KL803
Jan 18, 09, 10:58 am
This is the return part of our trip to my family in the Philippines. The first part ist here. (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-reports/901594-dl-y-co-c-zuerich-manila-via-los-angeles.html)
a) Routing, airlines and seat assignments
MNL-ICN KE624, C, A333 *, 2 A/B
ICN-NRT KE1, C, B772 **, 1 A/B
NRT-LAX CO6331 (NW2), R, B744 ***, 77 J/K
LAX-CDG DL8553 (AF65), T, B77W ****, 21 A/B
CDG-ZRH DL8469 (AF5104), T, ARJ85, 5 E/F
* = according to seatguru (http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Korean_Air/Korean_Air_Airbus_A330-300.php)
** = according to seatguru (http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Korean_Air/Korean_Air_Boeing_777-200_B.php)
*** = according to seatguru (http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Northwest_Airlines/Northwest_Airlines_Boeing_747-400.php)
**** = according to seatguru (http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Air_France/Air_France_Boeing_777-300_C.php)
b) @ MNL
Our home in the Philippines ist at 14°24'45.34"N and 120°57'18.93"O (for the ones who want to find it on Google Earth), maybe 15 miles from MNL Ninoy Aquino Airport. Despite the departure time at midnight (00.30 to be exact) we had to leave home not later than 9 p.m. because the traffic is just horrible! And it was a wise decision, it took us close to one hour to reach the airport by taxi (http://www.nissanrentacar.com/)!
MNL can be a horrible experience if you're not flying in premium cabin, have no status and didn't check-in online, the lines are exceptional long. But of course, my wife and I didn't have to queue for a long time, we were invited to use Korean Air's First Class check-in. I inquired if it'd be possible to tag our bags directly to ZRH, which was done. However, two seperate tags had to be attached which called for trouble later on our journey… :td:
The friendly KE check-in staff handed us lounge invitations and the boarding passes to NRT and wished us a pleasant flight in Prestige Class. Check-in took almost 30 minutes, which was a bit long, but with our complex itinerary quite understandable. So we still had almost two hours left before departure. Security and passport control was also time consuming but we were early enough to enjoy 90 minutes of lounge time ;).
The KE lounge is rather small, but this is MNL, a very old and run-down airport, so it was acceptable. There was a nice presentation of snacks and a tasty soup, the Australian Chardonnay was also quite good.
http://photos2.hi5.com/0075/416/393/XIrHxe416393-02.jpg
Boarding was almost 20 minutes late due to the late incoming aircraft but the staff assured us an on-time departure.
c) On Board KE624 Stats: www.flightstats.com (http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightStatus/flightStatusByFlightExtendedDetails.do?id=14942473 4&airlineCode=KE&flightNumber=624)
Boarding was fast and efficient. We were surprised, that we were actually seated in what must be KE's First Class. Behind our seats was a bulkhead which separated the 'true' First Class from Business Class. So kinda OpUp, wow!
http://photos2.hi5.com/0074/516/969/.avHww516969-02.jpg
Pre departure drinks were handed with the usual peanuts which were pretty tasty, also the Guava juice was very nice, first time we tasted this on an airline. The seat by the way was pretty on par with Continental Business First, very wide and comfortable. It's not a 180° sleeper though, it reclines 150°, but this is sufficient for a quite comfortable sleep. IFE was adequate, again very similar to CO's BF with movies playing in a loop.
The meal choice was Korean Bibimbap (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibimbap) or chicken, both of us opted for the Korean:
http://photos3.hi5.com/0074/974/718/0LYiJv974718-02.jpg
It was very tasty, just make sure you don't use the whole Korean chili paste! A teaspoon was enough to make the dish rather spicy. There was no other food service on this 3H35M long flight, so after dinner we took a short nap, and soon after we were already beginning our descent to ICN.
d) @ ICN
It's a horrible time to arrive at an airport: 5 a.m. after just 3 hours 30 minutes of flight with almost no sleep. So we were like zombies, maybe the reason why we didn't find the way to the connecting flights…, but friendly ground staff pointed us to security which we had to pass to reach the departure level. After leaving the somewhat sterile arrival concourse, the departure level was much nicer and easy to navigate. We headed straight to the very nice KE lounge on the mezzanine level.
http://photos2.hi5.com/0075/157/033/4uyUHC157033-02.jpg
Catering was by Hyatt Regency staff and it was delicious. At this time, there were danishes, donuts and English toast available. But later in the morning there was also a selection of salad, fresh fruits and various Asian dishes which all were very nice. We had almost six hours to kill, so it was time for a shower and plane spotting at KE's main hub:
http://photos4.hi5.com/0072/687/319/W96ZWb687319-02.jpg
There'd been time to explore the airport a bit further, but we decided to take a nap rather than strolling around. Boarding for our next flight was at 10.50 a.m. so we went to the gate.
e) On Board KE1 Stats: www.flightstats.com (http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightStatus/flightStatusByFlight.do?&id=149424690&airlineCode=KE&flightNumber=1)
Boarding was again quite efficient, but despite there were two jetbridges available, boarding was managed through the front door only causing all economy class passengers walking through both first and business class to reach their seats. This was very inconvenient when seated on 1A/B :(. Once again, we were actually seated in First Class (2-2-2 configuration, business class was 2-3-2), seats and IFE were the same like in the A333 before, but the cabin was more spacious. There were also the same pre-departure drinks and snacks. What really astounded me was, that the excellent cabin crew even put passengers bags in the overhead bins, regardless how heavy it was! The IFE however was turned off for the whole flight (which didn't disturb me at all, with all the food to eat, there would have been no time for the IFE at all :cool:).
