working the desk and I was waved towards it. I was certainly glad the agents took the people from the queue and not those that just decided to 'queue anywhere'. Those that belong to the Regal loyalty programme could check-in at a secret location on the top floor of the hotel (level 9).

When I tried to check-in, the hotel couldn't find my booking... Uh-oh... I was slightly when I first booked through my agent that all I got was an email from her (although it did have a confirmation number) and nothing 'official' from the hotel. The Regal chain only have a basic web site even if you could book through it, the web site rates were very high. My TA assured me that all would be OK.

Luckily, it was just a matter of mistaken identity. My booking was under my shortened name, whereas I gave him my complete name for check-in... My room was on the 'executive level' (level 8) on the North Wing. There's the North Wing and South Wing. My room looked into the hotel courtyard. Photos from the hotel web site showed there're rooms that looked into the airport terminal and tarmac, that would have been cool. On the other hand, it's dark when I got there, and little light when I'd leave the room each day anyway...

There're separate escalators leading to the Club level on level 9, but I didn't really leave the room to explore the hotel each night - I either didn't have time (I went into town one night) or I was too tired...

The room had a king size bed, a bottle of free water, plus a well-stocked bar with extortion prices (a medium bottle of Evian was HKD$68)...

I'd no problems with the room. However, the TV refused to work one night. While I could switch it on, it couldn't get onto the hotel network. A call to the front desk and an engineer promptly came up. Of course, each time you call support, the equipment in question would work fine in front of them. After less than 30 seconds, the engineer got the TV working fine. Perhaps he just reset it with the remote via some secret combination...

Check-out was also a long affair. While it was early in the morning, there was a queue of 6 people or so, plus several people were using express check-out. Airline crews have a separate check-in/out area. At least this time, people were queuing, unlike check-in. After waiting for a few minutes, I was checked out in seconds, and on my way to the airport and my final flights of this RTW...

It’s time to head home… 3 flights to take me back to Wellington, as supposed to 2 under normal circumstances, but it wouldn’t be right to go home the most direct way now, would it?

Again, I’d to go across the entire terminal to the CX aisles. Today, I went straight to the business check-in desks. There were enough agents and I’d to wait a couple of minutes before an agent became free. Not that I minded or not that there was a queue me or anything, it’s just early and customers already at the counters seemed to have complicated tickets, like me.

The agent checked me in, but she could only give me boarding passes for my first two flights. My final flight to WLG wasn’t open yet. I also asked for an upper deck seat for my second flight (on BA), but she couldn’t see any free seats, so she gave me my pre-assigned seat and asked me to check when I got to SIN. At least she could check my luggage all the way to WLG though…

Today’s gate was 67, so the Pier it was. Unlike most people, I preferred the Pier than the Wing. Since the Wing was open, it always seemed too noisy or the temperature never seemed right. Anyway, I decided to walk over to the Pier instead of taking the train. I’d done this walk before and it didn’t seem to take that long as this time. It took some 10-15 minutes before I even saw the 60’s gates…

Checked-in at the Pier and there were only a couple of others there. Breakfast was the same affair as yesterday at the Wing – pan-friend pork buns and warm soy milk. After some dim sums and fruit, I went over to check my email. Over this time, only a couple more people came in the lounge.

I almost forgot I’d to do some shopping and with the Pier being miles away from the shops, I took the train back to the main concourse. Hurriedly did my shopping and caught the train back and by the time I got back to the Pier, boarding calls already began. Fortunately, Gate 67 was right next to the Pier…

Boarded onto a 777, I wasn’t sure what sort of seats this plane had. It wasn’t exactly the same as the regional seats that I didn’t like from BKK, but it wasn’t any of the long-haul business seats either… While all my CX flights had Studio CX, only my 747 yesterday had AVOD. Load was just under 50%, with majority of the business passengers connecting from LA, and they just made the flight too… The flight also had a handful of youngish American consultant-type people. While most of them were OK, one of them thought he was the man. He would order the FAs to hang up the jacket for him, do this do that… Even if he didn’t know one was supposed to shut off all laptops, he would have heard the announcements; he would still have his laptop opened (not to mention his table out) while we were taxiing away… When the FA asked him to put it away, he would either ignore them or just respond with a ‘yeah yeah OK’…

