kreeft

Urge to visit UA IFL rising!

RTW4

Great report... Excellent that Aeroplan was able to change flights for you!!!...

Short hair Francis

FlyingDoctorwu, Congrats on picking out the bourbon in that pic, didn't expect people to do that, although I'm that isn't the only reason you two are wanting the UA IFL

The 82A pic was done at the end of the flight since I was the last to board F in the beginning. I was hoping they would go downstairs quicker so I can get the pic but they took the sweet time packing up so I didn't bother in the end and just tried to avoid the faces.
As to the SFO mess, I don't know what bugged me more, the rolling delays on UA 8, the check bag problem, or the re-ticketing or the 3-4 times quick walking between domestic and int'l section. That isn't to say UA didn't outperform my expectations. Heck, as I was pulling myself off on UA 8 and didn't have a new ticket yet. I could've been kicked out of the IFL but they didn't.

Either way, travel and even premium travel isn't always fun and can be stressful during irrop. This surely would've overwhelmed any kettles or is that word banned In the end, I see it as character building and is a very important part of discovering the true you. I'm now 2/2 for getting my int'l F ticket redone this year .

Short hair Francis

Part 4 – Lufthansa Frankfurt First Class Terminal and the dreaded Intra-European Business Class

Having been driven to the drop-off area, an additional 3 min walk to the border control. Wow, I love European customs, no hassles, just ask where your flying to and nothing else.  Instead like most other people who transfer in FRA, I decided to exit in Frankfurt, one was to check up on my bag which hopefully was on LH 455 as the UA agent promised in SFO and two to the try the Lufthansa First Class terminal of course. Unfortunately when I got to baggage desk, I was too early to tell as it only showed baggage offloading. So off I went to the FCT, thanks to the advice of many others on Flyertalk. I did prepare myself for the 10 min walk and passing through the taxi parking lot. My first European experience, Mercedes Taxi, haha!

Jun 14, 2010 – Wednesday
LX 1073 FRA-ZRH 2:35pm-3:25pm (146/J)

Frankfurt Lufthansa First Class Terminal



Ok, I made it, one short page to the upstairs reception and soon I was received by the Lufthansa reception. I could get used to this, a private security line and terminal all away from the public. No pushy kids, no crying babies, no obstacles everywhere. I guess I can’t said no, but at least the chance of the first two are very unlikely. But like many others would say, if the parents wants to paid for the kid to fly in First, props to them. Due to the long walk over to the FCT, the first thing I wanted a shower and a visit with the Lufthansa ducky

Showers


After the showers, I wanted some time to catch up with some emails and fb of course. It looks like my friend received the message that I was heading to LHR in January, yippee! And like many others, I found it somewhat funny by the 2hrs wifi cards given out. Unfortunately, I didn’t understand everything as I don’t speak German. Why don’t they put any info in English, I don’t know???? The concierge gladly gave me a loaner for a European plug converter and promised to check-up on my luggage.

Lounge Areas



Cigar Room


After the 2hrs, I went over to the eating area for lunch. First impression, I’m impressed, they even outdid the HKG Cathay Pacific First Class lounge which is one of my home lounges. And I went for some light bites
Bar Area




Food Area





As lunch was just about finished, the LH concierge delightedly told me my baggage did make it onto LH 455 and FRA so that was a giant relief. I went off to the bar to check out the alcohol selection and to surf the internet a little more. And soon enough, my time in the FCT was up. I returned the plug converter to her and she took me downstairs into the limo. Me along with anothers HONS I presume, he ended up sitting in the back on the flight. We were soon taken into our waiting Porsche Panamera and were driven to our remote stand. Don’t you just love FRA for this very reason

Porsche Limo




Ahh, we didn’t drive over 35 mp/h on the tarmac Such a remarkable car, shame, couldn’t put it into higher speeds and soon we arrive back to the remote stand.

