kyushuman
Aug 4, 05, 8:19 pm
This is a work in progress, and is quite long, with as many details as I can remember. I'm too lazy to insert the Bold letters, but if you read this you'll get a good idea of the experience. A very strong F product on MH was tested with a nearly 12-hour delay, but in general a nice trip. MH service was generally good to excellent--and consistent over the 4 flight segments, which had a total of 4 different crews.
I will say ahead of time that in both F and C on MH, there is a minimum of FOUR towel services: Upon boarding, before dinner, after dinner, and just before landing. Add two more for long-haul flights with 2 meals. Drinks that are unique to MH include Iced coffee, and some nice juices: in addition to orange and apple, MH serves 100% mango and guava as well. Bread is always offered multiple times, and portion sizes are decent in C, ridiculously large (in fact, all you can eat, since everything is served from a cart, and you can sample all 4 entrees and side vegges if you want.
MH 785 Sched. Departure 12:00, Actual 12:10
Sched. Arrival 15:15, Actual 15:05
A very good experience--an empty check-in area about 75 minutes before the flight, entry to the TG Business Class lounge (go upstairs, it’s quieter and brigher, with natural skylights). Good snacks and drinks offerings. I made it to the gate about 2 minutes before boarding started, so I pretty much just zoomed onboard.
I was welcomed aboard and offered a drink, the usual MH Business Class choice of orange, mango, or guava juice, along with water. I took mango. After take-off, we were offered drinks again, and then came the lunch cart.
The menu is as follows:
Lunch
Seasonal Salad
Complemented with French Vinaigrette Dressing
Entrees
Grilled Chicken, Served with a Hoisin BBQ sauce. Fried rice with green peas and stir-fried mixed vegetables
Fried Sea Perch
with Soy Sauce, Asparagus, and Carrots, served with stead rice and kailan with Oyster Sauce
Chinese Style Vegetarian Dish
Fried Beancurd and mock prawns with vegetables, steamed rice
Dessert
Chocolate Gateau
Bread Selection
I took the fish entree, and it was nice. There was some turbulence, and FAs were told over the loudspeaker to stop serving all hot beverages--so coffee was out. I should have asked for an ice coffee, but anyway it was a decent lunch service. I was offered bread at least 4 times! It’s only a 2-hour flight, so soon after lunch was cleared, we were beginning to descend.
Luckily, it’s a short flght, since the A330 they use has NO IFE, even in Business Class. That’s trouble, since they also use this plane for a few flights a week KUL-KCH-PER and also to PEK, both of which are 6-hour flights. Kinda long with no IFE and no personal DVD players or anything.
My bag was already on the carousel when I got to baggage, so I got right out and found the Shangri-La counter, where I arranged my ride into town.
Ratings:
Check-in/lounges: 5/5
In-flight service: 4/5
Baggage: 5/5
Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur
If you don’t have a free transport, be sure to take the KLIA Ekspres, a 30-minute fast train into the city. But I’d paid the “Value Rate” at the Shangri-La, which I think is known at most hotels as the rack rate. But Shangri-La makes it worth your while, in my opinion. The Value Rate includes Free Unlimited Laundry (I did about US$100 worth on one day!), shoe shine, breakfast for two, free broadband internet access in room, round-trip airport limo transfers (a Mercedes, stocked with bottles of water and a cool towel in the back seat), and--best of all--(for my 01:05am flight) a 6pm check-out. The Value Rate this time was about $127++, which is a lot more than other 5* hotels in KL, but to be honest I have never had a bad experience at a Shangri-La, and I was in a “I’ve been on the road 6 weeks, staying at 2-3* hotels, and I need to be pampered”) mood.
I often will pay the “Value Rate” at the Shang, and this was the perfect time to do it: I had a pile of laundry to do, wanted to be online a while and catch up on emails, have a nice breakfast, and, generally, after staying in a 2-star hotel in BKK the past few weekends (hello, cockroaches!), I wanted to get treated wonderfully. I was. This hotel has excellent, personal service, even though it was 100% full when I was there. When I checked in, they asked me if I would mind checking out at noon the next day--but I asked them to try and let me stay until 6pm due to my late flight, which the Value Rate allows--it doesn’t say “based on availability” or anything like that. But she said they were actually “minus 7” for the following night, so it might be difficult. At worst, I was welcome to freshen up in the gym showers if I needed to, but that didn’t sound too great. Anyway, I said ok. What could I do?
