TEX277

World Tour 2008

LHR-CPH-OSL-SVO-HKG-BKK-SIN-BKK-CMB-SIN-SYD-OOL-SYD-HKG-LHR-FCO-JFK//EWR-LAS-LAX-LHR

Introduction

First of all please let me state that I never set out with intention of making such a crazy trip. After booking the Aeroflot mistake fare, the whole thing just continuously evolved before taking its final form. I am very excited about this trip as it will not only see me fly 40812 miles (with only 4% in economy) but also enable me to sample many things for the first time. These include: a Soviet airliner (Tu-154 OSL-SVO), Singapore T3 First facilities, Sri Lanka (although if everything goes to plan, this should not be much more than a stamp in the passport type visit), Rome, A380 (particularly as I’ll be in Business), Virgin Upper Class, LHR T5 as a passenger, Four Seasons and my first time on Emirates, Aeroflot, Sri Lankan, SAS and JetStar.

I am aware that others have had problems using one of the tickets in question and I would not be surprised if I encounter some difficulties along the way. I have a Plan C, as well as a Plan B, should my ticket not be accepted in the two most likely locations. Fingers crossed!

Part 1 - SAS LHR-CPH-OSL Economy
This ticket was booked as a positioning flight to commence our ex-OSL SU leg. The LHR-CPH leg is a BD code-share and the one-way ticket cost £55 each. The night before departure from LHR I am staying at the T5 Travelodge as I managed to grab a £9 room a few months ago and then overnighting at the Thon Hotel Gardermoen £91.

Part 2 Aeroflot OSL-SVO-HKG Business
This is the ticket that really kicked this whole trip off. Every summer my wife jets off to HKG to spend time with her family whilst working for the British Council. After spotting the thread in the Mileage Run forum (many thanks k21467), I decided to escort her over to HKG as this €258 (£190) ticket was just too good to pass up. Conveniently, just two days later my wife had to venture into London for a training course and kindly popped into the SU office on Piccadilly to collect the paper tickets. 4 nights at the Ibis Hotel North Point HK$2280 (£150).

Part 3 Emirates HKG-BKK Business
After booking the ex-CMB AZ fare I needed to get to Sri Lanka. My plan was to redeem some BD miles for a Zone 7 – Zone 7 to get from BKK to CMB with a stopover in Singapore. This just left me with the task of getting from HKG-BKK. EK offered the best fare - economy was only £97 but after realising that business was only £147 my decision was made. 2 Nights at the Hotel Ibis Siam Bangkok THB 2120 (£35).

Part 4 Singapore Airlines BKK-SIN-BKK First and Thai BKK-CMB Business
This was originally booked as a straightforward non-dodgy one-way BKK-SIN-CMB redemption on a day that BKK-CMB does not operate. However, I was informed that the SQ SIN-CMB leg was downgraded to a 2 cabin 772 and as a result I was being moved back to business. I explained that I really wanted to depart SIN in First (in order to check out T3 First facilities) and was happy to change my ticket to SIN-BKK-CMB. The lady waived the change fee and rebooked me onto my desired routing. Once I had hung up I checked checkmytrip.com and realised that she had not cancelled the BKK-SIN leg. 2 nights at Le Méridien using US$60 cash & 3200 SPG Points.

Part 5 Sri Lankan CMB-SIN Business and Singapore Airlines SIN-SYD A380 Business
Glenntwenty I love you! Ironically enough I had already booked this fare and was very happy with it. My original ticket was CMB-SIN-MXP-BOS on SQ (including a 77W) and AZ costing £600. However, Glenntwenty brought the routing restrictions (or rather lack thereof) to my attention. The original ticket was cancelled and rather than a 77W I was now A380 bound on my side trip to SYD courtesy of some assistance from Colin! Total price for the 21368 mile journey in Business?? £577. Staying at the Taj Airport Garden in Sri Lanka.

Part 6 JetStar SYD-OOL Economy
I am pretty tired of SYD to be honest, so I figured I’d venture up to the Gold Coast on a cheap excursion. My uncle lives in the area as did an old work friend and a couple of FTers that I would like to meet up with again. This flight allowed for a 3 hour connection from the A380 flight and proved a bargain at just AU$68 (around £35). I have booked car hire through Alamo and am booked into the Radisson Resort Gold Coast for 3 nights costing £144.

Part 7 Virgin Blue OOL-SYD Economy
Booking the OOL side trip with two carriers offered a small saving that perhaps otherwise I may have ignored. I figured that one extra ticket and airline would enter into the spirit of the trip. AU$58 (around £30).

Part 8 Virgin Atlantic SYD-HKG-LHR Business, BA LHR T5 – FCO Business and
Delta FCO-JFK Business
Rejoining the ex-CMB ticket that on this leg gives me my first taste of VS Upper Class, T5 as a passenger, one night in Rome followed by the Delta flight to JFK. I am staying at the Best Western Mondial in Rome. IIRC is costs around £40 for the night.

Part 9 US Airways EWR-LAS-LAX First and Air New Zealand LAX-LHR Business
To return to the UK, I had originally purchased a one-way Maxjet ticket for the bargain price of around £350. However, after their demise around Christmas 2007, I had to make alternative arrangements. Similarly to Part 4, this final ticket was initially booked as a non-dodgy award ticket flying SQ and LH JFK-FRA-LHR. However, I decided that the lure of Vegas was too much and sought out a way to get there from NYC. I researched my options and was ready to buy my NYC-LAS-NYC ticket. I then thought that I had nothing to lose by asking if I could reroute NYC-UK via LAS. It worked!

As I am scheduled to arrive in LAS at around 23:20 I did not want to waste much money on a hotel for that first night. Westward Ho was always my favourite place for a cheap Saturday night’s rest after the journey in from Europe. Since that is now gone (along with their rack of ribs!) I decided upon the Stratosphere for £40. After staying at a few lower end hotels during the trip, I thought that I deserved a bit of luxury before returning home. Therefore the remaining 3 nights in Vegas will be spent at the Four Seasons within Mandalay Bay (£315 thanks to a buy 2 nights get 1 free promo).

Plan B
Should I be refused boarding in CMB for the start of my bargain fare, I have booked an award ticket CMB-SIN-CGK on SQ (Business/First combo) after spending a couple of nights in CMB. This will then join up with the SQ and TG ticket back to LAX as detailed in Plan C.

Plan C
Should I be refused boarding in SIN on my A380 flight to SYD, I will make my way over to Batam for a few days before flying on Air Asia to CGK (good value for £25). After one night in Jakarta, I fly out to LAX on SQ CGK-SIN-BKK before taking my longest flight ever: 16 hours onboard a TG A340-500 between BKK-LAX. The fare is fully refundable and I believe offers good value at £882. I’ll hire a car and drive to Vegas and hope to get the ticket identified in Part 9 appropriately adjusted.

The Best and Worst of the trip

TEX277

Part 1

Travelodge LHR T5

We arrived into to LHR T5 from Brighton on the direct National Express service and stopped by at Travelex to collect all of the currencies that I had ordered for this trip (using the Avis/BA link of course to get the best rate and BA Miles!) The shuttle bus runs every 20 minutes and was already on stand and waiting when we arrived. The 5 minute journey to the hotel set us back £8 each for the return journey. Upon arrival at the hotel there was a sizeable queue at check-in. Once a second member of staff began to man the desk, the queue vanished in a couple of minutes. We took the lift up the first floor to room 118. The room was a comfortable size and quite basic in facilities but for the price we paid – I would not feel right making any substantial complaints about the property other than the window didn’t seem to insulate the room from the noise of the traffic outside too well. Not sure if ours was faulty or if it was the same throughout the hotel.

Route: LHR-CPH
Airline: SAS (Ticketed on bmi codeshare)
Flight number: SK502
Class of service: Economy
Aircraft: MD-81/2
Seat: 12F
Scheduled departure time: 09:35
Scheduled arrival time: 12:35

The self-service check-in kiosk was easy enough to use for this first timer and quickly spat out two baggage tags and two BPs. Given that we had a connecting flight, I was expecting four BPs and once we got to the front of the bag drop queue (a wait of around 5 minutes) I queried it with the agent. She looked into it, asked a colleague and stated that they were not sure why that had happened but they could not issue the BPs either. They referred us to the transfer desk upon our arrival at CPH. As we had a 1hr 40min connection, I figured that there would be plenty of time for it to be sorted out there.

Security screening at 07:30 at LHR was surprisingly quick (again, around a 5 minute wait) and we were soon enough into the departure lounge. Without a valid *G card or a Business Class BP we were without lounge access. All of the times I had been through T3 over the last few years, I always made straight for one of the lounges (usually the London Lounge) but this time it was different. We took a slow walk around the shops, purchased a few small items and found a couple of seats together. It didn’t feel like too long after we had polished off our Boots Meal Deal breakfast, that I glanced at the flight departure screen and realised that it was 08:50 and time to start thinking about walking down to the gate.

Gate 11 has to be the closest gate to the departure lounge. So close that I figured that we had some time to talk a quick walk passed the SQ lounge to see if we could see the A380 on stand. Sadly, it was not there and so we returned to gate 11. The queue moved quickly and once into the gate area we walked straight onto the aircraft and took seats 12E&F.

This flight was operated by a SK MD-81/2 (I can’t tell the difference!) and had an economy seat layout of 2-3. It was interesting to note that the emergency exit door at the rear of the aircraft was actually at the back (as opposed to the sides). Due to the fact that this aircraft has its engines mounted at the rear rather than on the wings, it was also noticeably quieter than many aircraft that I have been one. The cabin itself was at least 90% full. The flight pushed back a few minutes early and we headed immediately for 09R. There was only one, perhaps two, aircraft in front of us to take-off making for a swift departure.


The aircraft climbed away quietly as I spotted Tower Bridge in the distance before we made a left turn to head north out of London until we hit the M25, where we turned right and shadowed the M11. There was food available for purchase onboard but we declined the invitation. We were quite impressed by the legroom available on this aircraft. Even with the seat in front reclined, there were still a couple of inches between that seat and my knees. The flight lasted 1hr 30mins and was generally uneventful other than the “Cabin crew, take your seats for landing” announcement being made over the runway at an altitude of around 20ft.

Route: CPH-OSL
Airline: SAS
Flight number: SK460
Class of service: Economy
Aircraft: MD-81/2
Seat: 11D
Scheduled departure time: 14:15
Scheduled arrival time: 15:25

We followed the signs to the connection centre to find that it was closed. There was another sign saying that we should go through passport control to another connection centre. We found it, used the ticket machine (just like at the Deli counter in Tesco’s) and were immediately summoned by the only employee working the SK desks. I explained our problem to him (i.e. bags checked through but no onward BP) and 30 seconds or so later and the BPs were in our hands.

With this now taken care of, we were free to have a look around the shops in the departure lounge. This time the money stayed inside my wallet and we saw about the last 20 minutes sitting on some seating close to gate D3. I was impressed by the airport; it was clean, modern and spacious.


After 5 minutes of queuing, we were taking our seats on another SK MD-81/82. Things started to fall into place and I told Mrs TEX277 that I found that we were back on the same aircraft. She agreed that the gate area looked like it was in the same location but neither of us noticed the gate number on the inbound flight. We decided that the only way that we could tell if it was the same aircraft was whether the small metal panel on the floor to the right of seat 12F was dislodged. We were in seats 11D&E this time couldn’t really check that out without looking nosy. There was no need. About 20 minutes into the flight the chap in 12F knocked the panel and as we heard the noise Mrs TEX277 turned to me and said “Yep – same plane”.