Swiss British Aerospace BAe 146-300/ Avroliner RJ 100


Swiss International Airlines 1073
Frankfurt to Zurich
2:35pm – 3:25 pm
Business Class, Seat 2D
Food - Beverage Service
Equipment – British Aerospace BAe 146-300/ Avroliner RJ 100

Swiss BAe 146-300 Combined Cabin


Swiss BAe-146-300 Business Class Seat if you can call it such


I wasn’t looking forward to this part of the trip but damn, it’s still unimpressive. I know many of you complain about the overall bad out of North American First Class but geez; I rather have a bigger seat than better food on a 2 hr flight and many of you have seen on my TRs, I love eating a hella-lot on a plane. Unfortunately, we were driven out at T-30, and were the first people to got on the flight. Bad day to choose that, the plane was an oven being it 33C/91F outside. The BAe 146 felt like a mad dog in the inside, irony to me I guess. The FAs tried to turn on the AC a bit more, served me a cold drink, a bottle of water, and some napkins to wipe off sweat. No Dice, it was just plain hot. And soon the other passengers started to board, the flight ended up at around 20% filled. To the people that buy intra-European Business Class, props to you for supporting the airline but man, I just hate it. As I was started to get be tired from the inter-Continental flight earlier, the flight was pretty short 35 mins in the air, and soon I went to sleep only to wake up on approach.

Yay, my first European vacations awaits, Zurich, Switzerland.


Next Part
Part 5 – Mini stop in Zurich, Switzerland and the Park Hyatt Zurich

El_Chiflero

Great Trip Report Francis!

Personally, if what happened to you in SFO had happened to me, I would not have been a happy camper. But you had some great people working with you. Also, the breakfast flight on VX??? you suck.. :P You know how I feel about breakfast flights.

Short hair Francis

Unlike you Mr. JFK Based, I don't have as much choices as you do in terms of flying!!!! It was either VX YYZ-SFO or AA YYZ-ORD-SFO on a monday morning, no Air Canada for me. And don't you think I hate breakfast flight too, you know I love my food

You know I took my irrops in stride, it's challenging but yet gratifying in the end. Which was worst, the AA cancellation of ORD-PEK day of travel, my attempt for Queens bound train for going to Brooklyn during BRT, or this SFO hiccup?

Short hair Francis

Part 5 – Mini Stop in Zurich, Switzerland and the Park Hyatt Zurich

Finally here, unfortunately, arrival gate was A68 which meant a huge walk to baggage claim. Bags were out within 15 mins, pretty good if you ask me and my “scary-me” bag actually came out second, with a priority tag, I guess UA isn’t that bad after all.

Bloody hot today, 33C/92F, never expected to go to Switzerland and have it at Niagara Falls temperature in the summer. Out to the bahn station for the train to Zurich HB, speedy train took me to town pretty efficiently and I soon transferred over to the #13 tram to Stockerstrasse and the Park Hyatt. Yes, wasn’t the most convinent option but I’m not paying 50-60 CHF for a cab if my transport cost can be 40 CHF for 2 days. And after some lugging and walking, I found the Park Hyatt.

Park Hyatt Zurich






The doorman quickly took care of my larger luggage as I was coming to the hotel. Walk into the lobby, the staff somehow hesitated on serving me at first. Within 5 seconds, 2 additional businessmen showed up to check in as well. They also hesitated too. Yes, a college kid with a pink A&F t-shirts with shorts and flip flops can stay in a 5 star hotel. This of course made possible by the Hyatt 2nd Quarter bonus, Big welcome back. I originally selected the points option but due to some New York City trips which I stayed at the Andaz (Andaz5 offer) and one bed guarantee problem put together. I did get enough for this stay as well as one later on in this trip at the Park Hyatt Sydney. No op-up tonight but I never expected one anyways. The Park King was a little bit small in my opinion but in Europe, it was pretty good.