The next morning, when I got back from the very nice breakfast (most unique feature: a chocolate fountain, where you could dip fruits!), there was a message on my voicemail saying I was welcome to stay till 6pm. Yay. They remembered little ol’ me!
I went for lunch at a street stall a block from the hotel, went shopping under the gorgeous Petronas Towers and then down Sultan Ismail at Lot 10, and then hit the gym--a SUPERB gym, with a complete range of weight and cardio machines. The pool looked nice, and seemed to get sun most of the day, though I didn’t sample it.
I went and hung out with friends and had a light supper, anticipating my nice in-flight food, after my 6pm check-out, and got my Mercedes back from the Shang to KLIA at 9pm (even though I had originally asked for a 10pm limo, they had changed it in about 15 seconds. A wonderful last moment to my stay).
Room comfort/amenities: 4/5
gym/breakfast: 5+/5
service: 5/5
One of the better hotel experiences I've had, especially since it didn't begin so well--they more than made up for my worries of checking out early! Nice job.
MH 201 KUL-JNB
Sched. Departure 01:05, Actual 12:20pm(!)
Sched. Arrival 05:40, Actual 16:25
Seat 2A, First Class
B747-400 (old F configuration)
F Load: 6/14
If you read the flight times above carefully, you will see that this flight had some major problems. It was not delayed on the boards when I arrived for check-in at 10pm, but by the time I got to the check-in levels, it had been moved back 6.5 hours, to a 7:35am departure. But they checked me in anyway, saying that the flight control center was still saying “on time”.
By the time I got to the First Class lounge in the satellite terminal, the woman there told me that the boards were, in fact, right, and that I should have a seat and she’d let me know about hotel arrangements.
At the hotel (the Pan Pacific KLIA, a short walk outside of the terminal, thank god!), I was given a just-ok room and (though I wasn’t told about it) found out from another pax that there was a small supper in the lounge for us. I went and had some sandwiches and fruits.
When we finished the supper, the screens at the hotel now said departure was 12:05pm! So, an 11-hour delay it was. No reason was ever given for the delay.
Business Class was completely full, and looked even more full considering the entire downstairs portion of C was full of the Argentine BB players--that 50” pitch isn’t much when you’re 7 feet tall! Worst of all, Y looked to be 100% full! I can’t imagine--they were sent into the city for hotels, 1 hour each way, and then had to be packed in so tightly on their trips. Yuck!
The one good thing was that I got a good night’s sleep, a full 8 hours, because the later delay allowed us to sleep in. A buffet breakfast was ok, but after checking out of the Shangri-La in the city, this hotel was, sorry to say, not up to scratch. In addition, there were several interactions with staff where I was made to feel like a leper, since I was a “delayed flight customer” instead, I guess, of a “real” customer.... I don’t like it when hotels do that, especially since nobody forced them to take the discounted rate. I expect to be treated pleasantly at a 4* (it can’t be a 5*, can it?) hotel.
Pan Pacific Hotel KLIA:
room comfort/amenities: 3/5 (everything a bit dated, no wi-fi)
gym/breakfast: 3/5 Breakfast was fine, but nothing special. The gym, though, is open 24hours, a good bonus.
Service: 2/5 Definitely felt like a second-class citizen at times.
After getting a golf-cart ride back over to KLIA and the MH check-in the next morning, I was given a new BP, and zoomed thru immigration. The night before, an official just wrote “delayed flight” on my passport exit stamp, and so it was no problem.
Suprisingly, I only saw one pax get angry though all of this. I was on a 4-day trip to Buenos Aires, so it was eating about 15-20% of my trip away... but I didn’t really care much. Others, I’m sure, were less than happy, but they made the best of it anyway.
One bonus: also staying at the hotel, and sharing my table for the late supper, was the entire Argentine National Basketball team, on its way back from China for a tournament! Wow, a bunch of hotties.... and quite well-behaved, actually. Too bad they were in Business Class, though.....
