Pingtung

Table of Contents:

The Layover in NYC
JFK's T8 and the Admirals Clubs
JFK-AMM in RJ's Crown Class
Quick stop in Amman
RJ's Hub - Queen Alia Airport
AMM-BKK with Royal Jordanian
Siem Reap - Part 1
Siem Reap - Part 2
Floating village visit to Kompong Phluk
A ride on Cambodia Angkor Air from REP-PNH
Phnom Penh and a stay at the Sofitel
PNH-HKG with Dragonair in C
Christmas and Boxing Day in Hong Kong
Lounge hopping at HKG
HKG-YVR in Cathay C
The continued YVR-JFK in Cathay C
Conclusions

Previous Report:
A First Experience in *A First - LH/TG/LX F to Asia

Introduction

Angkor Wat. Could man really have built something so extravagant? I just had to see this place with my own eyes. The tourism industry is booming in Cambodia because of the temples located near Siem Reap. I wanted to visit this place before it becomes a commercialized experience that keeps you from the natural experience of seeing and exploring ruins. I had thoughts on making this trip in the latter part of 2012, but the announcement from BA that their mileage program would be changing (hello Avios!) made me rethink my plans.

After a few days of searching for award availability during the December/January timeframe, and two calls to BA later, I was able to piece together a round-the-world trip with Royal Jordanian and Cathay Pacific in C class for 100,000 miles and about $450 in taxes/fees. Gotta love those credit card sign up bonuses!

The following would be the route on this trip with an added domestic trip on Cambodia Angkor Air:
JFK-AMM-BKK;REP-PNH-HKG-YVR-JFK



Off we go!

Pingtung

My day started fairly early in the morning as I had to commute into DC to catch a 9:00 AM Northeast Regional up to Penn Station in NYC. I headed for the quiet car and quickly settled in to a nice window seat. We left on time and I pulled out my laptop to test out the newly added Wi-Fi service aboard the Northeast Regional. No streaming of videos is allowed and for the first hour, everything was going smoothly. Unfortunately the Wi-Fi became painstakingly slow the rest of the way and completely useless so just packed up my laptop and enjoyed the view.


Union station in DC


Onboard the quiet car


Outside view


Arrival into Penn Station

We arrived at Penn Station on schedule and I had planned to day check my bag with Amtrak, but after a quick survey of the line in the station, I went with plan B and headed over to Schwartz travel, a hole in the wall storage facility that gets the job done, just a few blocks away.

I took from suggestions from Anthony Bourdain’s new show, the Layover, and decided to do my own version, albeit a much shorter 7 hour version. The weather was a warm 57 degrees so it was an atypical December day and one that was perfect for walking around Manhattan.


The Tsunami at Crif Dogs


Rockefeller Center


Imported Uniqlo store from Japan in the holiday spirit


The Big Piano with a demo being done


Back to Penn Station

After a fun few hours taking the subway and walking around NYC doing my best Anthony Bourdain impression, I went to catch the LIRR to Jamaica station where I would catch the Airtrain to JFK. All in all, a quick stop in NYC is always something I can't pass up and it was a great appetizer to the stops I had ahead.


Clear Airtrain signs at Jamaica Station

AZbba

wow, a BA mini-rtw in C for 100k miles? That seems like a steal since the old aeroplan C mini rtw was 100k and is now 125k

jv66

Like the OP was saying though, since the introduction of the new Avios point system, this is unfortunately no longer the case.

MrDplus

I enjoy reading RTW TRs... Specially if there are pictures of food ... I'm looking forward to the next installment...

angeloedades

Enjoying it so far! And I second the post regarding food on RTW write ups!

/AE

Firemansam

Cant wait to hear of your trip to Cambodia, i did 6 days and nights in Siem Reap in 2009, did the temples and the floating village it was just fantastic.

mhgold

Can't wait for the Cambodia part. Been there twice will be again this year .

Pingtung

I arrived at T8, the new location for Royal Jordanian, and started looking for a Business Class checkin line. As I was snapping a few photos of the terminal, an airport agent guarding the Qatar business line asked if I needed help, to which I responded no. She then told me that I had to move out of the area to keep it clear. Given that there was one person being helped at any of the Qatar desks and you could probably drive two cars side by side through the open space between the Qatar and RJ desks, I couldn’t help but smirk a bit as I complied with her request.