Park King Room








After getting set up in the room, and getting a very needed shower, I made my way down to the lobby for a map of Zurich, instructions for the grocery store Margos and another loaner plug converter. Wow, I expected Europe to be very expensive but not my bottled water to be at 2.8 CHF. With that in mind and I was tired anyway, I went back to the room to catch up with some fb, emails, flyertalk, etc... By 7:30pm, I was fast asleep, snooze. Zzzzzzzz Suddenly woke up at 9:30pm, forgot to pay off this month’s credit card bills so I urgently went online to pay for that, lucky for me, it was the last day for payment due so I was safe. And back to sleep hoping to wake up around 5:00am to do some research on my day in Zurich. Zzzzzzz

Damn, it was 8am when I woke up. Granted at home, I never wake up before 12 if I can help it. I guess it’s because of the five days before that, Sleeps of 2 hrs for exam Friday night, 5 hrs for Saturday night partying, 1 hr for the airport run on Sunday, 6 hrs at the Hyatt SF monday, 2 hr on the LH F flight on tuesday would do that to you. Got a nice shower and made my way down to the lounge for breakfast. Ended up getting toasts and a side of eggs and that set me back 40 CHF. Man where is university breakfast when you need it . I first made my way around the city.

Swiss Stock Exchange for some of my friends that are starting in the banking world


Paradeplatz




River Limmat



Bahnhofstrasse


St Peter’s Church




Part 5 Continues below

Short hair Francis

Nindenhoff



Grossmunster


After going to Helmhaus, I returned back to the Park Hyatt for another cooling shower and to check out from the hotel and to put my luggage into storage. Then check out and back to the Lake for more touring.

Opera House


Lake Zurich



After the short Zurich cruise, I returned back to the hotel for my luggage then on my way to the Flughafen Zurich.

Next Part
Part 6 – Swiss Int’l Airlines First Class ZRH-BKK and the LX ZRH First Class Lounge

Short hair Francis

Part 6 – Swiss Int’l Airlines First Class ZRH-BKK and the LX ZRH First Class Lounge

Jul 15, 2010 – Thursday
LX 180 ZRH-BKK 10:45pm – 2:35pm(+1) (343/F)

After a day and a half of a very expensive Zurich mini trip, I was back at Zurich airport. I found the First Class check-in area to be very decent. Speedy service by the 2 counter agents and I was on my way. But as I was leaving, a bunch of Japanese man was blocking the entrance between the First Class area and the rest of the terminal. Damn it, DYKWIA!!!! Get outta the way!!!!

Swiss First Class Check-in area



A short walk to the BP check and a turn right then upstairs and I was in the Swiss First Class lounge.

Zurich Swiss First Class Lounge


First was another very needed shower, why can’t I sweat less sometimes?

Shower Room




Seating area




After a nice shower, I was back in the restaurant and bar area, I only got a club sandwich as it was close to dinner time and I wanted to save my stomach for the better stuff.

Dining Room and Bar




After some light snacks, I did my photos taking then was off to the office for some work. Surprisingly, I had a friend that needed some help and the bartender/server was checking up on me since I was dying for dinner earlier. This lasted about 1.5 hrs between me saying I was coming soon and she checking up on me, kinda funny now that I think about it, didn’t end up going back to the bar until around 8.

As I was sitting in the restaurant getting my order taken, another gentleman seated in the next table also sat down as well. We started talking a bit and he was flying to Hong Kong on the non-stop while I was off to Bangkok. We discuss some mileage stuff and it was actually funny when our appetizer actually came. One of the appetizers on the menu was Clam Shell in White Wine sauce served with a homemade baguette. Since I was the first to order, I got my clams first and I first thought since I was to get 2 plates since I did a double order due to my love of clams. But as the other server came back, apparently only 1 plate was for me as the other plate was for the other gentleman and the plates themselves were already double-ordered. Well, if you have been reading my reports, I do seem to like to eat and guess what, I got CUT-OFF at clams Actually refused a third order of clams, oh well, the lobster was still to come. Somewhat full after the meal, I made my way back to the office area for some additional time on the computer and soon made my way to the limo/van desk for our flight.

As many other have said, and I agree with Lucky9876coins statement on his blog, quote “Now, this is where the process gets ugly, and the men (First Class Terminal experience in Frankfurt) are separated from the boys (First Class Lounge experience in Zurich).” I find it a little weird having a limo/drive service that only brought you to an elevator and not directly plane. Is it a bit spoiled to judge LX as such, yes, but it seemed very awkward to offer the service and yet do a second-rate effort on it. As such, I was drop off at the concourse, and yes, I was a bit of a gate lice today standing at the front of the first class line. Of course, I only did so to get the best pics possible. After boarding 2 wheelchairs, boarding began and I made my way down the jetbridge and onto the Swiss Airbus 340-300.