This flight also had the outside camera, but this one was positioned behind the front landing gear. We’d quite a long taxi and it’s interesting to see how the pilots steer such a big aircraft and hardly had the front wheels off the centre line on the tarmac. One of the other consultants was obviously impressed with the camera, so he yelled half way up the cabin to one of his colleagues – ‘Look at the camera, how cool is that? It’s so cool!!!’ Hmmm, yes, it’s cool…

It went without saying that pre-departure drinks and newspaper were offered. The CSD also came around as soon as the FAs were allowed out of their seats to welcome us and offered menus. This flight wasn’t the first one I noticed, but the CSD didn’t introduce herself to every single passenger, only most of them. I didn’t know what the differences were; I didn’t have any status with CX, only QF. Perhaps I’d some status with OW and/or I bought the flight with a CX number rather than an AA code-share. (As a side-note, I should have bought some of these flights as AA code-shares as I would have got more miles under QFF.)

There was one Western breakfast or some Chinese dim sums. I took the dim sums. They were anything special, they were airplane food after all. I kind of deliberately filled up at the lounge as I wanted to avoid any more oily food from CX.

The flight was quite bumpy, and breakfast service actually stopped a couple of times. With a row to myself (at last), I took the other seat’s IFE because if I used my own, it seemed very crowded with the table out too… I fell asleep after failing to find anything exciting on TV. When I woke up, it was just about to get ready for landing. Of course, that all important American consultant took some 10 minutes to shut down his laptop. Perhaps he’d a laptop with a super-computer in it… This time 4 FAs just happened to come around together to ask him to shut down his laptop. The FAs handled the situation (and his whole flight) very well, I could imagine some other airlines’ FAs would have told him to put his laptop somewhere the sun had trouble reaching…

The outside camera was back on. We watched the landing gear came out and with a buff of white smoke, we landed roughly on schedule.

I was the second person to leave the plane, I’d trouble figuring out where to go as arrivals and departure seemed to on the same level and passengers didn’t get separately until quite late in the piece. I asked the information desk where the QF lounge and was directly to keep going and head upstairs… When I found the lounge, I was only the second person there…

4 regional flights, but on a variety of aircrafts and seats.

Check-in = 7/10 (little idea of my OW seat preference)
Lounge = 9/10
Boarding = 10/10 (separate queues and separate doors every time)
In-flight catering = 7/10
IFE = 7/10 (only if every flight had AVOD)
In-flight service = 9/10
Seats = 7/10 (long-haul seats are better, avoid Airbuses)

Total = 56

The SIN lounge was new, being just opened in February. It’s quite big and new. There was still a faint smell of fresh paint around the place. With hardly anyone around, there was no food, only chips and drink snacks. There was also a row of computers, plus 3 ‘office cubicles’ with printers available for use. With no one around, I asked the agent at the door whether she could find me an upper deck seat on this flight and even a boarding pass for my flight to WLG. A few seconds of tapping on the keyboard, she found me 64A, I gladly took it, but the WLG flight still wasn’t open…

The lounge would have quite a good spot for watching people at the check-in area. Unfortunately, the seats facing the window were all too low to see anything interesting. You could only see the road outside the terminal…

Food gradually came out. It wasn’t a big range, and it’s all cold food. There was a Singapore style noodle plus the usual selection of sandwiches and fruit. One could never have too much fruit while travelling, so I took the chance to catch up on this food group.

Instead of sitting down after stuffing my face, I went downstairs for a walk. There were as many moving walkways for me to repeat my NRT achievement. While there was a good selection of shops, they’d nothing I wanted. Tiger Airways were launching a new direct flight to Mumbai, and were giving away caps as a promotion. I probably would have got 4 or 5 caps if I didn’t tell them I already got one. As there were no space to leave your luggage at the lounge (you could pay to leave your luggage at one of the shops), I didn’t take go to Terminal 2. The number of airlines was smaller than Terminal 1, so I thought it wouldn’t be as big… Terminal 1 was nice, with a nice fountain, and a stage near some bars. There’s also the Cactus Garden outside, and it’s not a bad place to waste a couple of hours. Anywhere near 5 hours (like I’d) would be a bit much.