Departure was on time and soon after take-off lunch orders were taken. Choices were Korean Bibimbap (again) or chicken breast salad and fillet of cod with baked potatoes and vegetables.
http://photos4.hi5.com/0073/718/095/MA3Lm8718095-02.jpg
http://photos3.hi5.com/0074/323/126/NaIrX7323126-02.jpg
Wine was a 2005 (?) Château Beauregard Ducourt which went very well with the superb entree. Despite the short flight time (1h50m) there was never the feeling of a rush, so once again a very nice experience.
f) @ NRT
We landed on time which was a good, we just had two hours between the flights and we yet had to pick up our boarding passes. Once again we had to go through security, which was very crowded and took almost 20 minutes. Then we went to NWA transfer desk to pick up our boarding passes. There were some issues with our luggage tags, all six were sticked on top of each other in the wrong sequence, so the staff was thinking, they were missing. We actually had to point them in the right direction. With this solved, there was some time for NWA worldclub, so we went upstairs and entered the roomy lounge with an excellent view of the gates:
http://photos2.hi5.com/0072/657/401/HAHeSE657401-02.jpg
Above is probably one of the first 'converted' 744 in the new DL outfit, quite a surprise, the merger seems to go fast. That wasn't our plane, we were on an 'old' NW 744.
http://photos4.hi5.com/0073/685/011/ABrzFE685011-02.jpg
This is a 'souvenir' left behind at security. If a fellow FTer misses this pillow, just PM me :D!
http://photos3.hi5.com/0072/706/350/jVvWRC706350-02.jpg
A nice arrangement of new iMacs in the lounge. I tried to do OLCI for my LAX to ZRH journey, but failed… not because of the iMacs of course!
After just 15 minutes we had to leave because NW2 was already boarding, so we had to join the long queue at the gate (lots of elites and business class passengers).
g) On Board NW2 Stats: www.flightstats.com (http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightStatus/flightStatusByFlightExtendedDetails.do?id=14943258 2&airlineCode=NW&flightNumber=2)
Boarding of a full 744 took its time so once on board we had lots of time to accommodate ourselves in the spacious upper deck. Drinks, peanuts and menus were handed out very fast.
http://photos3.hi5.com/0072/550/594/W4J43a550594-02.jpg
The seat was the standard WBC seat, which reclines about 170° but was quite narrow and a bit harder than the one on KE. IFE was nice and worked flawlessly during the whole flight with a good selection: NWA WBC IFE (http://www.nwa.com/services/onboard/movies/pvs/), I liked Bangkok Dangerous (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0814022/) very much! Back to the food:
http://photos3.hi5.com/0074/446/414/DktE1m446414-02.jpg
The starter was excellent, I'm afraid, I can't find the name anymore, but I hope the picture speaks for itself. For the entree, we both chose Korean beef barbecue, which was excellent, too.
http://photos4.hi5.com/0074/060/251/.6KU95060251-02.jpg
We can also praise the dessert choices (chocolate and rasperry tart)!
http://photos4.hi5.com/0075/666/215/WvR6iy666215-02.jpg
http://photos1.hi5.com/0072/458/140/XdfnAL458140-02.jpg
The captain informed us that we had very favourable winds so we would arrive about 40 to 30 minutes ahead of schedule. Exhausted from our previous journeys, it was time to sleep. I managed to sleep for almost six hours, and when I woke up, there was just a bit more than one hour flight-time left.
http://photos2.hi5.com/0075/266/201/tUQG5W266201-02.jpg
The cabin lights went on and breakfast orders were taken. There were lots of choices again, we went for the chinese noodles and the (somewhat traditional Swiss) cold cereals.
http://photos3.hi5.com/0073/309/690/ifQeRL309690-02.jpg
http://photos3.hi5.com/0074/440/354/XfqOiq440354-02.jpg
Soon after the trays had been collected, we were already landing at LAX and told farewell to the crew.
h) @ LAX
Immigration took not more than five minutes thanks to our early arrival - and of course to our priority disembarkation. The luggage didn't took longer than a toilet-break to be delivered… on the wrong belt though… and without tags to ZRH!!! Some (good or bad) soul must had thought that these were wrong/old tags and had them removed. So we weren't able to interline them, which made me mad because we had seven hours layover and previously planned to either spend them along Santa Monica Beach or in mall nearby. The weather was gorgeous and it would have been a total waste, not going to the beach.
So we needed solutions: AF (which would check our bags because it was their metal we were about to fly) would not open until at least 11 a.m. KL couldn't help us either because in the US, they're (still) working together with NW instead of AF, but a NW rep pointed us in the right direction: We should try with KE because they were the ones who tagged our bags in MNL. So we walked from T2 to TBIT where we were greeted by a friendly KE rep who actually was able to help us. He issued manual tags all the way to ZRH, even didn't forget to put priority tags! ^^^ With our newly tagged baggage, we walked back to T2 and were able to re-check them, problem solved (so we thought…)!
