Carfield

Hi folks,

Here is the second RTW special – this time, I am on board the Star Alliance carriers. As I said before, the strengths of Star Alliance is based on the selection of really topnotch airlines, especially in terms of catering. Air New Zealand, ANA, Austrian, BMI, Lauda, SAS, and Singapore Airlines are airlines that earn top marks. Priority tags are more obvious on these airlines, compared with One World Alliance. However, one world is better in terms of coordination between these airlines, especially in terms of checking through and getting all the boarding passes at your first stop. Of course, getting AA elite bonus miles on other One World carriers is a significant benefit. Well, I hope this series of reports will not disappoint you.

June 10, 2003
NZ 99 AKL-NRT Lv0830 Arr1650
Boeing 767-300ER ZK-NCJ
Auckland is a very pleasant city and I decided to spoil myself on a cab ride from Rydges to the airport, which cost almost $50NZ…I think I will take the $13NZ airbus next time. Well, Air New Zealand has a separate premium class and star alliance gold check-in counters, which include its own express check in passport control officer. I headed off to the lounge, which was spacious and not too busy at these early week hours, despite the departure of a few early bird flights across the Tasman Sea. Qantas’ flight from LAX was running a bit late, and VH-OJA with Rolls Royce Engines is pretty busy with many connecting passengers to Brisbane. It has always been a wonder why QF does not run a nonstop LAX to BNE flight. A surprise to me is that my CX plane yesterday (B-HXG 34C) was sitting at the tarmac next to the an Air New Zealand’s Lord of the Ring Boeing 767-300ER (NCK). Due to the new schedule, CX flights are running five times a week and I guess the Airbus overnights at Auckland now during those two off days. Fiji’s Air Pacific Boeing 737-700 DQ-FJF is occupying one of the gates as well. A continental breakfast buffet featuring various fruit salads (cantaloupes, pineapple, grapes), fruit basket, cereal, yogurt, and breakfast breads, were set up in the buffet area, followed by a full beverage bar.

Our flight was downgraded to a Boeing 767-300ER due to SARS and I was a bit disappointed, but the service, especially the catering, earned high marks. However, the business class seats are getting dated and six abreast seating for Boeing 767 is not so appropriate, especially NZ runs these ultra long haul flights. The J cabin was about 60% full and I got the center seats of Row three to myself, which was nice. Y was pretty full (70%). Boarding began at 8:02am at gate 3. A friendly gentleman showed me to my seat and a pre-takeoff beverage was offered (the usual OJ/Water/New Zealand champagne). Newspapers including Japanese ones were passed out and I was mistaken as a Japanese for a number of times. Amenity kit (a new design) was passed out next. Push back began at 8:35am and headed towards Runway 23 for takeoff, following a fellow NZ’s 763 (NCF). We lifted off at 8:50am and flying time was ten hours and forty-five minutes. The routing took us to 30,000ft (9100m) first heading towards Noumea, New Caledonia, and then Honiara, Solomon Islands, which we climbed further to 10400m, and then 36,000ft (10,800m) before passing Guam and the Marinara Islands, and then onto Narita.

The flight attendants were fairly attentive but I felt that both meal services were a bit rush, and the last meal could be served two, instead of three hours, prior to arrival. Breakfast service began with the OJ or strawberry fruit smoothie twenty-three minutes after takeoff, followed by fruit appetizer, continental selection, and hot options. Here is the wine list and transcript!

Wines
Sparkling Wine
Deutz Marlborough Cuvee,
Marlborough, New Zealand

Nicholas Feuillatte NV Reserve
Pariculiere Champagne, France

White Wine
Wither Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2002
Marlborough, New Zealand

Kaituna Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2001
Marlborough, New Zealand

Woodbourne Estate Chardonnay 2000
Marlborough, New Zealand

Corbans Longridge Chardonnay 2000
Hawkes Bay, New Zealand

Palliser Estate Riesling 2001
Martinborough, New Zealand

Red Wine
Palliser Estate Pinot Noir 2001
Martinborough, New Zealand

McWilliams Barwang Cabernet Sauvignon 1999
New South Wales, Australia

Dessert Wine
De Bortoli Noble One 1999
Riverina Australia

Menu
Breakfast
Beverages
Start your day with a fruit smoothie, your choice of juice, freshly brewed or decaffeinated coffee, tea, herbal tea or hot chocolate

Continental Selection
Fruit Selection with assorted cereals and yogurts
Croissants, muffins, white and wholemeal toasts with fruit conserve
Fruit selection includes 2 kiwi, pineapple, and peach, which were fresh and sweet. Two kinds of cereals, and both plain and apricot yogurts were offered.

