gba

SEA-IAD-MUC-VCE-FRA-BKK-HKG-DPS-BKK-BRU-FRA-SEA on UA/TG A380/LH/CX C, TG, the JW Marriott Hong Kong, Conrad Bali, and GM Chedi Club

It’d been a big year in the air for me, and the big miles accumulation necessitated a big redemption. My extended family had plans to travel in Italy at Christmas and so, using the beauty of a routing to Asia via Europe, I was able to construct a 10 segment trip with United miles (supplemented by a CX leg courtesy of Avios) for my fiancée and I to tag-along with the family in Italy, while exploring Hong Kong on our own and getting some much-needed winter warmth in Bali. The full itinerary: SEA-IAD-MUC-VCE-FRA-BKK-HKG-DPS-BKK-BRU-FRA-SEA evolved over time, I had limited flexibility and even less luck finding two *A first class seats on the outbound but I managed to find a routing that included Thai’s new business class product on the A380. On the way back, I grabbed two first class seats on Thai’s leased 77Ws as well as a stop in the Spa Lounge in BKK. Maybe not the most glamorous products, but it got me there and back in comfort.

Editor’s note: any resemblance between this itinerary and a journey popularized in a recent novel and/or film is strictly coincidental

If you’re interested, my prior reports are
1. AS/BA F SEA-SFO-LHR-BKK-SYD-SIN-LHR-SEA plus LDH
2. DBV and OTP in Dec. via DL J and LH F: SEA-AMS-ZAG-DBV-ZAG-VIE-OTP-FRA-SEA
3. The world is round! SEA-SFO-PVG-BKK-HKT-SIN-PVG-ZRH-FRA-ORD-SEA on UA, LX, LH F, TG, SQ C, and 3K Y

I’m sure I’ve probably provided more detail than any normal person could care about, so skim the text, look at the pictures, ask questions, and enjoy the report!

December 21, 2012
United 419, SEA-IAD
757-200, N590UA
Depart: 6:23am
Arrive: 2:18pm
Duration: 4:55
Seat: 2E


Today’s flight would be my 27th (and last!) flight between Seattle and DC for 2012. Up until this point, I had mostly managed to avoid the early morning departures but, due to the holiday schedule, today’s flight was an extra early 6:23am so, despite having arrived at SeaTac less than eight hours before, at 4:30 in the morning my fiancée and I were ambling up to the 1K counter and checking in for our much-anticipated holiday getaway.

The elite line wasn’t long, the kiosks had no trouble reading our passports, and soon we were on our way towards security with bags checked through to Venice and boarding passes to Munich (why United can’t print LH boarding passes is a mystery to me…it never seems to be a problem the other way). Security lines were starting to build up for the travel weekend but the elite lines were pretty short.

I’d almost forgotten what security is like without PreCheck (best thing to happen to air travel in 2012, IMO) but we found a line where the Nude-o-Scopes were off, the line was relatively smooth and well before 5am we were ringing the doorbell on the “postage stamp” United Club by the ex-Continental gates in SeaTac’s B concourse (those unfamiliar with SeaTac/my naming scheme should know that the two United Clubs are the “postage stamp” club, so called because of it’s size, and the “dungeon lounge” so called because it lacks windows). Despite the early hour, we received a cheerful greeting (we appeared to be only the second group into the lounge that morning) and I grabbed a couple of pictures and some orange juice without bothering anyone.


Nearly deserted United Club by SEA B gates

The snack select was typically meager (toast, generic bagels, cereal yogurt), and I was too tired to be hungry, and a refreshing glass of orange juice and a hot cup of coffee were enough to hold me over until breakfast on the plane. Our flight was departing from the gate immediately next to the lounge and a few minutes before the departure time noted on the boarding pass, I noticed some movement in the jet way so we made our way out of the lounge and joined the mostly-boarded queue for Zone 1 boarding.

While the 757 typically has my favorite front cabin amongst single-aisle aircraft because boarding is commonly done through 2L, today everyone was coming through the front door, which isn’t ideal. Fortunately, the flight attendants still managed to offer everyone their choice of PDB and, despite the full flight of holiday travelers, the early start to boarding meant everyone was seated well before our scheduled departure and, after a bit of a kerfuffle around where a man (who claimed to have been promised a bulkhead seat…although the ex-UA 757 lacks bulkhead seats in Coach) was going to put his dog (who apparently didn’t have his own ticket) we were set.

As increasingly seems to be the case, an early door closure doesn’t mean an early pushback but after a few minutes delay we were off the gate and after a brief taxi were airborne to the south. The sun was just starting to come up as we climbed through the typical Seattle cloud layer. After a few minutes of bumps on our way towards our cruising altitude, the crew sprang into action quickly offering a beverage (coffee, please!) followed by breakfast, which was a choice of cereal or omelet.

I’m not the most traveled person on these forums, but I’m yet to be impressed by eggs on a plane (especially domestically), and opted for the cereal which was served with not one, but two bowels of cheerios, yogurt, surprisingly decent fruit, a banana, and milk. Soon after the tray was delivered the flight attendants offered a choice of cinnamon roll or croissant from the breadbasket. In my mind, this is a perfectly acceptable domestic breakfast in terms of both quantity and taste (in fact, I saved a bowl of cheerios for a later in flight that never came).


Nobody ever said United was stingy with the cheerios

Once trays were cleared, the flight was your typical domestic affair (and I don’t mean that in a bad way). Beverages were refilled occasionally, the snack basket was offered about an hour before landing, and soon enough we were beginning our decent for Dulles, where we arrived about 15 minutes early.

We had nearly three hours before our connecting flight, which is way too long to spend in the C/D concourse of Dulles. While IAD gets a well-deserved bad rap from United flyers, I’ve always thought that the new A-B concourse is among the nicer terminals in the country, with minimal crowds, ample seating areas, natural light, and decent concessions. Best of all, there’s a Lufthansa Senator Lounge accessible to United Star Golds (even when flying domestically) and Business Class passengers, and that is where we’d be spending the majority of our time this afternoon. When we arrived, the lounge was as deserted as the SEA United Club a few hours earlier, but with a much better food and beverage selection (including German beer, a couple hot food items, finger sandwiches and cakes, fruit, veggies) – if you’re a Star Gold, and you haven’t been, you really should go!


Nearly deserted IAD Senator Lounge

gba

December 21, 2012
United 902, IAD-MUC
777-200, N780UA
Depart: 5:35pm
Arrive: 7:40am+1
Duration: 8:05
Seat: 7J


Even three hours in a decent lounge is a little more than I would prefer so as our departure time approached we hopped back over to the United gates and quickly ducked into the two “C” concourse United Clubs. Free drinks aside, these seemed no less busy in the terminals, with passengers headed to all corners of the planet (well, all corners of Europe and North America, at least) in United’s evening bank of departures filling every nook and cranny.

The scene at our boarding gate was no less relaxing with the seating area essentially filled and the crowd jockeying to board early spilling out into the terminal and, combined with the crowd from the gate across from us, essentially blocking through-traffic to the lower numbered C gates. As an aside, why people are so eager to get on these long flights I’m not sure, I don’t think I’ve ever seen bags gate checked on an international flight…given how many people complain about the stress of flying I tend to be of the mindset that most people make flying much more stressful than it needs to be (family with three kids between 5 and 8 trying to get to the front of the boarding line, I’m looking at you!).
I’ll confess to wanting to board the aircraft early just to avoid the crunch and chaos of the gate area. With a minimal of pushing and shoving, we were towards the end of the initial rush of First/Business/GS/1K fliers. Entering the 777 through 2L, rather than cut through the galley to the “J/K” side, since catering was still loading carts through 2R, we made a zig-zag across the middle of row 6 to our seats at the back of the front business class cabin.

