graraps
Mar 19, 08, 7:14 am
Quick intro:
Thanks to FT, I took advantage of two marvellous deals; Aeroflot to HKG and AZ CMB-Everywhere but the Moon – NYC. But I had to bridge the trip somehow. Again inspired by FT wisdom, I decided to try out Mihin Lanka between BKK and CMB, since prices on TG/UL/MH were quite high. Hadn't been too excited about it, but in hindsight it was a great decision (though I should've chosen Premium Economy instead; more on that later in this TR).
Booking process:
By far the most painful part of the trip. Even though the airline website could display availability and prices for me, there was no way to ticket the bloody thing, and MJ don't seem to be on the GD Systems, so unable to book from a TA outside of the countries they fly in. Got into BKK 1.5 day before my flight, and the hotel travel agent (I was staying in the Grand Mercure Fortune, which is massive and has quite a few facilities) was unable to book my itin! However, I was quite lucky in that it transpired that MJ's small CTO was literally 800m from the hotel. I took a leisurely walk, getting lost around the Sois and outside some “interesting” “hostess bars” (good job it was about 2pm and they were closed, so I didn't get pestered by touts), and finally got there. 3 employees and no customers, I was seen to immediately by 2 of them who were quite pleasant to deal with. But booking still was less than perfect. 3% credit card surcharge. Not gonna pay that. Walked to the nearest ATM, leaving my passport behind to speed up the reservation (stupid, I know, but I just wanted to get this over and done with ASAP), came back to hear that they wouldn't sell me an oneway ticket because I was “not a Thai resident” (first time I hear of a country placing different immigration restrictions on citizens of third countries depending on which other country they live).
In the end, I managed to convince them that I am indeed not going to stay in Sri Lanka, and that I have an onward ticket on SQ. Next hurdle was deciding on the class of service; unlike most self-described LCCs, MJ offers a “Premium Economy” (W) cabin. I asked what I would get for paying the extra 2900 THB to get into W; was told something like “more drinks” (Y service is also complimentary). Asked about lounge access, they said no, so I went with Y.
I paid cash (5500 THB IIRC), got my etkt confirmation and went on my way. Was told to be at the airport at about 8:00 and check-in at aisle N (BKK may be single terminal, but it's not exactly compact!). Departure time is 11:40, so 3+ hours' wait without lounge access wasn't gonna happen. I was also advised to print out my booking details for the outgoing SQ flights.
Pre-flight:
Woke up at 7:30. Managed to steal some wi-fi from a local hotspot so that I could get the details of the SQ flights, then went downstairs, checked out and asked the concierge to print out my booking, to which he replied that I should go to the business centre on the 2nd floor. It was already 9:30 or so, and BKK traffic is notorious, so I just put the thing onto standby and left the hotel. GF crew were staying in the hotel and were checking out at the same time as me; got sorely tempted to ask for a free ride on the crew bus, but in the end I decided to be "sensible" and jumped into a taxi to the unpronounceable airport of Bangkok (compulsory haggling about the use of meter ensued). As it happens, the hotel is right off the airport motorway, so negotiating local traffic took us all of 5 minutes, and by 10:10 I was entering the massive terminal. Having borne in mind the advice to check in at 8:00 in conjunction with an assumption that Sri Lankans are likely to be people used to travelling under conditions much harsher than those of a modern airport like BKK and/or not used to flying very often, it seemed I got my timing perfectly right. There were 2 check-in desks and NO queue, even though the flight seemed to be rather full- my sequence number was 103!
Free baggage allowance of 30kg, so my checked-in suitcase was fine at 22 (on a European LCC, this would likely have generated a massive overweight charge). Asked for my onward ticket details, I showed the ckin agent the laptop screen; she accepted it and gave me the better-than-expected 6D (are they filling the plane back-to-front?). Immigration was painless, though I made the stupid mistake of throwing my water bottle away before clearing it (there's separate security for each small set of gates). Visited a duty-free shop, where I found out their prices to be higher than duty-paid prices downtown (no surprise then), and had a really good double machiatto at one of the cafés, but was charged 200 THB for it (going rate in town seemed to be 50-80). Had a bit of a convo with the German guy next to me at the bar. He should be becoming a FT'er in the very near future! At 11:08, I cleared security (only 1 person in front of me). The boarding pass indicated a gate closing time of T-30, so I was a tad worried that I may have to argue in order to get on the plane, but seems like that I was far from the last pax on it. Even without lounge access, and contrary to some accounts I've read here, BKK was a pleasure to go through. The only irritating things about it are the high prices of stuff and the (thankfully not overbearing) references to the royal family.