Then it was time for the beach:
http://photos2.hi5.com/0072/562/365/ktgXqg562365-02.jpg
The weather was fantastic, I just should have brought a T-shirt instead of a pullover… The trip to Santa Monica was quite time consuming, the Big Blue Bus (http://www.bigbluebus.com/) takes almost 45 minutes (one way) to get there. Because we still had no boarding passes for our flight, we had to be back at the airport not later than 2 p.m. We left at 1 p.m. and just made it on time, so much traffic in Santa Monica due to roadwork. We were about the last to check-in and received our boarding passes. Check-in staff was puzzled by my wife's Swiss Residence Permit, but I can understand them, it's in German, French, Italian and Romansh only but not in English, so I had to explain to them, that she was good. Our luggage was entered in the system, too, but maybe in a wrong way…
There was time for the lounge, so we went to NWA's WorldClub on the mezzanine level of T2. It was very crowded and really not worth a picture. It's sad, that AF doesn't fly from TBIT which looked much nicer than T2 and of course could probably accommodate a real AF lounge… So after just 15 minutes and a drink, we went to the gate, where we've been already expected, something was wrong with our luggage :eek:! A gate agent explained to us, that in the system our bags were checked to CDG only bad had tags to ZRH. Anyway, they were so kind, to correct this and had issued new tags (the third set!) to ZRH. Well, thank you!
i) On Board AF65 Stats: www.flightstats.com (http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightStatus/flightStatusByFlightExtendedDetails.do?id=14940135 8&airlineCode=AF&flightNumber=65)
Boarding went just fine, with (enforced) separate lines for premium class, elites and economy class passengers. We took our seats and were amazed, how less room we had: The seats were narrow, and the 3-4-3 configuration made up for an almost claustrophobic atmosphere, much worse than on any aircraft I've been before (and I'm not comparing AF's Y cabin with NW's or KE's C cabin!).
http://photos3.hi5.com/0073/491/786/.RjnKR491786-02.jpg
The crew was friendly and charming, very typical for AF. Boarding was completed soon and we departed on time. We were informed by the captain that we would have a pretty smooth flight and were expected to land on time. There was the usual pretzel-snack before dinner. Choices were chicken or pasta, which was adequate but not so tasty. There was no space for taking pictures of the menue, I'm afraid :( …
IFE was new, but in our row didn't work properly, we had no access to games or airport information. I didn't complain, though, because we were tired enough to get some sleep. The cabin was very warm, blankets were not needed at all, maybe the air-con couldn't cope with almost 400 passengers on this packed flight.
Despite the somewhat uncomfortable seat, we managed to sleep for several hours, but it wasn't too restful. We woke up with about four hours left on the flight. I couldn't tell, if there was an inflight snack, but there were self-service trays in the galleys where we could get a drink. About two hours prior arrival, there was breakfast service started with the typical french croissant (but not fresh), yogourt and cheese and fresh fruits as well, quite satisfying ^.
We touched down on time and after a short taxi we parked at a remote stand. It always amazes me, why in gods name an long-haul wide-body flight has to be deplaned by bus! It is so inconvenient, and it seems to happen only at CDG! And they seem to attach the stairs at the wrong doors in regular intervals, a bad experience :td:!
j) @ CDG
We were on the second bus to Terminal 2E which gave us the usual 'tour d'aéroport de CDG' which took about five minutes. We had to go to Terminal 2F2 for our connection which is just opposite of 2E. Thanks to Switzerland joined Schengen last December, we could go through immigration which saved us another - much longer - bus trip around the airport. I was amazed, that accès n°1 was working very well with our Flying Blue Gold card, we were through immigration in no time, also passport and security on the other side at Terminal 2F2 took just a few minutes, which was great, so we had a maximum time of almost two hours at the AF lounge.
http://photos1.hi5.com/0074/396/668/Ki66Ym396668-02.jpg
I took a very much needed shower, which was totally refreshing. The service at this lounge seemed improved compared to my last visit one and half year ago. The staff was extraordinary helpful and friendly, and also the snack selection was nicely presented and no coffee-machine broken! There seemed to be a problem with our flight to ZRH because even I kept looking at the screen, it never showed 'boarding'. At 1.45 p.m. I inquired at the entrance about the status of our flight, the answer was: 'last call, please hurry!' I told, that there was no such information on the screen, and received an apology for this. So we rushed to the gate where we were the last to board the bus to the remote stand.
k) On Board AF5104 Stats: www.flightstats.com (http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightStatus/flightStatusByFlightExtendedDetails.do?id=14954225 8&airlineCode=AF&flightNumber=5104)
I'm not sure why we left late (maybe it was because of us…) but it didn't matter, flight time was only 55 minutes and according to the flight deck, we would reach ZRH well ahead of schedule. The cityjet ARJ's are really small and there's not much space. I saw, that every (even the tiniest) trolley had to be gate-checked, but not my backpack which didn't fit in the overhead bin! I had to remove some items until it fitted, I'd rather have had it checked… There's not much else to write about this uneventful flight, except for the sandwich: It was inedible! Luckily, we've eaten quite a lot in the lounge! We touched down 10 minutes ahead schedule and after a short taxi, we reached the - not so remote - stand, which is just a one-minute busride away from the terminal. Immigration went quick as always and the bags were delivered in no time, thanks to priority tags. I was amazed, that they even made it after all the hassle we had ^!
l) Summary
This trip was on two separate tickets, one issued by DL in economy (ZRH-ATL-LAX-CDG-ZRH), the other one issued by CO in business (LAX-HNL-GUM-MNL-ICN-NRT-LAX). As in my last trip report, I won't compare the Y with the C product.