Upon boarding, I was not greeted, not helped to my seat, and was not helped with my bags. In fact, service was, I’d say, just ok, with some spurts of greatness. For the first few hours after the meal service finished, there were no FAs to be seen, and I was getting a headache from the alcohol, but there was no water refills.
But then after I took out my computer to work, my water glass was filled at least every 15 minutes from that moment onward. Food was nice, presented well, and there was plenty of it. Nobody was ever rude, but to be honest I was treated much better--and more personally--on my BKK-KUL connection the previous day. Still, who can complain with only 6/14 FC seats full, we got plenty of attention. In fact, 2 of the 6 seemed to be MH employees (maybe a pilot dead-heading?), as they were seated in the yucky Row 4, and always served last, not given everything we were (like the Amenity Kit).
Amenity Kits were nice, with the usual stuff, but in addition there was an evian facial spray, in a quite large bottle, as well as Listerine breath strips (in addition to regular mouthwash). I got a “mens” one, so the womens could be different.
Luckily, the new AVOD was onboard this flight, though the new FC seats weren’t. About 25 movies and over 75-100 full length CDs, which you could make a “jukebox” from. Quite nice! So in general, things were good. Although they say there is laptop power, it doesn’t work with my Macintosh, or I needed a different cord that I don’t currently have. I think it's "Empower", the cord for which of course I left in BKK! Anyway, the man in front of me had no problem, so some people do seem to know what to bring, or maybe the MH attachments for PC are standard.
I am guessing that, because of the flight delay, they catered a completely different offering today, so there was no printed menu. Instead of (I’m guessing) what would have been a late supper and breakfast, with our scheduled departure and arrival times (hey--just what we had at the hotel!), we got a full lunch and then a late supper.
Here is a menu, generally from my memory:
Lunch
Satay Course, beef or chicken or both, with accompaniments
Caviar with accompaniments OR Salmon with balsamic vinaigrette dressing (I had caviar, and I'm sure you could ask for both caviar and salmon if you wanted)
Corn tofu soup--decent, but nothing special.
Entrees:
Venison in red wine sauce
Cheese Tortellini
Sea Perch with cream herb sauce
Chicken Piccata
I sampled the fish and the tortellini. Quite nice. I wasn't in the mood for venison, but an interesting offering!
Cheese course--3 cheeses to choose from, served with Port
Fruit--papaya, melon, and grapes
Dessert-- warm bread pudding with a creamy topping
Then was offered ice cream (cups of Haagen-Dazs, Choc or Vanilla), which I took later on
Coffees
Drinks choices were the same on all 3 segments, and there WAS a drinks menu when I asked for one:
Champagne: Dom Perignon
Red Wines; Merryvale Starmount Cab Sauvignon, 2001; La Bernardine Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2000
White Wines: Murrietta’s Well Livermore Valley Vendimia 2001; Meursault Domaine Jean-Marie Bouzereau 2002.
Aperitifs: Vermouth, Campari
Cocktails: Bloody Mary, Manhattan, Gin Fizz, Collins, Screwdriver, Sours, Highballs, and Martinis
Spirits: Chivas Royal Blue, Johnnie Walker Black Label, Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey, Gordon’s Gin, Smirnoff Vodka, Congac Hennessey XO, and Bacardi Rum.
Beers: International Selection
Liqueurs: Grand Marnier, Drambuie, Tia Maria, Bailey’s Irish Cream (which wasn’t actually loaded, because I tried to have some but they couldn’t locate any)
Port: Taylor’s Fine Tawny
No midflight snacks were offered, but then again I didn’t ask, since I was quite full from lunch.
A light meal was served with about 2 hours left in the flight. It was a supper, with just an appetizer, then a choice of 4 entrees, and some fruit for dessert. Good, but I was still full from the first meal!