Got to board as “final call” was displayed on the monitors, with 80% of pax already in their seats.
Flight:
My reaction on entering the A320 was one of great disappointment.
Why?
Because the Premium Economy seats were actual premium seats! Nice and wide (2 rows of 2-2), with enormous bulkhead row legroom! Now, if the chap at the CTO had told me, his employer would have made an extra 3000 or so THB and I would've been a much happier camper!
Today there are no pax flying W, which lessens my pain somewhat as we can at least use the front lav.
Anyway, I just made my way to 6D, where the legroom wasn't bad (much better than my last LCC flight on Sterling). This plane seems to be getting on a bit; the A320 has been around for a while and I guess this is one of the earliest examples. However, it's tidy and seems to be in a good state of repair. Labelling (e.g. “fasten seatbelts while seated”) is in Russian and English, so maybe this plane had been flying around the CIS in a previous life...
The purser also comes from Eastern Europe; this is not so obvious from her appearance (when first looking at her, I thought she was British), but her accent certainly is! One of the male FA's seems to be English (namebadge says Damien or something like that), and there's a far Eastern (Thai?) cabin crew member in addition to 2 or 3 Srilankans. Pretty impressive stuff for a state-owned carrier from a country that some would consider to be 3rd world.
I ask for a glass of water which I am promptly given by the charming Srilankan FA. There's a small episode just behind me with 4-5 pax loudly arguing, a situation that is promptly resolved by the FA's threatening to offload said pax.
After an excellent safety demo (really clearly spoken, synchronised words and actions, and taking it slow), we spend a long (13-15 mins) taxi and a couple of mins waiting for takeoff clearance, we got on our way (with a lot of engine noise, I may add!). Flight duration announced as 3h10m. Been nearly 3 years since I last flew economy on such a long sector (admittedly, most of my flights are around 2 hours), but I am sure I will be fine.
A choice of vegetarian or nonveg finger sandwiches is soon offered (from a trolley bearing the MEA logo!). I go for the non-veggie ones, and they're quite tasty (if not exactly filling). Some nice milk choc is also included in the tray. No cola available, but the apple ice tea is excellent. I am still peckish, so I get the cuttlefish crackers (yummy!) and Snow Queen minature out of my carryon, and enjoy another snack. Hadn't tried Snow Queen before; it seems to be a very pure vodka. ^
After a round offering water, the crew disappeared into the galley for the last hour or so of the flight. They were still great about offering me a tea and some water when I asked for them. The cabin was sprayed with some sort of disinfectant and we descended into a somewhat clouded Colombo sky.
Arrival:
After landing, and in sharp contrast to the UL planes scattered around the tarmac, we taxied to a jetway. The door was opened and, with a minimal amount of pushing, I soon was out of the aircraft. Got to passport control in about 2 minutes, no queue. Got processed immediately and walked another 3 minutes to the baggage reclaim belt, to marvel at everything having arrived there already!
It took me less than 15 minutes from aircraft door to the outside door of the airport.
The public area of the airport was full of taxi touts who got me so angry that I decided to take the local public bus to the city centre...Which is a saga onto itself, but not really relevant to a MJ trip report.
Verdict:
Low cost carrier? I don't really think so. No charge for buying your ticket from a human, plus assigned seating, 5 FA's on the 320, inclusive snacks and drinks (though not alcohol), 30kg baggage allowance...I bet a good few passengers of “full service” airlines all across Europe and the USA get a lot less for their airfare. With lounge access, they could easily sell the front cabin as “business class” for a bit more money, and still be cheaper than the Y price on other airlines, at least for oneway tickets. 8 out of 10, just because booking was such an ordeal.