KE check-in: 8/10, very friendly but seemed a bit overwhelmed by our itinerary. Our luggage was well in the limit and tagged priority through to Zurich.
KE lounge in MNL: 6/10, OK for the location, it's an old airport, I know. There's free internet and an OK selection of drinks and eats.
KE lounge in ICN: 9/10, very well stocked, extremely good catering by Hyatt Regency, nice showers with good amenities. The only missing thing: a quiet room for a nap if you have a long layover.
KE boarding: 9/10, well organised, class and elites strictly enforced, at ICN there should be use of two airbridges for the 777 (there were two available, but only one was in use).
KE inflight experience: 9/10, very good, everything is done with a smile. Their language skills are adequate, there was no problem to communicate. The cabin is nice, the colours are not so much my taste, though. There were some comments in the Korean Air board, that it's too hot on the flight: It isn't, it might be warmer than on other airlines, but I found it very comfortable. The seats are wide and comfortable, but are only on par with business class, for first class, they're a bit dated. However, they're very good for intra-asian flights! Food is very nice, the Korean dish is tasty (and so is the rest) and the wine selection very good. The restrooms are stocked with perfumes, moisturizer, a very nice touch.
KE IFE: 7/10, there are much newer versions on the market, but for our relative short flights adequate.
Ground staff at LAX: 10/10, we didn't expect that we had to contact them at LAX, but a Mr C. was extremely helpful and even apologized for something which wasn't his fault (removal of onward lugagge tags). Thanks to him, we were able to enjoy some hours on the sunny Santa Monica beach!
Overall KE rating 8/10. We weren't on a real long-haul, I would expect just a little more, but for intra-asian flights, they were excellent! We enjoyed our travel very much, and even there's only little chance that we fly KE again, I will always consider it.
NW transfer desk: 7/10, We didn't have to check-in but needed an onward boarding pass at NRT. They had some difficulties to figure out which lugagge tags they had to input in their system, but everything else was just fine.
NW World Club NRT: 9/10, if there only would decent food… It's such a nice lounge, roomy and equipped with nice iMacs. We didn't have much time there, but the impression was very good.
NW boarding: 8/10, efficient as far as premium passengers are concerned. Economy class passengers had to line up for a long time, that's why I'm happy that I'm elite :p!
NW in-flight experience: 7/10, the food is very good, it's also nicely presented. IFE is on par with CO's latest IFE with real AVOD (no loop playing). The crew though wasn't as warm as I would have expected: We were greeted by the customer rep on board, that was about it. Not many smiles, not much spirit, I'm sorry, that wasn't satisfying at all. The seat was just OK, it could be wider (compared to CO's BF), but I managed to sleep, so it was OK. Bathrooms on the upper deck of the 744 were a bit small, but kept clean.
luggage handling: Delivery in LAX was fast, I won't blame anybody for the removal of our tags to ZRH, so 10/10 here.
Overall NW rating 6/10. The crew on the flight just lacked spirit. While on CO and KE everything was done with a smile, I barely saw one here. Everything else was fine, the plane was spotless, IFE and seat worked as they should, but if the contact to the customer isn't very good, it really impacts the rating! It could be the merger with DL which affects the crew, maybe. But it shouldn't be an excuse for being almost grumpy.
AF check-in: 6/10, this has nothing to do with the person at the CI counter, it's because the silly, not-working OLCI! I know, I'm booked on a DL codeshare, so DL sent me an e-mail, that I can OLCI now, I tried this in the NRT lounge and received the message, that I can do OLCI at airfrance.com because it's an AF flight. So far so good, I try and fail because AF.com says, that this airport (LAX) is handled by NW, so I should check-in there at nwa.com! Well, I don't have an NW ticket record, so I can't do OLCI, rubbish! Sorry for this rant, but AF can do better, I know it, I used AF OLCI many times before. Back on topic: The CI agent handed us our boarding passes in no time, but probably entered our lugagge to CDG only, despite our receipts which clearly showed ZRH as our final destination.
LAX-lounge: OMG, luckily we spent most of our time at Santa Monica! This NW Worldclub is indeed one of the worst lounges I've ever been. Even the MNL lounge is way better than this! 0/10
AF inflight experience: 5/10, there are 0 points for comfort, it's indeed the megabus you're sitting in! AF lacks to treat elites as elites, it doesn't even try to keep a middle seat open (I asked three times in advance, it's not possible). Cabin crew is friendly, true French spirit. The food is acceptable, there's champagne even in Y (I didn't try), and breakfast service is actually really good. The flight to ZRH was operated by Cityjet, there's free drinks and sandwich, that's it.
CDG lounge: 2F2 is a nice lounge, not so crowded despite many long-haul departures there. Showers are nice, but the soap holder was broken. Food options were OK, tasty sandwiches at lunch time, also the usual snacks. 9/10
Luggage handling: 9/10, delivery in ZRH was fast and efficient. I know, many frequent travellers on AF have bad experiences regarding lugagge, luckily, we didn't.