Thon Hotel Gardermoen Oslo

Not a true visit but more of an airport hotel stopover. We had booked the Thon Hotel Gardermoen and jumped on the S22 shuttle bus from bay B25. It cost 50 Kroner each (£5) for the 5 minute journey. The hotel itself was nice enough but we did not that it clearly stated ‘Budget’ on the hotel sign. £91 for a budget hotel? The missus was giving me a little grief for paying £115 per night for the Four Seasons at Vegas. Now it looked like a bargain.


We had only purchased 300 Kroner for the stay and after the 200 that would be required for the airport shuttle bus, we made the 5-10 minute walk to a nearby McDonald’s with the remaining 100 Kroner. As we needed a bottled drink to take back to the room, we popped into the adjoining petrol station to ensure that we did not overspend at McDonald’s. The 1.5l bottle of Coca-Cola company drinks looked like the best value at 29 Kroner (that’s £2.90!!!). 70cl bottles were going for 25 Kroner! Over at McDonald’s, our jaws almost hit the floor when we discovered that the remaining 71 Kroner (£7.10) would only be good for 2 cheeseburgers, a portion of large fries and a small ice-cream cone! Mrs TEX277 took great delight in stating that in Hong Kong for the price of one Norwegian Cheeseburger, we could afford a Big Mac Meal!!

Gatwick Alan

Let me repay the weather report on Brighton you gave when i was travelling some months ago. Today, Saturday, its blowing a gale, pouring with rain and the temperature feels like October.

Enjoy your trip, its going to be a fun read !

Alan

Bundy Bear

Yes it is going to be a fun read; and you have Plan B & Plan C that shows some organisation.

Today where I live it is cold and clear;(7-19c) maybe not that cold where you live but cold for us locals.

Kevincm

This is shaping up into a great report TEX277

... and as you well know, there is nothing like British Weather (incidently wet today)

brissypete

Wow, sounds like an amazing trip. Will be interesting to read it as it progresses.

Peter

TEX277

Many thanks for the encouragement everybody ^ and the weather report of course :-:. Always nice to know that it is much worse at home!!!



Part 2

Route: OSL-SVO
Airline: Aeroflot
Aircraft: Tu-154M
Seat: 4A
Flight number: SU212
Class of service: Business
Scheduled departure time: 09:00
Scheduled arrival time: 13:25

There was quite a queue for the Aeroflot economy check-in desks. Although the screen above the desk suggested otherwise (it states CSA Business Class), it seemed that the adjacent line was for Aeroflot Business passengers. We must have waited for 20 minutes in that queue before making it to the front. The agent expressed surprise at being presented paper tickets! He talked us through as he processed our check-in. To be honest, I think he was actually talking to himself as he refreshed his own memory on the process involved. He presented us with a multiple flight BP. I had not seen one of them before but it contained flight and seat details for each flight!

Security was an absolute breeze and we headed straight for the OSL Lounge. Without doubt, this has to be the best contract lounge that I have visited. Although nothing too special; it was clean, bright and quite modern. It reminded me of the BA Terraces lounge. I spotted a 1:100 model BA Concorde on the receptionist’s desk. Upon closer inspection, it was the same as the one that I had received a week or two back. Initially, they came with a £200 price tag but BA recently dropped it to £50 to shift the stock. I was glad to take one off of their hands at that price. Thanks krug!


After eating a continental breakfast, it was time to board. We made our way down to Gate 50 and I took the opportunity to grab a few pictures of the Tu-154 that was to transport us to Moscow.


I had never been on a Soviet airliner before and had been thoroughly looking forward to the experience. The seats reminded me of US Airway’s domestic First seat, pretty wide with around 38” seat pitch. The seats were laid out in a 2-2 configuration with 4 rows along the left and 3 rows (and an emergency exit) on the right. We were seated in 4A&B and were the last to be served throughout the flight. Although on the plus side, the seats in front of us remained empty and therefore had nobody reclining into us. There was a wooden trim to the cabin that really did give it an antique feel and entering the lavatory was like stepping back in time. The FA realised that my moderately sized hand luggage was too large for the overhead storage compartments and placed my bag between the back of my seat and the bulkhead behind. I would have to say that the overhead compartment was just about the same size as that on the upper deck of a 747. Realising that placing the bag there would prevent me from reclining my seat during the flight, once the FA had vanished; I removed it and placed it under the centre of the seats in front as our footrests were immovable. It easily protruded from under the seats and I was fully expecting an FA to point it out and remove it. Although it was noticed by the FA, nothing was said.


We were given a choice of water or orange juice as a pre-flight drink. I immediately took a liking to the Aeroflot branded glass and it would appear that somehow during the flight one managed to sneak itself into my cabin baggage. I must remember to give that back before the end of the flight. Not too long after, the FA was back taking our orders for the post-departure drink.

I know that Aeroflot have a certain unfair image in the West and we made our own jokes before and during the flight, but joking aside – I don’t think that I have ever paid as much attention to a safety briefing as I did on this flight. Mrs TEX277 began ribbing me when she noticed that I had actually taken the safety card out of the pocket and was studying it carefully.


The food was a little bit of a mixed bag. The starter and dessert were good but the main course did not meet the same standards.

Moscow SVO Transit

We arrived 10 minutes early and made a delayed exit from the aircraft. We had 6hrs 20mins between flights and were really in no mood to rush into the departure lounge. After most of the economy passengers had disembarked we made our move. The lady on the transit desk replaced our SAS issued multi-flight BP with a lovely one on Aeroflot stock and gave us our lounge invites to the Date First Class Lounge.

The first hour of our 6hrs 20mins lay-over was spent walking into just about every duty-free shop in the terminal. It did get a little exciting when we began to play a game of ‘Who can find the most expensive bottle of Cognac?’. Ultimately, I was victorious with a €5700 bottle of Remy Martin Louis XIII Black Pearl. The tour of the duty-free shops in Moscow did highlight the good value of UK high street shops though. Needless to say, we made no purchases. The terminal itself is certainly not somewhere that you would want to spend a lengthy connection due to lack of seating and facilities. Upstairs in particular, there were many people lying on cardboard boxes to get some rest whilst they waited for their connecting flight.

Having exhausted the little interest that we had in the duty-free shops and with nothing else to do in the terminal, we made our way to the Date First Class Lounge. I am not really sure how it deserves the name ‘First Class’; we were non-elite business class passengers and the facilities were akin to those in a United RCC complete with people speaking loudly into their mobile phones. Full disclosure: food selection was superior to the RCC (and a free bar) and in all of the time that I have spent in a RCC; I have not had a chap with a step ladder working his way around the lounge vacuuming the ceiling. Anyway, the place has free wifi and that’s all that matters. Oh and it did not have those bloomy ugly telephones on every table either!)


Route: SVO-HKG
Airline: Aeroflot
Flight number: SU595
Class of service: Business
Aircraft: 767-300ER
Seat: 2A
Scheduled departure time: 19:55
Scheduled arrival time: 09:45+1

By the time that we had made our way to the gate, general boarding was well underway. We joined the queue and soon enough were being welcomed by the cabin crew and directed to our seats 2A&B. Before the doors were shut the cabin crew had to fight off two separate economy passengers attempting to be reseated in economy. The first chap explained to the cabin crew that he had purchased a business class ticket (that apparently cost US$5000) and should be in business despite his BP showing an economy seat assignment. After some protestations, he was making his way back to economy. The lady with an extremely young child (we guessed it could only be a couple of months old) seated in the centre of row 2 was being helped settle in by her husband. He had an economy BP and attempted to persuade the cabin crew to allow him to remain in business for the flight to help his wife with their child. He too was soon on his way back to economy.


Not quite certain of the type of seating to expect on this flight, I was pleased to see that the 767 was fitted with the ‘Presidential’ seats (i.e. angled lie-flat). There were so many free seats in business and, after a quick count, realised that of the 30 seats only 11 were actually occupied. Pre-flight drinks including Champagne were offered, and accepted, menus distributed and orders for meal and post-departure drinks were taken.


We were both quite impressed by the food on offer and were looking forward to dinner. After take-off the personal IFE systems were distributed along with headphones. Neither of us had ever used these before and began investigating them immediately. They were very easy to use but, I assume due to memory size issues, only contained a limited selection of films, music and short programmes.

It was not until the aircraft was at its initial cruising altitude of 33,000ft, that the ‘fasten seat belt’ sign was extinguished. Before then, even the cabin crew had remained seated. As we were a little late departing (scheduled 19:55, actual 20:25), we were hoping that the meal would be served asap so that we could get some sleep on this overnight flight. Needless to say, this was not going to be the case. When the meal service did begin, the cabin crew did a fantastic job of ensuring that empty plates were removed and quickly replaced with the next course.


The appetiser was fantastic with the notable exception of the Salmon caviar tartlet. They had evidently been pre-prepared causing the caviar to have been exposed for too long. This made it quite dry and it ended up sticking to my teeth. The salad was ok, the soup was barely lukewarm whilst the main Char Sui dish was good enough and the dessert was gorgeous. Excuse the absence of the cherry on the dessert in the picture. I couldn’t resist. It was close to 2hrs after departure that we had finished our meal. Unfortunately, I was not tired enough to sleep and watched a film instead.

I know that others do not like these angled lie-flat beds as some have a tendency to slip down. This was not a problem for me but I still struggled to make myself comfortable for sleep. I prefer to sleep face down and just could not find room to accommodate my hands and arms beneath my head. Ultimately, I did manage to get a couple of hours sleep before breakfast was served about 1hr 30min outside of Hong Kong. The breakfast was quite simple but I found that I enjoyed it more than the traditional breakfast offerings that I have received towards the end of overnight flights on other carriers.


A stewardess led the husband in economy up to take a seat in business next to his wife with the young infant. To be fair the infant had been remarkably quiet during the flight with only a few small outbursts. Seated in 2A&B allowed us to disembark quickly through door 1L. My fears of a long walk were unfounded as within a couple of minutes we were at immigration. There were no queues whatsoever, so I walked straight up to the immigration officer to present my passport. Mrs TEX277 used the automated HK ID system and we were both in the baggage hall within a minute of arriving at immigration.

Our blue Aeroflot Business Class luggage tags were no help whatsoever in receiving any sort of priority handling. Most of the first bags off had a black priority label but after that there were many bags without any priority making their way around the carousel. It was 20 minutes after the first bags arrived, that ours presented themselves.

Ibis Hotel North Point

We checked in a couple of hours early due to the morning arrival of the Aeroflot flight from Moscow. We were welcomed and checked in quickly and informed that we had been upgraded to a harbour view room for our 4 night stay. I had done some research and had discovered that the rooms at this hotel were small. However, I was not quite prepared for just how small they really are. Let’s just say that the bathroom is not too bad but the actual room itself is a desk, bed and just enough space to walk around the side and front of the bed to get to the door and bathroom. We can put up with it for this stay but I very much doubt that we’ll be coming back to this hotel in future.