Thanks to FT, I took advantage of two marvellous deals; Aeroflot to HKG and AZ CMB-Everywhere but the Moon – NYC. But I had to bridge the trip somehow. Again inspired by FT wisdom, I decided to try out Mihin Lanka between BKK and CMB, since prices on TG/UL/MH were quite high. Hadn't been too excited about it, but in hindsight it was a great decision (though I should've chosen Premium Economy instead; more on that later in this TR).
Booking process:
By far the most painful part of the trip. Even though the airline website could display availability and prices for me, there was no way to ticket the bloody thing, and MJ don't seem to be on the GD Systems, so unable to book from a TA outside of the countries they fly in. Got into BKK 1.5 day before my flight, and the hotel travel agent (I was staying in the Grand Mercure Fortune, which is massive and has quite a few facilities) was unable to book my itin! However, I was quite lucky in that it transpired that MJ's small CTO was literally 800m from the hotel. I took a leisurely walk, getting lost around the Sois and outside some “interesting” “hostess bars” (good job it was about 2pm and they were closed, so I didn't get pestered by touts), and finally got there. 3 employees and no customers, I was seen to immediately by 2 of them who were quite pleasant to deal with. But booking still was less than perfect. 3% credit card surcharge. Not gonna pay that. Walked to the nearest ATM, leaving my passport behind to speed up the reservation (stupid, I know, but I just wanted to get this over and done with ASAP), came back to hear that they wouldn't sell me an oneway ticket because I was “not a Thai resident” (first time I hear of a country placing different immigration restrictions on citizens of third countries depending on which other country they live).
In the end, I managed to convince them that I am indeed not going to stay in Sri Lanka, and that I have an onward ticket on SQ. Next hurdle was deciding on the class of service; unlike most self-described LCCs, MJ offers a “Premium Economy” (W) cabin. I asked what I would get for paying the extra 2900 THB to get into W; was told something like “more drinks” (Y service is also complimentary). Asked about lounge access, they said no, so I went with Y.
I paid cash (5500 THB IIRC), got my etkt confirmation and went on my way. Was told to be at the airport at about 8:00 and check-in at aisle N (BKK may be single terminal, but it's not exactly compact!). Departure time is 11:40, so 3+ hours' wait without lounge access wasn't gonna happen. I was also advised to print out my booking details for the outgoing SQ flights.
Pre-flight:
Woke up at 7:30. Managed to steal some wi-fi from a local hotspot so that I could get the details of the SQ flights, then went downstairs, checked out and asked the concierge to print out my booking, to which he replied that I should go to the business centre on the 2nd floor. It was already 9:30 or so, and BKK traffic is notorious, so I just put the thing onto standby and left the hotel. GF crew were staying in the hotel and were checking out at the same time as me; got sorely tempted to ask for a free ride on the crew bus, but in the end I decided to be "sensible" and jumped into a taxi to the unpronounceable airport of Bangkok (compulsory haggling about the use of meter ensued). As it happens, the hotel is right off the airport motorway, so negotiating local traffic took us all of 5 minutes, and by 10:10 I was entering the massive terminal. Having borne in mind the advice to check in at 8:00 in conjunction with an assumption that Sri Lankans are likely to be people used to travelling under conditions much harsher than those of a modern airport like BKK and/or not used to flying very often, it seemed I got my timing perfectly right. There were 2 check-in desks and NO queue, even though the flight seemed to be rather full- my sequence number was 103!
Free baggage allowance of 30kg, so my checked-in suitcase was fine at 22 (on a European LCC, this would likely have generated a massive overweight charge). Asked for my onward ticket details, I showed the ckin agent the laptop screen; she accepted it and gave me the better-than-expected 6D (are they filling the plane back-to-front?). Immigration was painless, though I made the stupid mistake of throwing my water bottle away before clearing it (there's separate security for each small set of gates). Visited a duty-free shop, where I found out their prices to be higher than duty-paid prices downtown (no surprise then), and had a really good double machiatto at one of the cafés, but was charged 200 THB for it (going rate in town seemed to be 50-80). Had a bit of a convo with the German guy next to me at the bar. He should be becoming a FT'er in the very near future! At 11:08, I cleared security (only 1 person in front of me). The boarding pass indicated a gate closing time of T-30, so I was a tad worried that I may have to argue in order to get on the plane, but seems like that I was far from the last pax on it. Even without lounge access, and contrary to some accounts I've read here, BKK was a pleasure to go through. The only irritating things about it are the high prices of stuff and the (thankfully not overbearing) references to the royal family.