People on these forums often accuse United of being hopelessly behind the times. The bad rap isn’t all undeserved, but certainly the move towards flat beds on its international fleet is a welcome development, and the odds of a dreaded 777 swap are rapidly decreasing to nothing. While the 777 product has an unfortunate number of middle seats (and, to some, an unfortunate width), it’s certainly not a bad way to cross the Atlantic given that both major competitors (AA. DL) and partners (LH) are still sending numerous “angled lie-flat” seats across the pond. I consider the outboard pairs (A/B and J/K) in rows 6 and 7 to be the best seats on this bird, with row 6 ahead of row 7 because of the proximity of the galley.

View from 7J

At our seats when we arrived we found a real (not airplane) pillow, a blanket/duvet, as well as headphones and an amenity kit. In the process of UA/CO harmonization, the United amenity kits have gotten a nice facelift and now contain most of the items that I would want to find such as eye mask, socks, ear plugs, toothbrush and paste, comb, lotion, lip balm, tissues, purell wipe, and a pen.


United Business Class seat, pillow, blanket and headphones

Once catering had finished loading the galleys, the flight attendants began the pre-departure service offering a choice of water, oj, and champagne, as well as a cart full of newspapers. From where we were sitting, the typical chaos of boarding was largely out of sight but it couldn’t have been too bad as the doors were closed-up on time. As we taxied out, menus were distributed and, after a short delay for updated weight and balance numbers (thank you channel 9!) we were rocketing up into the DC night (I think that the typically impressive 777 takeoffs seem even more so when you’re facing backwards).

Let’s see what Chez United is serving tonight!

UA 12/12
IAD/ORD-FRA/MUC; EWR/IAD-ZRH; EWR-MUC (LD61-S67A)
210C001-4

TO BEGIN

Chilled Appetizer

Fresh Seasonal Greens
Roasted tomatoes, Kalamata olives, baby mozzarella and croutons with your choice of blue cheese dressing or balsamic vinaigrette

MAIN COURSE

Short Rib of Beef
Red wine sauce, aji amarillo mashed potatoes, fine green beans and carrots

Tamale-filled Breast of Chicken
Creamy corn sauce, grilled yucca and tomatoes

Grilled Salmon with Lump Crabmeat
Beurre blanc sauce, barley with vegetables, collard greens and tomatoes

Tri-color Ravioli
Creamy tomato sauce and asparagus with Parmesan cheese

TO FINISH

International Cheese Selection
Grapes and crackers with Noval Fine Ruby Port

Dessert
Ice cream with your choice of toppings

PRIOR TO ARRIVAL

Chilled Deli Selection
Swiss cheese, Black Forest ham, Genoa salami and turkey

Breakfast breads with butter and fruit preserves


Drink menu…sorry too lazy to type it up

The purser came through taking meal orders pretty quickly after departure which was followed by a hot towel service and placemats. Next came the beverage cart, along with hot nuts.


Club soda and hot nuts…yum!

Then, the pace of service slowed somewhat and it’d be another 25 minutes, or “more than one whole episode of the Big Bang Theory in IFE time” before the salad and appetizer cart rolled by. The decent appetizer and salad (much improved from the pre-merger UA offerings) was accompanied by warm garlic bread.


Salad and appetizer…much improved from the last days of PMUA

It’s a mystery to me why United’s menus always list the appetizer as “Chilled Appetizer” – is there really that much variation from flight to flight or station to station? Does United not know what the caterer will supply? – especially given that I’ve seen very little variety in what’s actually served (there’s almost always shrimp and smoked salmon) – couldn’t they say “Chilled Seafood Appetizer” or come up with something cheezy like “Fisherman’s Chilled Appetizer of the Day?”

As salad and appetizer plates were finished and collected, flight attendants served entrees from the galley.


Blury picture of the chicken entrée. It tasted better than it looks. But not a lot better

Despite the fancy descriptions, both my chicken and my fiancée’s fish were adequate but by no means noteworthy. The highlight of the meal was the two courses still to be served: the cheese and dessert.


Say Cheese!

United’s cheeses aren’t the fanciest (if they were, you’d think they’d call them something other than “International Cheese Selection”) but I found them tasty enough and the ice cream sundae, predictable as it may be, and as much as I may try to resist its caloric ways, always hits the spot.


In here, it’s always sundae!

As the cabin finished up desserts, the crew walked through with a coffee and tea service and the overhead lights were finally extinguished about 2.5 hours out of Dulles. One thing that always impresses is me is how much “stuff” dishes, to glasses, to silverware, to food, to linens, international flights go through in business class (certainly there’s more in first class, but with more passengers in biz, it seems like there’s just more chaos) and from 7J you certainly get an appreciation of how had the crew works to turn out a premium meal service. That said, especially for short red-eyes from the east coast to Europe, I think it’s reasonable to expect (or hope for!) a service that allows the lights to be turned about 2 hours after takeoff seems like a fair expectation. With the slower than ideal service, once the meal was finished I wasted no time in reclining the seat to the fully flat position, putting in my ear plugs, lowering my eye mask, and going to bed.

The menu promised a “deli plate” pre-arrival and, despite three opportunities to do so, I must confess that I’m yet to see one “in the wild” – this flight was no different. I’ve tried to coach myself to know that, no matter, what, breakfast isn’t worth waking up and in this case the pre-sleep pep-talk worked out just fine and I awoke to the sound of the engines cutting back approximately 30 minutes prior to landing in Munich.

After quick trip to the lav to brush my teeth and make sure I didn’t look too awful, seats were being returned to their up-right positions, carry-on items were being stowed away, and we were making an exceedingly smooth landing at what appeared to be an exceedingly quiet Munich airport a few minutes before 7:30 in the morning local time.

gba

December 22, 2012
Lufthansa 1908, MUC-VCE (operated by Air Dolomiti)
E-190, I-ADJL
Depart: 11:25am
Arrive: 12:25pm
Duration: 1:00
Seat: 1D


I’d heard of Munich’s reputation as a land of easy connections but I had no need to put it to the test today. After a stop at the transit desk to pick-up the boarding passes that United had been unable to print, a short wait at customs, and a ride down the escalators to the Schengen area, we were camped out in one of the two Schengen Senator Lounges (unfortunately, I didn’t realize that the other Senator lounge was the one with sleeping rooms, which was what we really needed). The lounge itself was pleasant enough, with a good array of continental breakfast items, including some yummy pretzels and sandwiches, and all of the beverages one might require at 8 in the morning. What I really required, however, was a shower, and that aspect of the lounge was a bit of a letdown as the lounge showers seemed to change temperatures and pressure levels quite randomly. I guess it woke me up, but I’d prefer that happen with temperature settings that I control, not ones the shower decides upon without my input.

