PDX to BKK and SIN via AS/BR/SQ in Y/Y+/C
May 5, 2010, 11:36 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Beaverton OR
Programs: GE, AA PLT/2.6MM, BR Gld, Royal Carib. DM+, Celebrity Elite, NCL PLT, Princess Elite
Posts: 1,643
PDX to BKK and SIN via AS/BR/SQ in Y/Y+/C
Although I have been flying transpacific on EVA almost every month lately, it’s been a few months since my last full trip report, so since this trip is different from my norm, I thought that I would share this one.
I’m a Diamond member in EVA’s Evergreen Club. To requalify for Diamond status, you have to earn 200,000 miles in two years; I have another 10 months to go to hit the mark. I got home from my previous trip on Sunday, April 4th. That trip put me over the 140,000 qualifying mile mark which gives me four more systemwide upgrades to use. The miles posted on April 6th, but not the upgrades. I knew that I would be traveling again sometime within the next few weeks (as you’ll see below that turned out to be a lot sooner than I originally thought), and I thought that I would like to use the upgrades on the long hauls. I looked at both my written membership guide and checked on-line to see how long it would take for the upgrades to post to my account. Nothing was shown in either location. So I decided to call EVA. First I called the SEA office which is the one closest to me, and they really had no clue what I was asking about. So then I called EVA’s LAX office as they are the U.S. home for the Evergreen Club. The agent there at least knew what I was talking about, but told me that she did not know how long it took to post
I was very busy the next few days, but I finally had more time to check about the upgrades on April 8; I gave up and called EVA in TPE. The agent took a bit to figure out what exactly I was asking about and then she finally understood and put me on hold – for a long time. When she finally came back on the line, she said that she would call me back later that afternoon (which would be in the middle of the night Pacific Time). When I woke up on April 9, I had a voicemail from the EVA agent in TPE saying that the upgrades would post to my account that day. Sure enough, I went on-line and there they were. So I’ll have to remember that for the next time I cross that threshold. It was a good thing those upgrades posted when they did as later that day I got the call telling me that I was wanted back in Asia in a few days.
The idea was for me to arrive on Wednesday, which means that I would have to leave PDX on Monday night. As I have mentioned in previous trip reports, I always check using Seattle as my BR gateway first, but since the flights there aren’t daily, usually one of my days that I need to travel does not have a flight. That was the case for an early Tuesday AM departure. My alternate gateway then is SFO. I was born and raised in The City, so I never mind flying through there as I still think of it as my “home” airport, although I remain cognizant of the weather issues that plague the airport. I was going to fly in Elite class this trip which is BR’s premium economy class. All the flights that I wanted were on the 77W, so that means a 2-4-2 configuration with 38 inches of pitch for those seats; the exception is the bulkhead row which is 2-3-2.
My dates set; it was now Saturday April 10th, and I called the consolidator that I use for EVA who now knows me very well. She said that three out of the four flights I wanted did not have the booking code she needed, so would have to use my status for a guaranteed booking. She put a waitlist request in and got a confirmation back from the waitlist within seconds. Normally I book the domestic flight myself since the add-on from PDX is usually a lot more than if I buy two tickets, but my agent told me that this time EVA was only charging $80 for the add on, which was a much better deal than I could get myself, so I had her grab it. I had two choices for the PDX-SFO leg, either a 520PM departure that would give me a long layover at SFO or an 810PM departure. Again thinking about the possibility of delays at SFO, I took the earlier flight. My return was routed through SEA, so I was booked on the first legal connection from SEA to PDX with the hope of catching an earlier flight home depending on how fast I cleared customs and immigration.
I could not get decent seats on-line, so I called BR and they got me seats that are blocked for Diamond and Gold members of their frequent flyer program. Now I had a dilemma. I checked Expert Flyer and saw that the SFO-TPE leg was completely full and likely oversold in both Elite and regular coach class. My previous flight on April 4th from TPE to SEA had the same situation and I was given an operational upgrade to Premium Laurel which is EVA’s business class. On that flight though, I wasn’t even able to get a seat assigned in advance in Elite class. So, do I use one of my freshly deposited upgrades or hope for a freebie? I decided to think about it for a bit.
Monday morning came and I decided that I really wanted the extra space, so I called to attempt to use one of my upgrades. I figured that since it was less than 18 hours to departure, I would be put on the waitlist, but to my surprise, when I called EVA, I was confirmed immediately, but since the flight was under airport control, I couldn’t be assigned a seat.
It was raining at SFO that day, so I knew that the odds were good that my PDX-SFO flight would be delayed. My wife had meetings all afternoon and couldn’t drive me to the airport, but she could drop me at the light rail, known locally in PDX as the Max. We had lunch together first, and then I was dropped off at 1230PM – the train was already in the station, and just made it on board as the doors were closing. The ride was exactly an hour and I arrived at the airport at 130PM. My plan was to head over to Alaska’s Board Room and spend a few hours there working until my flight.
12Apr10 AS 2611 Y PDX-PDX CR7 N604QX seat 2A
Arriving at the airport I saw that the 100PM flight to SFO was delayed until at least 200PM. Figuring I could work almost as well in the SFO Board Room, I asked the agent about getting on the earlier flight. I just missed the bag cut off time, so I decided to stay with my original flight. Boarding pass in hand, I dropped my bag which was through checked to BKK at CTX 6 and headed to security. There was just a short wait for security (mostly for the TSA’s ID checkers), and when I got through, I headed right to Alaska’s Board Room. I unpacked my computer and worked for the next almost three hours, stopping just to get a Diet Coke and sample the soup of the day (which was actually chili). An hour before the flight, a 10 minute delay was posted, but I head down to the A gates at 450PM anyway. Our gate was A-9 and the agent was making an announcement as I arrived that we would board fairly soon. Boarding actually started at 510PM and our aircraft was parked all the way at spot O which is the absolute last spot and farthest walk. While waiting for departure, my row mate across the aisle saw my Flyer Talk tag and we talked for a bit. Since we were parked so far out, we had a minimal taxi to the runway 28L and we took off at 540PM. We were 10 minutes into the flight when the captain gets on the p.a. system and says that a cargo hold sensor light is on and we have to return to PDX. It takes longer to get back, as we land at 605PM on runway 28L. While taxiing in, the captain says that as soon as he knows what the actual problem is, he’ll get back to us. We pull into spot L this time, and when the door opens, one of the rampers points to the aircraft next to us and says that one is our new aircraft. A couple of minutes later, the captain has us disembark, and wait in the terminal as the new aircraft needs to be fueled and serviced.
12Apr10 AS 2611 Y PDX-SFO CR7 N605QX seat 2A
The same agent that boarded our flight originally made an announcement that we would reboard in about 10 minutes and not to wander too far. One passenger decided not to continue on while another that missed the flight originally was boarded, so our numbers were the same even if the passengers were not. We were soon called for reboarding; this time at spot K and everybody was back on. Again we taxied out to runway 28L and we were airborne at 702PM. About 15 minutes after departure the drink service started – this my first non-Jones Soda flight since Alaska and Horizon changed their soft drink provider, so I was back to my usual Diet Coke, served of course with a bag of munchies. The weather had cleared up during our flight(s) and we flew over a beautifully lit San Francisco before heading down to the bottom of the bay and making our turn for the approach to SFO. Flight time was a total of an hour and 26 minutes as we landed at 828PM on runway 28R. We had a longish taxi in to the gate as we were following a Continental aircraft but soon made our way to gate 22.
I headed over to the International Terminal and stopped for a quick bite at the food court. EVA’s check-in supposedly opened at 945PM so I decided to see what the lines looked like at 930PM.
13Apr10 BR 17 C SFO-TPE 77W B-16703 seat 6K
There was already a pretty long line for regular coach and there were already people in both the Premium Laurel class line as well as the Diamond line, so I joined the line. The agents were already starting to set up, and as agents signed into the system, the lead agent started bringing Diamond members and Premium Laurel passengers to open positions. I presented my passport to the agent and said to her that I didn’t yet have a seat assigned, and she responded with “we already took care of that for you” and handed me a boarding pass for 6K, my second favorite Premium Laurel class seat. I was also given my Elite class boarding pass for the TPE-BKK flight and my SFO boarding pass was stamped with a #1 Priority stamp to use at security. That would have been handy if there was a wait, but there was only one other passenger going through security at that moment. As it turns out the other passenger was also a Diamond member booked in Elite class – he did not get an operational upgrade, so I know I made the right choice in using one of my systemwide upgrades. After clearing security, I head to the BR lounge which happens to be one of only three actual BR lounges in the world, as the contract out at every other airport except for TPE and BKK. The lounge agent is just opening up, and I head into the very small part of the lounge that is reserved for Diamond members and set up my laptop. Again I work for a couple of hours with a Diet Coke by my side with some Ritz crackers. I headed out to the gate a few minutes after Midnight.