Overall AF rating 6/10. I will avoid the 77W, it's a nightmare! If there'd be an economy+, I'd go for it again, but so far, never again. OLCI has to be improved, too, especially if flying out of the US. The situation at LAX T2 is not very good, too, it lacks a decent lounge, the NW lounge there is a shame! The crew though is efficient, nice and charming. CDG lounge is nice, there should be WiFi, but I didn't check. The few (old) iMacs are dated and should be replaced. Cityjet can not compete with the LX PAR-ZRH product, the plane is small and packed, the sandwiches are inedible. The crew isn't that friendly, either. It just has a lower price, I guess, in this case, you really get what you paid for…
That's it for this time, the next trip isn't booked yet, and I'm not sure, if it will be worth a trip report anyway. Thanks for reading!
Michael
a) Routing, airlines and seat assignments
MNL-ICN KE624, C, A333 *, 2 A/B
ICN-NRT KE1, C, B772 **, 1 A/B
NRT-LAX CO6331 (NW2), R, B744 ***, 77 J/K
LAX-CDG DL8553 (AF65), T, B77W ****, 21 A/B
CDG-ZRH DL8469 (AF5104), T, ARJ85, 5 E/F
* = according to seatguru (http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Korean_Air/Korean_Air_Airbus_A330-300.php)
** = according to seatguru (http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Korean_Air/Korean_Air_Boeing_777-200_B.php)
*** = according to seatguru (http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Northwest_Airlines/Northwest_Airlines_Boeing_747-400.php)
**** = according to seatguru (http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Air_France/Air_France_Boeing_777-300_C.php)
b) @ MNL
Our home in the Philippines ist at 14°24'45.34"N and 120°57'18.93"O (for the ones who want to find it on Google Earth), maybe 15 miles from MNL Ninoy Aquino Airport. Despite the departure time at midnight (00.30 to be exact) we had to leave home not later than 9 p.m. because the traffic is just horrible! And it was a wise decision, it took us close to one hour to reach the airport by taxi (http://www.nissanrentacar.com/)!
MNL can be a horrible experience if you're not flying in premium cabin, have no status and didn't check-in online, the lines are exceptional long. But of course, my wife and I didn't have to queue for a long time, we were invited to use Korean Air's First Class check-in. I inquired if it'd be possible to tag our bags directly to ZRH, which was done. However, two seperate tags had to be attached which called for trouble later on our journey… :td:
The friendly KE check-in staff handed us lounge invitations and the boarding passes to NRT and wished us a pleasant flight in Prestige Class. Check-in took almost 30 minutes, which was a bit long, but with our complex itinerary quite understandable. So we still had almost two hours left before departure. Security and passport control was also time consuming but we were early enough to enjoy 90 minutes of lounge time ;).
The KE lounge is rather small, but this is MNL, a very old and run-down airport, so it was acceptable. There was a nice presentation of snacks and a tasty soup, the Australian Chardonnay was also quite good.
http://photos2.hi5.com/0075/416/393/XIrHxe416393-02.jpg
Boarding was almost 20 minutes late due to the late incoming aircraft but the staff assured us an on-time departure.
c) On Board KE624 Stats: www.flightstats.com (http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightStatus/flightStatusByFlightExtendedDetails.do?id=14942473 4&airlineCode=KE&flightNumber=624)
Boarding was fast and efficient. We were surprised, that we were actually seated in what must be KE's First Class. Behind our seats was a bulkhead which separated the 'true' First Class from Business Class. So kinda OpUp, wow!
http://photos2.hi5.com/0074/516/969/.avHww516969-02.jpg
Pre departure drinks were handed with the usual peanuts which were pretty tasty, also the Guava juice was very nice, first time we tasted this on an airline. The seat by the way was pretty on par with Continental Business First, very wide and comfortable. It's not a 180° sleeper though, it reclines 150°, but this is sufficient for a quite comfortable sleep. IFE was adequate, again very similar to CO's BF with movies playing in a loop.
The meal choice was Korean Bibimbap (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibimbap) or chicken, both of us opted for the Korean:
http://photos3.hi5.com/0074/974/718/0LYiJv974718-02.jpg
It was very tasty, just make sure you don't use the whole Korean chili paste! A teaspoon was enough to make the dish rather spicy. There was no other food service on this 3H35M long flight, so after dinner we took a short nap, and soon after we were already beginning our descent to ICN.
d) @ ICN
It's a horrible time to arrive at an airport: 5 a.m. after just 3 hours 30 minutes of flight with almost no sleep. So we were like zombies, maybe the reason why we didn't find the way to the connecting flights…, but friendly ground staff pointed us to security which we had to pass to reach the departure level. After leaving the somewhat sterile arrival concourse, the departure level was much nicer and easy to navigate. We headed straight to the very nice KE lounge on the mezzanine level.
http://photos2.hi5.com/0075/157/033/4uyUHC157033-02.jpg
Catering was by Hyatt Regency staff and it was delicious. At this time, there were danishes, donuts and English toast available. But later in the morning there was also a selection of salad, fresh fruits and various Asian dishes which all were very nice. We had almost six hours to kill, so it was time for a shower and plane spotting at KE's main hub:
http://photos4.hi5.com/0072/687/319/W96ZWb687319-02.jpg
There'd been time to explore the airport a bit further, but we decided to take a nap rather than strolling around. Boarding for our next flight was at 10.50 a.m. so we went to the gate.