Hot Options
Three egg mushroom omelette served with pork sausage, grilled bacon and tomato
Or
Wok-seared Udon noodles with stir-fried vegetables, bean curd, black mushrooms, baby corn, and oyster sauce
A delicious dish – the noodles were just right and it was a nice entrée.
Or
Japanese style breakfast of salmon, shiitake mushroom, potato, bonito flavored egg and steamed rice with sesame seeds

A selection of sandwiches and snacks are available at any time throughout the flight.

After breakfast, I read a bit and took a short nap. Around 2pm, a snack service was offered. F/A asked us to choose between sandwiches and pastries, but I honestly think that Air NZ catered more than enough sandwiches for each passenger to have a set, and at least one piece of pastry. The choices of sandwiches include ham and cheese, roast beef and pickles, tomato and egg, salmon and cream cheese, and the choice of pastries includes fruit tarts, mousse cakes, and chocolate cakes. Personal TV system was available in business with movies. I watched some short subjects, but just could not watch any movies. At around three hours prior to arrival, the F/A passed out the dinner/light meal menu. Well, there is no longer a booklet for menu. Instead the F/A passed out the long cardboard menu for each meal before serving – I though it would be easier to just give us a menu booklet. Well, there was no initial beverage service… we went straight to the appetizer tray.

Light Meal
Appetizer
Sushi Selection
Not the traditional sushi – very creative “East meets West” menu – a piece of Tomago (sweet egg omelette), rolled salmon with bean curd skin, cucumber, fish cake, and shrimp on top of mashed sweet potato
Breadbasket includes garlic bread, olive rolls and rye rolls

Main Course
Herb marinated New Zealand beef with cumin rosti potato and minted green beans with shallots
Or
Seared salmon, scallop and cod with Asian spices, udon noodles, pak choy, hot chili and laksa sauce
Absolutely delicious – the cod was the best out of the three seafood choices – the udon noodles were nice and laksa sauce was tasty and spicy.
Or
Japanese dish of braised chicken with eggplant, carrots, daikon and rice with green peas

Miso Soup and Japanese pickles to complement your meal
It is a red miso soup with bean curds.

Dessert
Apple blueberry frangipane tart with blueberry compote
Or
Almond Coffee slice served with Tia maria sauce
Very nice light dessert!

Cheese and fruit
A selection of fine cheese and seasonal fruit
Cheese selection includes Camembert, blue, and one other kind, and fruit selection includes some more nice kiwi, pineapple, grapes, cantaloupes, and melon.

Dinner ended with another tea and coffee service with a Carlbury chocolate mint. One thing that I notice that no hot towel service was offered, but towels like CX and TG (disposable kind but real towels) were stocked in the bathrooms. I guess hot towel service was cancelled due to SARS. Well, an hour was left prior to descent after dinner. I went back to sleep and water was passed out again. F/As kept everyone hydrated throughout the flight, especially this gentleman with glasses. Descent began at 7:05pm Auckland time, and it was a cloudy day at Tokyo. Surprisingly, there was no ATC hold and we landed on Runway 16R at 4:35pm NRT time (NRT was three hours behind from Auckland). A Northwest’s Boeing 747-400 followed us after we exited from the runway. We slowly taxied onto gate 84 for disembarkation. Even NRT was slightly affected by SARS. 4pm is always the peak time at NRT. Well, bags came out twelve minutes after we parked at the gate. That was a speed record and priority bags came out first, which include mine. Then I went off to Narita Hilton for the evening. I used 20,000points for a free night, which was well worth it. The room was not really big… typical Japanese size, but the bed was comfortable and the room was clean. The shower was very nice. The breakfast buffet the next morning was sumptuous – great hot dishes and Japanese stuffs. I had three bowls of miso soup with mushrooms and seaweed, and two bowls of rice porridges.