Got to board as “final call” was displayed on the monitors, with 80% of pax already in their seats.
Flight:
My reaction on entering the A320 was one of great disappointment.
Why?
Because the Premium Economy seats were actual premium seats! Nice and wide (2 rows of 2-2), with enormous bulkhead row legroom! Now, if the chap at the CTO had told me, his employer would have made an extra 3000 or so THB and I would've been a much happier camper!
Today there are no pax flying W, which lessens my pain somewhat as we can at least use the front lav.
Anyway, I just made my way to 6D, where the legroom wasn't bad (much better than my last LCC flight on Sterling). This plane seems to be getting on a bit; the A320 has been around for a while and I guess this is one of the earliest examples. However, it's tidy and seems to be in a good state of repair. Labelling (e.g. “fasten seatbelts while seated”) is in Russian and English, so maybe this plane had been flying around the CIS in a previous life...
The purser also comes from Eastern Europe; this is not so obvious from her appearance (when first looking at her, I thought she was British), but her accent certainly is! One of the male FA's seems to be English (namebadge says Damien or something like that), and there's a far Eastern (Thai?) cabin crew member in addition to 2 or 3 Srilankans. Pretty impressive stuff for a state-owned carrier from a country that some would consider to be 3rd world.
I ask for a glass of water which I am promptly given by the charming Srilankan FA. There's a small episode just behind me with 4-5 pax loudly arguing, a situation that is promptly resolved by the FA's threatening to offload said pax.
After an excellent safety demo (really clearly spoken, synchronised words and actions, and taking it slow), we spend a long (13-15 mins) taxi and a couple of mins waiting for takeoff clearance, we got on our way (with a lot of engine noise, I may add!). Flight duration announced as 3h10m. Been nearly 3 years since I last flew economy on such a long sector (admittedly, most of my flights are around 2 hours), but I am sure I will be fine.
A choice of vegetarian or nonveg finger sandwiches is soon offered (from a trolley bearing the MEA logo!). I go for the non-veggie ones, and they're quite tasty (if not exactly filling). Some nice milk choc is also included in the tray. No cola available, but the apple ice tea is excellent. I am still peckish, so I get the cuttlefish crackers (yummy!) and Snow Queen minature out of my carryon, and enjoy another snack. Hadn't tried Snow Queen before; it seems to be a very pure vodka. ^
After a round offering water, the crew disappeared into the galley for the last hour or so of the flight. They were still great about offering me a tea and some water when I asked for them. The cabin was sprayed with some sort of disinfectant and we descended into a somewhat clouded Colombo sky.
Arrival:
After landing, and in sharp contrast to the UL planes scattered around the tarmac, we taxied to a jetway. The door was opened and, with a minimal amount of pushing, I soon was out of the aircraft. Got to passport control in about 2 minutes, no queue. Got processed immediately and walked another 3 minutes to the baggage reclaim belt, to marvel at everything having arrived there already!
It took me less than 15 minutes from aircraft door to the outside door of the airport.
The public area of the airport was full of taxi touts who got me so angry that I decided to take the local public bus to the city centre...Which is a saga onto itself, but not really relevant to a MJ trip report.
Verdict:
Low cost carrier? I don't really think so. No charge for buying your ticket from a human, plus assigned seating, 5 FA's on the 320, inclusive snacks and drinks (though not alcohol), 30kg baggage allowance...I bet a good few passengers of “full service” airlines all across Europe and the USA get a lot less for their airfare. With lounge access, they could easily sell the front cabin as “business class” for a bit more money, and still be cheaper than the Y price on other airlines, at least for oneway tickets. 8 out of 10, just because booking was such an ordeal.