We were departing from G-101 tonight and the gate area was pretty full, so I walked around and stretched a bit. I saw that our plane tonight was B-16703 that for whatever reason is my usual aircraft departing SFO on BR. What I find interesting is that there are a bunch of transpacific flights that leave within and hour or so of each other, but most of them depart from the A gates in the international terminal, only BR and SQ have flights from the G gates. When I came back to the gate, I asked the agent (coincidently the same agent that checked me in) if she could send a message to TPE for me asking them to release the bulkhead window seat in Elite class for my TPE-BKK flight. Usually, I ask at the lounge in TPE, but I got to thinking that when I ask the BKK staff for the bulkhead on my connecting flight from TPE, they always have to send a message requesting the seat, and it always takes some time to get a response back. I figured that when I checked at the lounge, I could just see if the seat was assigned to me. At about 1240AM, the announcement was made for Premium Laurel, Diamond and Gold members to board, and I made my way on to the jetway. When I reached the aircraft door, I was greeted by the Chief Purser who recognized me from my flights over the last few weeks. We chatted for a bit as I got situated, and she told me that they blocked 6H, so I would have two seats for myself on this flight. C class was fairly full; 36 of the 42 seats were taken. Both Elite class and standard coach were completely full. The Assistant Purser came over to me to welcome me on board and to get my pre-dinner drink order. A few minutes later, menus were handed out; amenity kits were already waiting in the seat pockets. The doors closed a couple of minutes early at 108AM, and we made our way over to runway 28L. There were no other transpacific flights out on the taxiways, so we had a very quick taxi, and we were airborne at 121AM and headed due west, no great circle route tonight. As soon as we hit 10,000 feet the “cabin crew service check” announcement as made, and soon the service started.
I had my usual diet coke, and then a few minutes later the late night supper was served. Tonight’s menu:
Hors D’oeuvre: Smoked salmon rose and roasted duck slices with condiment
Main Courses
Wok fried chicken thigh with fish fragrance sauce, seasonal vegetables, steamed rice (my choice)
Pan seared salmon filet with green peppercorn butter, seasonal vegetables, linguini with garlic
Double boiled beef brisket soup noodle, marinated duck giblets with preserved vegetables, snow cabbage with bean curd and soy bean
Fresh fruit
Coffee
Tea
Both the appetizer (well the duck at least since I don’t eat salmon) and the chicken were good, it seemed like a large portion was served tonight. As the norm on EVA’s late night flights in C class, the service was very efficient – as soon as a passenger finished with a course, the next one was brought out quickly. As soon as I was done with dinner, I was handed a big sleep pillow which I put under my back and immediately went to sleep. There was a snack service on demand which I did not partake in. The choices were:
Chicken and mushroom chung fun, BBQ pork bun
Turkey breast, bacon slice and cheese sandwich
Hot chocolate and cookies
I really wanted the upgrade so I could sleep, and sleep I did. The next thing I knew, the lights were coming on for breakfast; this was a little over 2 hours prior to landing, and a hot towel was handed to me just as I was taking off my eye mask. I had slept for about eight hours. Breakfast choices for today:
Chinese Style – selection of tea, fresh fruit, Congee served with traditional hot and cold delicatessens
Western Style – coffee, tea, fresh fruit, choice of bread, cereal and yogurt, Canadian bacon with scrambled egg on English muffin, hollandaise sauce, grilled tomato and asparagus. (my choice)
Premium Laurel Special - selection of tea, fresh fruit, garden vegetables salad with chick peas, grilled chicken with yakitori sauce, seasonal vegetables, rice wrapped with seaweed
I had the western style although I really debated the yakitori. I’ve had this breakfast a couple of times before though, so I knew it was good, and I did have the chicken for dinner. I decided that on the next trip, if the yakitori is offered, I’ll try it. Again I wasn’t disappointed and like supper, there seemed to be a lot of food. After breakfast I just read until we were on final approach. We landed on TPE’s runway 06 at 539AM, 13 hours and 18 minutes after take off, and taxied to gate C9 which is a hike to transfer security. We were not the first BR transpacific flight in, so I could see a line forming for transfer security as I was walking to that area. As I got closer, there was a BR agent holding up a sign board with my name on it. I went over to her, and she said that I had a new boarding pass for my TPE-BKK flight and handed me the boarding pass for my requested 20K. As I was thinking to myself “that worked well,” the agent then escorted me past the long security line and placed me in the line right at the scanner. Security accomplished must faster than I was expecting, I then took the escalator upstairs to the departure area and headed for the EVA lounge area.
14Apr10 BR 211 W TPE-BKK 77W B-16712 seat 20K
It was 555AM when I got to the Evergreen lounges and the lounge had been open for a while already. As usual, I knew the Diamond lounge didn’t open until 630AM, and besides I really wanted/needed a shower, so I headed straight in to the bathroom and the single shower was available. When I was finished, there were others waiting. As I say in every trip report, EVA really needs to add showers to their lounges. They only have three in total, two in the C section, and one in F section and the Diamond lounge doesn’t even have a restroom, you have to leave the lounge to use the facilities. After the shower, I worked e-mail and made some calls while having some water and time passed pretty quickly. Lately BR 211 has been an A330 without Elite class, so I have been taking the later BR 67 which leaves less than an hour after BR 211. However today BR 211 was back to a 77W complete with Elite Class, so my time between flights wasn’t all that long. In fact, I didn’t even bother with the Diamond lounge this morning. I headed out of the lounge at 730AM then I headed to my gate, C7. I went downstairs to the hold room, and I sat down with my book and read. For the longest time there was only myself and two other passengers; I thought that the flight was pretty empty, but 3 passengers? Apparently the gate staff noticed the same thing, and sent an agent upstairs to tell passengers that they had to come down for boarding. More people came in, but I could still tell that this flight would have a lot of empty seats.
At 800AM boarding started and I was one of the first on. The Assistant Purser greeted me at the door and said ‘’didn’t I just see you a few days ago?” She was on my TPE-SEA flight eight days previous. She escorted me to my seat and we talked for a few minutes and she said that she would look after me on this flight. Another cabin attendant greeted me as well and asked if “my friend was joining me.” I told her that I was traveling alone, and she said that there was someone booked in 20H, but that she would try to move them when they boarded so I could have two seats to myself. A couple of minutes later, my seat mate arrived (who was also a Diamond member) saw me, gave me a dirty look, one of many that he would pass my way during the flight, and without saying a word sat down in 20G. After a couple of minutes he didn’t like that seat, so he moved to 21G. The doors eventually closed right on schedule, and we were soon headed out to runway 06 for takeoff. I noticed as we were taxiing out that at least in Elite class (and I discovered in all three classes) the flight was only a third full. We turned on to the runway and took off at 830AM. Again the service started as soon as had gotten though 10,000 feet and the “cabin crew service check” announcement as made. The Chief Purser came by to greet me, and told me that the Assistant Purser had told her that we had just flown together, and she said that the crew would be taking great care of me. Then we chatted about my travel plans and she thanked me for all of my travel on EVA. She then went and greeted 21G, but that conversation was much shorter. As that short conversation was going on, the Assistant Purser came out and said, “Let me get your drink order – Diet Coke, right?” I smiled and said yes, and she said she would be back in a minute. Sure enough she came back with Coke Light in a business class glass and said that she would make sure that my glass was topped up during the flight. Cue looks from 21G again.
The carts were brought out, but stopped mid cabin and the cabin attendant came over to me to offer me first choice, which was either chicken with noodles or pork with potatoes. I guess this meal really was a brunch. I had a spicy chicken with noodles veggies as the main course. No bread was served at all, but there was a small plate of fruit, a serving of yogurt, and a blueberry Danish. The meal was good, not great, but still better than you will find on most carriers these days. I spent most of the rest of the flight reading and apparently getting constant refills of Coke Light. I’m not actually sure how much Coke Light I consumed, but I’ll just say it was plenty. The weather was mostly clear, and I had a great view of DaNang as we made landfall and crossed into Vietnamese air space. It looked like an early arrival was in store for us and sure enough, we landed a few minutes early at 1045AM on runway 19R for a flight time of three hours and 15 minutes. Our gate today was E5, which is a bit of a walk to immigration. I really appreciated the effort from this crew today. The lines at immigration were fairly quick today, but baggage service was equally quick and my bag was already on the carousel as I walked over. I noticed that BR’s staff at SFO had attached a “priority” tag to my bag when they received it from AS. Overall, this was one of my nicest trips to BKK in a long time.
I knew that at some point during this trip, I would have to make an overnight journey to SIN. I didn’t book anything from the U.S. as I had no clue what days I would be gone. A few days into my trip, I was given the dates that I would need to be in SIN and I started looking at air fares. Since this flight is under three hours, I had to take the least expensive flight I could find. I checked the low cost carriers, Air Asia, Jet Star, Tiger Airways, as well as the majors, SQ, TG and CX and the lowest prices of all of those carriers was had by SQ which was a surprise to me. With taxes, it was about USD $200 (THB6505 to be exact), where the other carriers were close or over $300 for the same trip. Even a “free” ticket one way on Tiger Air (you still had to pay taxes and exorbitant fees) with a low cost return turned out to be more expensive than that, so Singapore Airlines was the choice. I had flown SQ many times previously but only in C class, never in Y, so I was looking forward to the experience. I was able to choose my seats on line, and went towards the back of the aircraft since the flights didn’t look too full, and I might that way get an empty seat next to me.