We arrived to a bus gate, and all JNB pax were loaded into one bus, then transit pax were loaded into other buses and brought to the terminal. I found two lounges I could enter, both in the lower level at the opposite end of the terminal from the MH bus gate: The KLM lounge (I have NW World Clubs access with my Platinum Status even when I’m not flying a Skyteam carrier), open in the evening, and also another lounge, where Diners Club cardmembers could enter. The KLM lounge had decent snacks and drinks offerings, slightly more than the Diners one; also much less crowded at 5pm. But there was no MH lounge for F or C pax.
I must say, the transit experience at JNB was truly trying: hot, crowded buses and terminal, a bus gate, NO announcements, and no lounge access for F. A huge scrum trying to board at the bus gate with the 300+pax all going at once. You’re on your own, even in F.
With an actual gate in CPT, and no construction and more friendly and awake handling agents, things were much better there. If you don't have to get off at JNB, then don't. CPT is a good spot to stretch your legs, though, and the lounge (upstairs from the South African Airways lounge) has a good offering of newspapers, and some decent snacks and drinks. Very friendly lounge matron, too.
JNB-CPT
Sheduled departue time: 07:00 Actual: 18:55
Scheduled Arrival time: 09:15 Actual: 20:40
Seat 2A, First Class
F Load: 2/14
This was actually the most attentive, friendly service of the 3 segments, probably because the crew was only working this 2-hour flight. There were only 2 of us in F, so there was plenty of food and drinks to go around. I had Dom with my snack ( three hot savouries, I believe a mini-pizza, a seafood puff and one more. All were good, and were served with an excellent mango salsa. The flight was over all too soon, though I did manage to polish off about 2/3 of a bottle of Dom. I really don’t drink much as a rule, so this is a treat for me!
CPT-EZE
Scheduled Departure: 10:45 Actual: 21:55
Scheduled Arrial: 15:35 Actual 02:40
Seat: 2A
F load: 6/14
I mostly slept on this flight, but was awake for the meal services.
Again, no menus, since usually you get a full lunch and supper, while we got more of a dinner and then a supper. The food was excellent, with several unique things: Again, 4 choices for entrees (3 meat as well as a vegetarian pasta), and also 4 side dishes; plus white rice and mushroom risotto. In South Africa, they loaded a bunch of half servings of Passion Fruit, chilled and served with a spoon. I’ve never had it fresh. Oh my! It’s amazing! I ended up having 2 on JNB-CPT and 2 on CPT-EZE. Yummy and sour!
Arrival into EZE was not a very good experience. While I did get through immigration quickly, it took nearly 60 minutes (at 3am!) for my bag to come out. It had been tagged F class, but still F class bags loaded in KUL came out last--there was one other woman in F, and hers came after mine. Most Y pax had already taken their bags away by the time ours came.
One FA told me that the original reason for a 6-hour delay was a late-arriving aircraft, and then the delay was extended another 5 hours because of mandatory crew rest. FAs apologized a few times, but MH really didn’t do well for some pax: I met a couple in CPT who had gone to the airport at 8am, were allowed to check in, check their bags, and go through immigration, before they checked the screens, seeing the 11-hour delay! Nobody had told them. In addition, nobody told the CREW who joined us at CPT about the delay, either, so (according to one of the 3 FC FA's) she had already put on her make-up, dressed, and taken the crew bus to the airport before finding out they had an extra 12 hours! Somebody in KUL needs to be better at handling this, especially when they have 12 hours to do so. They knew about the delay by about 21:00 on Tuesday, and which was about 16:00 Tuesday South African time--so plenty of time to notify pax and crew. Like I said, though, for us pax boarding in KUL, it was quite painless, since we just stayed longer in the hotel.
I would give the following for the flights:
Service/Food: 4/5 Some seemed to be going through the motions--like on KUL-JNB, and I think part of that is because there were victims of the longs delay as well. Most, though, really were excellent--on JNB-CPT, after eating, I grabbbed a blanket and reclined my seat to take a nap. Within 5 seconds--less, actually--the FA had run into the galley and turned down the F class overhead lights! That says a lot. On CPT-EZE, after I woke up from a long sleep, I went to the restroom and when I came out, the FA was waiting there to ask if I wanted anything to drink. Nice.
Seat/IFE: 4/5: It is not lie-flat, but I would guess the seat pitch is over 75”. It is actually very comfortable--I got about 3 hours sleep on one flight and 5 on the last segment--and the new AVOD is great--so many CDs to choose from!