Mercedes Viano Van


Swiss International Airlines Airbus 340-300




Swiss International Airlines 180
Zurich to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi
10:45pm – 2:35pm(+1) [Jul 16], 10 hr 50 mins
First Class, Seat 2K
Food – Dinner, Breakfast
Equipment – Airbus 340-300


Swiss Airbus 340-300 First Class Cabin



Swiss 343 First Class Seat




Part 6 Continues Below

Short hair Francis

As the flight attendant noticed I was taking pictures, he gave me some time to get my necessarily shots done first and during this time, the customer for 1D showed up. During this time It was quite weird for me as well since I repeatly needed to jump across the console between the D&G to get the full shot of the seat and the lie-flat photos. Soon one of the FAs brought me the pre-departure drink and snack.

Amenity Kit


Pre-Departure Drink, 2000 Champagne Laurent-Perrier


Pre-Departure Snack


I also played with seat which 2D & 2G noticed my photo-taking and ask me what this was for in a very manner way. Somehow during the conversation, 1K asked if I was a Flyertalker, indeed I was. And he introduced himself as Rambuster. During the last pre-flight checks, apparently 1 economy passenger went sick, a page for a doctor was made and the decision was to offload him and his traveling companion. As our flight was oversold, 2 additional economy passenger got on the plane as well some op-up that occurred in both the business and first class. In the end, our plane went full in the back with 7/8 in the front and this was on a flight when I booked 2 days ago prior was 1/8 in First. Dashed of another empty first cabin, lol! Too picky I guess.

Ambulance helicopter


Due to the pre-flight offloading problems, we miss our slot as a result needed to wait another 45 mins for our flight, damn it, I was missing my time in the TG First Class lounge at BKK!!!!

After some more drinks, we pushed back close to midnight and began our flight towards the far east.

I once again tried playing with the seat to find a good position and I do enjoy this seat a little more than the LH seat due to the extra space for the console on the side of the seat. The weird part was trying to find a storage space for my bag which I wanted to keep close to me to get additional work done. More on that later, I also tested with the Swiss Entertainment system and deemed it decent enough that I used it for part of the flight, and the inflight power unit was also a blessing for this long haul flight. An aged system yes, but 100 times better that those previously offered by LH and soon supper were served

LX 180 Dinner

To Start
Chilled gazpacho with crème fraiche and cucumber

Selection of Appetisers
Scallop timbale with papya mustar, lime blinis
Confied langoustine and melon sushi roll
Pepper Cured fillet of beef with grilled mint polenta
Baked tomato and chilli terrine with Asian focaccia

Fillet of Balik Salmon

Salad
Freshly tossed salad from Salad Cart with choices of bacon served along with vinaigrette or creamy dressing

Soup
Cold Pea & Tomato Soup

Main Course
Rack of lamb glazed with soya and lavender with Olive Cake and cold marinated green beans
or
Grilled Poussin filled with mascarpone, pine nuts, olives and sun-blushed tomatoes, rosemary jus Fondant potatoes, spinach, and baby carrots
or
Monkfish with wasabi crust, sesame rosti and cold green vegetables
or
Coconut Linguine pasta with vegetables and date chutney
Choice of vegetables

Cheese
Selection of Swiss Artisan Cheese
(Gruyere AOC, Passwang Mutschli, Hosenlupf cheese, Reckenkien fresh Goat Cheese, Sommerhimmel)

Dessert
Warm Chili and Chocolate Cake with raspberry mascarpone mousse

Sprungli Chocolates and pralines
Espresso and a selection of coffee and teas

Dining Presentation


Yay, finally found an airlines which serve Grey Goose in the air


Bread Basket


This was certainly impressive for me since I hasn’t seen anyone offer any premium vodka on planes previously. The grey goose was certainly a very nice surprise as I tend to drink Grey Goose the most when I’m at home. it was also follow up by the bread basket with olive oil and vinegar which I haven’t seen on flights either. Swiss was making a nice starting impression.