June 11, 2003
OS 52 NRT-VIE Lv1040 Arr1600
Airbus A340-211 OE-LAH “Asia”
ANA handled the ground stuffs for Austrian, Lufthansa, and SAS. All their check-in counters are located at area W. I was checked in within five minutes, and got only the boarding passes through to CPH – so much for Star Alliance. Bags were checked through though, which was a good thing. Then I went to do a bit shopping – I got lots of Peanuts’ travel stuffs for my sister and got myself a JAL Resocha pin. I went to the observation deck and saw the wonderful Swiss’ MD-11 HB-IWL (BTW LX’s F/As stayed at Narita Hilton… I met their bus on my way to the airport), an Air India’s Boeing 747-200, and the usual array of JAL’s Boeing 747-400s, All Nippon’s Boeing 777s, and all other JAL and ANA’s planes. NH is definitely using more Boeing 777s than JAL. Then I went in to the ANA Club ANA lounge, which was crowded and a major disappointment. There was a bar and a few snacks include pastries and donuts, and some snack mix. That’s it! Definitely not up to the standards that most Asian airlines offer at their lounges – CX, SQ, MH, CI, BR, and OZ, especially at their base cities. Well, more plane-spotting – Aeroflot’s Boeing 767 VP-BAX, Malaysia’s 777 MRC, Lufthansa’s Boeing 747-400 (D-ABVW), SAS’s Airbus A340-300 OY-KBD, JAL (JAS)’s Airbus A300-600R (JA016D) heading to Guangzhou, Pokemon Pocket Monsters’ Boeing 747-400 (heading to JFK – did NH covert the Pokemon 747 into the new Club ANA flat beds and Premium Economy?), and double Alitalia’s twin jets (one Boeing 777 and one Boeing 767), and Virgin’s A340-600, BA’s Boeing 747 with the Japanese bird livery, and Finnair’s MD-11.

Boarding began at 10:05am, and I was disappointed to find that I was flying a –200 series aircraft, rather than –300 planned. Once on board, amenity kit and slippers and headsets were already placed on the seats. Newspapers and magazines were spread out at the buffet area at the front of the carrier. I settled at 1K and looked forward to this journey. We pushed back from gate D-98 at 10:31am and slowly taxied towards Runway 16R. After a Malaysia Boeing 777 took off, we lifted off at 10:50am. Flying time was a long eleven hours and fifty-seven minutes, and the flight route is the follow (note that the spelling of the Russian cities may not be correct). First we climbed to 31,000ft and headed NE towards Niigata and climbed further to 35,000ft and headed towards Khabarovsk and North of Novosibirsk, N of Omsk, (climbing further to 38,000ft) Isketeinrenburg, Kazan, Nijini Nougougorad, Moscow, Minsk, Brest, Radom, and began our descent after passing Katowice. The flight is mostly smooth all the way to Vienna. The cabin service began with a hot towel service, and then linen to cover our table and individual set up (no tray for the main meal). Then the beverage cart was pushed out with the appropriate amuse bouche. Each course was served individually. Here is the wine list and menu transcript!

Wine List
Sommelier
Gerhard Retter

Wine of the Month
Weingut Ewald Gruber Gruner Veltliner Classic 2001

Prosecco
Case Bianche. Martino Zanetti. Prosecco extra dry

Champagne
Champagne Lanson
Lanson Gold Label Brut 1996

White Wine
Weinbau Hans & Martin Netzel Riesling Gmoa 2001
Weingut Willi Brundlamyer Grau and Weissburgunder 2001

Dessert Wine
Weinlaubenhof Kracher
Kracher Cuvee Beerenauslese 2001

Red Wines
Weingut Familie Goldenits Blauer Zweigelt Select 2001
Schlumberger Wein and Sektkellerei Cabernet/Merlot 2000
Chateau Clos de la Tour Bordeaux Superieur 2000

Lunch
Japanese Style Menu
Amuse Bouche
Sea Cucumber in Sudachi Citron
Fish Cake

Hors D’Oeuvre
Fish Cake with grilled Eel, Braised Duck, Cucumber Roll with Crab Meat, Rice Cake with Apricot Flavor
Served with Traditional Japanese Noodles

Main Course
Soft Braised Fillet of beef with Soya Sauce
Braised Seasonal Vegetables
Steamed Rice with Sesame Seeds
Served with Miso Soup and Japanese Mixed Herbs
Or
Grilled Eel Kabayaki and Seabass
Braised Seasonal Vegetables, Mixed Vegetable Rice
Served with Clear Soup and Japanese Mixed Pickles

Western Style Dessert
Amuse Bouche
Celery Pyramid with Smoked Duck Breast
A nice canapé course with two pieces of smoked duck with a nice celery mousse pyramid

Hors d’oeuvre
Mousseline of Salmon with Lobster
Cucmbers and Dill Marinade
A beautiful appetizer with two pieces of lobster meat on top and the presentation is simply excellent.
The bread basket was also offered with twist soft rolls, hard rolls, and brown bread. The European carriers are great with the bread selection.