Handling of Delay: 2/5
Baggage: 1/5
The return trip is in a few days, so I will be sure to post that later!
I will say ahead of time that in both F and C on MH, there is a minimum of FOUR towel services: Upon boarding, before dinner, after dinner, and just before landing. Add two more for long-haul flights with 2 meals. Drinks that are unique to MH include Iced coffee, and some nice juices: in addition to orange and apple, MH serves 100% mango and guava as well. Bread is always offered multiple times, and portion sizes are decent in C, ridiculously large (in fact, all you can eat, since everything is served from a cart, and you can sample all 4 entrees and side vegges if you want.
MH 785 Sched. Departure 12:00, Actual 12:10
Sched. Arrival 15:15, Actual 15:05
A very good experience--an empty check-in area about 75 minutes before the flight, entry to the TG Business Class lounge (go upstairs, it’s quieter and brigher, with natural skylights). Good snacks and drinks offerings. I made it to the gate about 2 minutes before boarding started, so I pretty much just zoomed onboard.
I was welcomed aboard and offered a drink, the usual MH Business Class choice of orange, mango, or guava juice, along with water. I took mango. After take-off, we were offered drinks again, and then came the lunch cart.
The menu is as follows:
Lunch
Seasonal Salad
Complemented with French Vinaigrette Dressing
Entrees
Grilled Chicken, Served with a Hoisin BBQ sauce. Fried rice with green peas and stir-fried mixed vegetables
Fried Sea Perch
with Soy Sauce, Asparagus, and Carrots, served with stead rice and kailan with Oyster Sauce
Chinese Style Vegetarian Dish
Fried Beancurd and mock prawns with vegetables, steamed rice
Dessert
Chocolate Gateau
Bread Selection
I took the fish entree, and it was nice. There was some turbulence, and FAs were told over the loudspeaker to stop serving all hot beverages--so coffee was out. I should have asked for an ice coffee, but anyway it was a decent lunch service. I was offered bread at least 4 times! It’s only a 2-hour flight, so soon after lunch was cleared, we were beginning to descend.
Luckily, it’s a short flght, since the A330 they use has NO IFE, even in Business Class. That’s trouble, since they also use this plane for a few flights a week KUL-KCH-PER and also to PEK, both of which are 6-hour flights. Kinda long with no IFE and no personal DVD players or anything.
My bag was already on the carousel when I got to baggage, so I got right out and found the Shangri-La counter, where I arranged my ride into town.
Ratings:
Check-in/lounges: 5/5
In-flight service: 4/5
Baggage: 5/5
Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur
If you don’t have a free transport, be sure to take the KLIA Ekspres, a 30-minute fast train into the city. But I’d paid the “Value Rate” at the Shangri-La, which I think is known at most hotels as the rack rate. But Shangri-La makes it worth your while, in my opinion. The Value Rate includes Free Unlimited Laundry (I did about US$100 worth on one day!), shoe shine, breakfast for two, free broadband internet access in room, round-trip airport limo transfers (a Mercedes, stocked with bottles of water and a cool towel in the back seat), and--best of all--(for my 01:05am flight) a 6pm check-out. The Value Rate this time was about $127++, which is a lot more than other 5* hotels in KL, but to be honest I have never had a bad experience at a Shangri-La, and I was in a “I’ve been on the road 6 weeks, staying at 2-3* hotels, and I need to be pampered”) mood.
I often will pay the “Value Rate” at the Shang, and this was the perfect time to do it: I had a pile of laundry to do, wanted to be online a while and catch up on emails, have a nice breakfast, and, generally, after staying in a 2-star hotel in BKK the past few weekends (hello, cockroaches!), I wanted to get treated wonderfully. I was. This hotel has excellent, personal service, even though it was 100% full when I was there. When I checked in, they asked me if I would mind checking out at noon the next day--but I asked them to try and let me stay until 6pm due to my late flight, which the Value Rate allows--it doesn’t say “based on availability” or anything like that. But she said they were actually “minus 7” for the following night, so it might be difficult. At worst, I was welcome to freshen up in the gym showers if I needed to, but that didn’t sound too great. Anyway, I said ok. What could I do?