Hong Kong

Having been to Hong Kong several times before and done the whole tourist thing, we decided to take things easy in Hong Kong. The only 'touristy' item on our itinerary was a free Cantonese Opera Appreciation Class run by the Hong Kong Tourism Board. Our guide introduced us to the fundamentals (characters, singing and acting styles) before we sat in on a performance. We popped into the Beijing Olympic Flagship store in the Bank of China to stock up merchandising. Being in an Olympic city with less than 10 days to go before the event commences, it was impossible not to be drawn in by the whole affair. Mrs TEX277 had looked into securing herself tickets to the equestrian events being held in Hong Kong but was too late, as tickets were now sold out.

TEX277

Part 3

Route: HKG-BKK
Airline: Emirates
Aircraft: 3 Class 777-300
Seat: 7K (moved to 6K when door closed)
Flight number: EK385
Class of service: Business
Scheduled departure time: 22:25
Scheduled arrival time: 00:05+1

24 hours before departure, I logged onto Emirates’ website to perform online check-in. I entered my details as requested to be informed that I could not OLCI as my ‘e-ticket requires manual verification’. I expressed dissatisfaction that caught Mrs TEX277’s attention and she began ribbing me that they had twigged onto one of my dodgy tickets. I assured her that this one was legit and that I had no idea as to why manual verification was required. It was interesting to note the enthusiasm with which she sensed my holiday (that took literally 10 months to plan) was being dealt such a fatal blow so close to the start. I politely reminded her that it would only take one phone call to cancel her ticket home.

The next day we watched The Dark Knight (ironically it includes footage of Batman on top of the IFC in Hong Kong) we spend a couple of hours watching TV at a friend’s house with whom Mrs TEX277 is going to spend pretty much the rest of August. As time passed, I realised exactly how much I am going to miss her and seriously considered cancelling my plans and spending some more time with her.

After kissing her goodbye, I boarded the A11 service to Chep Lap Kok. Upon arrival, I found T2 to be a very quiet terminal at an otherwise busy airport.


I saw the Emirates check-in desks a mile away and made straight for them. A lady greeted me and enquired whether I was in economy, business or first. Bless – I was dressed in (long) shorts and a t-shirt and would totally have understood if see had pointed me towards economy without question! She directed me to the business class counter (all of which were empty and there was only a small queue at economy – which I not really surprising as I arrived about 5-10 mins after the desks opened) where I was dealt with very quickly and efficiently. I believe that the reason why I could not check-in online was that the agent wanted to see the credit card with which I had paid. With my BP and lounge invite in hand I headed for security. For such a large airport, the walk to security was quite lonely.

Formalities were soon over with, and I boarded the shuttle to the gates. As the Emirates lounge was located close to gate 60, I disembarked the first shuttle and crossed the platform to board the shuttle that served the far away gates. The signs lead me to the Emirates lounge where I presented my BP and lounge invite. As it had only been open for around 15 minutes before my arrival, there was only one other passenger in the lounge. I took the opportunity to take a few pictures and was delighted to discover that the champagne on offer was Veuve Cliquot NV (my personal NV favourite)! Five glasses later and I was nicely relaxed and ready for boarding.


I do not think that I have ever started a flight review with a conclusion, so please forgive me just this once. This was without doubt the best value that I have ever received for £150 from an airline!!! Allow me to elaborate:

After boarding was announced in the lounge, I made my way down to gate 66. There was no queue and I was soon being welcomed onboard by the crew.


I was directed to my seat and soon enough realised that this was no old style 777-300 as scheduled but the new 3 class 777-300. Rather than (what I call) a regional business class seat, these babies were the real deal. There was plenty of legroom and an angled lie flat seat. I was in seat 7K, located in the front (just two rows) business cabin in a 2-3-2 layout. Of the 10 seats in this section, there were only two passengers. I quick peer back into the rear business cabin indicated that that too was rather empty.


I received a pre-departure glass of Moët and set about becoming familiar with Emirates’ ICE (Information, Communication and Entertainment) system. I have never seen a seen so large in any cabin as the beauty facing me nor an control panel for the IFE as the one in my hand. There were so many options including at least one movie that was currently being shown in cinemas in Hong Kong. It also included the views from two camera; one placed looking straight down from the aircraft and one looking forward. As the flight time was only 2hr 11mins, I decided to set to the flight info channel. As passing FA confirmed that boarding was complete and I decided to relocate to seat 6K (as there was a missing window at seat 7K). Although 6K all three windows, allowing for some great viewing, its TV was located in the central console. Due to this, whilst still larger than most other airlines’ personal TV screens, the screen was not quite so large as that of the regular non-bulkhead seats.

Seeing that First was entirely empty (the original aircraft had no First), I enquired with a passing FA whether Emirates operated an onboard cash upgrade policy. He confirmed that they did but because they had no First catering onboard, it was not available on this flight. Out of curiosity, I enquired how much that would have cost on this HKG-BKK sector. He came back to me to confirm that the Business to First upgrade onboard would usually cost US$650 (IIRC – certainly $6xx anyway). As I had purchased a business class seat for literally £50 more than an economy seat, I figured that I already secured the best value. This was confirmed when he told me not to worry about it because they were going to look after me very well.

The FA did invite me up to First to have a look around at the exact time that we were scheduled to depart. I asked if we had time and he told me not to worry about it. I followed him beyond the curtain where we looked at the First seats (along with their personal drinks cabinet – nice touch) and chatted about them and how they compared to First seats that I had sampled. He invited me to come and have another look, take some pictures and try out the seat later during the flight.

Upon my return to me seat, I was given another glass of Moët. We pushed back and made the long taxi to the runway. It must have been around 30 minutes beyond scheduled departure time that engines began thrusting us down 07R. The climb out gave me a good view of Disneyland and Hong Kong Harbour before we flew straight over Hong Kong Island. We were at 33000ft before the fasten seatbelt signs were turned off.

A third glass of Moët was delivered along with some assorted nuts.


I gave my preferences for meal service and sat back and enjoyed the flight before supper was served.





It has to be said that they food was very good. I adore seafood and the appetiser really hit the spot. The caviar was a garnish but done somewhat more generously than I recall on our NZ flight between AKL-SIN a couple of years ago. The main was good too but let down by the rice as it was a little too firm. I opted out of the red bean cake (although it was already on my plate – and shown on the picture above) as it is not to my taste.

After the table was cleared away, I found the FA who had previously shown me the First cabin and asked whether it was ok to return to take a few pictures. He confirmed that it was fine and I made my way back into First. I reclined the seat to its fully flat position and made myself comfortable. I have not been on too many First or Business seats that accommodate my much preferred sleeping position as well that this seat did. I was able to lay face-down, hands under my head with my feet dangling over the end of the bed and with ample room too!


Upon my return to my Business seat, I reclined that into its angled lie-flat position and was amazed to discover that I could again take my preferred sleeping position on this seat too. I must admit that this angled bed did not actually feel slopey at all and I firmly believe would make for a fantastic night’s sleep.


All too soon, the descent into Bangkok commenced. I sought out the great FA and thanked hom for making the flight so enjoyable. I returned to my seat and at first enjoyed the light show on display outside. We were descending through a cloud layer with the landing lights on illuminating it, every few seconds the strobes would flash and light up the cloud and intermittently a flash of lightning would join in the extravaganza. After a couple of minutes, I realised that this Epileptic’s nightmare was doing my head no good whatsoever, especially after 5 glasses of Veuve Cliquot, 3 glasses of Moët and one glass of Port and averted my gaze!!!

The main screen in the centre of the bulkhead was showing the view from the forward facing camera whilst we landed. I was soon off the aircraft and making the long walk to immigration. I maintained my record of always locating myself in the slowest channel possible by walking straight up to what was evidently a trainee immigration official. Her processing of my passport and landing card felt like it was of an equivalent duration to the flight itself. Remembering my last (first) visit to this new Bangkok airport, I took a seat and waited for the carousel to begin. I was a little taken aback by how quickly it began and even more so when I realised my bag was sixth off. It took me 15 minutes from disembarkation to jumping into a taxi. Good stuff!

Ibis Siam Bangkok

Check in was quick enough as there was no queue waiting to check when I arrived at 01:00. The room itself was quite large and very clean and modern. For the £17 that I paid (I booked the larger room) for this hotel per night, it has to be one of the best in terms of value within Bangkok.


Bangkok

I woke up a little late (11:00) and did not leave the room until 14:00. Mad dogs and all of that! I eventually ventured out and headed south down Rajaprarop Road, past the Siam Centre, north up Phaya Thai Road before cutting along Si Ayuttaya Road to rejoin Rajaprarop Road and north to the ibis.


I made the mistake of entering a market and could not find the entrance from which I entered. It must have taken around 10 minutes of walking before I came across the Indonesian embassy (identified on my map) and was able to recommence my stroll.

More worthy of note, was that as I was heading north up Phaya Thai Road, I walked passed a parked police car with the officer standing beside it before noticing that the road on my side (i.e. southbound) was absolutely empty. I thought it was a bit strange and pulled out my camera to take a picture of a clear road in the centre of Bangkok. Before I could take that picture I heard sirens and then saw flashing lights. Sensing something was happening, I got my camera ready to begin filming by the roadside. The policeman noticed me and waved for me to get back from the road. I did so and I began filming. Within 10 seconds another man (non-uniformed and probably just a passing local) called at me to stop filming. I turned off my camera and watched what must have been around a 10 vehicle motorcade pass by with police at the front and read sandwiching several cream Mercedes (C or E class IIRC) cars, the first of which was flying a flag. Answers on a postcard!?

As I approached the ibis, I saw a restaurant tucked away just off of the main road. As I had not eaten that day, I ventured in and took a seat. I ordered a meal and a beer and they set me back less than 400Bhat (£7).


I had thought about ordering the 'Pork pun' for 90Bhat (£1.50) but figured that it was too expensive for a simple one-liner!

TEX277

Part 4

The front desk at the ibis instantly secured a taxi for me as I checked out. The hotel was eager that guests should not use the taxis located outside for fear of being overcharged. It took my driver 10 minutes to move literally 100m in the traffic. However, as soon as we did the elevated multlane dual carriageway, he began making up for lost time. It was nice to see the road ahead so clear whilst it was bumper to bumper in the other direction.

We arrived at the airport and I was surprised to discover that after the 30 minute ride the meter was only showing 190Bhat (£3). The downside of course was that I had been done on the ride from the airport that cost 400Bhat.

Route: BKK-SIN
Airline: Singapore Airlines
Flight number: SQ973
Class of service: First
Aircraft: 777-300
Seat: 1A
Scheduled departure time: 11:15
Scheduled arrival time: 14:40

I arrived around three hours before departure and located the Singapore Airlines check-in area. A queue was forming but the desks were not staffed. I took a slow walk around the terminal before returning in time to see several agents making themselves comfortable behind the check-in desks. The economy queue consisted of around 20 passengers, business had 5 waiting but first was free. The formalities were dealt with swiftly and I was given directions to the Silver Kris Lounge. I asked about paying the departure tax and discovered that it was now included in the ticket price.


I headed through security and had a look around the departure lounge and the duty free shops.


I then made for the Thai Royal First Lounge after having a quick look around for a ‘guest’ to take into the lounge. I have done this a couple of times before as I enjoy brightening up the day of a complete stranger by getting them in with me. Unfortunately, I did not see many people travelling alone and so went in by myself.

There were only 3 other passengers in the main seating area allowing for plenty of space and privacy. Besides the general seating area, there are several semi-private rooms and a dining room.