After a couple hours in the lounge, which became increasingly crowded as the morning passed, a slow lap around the terminal to stretch, and a quick stay at the other Senator lounge, we were ready to board our last flight of this part of our trip. The gate was rather conveniently located, but unfortunately led directly to a bus. The highlight was definitely the “self-boarding” feature which not only scanned our boarding passes but also spit out a new seat assignment for us (we originally had all of row 4 but were moved to row 3).

For a regional carrier, Air Dolomiti has a decent reputation, and nothing on this flight would cause me to dispute that (unless, you didn’t like the teal color that was liberally upholstered on both the seats and the flight attendants). Upon boarding and settling into our seats in Row 3 (to accommodate a family of 4 in row 4), the flight attendants came by to move the small curtain separating business class from economy.


The small piece of fabric that makes us feel important

Although flying first class domestically ceased to be luxurious long ago, it still beats the pants off of what passes for front cabins when flying in Europe. Despite this, the European airlines still try to maintain an aura of exclusivity around what is really a glorified coach product, and, amazingly, somehow manage to serve amounts of food that would be unheard of on flights of comparable length within the U.S. I can’t say I’m envious of those European business travelers who fly the products week-in and week-out, but for the occasional trip over I find “Euro Business Class” a bit of an av-geek curiosity.


Business Class legroom

At least on smaller aircraft, like this Embraer, business class typically means a whole half row (2 seats) to oneself allowing for both window views and aisle access but today that was not to be. The flight attendants politely, but not apologetically, asked my fiancée and I to share row 1 so that excess baggage could be strapped into our seats in row 3. Oh well.

That said, the flight was pleasant enough. After pushing back about 15 minutes late due to the bag situation we took off to the west and quickly turned south towards Italy. At the time in the flight when domestic flight attendants would just be starting their post-take off announcements, our crew was up in the aisle serving a light meal, along with a choice of beverage.

The meal consisted of cold sliced pork with a cabbage and raisin salad and a warm roll. I can’t say it was that great, but for a flight booked at a little over an hour, it certainly beats nut mix! The flight attendants would come by a bit later to offer coffee or tea, as well as drinks refills, before collecting the trays as we began our decent for Venice.


Nicest plate I’ve ever seen on an airplane, look at the pattern!

After a beautiful flight over the Alps, the weather clouded over and we landed in Venice from the west in a rather thick morning fog, probably down to about 3000 feet. This may have limited our views out the window, but not our arrival, and we pulled into the gate only about 5 minutes behind schedule due to our slow departure out of Munich. All-in-all, a perfectly decent short flight, even if I was forced to sit next to my fiancée instead of have a row to myself (I’m sure it was worse for her than for me) 

The destinations we visited in Italy are well worn by travelers, and the hotels tended towards the more modest, local, and non-points earning variety so I will refrain from reviewing them here and instead pick-up a week later at the end of our Italian stopover.

gba

December 28, 2012
Lufthansa 325, VCE-FRA
A320, D-AIPU
Depart: 10:45am
Arrive: 12:20pm
Duration: 1:35
Seat: 2F


After being forced to weigh my slightly-overweight carry-on in Bucharest on an LH F trip a few years ago, I’m always a bit concerned about checking in at small stations that may have out-sourced ground staff whose priorities don’t necessarily align with mine but check-in this morning in Venice was as smooth as good be hoped for: no wait, bags checked and boarding passes issued all the way to Hong Kong, lounge passes proactively offered, and not even a sideways glance at my roll-a-board.

After a pleasantly non-noteworthy trip through security we made our way to the Marco Polo lounge on the upper level of the terminal. For a contract lounge, I was especially impressed by the clean, spacious, light-filled space with an ample selection of beverages and a few continental breakfast options. For the third time in four flights, we again found ourselves as the only folks in the lounge. After struggling to follow an Italian news broadcast, and watching our aircraft land on schedule from Frankfurt, we headed downstairs and poked around the fairly high-end duty free shops until boarding time arrived.


Drink area at VCE LH lounge


Seating area at VCE LH lounge

Despite a fair size mob that was forming in the boarding area as departure time approached, the gate agents called Business/*G first and we were able to sneak around the podium through a side lane of sorts. Once onboard, we were offered newspapers and magazines and, as departure time approached, a chocolate snowman.

As we neared departure time, we realized that we were the only passengers on the ritzy side of the curtain for this trip. Given that the seats are the same as coach; if anything it makes the meager cabin separation curtain seem that much more trivial (it’s certainly not like having your own LX F cabin…).


Empty row in LH intra-Europe C

Doors closed on time and we were soon airborne to the east. Like on the outbound, we were quickly served a cold snack. Here’s how the included menu card described the offering:

These are the favorite dishes awaiting you here on board today.
Mixed salad with dried cranberries
Breast of duck with walnuts


Packaged salad…not too shabby for a short flight

Apparently this is one of the most popular dishes from “essen & trinken” magazine. It wasn’t bad, and certainly fine for a sub-90 minute flight, although I was a bit surprised that it was less substantial than our snack on MUC-VCE on Air Dolomiti. How many regional carriers provide more generous service than their mainline partner? (The only other answer I could think of was free beer/wine on Horizon Air)

Arrival was typical Frankfurt, in that we landed from the west, turning off the runway near the east side of the airport, then taxied all the way back to the far west side of the airport to park at a remote stand, from which we were bussed back to the A section of the terminal. After a hike through the tunnel to the B gates, and a quick trip through passport control, we were in the large business class lounge near B28. I can’t claim any expertise on the differences between Lufthansa’s FTL and Senator Lounges, but from memory this business class lounge had a food selection closer to what I’d expect from a Senator Lounge. That said, when the lounge is round and the buffet selection repeats twice, it’s easy to get the impression that the selection is much larger than it actually is.

After a short stay, in the lounge, it was downstairs to board the beast to Bangkok!

gba

December 28, 2012
Thai Airways 921, FRA-BKK
A380-800, HS-TUB
Depart: 2:10pm
Arrive: 6:20am+1
Duration: 10:10
Seat: 17J


In many ways, this was the most anticipated flight in my outbound itinerary as I was eager to sample not only Thai’s new business class seat, but also enjoy my first flight on the behemoth A380. The boarding area wasn’t huge but didn’t seem 500+ passengers crowded. Despite having received boarding passes in Venice, we were paged up to the podium for another passport check and typing into the computer (and somewhat hostilely informed that we couldn’t have our boarding passes re-issues on TG stock).

Boarding began with a trip up the escalator, through door U2R, and into the giant business class (and first class, perhaps?) galley. I kid you not, the galley is at least twice as big as the UA 777 business class galley and has a small buffet/area where drinks/snacks can be left out in addition to more service carts than I could count. We were created with the typical Thai Sawasdee and directed to the right into the business class cabin and I tried to snap some photos of our very-purple surroundings before too many other passengers arrived.




If you don’t like purple, fly a different airline

As other passengers trickled in from various connecting flights, the flight attendants offered us hot towels, as well as a choice of water, orange juice, or champagne and wheeled through the newspaper cart. At our seat when we boarded were a modest pillow, a blanket, an amenity kit, as well as a fairly large pair of headphones with cleaning wipe (although the headphones were wrapped in plastic…do they not clean them before they wrap them in the plastic?). The TG amenity kit was well stocked and practical including a comb/brush, eye shade, earplugs, toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash, lip balm, hand cream, and socks. Additional lotions and potions were available in the lavs.