The next morning, when I got back from the very nice breakfast (most unique feature: a chocolate fountain, where you could dip fruits!), there was a message on my voicemail saying I was welcome to stay till 6pm. Yay. They remembered little ol’ me!
I went for lunch at a street stall a block from the hotel, went shopping under the gorgeous Petronas Towers and then down Sultan Ismail at Lot 10, and then hit the gym--a SUPERB gym, with a complete range of weight and cardio machines. The pool looked nice, and seemed to get sun most of the day, though I didn’t sample it.
I went and hung out with friends and had a light supper, anticipating my nice in-flight food, after my 6pm check-out, and got my Mercedes back from the Shang to KLIA at 9pm (even though I had originally asked for a 10pm limo, they had changed it in about 15 seconds. A wonderful last moment to my stay).
Room comfort/amenities: 4/5
gym/breakfast: 5+/5
service: 5/5
One of the better hotel experiences I've had, especially since it didn't begin so well--they more than made up for my worries of checking out early! Nice job.
MH 201 KUL-JNB
Sched. Departure 01:05, Actual 12:20pm(!)
Sched. Arrival 05:40, Actual 16:25
Seat 2A, First Class
B747-400 (old F configuration)
F Load: 6/14
If you read the flight times above carefully, you will see that this flight had some major problems. It was not delayed on the boards when I arrived for check-in at 10pm, but by the time I got to the check-in levels, it had been moved back 6.5 hours, to a 7:35am departure. But they checked me in anyway, saying that the flight control center was still saying “on time”.
By the time I got to the First Class lounge in the satellite terminal, the woman there told me that the boards were, in fact, right, and that I should have a seat and she’d let me know about hotel arrangements.
At the hotel (the Pan Pacific KLIA, a short walk outside of the terminal, thank god!), I was given a just-ok room and (though I wasn’t told about it) found out from another pax that there was a small supper in the lounge for us. I went and had some sandwiches and fruits.
When we finished the supper, the screens at the hotel now said departure was 12:05pm! So, an 11-hour delay it was. No reason was ever given for the delay.
Business Class was completely full, and looked even more full considering the entire downstairs portion of C was full of the Argentine BB players--that 50” pitch isn’t much when you’re 7 feet tall! Worst of all, Y looked to be 100% full! I can’t imagine--they were sent into the city for hotels, 1 hour each way, and then had to be packed in so tightly on their trips. Yuck!
The one good thing was that I got a good night’s sleep, a full 8 hours, because the later delay allowed us to sleep in. A buffet breakfast was ok, but after checking out of the Shangri-La in the city, this hotel was, sorry to say, not up to scratch. In addition, there were several interactions with staff where I was made to feel like a leper, since I was a “delayed flight customer” instead, I guess, of a “real” customer.... I don’t like it when hotels do that, especially since nobody forced them to take the discounted rate. I expect to be treated pleasantly at a 4* (it can’t be a 5*, can it?) hotel.
Pan Pacific Hotel KLIA:
room comfort/amenities: 3/5 (everything a bit dated, no wi-fi)
gym/breakfast: 3/5 Breakfast was fine, but nothing special. The gym, though, is open 24hours, a good bonus.
Service: 2/5 Definitely felt like a second-class citizen at times.
After getting a golf-cart ride back over to KLIA and the MH check-in the next morning, I was given a new BP, and zoomed thru immigration. The night before, an official just wrote “delayed flight” on my passport exit stamp, and so it was no problem.
Suprisingly, I only saw one pax get angry though all of this. I was on a 4-day trip to Buenos Aires, so it was eating about 15-20% of my trip away... but I didn’t really care much. Others, I’m sure, were less than happy, but they made the best of it anyway.
One bonus: also staying at the hotel, and sharing my table for the late supper, was the entire Argentine National Basketball team, on its way back from China for a tournament! Wow, a bunch of hotties.... and quite well-behaved, actually. Too bad they were in Business Class, though.....
