btang

Introduction:

After three long months of school in Canada, Christmas was a much needed break from my hectic school work. It all started when my dad and I were exchanging birthday presents the night I arrived. He told me to open my birthday present and I slowly opened the wrapping and saw a box of Pro V1 Golf Balls(for those that are unfamiliar with this particular item, it is one of the most expensive golf balls you can buy). I was a little bit disappointed but tried not to show it on my face because I thought the gift was more suitable for him than for me. It seemed as if he read my mind and said "You haven't opened your present yet." I was quite confused and looking inside the box I found a piece of paper stuck to the inside of the box. I slowly opened the parchment and was surprised that it was the itinerary to Emirate EK384 and 385, destination: Bangkok. I then slowly glanced downwards and saw, Class of travel: Business Seat. I looked at him blankly and asked "How?Why?" He told me, with a smile on his face, that he had snagged the seats and booked himself, my mom and I on a trip to Bangkok because of the very attractive promotional fare. More importantly, IT WAS ON AN A380!!!! From then on, I asked no more questions, and waited patiently for the day.

Preflight:

My dad and I left home at 6:30 p.m. and arrived at the airport by taxi in little more than 45 minutes. My mom had already checked in town at the Airport Express Hong Kong Station, and arrived at the airport half and hour earlier than we did. Emirates had the entire row all to itself, with two first class check in counters, six for business and the rest for economy. Priority tags were quickly placed on our luggages and golf bags, and we were informed on the location of the lounge and boarding time. With boarding passes in our hands, We quickly proceeded towards the train and headed for the Emirates Lounge near Gate 60.

My first impressions of the lounge were not that great, the entrance was nothing special. The lounge was completely packed with small children and their families, it almost felt like I entered a nursery more than an Emirates Lounge. Luckily, my mother arrived there earlier and has thus secured a table so we could sit together. Of course, the staff at the lounge was trying to accommodate everyone, but I can almost guarantee that when all the first and business class passengers from both the Dubai and Bangkok flight are in the lounge, a lot of people would have to be sitting on the floor.

The lounge in general felt quite worn out. I was not impressed in any way thus far, but was hoping that the food and the service would save the day. Sadly, that was not the case. There was a small selection of cold appetizers and a couple hot food items. Only a small amount of each selection was brought out at one time, and the attendants were running around just to keep the food counters stocked. I took a Nicoise Salad, took one bite and pushed the bowl away. Enough said. I then ordered a Tom Yam Goong Soup from one of the lounge attendants. It was extremely sour, had little seafood, and more importantly, it was cold! The only thing edible food was the fruit platter, but even the fruits didn’t taste fresh, but I’ve had enough complaining for one night.


Luckily, I did not have to stay in the lounge for long. A lounge attendant walked around holding a sign and told us that it was now time to board. Needless to say, I was quite disappointed with the lounge. The lounge was small and understaffed, and the quality of the food and drinks served was low. I would go so far as to say, in my unqualified opinion, that even the United Lounge in Hong Kong is better.

Tonight, Emirates EK 384 was boarding from Gate 60. Walking from the lounge we saw the A380, and oh how gracious it stood. Just the sight of the A380 seems to reignites my excitement for flying(which I have lost years ago). Most economy passengers had already boarded, and it appears that only first and business class passengers were the only ones yet to board. The gate agent scanned my boarding pass and wished me a pleasant flight. We then quickly walked up the aerobridge towards the aircraft.

A cheerful flight attendant warmly welcomed me aboard and directed me to go straight ahead and turn right. Took a slight peak at the first class cabin and found that the doors of the suites made the cabin feel more claustrophobic than I imagined. I turned around and headed into the business cabin. At first I said to myself, Are you kidding me? The configuration made it seem like the seats were crammed together tightly, and the seat itself no more wider than that of an economy seat on Singapore Airline’s A380. I found my seat, 14k, stored my bag, and settled into what would be my cozy retreat for the next three hours.


The Flight Begins:

Almost immediately after I sat down, a cheerful flight attendant(I’m thinking she’s Australian) came around offered me some pre-departure beverages, I asked for orange juice. Surprisingly, once I was comfortably seated, the seat did not feel cramped at all. The seats were forward facing and there was plenty of elbow space(Yeah take that Cathay!) There was a lot of area for storage including the space in the side bins along the windows. I quickly glanced around the cabin and not surprisingly the entire cabin was full. Before takeoff, I had a chance to explore the various functions of my seat and more importantly, understand how to use the complex “remote” that was to control everything from my seat to the entertainment system, ICE. The taxi was a long one. In the meantime, I put on my noise cancelling headset and tried to watched an episode from a TV show, but I had trouble deciding because there were far too many selections to choose from. After about 10 minutes, we were lined up and soon took off from Runway 7R.