23Apr10 SQ 973 Y BKK-SIN 777 9V-SRG seat 55K
I booked the first flight of the day out on SQ which was the 940AM departure. I made better time than I expected in BKK traffic and got to the airport at 725AM. There was no line at all for check-in, and the agent issued both my outbound and return boarding passes at the same time. Outbound immigration was fairly quick, there were only two people in front of me, but there was a very long line for security. Something in my bag looked like a liquid apparently, so the security officers took a look in my bag and found nothing and soon I was on my way to the lounge. Whoops, this is the first time in almost three years that I am flying a carrier that I don’t have status on, so no lounge access for me. Wait a second though, as an EVA Diamond member, I can use their lounge even though I’m flying on another carrier. So I head over to the EVA lounge but find it closed. Oh well, it was a good thought. I wander though the mall that is the BKK airport, stopping to get some free internet time. And then head over to my gate which is D4 this morning. There is still a TG 744 that is bound for HKG at the gate; it looks like they are missing a passenger and going through bags to remove that person’s baggage. I see my SQ 777 turn into the alley heading for the gate just as the offending bag is found and the TG 744 is buttoned up and sent on its way.
Once I enter the gate area, I see a dearth of passengers. I guess I again picked a light flight and hopes for an empty seat next to me emerge even stronger. Pre boarding is announced for C class, Star Gold and passengers with infants. The gate agents encourage anyone with a child under 18 to pre board, so half the plane is on already before general boarding starts. General boarding is finally called and I head on board and see that the rear part of the aircraft is pretty deserted. A few minutes before departure the flight attendants start a hot towel service that is much appreciated. As that is finished up, “doors closed” is announced and I have ended up with a row to myself. We leave the gate a couple of minutes early and taxi out to runway 19L where there is no wait, so we are airborne at 948AM. At 10,000 feet the flight attendants are released and start their service which first is handing out headsets. I notice that they have carts starting from both the rear of the aircraft and the front of the economy section to speed things up. Since my section of the aircraft is pretty empty, I’m served quickly; brunch choices are eggs or Thai chicken with noodles. I go for the noodles and it looks interesting; chicken on a bed of red noodles with veggies and egg mixed in. I’m also offered a beverage choice and ask for a Diet Coke and the flight attendant asks me if Coke Zero is OK (which it is). I see that SQ uses metal cutlery even in Y class; this makes a nice change from the usual plastic cutlery that I get on BR. The meal is served with a roll and a dessert item which was a custard of some sort with fruit. The chicken tastes really good, but it’s very spicy. In fact I start to sneeze after the third bite. After my sneezing fit stops, I eat and enjoy the rest of the meal except for the custard which I wasn’t fond of. Flight attendants come by with refills on drinks. I have always enjoyed SQ’s service and this flight is no exception. I do not find their flight attendants robotic at all as some have said. This aircraft is a regional 777 which means tiny video screens. I decide to just have airshow on my screen and read on my way south. It is a very clear day, and we have some great views. The flight passes very quickly, and soon I see Changi airport through my window which means we are going to have a runway 02 approach today. Sure enough we pass the island and start to make our 180 degree turn back north, and before long we are landing on runway 02C and headed to our gate today, F40. I have no checked baggage, so I am hoping for a quick walk to immigration, but the Singapore authorities have us go through a security check. Why bother after the flight? As usual for Singapore, immigration is quick and soon I am out and headed for the MRT to go downtown.
24Apr10 SQ 976 Y SIN-BKK 777 9V-SRQ seat 54A
I took the MRT back to Changi airport; since I had my boarding pass issued the day before, I decided to check out the indoor observation deck at terminal 2. I spent a few minutes up there seeing mostly Singapore Airlines and Silkair aircraft before heading back down to go through outbound immigration. As usual there was almost no wait, and I was through to explore all of the wonders of SIN. I didn’t have time to see a movie, but I at least had to check what the options were if I did, and I poked my head into a couple of shops before checking out the koi ponds and the electronic reflexology machines. Pretty soon it was time to head to gate F58 for boarding. At terminal 2 in SIN, all security is done at the gate, and there was just a short line for the screening. I made it through unscathed this time, and sat in the hold room reading until it was time to board. Boarding began at 335PM, with a pre boarding announcement for C class and Star Gold. Everybody started to board anyway since there was no one stopping them at the jetway, so I joined the hoard and made my way to the airplane. This flight was a little busier than the one to SIN yesterday, I did have the seat next to me empty, but the aisle seat was occupied. Again there was a hot towel service before we left the gate; we did leave the gate about 15 minutes late as we were waiting for one passenger who was paged a couple of times; he must have eventually shown up (or had no luggage in the hold) since we didn’t have to wait for his luggage to be removed. We headed out to runway 02C for departure, and after waiting our turn in line, finally took off at 435PM. Like the previous day, as soon as we hit the 10,000 foot mark, the service started with headsets being distributed; and like the day before I opted to read and watch airshow. The refreshment service started shortly after, but to me it was a dinner service. We had the choice of chicken with rice or fish with potatoes. I took the chicken and a can of Coke Zero. The chicken has a curry sauce and came with rice and veggies. There was also a roll on the side, but that was it. The chicken was actually good and filling. I had just finished my last bite of chicken when one of the flight attendants came by offering dessert, which today was mango ice cream. I’m not a huge mango fan, but I took one taste anyway and my mind was not changed. Unlike the previous day, we had a lot more cloud cover on our trip north, so the views were not as good until fairly close to landing. Our late departure caused a slightly late arrival as we landed on runway 19R at 529PM and were back at gate D4 by 535PM. This gate is probably as close as you can get to immigration, there was virtually no walk and when I got there, virtually no wait either. I was quickly through and into a taxi.
I was due to head home on Sunday, and I faced the same dilemma with the long haul flight that I did with the SFO-TPE flight; at the beginning of the week, the TPE-SEA flight looked oversold in both Elite and regular coach class with the entire flight was sold out, but plenty of seats still showed on the seat map in business class. Do I gamble on an operational upgrade or use another of my certificates? On Tuesday, the flight still showed sold out, but a bunch of seats opened up on the seat map in all classes, and it was the same on Wednesday morning. At that point, I figured I would call EVA and request an upgrade and see what happens. I called at 1043AM and the agent checked and said that I would be number one on the priority waitlist. I thanked her and said that I’m sure that TPE would work the waitlist pretty soon. At 1118AM my mobile phone rings and it’s EVA confirming my upgrade. I got my favorite Premium Laurel seat assigned, 6A and since I had the agent on the phone, I asked her to put a note in my record requesting the BKK counter to assign me a bulkhead window (either 20A or 20K again) on the BKK-TPE flight.
There was one more reason for me wanting to upgrade in advance; when I took this flight in C three weeks prior, I didn’t like the menu choices for Supper, so I thought that I would beat that by upgrading in advance and using EVA’s version of “Book the Cook” called Meal Order. They do offer quite a few selections in addition to the standard menu, but I have to say that although it was better than the regular menu, there wasn’t any beef or chicken which I would have preferred. The lamb roast sounded the most appealing, so I went ahead and ordered that.
My departure day arrives and I plan on leaving an hour earlier than normal just in case there are problems with traffic or road closures. Of course since I planned for delays, there was almost no traffic at all heading to the airport.
02May10 BR 68 W BKK-TPE 77W B-16712 seat 20K
Check-in was already open when I arrived at 1230PM. There was no one ahead of me in the line for Diamond members, and the agent greeted me with a smile as I handed her my passport. Usually the first thing I do is ask to try to change my seat, but since I asked the reservations agent to put a note in my booking, I wanted to see if my request was done before hand. She asked if my bag should be checked to PDX and I replied in the affirmative and then she attempted to print out my bag tag and boarding passes, but both printers had issues. It just took a minute or so to fix, but the agent apologized profusely none the less. I was handed both boarding passes and lounge invites, (my seat was changed out of BKK to my preferred bulkhead window) and the agent told me that she blocked the seat next to me from BKK to TPE.
There were some lines that greeted me at outbound immigration; there were only three immigration officers for “foreign passports” and quite a few more than that for Thai passports. Security was next, and unlike the week before when I flew to SIN, it was deserted, and no questions were asked about my backpack so I got through fairly quickly, and then I was off to the Evergreen lounge. This lounge is always bright and cheery with plenty of seats, and there were also plenty of decent nibbles at this time of day which I helped myself to as well as an ungodly amount of Coke Zero. At about 315PM I headed off to our gate which was G4 today, and that is a rarity. Almost every flight on BR that I take from BKK leaves from the E gates, but today I noticed both TPE flights were leaving from G. I got to the gate a couple of minutes after it opened, and sat down and read while waiting for boarding. EVA in BKK always show the boarding time on the boarding passes as 45 minutes before departure, but reality is that boarding is usually 30 minutes prior, and that is exactly what happened today, boarding started at 355PM for the 425PM departure.