Appetizers



Salad


Despite the lack of caviar on Swiss, I was still relatively impressed at the different small bite type appetizers, all of which was quite tasty, this was also followed by the salad which was also very good. And this statement is coming from a person who’s food chain is “heavily carnivore”
For the first main course, I went with the rack of lamb

First Main Course


And even though being 7/8 in First Class, they did had an extra main course for me which was the pasta.

Second Main Course


The main course was overall decent, they weren’t 100% my type of taste which is fine since it’s still a plane and not a restaurant. That being said, the quality served was still quite good which was nice.
After the main course, the cheese cart made its run which I decline, this was followed promptly with dessert and pralines since I was the last passenger still eating due my 2nd main course.

Cheese Cart


Dessert


Another iced coffee and soon the FAs made the bed for me. I got another 2 hrs of sleep for this sector

Bed with Duvet


I always seem to overheat sleeping with duvets on planes but I guess this is the least of my problems. And soon I was back to compiling the pictures and writing the trip report.

As I was saying earlier, I was having some issues on finding a place for my laptop bag which was within my arms reach, I eventually put the bag at the front of the console between 1K and 2K. During one of my many reaches for some paperwork, I overly leaned the table and unfortunately hyper-extended the table to the point that it became immovable.

Disabled Table


So for the time being I used my bag to balance the leaning side of the table and soon breakfast began. I guess I was lucky for that last F seat since 2G had switch to 2A earlier so I used that seat for the breakfast service.

LX 180 Breakfast

Starters
Assortment of breakfast bread, preserves and honey

Fresh fruits, yogurts, muesli, and cereals, Cold Cuts

Main dish
Egg dish consisting of sausage, ham and spinach on the side

Coffee, tea and juices.

Breakfast breads


Breakfast Main Dish


Now this meal was a major disappointment contrary to the dinner, 1 choice of main although the other sidesoptions were adequate, I guess this left me a sour impression of Swiss, Breakfast sucks big time. And prior to landing, I unfortunately went to the lavatory, forgot to lock the door and had the captain accidently walk in on me, but that isn’t Swiss fault. And yes, the FAs did manage to snap the table back in place for landing onto BKK I go. A decent descent into smoggy Bangkok and my exercise begins.


Next Part
Part 7 – A quick sprint in BKK and TG First Class BKK-HKG

SFO777

They cut you off from the clams??
Great pics and report of your LX experience. Interesting about the ZRH limo experience... a far cry from being dropped off at the jet-way elevator at FRA, letting you completely bypass the gate lice.

mjcewl1284

Nice TR so far, looking forward to the rest!

FlyingDoctorwu

SWISS First lounge bourbon= Jim Beam....
Wow epic fail...
That seems to be one area in which the United IFL seems to prevail...

FDW

Short hair Francis

Part 7 – A quick sprint in BKK and TG First Class BKK-HKG

Jul 16, 2010 – Friday
TG 606 BKK-HKG 4:00pm – 7:45pm (744/F)

As expected, I had a Thai golf cart waiting for me at the end of the jetway. As I had now only 35 mins to connect in BKK due to the pre-flight medical emergency on LX 180, the Thai escort lady said I didn’t have enough time to go to the First Class lounge. A major disappointment for me as I really wanted to try that lounge out, the golf cart however did save me the walk between LX flight and security. And since I wanted to get the photos, I ran the rest of the way with the escort lady carrying all my carry-on. A quick sprint of 7-10 mins and I got to the gate. Hmm, TG rips the Boarding pass and only gives me back the stub, oh escort lady! Well they couldn’t give me the whole bp since they needed it for record keeping but they at least printed an extra so that I could keep the long part.
Then I was escorted onto the 747 for the last European section of my trip, sorry guys, only the old First today.