I went back to the lounge, and tried out a variety of different seats. A TV was showing golf and another one was showing Asian MTV – none of them exciting enough, but it’s good enough to put my feet. A few more passengers drifted in, including a father and daughter. The teenager wasn’t wearing very much and she wouldn’t stop walking back and forth in front of me. She was even ‘stalking’ me outside the toilets a couple of times… It also didn’t help when her old man sat down on the sofa next to me… No matter where I moved, she would follow. I didn’t know what she wanted… 

When I was getting my boarding pass earlier, I saw some papers at the counter the flights today and their loads. They all looked pretty full, and it seemed most flights would have lucky people for op-ups… I decided to have a shower a good hour or two before the flights from LHR arrived. There were 20 shower rooms, I wouldn’t think there would be a queue even during rush hour.

After my long shower, there were quite a few more people at the lounge. Even with the more people, there was still plenty of room at the lounge. Compared to other lounges, e.g., CX HKG lounges, this SIN lounge is right up there. I’d even rank this better than the QF first lounge at SYD.

I left for the gate well ahead of time. It was a slight walk, but I still arrived early. Security for the gate wasn’t even open. People already started to queue when I got there. There was a rather dodgy looking around. I was standing against a column with my luggage, he’d nothing but a magazine and a paper bag with a small package. The more I stood there, the closer he got… He was probably innocent, but I would give him a look and he’d back off a little. Once I looked away, he’d get closer… The flight at an adjacent gate opened, and some seats opened up, so I left him standing there for the seats. I watched him for a couple more minutes and he disappeared…

My flight also opened, and we went through security. I always got ready (i.e., wallet, mobiles in my bag) before joining the queue. Pretty much all the people that were queuing before the gate opened had to be stopped because they’d something in their pockets. Why wouldn’t they get ready when they were queuing? It’s not like they’d better things to do while standing around.

Most passengers on this flight came from LHR. There were plenty of families and small children. Some of them were grumpy and tired. This just made the gate area especially busy… Babies crawling everything, crying, children arguing, fighting… Finally the air bridge opened… Boarding calls were made for families and they needed it. Some people still tried to get through early though. It’s not going anywhere without you… Another call was made from the back of the aircraft. Some premium passengers were confused as there was no call for them. I waited, and most of the premium passengers also waited for the call. The last call was just a general call, so we just queued… Boarding was through the one door.

I went upstairs and some people were already there. I took my window seat, and it’s a pretty good seat. Since it’s the last row, there’s no one to skip over to get out. It’s also a bassinet seat though. While it faced backwards, just as all window seats, you couldn’t really see the toilet or the gallery. There wasn’t much light or noise coming through either. One slight down side was I couldn’t use as much of the side bins as possible. Half the space was occupied by the plane. You could use several bins, since you were the last row, but none of them would be big enough to store a normal sized luggage.

Pre-departure drinks were offered, along with a menu. We were looked after by a couple of ‘experienced’ FAs. They seemed to be getting along very well, laughing and joking all the way. The service wasn’t bad at all, but it wasn’t as attentive as the flight from SFO. It’s my first time on a backward seat, and it took me a couple of seconds to figure out which way we were going as first pushed back before going forward.

Dinner wasn’t bad, and I might have a fish of some sort (couldn’t remember). Dessert was a very nice cheese cake. For some reasons, it took them ages to get the plates away (they might have forgotten). I like to finish dinner, use the facilities, brush my teeth and go to sleep on overnight flights. With a clear passage to the aisle, I just took my plates out with me. A FA just happened to walk past and she took it off me and just put them on where they put the newspapers before take-off.

The flight wasn’t long, only 7 hours or so. I missed half a movie again, and I woke up about an hour before landing. BA really need to take a look at their breakfast. It’s nothing more than fruit (or cereal) and bread. It’s ridiculous.