A couple of minutes after being seated, the Chief Purser came over to greet me and wish me a pleasant flight. A few minutes later one of the cabin attendants came by to ask me my meal preference and to take my drink order. The choices were chicken with fried rice or Pad Thai. I’ve had quite a bit of Thai food the last couple of weeks, so I went for the chicken, and of course I asked for Coke Light. The cabin attendant said that she would bring me the can and wished me a nice flight. We left the gate right on time, but had to taxi completely across the airport. We took off at 449PM. Elite class was maybe a third full today. As customary, the “cabin crew service check” announcement was made when we reached 10,000 feet as usual and soon enough the cart was rolled out. My meal was delivered first, tonight the chicken had a slight spice to it and it was accompanied with fried rice and veggies. The main course is simple, but one my favorites that BR serves in Elite class. It came with a warm soft roll, a shredded onion, pepper, and cabbage salad, fruit, and a carrot cake for dessert. I had my full can of Coke Light and was offered water as well. During the meal, the Chief Purser came back to check on me and offered me more water as well. After the meal was finished I read for a bit and then slept until a few minutes before landing. Again it was fairly clear weather and I had great views all the way from BKK until we left the coast of Vietnam, and then the island of Taiwan was a beautiful sea of lights as we made our approach. We landed on TPE’s runway 06 at 852PM after three hours and three minutes of flying. We taxied over to gate C9, and as we were pulling into the gate, one of the cabin attendants came over to me and asked if I would like to disembark with the business class passengers, which is a gesture that I always appreciate. I was one of the first off and headed over to transfer security.
02May10 BR 26 C TPE-SEA 77W B-16710 seat 6A
We had arrived at a good time as we were between the other international arrivals, so transfer security was not busy at all. It was then off to the EVA lounge complex. This time I headed right to the Diamond lounge, where I made myself comfortable and did a few minutes of work. I grabbed myself a Coke Light to drink in the lounge, but nothing else as I wasn’t thrilled with the offerings tonight I left the lounge at 1005PM, and made my to our gate for the evening which was C8. Before entering the gate there is a passport check; and the line was pretty long as there was only one agent checking passports. After that, we head downstairs to wait for boarding. The gate area was very busy already with many passengers in wheelchairs lined up to board, and an extraordinary amount of kids under the age of five. The gate agents had their hands full gate checking strollers and by the time they got the wheelchair passengers boarded and the strollers checked, it was 1040PM and that’s when boarding for business class started. The flight was fairly full in all classes, I had a seat mate (who was also a Diamond member) for the first time in many flights on EVA. There were no empty pairs of seats that one of us could move to; in fact I only saw two empty seats in business class. At 1100PM the forward door was closed, and five minutes later the Chief Purser came on to the p.a. system to announce that we had an ill passenger that had to be removed from the flight; but our departure would be delayed while her baggage was retrieved.
During the delay, various assistant pursers came by to take meal and drink orders, or in my case verify my order. Hot towels and a choice of juices/water were offered as well. At 1125PM. Door 2L closed, and we made our way out to the runway 06 and took off at 1141PM. Again, as soon as we hit 10,000 feet, the “cabin crew service check” announcement was made and our service began. Here is tonight’s menu:
Hors D’oeuvre: Rosette of smoked salmon rose and zucchini, goose liver terrine with duck, pan seared scallop skewed with snow crab
Main Courses
Double boiled chicken broth with ginseng and shiitake mushroom, pan fried pork filet wrapped in Chinese ham, preserved mustard green with sugar cane sprout, rape green blossom, egg noodles
Pan seared cod filet with brunoise vegetables cardinal sauce, saffron potato ball and buttered green zucchini ball
Traditional cold delicatessens, superior abalone with shiitake mushroom Chef Ah Yat style, wild yam with wolfberry, ruby rice
Fresh fruit
Sweet
Coffee
Tea
As I mentioned before, I wasn’t thrilled with any of those choices, so I ordered the lamb roast which came with Yukon gold mashed potatoes, pearl onions and veggies. Surprise, I just had club soda to drink since I wanted to get some shut eye after supper. The appetizer was the same as above, but I just ate the duck which was again good. The lamb turned out better than I was expecting, and was quite a good meal. The sweet plate came out with both a mini-piece of white cake with strawberry and chocolate cake with almond served with various pieces of fruit. The entire meal was very good, and the flight crew as very attentive.
As soon as the meal was cleared away, I put on my eye shades and put in my ear plugs and dozed off. Since this flight gets to the west coast in the evening, I only wanted to sleep for a maximum of five hours so I could adjust better to the time change. I got about four and a half hours in, and then I got up. This is one of the aircraft that has stars on the ceiling for evening travel, and there is a “dawn” feature that gradually lights the cabin up. When I woke, the dawn was just starting. I went to lav and shaved and then read for a little bit until the breakfast service (which is actually shown in the menu as Refreshment) started. Here were today’s choices:
Chinese Style – selection of tea, double boiled port sparerib broth with bamboo pith and ginkgo nut, Congee served with traditional hot and cold delicatessens
Western Style – coffee, tea, fresh fruit, choice of bread, bacon and potato quiche, roasted mix vegetables (my choice)
Premium Laurel Special - selection of tea, fresh fruit, traditional cold delicatessens, stewed beef shank soup noodle Din Tai Fung
My breakfast Diet Coke arrived just as my breakfast tray was being delivered. This breakfast was very tasty; the bread service included rolls and Danish. Unlike my last few flights it was very cloudy all the way from when I opened up my window shade during breakfast, all the way into SEA. Under the cloud cover, I did get a great view of Boeing Field before landing. We made up most a good portion of the time we were delayed, and landing was made on SEA’s runway 16C at 647PM after a ten hours and six minute flight. It took just a couple of minutes of taxi time over to our gate, which was EVA’s usual S11 I was not the first off of the plane, but I was one of the first through immigration. EVA unloads all priority bags first in SEA on a separate carousel, but it took a few minutes longer than usual to get the carousel started. I did count, and my bag was number 16 out. I got through customs quickly and checked my watch; it was 707PM. My scheduled flight to PDX was at 930PM, and there was one flight before that at 800PM. Hmm, could I make the earlier flight? I thought I would at least try. I took my bag with me on the train to the main terminal (instead of putting it on the carousel) and started to move quickly when we arrived. I took the sets of escalators up until I was one level below ticketing where the escalator was blocked off. I hiked to the stairs and climbed up with my bag and walked very quickly over to the AS check in area. I went first to the MVP line, as there was just one person being helped, but I saw that the ticket agent was in a deep discussion on the phone with the passenger in front of her, so I went back to the regular agents where at this point there was no wait and checked my watch 714PM – I should make the bag cutoff for the 800PM flight. The agent asked me if I was a Gold or MVP member and I replied yes, and she said that was good because there was a long standby list. She tagged my bag for the 800PM flight, gave me a standby boarding pass and sent me to the gate. Luckily there was no wait for the TSA ID checkers, and the agent checking my ID said “good luck on getting on the flight,” and sent me though to security. There was a short wait for both lines as people had to get rid of liquid, but I made it through and was at gate C2B at 725PM. This is one of the gates that have the new information boards that show the standby lists. I saw that I was number two on the list (number one had a seat already) and the flight was booked to 73 out of 76 with 71 checked in. I thought that my chances of getting on were very good, and within a couple of minutes, I was called up to the podium and given a seat for the 800PM departure.
02May10 AS 2173 Y SEA-PDX DH4 N428QX seat 16D
Even though my preference is for a window seat, beggars can’t be choosers, so I settled into my aisle for the short flight. We boarded our flight just at 740PM though door 3. This flight was packed. I wasn’t the only standby and when the doors finally closed, there were no empty seats at all. The door closed at exactly 800PM and we started our push back. As we were taxiing to runway 16C, the captain came on with his welcome on board speech, but added that the flight was expected to be very bumpy, so he was going to keep the two flight attendants sitting down the entire flight. We were airborne at 808PM and there was cloud cover and slight turbulence for the entire 28 minute flight; we landed on PDX’s runway 28L at 836PM and we were at stand C a couple of minutes after that. Thanks to the standby on the earlier flight, I got home almost two hours earlier than ticketed.
Overall it was a very good trip and I’m glad that I used two of my upgrades for the long hauls. I have noticed that for the most part EVA is very consistent, and that in the end is what I depend on.
I’m a Diamond member in EVA’s Evergreen Club. To requalify for Diamond status, you have to earn 200,000 miles in two years; I have another 10 months to go to hit the mark. I got home from my previous trip on Sunday, April 4th. That trip put me over the 140,000 qualifying mile mark which gives me four more systemwide upgrades to use. The miles posted on April 6th, but not the upgrades. I knew that I would be traveling again sometime within the next few weeks (as you’ll see below that turned out to be a lot sooner than I originally thought), and I thought that I would like to use the upgrades on the long hauls. I looked at both my written membership guide and checked on-line to see how long it would take for the upgrades to post to my account. Nothing was shown in either location. So I decided to call EVA. First I called the SEA office which is the one closest to me, and they really had no clue what I was asking about. So then I called EVA’s LAX office as they are the U.S. home for the Evergreen Club. The agent there at least knew what I was talking about, but told me that she did not know how long it took to post
I was very busy the next few days, but I finally had more time to check about the upgrades on April 8; I gave up and called EVA in TPE. The agent took a bit to figure out what exactly I was asking about and then she finally understood and put me on hold – for a long time. When she finally came back on the line, she said that she would call me back later that afternoon (which would be in the middle of the night Pacific Time). When I woke up on April 9, I had a voicemail from the EVA agent in TPE saying that the upgrades would post to my account that day. Sure enough, I went on-line and there they were. So I’ll have to remember that for the next time I cross that threshold. It was a good thing those upgrades posted when they did as later that day I got the call telling me that I was wanted back in Asia in a few days.