Though all the signs above the RJ counters were the same, there was a Swissport agent standing in front of a separate line to the far left so I asked him where C class should go and he directed me into that line. There was no wait so I was immediately helped and given a lounge invitation to the Admirals Club. Royal Jordanian had recently moved from T4 over to T8 just a few weeks earlier to be with their OneWorld partner AA. I asked about the load and he mentioned that though Crown Class was only about half full, Economy was oversold by 15 so I should expect the empty seat next to me to be filled when I get onboard.


Apparently there's a town called Amman Jordan


Quiet T8 AA checkin counters


RJ checkin signs


AA's T8 incase you didn't notice the eagle symbol

There was a priority line at security for AA, but since I was not invited to use it I just joined the regular line which wasn’t too long. At the TSA security checkpoint, they were asking people for their names and doing a quick chat up while matching boarding passes with ID’s. I approached and when he asked me to state my name, I just pointed to my BP where my name was and he said my name for me and then asked if I was going for business and I just answered “business”. That was that. I wonder what he thought about the guy carrying a US passport that can’t really speak English, but I guess security theatre is security theatre. No full body scanners were being used so I didn’t get my usual grope session and was quickly through the checkpoint. I then headed to the Admirals Club in Concourse C.


Admirals Club in C

When I approached one of the lounge attendant at the entrance with my lounge invitation I asked if I would be able to also visit the other Admirals Club closer to my gate. After a quick discussion with her coworkers, she told me that I couldn’t enter here without first registering me in the system and if she registers me into the system, she would have to take the invitation and I wouldn’t be allowed to visit the other lounge. I asked if I could just keep the invitation and was told that was not possible. So apparently the lounge invitation only gets you one-time access to an Admirals Club, very poor from a customer standpoint. I finally asked if I could just go in and take a quick 5 minute look around and they finally said that was ok, probably wondering what he heck this guy wants to see for 5 minutes.

The lounge is fairly nice with comfortable seating and a modern look to it, very nice for a domestic lounge. The windows were fairly small so the view wasn’t so great. There were only a handful of other people at the lounge when I was there so I just took some photos and did a quick walkthrough.


Snacks and drinks


Comfortable seating


Offerings in the Admirals Club

I thanked the lounge attendants again for letting me take a quick look and I was off to the Terminal B lounge.

At the Admirals Club in Terminal B, they offered me two drink chits upon entry. I took a stroll around before asking to take a shower. A domestic lounge with a shower is a huge bonus, nicely done AA. The shower rooms are definitely showing their age, but a hot shower before a 10 hour flight is always refreshing.


Lounge entrance


Shower Room

The lounge was extremely crowded when I first entered so I got a drink at the bar and tried to give away my other drink chit to someone else, but to no avail. I eventually sat down in a seat with a window view of the beautiful RJ A340 and just relaxed for a while as the crowd began to thin out.


Crowded lounge


View from my seat


One of the smaller rooms

About an hour before my flight was scheduled to depart I headed out toward my gate which was the closest gate to the lounge. I passed by a MasterCard area and thought it was interesting that there is a lounge-like area only for those carrying MasterCards.


Interesting MasterCard Lounge?

Pingtung

The A340 ready to go


Gate screen


Alright then!

Boarding started about 35 minutes prior to departure. No announcement was made and no priority line existed so I just queued up and ended up quite far back about halfway back in the boarding line. It’s really a shame that there is no priority boarding for those traveling in Crown Class, though I gave them a pass for being at an outstation.


In the boarding queue

Upon boarding I made the left turn toward business class and started to settle in. Within a minute I was offered a tray with OJ, water, and apple juice.


Drink after boarding

While on the ground my seatmate opened what he thought was a blanket, but what looked to be like a padded bedsheet/duvet. He mentioned this to the FA’s and after hunting around they found a few blankets and handed one over to my seatmate. After takeoff I took a look around and noticed 3 variations of a “blanket”: a duvet, light throw, and an actual blanket. Most had either the real blanket or a duvet, and two had a duvet and the throw. Not sure what this was all about, but I didn’t notice the FA’s ever making a bed for anyone so I was quite confused as to what was supposed to be offered.