Before I had even sat down, a member of staff was enquiring what I would like to drink. The champagne (Moët) was quickly delivered by a young lady who knelt down on the floor beside my seat, placed the glass on the table and then withdrew. I was invited to take a look at the food offering. Having looked, I ordered a couple of canapés followed by a club sandwich. They too were delivered in the same manner as the champagne and really did taste every bit as good as they appeared.


A glass or two later and I headed out to see if I could get into the Spa. I knew that it was exclusively for Thai First passengers but figured that as the lounge was so quiet, it couldn’t hurt to ask. I approached a member of staff close to the lounge exit by the toilets, fully expecting to get knocked back, and was (in absolutely the most polite manner possible) informed that next time I should fly Thai. I beat a hasty retreat back to my seat. A few minutes later the same lady approached me and asked if I’d like to go to the Spa. Before I had had time to recognise her, I said that I was travelling on Singapore Airlines. Obviously, she already knew this but asked me to follow.

Perhaps not entirely illogical on my account but I thought that they had decided to let me sample the spa this one time. However, my hopes were soon dashed as I was handed over to a spa employee who provided me with a personal tour of their facilities. I was not too disappointed when I discovered the purpose of my presence there as I thoroughly enjoyed the visit and will give some serious thought to flying with Thai out of Bangkok in first in the future to enjoy the full product range in this facility.


I thought that I would do check out the Silver Kris Lounge to compare it to the Thai First lounge. I thanked the fantastic Thai staff as I left them for all of their help and for letting me have a look around the Spa. The two minutes that I was in the SKL lounge only served to highlight what a great lounge Thai have for first passengers! I took a couple of pictures and left. I think the SQ ladies on the desk were a little taken aback by my almost immediate departure.


I returned to the Thai lounge and walked towards the same employees to whom I had, not five minutes beforehand, said a fond farewell. They expressed surprise at seeing me back so soon. I told them that I had been done to the SKL to check it out but it vastly inferior to their lounge. They genuinely seemed to appreciate this and my next glass of champagne arrived without any request.

Ultimately, my time there came to an end and I exited the lounge promising the staff that I really would not be returning this time. Once outside, I turned left and began walking. A few seconds later a member of the Thai lounge staff chased me and told me that I was heading the wrong way! He pointed me in the correct direction and I thanked him profusely. I was impressed by that. I was not even flying his airline but he remembered that I was flying on SQ to Singapore and still went the extra mile for me. Big thumbs up to all of the staff in that lounge!


As I approached the gate area the agents seemed pleased to see me. It would appear that I was the last passenger to board (but still abiding by their doors close 15 minutes before departure policy). Upon first sight and before I had set foot on the aircraft or they had seen my boarding pass, I was welcomed by name by the cabin crew. That was the first time this trip that any crew had addressed me by my name.

I was pleased to see that there were only four of us in first despite there being 18 seats! A few minutes after I boarded, the doors closed. I was asked if I’d like a pre-departure drink. There was a small mixed up over the champagne available; I was offered Dom Perignon or Krug and asked for Krug only to be told a minute later that there was no Krug onboard as it was a short flight. I gratefully accepted the Dom alternative. We pushed back 10 minutes early and made for a swift departure.


The fasten seat belt sign was extinguished fairly soon after take-off and the crew began to prepare the meal service. Having indulged in the Thai lounge, I had no real hunger and just opted for the appetiser. I barely touched it.


The table was cleared and I reclined the seat and tried to get a little more sleep. As I usually find it hard to sleep on aircraft, I was gobsmacked to awake to the ‘we are now starting our descent into Singapore’ announcement! I quickly asked a member of the cabin crew for an immigration card and set about filling it in. During the descent, I snapped a couple of pictures of the cabin and then one of my seat upon disembarkation.


Just like at Bangkok, it took me 15 minutes from disembarkation to getting into the back of a taxi. This was with the long walk from gate E11 and joining the immigration queue behind the passengers from the Yangon service. 20 minutes and S$20 later and I was at Le Méridien Singapore ready to check in.

Le Méridien Singapore

I spotted the SPG priority desk for elite members but made my way over to the normal desk. I had allowed my membership to lapse and I am just another general member now. Seeing that I was waiting, a front desk employee came over to me and began to check me in. It was only a few seconds in when I realised that he had me identified as a SPG Gold member. I had made the booking before my demotion and ultimately decided to kept quiet having secured a 4pm late check-out. A lady approached me with a free welcome drink as the chap attempted to locate a room for me. The room that had been pre-allocated was not yet ready and I was given the option of taking a lesser room or waiting. I decided to wait but once I announcement my intention, he received a call telling him my room was ready! He handed me my room key along with a sealed envelope with my name on it and a voucher for complimentary chili crab at the hotel's Café Georges.

The free chilli crab was pretty good in my book (I am not expert on that matter) but I got a bit carried away and ordered a Caesar salad, two glasses of Champagne and a cocktail to go with it that cost me just over S$70!



Singapore

During my previous trips I had pretty much confined myself to Raffles Hotel and Orchard Road. This time I wanted to see something more. To be honest, though, I did probably spend too much time by the hotel’s pool! The first place that I wanted to see was TigerLIVE and the nearby Vivocity. I eventually found TigerLIVE (which is based on Tiger Beer – admission includes a free drink) but did not go in as the place was absolutely dead. It was open but just nobody going in or coming out and the car park was deserted. Sensing every other tourist on the island had the right idea, I turned around and headed back to Vivocity.

Having passed through Singapore several times in the last few years, I had seen lots of photos of Merlion Park. It is a little underwhelming but certainly popular with the tourists. I arrived a couple of hours before dusk and think that it would so much better at night with the skyline immediately behind. That is not to say that I didn’t enjoy it, I just figured that there would be more available there for tourist than the Merlion alone.


As I walked past the Floating Platform to the right, where they were practising for Singapore National Day, I took a rather unnerving interest in the tarmac on Raffles Avenue. It looked almost billiard table smooth and quite new. I wondered if that was going to be a stretch of the race track for next month’s inaugural Singapore Formula One Grand Prix. My eyes were then caught by some unusual street lighting which I immediately recognised having read an article about how the track would be illuminated for the night race. Surprisingly, I did not receive any odd stares as I began taking photos of the road!

Singapore Flyer was doing a special deal for the auspicious day; if you were one of the first 888 to ride the Flyer on that day, they gave you a commemorative certificate. Being the sucker that I am for free souvenirs, I went to book my ticket for the following day.


I am very glad that I did because, despite seeking out activities to do whilst in Singapore, it was here that I discovered that there was a flight simulator in the attached building. It is called ‘Flight Experience’ (www.flightexperience.com.sg) and provides the opportunity to fly a 737-800NG beside a fully qualified instructor. They offer three packages:

1) 30 minutes for S$155
2) 60 minutes for S$255
3) 90 minutes for S$365

For an extra S$15 (on top of any package) they will give you a DVD recording of your experience. I was informed that for the special day tomorrow, they will be including the DVD for free in all packages. I made a reservation for the following day for the 90 minutes package (though it must be said to Mrs TEX277 if you are ready this – I negotiated a very large discount and did not pay the quoted price for it, honest! I know what the credit card statement says, and it’s just a typo! Okay?).

I arrived at the Singapore Flyer about 10 minutes before it opened. There were only a few other people around killing time before we could board. I am so glad that I did not waste my money on an express boarding ticket. These cost around twice as much as the normal ticket but probably would have only saved me around 4 minutes. I am sure that, as it gets busy later on during the day, they could represent good value. I suppose that 4 minute saving could have been reduced to a few seconds had the man supervising and allocated guests to pods been filling them to capacity. I was glad that he didn’t! After the three or four small family groups in front of me boarded their own pods, I was next up. The man asked me where I was from and when I replied ‘UK’, he wanted to know whether I had been in the London Eye. Unfortunately, on the day that I went on it there was some light mist and I could not see too far at all! That made him chuckle and state “You won’t have that problem here”! He then boarded me into my own personal pod!!!


The views became more spectacular the higher than my pod got. As I was about half way to the top I heard the noise of a jet fighter. I looked around and saw what I thought was a F-5 Tiger Shark (I was okay with differentiating the F-5s from F-20s right up until Top Gun went and confused me with the MiG-28!) In total I counted five of them approaching the airbase from this fantastic viewing platform.

At the Flight Experience, it seems that you can do pretty much whatever you wish. Fly circuits, routes or approaches in to over 20,000 airports. I started off with a circuit at LAS to get a feel for the handling characteristics before taking off from Macau, making a touch and go and then a full at the old Hong Kong. A circuit at East Midlands and then departed Heathrow for a touch and go at London City (flew a non-standard approach just missing Canary Wharf) before finally landing at Gatwick. It was great fun and I thought offered good value for the money.


Route: SIN-BKK
Airline: Singapore Airlines
Flight number: SQ978
Class of service: First
Aircraft: 777-200
Seat: 2A (moved to 2F when doors closed)
Scheduled departure time: 18:00
Scheduled arrival time: 19:25

I journeyed straight over the T3 after check-in and I was a little let down by Singapore Airline’s First Class lounge. Sure it looked nice, but unlike the Thai lounge at BKK there was nobody to take your drinks orders. When I enquired how I should go about getting a glass of Champagne, I was directed to the self-service bar. I was expecting a bottle of Dom Perignon but it was Charles Heidseick Brut Reserve that was available. I utilised the free wifi to catch up with my FT query about transport from Colombo Airport to the Taj Garden Hotel.


Back over at T2 with a little over an hour to departure, I began my hunt for a friendly face to take into Singapore Airlines’ First Class lounge.

I found two independent from each other. However, they both were flying QANTAS having come in from Penang but politely pointed me in the way of the SQ lounge! Realising that there was a distinct absence of solo Star Alliance travellers, made for the lounge anyway! Sensing that I had failed in my quest, I was resigned to defeat. However, as I approached the lounge in saw a guy being turned away and directed to the SATS lounge. As he walked back towards me, I asked if he was flying Star Alliance. Upon hearing that he was an SQ passenger I asked him to follow me and I’d get him in. He turned around and walked the other way! I said that I could get a guest in but he was not interested. Can’t say that I didn’t try!!!


I was privileged to have a great crew on this flight, who again addressed me by name before I had set foot onto the aircraft. I was quickly informed that it was just the two of us on this flight (i.e. myself in 2A and the chap in1A). I decided to give each of us some space and relocated over to 2F. A glass of Dom Perignon was soon delivered and I felt right at home. The male member of cabin crew in particular was extremely friendly and we had several lengthy chats during the flight. He even watched my Kai Tak approach from my flight experience DVD and said that if the captain needs any help then they will call no me. To be fair it was one hell of a decent landing on that difficult runway! It turned out that the male cabin crew member was married to the leading flight attendant. I did think about asking whether she made a good wife but thought better of it in the end*.

I received a note from one of the Singapore Girls and was quite taken aback by her forwardness:

(Okay, so it was actually from a Singapore Boy who knew my wife was Cantonese and was just trying to help me impress her but that just does not make as good a story!)

No menu was distributed during the flight; I had Booked the Cook (Lobster Thermidor) and was happy to take whatever else was offered.


Once off of the aircraft it must have taken a little over 5 minutes until I was in the Thai Spa Lounge with a beautiful Thai lady (who no doubt would make an excellent wife**) giving me a great massage. Did anybody see that episode of ‘Travel Sick’ with Grub Smith??? The one where he was given some sort of treatment with courtesy of a lit candlestick and small glass bowls that gave him those purple marks all over his back. The said a great line that I am not sure that I could repeat here (nothing too offensive) but every time that she was a little too strong I thought of the quote and began giggling.