The idea was for me to arrive on Wednesday, which means that I would have to leave PDX on Monday night. As I have mentioned in previous trip reports, I always check using Seattle as my BR gateway first, but since the flights there aren’t daily, usually one of my days that I need to travel does not have a flight. That was the case for an early Tuesday AM departure. My alternate gateway then is SFO. I was born and raised in The City, so I never mind flying through there as I still think of it as my “home” airport, although I remain cognizant of the weather issues that plague the airport. I was going to fly in Elite class this trip which is BR’s premium economy class. All the flights that I wanted were on the 77W, so that means a 2-4-2 configuration with 38 inches of pitch for those seats; the exception is the bulkhead row which is 2-3-2.
My dates set; it was now Saturday April 10th, and I called the consolidator that I use for EVA who now knows me very well. She said that three out of the four flights I wanted did not have the booking code she needed, so would have to use my status for a guaranteed booking. She put a waitlist request in and got a confirmation back from the waitlist within seconds. Normally I book the domestic flight myself since the add-on from PDX is usually a lot more than if I buy two tickets, but my agent told me that this time EVA was only charging $80 for the add on, which was a much better deal than I could get myself, so I had her grab it. I had two choices for the PDX-SFO leg, either a 520PM departure that would give me a long layover at SFO or an 810PM departure. Again thinking about the possibility of delays at SFO, I took the earlier flight. My return was routed through SEA, so I was booked on the first legal connection from SEA to PDX with the hope of catching an earlier flight home depending on how fast I cleared customs and immigration.
I could not get decent seats on-line, so I called BR and they got me seats that are blocked for Diamond and Gold members of their frequent flyer program. Now I had a dilemma. I checked Expert Flyer and saw that the SFO-TPE leg was completely full and likely oversold in both Elite and regular coach class. My previous flight on April 4th from TPE to SEA had the same situation and I was given an operational upgrade to Premium Laurel which is EVA’s business class. On that flight though, I wasn’t even able to get a seat assigned in advance in Elite class. So, do I use one of my freshly deposited upgrades or hope for a freebie? I decided to think about it for a bit.
Monday morning came and I decided that I really wanted the extra space, so I called to attempt to use one of my upgrades. I figured that since it was less than 18 hours to departure, I would be put on the waitlist, but to my surprise, when I called EVA, I was confirmed immediately, but since the flight was under airport control, I couldn’t be assigned a seat.
It was raining at SFO that day, so I knew that the odds were good that my PDX-SFO flight would be delayed. My wife had meetings all afternoon and couldn’t drive me to the airport, but she could drop me at the light rail, known locally in PDX as the Max. We had lunch together first, and then I was dropped off at 1230PM – the train was already in the station, and just made it on board as the doors were closing. The ride was exactly an hour and I arrived at the airport at 130PM. My plan was to head over to Alaska’s Board Room and spend a few hours there working until my flight.
12Apr10 AS 2611 Y PDX-PDX CR7 N604QX seat 2A
Arriving at the airport I saw that the 100PM flight to SFO was delayed until at least 200PM. Figuring I could work almost as well in the SFO Board Room, I asked the agent about getting on the earlier flight. I just missed the bag cut off time, so I decided to stay with my original flight. Boarding pass in hand, I dropped my bag which was through checked to BKK at CTX 6 and headed to security. There was just a short wait for security (mostly for the TSA’s ID checkers), and when I got through, I headed right to Alaska’s Board Room. I unpacked my computer and worked for the next almost three hours, stopping just to get a Diet Coke and sample the soup of the day (which was actually chili). An hour before the flight, a 10 minute delay was posted, but I head down to the A gates at 450PM anyway. Our gate was A-9 and the agent was making an announcement as I arrived that we would board fairly soon. Boarding actually started at 510PM and our aircraft was parked all the way at spot O which is the absolute last spot and farthest walk. While waiting for departure, my row mate across the aisle saw my Flyer Talk tag and we talked for a bit. Since we were parked so far out, we had a minimal taxi to the runway 28L and we took off at 540PM. We were 10 minutes into the flight when the captain gets on the p.a. system and says that a cargo hold sensor light is on and we have to return to PDX. It takes longer to get back, as we land at 605PM on runway 28L. While taxiing in, the captain says that as soon as he knows what the actual problem is, he’ll get back to us. We pull into spot L this time, and when the door opens, one of the rampers points to the aircraft next to us and says that one is our new aircraft. A couple of minutes later, the captain has us disembark, and wait in the terminal as the new aircraft needs to be fueled and serviced.
12Apr10 AS 2611 Y PDX-SFO CR7 N605QX seat 2A
The same agent that boarded our flight originally made an announcement that we would reboard in about 10 minutes and not to wander too far. One passenger decided not to continue on while another that missed the flight originally was boarded, so our numbers were the same even if the passengers were not. We were soon called for reboarding; this time at spot K and everybody was back on. Again we taxied out to runway 28L and we were airborne at 702PM. About 15 minutes after departure the drink service started – this my first non-Jones Soda flight since Alaska and Horizon changed their soft drink provider, so I was back to my usual Diet Coke, served of course with a bag of munchies. The weather had cleared up during our flight(s) and we flew over a beautifully lit San Francisco before heading down to the bottom of the bay and making our turn for the approach to SFO. Flight time was a total of an hour and 26 minutes as we landed at 828PM on runway 28R. We had a longish taxi in to the gate as we were following a Continental aircraft but soon made our way to gate 22.
I headed over to the International Terminal and stopped for a quick bite at the food court. EVA’s check-in supposedly opened at 945PM so I decided to see what the lines looked like at 930PM.
13Apr10 BR 17 C SFO-TPE 77W B-16703 seat 6K
There was already a pretty long line for regular coach and there were already people in both the Premium Laurel class line as well as the Diamond line, so I joined the line. The agents were already starting to set up, and as agents signed into the system, the lead agent started bringing Diamond members and Premium Laurel passengers to open positions. I presented my passport to the agent and said to her that I didn’t yet have a seat assigned, and she responded with “we already took care of that for you” and handed me a boarding pass for 6K, my second favorite Premium Laurel class seat. I was also given my Elite class boarding pass for the TPE-BKK flight and my SFO boarding pass was stamped with a #1 Priority stamp to use at security. That would have been handy if there was a wait, but there was only one other passenger going through security at that moment. As it turns out the other passenger was also a Diamond member booked in Elite class – he did not get an operational upgrade, so I know I made the right choice in using one of my systemwide upgrades. After clearing security, I head to the BR lounge which happens to be one of only three actual BR lounges in the world, as the contract out at every other airport except for TPE and BKK. The lounge agent is just opening up, and I head into the very small part of the lounge that is reserved for Diamond members and set up my laptop. Again I work for a couple of hours with a Diet Coke by my side with some Ritz crackers. I headed out to the gate a few minutes after Midnight.
We were departing from G-101 tonight and the gate area was pretty full, so I walked around and stretched a bit. I saw that our plane tonight was B-16703 that for whatever reason is my usual aircraft departing SFO on BR. What I find interesting is that there are a bunch of transpacific flights that leave within and hour or so of each other, but most of them depart from the A gates in the international terminal, only BR and SQ have flights from the G gates. When I came back to the gate, I asked the agent (coincidently the same agent that checked me in) if she could send a message to TPE for me asking them to release the bulkhead window seat in Elite class for my TPE-BKK flight. Usually, I ask at the lounge in TPE, but I got to thinking that when I ask the BKK staff for the bulkhead on my connecting flight from TPE, they always have to send a message requesting the seat, and it always takes some time to get a response back. I figured that when I checked at the lounge, I could just see if the seat was assigned to me. At about 1240AM, the announcement was made for Premium Laurel, Diamond and Gold members to board, and I made my way on to the jetway. When I reached the aircraft door, I was greeted by the Chief Purser who recognized me from my flights over the last few weeks. We chatted for a bit as I got situated, and she told me that they blocked 6H, so I would have two seats for myself on this flight. C class was fairly full; 36 of the 42 seats were taken. Both Elite class and standard coach were completely full. The Assistant Purser came over to me to welcome me on board and to get my pre-dinner drink order. A few minutes later, menus were handed out; amenity kits were already waiting in the seat pockets. The doors closed a couple of minutes early at 108AM, and we made our way over to runway 28L. There were no other transpacific flights out on the taxiways, so we had a very quick taxi, and we were airborne at 121AM and headed due west, no great circle route tonight. As soon as we hit 10,000 feet the “cabin crew service check” announcement as made, and soon the service started.