Amenity kits and menus were distributed and newspapers were offered shortly before the main cabin door was secure. Throughout the boarding process it became obvious through their interactions with the cabin and crew who the two security personnel were. They both would use the same business class seat, alternating throughout the flight. If you ever find yourself on an RJ flight, I’m sure you’d easily identify them as well.


C class seat on the A340


Ample space between seats


View of the cabin in flight


Wake up call?

The door closed with a 100% load in C so there were probably a few upgrades. We taxied for 5-10 minutes before taking off. Just a few minutes later, the seatbelt sign was turned off and the FA’s began preparing for dinner. One FA quickly came around and closed all the window shades before going around and asking if we would have dinner and taking our drink/main orders. Hot towels came next, followed by table linens. I had heard about the a la carte meal service done on RJ, but with the late departure (it was 11pm in NYC) it was a standard tray service.

Appetizers and salad were served with your drink choice on a tray shortly followed by an offer of bread. The FA’s then came around to fill glasses with water, but since I had ordered water, it was to be the only cup on my tray. This eventually became a problem as they never once came around to offer me some more water and after removing the appetizer tray and replacing it with the main course, I didn’t see them come around until after I had already finished my meal. The appetizers were all quite tasty, but my order of the beef filet apparently only comes well done so it was an average steak.


Appetizers and Salad, where is the soup??


Beef main

Dessert and offers for coffee/tea would follow – I gladly accepted the tasty cheesecake which was a bit lighter and fluffier than the cheesecake from a place like the Cheesecake Factory. The menu mentions soup and cheeses, neither of which were ever offered and no explanation was ever given, but I wasn’t hungry enough to ask about them. Linens and cups were quickly removed without an offer for anything else - I guess they assume everyone will be calling it a night quickly.


Great cheesecake

I finished up Larry Crowne and got ready for bed. The seats provide no privacy between them, but they do turn fully flat. They are also reasonably comfortable; in fact I found them more comfortable than the old Lufthansa F seats. I had 4 windows next to me so you’re given ample leg room, though much of that leg room is taken away when the seat in front of you reclines. You have to do a little twister-ing to get out of a window seat without disturbing anyone. The main screens were not turned off so the airshow, in all its bright glory, lit up the cabin with flashes of light as the display changed. A quick request to a flight attendant later and I was able to get those turned off.

About 3 hours later, I was awoken to my seatmate asking an FA if he could have something to eat. My seatmate had skipped dinner and gone straight to bed. A few minutes later, the FA came back and told him that they wouldn’t be able to serve him hot food as it had been too long since dinner and the food was considered spoiled. In a pout he laid back down and placed the blanket over his body and head. The purser came back a minute later with the FA and they offered the appetizers/dessert from dinner and apologized that they couldn’t offer him more. It’s too bad that Royal Jordanian can’t offer any other snacks to those in C class on a 10 hour flight. My seatmate was slightly agitated throughout the flight, though in fairness to him he was dealing with a lot as he was taking his father’s body back to Jordan as he had passed recently on a visit to the USA.

About an hour and a half before landing, the flight attendants began preparing the cabin for breakfast, and though a few had used the stickers to inform the FA’s if they wanted to be awoken for breakfast, these were completely ignored and one of the FA’s went around and nudged everyone until they were awake in order to ask if they would be having breakfast.

Breakfast was essentially a continental breakfast and it’s a bit disappointing that no hot food was on offer. I passed on cereal and accepted the yogurt in addition to the fruit, bread, and orange juice.


Some breakfast

Soon after breakfast, the cabin was prepared for landing. No immigration forms were distributed and I would find out once I got off the plane that none would be needed.


Cockpit door open for 2 minutes about 20 minutes from touchdown


View of Amman on the approach


The new terminal under construction


Current and outdated terminal in AMM

We landed shortly after 3:30pm local time and quickly disembarked off the plane. Queen Alia airport in Amman is quite small so the walk to immigration was about 500 feet from the jetbridge. I headed straight for the single ATM and withdrew some Dinars that would get me through the following day. I joined the visa on arrival line and after handing over my passport and 20 JD, was granted a visa and proceeded to the immigration line. The rules I found online stated that I would need passport size photos for the visa, but I was never asked for any. The immigration hall is very small and I’m guessing that there’s never much of a wait to get through. For folks traveling to Jordan needing a visa on arrival, be sure to get 20 JD BEFORE joining the line. There’s an ATM and a currency exchange in the hall area so be sure to go there first because you won’t be able to use credit cards or foreign cash for the visa on arrival – numerous folks got turned away when they didn’t have Dinars on them.