Our pushback was delayed about 30 minutes waiting for a large number of connecting passengers. Menus were distributed and meal orders taken while we were still at the gate. Here’s what Thai was serving:

TG 921 C - MENU - DECEMBER 2012

First Serving

Hot Savory
Chicken Satay
Satay Sauce (Contains Peanuts), Vinegar Relish Sauce

First Course
Veal Fillet with Herb Crust, Golden Salmon Medallion
Crème Fraiche, Fennel Mango Salad

Salad
Mixed Green Salad with Italian Tizano Dressing

Main Course
Grilled Beef Tenderloin with Port Wine Sauce
Mashed Potatoes with Horse Radish
or
Grilled Salmon Fillet with Hollandaise Sauce
Sautéed Yellow Zucchini, Fettuccine with Green Pesto
or
Pork Massaman Curry (Contains Peanuts)
Steamed Thai Hom Mali Rice, Mixed Vegetables
or
Chicken Medallion with Pizzaiola Sauce
Buttered Noodles, Broccoli

Assorted Bread, Butter
Assorted Cheese, Fresh Fruits

Dessert
Apricot Crumble Cake
Tea, Coffee, Espresso, Cappuccino


Drink menu…I know it’s small, let me know if you want details

Once all passengers were accounted for, we push backed and slowly rolled to the end of runway 18 where, after a long roll, the mammoth machine miraculously managed to make its way into the skies about 50 minutes after our scheduled departure time.

As we began to level off, flight attendants rolled through the cabins with drink trolleys offering a choice of beverages along with packaged nuts followed quickly by the yummy chicken sate paired with a Singha.


I’ve never met a satay I didn’t like

Service stopped for a few minutes due to turbulence and then resumed with a hot towel. The dinner service began with pre-plated appetizer and salad trays served from a cart, followed by another round of drinks, and the bread basket which included a very nice pizza bread.


Appetizer tray

I found the appetizer itself to be decent, but the small salad was fairly forgettable other than the adorable mini-bottle of oil and vinegar that accompanied it. After bowls and plates from the first course were cleared, flight attendants rolled through the aisles again with a pair of carts, the first one carrying the hot entrees and the second offering beverage refills.

I tend to be of the mindset that one should eat the food of the country the airline is from (or, at least the country where the aircraft is being catered) and thought I made a good choice with the curry on this flight. I’ve found that saucier preparations of meats (like curries and stews) tend to hold up better in airplane ovens the filets, medallions, or tenderloins. Today’s pork, while tasty, was actually somewhat less-saucy then I anticipated and I would’ve appreciated a little more curry in the dish.


Pork curry

The next course up in the marathon meal service was the fruit and cheese, which was disappointingly nondescript, quickly followed by the cake and coffee cart. The cake wasn’t as dry as it looked, although I’m typically of the mindset that if a dish doesn’t have a chocolate component, it shouldn’t qualify as dessert (or, at least, should be followed by a chocolate/praline course).


This course could’ve done with a little less white food


Glad I saved room for dessert!

As the lengthy meal concluded, water bottles were distributed, landing cards offered, and an additional hot towel was presented. I find these 10-12 hour red-eyes leaving in early afternoon to be fairly unpleasant but I hoped that I’d woken up early enough, and had enough liquid encouragement, to nod off overnight.

Certainly I could not blame any trouble I had falling asleep on the seat. In Thai’s staggered business class configuration, we were sitting in what have been called “the honeymoon” seats because of the proximity of the foot-wells. Certainly these are the least desirable seats in the cabin for solo travelers, while there is a privacy screen when seated, when fully reclined you feel like you are sleeping fairly close to someone (close enough that a blanket pushed aside could end up covering the other person). The best seats for solo travelers are definitely the “outboard” window seats which offer both a sense of privacy by being both away from the aisle as well as other passengers.


Perfect for playing footsie


Seat controls


Large screen and tray table

That said, for my purposes, this was definitely the best business class seat I’ve been in. I like the sense of privacy the staggered configuration affords (assuming you have a window seat or know the person sitting next to you), the tray table was huge, and there were ample nooks and crannies for storing stuff. The IFE screen was good size and the system somewhat more responsive and easier to you than we encountered on our other TG flights.

The A380s been now flying for long enough that I can’t claim to have any novel observations, it’s certainly quiet, but what I found most amazing, unlike the upper deck of a 747, on the top of the A380 it’s easy to forget about the ~400 passengers one floor down. It really does feel like a slightly more rounded A330 (I tried to do a lap through the coach cabin but was informed that passengers could not use the stairs during flight).

After dozing for a few hours I woke up feeling warm and dried out. I made my way to the galley to see about a water top-up and noticed that a large tray of caviar and accompaniments was sitting out. I asked the flight attendant if I, a lowly business class passenger, might partake and he graciously offered up a serving with my choice of sides. The perfect midnight snack!


How many airlines serve Caviar in C?

Unfortunately, my short nap had taken the edge off and the cabin was too warm and I was too awake to manage any more decent sleep on this flight. I flipped through the IFE offerings, watched a few mindless TV shows and tried to rest. Our route east today started out relatively northerly, passing north of the Black Sea and across the ‘stans before turning almost due south and then back to straight east across the top of India.

Lights were turned up for breakfast about 1:45 out of Bangkok with a fruit plate, yogurt, a choice of breakfast breads, as well as a beverage service. Let’s take a look at the menu and see what’s coming:

Second Serving

First Course
Fresh Fruits
Yoghurt

Main Course
Egg Spinach Frittata
Veal Fennel Sausage
Fried Potatoes
or
Crepe with Chicken and Mushrooms
Fried Potatoes
Poultry Sausage

Assorted Bread, Butter, Jam
Tea, Coffee, Chocolate Malt


Time to wake up!

Following the starter, the crew came down the aisles a second time with a choice of mains from the cart and another round of beverages. I’ve made no secret of my dislike of egg dishes on airplanes but this morning’s choices left me few options, and yet I still think I chose wrong.


This picture brings back bad memories

The crepe was pretty disappointing, and ultimately took home the award for worst airline meal of the trip (recall that I slept through the deli plate…) although all-in-all there was plenty of food served so I can’t say I was hungry.

After the meal service, the crew collected the trays and promptly re-dimmed the cabin lights as we were still an hour out of Bangkok. Look, I realize it’s a lot of work to pack up a galley and prepare for landing, but if you’ve got enough time to pretend like the cabin is going to go back to sleep after the meal, you probably began the service too early (before 5am local time). Come on Thai, even United needs under 90 minutes!

Thirty minutes out of Bangkok we were formally woken by the Captain announcing our upcoming landing and providing information on Bangkok weather. We flew past the airport, made a U turn, and landed from the south at 6:30am local time. After a short taxi, and a bit of a wait for the ground crew to hook up three (3!) jet ways, we bid the beast bye-bye.