e) On Board KE1 Stats: www.flightstats.com (http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightStatus/flightStatusByFlight.do?&id=149424690&airlineCode=KE&flightNumber=1)
Boarding was again quite efficient, but despite there were two jetbridges available, boarding was managed through the front door only causing all economy class passengers walking through both first and business class to reach their seats. This was very inconvenient when seated on 1A/B :(. Once again, we were actually seated in First Class (2-2-2 configuration, business class was 2-3-2), seats and IFE were the same like in the A333 before, but the cabin was more spacious. There were also the same pre-departure drinks and snacks. What really astounded me was, that the excellent cabin crew even put passengers bags in the overhead bins, regardless how heavy it was! The IFE however was turned off for the whole flight (which didn't disturb me at all, with all the food to eat, there would have been no time for the IFE at all :cool:).
Departure was on time and soon after take-off lunch orders were taken. Choices were Korean Bibimbap (again) or chicken breast salad and fillet of cod with baked potatoes and vegetables.
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Wine was a 2005 (?) Château Beauregard Ducourt which went very well with the superb entree. Despite the short flight time (1h50m) there was never the feeling of a rush, so once again a very nice experience.
f) @ NRT
We landed on time which was a good, we just had two hours between the flights and we yet had to pick up our boarding passes. Once again we had to go through security, which was very crowded and took almost 20 minutes. Then we went to NWA transfer desk to pick up our boarding passes. There were some issues with our luggage tags, all six were sticked on top of each other in the wrong sequence, so the staff was thinking, they were missing. We actually had to point them in the right direction. With this solved, there was some time for NWA worldclub, so we went upstairs and entered the roomy lounge with an excellent view of the gates:
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Above is probably one of the first 'converted' 744 in the new DL outfit, quite a surprise, the merger seems to go fast. That wasn't our plane, we were on an 'old' NW 744.
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This is a 'souvenir' left behind at security. If a fellow FTer misses this pillow, just PM me :D!
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A nice arrangement of new iMacs in the lounge. I tried to do OLCI for my LAX to ZRH journey, but failed… not because of the iMacs of course!
After just 15 minutes we had to leave because NW2 was already boarding, so we had to join the long queue at the gate (lots of elites and business class passengers).
g) On Board NW2 Stats: www.flightstats.com (http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightStatus/flightStatusByFlightExtendedDetails.do?id=14943258 2&airlineCode=NW&flightNumber=2)
Boarding of a full 744 took its time so once on board we had lots of time to accommodate ourselves in the spacious upper deck. Drinks, peanuts and menus were handed out very fast.
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The seat was the standard WBC seat, which reclines about 170° but was quite narrow and a bit harder than the one on KE. IFE was nice and worked flawlessly during the whole flight with a good selection: NWA WBC IFE (http://www.nwa.com/services/onboard/movies/pvs/), I liked Bangkok Dangerous (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0814022/) very much! Back to the food:
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The starter was excellent, I'm afraid, I can't find the name anymore, but I hope the picture speaks for itself. For the entree, we both chose Korean beef barbecue, which was excellent, too.
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We can also praise the dessert choices (chocolate and rasperry tart)!
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The captain informed us that we had very favourable winds so we would arrive about 40 to 30 minutes ahead of schedule. Exhausted from our previous journeys, it was time to sleep. I managed to sleep for almost six hours, and when I woke up, there was just a bit more than one hour flight-time left.
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The cabin lights went on and breakfast orders were taken. There were lots of choices again, we went for the chinese noodles and the (somewhat traditional Swiss) cold cereals.
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Soon after the trays had been collected, we were already landing at LAX and told farewell to the crew.
h) @ LAX
Immigration took not more than five minutes thanks to our early arrival - and of course to our priority disembarkation. The luggage didn't took longer than a toilet-break to be delivered… on the wrong belt though… and without tags to ZRH!!! Some (good or bad) soul must had thought that these were wrong/old tags and had them removed. So we weren't able to interline them, which made me mad because we had seven hours layover and previously planned to either spend them along Santa Monica Beach or in mall nearby. The weather was gorgeous and it would have been a total waste, not going to the beach.
So we needed solutions: AF (which would check our bags because it was their metal we were about to fly) would not open until at least 11 a.m. KL couldn't help us either because in the US, they're (still) working together with NW instead of AF, but a NW rep pointed us in the right direction: We should try with KE because they were the ones who tagged our bags in MNL. So we walked from T2 to TBIT where we were greeted by a friendly KE rep who actually was able to help us. He issued manual tags all the way to ZRH, even didn't forget to put priority tags! ^^^ With our newly tagged baggage, we walked back to T2 and were able to re-check them, problem solved (so we thought…)!