At an immigration desk, a very friendly agent quickly stamped me in after a few questions that ended with:

Officer: So do you know anyone in Jordan or have any friends here?
Me: No I don’t unfortunately
Officer: Yes you do, I am your new friend, welcome to Jordan!

I waited at the baggage carousel for a good 15 minutes before my bag finally showed up in the last bunch of bags. The priority tag I was given failed miserably.


Waiting for baggage


Bag inspection for arriving passengers

I exited and headed for the cab line, it’s a fixed rate into the center of Amman for 9JD so I got in and we were on our way to the Grand Hyatt.


View from the cab window with the last bits of sunlight

makin'miles

Great report so far - very much looking forward to the next instalments!

Platinum A332

That RJ flight does not look like RJ I know with no trolley service and a Continental Breakfast....on the plus side fantastic trip report so far and looking forward to the write up on Cambodia.

millsdale

RJ seems to offer a respectable business class. Also FYI on the lounge, I know some places bother with the whole invitation card and that, but your true invite is your J boarding pass. If you are on a OW flight you can enter the respective lounges based on class as much as you want, you can even make a lounge crawl out of it. Be insistent though, there are a good amount of attendants that do not seem to know this rule.

Pingtung

We arrived at the security entrance at which point I paid for paid for my ride and entered a small building that is adjacent to the Grand Hyatt. There, I had to place my luggage through a scanner and go through a metal detector. It’s a very quick process and one that does its job.

I was warmly greeted at check-in and offered a late checkout to go along with my city tour package I had booked through hotel.

The rooms themselves were fairly dated, but still classically elegant. I have no status with Hyatt, but they included two bottles of water and some fruit as a welcome gift in the room.






Complementary goodies


Bust in my room



I settled in and grabbed some dinner in one of the hotel restaurants before heading to bed fairly in preparations for a long day tomorrow.

The next morning I grabbed breakfast in the hotel restaurant which was a wonderful buffet of western and Arabic items. I had booked a city tour through the Grand Hyatt and agreed upon a 9am start time the evening before.


View from my hotel window

My driver, Hasan, was a nice guy who took me around Amman for about 5 hours hitting the highlights and spending time just chatting with him about Jordanian life today.


Temple of Hurcules at the Citadel


Ruins at the Citadel


Royal Auto Museum

Hasan drove me around some more and showed me the Embassy neighborhood. The US compound was a huge building with high walls around the entire complex. It was an absolute mammoth compared with all the other embassies. Large no photography signs surrounded the complex and numerous armed jeeps and soldiers surrounded the complex so I dared not photograph it. In stark contrast, the French embassy was a small building next to numerous other embassies and it had a single armed jeep in front.

Next up was a visit downtown to grab some lunch. Hasan asked me what I wanted for lunch and I immediately responded with Mansef. If I’m in Jordan, I might as well get a taste of their national dish right? My driver took me to a place downtown called Al Quds which he says is good for foreigners because it’s clean and they have good Mansef. Traditionally, Mansef is served family style, but sometimes you just don’t have enough people for that.


Single serving Mansef (yogurt not pictured)


Goods being sold outside on a Saturday

We arrived back right around two o’clock and I thanked Hasan for showing me around. I headed back to my room to gather my belongings and then went downstairs to checkout. My flight wasn’t until 1AM so I hung around the hotel lobby for about 2 hours just using my laptop and doing some reading. While going around the city, I noticed that a large number of people smoke in Jordan. Smoking is permitted in the lobby area and occasionally people would come down to the lounge area for a chat and a smoke. Though I hate the smell of smoke and it's something that is gone from American hotels, it's always interesting to experience different social norms in different parts of the world.

Pingtung

Interesting, two AA agents were taking across the entrance about it and were very firm in their response. Maybe they don't know that Royal Jordanian is a OneWorld partner given that the flight had only moved over about 2 weeks earlier to the AA terminal?