Award availability being what it is, we’d ended up with a 9 hour layover before our connection to Hong Kong. This isn’t ideal but, unlike a 5 hour layover, it at least afforded us an opportunity to head into the city for a quick river boat ride, visit the palace, and ride in a tuk-tuk (if it’s not obvious, we’d never been to Bangkok before) before returning to Subvarnabhumi for our connection.

gba

December 29, 2012
Thai Airways 606, BKK-HKG
747-400, HS-TGW “Star Alliance”
Depart: 4:00pm
Arrive: 7:45pm
Duration: 2:45
Seat: 14J


After as much Bangkok as we could take in our tired, jet lagged, state we headed back to BKK desperately in need of a shower and ready to get to our final destination. As business class passengers, we were entitled to a half-hour massage in Thai’s Royal Orchid Spa but the showers in the spa are in the treatment rooms for First Class passengers so we quickly showered in the lounge before heading over to the spa. There was no wait for treatments and I received a fabulous neck and shoulder massage while my girlfriend was equally pleased with her foot massage.

Our flight was one of the few Thai flights leaving from the G gates, seemingly as far from the spa as possible…I’m not sure I’ve ever seen an airport sign promising a 1200 meter walk before. By the time we made the long walk through the duty free area in the center of the terminal, boarding was already underway.

If there’s one thing better than a flight in the upper deck, it’s two flights back-to-back in upper decks. This flight would have the added benefit of getting to climb stairs on the actual airplane! We entered the aircraft through 1L which opened into an odd open area between first and business class. There’s no hard bulkhead between the first class cabin in the nose and the business class section on the left side of the plane; the galley for both cabins is the entire right half of the plane. As we walked back through the cabin and climbed up the stairs to the upper level a flight attendant asks us to leave our roll-aboard in a bin on the lower deck as the upper deck lacked both larger size bins and closet space.


TG 747-400 business class seat

As soon as we were seated we were offered cold towels as well as a choice of water, orange juice, and fruit tea. A bit later, newspapers were distributed followed finally by menus once everyone was on board and seated.


Welcome aboard!

Meal orders were taken as we taxied out to the runway. I order the Panang Chicken and it was (correctly) noted that my fiancée had pre-ordered the Massaman Chicken. What sounds good to you?

TG 606 C - MENU F: Dec 2012

First Course
Crab Meat Salad wrapped with Smoked Salmon
Winged Bean Salad with Roast Chicken Thai Style

Main Course
Pan-fried Prawn with Yee Heong Sauce
Tossed Healthy Noodles
Sautéed Vegetables
or
Deep-fried Snapper with Chilli Paste and Onion
Oriental Fried Rice, Taiwanese Cabbage, Carrot
or
Chicken Curry “Pa-neang” (with Peanuts)
Steamed Thai Hom Mali Rice
Stir-fried Loofah with Egg and Shrimp
or
Pork with Champignon Mushroom Zurich Style
Tossed Linguine
Buttered Vegetables

Assorted Bread, Crackers, Butter
Cheese and Fresh Fruits

Dessert
Raspberry with Vanilla Panna Cotta
Tea, Coffee
Espresso, Cappuccino

The drink list was the same as on FRA-BKK


Drinks and pumpkin seeds

The service began quickly as we climbed towards our cruising altitude with a round of drinks as well as a package of pumpkin seeds. Exhausted from a long travel day, I ordered a Diet Coke hoping it would keep me awake until I made it to the hotel in Hong Kong. As we were enjoying our beverages, placemats were offered and soon the appetizer trays were presented along with a bread basket.


I had way too much airline garlic bread on this trip

The appetizer was quite good, better than FRA-BKK in my estimation. After plates were cleared, entrees were again served from a cart, followed. Curiously, we were both presented with the same Chicken curry entrée which the flight attendant claimed was Massaman Chicken (as we had pre-ordered) but I suspect was likely just the Panang Chicken on the menu. In any event, it was tasty and, unlike the entrée out of Frankfurt, not lacking in sauce.


Blurry curry

After finishing the mains, pre-plated plates of fruit and cheese were presented followed soon by the dessert cart, which was accompanied with coffee. The cheese course was pretty basic, but despite the plastic wrapping, and the minimal amount of chocolate, the dessert was better than I anticipated.


How do they cut the melon like that?


Remove plastic before eating

Interestingly, the main difference between the long haul dinner service, and the regional dinner service, was the removal of the satay “first taste” and the salad. The appetizer, main, cheese, and dessert courses were all essentially equivalent to what we’d received on the much longer flight . That Thai is able to turn out such an impressive service in a flight comparable to SEA-LAX is, to the US-based flier, incredible.

Although the angled lie “flat” seats on this segment weren’t as luxurious as the seats on the A380, they were more than adequate for a sub-3 hour flight. Interestingly, while the IFE hardware seemed to be a generation older, the selection of movies and TV shows was the same.

We began our decent about 25 minutes out of Hong Kong, just as dessert dishes were being cleared. Following a final hot towel service, and the distribution of landing cards, the flight attendants were buttoning up the cabin for landing. With an announced flight time of only 2:10, we landed in a cloudy Hong Kong a few minutes ahead of schedule, and pulled in next right to a Thai A330. The bags that we’d checked more than 24 hours earlier in Venice were among the first off the belt and soon we were on the Airport Express train into Hong Kong!

gba

JW Marriott Hong Kong

I cashed in 330,000 Marriott Rewards points for a week at the JW as well as 120,000 United Miles (just under the cost of one of the two 130,000 mile tickets I used for this trip). Although Marriott Rewards gets a bad rap on these forums for its lack of suite upgrades, this is a fantastic value award and the JW Hong Kong was the best Marriott-affiliated property I’ve stayed at. Unfortunately I didn’t grab any pictures of the room or lounge but I’ll describe a few of the highlights…

Although we were only given a city-view room initially, we were promised that we could switch to a harbor view room after two nights. Sure enough, the hotel had no trouble accommodating that switch when two days later and, on New Year’s Eve, we were moved to a wonderful harbor view room with a view of the fireworks. Both rooms were identical, spacious, and exceedingly comfortable, although not particularly flashy/modern (and that’s not a criticism at all, just an excuse for me not having a better description).

Who would check out of a room with this view on NYE?


Day view


NYE fireworks view

The executive lounge was the most impressive I have seen at a Marriott/JW. In addition to the better-than-typical breakfast, the evening spread consisted of not just the usual fruit, cheese, veggies, desserts, etc. but also two hot western items, two hot Asian items, and four small bites (sushi, mini-chicken Caesar salad, shrimp cocktail) and I didn’t notice any two items repeat in the week I was there. Afternoon tea consisted of several varieties of tea sandwiches, along with scones.

As a Platinum, I had a choice of eating breakfast in either the Marriott Café restaurant or the executive lounge. The lounge breakfast was more than adequate, with a selection of typical continental items, a few hot Chinese items, as well as omelets made to order. The restaurant had many more Asian options, including Japanese and Indian as well as made-to-order noodle soup and a juice/smoothie bar.

I’d stayed previously at the Renaissance Harbour view (the other Marriott Rewards property in HK-proper). While that hotel is impressive by US-standards, and certainly boasts better views, the JW was friendlier, had a far superior breakfast, significantly larger rooms (especially bath rooms) and was better located for connections to the MTR or access to the ferries to outlying islands.

All in all, this should be the go-to property for MR members in HK!

gba

January 5, 2012
Cathay Pacific 785, HKG-DPS
777-200, B-HND
Depart: 10:10am
Arrive: 2:55pm
Duration: 4:45
Seat: 14J


After a fabulous, if hectic, week in Hong Kong, we were ready for some sun and relaxation in Bali, not to mention my first flight on one of the world’s great airlines. After a quick cab ride from the hotel to Hong Kong Station we purchased tickets for the Airport Express (travel tip: for 2 or more passengers, you can get a “group discount” by buying the tickets from the staffed desk, rather than the machines) and quickly checked our bag before hopping on the train—this was shockingly convenient, why couldn’t other airports have such an easy set up?