I had my usual diet coke, and then a few minutes later the late night supper was served. Tonight’s menu:
Hors D’oeuvre: Smoked salmon rose and roasted duck slices with condiment
Main Courses
Wok fried chicken thigh with fish fragrance sauce, seasonal vegetables, steamed rice (my choice)
Pan seared salmon filet with green peppercorn butter, seasonal vegetables, linguini with garlic
Double boiled beef brisket soup noodle, marinated duck giblets with preserved vegetables, snow cabbage with bean curd and soy bean
Fresh fruit
Coffee
Tea
Both the appetizer (well the duck at least since I don’t eat salmon) and the chicken were good, it seemed like a large portion was served tonight. As the norm on EVA’s late night flights in C class, the service was very efficient – as soon as a passenger finished with a course, the next one was brought out quickly. As soon as I was done with dinner, I was handed a big sleep pillow which I put under my back and immediately went to sleep. There was a snack service on demand which I did not partake in. The choices were:
Chicken and mushroom chung fun, BBQ pork bun
Turkey breast, bacon slice and cheese sandwich
Hot chocolate and cookies
I really wanted the upgrade so I could sleep, and sleep I did. The next thing I knew, the lights were coming on for breakfast; this was a little over 2 hours prior to landing, and a hot towel was handed to me just as I was taking off my eye mask. I had slept for about eight hours. Breakfast choices for today:
Chinese Style – selection of tea, fresh fruit, Congee served with traditional hot and cold delicatessens
Western Style – coffee, tea, fresh fruit, choice of bread, cereal and yogurt, Canadian bacon with scrambled egg on English muffin, hollandaise sauce, grilled tomato and asparagus. (my choice)
Premium Laurel Special - selection of tea, fresh fruit, garden vegetables salad with chick peas, grilled chicken with yakitori sauce, seasonal vegetables, rice wrapped with seaweed
I had the western style although I really debated the yakitori. I’ve had this breakfast a couple of times before though, so I knew it was good, and I did have the chicken for dinner. I decided that on the next trip, if the yakitori is offered, I’ll try it. Again I wasn’t disappointed and like supper, there seemed to be a lot of food. After breakfast I just read until we were on final approach. We landed on TPE’s runway 06 at 539AM, 13 hours and 18 minutes after take off, and taxied to gate C9 which is a hike to transfer security. We were not the first BR transpacific flight in, so I could see a line forming for transfer security as I was walking to that area. As I got closer, there was a BR agent holding up a sign board with my name on it. I went over to her, and she said that I had a new boarding pass for my TPE-BKK flight and handed me the boarding pass for my requested 20K. As I was thinking to myself “that worked well,” the agent then escorted me past the long security line and placed me in the line right at the scanner. Security accomplished must faster than I was expecting, I then took the escalator upstairs to the departure area and headed for the EVA lounge area.
14Apr10 BR 211 W TPE-BKK 77W B-16712 seat 20K
It was 555AM when I got to the Evergreen lounges and the lounge had been open for a while already. As usual, I knew the Diamond lounge didn’t open until 630AM, and besides I really wanted/needed a shower, so I headed straight in to the bathroom and the single shower was available. When I was finished, there were others waiting. As I say in every trip report, EVA really needs to add showers to their lounges. They only have three in total, two in the C section, and one in F section and the Diamond lounge doesn’t even have a restroom, you have to leave the lounge to use the facilities. After the shower, I worked e-mail and made some calls while having some water and time passed pretty quickly. Lately BR 211 has been an A330 without Elite class, so I have been taking the later BR 67 which leaves less than an hour after BR 211. However today BR 211 was back to a 77W complete with Elite Class, so my time between flights wasn’t all that long. In fact, I didn’t even bother with the Diamond lounge this morning. I headed out of the lounge at 730AM then I headed to my gate, C7. I went downstairs to the hold room, and I sat down with my book and read. For the longest time there was only myself and two other passengers; I thought that the flight was pretty empty, but 3 passengers? Apparently the gate staff noticed the same thing, and sent an agent upstairs to tell passengers that they had to come down for boarding. More people came in, but I could still tell that this flight would have a lot of empty seats.
At 800AM boarding started and I was one of the first on. The Assistant Purser greeted me at the door and said ‘’didn’t I just see you a few days ago?” She was on my TPE-SEA flight eight days previous. She escorted me to my seat and we talked for a few minutes and she said that she would look after me on this flight. Another cabin attendant greeted me as well and asked if “my friend was joining me.” I told her that I was traveling alone, and she said that there was someone booked in 20H, but that she would try to move them when they boarded so I could have two seats to myself. A couple of minutes later, my seat mate arrived (who was also a Diamond member) saw me, gave me a dirty look, one of many that he would pass my way during the flight, and without saying a word sat down in 20G. After a couple of minutes he didn’t like that seat, so he moved to 21G. The doors eventually closed right on schedule, and we were soon headed out to runway 06 for takeoff. I noticed as we were taxiing out that at least in Elite class (and I discovered in all three classes) the flight was only a third full. We turned on to the runway and took off at 830AM. Again the service started as soon as had gotten though 10,000 feet and the “cabin crew service check” announcement as made. The Chief Purser came by to greet me, and told me that the Assistant Purser had told her that we had just flown together, and she said that the crew would be taking great care of me. Then we chatted about my travel plans and she thanked me for all of my travel on EVA. She then went and greeted 21G, but that conversation was much shorter. As that short conversation was going on, the Assistant Purser came out and said, “Let me get your drink order – Diet Coke, right?” I smiled and said yes, and she said she would be back in a minute. Sure enough she came back with Coke Light in a business class glass and said that she would make sure that my glass was topped up during the flight. Cue looks from 21G again.
The carts were brought out, but stopped mid cabin and the cabin attendant came over to me to offer me first choice, which was either chicken with noodles or pork with potatoes. I guess this meal really was a brunch. I had a spicy chicken with noodles veggies as the main course. No bread was served at all, but there was a small plate of fruit, a serving of yogurt, and a blueberry Danish. The meal was good, not great, but still better than you will find on most carriers these days. I spent most of the rest of the flight reading and apparently getting constant refills of Coke Light. I’m not actually sure how much Coke Light I consumed, but I’ll just say it was plenty. The weather was mostly clear, and I had a great view of DaNang as we made landfall and crossed into Vietnamese air space. It looked like an early arrival was in store for us and sure enough, we landed a few minutes early at 1045AM on runway 19R for a flight time of three hours and 15 minutes. Our gate today was E5, which is a bit of a walk to immigration. I really appreciated the effort from this crew today. The lines at immigration were fairly quick today, but baggage service was equally quick and my bag was already on the carousel as I walked over. I noticed that BR’s staff at SFO had attached a “priority” tag to my bag when they received it from AS. Overall, this was one of my nicest trips to BKK in a long time.
I knew that at some point during this trip, I would have to make an overnight journey to SIN. I didn’t book anything from the U.S. as I had no clue what days I would be gone. A few days into my trip, I was given the dates that I would need to be in SIN and I started looking at air fares. Since this flight is under three hours, I had to take the least expensive flight I could find. I checked the low cost carriers, Air Asia, Jet Star, Tiger Airways, as well as the majors, SQ, TG and CX and the lowest prices of all of those carriers was had by SQ which was a surprise to me. With taxes, it was about USD $200 (THB6505 to be exact), where the other carriers were close or over $300 for the same trip. Even a “free” ticket one way on Tiger Air (you still had to pay taxes and exorbitant fees) with a low cost return turned out to be more expensive than that, so Singapore Airlines was the choice. I had flown SQ many times previously but only in C class, never in Y, so I was looking forward to the experience. I was able to choose my seats on line, and went towards the back of the aircraft since the flights didn’t look too full, and I might that way get an empty seat next to me.
23Apr10 SQ 973 Y BKK-SIN 777 9V-SRG seat 55K
I booked the first flight of the day out on SQ which was the 940AM departure. I made better time than I expected in BKK traffic and got to the airport at 725AM. There was no line at all for check-in, and the agent issued both my outbound and return boarding passes at the same time. Outbound immigration was fairly quick, there were only two people in front of me, but there was a very long line for security. Something in my bag looked like a liquid apparently, so the security officers took a look in my bag and found nothing and soon I was on my way to the lounge. Whoops, this is the first time in almost three years that I am flying a carrier that I don’t have status on, so no lounge access for me. Wait a second though, as an EVA Diamond member, I can use their lounge even though I’m flying on another carrier. So I head over to the EVA lounge but find it closed. Oh well, it was a good thought. I wander though the mall that is the BKK airport, stopping to get some free internet time. And then head over to my gate which is D4 this morning. There is still a TG 744 that is bound for HKG at the gate; it looks like they are missing a passenger and going through bags to remove that person’s baggage. I see my SQ 777 turn into the alley heading for the gate just as the offending bag is found and the TG 744 is buttoned up and sent on its way.