Then it was time for the beach:
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The weather was fantastic, I just should have brought a T-shirt instead of a pullover… The trip to Santa Monica was quite time consuming, the Big Blue Bus (http://www.bigbluebus.com/) takes almost 45 minutes (one way) to get there. Because we still had no boarding passes for our flight, we had to be back at the airport not later than 2 p.m. We left at 1 p.m. and just made it on time, so much traffic in Santa Monica due to roadwork. We were about the last to check-in and received our boarding passes. Check-in staff was puzzled by my wife's Swiss Residence Permit, but I can understand them, it's in German, French, Italian and Romansh only but not in English, so I had to explain to them, that she was good. Our luggage was entered in the system, too, but maybe in a wrong way…
There was time for the lounge, so we went to NWA's WorldClub on the mezzanine level of T2. It was very crowded and really not worth a picture. It's sad, that AF doesn't fly from TBIT which looked much nicer than T2 and of course could probably accommodate a real AF lounge… So after just 15 minutes and a drink, we went to the gate, where we've been already expected, something was wrong with our luggage :eek:! A gate agent explained to us, that in the system our bags were checked to CDG only bad had tags to ZRH. Anyway, they were so kind, to correct this and had issued new tags (the third set!) to ZRH. Well, thank you!
i) On Board AF65 Stats: www.flightstats.com (http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightStatus/flightStatusByFlightExtendedDetails.do?id=14940135 8&airlineCode=AF&flightNumber=65)
Boarding went just fine, with (enforced) separate lines for premium class, elites and economy class passengers. We took our seats and were amazed, how less room we had: The seats were narrow, and the 3-4-3 configuration made up for an almost claustrophobic atmosphere, much worse than on any aircraft I've been before (and I'm not comparing AF's Y cabin with NW's or KE's C cabin!).
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The crew was friendly and charming, very typical for AF. Boarding was completed soon and we departed on time. We were informed by the captain that we would have a pretty smooth flight and were expected to land on time. There was the usual pretzel-snack before dinner. Choices were chicken or pasta, which was adequate but not so tasty. There was no space for taking pictures of the menue, I'm afraid :( …
IFE was new, but in our row didn't work properly, we had no access to games or airport information. I didn't complain, though, because we were tired enough to get some sleep. The cabin was very warm, blankets were not needed at all, maybe the air-con couldn't cope with almost 400 passengers on this packed flight.
Despite the somewhat uncomfortable seat, we managed to sleep for several hours, but it wasn't too restful. We woke up with about four hours left on the flight. I couldn't tell, if there was an inflight snack, but there were self-service trays in the galleys where we could get a drink. About two hours prior arrival, there was breakfast service started with the typical french croissant (but not fresh), yogourt and cheese and fresh fruits as well, quite satisfying ^.
We touched down on time and after a short taxi we parked at a remote stand. It always amazes me, why in gods name an long-haul wide-body flight has to be deplaned by bus! It is so inconvenient, and it seems to happen only at CDG! And they seem to attach the stairs at the wrong doors in regular intervals, a bad experience :td:!
j) @ CDG
We were on the second bus to Terminal 2E which gave us the usual 'tour d'aéroport de CDG' which took about five minutes. We had to go to Terminal 2F2 for our connection which is just opposite of 2E. Thanks to Switzerland joined Schengen last December, we could go through immigration which saved us another - much longer - bus trip around the airport. I was amazed, that accès n°1 was working very well with our Flying Blue Gold card, we were through immigration in no time, also passport and security on the other side at Terminal 2F2 took just a few minutes, which was great, so we had a maximum time of almost two hours at the AF lounge.
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I took a very much needed shower, which was totally refreshing. The service at this lounge seemed improved compared to my last visit one and half year ago. The staff was extraordinary helpful and friendly, and also the snack selection was nicely presented and no coffee-machine broken! There seemed to be a problem with our flight to ZRH because even I kept looking at the screen, it never showed 'boarding'. At 1.45 p.m. I inquired at the entrance about the status of our flight, the answer was: 'last call, please hurry!' I told, that there was no such information on the screen, and received an apology for this. So we rushed to the gate where we were the last to board the bus to the remote stand.
k) On Board AF5104 Stats: www.flightstats.com (http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightStatus/flightStatusByFlightExtendedDetails.do?id=14954225 8&airlineCode=AF&flightNumber=5104)
I'm not sure why we left late (maybe it was because of us…) but it didn't matter, flight time was only 55 minutes and according to the flight deck, we would reach ZRH well ahead of schedule. The cityjet ARJ's are really small and there's not much space. I saw, that every (even the tiniest) trolley had to be gate-checked, but not my backpack which didn't fit in the overhead bin! I had to remove some items until it fitted, I'd rather have had it checked… There's not much else to write about this uneventful flight, except for the sandwich: It was inedible! Luckily, we've eaten quite a lot in the lounge! We touched down 10 minutes ahead schedule and after a short taxi, we reached the - not so remote - stand, which is just a one-minute busride away from the terminal. Immigration went quick as always and the bags were delivered in no time, thanks to priority tags. I was amazed, that they even made it after all the hassle we had ^!
l) Summary
This trip was on two separate tickets, one issued by DL in economy (ZRH-ATL-LAX-CDG-ZRH), the other one issued by CO in business (LAX-HNL-GUM-MNL-ICN-NRT-LAX). As in my last trip report, I won't compare the Y with the C product.
KE check-in: 8/10, very friendly but seemed a bit overwhelmed by our itinerary. Our luggage was well in the limit and tagged priority through to Zurich.
KE lounge in MNL: 6/10, OK for the location, it's an old airport, I know. There's free internet and an OK selection of drinks and eats.
KE lounge in ICN: 9/10, very well stocked, extremely good catering by Hyatt Regency, nice showers with good amenities. The only missing thing: a quiet room for a nap if you have a long layover.