This was only my second trip through HKG and I’m yet to find the express security line (is there one?). Fortunately, crowds were fairly thin and we made our way through security and passport control with minimal delay. My fiancée has artificial hips and, interestingly, HKG was the only airport we passed through on this trip where she did not set off a metal detector.

Our gate seemed to be a CX lounge no-man’s land but the Pier seemed to be the closest so we headed in that direction. My first impression of the Pier was that it seemed to go on forever. I knew it had a “long” bar but I didn’t expect to actually be impressed by how long it was. The selection of breakfast items wasn’t particularly impressive and the noodle bar had only a limited selection of basic soups (the full selection was available from 10am, the same time our flight departed). We killed about 45 minutes in the lounge before heading out to our gate where boarding was just getting underway.

We entered the aircraft through 1L and were graciously shown to our seats. As soon as we were settled, a flight attendant came by offering blankets followed by juice. This was soon followed by headphones (wrapped in plastic) and hot towels. From all I could tell, our load today was fairly light (business class wasn’t more than half-full) and the pilot came on the p.a. to announce that all were aboard and we were ready to go 10 minutes ahead of the scheduled departure time.

Following a rather slow taxi we took off to the north and made a big right turn towards Bali. As we climbed, the flight attendants distributed menus and took meal orders. Here’s what Cathay was serving:

Starters
Herb marinated smoked salmon, seared scallop and pesto crème frache

Mixed salad with cherry tomato and marinated capsicums with Italian dressing

Main Courses
Braised chicken with chestnut in oyster sauce, steamed jasmine rice, jade melon with red medlar seeds and garlic

Lamb shoulder confit with green pea mash, roasted baby carrot, garlic and shallot

Sambal ling fish with steamed rice and coconut okra

Cheese and Dessert
Cheese selection

Fresh seasonal fruit

Haagen-Daaz Ice Cream

Tea and Coffee

Pralines


Wine list

With minimal delay, the drink cart was in the aisle offering passengers a choice of beverages along with a ramekin of almonds; I had the non-alcoholic signature Oriental Breeze which was quite refreshing, although not as good as my girlfriend’s Hong Kong Milk Tea.

Dining trays were set with linen and the salad/appetizer cart promptly rolled through the cabin, accompanied by a bread basket and drink refills. While I had few complaints about the food on Thai, even from my semi-blurry cell phone photographs it should be clear that the food on Cathay was a cut above, in terms of presentation, which was reflected in the taste.


Nicely presented appetizer and substantial salad

Main courses were also served from a cart. I was disappointed to find that mine was still a touch on the frozen-side when I first received it. After the purser apologized and reheated it, I found it quite tasty, although I can’t say I’ll be putting chestnuts in my stir-fry at home.


Stir-fry chicken and chestnuts

The highlight of the meal was the fruit and cheese cart that followed. Cheeses were sliced to order and served with crackers and jam and an ample selection of fresh fruit was available to choose from. I’ll admit to being fairly full by this point but had to try a little of each.


Nothing like a cheese course to make a good meal better

The classy-ness of the cheese service was somewhat tempered by the ice cream which was served straight from the individual contains you’d find at the grocery store (not pictured, just Google “Haagen Daaz”) along with hot tea. After finishing the ice cream, flight attendants passed through the aisles with a large box of pralines to conclude the very good meal service.

My biggest disappointment with this flight was the seat. While I knew that Cathay’s Regional Business-class product was an old-style seat, I didn’t realize how behind the times it was. I wasn’t expecting anything much better than a domestic first seat, and it was comfortable enough, but I’d heard good things about Studio CX and didn’t realize that the IFE wasn’t AVOD on the old product. I know, I know, I should’ve done my research but it’s not like I had any betters options for flying HKG-DPS so research would’ve only helped me manage my expectations, not change my decisions.


Row 1 on CX regional 777


CX regional seat controls and blanket

The last hour or so of the flight was fairly bumpy due to various storm systems in the area, which meant no more hot tea and a fairly gray approach into Bali. Despite an early start from Hong Kong, we didn’t make great time on our way south and pulled into the gate maybe a minute or two behind schedule. Fortunately, the rain had stopped by the time we landed and the escort we’d arranged through the Conrad helped us quickly move through the visa acquisition process, passport control, and customs had us on our way to the hotel in no time.

gba

Conrad Bali

I’d heard mixed things about the Conrad before arrival, with some complaints about the location, the quality of the beach, and the general sterility of resort in general so I decided to split our time between the Nusa Dua area and Ubud. That said, the Conrad delivered everything I would expect from the hotel (yes, it’s on a fake beach in a very resort-heavy area, yes there are jet skis in the ocean, no it’s not the “real” Bali) with one glaring oversight: a really disappointing front desk.


View over main pool towards lobby

First the complaints. I don’t like to complain (really!), and I hate to play the DYKWIA game (double really!) but the check-in process could really use some work. Despite booking an airport transfer through the hotel, and exchanging several emails with the property before arrival, it seemed like they were surprised that I showed up. First, I had to wait to check-in; then my reservation details were confirmed incorrectly; then I was handed a key packet and sent on my merry way with little direction, no map, and no information about breakfast/diamond benefits.

Wait a minute!

“Don’t I get some kind of upgrade as a Diamond!?!? Maybe a Conrad Suite?” After a 5-10 minute wait while the agent with speaking with someone in the back they emerged and said “We can upgrade you to an oceanview room but you’ll have to wait until it’s cleaned, and here’s a list of your Diamond benefits” It was 4pm, I had reason to believe the hotel wasn’t full, and I’d already been at the front desk for 20mins so I balked, “Is there a manager I can speak to?”

After another ~10 minute wait while the agent was in the back he emerged and said, “I don’t have a Conrad Suite but there’s an Oceanview Suite available” After a half-hour at the front desk, I was contented, and didn’t feel like prolonging the matter further. We were shown to our room by an exceedingly friendly bellman who remembered our name throughout our stay. And we had a great stay until check-out when I’d been charged the wrong rate (presumably, the rate for the upgraded room?) for my stay and had to spend another half-hour at the front desk getting that resolved.


I shouldn’t have had to ask, but I did get the list of diamond benefits

But other than the bookends, the part of the stay in between was very good! The Oceanview Suite we ended up in was also impressive. It was a large corner room, with a living room, a bedroom, a large master bathroom with two sinks, a tub, and a separate shower, as well as a half-bathroom (toilet and sink) by the entrance. The room was on the ground level but had a large porch—not just the table and chairs on most porches but also two lounges and an umbrella—facing the ocean.