Route: BKK-CMB
Airline: Thai Airways
Flight number: TG307
Class of service: Business
Aircraft: A300-600
Seat: 11K
Scheduled departure time: 22:15
Scheduled arrival time: 00:01+1

The business cabin was pretty full for this flight. I only recall seeing three spare seats and unfortunately one of them was not beside me. As it was a night flight with so many other passengers in the cabin I decided against the use of my camera as the flash would have been necessary. However, there are photos of mine of the Thai A300 business cabin in my Bali trip report.

The one thing I remembered about the seats on this aircraft was that when the person in front reclines, you are left with little space. Therefore I opted for 11K, a window bulkhead seat. I only nibbled at the appetiser (Thai Prawn salad IIRC) and waved away any further offering of food. Since I had slept so little the night before, I quickly grew tired and even managed to sleep for most of this flight.




Immigration and customs were soon enough negotiated and again within 15 minutes of setting foot off of the plane, I was in the arrivals hall.

Taj Airport Garden Hotel Colombo

Having been advised that the Taj Garden Hotel offered a shuttle bus I made my way over. After checking my reservation the guy stated that my rate did not include transportation. He said he’d get me a car and it would cost US$6. At the time I wondered whether this was bit of a scam, but being that it was 00:30, I’d have to check-out of the hotel at 05:00 and that it was only US$6, I could not be bothered to query it and just wanted to get there asap. I was shown to a car and, much to my annoyance, we drove slowly to the hotel.

Check-in itself was pretty rapid and I was glad that I encountered no problems there. I had originally booked to arrive the previous night but changed my plans so that it would just be this short stay. I had emailed the hotel to inform them of this change and they had obviously taken care of it. The front desk staff recorded my flight departure details and informed me of my wake-up call. 4am was their suggestion due to traffic and security at Colombo airport. I eventually managed to talk them around to giving me a whopping great extra 30 minutes sleep. I walked into the room that initially struck me as being quite spacious and quite presentable. The phone rang and the chap who had checked me in told me that my rate includes breakfast but as it was not served at that time they could make alternative arrangements for me. I thanked him for his consideration and politely declined the offer. Breakfast would mean 15 minutes less sleep!!! A minute later and I was in bed trying to sleep.


My first thought was ‘I am not ready for this yet’ when the receptionist rang at 04:30 to inform me that we flight would be departing as scheduled. I was out of the hotel by 05:05 and heading back to the airport (at a quicker pace than initial transfer). I soon began to realise why they wanted me out of the hotel so long before my flight as he joined the queue for the security inspection on the road to the airport. I was impressed by the minimal distance that the driver maintained between our car and the car in front to prevent others forcing their way in. However, he bottled out as one car on each side began closing in and then we were out of it. Several other cars squeezed through before we could get underway again. To confirm my suspicions of a scam the previous night, the driver did not ask for any money for this transfer. I gave him US$2 as a thank you anyway.

* That quip is not to be taken seriously but is solely intended as homage to a truly legendary TR previously posted in this forum.

** See above - somebody stop me!

TEX277

Part 5

Route: CMB-SIN
Airline: Sri Lankan Airlines
Aircraft: A340-300
Seat: 3C
Flight number: UL302
Class of service: Business
Scheduled departure time: 07:25
Scheduled arrival time: 13:55


I had located the Business Class check-in desk and pleased to note that there were only around 4 people in front of me. However, the queue moved very slowly and I realised that it was taking just over 5 minutes to check-in each passenger. As I waited in the business class check-in I grew more and more nervous. I had been keeping an eye of the FT thread about this fare and had read of difficulties that some have encountered with itineraries including Sri Lankan, Singapore and BA. I had flights on all three airlines on this ticket and I was about to find out whether I was going to be one of the unfortunate ones. In time that was not out of keeping with other passengers, the lady tapped away at the computer until a baggage tag was spat out! Relief began to spread through my body as I was handed my boarding pass and lounge invitation. I was set to go!

The thing that really got to me about departing Colombo airport was the fact that the time spent to get to the departure lounge is mostly just standing around waiting to be seen. There is the security point to pass through as soon as you enter the terminal, the check-in queue and then the immigration queue. This is quite unlike what I experienced at Tel Aviv where there is little time really spent queuing as you are continuously being processed at many different points. Without a doubt, I would take a Tel Aviv departure anytime over this ordeal. I really felt bad for those travelling economy. For my flight, there was only one check-in agent processing all of the economy passengers. I would hate to think about how long they had to wait.

I was pleasantly surprised by the Sri Lankan Serendip lounge. It was a large lounge with more than enough space for the 15 or so passengers in there to really spread themselves around. They even have complimentary massage treatments in there too and a nice looking cooked breakfast buffet selection.


With a little over 5 minutes before the scheduled departure time of the aircraft, the lady on the desk approached to inform me that the aircraft was now ready for me to board. I made my way down and, having seen how many people were in the lounge, had expected the business cabin to be relatively quiet. Nope, there were only two empty seat – one of which was waiting for me! It did not go without notice that there was a rather attractive lady in 3A (Don’t worry – I shall not be going down that road again!).


The cabin had three rows in a 2-2-2 layout. There were three deadheading flight crew with a female companion (they wore uniform but she was in everyday clothes), myself and my seatmate and I think that the others were all in the same party. The seats were of a recliner style and were more modern and comfy than I had imagined. I had in mind something akin to the Thai A300 seat.

By far the most impressive thing about the flight was the crew. There were absolutely fantastic. After we took off, they were around immediately with drinks and hot towels before commencing the breakfast service. This included fruits, yoghurts, cereals, pastries and breads along with a choice of three main courses. I opted for the herb omelette and thoroughly enjoyed it. Drinks were then frequently offered during the flight. I reclined my comfortable seat after breakfast and began to catch up on some much needed sleep.

Later on during the flight I headed up to the lavatories. The FA in the jump seat close by jumped up as I approached and went to open the door for me. However, it was occupied, so she walked to the one on the opposite aisle and discovered that that too was occupied. She said that I could return to my seat and as soon as one of them became available, she’d come and get me. I had not experienced that before! Another nice touch was that at the end of the flight the Purser came up from economy straight to me and asked what I thought of the flight. ‘Fantastic hospitality’ was my first response which genuinely seemed to please him. We chatted for a couple of minutes and then he shook my hand and thanked me for flying Sri Lankan. He did the same with the lady next to me and then with the head of the large party.

I know that it is cultural thing, but I must say that the uniforms of the FAs are not particularly flattering of the ladies. It fully exposes their lower torso and I believe what some may call a ‘muffin top’! Not really what I wanted to see at breakfast time but like I say, it’s a cultural thing right?

Route: SIN-SYD
Airline: Singapore Airlines
Aircraft: A380
Seat:11K
Flight number: SQ221
Class of service: Business
Scheduled departure time: 20:35
Scheduled arrival time: 05:55+1

Nervously I approached the transfer desk in Terminal 2. I had arrived in T1 but headed to T2 out of habit as my A380 Sydney flight departs T3. This was it – do or die! Have Singapore Airlines flagged my ticket? Had it been suspended like others have reported? Will I get to fly the A380 today or am I going to be waiting longer? How much is the ferry to Batam to take up Plan C? Where do I catch it from?

The lady began tapping at her computer, stopped, raised her head and looked at me as her mouth began to open. Ahhh! Here it comes! Please just give me a boarding pass, please just give me a boarding pass, please! Her mouth continued to open:

“Do you have any bags to check, Sir?”

“Yes, they have checked them thorough” (refraining myself from adding ‘from Colombo’ fearing that it might alarm her to what she had in front of her)

“Do you have the bag check sticker?”

“It’s on that back of the ticket”

She then went back to tapping away at her keyboard. Was that it? Am I in the clear? She feeds a blank beautiful blue Singapore Airlines Business boarding pass into her printer (I was at the economy desk at the Business one was occupied) before it almost immediately spat it back out with my name, seat and flight details printed all over it! She ran through the formalities but to be honest I was not really paying attention. I just wanted that boarding pass in my hands.

A few moments later and there it was in my hands! I felt just like Charlie Bucket when he discovered his golden ticket! I did feel a bit like having a song and dance over it but will keep that for the Suites when (if?) I get there!

With Plan A still in effect, I decided that I’d venture back into Singapore to see the National Day celebrations. I joined the queue at immigration and waited. And waited. And waited some more! The queue was barely moving and I grew frustrated. I decided that I’d just stay at the airport for the six hour transit as I had some things to do. Cancelling Plan B and Plan C was first on my list.

I left the Singapore Airlines Business Class Lounge half an hour before scheduled departure and made my way to gate B7. The gate lounge was fairly empty and I quickly made my way up to the upper deck boarding door. I had opted for seat 11K which is the bulkhead window seat in the forward business class cabin, apart from the fact that this ‘window seat’ actually lacked windows.


I had heard before that this was the case but thought that because it was a night flight, that would be a worthwhile sacrifice for not having another seat so close in front. With hindsight, I really should have gone for a proper window seat on my first A380 flight. It would have been fantastic to look out over the wings and we took-off and landed. The seat did have a window but that was located behind the side panel of the seat. This meant that you had to lean forward and rotate your head around 110° and for all of that trouble you got a narrow view out of the window. Closing the blind required the skills of a contortionist!

Our departure was slightly delayed as we waited for some passengers from a late arriving flight and their baggage. I had the obligatory pre-departure glass of Champagne and made myself comfy in the extremely wide seat. I began to familiarise myself with the IFE but thought that it included views from external cameras. It seems that I was incorrect. The noise level within the cabin was very low including when we began our take-off roll.

A few minutes after departure, I began to make myself comfortable by raising the leg rest. It did not elevate as far as I wanted and the footrest was too elevated for comfort when in an upright position for dining.

Although a post-departure drink arrived relatively quickly, I had to wait close to 2 hours after departure to receive my appetiser and drink. The food was delivered but I had to wait 10 minutes for a glass of Champagne to accompany as it was not on the trolley. This scene was repeated a little while later when the cheese selection was offered. Now you would have thought that they would have a glass and a bottle of Port on the cheese cart wouldn’t you? Another 10 minute wait while this too was fetched.

My moderately sized hand baggage could not fit into the overhead compartment and had to be stored in the closet. When I requested it during the flight I had to wait about 10 minutes before I received it. I was quickly becoming frustrated with the service on this flight and was in a good mind to just go through the closet myself and retrieve it.

As we departed at 9pm for a 6am arrival, I would have expected service to be quick and efficient in order to maximise the time that passengers would have to gain some sleep. Sadly, that was far from the case. Dare I say that perhaps Singapore Airlines could learn a thing or two from BA’s sleeper service?

Unfortunately, I cannot provide a menu for this flight as it was retrieved by the FA before I could either photograph it or place it into my hand baggage.

Needless to say, I thought that my experience failed to meet the expectation that I had. Ok, the seat choice was my fault but it was the service that really disappointed. It was a full flight in economy and business (unsure about the suites) but that cannot be used as an excuse. They should be able to provide at least a satisfactory level of service no matter what. A couple of weeks ago, I really wouldn’t have believed what I am about to type: the service on that Singapore Airlines A380 flight was by far inferior to any of the others experienced on this trip, Aeroflot included!