KE boarding: 9/10, well organised, class and elites strictly enforced, at ICN there should be use of two airbridges for the 777 (there were two available, but only one was in use).
KE inflight experience: 9/10, very good, everything is done with a smile. Their language skills are adequate, there was no problem to communicate. The cabin is nice, the colours are not so much my taste, though. There were some comments in the Korean Air board, that it's too hot on the flight: It isn't, it might be warmer than on other airlines, but I found it very comfortable. The seats are wide and comfortable, but are only on par with business class, for first class, they're a bit dated. However, they're very good for intra-asian flights! Food is very nice, the Korean dish is tasty (and so is the rest) and the wine selection very good. The restrooms are stocked with perfumes, moisturizer, a very nice touch.
KE IFE: 7/10, there are much newer versions on the market, but for our relative short flights adequate.
Ground staff at LAX: 10/10, we didn't expect that we had to contact them at LAX, but a Mr C. was extremely helpful and even apologized for something which wasn't his fault (removal of onward lugagge tags). Thanks to him, we were able to enjoy some hours on the sunny Santa Monica beach!
Overall KE rating 8/10. We weren't on a real long-haul, I would expect just a little more, but for intra-asian flights, they were excellent! We enjoyed our travel very much, and even there's only little chance that we fly KE again, I will always consider it.
NW transfer desk: 7/10, We didn't have to check-in but needed an onward boarding pass at NRT. They had some difficulties to figure out which lugagge tags they had to input in their system, but everything else was just fine.
NW World Club NRT: 9/10, if there only would decent food… It's such a nice lounge, roomy and equipped with nice iMacs. We didn't have much time there, but the impression was very good.
NW boarding: 8/10, efficient as far as premium passengers are concerned. Economy class passengers had to line up for a long time, that's why I'm happy that I'm elite :p!
NW in-flight experience: 7/10, the food is very good, it's also nicely presented. IFE is on par with CO's latest IFE with real AVOD (no loop playing). The crew though wasn't as warm as I would have expected: We were greeted by the customer rep on board, that was about it. Not many smiles, not much spirit, I'm sorry, that wasn't satisfying at all. The seat was just OK, it could be wider (compared to CO's BF), but I managed to sleep, so it was OK. Bathrooms on the upper deck of the 744 were a bit small, but kept clean.
luggage handling: Delivery in LAX was fast, I won't blame anybody for the removal of our tags to ZRH, so 10/10 here.
Overall NW rating 6/10. The crew on the flight just lacked spirit. While on CO and KE everything was done with a smile, I barely saw one here. Everything else was fine, the plane was spotless, IFE and seat worked as they should, but if the contact to the customer isn't very good, it really impacts the rating! It could be the merger with DL which affects the crew, maybe. But it shouldn't be an excuse for being almost grumpy.
AF check-in: 6/10, this has nothing to do with the person at the CI counter, it's because the silly, not-working OLCI! I know, I'm booked on a DL codeshare, so DL sent me an e-mail, that I can OLCI now, I tried this in the NRT lounge and received the message, that I can do OLCI at airfrance.com because it's an AF flight. So far so good, I try and fail because AF.com says, that this airport (LAX) is handled by NW, so I should check-in there at nwa.com! Well, I don't have an NW ticket record, so I can't do OLCI, rubbish! Sorry for this rant, but AF can do better, I know it, I used AF OLCI many times before. Back on topic: The CI agent handed us our boarding passes in no time, but probably entered our lugagge to CDG only, despite our receipts which clearly showed ZRH as our final destination.
LAX-lounge: OMG, luckily we spent most of our time at Santa Monica! This NW Worldclub is indeed one of the worst lounges I've ever been. Even the MNL lounge is way better than this! 0/10
AF inflight experience: 5/10, there are 0 points for comfort, it's indeed the megabus you're sitting in! AF lacks to treat elites as elites, it doesn't even try to keep a middle seat open (I asked three times in advance, it's not possible). Cabin crew is friendly, true French spirit. The food is acceptable, there's champagne even in Y (I didn't try), and breakfast service is actually really good. The flight to ZRH was operated by Cityjet, there's free drinks and sandwich, that's it.
CDG lounge: 2F2 is a nice lounge, not so crowded despite many long-haul departures there. Showers are nice, but the soap holder was broken. Food options were OK, tasty sandwiches at lunch time, also the usual snacks. 9/10
Luggage handling: 9/10, delivery in ZRH was fast and efficient. I know, many frequent travellers on AF have bad experiences regarding lugagge, luckily, we didn't.
Overall AF rating 6/10. I will avoid the 77W, it's a nightmare! If there'd be an economy+, I'd go for it again, but so far, never again. OLCI has to be improved, too, especially if flying out of the US. The situation at LAX T2 is not very good, too, it lacks a decent lounge, the NW lounge there is a shame! The crew though is efficient, nice and charming. CDG lounge is nice, there should be WiFi, but I didn't check. The few (old) iMacs are dated and should be replaced. Cityjet can not compete with the LX PAR-ZRH product, the plane is small and packed, the sandwiches are inedible. The crew isn't that friendly, either. It just has a lower price, I guess, in this case, you really get what you paid for…
That's it for this time, the next trip isn't booked yet, and I'm not sure, if it will be worth a trip report anyway. Thanks for reading!
Michael