Bedroom of my Oceanview Suite at the Conrad Bali


Living room of my Oceanview Suite at the Conrad Bali


Oceanview from my porch

The highlight, however, was definitely the Conrad Suites lounge which Diamond members can use even if they’re not staying in the Suites area (and aren’t traveling with children under 12). The lounge offers three services a day: breakfast, tea, and cocktails. The breakfast selection isn’t quite what you’d find in the main restaurant but still boasts a range of western, Japanese, and Chinese options on the buffet along was a modest menu of breakfast entrees to order (mostly western, plus one Japanese breakfast). Tea consisted of a choice of non-alcoholic beverages (including smoothies!) along with a three tiered tray of a varying selection of sandwiches, cakes, and scones. The cocktails selection was fairly lengthy and included not just beer and wine but a fairly extensive selection of mixed drinks as well (and smoothies!). Drinks were served with a spicy cracker as well as a daily selection of tapas, like the snacks you may find in a typical lounge. For those of us used to the Marriott program where Resort=No Status, the lounge service made the stay.


Tea time at the Conrad Suites lounge


View of Conrad Suite’s pool and lounge

gba

GM Chedi Club Tanah Gajah

I wasn’t sure where to stay in Ubud, there aren’t any places to redeem points and I wasn’t at all familiar with the area. After a fair amount of online research, I spotted a suggestion for the Chedi Club—a property that would typically be out of my price range—but a well-timed online sale (combined with a mild disregard for budget on the theory that prior hotels would be paid for with points) I settled on the GM Chedi Club Tanah Gajah

Now this isn’t your typical suburban Hilton, to put it mildly. The property consists of 20 villas ranging from modest one bedroom suites to larger, standalone accommodations with swimming pools and spa treatment facilities. Here’s a map of the property:



While the bedroom part of our villa was pleasant, the bathroom was especially unique in that it was open to the elements (but had a roof) so that you could sit in the bath tub during a thunderstorm, or enjoy the luxurious waterfall shower on a hot day (my fiancee’s favorite feature was the large basin of water and coconut ladle that could be used in lieu of, or in addition to, the more traditional shower).


Interior of our villa, facing the living room area


interior of our villa, facing the bed


Outdoor bathroom (note the roof edge)


As a “club” hotel, even guests in the entry-level rooms receive:

• Welcome drink and cold towel upon arrival
• Daily newspaper and seasonal selection of fresh fruits in your suite or villa
• Daily American breakfast in your suite, villa or The Restaurant
• Laundry service up to six pieces per person per day (excluding dry cleaning)
• Complimentary minibar with well-stocked alcoholic selection (refreshed once daily)
• Complimentary daily afternoon tea from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm in your suite, villa, The Bird Lounge, The Pool Pavilion or The Club Lounge
• Complimentary daily sunset cocktails from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm in the suite, villa, The Bird Lounge, The Pool Pavilion or The Club Lounge
• Return airport transfers with private car
• Scheduled private car service to/from Ubud Centre
• Complimentary and unlimited access to the gym, yoga studio and tennis court
• Complimentary access to Internet with Wi-Fi which is available in your suite or villa, public areas and private car


Complimentary mini-bar


Complimentary whiskey and vodka

Furthermore, each villa has its own butler who provides personal and personalized service. Now I’d stayed at some hotels that claimed to have a butler service before (for example, for packing and unpacking), but this was different. Our butler met us when we arrived at the property and was the go-to for all our interactions with the hotel: she checked us in, escorted us to our room, provided recommendations on activities, booked tours, delivered room service, called in the morning to wake us up and cleaned our villa.


Lobby of the GM Cheddi Club


Infinity pool at the GM Cheddi Club


Walking up to the restaurant in the rice paddies

But the highlight of the service our butler provided was a walking tour through the rice patties surrounding the hotel. As we walked, she explained how rice is grown and harvested, how water is allotted to various growers, and how hard farmers work to tend their crop.

The hotel’s restaurant jutted out into the rice patties and provided 270 degree views of the surrounding fields. I’m not sure I’ve ever looked so forward to waking up as I did here, knowing the spectacular views that awaited at breakfast (the food, including fresh squeezed fruits juices, home baked muffins and pastry, and near-flawless western and Indonesian mains, was pretty good too!)


Restaurant in the rice paddies



Breakfast with a view

If you can stand staying at a hotel without a points program, stay at the Chedi Club!

gba

January 11, 2012
Thai Airways 432, DPS-BKK
A340-600, HS-TNA
Depart: 4:10pm
Arrive: 7:25pm
Duration: 4:15
Seat: 2J


All good vacations must come to an end, but fortunately we had some good flights home to soften the return to normalcy. The first flight was actually a bit of a fluke, originally booked on an A330, Thai switched the aircraft to an A340 a few weeks before but continued to sell only two classes and we were able to request, and receive, seat assignments in the first class cabin at check-in despite being booked in business class. Also, at check-in, the agent was reasonably un-phased when the printer spit out two bag tags per piece in order to accommodate our long itinerary: DPS-BKK-BRU-FRA-SEA.

After check-in we headed upstairs to pay our departure tax, then be checked to ensure we paid our departure tax (I guess that’s one way to prevent corruption…), then go through passport control. Despite a few seemingly redundant layers of bureaucracy, there weren’t any queues and we found ourselves in the lounge more than two hours before our scheduled departure time (despite my saying that I liked to cut flights close, our butler, probably wisely, had insisted that we allow two hours to get to the airport in the event of traffic).

The lounge itself was spacious and had a porch with a bit of a view over the runways, but food selections were meager, the wifi was not complimentary, and my attention span was a bit short. After sitting for a while, we wandered through the duty free areas of the airport, which was much larger than I anticipated, and made a last minute purchase of some Seaweed Pringles to try at a later date (travel tip: the Circle K is much cheaper than the other stores in the airport).

As soon as our gate opened for boarding, we made our way in that direction, cleared security, and had another 10-15 minutes to wait in the fairly drab gate area before boarding commenced. Everyone boarded through 1L today although it wasn’t a particularly full flight so I can’t complain too much about foot traffic. We were directed to the two first class seats on the right side in the second row and quickly stowed our belonging and marveled about our fortunate upgrade.


Thai A340 first class

As boarding continued, we were offered a choice of water, juice, or iced tea followed by a hot towel. A bit later, amenity kits were distributed, which was a nice touch on a sub-four hour flight. The kits were the same as we’d received on our FRA-BKK flight on the outbound, and perhaps the one aspect of the soft product where Thai clearly exceeded Cathay Pacific (who did not offer a kit on the longer HKG-DPS leg).


Iced tea and seat controls

Menus were distributed and meal orders were taken while we were still parked at the gate and, with the light load, we were able to close up the doors and push back about 10 minutes early. We taxied out to the runway behind the Cathay 777 to HKG. After a slow taxi, we took off to the west after a fairly short roll evident of a long haul aircraft on a relatively short route with a fairly light load…I almost forgot I was on an A340 the way we shot skyward.

Thai’s dinner menu out of Bali was as follows:

Hot Saovry
Chicken Mataba, Cucumber and Chilli Salad

First Course
Marinated King Prawn, Grilled Scallop
Stuffed Calamari, Vegetables Tamago

Salad
Mixed Green Salad with Italian Dressing

Main Course
Lamb Kofta
Croquette Potatoes, Ratatouille
or
Grilled Fish and Shiitake Mushroom with Soy Sauce
Fried Egg Noodles with Vegetables, Sauteed Carrot, Broccoli
or
Braised Chicken Gulai
Steamed Rice, Sauteed Pak-choy
or
Tortellini with Cheese, Prawn Sauce
Buttered Broccoli

Assorted Bread, Butter
Assorted Cheese/Fresh Fruits

Dessert
Tiramisu Cake
Tea, Coffee
Espresso, Cappuccino


Updated January TG C drink menu

As we climbed, the seatbelt sign was quickly turned off and the crew passed out bowls of cashews. The drink service was briefly delayed due to some slight turbulence and beverages were served a bit later, at the same time as the “hot savory”


Go to Zam Zam in Singapore for real Murtabak

This was soon followed by a rather un-impressive salad and appetizer, along with the always appreciated warm garlic bread.