Thai Airways International Boeing 747-400





Thai Airways International 606
Bangkok Suvarnabhumi to Hong Kong
4:00pm – 7:45pm, 2hr 45 mins
First Class, Seat 1B
Food – Dinner
Equipment – Boeing 747-400

Thai Airways Boeing 747-400 Old First Class Cabin



Thai Airways 747 First Class Seat



I was immediately guided to my seat from the First Class FA standing near the door 1, she said we have only 3 First Class passengers tonight, so all of us have our own private row tonight. Yay! I quickly got the pics done, and the FAs quickly got me a glass of champagne, water and a hot towel.

Pre-Departure Beverage, 1999 Bollinger


Seat was fairly good, the only major problem I found was that when it was fully reclined to lie-flat, the seat will have a huge gap between seat bottom and seat back so beware of items dropping into it. And soon the door were closed, and we were ready to go.

Old Projectors????


Uh oh, just how old really is this plane, old projectors for the safety video, at least I’m using the powerport for the computer????

Oh well, we started our roll-off at and was the service soon started. I declined the headsets as I was not interested in using the taped entertainment system and soon the service began.

Dining Menu


TG 606 Dinner

To start
Macadamia Nuts
Pork satay on peanut sauce along with cucumber salad with relish sauce

Soup
Pumpkin Cream Soup with Oragne Zest

Main Course
Beef with eggplant Green Curry with steamed Thai Hom Mali Rice and stir-fried Preserved turnip with egg

Pan-fried Capon Breast on Orange Perfumed Bordelasie sauce with roasted potatoes and sautéed spinach with shallot, glazed baby carrot

Stir-fried tiger prawn with Guilin Chilli sauce on Oriental Fried Rice and sautéed vegetables

Dessert

Assorted breads, crackers, butter
Cheese and Fresh Fruits

Valrhona Apricot Tart

Tea, Coffee, Espresso, Cappuccino

I didn’t have any alcohol other than the champagne, just needed a change for once. So just, a diet coke on this flight.

Appetizer


Dining Presentation with Garlic Bread


Soup


The satay and the soup were nice changes to the usual airplane food I usually see which unfortunately tends to be Stuffed Pasta shells on AA

First Main Course – Green Curry with Beef


Now why did I went with the curry, I like curry personally although I would never make it at home since it stinks horribly when you cook it and I don’t think my roommates would like that. Unfortunately, I only finished half of this meal as it was extremely spicy. Then again, I am flying Thai, what was I supposed to expect.

Second Main Course – Chicken on Borderlaise Sauce


Again, I do like chicken as well but I never tend to eat it on planes since the meat is always too dry in texture when it’s cooked in the plane oven. But as stated above in the menu, 2 of the 3 main courses choice were spicy so I was left with little choice. The most surprising part for this main course was that the roasted potatoes tasted like McCain French fries if anyone is from Canada, not really sure if those can be bought in the states.

Fruit and Cheese Plate


I declined the cheese plate but since the FA was too quick in offering, I ask her to put in down for a pic then I returned it back to her.
The dessert look very simple but it was amazing delicious, now why didn’t I get seconds???
I probably would’ve been the first person on FT to get cut off on clams and tarts

Dessert


And finally a Thai Iced coffee to end the service


After service was completed, we were about 1 hr 15 mins away from HKG. I simply reclined the chair to a comfortable position and lounged watching the beautiful sunset over the South China Sea. The final part of the journey was a bit bumpy as we were flying near Tropical Storm Conson which was in the South China sea. During the descent, the night lights of Macau were very visible and soon we landed at HKG. My luggage came out among the first few bags as it had HON priority tags from ZRH and I was back to my second/third home. 5 wks here then Pacific section of RTW begins!

Next Part
Part 8 – Cathay Pacific Business Class HKG-SIN with a visit to the Pier

Short hair Francis

Well the one and only time I passed through FRA was through LH FCT with the limo to planeside
And yes even I got cut off from the clams, I wonder if that is a FT record




Wow, FlyingDoctorwu, you really love your bourbon^


Well, Part 1 to 7 which was flown in July is finally done, I'll be starting my next part of my trip in a couple days, I'm hoping to get at least some parts of the next section done by Labor Day. Hope everyone is enjoying the TR so far!