Light Meal
Hong Kong to Bangkok
Appetizer
Pastrami Smoked Salmon
freshly curled aromatic Oriental spices, served with a mustard sauce, and a creamy apple and potato salad, garnished with quail egg
Barbequed crispy duck
thin slices of barbequed duck breast, glazed with plum sauce, served on sweet and sour salad
Main Course
Prawns Asian Style
stir-fried in a lemon grass and ginger sauce, garnished with shredded mixed chilies, served with egg noodles and fresh snow peas
Braised beef with black beans
tender beef tenderloin marinated and braised with black beans sauce, served with egg fried rice, pak choy green and carrots
Pan-fried chicken breast
chicken medallions topped with a light chicken jus with sauteed mushroom, served with garlic mashed potatoes, broccoli florets and pumpkins
Dessert
Raspberry gateau
light raspberry gateau, topped with roasted almonds and icing sugar
Bread
Bread basket
Cheese
International Cheese Selection
Beverages
Tea
Ceylon, China, Early Grey
As you can see, the menu was quite extensive for a less than 3 hour flight to Bangkok. Right after take off, the flight attendants quickly sprung into action and orderly asked for meal preferences. When it was my turn, I chose the salmon as a starter and the braised beef as my main course. I then continued on watching an episode of Mr. Bean. Ten minutes later, the same flight attendant ran back and asked for my appetizer preference because she only wrote down my main course preference and forgot about the other. I do not blame her, because I quickly glanced the sheet that she wrote on, and it seemed that there was only a box for the main course preference(correct me if I’m wrong), and not for appetizer preferences.
This was a short flight, and thus meals were served on trays to expedite the process. This is the where I don’t understand the rationale behind the Bar Service. In other carriers, like Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific, Bar Service usually means that a drink, alcoholic or not, is served before the appetizers are brought out. On Emirates, Bar Service only serves out alcoholic drinks. So while enjoying my appetizer, I was stuck with a glass of water. I had to flag down a flight attendant so as to get a glass of diet coke. The appetizer was delicious, the salmon tasted fresh and along with the apple and potato salad was quite refreshing. Soon after I was finished with my appetizer, the flight attendant “slided” my main course onto my tray. Because the tray table was not flat, my main course nearly fell off my table. She apologized profusely and I can tell she was very embarrassed. Word of advice: Please place the plate gently on my tray. Thank you!

Sampling the beef, I found it was not tender at all and the fried rice, well I am not a food critic, but as an Asian, I am pretty sure it was not fried at all. Dessert was uninviting, and had a bland taste. It certainly did not live up to its description on the menu. After my dinner tray was collected, I originally planned to pay a visit to the onboard lounge at the back of the plane, but by that time I was exhausted. I slided my bed to the horizontal position, placed my mattress on it and quickly dozed off.

Time flies. By the time I was woken up by the flight attendant, we were descending into Bangkok. Immigration cards and fast track passes were placed on the table next to my seat while I was asleep. At around 11:10, EK385 touched down at Suvarnabhumi Airport. After deboarding, we quickly dashed towards the immigration counters because knowing from past experience, the lines could take literally forever. Luckily, there was no one in line, and so we passed immigration in a breeze. Our bags quickly came out at the baggage reclaim, and 25 minutes after our flight landed, we were out of the airport and headed into the city. This concludes my short trip report. I will be posting the trip report for the return flight from Bangkok to Hong Kong very soon. Thanks for reading!

GodAtum

Thanks for your report. It's a shame the lounge and plane food was poor. I had good experiences of Emirates lounges so far.

RTW4

Great report..Thanks so much....

david-alexis

Great TR
Is your dad a FT'er?

btang

No....but apparently he's well informed on good deals by his friends

camsean

Thanks for posting.

Maybe you'll be more appreciative when you are paying for flights yourself.

couscous

Great report and great pics.. thanks

ChrisMuc

^

ORDnHKG

Thanks for your report.

Once again it proved EK is overrated, from your report with the FA and food, they are totally lack of details.

david-alexis

This is an out of line IMO, and inconsistent comment. Look at business traveller, travel review writers none pays for the tix but all can be more appreciative than someone "paying" and on his 200 premium ticket flight... For example I would say novelty is more of a factor affecting how much you "appreciate" as oppose to whom is paying.

david-alexis

Oh I see! BKK-HGK on EK in C or F as to be a gift from an informed person and/or an FT'er

btang

Thanks! I had high expectations from Emirates, a carrier that I think is trying to go for a five star. Perhaps they tend to do a better job on long hauls?

luv_flying

I enjoyed your report! let's see if you had visited the bar on the rtn....

btang

I did....Hopefully I can post details of my return trip soon!

Nelumbo

Great trip report in detail. Thanks!