During the flight, the captain warned that MEL’s runway is under construction work (probably for the Airbus 380), so we might be under heavier braking than usual, that’s assuming we wouldn’t get hindered by possible fog. Luckily, we were quick enough to beat any fog and there wasn’t any extra braking that I noticed when we landed…

We left the plane quite quickly, even from upper deck. It’s just past 4am, and it seemed we were the first flight in. There were a few staff milling around, taking things easy on a Saturday morning… It seemed I was the only one with a connecting international flight, as I headed to security by myself…

Check-in = 6/10 (only LHR, the Connection Centre was good, but the power hungry agent at T4 was the worst behaviour I've ever seen)
Lounge = 7/10 (Molton Brown was nice, but need more availability, only counting LHR and SFO)
Boarding = 3/10
In-flight catering = 5/10 (have they heard of 'breakfast'?)
IFE = 7/10 (only if every flight had AVOD)
In-flight service = 8/10
Seats = 7/10 (BA marketing are good at selling the seat)

Total = 43

I was the first passenger to come through this morning. Shops were barely open, the only customers at the eateries were staff from other shops. I headed down the stairs to the QF lounge, and found it wouldn’t be open until 5:15. It wasn’t even 5 yet.

I went back up and had a look around the few shops that were open. Prices weren’t that exciting and there wasn’t anything I wanted or could get at WLG at lower prices anyway. I went to gate, the good thing was there weren’t armrests between the individual seats, so I put my feet up. Even though I wasn’t trying to sleep, it was good to put my feet up straight…

Gradually, passengers for other flights began to arrive. Most flights were to Asia, and while the terminal began to get busy, most people were still not much more than walking zombies…

I headed back to the QF lounge (which CX also use), and was the first customer in. First thing was to get my boarding pass. Unfortunately, the lady there couldn’t get on the system, so she offered to take my ticket and passport so she could do it later while I head for a shower. She asked whether I was a Qantas Club member, and I said yes, and asked whether she wanted my card, but she was friendly and trusting and she gave me the towels and a plastic bag so I could return the used towels to her.

There weren’t that many shower suites here at MEL, and each was quite small. With one’s hand luggage inside, it’s difficult to move around without knocking something, and a seat was just out of the question. A stool tucked underneath the sink could be useful when required though.

After a nice hot shower, I went back to reception, but she still couldn’t print my boarding pass, so I hit breakfast instead. It was the usual QF lounge affair (they seem to have the same breakfast no matter which QF lounge you go) – oatmeal, cereal, pear or peach (from a can) and toast. Occasionally, you get pastries but not in this case. Passengers slowly began to come in, but most seemed to be for other flights. This lounge calls every flight that departs from the terminal, including non QF or non OW flights. There wasn’t a clear first class section, but there was a section with slightly better furniture and a ‘subtle’ sign showing first class. At this hour, no one really cared where you sit, and reception certainly didn’t care. After going through a newspaper with dawn slowly breaking, the tarmac gradually became busier. The lounge and the my gate (9) had a good view of the tarmac. Flights came in and there was even the occasional queue to take off. The QF flights that flew the same route (LHR-SIN-MEL) began arriving, but again there didn’t seem to be many connecting passengers. There were a couple of CX customers from HKG that connected to my flight though.

On this Saturday morning, the lounge never got busy. Passengers were a good mix of leisure passengers and the business type, most likely going home. As I headed back to the gate, I finally collected my boarding pass and passport.

Now that it’s light outside, I headed to the window to have a proper look of the tarmac from my gate. While I saw some construction activities outside my gate earlier when it was dark, now I could clearly see there would be no way they could park a plane there. There wasn’t even an air bridge at the gate. The only possibility would be a bus gate.

Gate 11 which was next to Gate 9 had a 733 parked next to it. 11 looked more like an gate for US flights, with extra dividers. While the departure board still showed gate 9 for my flight, I sat at Gate 11, expecting my flight to move over to 11.