Once I enter the gate area, I see a dearth of passengers. I guess I again picked a light flight and hopes for an empty seat next to me emerge even stronger. Pre boarding is announced for C class, Star Gold and passengers with infants. The gate agents encourage anyone with a child under 18 to pre board, so half the plane is on already before general boarding starts. General boarding is finally called and I head on board and see that the rear part of the aircraft is pretty deserted. A few minutes before departure the flight attendants start a hot towel service that is much appreciated. As that is finished up, “doors closed” is announced and I have ended up with a row to myself. We leave the gate a couple of minutes early and taxi out to runway 19L where there is no wait, so we are airborne at 948AM. At 10,000 feet the flight attendants are released and start their service which first is handing out headsets. I notice that they have carts starting from both the rear of the aircraft and the front of the economy section to speed things up. Since my section of the aircraft is pretty empty, I’m served quickly; brunch choices are eggs or Thai chicken with noodles. I go for the noodles and it looks interesting; chicken on a bed of red noodles with veggies and egg mixed in. I’m also offered a beverage choice and ask for a Diet Coke and the flight attendant asks me if Coke Zero is OK (which it is). I see that SQ uses metal cutlery even in Y class; this makes a nice change from the usual plastic cutlery that I get on BR. The meal is served with a roll and a dessert item which was a custard of some sort with fruit. The chicken tastes really good, but it’s very spicy. In fact I start to sneeze after the third bite. After my sneezing fit stops, I eat and enjoy the rest of the meal except for the custard which I wasn’t fond of. Flight attendants come by with refills on drinks. I have always enjoyed SQ’s service and this flight is no exception. I do not find their flight attendants robotic at all as some have said. This aircraft is a regional 777 which means tiny video screens. I decide to just have airshow on my screen and read on my way south. It is a very clear day, and we have some great views. The flight passes very quickly, and soon I see Changi airport through my window which means we are going to have a runway 02 approach today. Sure enough we pass the island and start to make our 180 degree turn back north, and before long we are landing on runway 02C and headed to our gate today, F40. I have no checked baggage, so I am hoping for a quick walk to immigration, but the Singapore authorities have us go through a security check. Why bother after the flight? As usual for Singapore, immigration is quick and soon I am out and headed for the MRT to go downtown.
24Apr10 SQ 976 Y SIN-BKK 777 9V-SRQ seat 54A
I took the MRT back to Changi airport; since I had my boarding pass issued the day before, I decided to check out the indoor observation deck at terminal 2. I spent a few minutes up there seeing mostly Singapore Airlines and Silkair aircraft before heading back down to go through outbound immigration. As usual there was almost no wait, and I was through to explore all of the wonders of SIN. I didn’t have time to see a movie, but I at least had to check what the options were if I did, and I poked my head into a couple of shops before checking out the koi ponds and the electronic reflexology machines. Pretty soon it was time to head to gate F58 for boarding. At terminal 2 in SIN, all security is done at the gate, and there was just a short line for the screening. I made it through unscathed this time, and sat in the hold room reading until it was time to board. Boarding began at 335PM, with a pre boarding announcement for C class and Star Gold. Everybody started to board anyway since there was no one stopping them at the jetway, so I joined the hoard and made my way to the airplane. This flight was a little busier than the one to SIN yesterday, I did have the seat next to me empty, but the aisle seat was occupied. Again there was a hot towel service before we left the gate; we did leave the gate about 15 minutes late as we were waiting for one passenger who was paged a couple of times; he must have eventually shown up (or had no luggage in the hold) since we didn’t have to wait for his luggage to be removed. We headed out to runway 02C for departure, and after waiting our turn in line, finally took off at 435PM. Like the previous day, as soon as we hit the 10,000 foot mark, the service started with headsets being distributed; and like the day before I opted to read and watch airshow. The refreshment service started shortly after, but to me it was a dinner service. We had the choice of chicken with rice or fish with potatoes. I took the chicken and a can of Coke Zero. The chicken has a curry sauce and came with rice and veggies. There was also a roll on the side, but that was it. The chicken was actually good and filling. I had just finished my last bite of chicken when one of the flight attendants came by offering dessert, which today was mango ice cream. I’m not a huge mango fan, but I took one taste anyway and my mind was not changed. Unlike the previous day, we had a lot more cloud cover on our trip north, so the views were not as good until fairly close to landing. Our late departure caused a slightly late arrival as we landed on runway 19R at 529PM and were back at gate D4 by 535PM. This gate is probably as close as you can get to immigration, there was virtually no walk and when I got there, virtually no wait either. I was quickly through and into a taxi.
I was due to head home on Sunday, and I faced the same dilemma with the long haul flight that I did with the SFO-TPE flight; at the beginning of the week, the TPE-SEA flight looked oversold in both Elite and regular coach class with the entire flight was sold out, but plenty of seats still showed on the seat map in business class. Do I gamble on an operational upgrade or use another of my certificates? On Tuesday, the flight still showed sold out, but a bunch of seats opened up on the seat map in all classes, and it was the same on Wednesday morning. At that point, I figured I would call EVA and request an upgrade and see what happens. I called at 1043AM and the agent checked and said that I would be number one on the priority waitlist. I thanked her and said that I’m sure that TPE would work the waitlist pretty soon. At 1118AM my mobile phone rings and it’s EVA confirming my upgrade. I got my favorite Premium Laurel seat assigned, 6A and since I had the agent on the phone, I asked her to put a note in my record requesting the BKK counter to assign me a bulkhead window (either 20A or 20K again) on the BKK-TPE flight.
There was one more reason for me wanting to upgrade in advance; when I took this flight in C three weeks prior, I didn’t like the menu choices for Supper, so I thought that I would beat that by upgrading in advance and using EVA’s version of “Book the Cook” called Meal Order. They do offer quite a few selections in addition to the standard menu, but I have to say that although it was better than the regular menu, there wasn’t any beef or chicken which I would have preferred. The lamb roast sounded the most appealing, so I went ahead and ordered that.
My departure day arrives and I plan on leaving an hour earlier than normal just in case there are problems with traffic or road closures. Of course since I planned for delays, there was almost no traffic at all heading to the airport.
02May10 BR 68 W BKK-TPE 77W B-16712 seat 20K
Check-in was already open when I arrived at 1230PM. There was no one ahead of me in the line for Diamond members, and the agent greeted me with a smile as I handed her my passport. Usually the first thing I do is ask to try to change my seat, but since I asked the reservations agent to put a note in my booking, I wanted to see if my request was done before hand. She asked if my bag should be checked to PDX and I replied in the affirmative and then she attempted to print out my bag tag and boarding passes, but both printers had issues. It just took a minute or so to fix, but the agent apologized profusely none the less. I was handed both boarding passes and lounge invites, (my seat was changed out of BKK to my preferred bulkhead window) and the agent told me that she blocked the seat next to me from BKK to TPE.
There were some lines that greeted me at outbound immigration; there were only three immigration officers for “foreign passports” and quite a few more than that for Thai passports. Security was next, and unlike the week before when I flew to SIN, it was deserted, and no questions were asked about my backpack so I got through fairly quickly, and then I was off to the Evergreen lounge. This lounge is always bright and cheery with plenty of seats, and there were also plenty of decent nibbles at this time of day which I helped myself to as well as an ungodly amount of Coke Zero. At about 315PM I headed off to our gate which was G4 today, and that is a rarity. Almost every flight on BR that I take from BKK leaves from the E gates, but today I noticed both TPE flights were leaving from G. I got to the gate a couple of minutes after it opened, and sat down and read while waiting for boarding. EVA in BKK always show the boarding time on the boarding passes as 45 minutes before departure, but reality is that boarding is usually 30 minutes prior, and that is exactly what happened today, boarding started at 355PM for the 425PM departure.
A couple of minutes after being seated, the Chief Purser came over to greet me and wish me a pleasant flight. A few minutes later one of the cabin attendants came by to ask me my meal preference and to take my drink order. The choices were chicken with fried rice or Pad Thai. I’ve had quite a bit of Thai food the last couple of weeks, so I went for the chicken, and of course I asked for Coke Light. The cabin attendant said that she would bring me the can and wished me a nice flight. We left the gate right on time, but had to taxi completely across the airport. We took off at 449PM. Elite class was maybe a third full today. As customary, the “cabin crew service check” announcement was made when we reached 10,000 feet as usual and soon enough the cart was rolled out. My meal was delivered first, tonight the chicken had a slight spice to it and it was accompanied with fried rice and veggies. The main course is simple, but one my favorites that BR serves in Elite class. It came with a warm soft roll, a shredded onion, pepper, and cabbage salad, fruit, and a carrot cake for dessert. I had my full can of Coke Light and was offered water as well. During the meal, the Chief Purser came back to check on me and offered me more water as well. After the meal was finished I read for a bit and then slept until a few minutes before landing. Again it was fairly clear weather and I had great views all the way from BKK until we left the coast of Vietnam, and then the island of Taiwan was a beautiful sea of lights as we made our approach. We landed on TPE’s runway 06 at 852PM after three hours and three minutes of flying. We taxied over to gate C9, and as we were pulling into the gate, one of the cabin attendants came over to me and asked if I would like to disembark with the business class passengers, which is a gesture that I always appreciate. I was one of the first off and headed over to transfer security.