Soup
Parsley Root Essence with Whole Wheat Dumplings and Tomatoes
A nice consommé soup and I really appreciate the soup course, which is rare in business class. The F/A poured soup into a formal soup plate from a silver wagon – just like the old CX first class soup silver bowl! Elegant!

Main Course
Veal Roulades with Sage, Olive Polenta and Vegetable Provence Style
I love this entrée – not a big fan of polenta, but the veal was nice!
Or
Glazed Red Snapper with Fennel and Sweet Potato Gnocchi

Cheese
Blue and Camembert cheese served with celery and cucumber stick and the F/A topped the cheese with ground black pepper and more bread rolls.

Dessert
Citrus Fruit Terrine with Muskateller Wine and Tea Sauce
Or
“Sacher” Cake
What more I can say about this European Chocolate cake!

Coffee, Green or Black Tea

After dinner, lights were turned off and most passengers took part with the individual entertainment system – the classical style and no on demand. I guess only the newer Airbus A330-200s and A340-300s get the more advanced system and bigger screens. The movie selection include the same Oscar nominated films – The Pianist, the Hours, and Chicago. Throughout the flight, the buffet area was set up with two jugs of orange juice and two jugs of water. The F/A kept them refilled… almost forget, of course, the cold oolong tea (Japanese style)!

In between we offer Canapes, Sushi and Fruits
Well the F/As came out twice throughout the flight with plates of these items, include instant noodle soup (chicken flavor – real Japanese brand). I tried both the sushi and fruits.
Canapés – smoked salmon & roast beef – two tiny canapés
Sushi – Omelet wrapped shrimp sushi and a very smell fish sushi!
Fruit – melon, grapes, and apple – the best option of the three snack items! I did not try the noodle but had tried that particular brand noodle cup before – not bad!

Soon the lights came back up about two hours prior to arrival, hot towels were offered and then the F/A pushed out the cart – everything is preset this time. It is a really light meal.

Before Landing
Japanese Style Menu
Grilled Mackerel, Sweetened Egg
Fish Cake, Stewed Manila Clam in Soya Sauce
Seasonal Japanese Dessert
Very nice presentation (obviously ANA helps plan this meal) and I appreciate the bowl of rice porridge/congee that came with the meal. I like the pickles but the items may be a bit strange for non-Japanese. Even I did not touch a couple item. The Japanese dessert is quite nice, but I don’t know how to describe it. The F/A also sneaked me a chocolate pistachio dessert, which is good too. The same bread roll from lunch was offered. BTW, I was forced to have the Japanese meal because they ran out of the Western meals.
Or
Western Style Menu
Marinated Seafood
Chocolate Caramel Dessert

After the light meal, duty free sales were offered and then Austrian and Mozart brand chocolates were passed out. The F/A soon began preparation of landing. We touched down on Runway 34 at 3:47pm Vienna local time. Vienna airport is fairly busy with the afternoon rush. We parked at spot 56/Gate A6 a few minutes later. My verdict is that Austrian airlines is a very good airline but I think Lauda’s meals are a bit better (only slightly), but OS has better seats, and the service is a bit more personal on Austrian. When I flew Lauda last time, I could not help to feel that strange sense of charter airline. OS is a bit more formal, and I like the soup course. The F/As on Austrian are a bit more frequent on the beverage runs during mid-flight. Unfortunately, BMI is still the best on my list of business class service, but Austrian is among my top list too.

OS 5305 Operated by Tyrolean Airways VIE-CPH Lv1725 Arr1920
Fokker 72 OE-LFI “Stadt Klagenfurt”
Transit at Vienna was easy and I need to pass through a relatively stress free immigration station, as this is my first port in the European Union. But no need to pick up bags though! I went to the Senator lounge and was asked to show my Star Alliance gold card. In contrast to my experience previously, the Senator lounge is extremely crowded. There is no place to sit. The snack choices include cookies, pastries, crisps, nuts, and there is a full alcohol bar. I did not stay long at the lounge and headed towards my age, which was a bus gate, as all F70s and CRJs use the bus gates. It was not a kind experience especially the bus is not air-conditioned. It is extremely hot inside the bus and we have to wait for all passengers (at least most of them) before departing. Well, my first impression of the Fokker 70 was a bit smaller than Fokker 100 used by AA, but is still pretty spacious. There is the five abreast seating arrangement, and J and Y seats are literally the same. There are two F/As taking care of us and newspapers were offered as all European airline flights. Our aircraft was parked at Spot 91 and next to the Star Alliance Dash 8-Q400 operated by VO (OE-LGC) and a Lauda’s Boeing 737-800 with winglets. An interesting plane to see is an Air Mauritius Boeing 767-200 3B-NAL City of Port Louis. Boarding began a bit later at 5:02pm, so our door was closed at 5:32pm. We wasted no time in heading to Runway 34 and followed a company’s CRJ. Of course, we had to wait for the arrival of a Lauda Air’s Boeing 767-300ER (OE-LAE) before lifting off at 5:46pm. Flying time was a short hour and twenty-nine minutes and we still made it early into CPH.