There was a 30 second wait at Immigration and I was impressed to see that some bags were already revolving around the carousel as I arrived in the baggage hall myself! Sadly, my bag was not one of them. After a few minutes, it popped out and I was soon in the arrivals hall and heading for T2 Domestic.

TEX277

Part 6

Route: SYD-OOL
Airline: Jetstar Airlines
Aircraft: A320
Seat: 4F
Flight number: JQ404
Class of service: Economy
Scheduled departure time: 09:00
Scheduled arrival time: 10:20[/SIZE]

Arriving at 7am after my A380 flight from Singapore, I headed for Jetstar’s check-in desks. My bag weighed in at 21.5kgs (allowance was 20kgs) and as the lady attached a ‘Heavy’ tag (never had one of them before!) she asked whether I would bring it below 21kgs by taking out a book for example. I had a book in there, so I put it into my hand baggage. Scales now read 20.6kgs and she was satisfied. If only my wife was so easily pleased! Security was quick and I positioned myself at the end of the Virgin Blue gates close to gate 40 in order to enjoy the fantastic view of airfield operations and catch up with this Trip Report.


The gate area looked particularly busy and once everybody had boarded, there were not too many spare seats remaining. There was allocated seating, unlike so many other low cost carriers, and I had reserved mine when I bought the ticket online. The seat itself seemed to had particularly limited legroom; my knees were only a couple of centimetres (when in Rome..) from the seat in front and I distinctly recall thinking ‘please do not recline your seat during the flight!’. Thankfully she did not. The flight lasted a little over an hour and from my seat on the right hand side of the aircraft I was provided some fantastic views of the northern New South Wales coastline. Food and drink were offered for sale onboard but I was not particularly hungry.


Soon enough we were descending towards OOL. Once on the ground we taxied to our ramp position. There are no jet bridges at OOL and all passengers descend down the steps, across the tarmac and into the terminal building. Personally, I quite enjoy that as it exposes your senses to the smell, sight and noise of the being up close with the aircraft.

Alamo Car Rental Gold Coast Airport

As the carousel had not yet started, I figured that I’d sort out my hire car first. I had arranged to collect the rather attractive Nissan X-Trail at 12:00 despite knowing that my flight was due to arrive at 10:20. As my car was not yet ready, this was politely pointed out to me. I waited for my luggage and then sat and checked a couple of things on my computer to waste a bit of time. 15 minutes the lady beckoned me back to the counter. The car was now ready for me. However, it took her over 20 minutes to sort out the paperwork for my rental as a queue began to grow behind me as only one employee was manning the desk.

She first quote a figure that was much more expensive than the price I had been confirmed. She struggled to get the rate to match my travel industry staff discounted rate. She tapped at the keyboard, apologised, tapped some more, huffed, puffed, apologised, called a colleague in the Virgin terminal and apologised again. She did this routine three times before giving up and finding a rate lower than the one that I had booked. By this time, she really didn’t care and just gave that rate to me. I was then sent over to the Virgin Terminal to collect my keys for my upgraded car.

Thing was that I had been upgraded from the lovely Nissan X-Trail that I had deliberately booked and was actually quite looking forward to driving about to a flipping dog ugly Ford Falcon STATIONWAGON!!!!!!!!! Having had quite enough with the wait to get this car in the first place, I got in, familiarised myself with the control layout and attempted to hide my face from public view as I began to drive this brick.

What I should have had:

My 'upgraded' car:

Radisson Resort Gold Coast

The hotel was quite nice but to be honest I didn’t really get to see much of it. Check-in was quick and efficient. I had feared that I’d be in for a long wait as I entered the building because there was one huge (I’d guess around 30 people) group of Chinese tourists in the lobby. However, there were just waiting around and I walked straight up to the desk. I was informed that I had been upgraded and pointed in the direction of my room. The rooms are in small three floor blocks and my room was on the first floor. I quick look determined that there were no lifts and I began to lug my baggage up the stairs. I was so glad that I was only on the first floor.


The room itself was spacious, had two queen beds as I had requested (as there was a chance that my uncle may come and stay with me on the last night) and a balcony with a couple of chairs and a table that gave a good view out over the golf course. The pool looked good but I think it was a little too cold to go swimming. All considered it was not bad at all for AU$99 per night!

[B[Gold Coast/Brisbane[/B]

As this area was the only one where I actually knew people, I didn’t do much of the tourist thing and spend time with them instead. I left the airport and headed straight for my uncle’s place. He was not expecting me and we spent a few hours catching up.

I had been in communication with BundyBear prior to my arrival and we had arranged to meet up. I met him at this place of work and we attended the EKKA Agriculture Show in Brisbane.

We then headed into the city for some good food. Thanks to some GPS aided poor navigation, we took a bit of a detour that gave us a fantastic view of Brisbane at night.


I suppose I had best admit up front that it was an ‘English Pub’ before he divulges my little dark secret. I just wanted something without rice after a week or two in Asia and this place just happened to be there.

JohnK arrived for a few drinks and we chatting away into the evening, discussing miles and points. It must be said at this point that BundyBear’s advice about wearing trousers and a jumper seemed sensible. Dressed in shorts and a short sleeved shirt, I could most certainly feel the winter evening chill. I got back to the hotel at around midnight but as I had doubled my average annual caffeine intake in one evening, I soon encountered problems. It had gone 05:30 before I actually feel asleep!

TEX277

Part 7

Route: OOL-SYD
Airline: Virgin Blue Airlines
Aircraft: 737-700
Seat:8C
Flight number: DJ504
Class of service: Economy
Scheduled departure time: 08:55
Scheduled arrival time: 10:20

I found the self check-in machines to be very user friendly and soon had my boarding pass in hand. Baggage drop was also quick and all too soon I was through security. I say ‘too soon’ because the domestic departure lounge is nothing more than a holding pen. I could have been worse, there was only 30 minutes until boarding and I spent the time people watching.

Yet again, the flight was almost full to capacity. I did notice two spare seats on the row in front but other than that economy was chocker! However, only 2 of the premium economy seats were occupied. I had an aisle seat – when I checked in there were only a couple of aisle seats left and the rest were middle seats!

The flight back to Sydney lasted just over an hour and really seemed to drag. Not having a window seat certainly makes for a boring flight. I rather unsuccessfully tried to grab a little sleep and then just sat out the flight. It took 10 minutes from stepping off of the aircraft to being reunited with my baggage.

The inter-terminal bus driving took all but my last 5c for the ride over to the international terminal for my Virgin Atlantic flight to London Heathrow via Hong Kong.

TEX277

Part 8

Route: SYD-HKG-LHR
Airline: Virgin Atlantic Airlines
Aircraft: A340-600
Seat: 2A
Flight number: VS201
Class of service: Upper Class (Business)
Scheduled departure time: 14:25
Scheduled arrival time: 05:25+1

Check in at Sydney was pretty straightforward. I think that the desks had only just opened and there were very few other passengers about. The Upper Class priority check-in line allowed me to jump in front of the others and I was almost immediately seen. I handed over my paper ticket and enquired whether she could check my baggage through to Rome.

She did do and then began attaching tags to my bag. I don’t think I had ever seen one of my bags get so many tags; there was the standard ‘Upper Class’ priority tag, a ‘LHR transfer’ tag, a standard baggage tag with barcodes and destination, and then another that she had had written on. I assume this was for the BA onward connection to Rome.

I returned to the Air New Zealand Lounge for the first time since 2005. As the United RCC had closed in the meantime, there was no a United employee in attendance in this lounge. She welcomed me as I delved into my deep short pockets to retrieve my lounge invitation. The old girl was on top form and quipped ‘Such deep pockets – I’ll tell the girls that you are here!’. I later overheard here talking to one of her passengers explaining that now the RCC is closed, United pay Air New Zealand to use this lounge.

IIRC it was the same lady that I once encountered in the old RCC. I recall just popping in to change a seat assignment and a SYD-LAX or SFO flight. She had enquired why I was not using her RCC. As politely as I could, I told her that I preferred NZ’s lounge. The great irony now was that, not only was she now working there, it was extremely clear that she thought that this lounge was wonderful. Even here boarding announcement for the LAX flight included the line ‘the gate area is directly below this wonderful lounge’. I don’t remember the RCC ever being described as such! As I sat in the lounge, the Virgin Atlantic A340-600 that was going to transport me back to the UK was pulled over from the remote stand and parked directly in front of me.


I was caught a bit by surprise when I heard a ‘last and final’ boarding call for my flight as I did some shopping. I headed straight for the gate, presented my documents and was soon being welcomed onboard. I was soon approached by a member of cabin crew to take my drink order. She quickly returned and enquired whether I had been in Upper Class before. I hadn’t, but had been on Air New Zealand who have the same seat in business. She said that if I needed any help that feel free to call her.


It did not take me too long to spill my Champagne onto my shorts. I asked the crew member for some tissues and she returned with a sleeper suit as well. I walked calmly to the bathroom whilst trying me best to conceal my damp shorts along the way.

As I had expected the cabin was not particularly busy with a 30-40% load in Upper Class. With me now in my sleeper suit bottoms, we began our taxi out to 16R which provided a glimpse of the Sydney skyline.


Obviously being extremely aware of the trip that I was embarking upon (SYD-HKG-LHR-FCO-JFK-LAS with just a one night stopover in Rome along the way!), I figured that I needed to stay awake on this leg and save the sleep for the HKG-LHR flight that would arrive in the UK at 05:25. To this end I managed to watch three films on the way to Hong Kong; 21, Kung-fu Panda and Son of Rambow.

We arrived in Hong Kong and I had succeeded in staying awake. It had been hard particularly during the last film, Son of Rambow, which I found a little slow.

Once off of the aircraft, I produced my continuing boarding pass to get my transit passenger sticker. It was then on to security before entering the departure lounge. I headed straight for the Virgin Clubhouse and quickly discovered that both it and therefore the Upper Class cabin on the Hong Kong – Heathrow leg was filled to capacity. I decided to grab one of the computer terminals and catch up on my emails. After a quick dash down to the duty free shops and back, it was time for reboarding.

The cabin was indeed full to capacity on this leg and it looked like I was pretty much one of the last Upper Class passengers to board. The down side of that became quickly apparent as I went to store my hand baggage in the overhead compartment. A couple of us grabbed a passing crew member and she stored them in the closet.

I set myself the objective of staying awake for the first three hours of this flight before retiring. That was not too difficult as I ate supper and watched Lust, Caution. I was a bit taken aback by the obvious lack of editing of some pretty strong sex scenes.


My time was up, I changed into the sleeper suit (I was given another one on this flight), made my bed and then retired. I slept well and was surprised at how comfortable I found the bed to be. When I had used the same suite on Air New Zealand I thought that I remembered it to be a little too narrow.

I awoke and began to regret my request to be woken up for breakfast as I just wanted to doze. Well, it seemed that the crew member had forgotten anyway as I was not approached with breakfast.



Despite the jetbridge connecting to door 2L (I was in a prime position to disembark from 1L), I was still able to be first into the Revivals lounge thanks to Iris and the fact that my baggage had been checked through to Rome. This allowed me immediate access to a shower (much needed) and first dibs for the massage treatment. The shower certainly perked me up, as did the freshly squeezed orange juice that I drank before my Cowshed treatment.