With about 10 minutes before scheduled boarding, the announcement came that the flight would indeed depart from Gate 11. It didn’t look like a full flight, with about 100 passengers at most. When we sat down and the gate agent prepared the necessary paperwork, the occasional passengers would rush up to the gate and expecting to board. It turned out that the departure board has already shown the flight as ‘final call’ (another crying wolf)…Even when the agent had her immediate area roped off, people would still go around it and wanting to board. When you see quite a few people sitting down and the door to the air bridge closed, you are either way too late or boarding hasn’t begun yet…

There was a passenger connecting from HKG with CX and for some reasons her bag wasn’t tagged to go to WLG, only to MEL even though she’d a boarding pass for this flight already. I couldn’t figure out how that managed to happen (wouldn’t that be some security problems?). She asked the gate agent whether she could locate her luggage and have someone put it on this flight. Perhaps she should have gone through customs and immigration before getting her boarding pass… Her boarding pass looked like a QF one, and not a CX one.

Boarding time came and went. Announcements and apologies came through that it was because of the late incoming flight. The plane has been sitting there for well over an hour now. I was there…! It doesn’t take that long to prepare a 733, even if it’s a token international flight.

Boarding finally began and it was a free for all. For a small flight, I didn’t really care. Including myself, there were only 3 passengers in business today. A fourth came up after levelling out, and it was clear he was a QF staff. At first, I thought he might not get the full business service, but he did… Didn’t worry me, just interesting to note.

Unlike the trans-Tasman flight that started this trip, a printed menu was offered. This time, there’s a proper breakfast compared to BA – a cooked option rather than just fruit. The CSD also introduced herself to each of the passengers when she offered the menu.

Normally, the QF CSD would look after the business class and the rest of the crew would look after economy. At this flight, a young FA took care of business and the CSD took care of economy with another FA.

Before breakfast was served, the FA asked whether I would like a DVD player instead of the movie showing at the main screen. I took the opportunity having turned it down at my first flight. While she gave us the movie catalogue and asked for a selection, she ended up giving each of us the entire movie library but with our first selection pre-loaded ready to go.

This was as close to AVOD QF could get at these flights. It also served a good opportunity to finally catch up on 3 or 4 movies that I’ve watched during various flights of this trip but have fallen asleep to.

Arrived at a brilliantly sunny and calm WLG, marked with a very smooth touchdown. (Although after I walked out of the terminal, there was a definite nip in the air that wasn’t there when I left 3 weeks ago.) While WLG wasn’t a big airport, there was a relatively long walk through various air bridges and walk ways before getting to Immigration. As I was the first one to leave the plane, I almost led the passengers to a wrong way as the walk way kept pointing to Departure, but nothing about Arrival. There was no staff around to ask, but with the only other door locked, there was only one way to go.

I collected my duty-free that I bought when I was leaving WLG. Although my original receipt was with my lost luggage, I explained the situation to the shop and with my boarding pass, they gave me the goods. By the time I got to Luggage Reclaim, bags just started to arrive. This flight followed closely from a QF flight from SYD and another one from NZ, so it was quite busy. With all my bags, I went to get a trolley, and with I was just getting used to recognising my suitcase. By the time I recognised it, it has already went past me and half way down the other side of the belt, so I chased after it.

No sniffing dog today, but I did have some food to declare. Joined the red queue (for things to declare), the officer asked what it was, and it was just candy. I always pack any food with my hand luggage for easy retrieval. I showed the officer the food, and he was quite happy, and he handed my customs form to another officer. He was more interested with the places that I’ve been to rather than the food. He didn’t ask me anything that was outside what I wrote on the form, although he did seem extra interesting with my Thailand stop. Perhaps that was due to the recent Bali happenings…

As all passengers were required to do, all bags went through x-ray again for a search on food. Having found nothing that they didn’t know about already, I was allowed to go.

Arrival hall was full of people, and it was good to see the family again after a 3-week whirlwind trip around the world…

Check-in = 7/10 (only once at WLG at the start of the trip, and I never the NZ agents doing it, the SIN and MEL ladies were very good though)
Lounge = 8/10 (SIN was very nice)
Boarding = 4/10
In-flight catering = 7/10
IFE = 7/10
In-flight service = 8/10
Seats = 7/10 (First class was nice, Skybed was better than BA's flat bed and CX long-haul, the 733s were bearable, but not worth the money)

Total = 48

I re-united with my lost suitcase when I got home. It had earned a whole heap of tags...