Upon boarding, I was not greeted, not helped to my seat, and was not helped with my bags. In fact, service was, I’d say, just ok, with some spurts of greatness. For the first few hours after the meal service finished, there were no FAs to be seen, and I was getting a headache from the alcohol, but there was no water refills.
But then after I took out my computer to work, my water glass was filled at least every 15 minutes from that moment onward. Food was nice, presented well, and there was plenty of it. Nobody was ever rude, but to be honest I was treated much better--and more personally--on my BKK-KUL connection the previous day. Still, who can complain with only 6/14 FC seats full, we got plenty of attention. In fact, 2 of the 6 seemed to be MH employees (maybe a pilot dead-heading?), as they were seated in the yucky Row 4, and always served last, not given everything we were (like the Amenity Kit).
Amenity Kits were nice, with the usual stuff, but in addition there was an evian facial spray, in a quite large bottle, as well as Listerine breath strips (in addition to regular mouthwash). I got a “mens” one, so the womens could be different.
Luckily, the new AVOD was onboard this flight, though the new FC seats weren’t. About 25 movies and over 75-100 full length CDs, which you could make a “jukebox” from. Quite nice! So in general, things were good. Although they say there is laptop power, it doesn’t work with my Macintosh, or I needed a different cord that I don’t currently have. I think it's "Empower", the cord for which of course I left in BKK! Anyway, the man in front of me had no problem, so some people do seem to know what to bring, or maybe the MH attachments for PC are standard.
I am guessing that, because of the flight delay, they catered a completely different offering today, so there was no printed menu. Instead of (I’m guessing) what would have been a late supper and breakfast, with our scheduled departure and arrival times (hey--just what we had at the hotel!), we got a full lunch and then a late supper.
Here is a menu, generally from my memory:
Lunch
Satay Course, beef or chicken or both, with accompaniments
Caviar with accompaniments OR Salmon with balsamic vinaigrette dressing (I had caviar, and I'm sure you could ask for both caviar and salmon if you wanted)
Corn tofu soup--decent, but nothing special.
Entrees:
Venison in red wine sauce
Cheese Tortellini
Sea Perch with cream herb sauce
Chicken Piccata
I sampled the fish and the tortellini. Quite nice. I wasn't in the mood for venison, but an interesting offering!
Cheese course--3 cheeses to choose from, served with Port
Fruit--papaya, melon, and grapes
Dessert-- warm bread pudding with a creamy topping
Then was offered ice cream (cups of Haagen-Dazs, Choc or Vanilla), which I took later on
Coffees
Drinks choices were the same on all 3 segments, and there WAS a drinks menu when I asked for one:
Champagne: Dom Perignon
Red Wines; Merryvale Starmount Cab Sauvignon, 2001; La Bernardine Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2000
White Wines: Murrietta’s Well Livermore Valley Vendimia 2001; Meursault Domaine Jean-Marie Bouzereau 2002.
Aperitifs: Vermouth, Campari
Cocktails: Bloody Mary, Manhattan, Gin Fizz, Collins, Screwdriver, Sours, Highballs, and Martinis
Spirits: Chivas Royal Blue, Johnnie Walker Black Label, Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey, Gordon’s Gin, Smirnoff Vodka, Congac Hennessey XO, and Bacardi Rum.
Beers: International Selection
Liqueurs: Grand Marnier, Drambuie, Tia Maria, Bailey’s Irish Cream (which wasn’t actually loaded, because I tried to have some but they couldn’t locate any)
Port: Taylor’s Fine Tawny
No midflight snacks were offered, but then again I didn’t ask, since I was quite full from lunch.
A light meal was served with about 2 hours left in the flight. It was a supper, with just an appetizer, then a choice of 4 entrees, and some fruit for dessert. Good, but I was still full from the first meal!
We arrived to a bus gate, and all JNB pax were loaded into one bus, then transit pax were loaded into other buses and brought to the terminal. I found two lounges I could enter, both in the lower level at the opposite end of the terminal from the MH bus gate: The KLM lounge (I have NW World Clubs access with my Platinum Status even when I’m not flying a Skyteam carrier), open in the evening, and also another lounge, where Diners Club cardmembers could enter. The KLM lounge had decent snacks and drinks offerings, slightly more than the Diners one; also much less crowded at 5pm. But there was no MH lounge for F or C pax.