Once the treatment was finished, I ordered the Eggs Benedict from the menu which were simply fantastic!! I could have spent some more time in there but I had to make my way over to T5 and the BA Galleries lounge there before my connecting flight to Rome.


Route: LHR-FCO
Airline: British Airways
Aircraft:
Flight number: BA548
Class of service: Club Europe (Business)
Scheduled departure time: 09:15
Scheduled arrival time: 12:40

Entering the lounge my first thought was that it was busy! I suppose it was probably peak time though. The lounge itself is nicely furnished and very large with many seating areas. I set up camp on one of the computers and again began to catch up on my emails. I did go on one or two sorties to liberate a couple of bacon rolls (which were both successful).


I headed out of the lounge to take a look around the shops but soon heard the final call for my flight. Again this took me by surprise. It turned out that the flight details I had were out of date and did not reflect a schedule change. Boarding was quick and I found my seat next to refined gentleman. Oblivious to him, his BP was staring me in the face from his jacket pocket. He was a BA Premier and, having since Goggled his name, turns out to be a rather well accomplished diplomat, politican and businessman.

As departure time arrived the Captain informed us that they had a small problem on the flight deck and they hoped that we’d be on our way soon. 10 minutes later and he is speaking to us again. A problem with one of the onboard computers and it will have to be replaced – should be no more than 40 minutes for it to arrive and be installed.

30 minutes later a BA van pulls up outside and a man carries up a brown BAe Systems box. 10 minutes later and we get the Captain again (paraphrasing): “That’s not rectified the problem – please sit tight, this aircraft is going nowhere. We’ll set about finding you the quickest way to Rome”

A few minutes later one of the cabin crew approach my seatmate and inform him that a man from Special Services is waiting to speak to him on the jetbridge. He left his jacket behind and headed out. I figured that if he returns then it should work out okay for the rest of us but if he just retrieves his jacket and luggage and then heads back out, then we could be screwed. Thankfully, he returned and sat it out with the rest of us.

An aircraft had been found for us but it would not arrive into Heathrow for another 30 minutes. We sat on the aircraft and were served our cooked breakfast. That felt very peculiar: eating on an aircraft on the ground. Eventually, our non-flight was over and we disembarked having been informed “We would appreciate it if our Executive Club members could refrain from returning to the lounge and waited in the new gate area for a quick departure”.

I think it was a little over an hour of sitting in the gate area before our flight was ready for boarding. We were greeted by the same crew (both cabin and flight) and I saw two ladies board that I had not seen since my school days. They were sisters and to be honest, if one was not for the fact that one of them is a facebook friend (hence I knew what she looked like now) I wouldn’t have noticed. After a few minutes we were finally on our way to Rome over 3 hours late!

Upon arrival into Rome Fiumicino, I quickly began wishing that I was still stuck at T5. The airport was awful. The baggage hall was dark and dingy with an extremely dirty floor. I did not have any Euros with me and so stopped by the Travelex bureau and discovered a ‘We will open at 4pm’ sign on the counter, only that it was now 4:15. I headed to their competition and was alarmed to see the commission charges. I beat a hasty retreat, collected my baggage and found another Travelex bureau. This one was staffed. I slipped him £30 and requested Euros. He hit a few buttons and informed me that it would get me €28. €28!!! That’s an effective exchange rate of €0.93 to the £. It is about 25% better than that back home. I reclaimed my £30 and entered the arrivals hall in search of a cash machine.

I found one but it did not seem to like me. I asked three times for €50 but it kept saying that the transaction had been cancelled at my request. It turns out that the confirm button actually cancels it! On the fourth attempt, after discovering the glitch, I successfully completed my transaction.

Next challenge was the Leonardo Express into the centre of Rome. I bought the ticket for €11, no problem. The train arrived and I joined the queue to get on. Now bearing in mind that this is a dedicated rail service connecting one of Rome’s airports to the city centre, I was aghast to discover that to board the train you had to climb three pretty steep steps. I just about managed it carrying my 22kg check in baggage and my medium sized hand baggage. Exactly how do the elderly and disabled board this train??? Not particularly accessible by any stretch of the imagination.

To make matters worse, it was 30°C and it was not until too late that I realised that there were small air-conditioned compartments on the carriage. Oh and the Express train was so slow!! I arrived at Termini train station hot, bothered, sweaty and in no mood to lug my baggage the 800m to the hotel even if I had known the route.


Best Western Mondial Rome

The hotel looks okay on the outside as does the lobby area. However, as I entered my room I remembered the cheap rate that I had booked and I suppose it was reasonable for the price paid.


Rome

I after a shower and a change of clothes I headed off, with map in hand in search of the Coliseum. I discovered it after what was probably about a 15 minute walk. The place was busy with tourists. I walked one slow lap around it before heading back to the hotel via a restaurant for Pizza and a beer. That is just about how much time I had to see Rome after the delayed BA flight.


Route: FCO-JFK
Airline: Delta Airlines
Aircraft: 767-300ER
Flight number: DL149 (Alitalia codeshare)
Class of service: BusinessElite
Scheduled departure time: 11:45
Scheduled arrival time: 15:30

I was actually looking forward to getting out of Rome until I realised that this meant another visit to Fiumicino!!! I followed the signs from the Leonardo Express to Terminal C. Upon entering the terminal, I located a departure screen and saw the check-in counter numbers for my flight. Thing was that there were signs for other desks but none went as high as the numbers indicated for my flight. I took a walk around and found a sign stating that the US airlines (and El Al) depart from Terminal 5. I found the shuttle bus and hopped on.

Terminal 5 was close to capacity as I entered. I joined the BusinessElite queue and waited. The lady at the moveable desk at the end of the line took my passport and ticket. She wanted to see my ticket out of America and when she was satisfied, she stuck a sticker on my hold baggage and gave me a tag for my hand baggage. Following the signs for departures, I joined another queue at a real check-in desk. We had the same conversation but this lady took my baggage and issued me with my boarding pass and lounge invitation. She also informed me that the flight was delayed by 45 minutes.

Priority security screening was easily navigated and I then it was on to a airside shuttle to get back to Terminal C. The terminal was quite busy (reminded me of SVO) and I made straight for the lounge. Let’s get the good bits of the lounge out of the way – it was safe, had just about enough seating and a free bar. I had two Bacardi and Cokes in long glasses but my third request returned only a half sized transparent plastic cup. I am not sure whether she thought that I was getting too much value from the lounge or if she thought that I was drunk (which I most certainly was not).


I saw a sign for the showers and followed it into the Gents. There was no sign of a shower in there and I asked the cleaner. She pointed me to reception. I politely expressed a desire to use the shower and the (must not call her nasty names) woman (this was no lady) just replied ‘No’. I returned to my seating and overheard a conversation beside me. The chap wanted to watch the Olympics but the TV was on some other channel. She ventured towards the woman and expressed his desire. He was getting nowhere until the intervention of the cleaner who handed him the TV controller. Once he had turned the channel over, he returned stating that the woman had never heard of the Olympics!! Anyway, it was China vs Italy in the women’s waterpolo. Come on China!!!!

An announcement was made that my flight was ‘ready for immediate boarding’. A watched the waterpolo for a few more minutes before heading to the gate. Thing was that once I arrived at the gate, I had to waited 15 minutes until they commenced boarding. I am of the opinion that it was a cost cutting measure – 15 minutes less consumption of food and drinks.


I stored my bags and took my seat. Quite early on an announcement was made that it was a full flight. I had checked the seat map the day before and was looking forward to some room as less than 50% of the seats in the cabin had been allocated. The cabin of this 767 was in a 2-2-2 layout with six rows.

The original 45 minute delay became an 80 minute delay before we finally pushed back. This could have repercussions on me as the JFK – Newark transfer only runs on the hour. With a 5pm arrival time, at best it would be the 6pm service that I would join. This is scheduled to get into EWR at 7:30pm just over an hour before my flight (on another ticket) departs. The flight info during the flight indicated a 5:25 arrival. This really worried me as that would most likely mean a 7pm transfer to arrival 14 minutes before the departure of my domestic flight.

Upon our arrival into JFK, things only got worse! It turned out that a following aircraft had declared a medical emergency onboard and everybody else was being moved out of the way to expediate their arrival. We were worst hit as the arriving aircraft took our stand! As no others were available we taxied around JFK for something like 40 minutes as my blood pressure began to raise.

This was not helped by the apparent lack of priority treatement of my luggage. Eventually it arrived and I was soon looking for a taxi to get me to Newark Airport for a flight departing only 2 hours away!

MatthewLAX

Excellent trip report!

I am really sad that I missed out on the ex-CMB deal last year--really really sad.

TEX277

Part 9

Route: EWR-LAS
Airline: US Airways
Aircraft: A320
Flight number: US218
Class of service: First
Scheduled departure time: 20:44
Scheduled arrival time: 23:22

My heart sank when I discovered the amount of people waiting for a taxi! I had 2 hours until my flight departed Newark and I was still at JFK. Eventually, my turn came and I jumped in the taxi and asked the driver to take me to EWR. I asked how long it would take as I did not have much time until my flight. He said an hour, maybe an hour and a half. I could live with that. It would be cutting it fine but I had hope!

However, a few in minutes into the ride, he told me that he’d be charging me a flat fee of US$130 for the journey as it was raining and he could make a lot more money in Manhattan. It may be fair to say that we had a difference of opinion over that before he engaged the meter and then began to drive at about half of the pace of the rest of the traffic. We had another difference of opinion that led to be demanding to be taken back to JFK. With this driver there was no way at all that I was going to make that flight. I knew US Airways had a similarly timed flight from JFK to Las Vegas (for which I had been unsuccessful in securing a seat originally) and hoped that they could put me onto that flight.

Having wasted another 5 minutes driving aimlessly around the terminals, we arrived back at JFK with the meter showing US$16.70. I got my luggage from the boot of his car and was taken aback to be asked for the US$16.70. There was yet another difference of opinion as I refused to pay and walked off. He followed, demanding his money, all of the way to the US Airways desk as I explained to him in no uncertain terms why he would not be receiving it. I must admit that during all of this, voices were raised and finally the police showed up. The cop wanted me to pay the guy, I refused and ultimately the driver just gave up and walked off.

The agent had managed to get me on standby for the flight. She totally understood my frustration with the driver and thought that he was trying to rip me off too. I thanked her for all of her help (and for the difficult circumstances) then headed through security as the flight was due to depart in 40 minutes.

Arriving at the gate I noticed that he was delayed by an hour. I took a seat and waited. Tiredness began to catch up on me as I waited. It was then announced that the flight would be two hours late as the inbound had been diverted to Pittsburgh due to the thunderstorms over JFK. That was an estimation – it could be later. It was! Another announcement – now three hours late. I was struggling to stay awake.

A few minutes before the flight was due to arrive, another announcement was made: “Ladies and Gentleman, I am sorry to say that US Flight 52 with service to Las Vegas has been cancelled”. All hell broke loose and my tiredness vanished! I REALLY did not need this. It was two hours later (at 1am) that I made it to see an agent!!!

She immediately commented on me not being confirmed on the flight and that the best she could do was to get on the same flight the following day. There was no way that I wanted to spend a day in New York or have to pay for a hotel and asked if she could put me onto another carrier or get me to either LAX or PHX early the following day and I would drive to Vegas from there. It became quite evident that she would not consider any connecting flights.