From what I could make of it...

- It went through YVR and DFW OK. There were TSA stickers from these airports.
- There was a note inside from the TSA saying they went through it (and it was messy). It was unclear which airport's TSA went though it.
- As noted before, it missed the BA flight to SFO.
- A lost report was attached to it with AY's details.
- There was a BA lost luggage tag on it, but by the time I located it, it was 4 days after the missed flight to LHR. Why couldn't BA get it to LHR during that time?
- Not entirely sure how the bag got to LAX, but it caught QF26 to AKL.
- From AKL, it went on NZ flight to WLG. (From LAX to WLG, there were big 'RUSH' tags on it.)
- NZ Customs also stickered it, but no note inside saying so.
- My combination lock (with the default combination) was in tact. The bag was locked...!
- Someone called my home, asked for my birthday as a check for me before delivering it to my home.
- Lost item: a camera battery.

I normally don't put camera batteries into checked bags, but for some reasons I did this time. Having said that, I've put batteries into checked bags before. Not entirely sure whether it was the reason the TSA opened it, but now it's not there...

(Best to worst, '/' denotes ties)

Check-in = AA, CX/QF, BA, AY
Lounge = CX, QF, AA/AY/BA
Boarding = CX, AA, AY, QF, BA
Catering = AY/CX/QF, AA, BA
IFE = CX/BA/QF, AA/AY
Service = CX, AY/BA/QF, AA
Seats = CX/BA/QF, AA, AY

Total = CX (56), QF (48), BA (43), AA (41), AY (38)

Obviously, this isn't a scentific exercise... Also, some of these are based on different platforms. BA were all long-haul (4 flights) and AY only had 2 regional flights, CX were also regional flights (even if they still ranked first).

Miles flown = 51635
QFF points earned = 88110 - 55000 = 33110 (including all bonuses, subtract upgrade costs to first on QF107)
(Plus a few thousands of SPG points, and Amex and credit card points)

Well, this is it... I hope you enjoyed reading it, and if you've read right through it, well done. Thanks for reading it whether you've read all or just part of it. Apologies for not being able to update this report while I was having the trip, but the lost luggage made things rather tricky...

I hope to be able to do another RTW next year, but with the extortion charge (also known as 'fuel surcharge'), it's proving very difficult to justify. In the mean time, there's the priority of earning some money first. On the other hand, I've a free pub to go to now... :)

Welcome Home Leumas,

Have been following your Trip on an almost daily basis.

Great report and very insightful............that trip must have cost a fortune but well worth it by the sounds of it.

Leumas, it may have been costly, but well worth it on the status and points side. An excellent review of all the flights and I'm jealous as most of my flying in 2005 and in the future wil be domestic :rolleyes: - that's why I look out for a decent TR so I can read what I missing out on :( ....

Perhaps that teenage girl in SIN QP reads FT and wanted to ask you about your trip ;)

Great trip and report leumas ^^^

NZ customs are always interested in those travelling through Thailand (and some neighbouring countries).

Surprised to see you write MEL Intl QP announces all flights. That hasnt been my experience.

Enjoyed the read very much. Thanks.

Miles flown = 51635
QFF points earned = 88110 - 55000 = 33110 (including all bonuses, subtract upgrade costs to first on QF107)
(Plus a few thousands of SPG points, and Amex and credit card points)


How many Status Credits did you earn for your RTW?

Miles flown = 51635
QFF points earned = 88110 - 55000 = 33110 (including all bonuses, subtract upgrade costs to first on QF107)
(Plus a few thousands of SPG points, and Amex and credit card points)

How many Status Credits did you earn for your RTW?

Good read thanks :D

Thanks for all the comments, guys! :) Now, I look back (it's been a full month since I returned!), I really enjoyed it. I'm glad I did it. To be honest, I've had a couple of thoughts on where to go next year already, but I haven't committed anything to it... Still annoyed with QF on their programme changes...

UtC, I earned 1650 SCs for the trip. I think I'll actually earn more (close to 2000) if I fly this route post May 25.