After flying all these European airlines, this meal is actually one the best business class short-haul meals and OS/VO/NG is on top of my list (especially after a disappointing SK experience later). Beverage cart was passed out with the meal cart. J class had a small hot entrée accompanying the meal. Here is my description –
Cold cut with green and white asparagus appetizer
Entrée of roast beef with asparagus slices and potato in a cream sauce
Dessert of white rice pudding with cherry compote and Austrian chocolate
Assorted bread rolls
Refreshing towels were in the tray, as there was no hot towel service.

The flight went on smoothly and soon we began our descent at 6:47pm. We landed on R/W22L at 7:15pm local time, and taxied into gate B4. We passed by a Pakistan’s 747-300, Varig’s MD-11, and an old Iceland Air’s old livery B757 TF-FIO. After deplaning, I proceeded to the Scandinavian lounge (Star Gold members; J passengers use the Business lounge). The lounge was pretty busy and the décor reminds me of more IKEA. The buffet area featured a full alcohol bar and a salad bar with breads, Danish, cookies, crisps and some salami sausages. There is a basket of bananas as well. I sat a bit and surfed the net a bit.

June 11, 2003
SK 716 CPH-HEL Lv2115 Arr2335
MD-82 OY-KHN
Gate was B8 – parked next to the Air Greenland’s Airbus A330-200 (OY-GRN) and the aircraft was changed from a MD-87 to a MD-82, which meant a fairly full Y cabin, but not so in J class. Newspapers were no longer offered on board, but at the boarding gate! As expected, CPH was not busy and we were able to push back on time and headed towards R/W22R and took off at 9:14pm. Flying time was an hour and fourteen minutes and we climbed to 33,000ft.

A cold meal was offered shortly after takeoff. It was a simple tray with an entrée of so called Vegetable Risone salad (I called it an orzo pasta salad with tomato and cucumber) with three strips of grilled chicken on top and a tomato paste thing on the side. A box of Danish chocolate was also featured and bread basket was passed out twice. It was nice for a short flight and the F/As kept on serving us alcohol – even offering cognac at the end of the meal.

There was no audio and video program at these short haul planes, which include the newer MD-90s and Boeing 737-600s. The seats are a bit narrow at MD-80s and MD-90s, as there are no convertible seats, but the seat pitch is more generous than AY, BA, BD and EI intra European planes. However, the seat is very uncomfortable when the cabin was full. I recommend flying the A321 and Boeing 737NG, when you guys fly SK in the future. We soon landed on Helsinki’s Runway 15 at 11:28pm (HEL was an hour ahead of CPH) and we parked at gate 27.

FlyingFinn

Nice first part of a report! I was on the same "Staden Klagenfurt" bird on the exact same routing back in January.

Regarding the SK MD-8x and A321 seating, I tend to disagree. I've flown numerous times in the MDs and always found the pitch quite comfortable, even with the middle seat occupied. On the other hand the one SK A321 flight I've taken was uncomfortable, the seat pitch was noticeably tighter than on the MDs. It was a full flight as well, and I really felt packed.

Well, have another A321 segment coming up in July, I guess I'll have to re-evaluate..

Where did you stay in Helsinki?

tfung

just a reply to one of your comments on NH.. the last time I took NRT-JFK on NH in May, it was on the pokemon plane, and it was indeed fitted with the new F and C class cabins...

great report..

mad_atta

Great report as usual, Carfield - somehowe I missed it before and read the second instalment first.

Out of curiosity, how does NH business class fit into your *A scheme of things?

ual744777sta

yeah the NH lounge doesn't have much to offer but did you check out the toilets? very cool.

Bretteee

It's a very traditional custom in Austria to have a soup course. They really in my opinion have the best soups.

JOUY31

Great report. Thanks.

But a Bordeaux Superieur on OS J ? A bit uninspired.