02May10 BR 26 C TPE-SEA 77W B-16710 seat 6A
We had arrived at a good time as we were between the other international arrivals, so transfer security was not busy at all. It was then off to the EVA lounge complex. This time I headed right to the Diamond lounge, where I made myself comfortable and did a few minutes of work. I grabbed myself a Coke Light to drink in the lounge, but nothing else as I wasn’t thrilled with the offerings tonight I left the lounge at 1005PM, and made my to our gate for the evening which was C8. Before entering the gate there is a passport check; and the line was pretty long as there was only one agent checking passports. After that, we head downstairs to wait for boarding. The gate area was very busy already with many passengers in wheelchairs lined up to board, and an extraordinary amount of kids under the age of five. The gate agents had their hands full gate checking strollers and by the time they got the wheelchair passengers boarded and the strollers checked, it was 1040PM and that’s when boarding for business class started. The flight was fairly full in all classes, I had a seat mate (who was also a Diamond member) for the first time in many flights on EVA. There were no empty pairs of seats that one of us could move to; in fact I only saw two empty seats in business class. At 1100PM the forward door was closed, and five minutes later the Chief Purser came on to the p.a. system to announce that we had an ill passenger that had to be removed from the flight; but our departure would be delayed while her baggage was retrieved.
During the delay, various assistant pursers came by to take meal and drink orders, or in my case verify my order. Hot towels and a choice of juices/water were offered as well. At 1125PM. Door 2L closed, and we made our way out to the runway 06 and took off at 1141PM. Again, as soon as we hit 10,000 feet, the “cabin crew service check” announcement was made and our service began. Here is tonight’s menu:
Hors D’oeuvre: Rosette of smoked salmon rose and zucchini, goose liver terrine with duck, pan seared scallop skewed with snow crab
Main Courses
Double boiled chicken broth with ginseng and shiitake mushroom, pan fried pork filet wrapped in Chinese ham, preserved mustard green with sugar cane sprout, rape green blossom, egg noodles
Pan seared cod filet with brunoise vegetables cardinal sauce, saffron potato ball and buttered green zucchini ball
Traditional cold delicatessens, superior abalone with shiitake mushroom Chef Ah Yat style, wild yam with wolfberry, ruby rice
Fresh fruit
Sweet
Coffee
Tea
As I mentioned before, I wasn’t thrilled with any of those choices, so I ordered the lamb roast which came with Yukon gold mashed potatoes, pearl onions and veggies. Surprise, I just had club soda to drink since I wanted to get some shut eye after supper. The appetizer was the same as above, but I just ate the duck which was again good. The lamb turned out better than I was expecting, and was quite a good meal. The sweet plate came out with both a mini-piece of white cake with strawberry and chocolate cake with almond served with various pieces of fruit. The entire meal was very good, and the flight crew as very attentive.
As soon as the meal was cleared away, I put on my eye shades and put in my ear plugs and dozed off. Since this flight gets to the west coast in the evening, I only wanted to sleep for a maximum of five hours so I could adjust better to the time change. I got about four and a half hours in, and then I got up. This is one of the aircraft that has stars on the ceiling for evening travel, and there is a “dawn” feature that gradually lights the cabin up. When I woke, the dawn was just starting. I went to lav and shaved and then read for a little bit until the breakfast service (which is actually shown in the menu as Refreshment) started. Here were today’s choices:
Chinese Style – selection of tea, double boiled port sparerib broth with bamboo pith and ginkgo nut, Congee served with traditional hot and cold delicatessens
Western Style – coffee, tea, fresh fruit, choice of bread, bacon and potato quiche, roasted mix vegetables (my choice)
Premium Laurel Special - selection of tea, fresh fruit, traditional cold delicatessens, stewed beef shank soup noodle Din Tai Fung
My breakfast Diet Coke arrived just as my breakfast tray was being delivered. This breakfast was very tasty; the bread service included rolls and Danish. Unlike my last few flights it was very cloudy all the way from when I opened up my window shade during breakfast, all the way into SEA. Under the cloud cover, I did get a great view of Boeing Field before landing. We made up most a good portion of the time we were delayed, and landing was made on SEA’s runway 16C at 647PM after a ten hours and six minute flight. It took just a couple of minutes of taxi time over to our gate, which was EVA’s usual S11 I was not the first off of the plane, but I was one of the first through immigration. EVA unloads all priority bags first in SEA on a separate carousel, but it took a few minutes longer than usual to get the carousel started. I did count, and my bag was number 16 out. I got through customs quickly and checked my watch; it was 707PM. My scheduled flight to PDX was at 930PM, and there was one flight before that at 800PM. Hmm, could I make the earlier flight? I thought I would at least try. I took my bag with me on the train to the main terminal (instead of putting it on the carousel) and started to move quickly when we arrived. I took the sets of escalators up until I was one level below ticketing where the escalator was blocked off. I hiked to the stairs and climbed up with my bag and walked very quickly over to the AS check in area. I went first to the MVP line, as there was just one person being helped, but I saw that the ticket agent was in a deep discussion on the phone with the passenger in front of her, so I went back to the regular agents where at this point there was no wait and checked my watch 714PM – I should make the bag cutoff for the 800PM flight. The agent asked me if I was a Gold or MVP member and I replied yes, and she said that was good because there was a long standby list. She tagged my bag for the 800PM flight, gave me a standby boarding pass and sent me to the gate. Luckily there was no wait for the TSA ID checkers, and the agent checking my ID said “good luck on getting on the flight,” and sent me though to security. There was a short wait for both lines as people had to get rid of liquid, but I made it through and was at gate C2B at 725PM. This is one of the gates that have the new information boards that show the standby lists. I saw that I was number two on the list (number one had a seat already) and the flight was booked to 73 out of 76 with 71 checked in. I thought that my chances of getting on were very good, and within a couple of minutes, I was called up to the podium and given a seat for the 800PM departure.
02May10 AS 2173 Y SEA-PDX DH4 N428QX seat 16D
Even though my preference is for a window seat, beggars can’t be choosers, so I settled into my aisle for the short flight. We boarded our flight just at 740PM though door 3. This flight was packed. I wasn’t the only standby and when the doors finally closed, there were no empty seats at all. The door closed at exactly 800PM and we started our push back. As we were taxiing to runway 16C, the captain came on with his welcome on board speech, but added that the flight was expected to be very bumpy, so he was going to keep the two flight attendants sitting down the entire flight. We were airborne at 808PM and there was cloud cover and slight turbulence for the entire 28 minute flight; we landed on PDX’s runway 28L at 836PM and we were at stand C a couple of minutes after that. Thanks to the standby on the earlier flight, I got home almost two hours earlier than ticketed.
Overall it was a very good trip and I’m glad that I used two of my upgrades for the long hauls. I have noticed that for the most part EVA is very consistent, and that in the end is what I depend on.
May 6, 2010, 2:51 am
#3
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Hsinchu (Taiwan), Saigon, London
Programs: EVA (diamond), A3, BMI, VN
Posts: 2,960
Excellent report and an ideal fix for golds like me who sometimes go a month without a flight! It must have taken absolutely ages to write.
"ungodly amount of Coke Zero" - great stuff.
How would you compare SQ regional economy with BR regional economy? (I know usually you're not in BR economy and weren't on this flight.)
I remember the hot towels and metal knifes which you don't even get on EVA's Elite. I'm sure TPE-SIN SQ I had a choice of 3 meals - or perhaps my mind is playing tricks. Certainly I got 3 choices on TPE-LAX, but that was a while back now. Thought the food was similar to quality EVA's Elite, but the extra choice was nice.
"ungodly amount of Coke Zero" - great stuff.
How would you compare SQ regional economy with BR regional economy? (I know usually you're not in BR economy and weren't on this flight.)
I remember the hot towels and metal knifes which you don't even get on EVA's Elite. I'm sure TPE-SIN SQ I had a choice of 3 meals - or perhaps my mind is playing tricks. Certainly I got 3 choices on TPE-LAX, but that was a while back now. Thought the food was similar to quality EVA's Elite, but the extra choice was nice.
May 6, 2010, 9:09 am
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Beaverton OR
Programs: GE, AA PLT/2.6MM, BR Gld, Royal Carib. DM+, Celebrity Elite, NCL PLT, Princess Elite
Posts: 1,643
May 8, 2010, 8:45 am
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Beaverton OR
Programs: GE, AA PLT/2.6MM, BR Gld, Royal Carib. DM+, Celebrity Elite, NCL PLT, Princess Elite
Posts: 1,643
As a follow up - all my BR flights posted to my account within 36 hours. My originating AS flight took 8 days to post and I'm still waiting for my return to post to my AS account...
May 12, 2010, 9:45 pm
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Beaverton OR
Programs: GE, AA PLT/2.6MM, BR Gld, Royal Carib. DM+, Celebrity Elite, NCL PLT, Princess Elite
Posts: 1,643
It looks like I'll be headed back to Asia in a couple of weeks - does anyone want a TR on EVA's regular Y class?