I must say, the transit experience at JNB was truly trying: hot, crowded buses and terminal, a bus gate, NO announcements, and no lounge access for F. A huge scrum trying to board at the bus gate with the 300+pax all going at once. You’re on your own, even in F.
With an actual gate in CPT, and no construction and more friendly and awake handling agents, things were much better there. If you don't have to get off at JNB, then don't. CPT is a good spot to stretch your legs, though, and the lounge (upstairs from the South African Airways lounge) has a good offering of newspapers, and some decent snacks and drinks. Very friendly lounge matron, too.
JNB-CPT
Sheduled departue time: 07:00 Actual: 18:55
Scheduled Arrival time: 09:15 Actual: 20:40
Seat 2A, First Class
F Load: 2/14
This was actually the most attentive, friendly service of the 3 segments, probably because the crew was only working this 2-hour flight. There were only 2 of us in F, so there was plenty of food and drinks to go around. I had Dom with my snack ( three hot savouries, I believe a mini-pizza, a seafood puff and one more. All were good, and were served with an excellent mango salsa. The flight was over all too soon, though I did manage to polish off about 2/3 of a bottle of Dom. I really don’t drink much as a rule, so this is a treat for me!
CPT-EZE
Scheduled Departure: 10:45 Actual: 21:55
Scheduled Arrial: 15:35 Actual 02:40
Seat: 2A
F load: 6/14
I mostly slept on this flight, but was awake for the meal services.
Again, no menus, since usually you get a full lunch and supper, while we got more of a dinner and then a supper. The food was excellent, with several unique things: Again, 4 choices for entrees (3 meat as well as a vegetarian pasta), and also 4 side dishes; plus white rice and mushroom risotto. In South Africa, they loaded a bunch of half servings of Passion Fruit, chilled and served with a spoon. I’ve never had it fresh. Oh my! It’s amazing! I ended up having 2 on JNB-CPT and 2 on CPT-EZE. Yummy and sour!
Arrival into EZE was not a very good experience. While I did get through immigration quickly, it took nearly 60 minutes (at 3am!) for my bag to come out. It had been tagged F class, but still F class bags loaded in KUL came out last--there was one other woman in F, and hers came after mine. Most Y pax had already taken their bags away by the time ours came.
One FA told me that the original reason for a 6-hour delay was a late-arriving aircraft, and then the delay was extended another 5 hours because of mandatory crew rest. FAs apologized a few times, but MH really didn’t do well for some pax: I met a couple in CPT who had gone to the airport at 8am, were allowed to check in, check their bags, and go through immigration, before they checked the screens, seeing the 11-hour delay! Nobody had told them. In addition, nobody told the CREW who joined us at CPT about the delay, either, so (according to one of the 3 FC FA's) she had already put on her make-up, dressed, and taken the crew bus to the airport before finding out they had an extra 12 hours! Somebody in KUL needs to be better at handling this, especially when they have 12 hours to do so. They knew about the delay by about 21:00 on Tuesday, and which was about 16:00 Tuesday South African time--so plenty of time to notify pax and crew. Like I said, though, for us pax boarding in KUL, it was quite painless, since we just stayed longer in the hotel.
I would give the following for the flights:
Service/Food: 4/5 Some seemed to be going through the motions--like on KUL-JNB, and I think part of that is because there were victims of the longs delay as well. Most, though, really were excellent--on JNB-CPT, after eating, I grabbbed a blanket and reclined my seat to take a nap. Within 5 seconds--less, actually--the FA had run into the galley and turned down the F class overhead lights! That says a lot. On CPT-EZE, after I woke up from a long sleep, I went to the restroom and when I came out, the FA was waiting there to ask if I wanted anything to drink. Nice.
Seat/IFE: 4/5: It is not lie-flat, but I would guess the seat pitch is over 75”. It is actually very comfortable--I got about 3 hours sleep on one flight and 5 on the last segment--and the new AVOD is great--so many CDs to choose from!
Handling of Delay: 2/5
Baggage: 1/5
The return trip is in a few days, so I will be sure to post that later!