After a couple of phone calls were made, I made been put on American 33 JFK-LAX in economy to depart that very morning at 07:45. Realising that there was only three hours until check-in, I figured that I’d just stay in the American terminal (T8) overnight. I was not the only one.


There were many others how had been inconvenienced and were already asleep on the floor of the terminal. I needed to sort out my car hire and got onto that courtesy of Skype and Alamo UK. Alamo were fantastic and I got a good rate of US$225 for a full-sized car (i.e. Pontiac Grand Prix) including CDW, EP and a full tank of fuel!

Route: JFK-LAX
Airline: American Airlines
Aircraft: 767-200
Seat: 20A
Flight number: AA33
Class of service: Economy
Scheduled departure time: 07:45
Scheduled arrival time: 10:35

Finally I reached the front of the check-in queue. An agent became free and I approached her. She looked at me with a scowl and declared that she had not called ‘Next!’ yet. Memories of Italy came flooding back. Although at first I figured that she must have had some important work to do, I was not entirely surprised when she turned to her colleague (who was now free too) and began chatting about their personal lives. I was glad that I different agent called ‘next’ before they had completed their skive from work. Then over to the TSA for exposure to their witty banter and general foolishness. Nothing against the TSA per se but these employees in particular were clowns.

Thankfully, boarding time arrived quickly. I had managed to secure myself seat 20A but soon after settling in, I was approached to switch seats as she and her sister had been split up. It was a fair swop (for 20J) so I switched. My new seat mate was evicted once the FA realised that his English was less than satisfactory. The guy was not too fussed as the FA arranged for him to seat next to his wife (again they had been split).

The flight was not as bad as I had feared and the seats actually felt quiet comfy. After had no sleep at all since getting up at 07:00 the previous morning in Rome through to what was now 12:45pm (Rome time) the next day, it was hardly surprising that I fell asleep before we had reached the runway. I woke up in time to see Las Vegas passing by beneath and wished that I could just parachute out and save myself the expense and time of the drive from Los Angeles.


I chose a Volvo S60 and commenced my drive to Vegas. I had never made this journey before but had always wanted to. The cancellation of the US Airways flight now made this wish a reality. The directions that I had recorded were simple and straight forward. The 280 mile journey had me worried that I could become really tired after my lack of sleep for the last two days but I felt surprisingly ok. The drive was wonderful and I thoroughly enjoyed the scenery along the way.


It was not until Vegas literally came into view that my concentration began to concern me.


However, soon enough I was pulling up at the Four Seasons.


The Stratosphere Hotel & Casino Las Vegas

Failed to show up for this stay due to my forced overnight at JFK and hence late arrival in Las Vegas.


Four Seasons Las Vegas


The one thing that sets this hotel apart from all others in Vegas is the absence of gaming. The hotel actually feels like a hotel rather than a tourist attraction like the others. This makes the hotel a pleasure rather than a chore to walk through.


I was initially given room 35104 that has a good view over the pool complex and McCarran but I requested a switch after the first night. This room was the closest to the lift which in itself was not that bad – the occasional ‘ping’ as the lift arrives was tolerable. It was the fact that everybody on the floor had to walk past my room to get out. Even the quietest conversation outside engulfed my room and as for the noisy ones – well it sounded like they were in the room with me.

The second room (35331) was far better. It was pretty much as far from the lift as you could get. I did not hear a peep outside of the room at all during the two night stay in this room. The rooms themselves were identical except that the second had a deep bath as well as a shower. They were more spacious than I had expected despite having two queen beds. The staff were always extremely efficient and polite. 24 hours in room internet access was not only quick but cost just $12.


Having access to Mandalay Bay’s pool complex (the best in Vegas IMHO) I only ventured into the Four Season’s pool area once. It was small and well utilised which led to a limited selection of loungers. Although I did not spend long enough to get a taste of the full Four Season’s hospitality, I was given a taste when one of the female attendants approached me and asked if I would like my sunglasses cleaned. I handed them over and they probably received the most thorough clean that they are ever going to have. Large jugs of ice water were being distributed to guests as were large plates of fresh fruit. However, it was too laid back for me (however, the rather attractive French lady two loungers down from me did spice things up with an blatantly deliberate ‘wardrobe malfunction’) and I soon became bored and returned to Mandalay Bay’s Beach complex.

Las Vegas

For the first time ever (and I have been to Vegas probably at least 20 times), I decided to indulge myself and visit Bally’s for their Sterling Brunch. As far as I am aware this is by far the most expensive buffet in Vegas. And for good reason. Their seafood selection in particular (Lobster, Caviar, jumbo prawns, oysters and smoked salmon) is worth the $80 (inc tax) fee alone before you throw in the unlimited Perrier Jouet Champagne. I dare say that I consumed a bottle of Champagne during my stay along with five servings of caviar (and much more)!

Other than that it was just shopping (electronics from Frys) and clothing and a new Samsonite carry- on bag from the outlet mall nearby (used to be Belz – but keep forgetting their new name!) and spending time in the pool. I didn’t do a great deal of gambling at all on this trip but still won over $200!

What really did hit me though was the amount of construction underway on the strip and how much it has grown since my last visit in December 2006. I shall be returning to Las Vegas with my wife for our 5th Anniversary in October and she has not been since our wedding! I doubt that she will believe the amount of change that has happened in that time.


Route: LAS-LAX
Airline: US Airways
Aircraft: A320
Flight number: US104
Class of service: First
Scheduled departure time: 11:50
Scheduled arrival time: 13:12

I discovered through checkmytrip.com that the lady at JFK that had booked me onto the JFK-LAX flight had cancelled my LAS-LAX segment. ANA was still showing F availability so I rang the issuing carrier to get the flight reinstated. After some time on hold, I was informed that there was nothing that they could do as the reservation was now under US Airways control but they should be able to help. I rang US and explained the situation. The lady reinstated my booking on the original flight and I was good to go except that I was supposed to return my car to LAX not LAS. I rang Alamo to explain the situation and to amend the return location. They charged me US$150 for what was now a one way rental. I thought this was pretty good value at the time as I would have had to have refuelled the car to get me back to LAX (costing me $$$$), did not have to make the 4 hour drive nor worry about traffic accidents and a delayed arrival at LAX. When I returned the car, I also discovered another saving brought about by the one-way rental: by returning it to LAS at 10:30am rather than LAX at 14:00 I avoided the fourth day’s charge saving me another US$54.

As I wanted to make the most of the morning of my departure, I arrived at the airport a little over an hour before departure. The First Class check-in area was empty and I was seen immediately. The agent checked my bags through to Heathrow but could not issue my Air New Zealand boarding pass.

I used the First Class security channel and once clear, headed straight for the gate. I was not there too long at all before they made the announcement that there were some First Class seats still available that economy passenger could purchase for $50. How things had changed! I used to be a Gold Preferred member with US Airways and could never get an upgrade out of LAS with them.

I was one of the first to board and settled into seat 3A as the rest of the cabin began to fill. The gate agent had stated just as I boarded that they still had two First seats available for the $50 upgrade. There were now just three empty seats in First and one was beside me. I hoped that it would remain free but close to the end of boarding, this man asked me if the seat was taken. I said it was not and he took it. At first I thought he was a self-upgrader (particularly when he waved to his mates down the back) but the FA’s never said a word and nobody else made a claim on the seat.

There was a pre-departure drinks service by the one FA catering to the First cabin consisting of 12 seats in a 2-2 layout. Remembering US Airways domestic First Class from my days with them, I was expecting a rather disgusting old worn cabin. However, the logos on the bulkhead demonstrated that this A320 was from the American West fleet before the merger.


We taxied out to 19L and waited. Looking out of my window on the left hand side of the aircraft, I saw the bmi A330 on final approach. It disappeared behind the terminals and a few seconds later and we were rolling. We rotated and I looked along the other runway as we passed and saw the bmi A330 taxiing off of the runway. The flight only took 35 min and included another drink service and a choice from the snack tray that was brought around.


Route: LAX-LHR
Airline: Air New Zealand
Aircraft: 747-400
Flight number: NZ002
Class of service: Business Premier
Scheduled departure time: 16:30
Scheduled arrival time: 11:00+1

A walked across to T2 from where Air New Zealand depart and found the check-in desks. There was a sign saying that they open at 13:45 for the 16:30 departure but queues had already formed at both the economy desks and the premium desks. I waited outside until they opened and then joined the premium queue. There were four agents checking in passengers so the wait was not too long but I felt for the economy passengers. Their queue was massive and the terminal just did not provide enough room to pass the queue.


I spent an hour or two in the Air New Zealand lounge and found it to be better than I had expected. There were showers, computers, free wifi, ample seating, variety of drinks and a sufficient selection of snacks. As boarding time approached the Flight Services Manager made an announcement in the lounge stating that he hoped we will all enjoy the flight and he will be taking a walk around the lounge so feel free to stop him and ask questions. I have never experienced that before!


I turned left after boarding and took my seat. Soon enough a member of cabin crew stopped to welcome me onboard this flight and to enquire whether I knew how to operate the seat. I said that I flew Sydney-London the other day on Virgin Atlantic on my way here and was ok with the seat. You could see the penny drop: “Sydney to LA via Hong Kong and London??”


I was seated in the rear Business cabin which was filled to about 60% of capacity but did not see how full the front cabin and upper deck were. I was please to see that the three seats opposite me were all free when the door closed and I figured I’d take one of them to sleep in due to lack of neighbours. The taxi was short and we were soon starting our turn out over the Pacific. I switched seats when the fasten seat belt sign was extinguished and began watching U2 Rattle & Hum on the IFE as dinner was served.



The film finished and I reclined my seat to get some sleep. I had worried that with a 16:30 departure time I would not be tired until long into the flight. So I had taken the precaution of getting up at 04:00am that morning. Once the seat was reclined and I was settling in, I felt that the bed felt more cramped than the previous Virgin flight. Looking back at my window seat that I had vacated, I thought that it seemed to offer more space around the shoulder area and so I switched back. It did feel a little more comfortable and I was soon fast asleep.



I woke up as we past Iceland and snoozed through till Glasgow missing (deliberately) breakfast. I began preparing for arrival and put my bed back into seat mode. After a couple of laps in the holding pattern we began our approach onto 27R at Heathrow. Sitting on the left hand side of the aircraft, once we were through the cloud, the only landmark that I saw was Twickenham Stadium. As I am sure you are aware the right hand side is ideal for landmark spotting on the way in.

Despite an announcement prior to arriving at the gate that Business will disembark first, then Premier economy and finally economy, the premier economy passengers jumped straight up and out of door 2L that was located immediately in front of them. I did notice regularly during the flight that these passengers were moving up into Business to use the toilets there and the cabin crew were fully aware of what was going on but did nothing. I assumed that these are the toilets that they are supposed to use.

With only 25 minutes from getting off of the aircraft until my coach back to Brighton departed, I wasted no time getting to Immigration where a family of four were the only ones waiting for IRIS. I arrived first at the baggage reclaim belt but was joined by many others before our bags finally began appearing. Both of mine arrived less than 10 minutes before my coach departed. I followed the sign over to the Central Bus Station and, having identified the stand that my coach was on, headed for it. I was at stand 10 when I saw my coach on stand 13 reverse out and head for Brighton without me. After the 3 hour delays to the BA LHR-FCO, Delta’s FCO-JFK and US Airways JFK-LAS flights (the latter of course ultimately being cancelled) what was one more hour!?