The tray table was huge!

The chicken entrée that followed was probably the high-point of the meal, although the bok choy didn’t hold up particularly well in the airplane ovens.


Chicken Gulai in the sky

Once dinner trays were cleared, the fruit and cheese cart came through and flight attendants served up decent portions of both to order. Unlike on BKK-HKG, the fruit and cheese were not pre-plated.


<insert witty caption here>

The meal concluded with a dessert which sounded and looked better than it tasted; it wasn’t bad, but wasn’t any better than ok. Dessert was served with coffee or tea and followed a bit too quickly by a hot towel.


Did I get a shot of Baileys?

Compared with other Asian airlines, Thai doesn’t have the best reputation for inflight service and, on this flight especially, the crew seemed both disorganized and disinterested. Following the somewhat rushed, but formulaic meal service, the crew turned off the lights, retreated to the galleys, and remained hidden for the rest of the flight.

Since our flight out of Bangkok wouldn’t be leaving until after 1am Bali time, I was hoping to try and get a little bit of sleep. But, I’d made the mistake of watching a Korean movie about a man who takes lessons in flattery and got sucked in to a fairly predictable plot, and by the time the movie ended we were only about an hour out of Bangkok. I reclined the seat and tried it out in the sleeping position, it was certainly comfortable enough, although was fairly lacking in privacy compared to the latest generation of First Class Seats.

We had a bit of a hold on our approach to Bangkok but with our early start out of Bali landed from the north just about on-time but had a slow, lengthy taxi to C2 and pulled in a couple of minutes behind schedule. Upon deplaning we were met by an agent holding a sign with our names. She drove us in a buggy approximately 100 feet to transit security (I was hoping for a tuk tuk-type experience weaving in and out of traffic but this trip couldn’t have been shorter), we went up the escalator, through security, and followed our driver to Thai’s Royal First Lounge.

gba

January 12, 2012
Thai Airways 934, BKK-BRU
777-300, HS-TKH
Depart: 12:30am
Arrive: 7:00am
Duration: 12:30
Seat: 2D


Thai’s ground services in Bangkok have a great reputation on these forums and they lived up to their reputation. As we were being welcomed into the lounge we inquired about the possibility of spa treatments and, after a quick phone call, we were being re-directed across the way to the spa so that we could have our treatments “before it got busy.”

We quickly signed the release forms and were taken to separate treatment rooms for Thai’s signature full body massage. Unlike the business class side of the spa, the first class treatment rooms have private showers for refreshing before and/or after your treatment, as well as robes, towels, lotions, and spa underwear.

Travel tip: fly Thai First Class out of Bangkok—the massage was fabulous.

My fiancée and I finished our treatments minutes apart and after a cup of tea in the recovery room made our way back across the corridor to the First Class Lounge. The disadvantage to avoiding a wait for our massages was that we had a three and a half hour wait before our departure. Also, in the time we were in the spa the lounge had filled and there were no “living rooms” available for us to wait in. That said, we were led to a reasonably low-traffic space in the main lounge area by a friendly attendant and presented iPads with menus. We ordered drinks and a couple of snacks. The service in the lounge was friendly and attentive and there were plenty of servers to take additional drink and snack orders during our stay.

By 11:30 in the evening the lounge started to clear out and by midnight it was virtually deserted. Although I knew that Thai generally provided escorts from the lounge to the gate, I started to worry that we may have been forgotten but was assured by the front desk that our time would come. Finally, about 12:20 (10 minutes before departure!) the four of us who would be up front for the flight to Brussels were collected and escorted (without a buggy ) to gate C8. My fiancée and I were the last to board, and upon passing through the scanners the gate agent shifted us from row 1 to row 2, I think due to seat maintenance issues, but I wasn’t quite clear.

Thai’s first class on the leased Jet Airways 777 was a cut above any hard product I’d flown previously. The suites were huge, had giant HD screens, sliding doors, their own closets, and a control panel for seat controls bigger than some airline’s IFE displays. That said, I’m not sure how happy Jet Airways will be when Thai returns the aircraft as there were many clear signs of wear from scratches on the wood paneling to “inop” stickers on certain seat controls.


View of suites in row 1 on the 777

Walking in through 1L, we were shown to our seats and offered a choice of beverages. The service continued with several rounds of items delivered by the crew working up front including a hot towel, pajamas, and a choice of newspapers. Tumi-branded amenity kit, headphones, slippers (but, interestingly, no socks), pillows, a blanket, as well as a bag containing a mattress/cushion were already at the seat. Menus were distributed as we taxied out to the runway.

Our 777 roared down the runway to the south and, following a big right turn after takeoff, we were Brussels-bound. Quickly the crew sprang into action taking meal and drink orders but a fair amount of turbulence on our climb and initial cruise delayed the start of service until about an hour after takeoff. During this time, my fiancée, perhaps wisely, reclined her seat, put on her eye mask, and conked out (it was nearly 3am on our body clocks), but if I did that, I wouldn’t have anything to write about in this trip report, would I?

Let’s see what she missed…

TG 934 F – MENU A: JANUARY 2013

First Serving
White Sturgeon Caviar with Garnitures

First Course
Duck Liver of Two Pepper

Main Course
Fried Tiger Prawn with Garlic and Peppercorn Sauce
Steamed Hom Mali Rice
Stir-fried Wood Ear Mushroom with Egg, Chilli, Spring Onion
or
Carbonnade Flamande
Mashed Potatoes, Braised Carrot
or
Mushroom and Ricotta Cannelloni with Tomato and Italian Basil Jam
Grilled Marinated Capsicum with Olive Oil
or
Double Boiled Chicken Consommé scented with Port Wine
Crostini with Tomato and Herb Pesto

Assorted Bread/Butter
Assorted Cheese/Fresh Fruits

Dessert
Duo of Vanilla and Chocolate Ice Cream
Tea, Coffee, Espresso, Cappuccino

ANYTIME CUISINE

Cookies
Cinnamon Cookies

Potato Chips

Lindt Swiss Thins Dark Chocolate

Noodle Set
Rice Vermicelli Noodle Soup with Braised Pork


First class wine list

Once the bumps ended, the service began promptly with the caviar service accompanied by a personal bread basket. I don’t eat much caviar in my “ground” life, but I sure enjoy it in the air!


Hooray for First Class!

I wasn’t expecting to like the appetizer, and was a bit surprised to see that there was neither a hot starter, nor a salad, nor any choices at all (other than “take it or leave it”), offered in the front cabin. That said, I found the duck liver surprisingly tasty, although perhaps it, in fact, wasn’t very good and my pallet is simply unrefined.


Don’t trust the picture, trust me, it was tasty

One other “first” for me on this flight was Dom Perignon. No, I didn’t manage to consume eight bottles, although I think between the two of us drinking we got through more than one. I know I had more than I anticipated I would, given the late hour, and managed to stay awake for the whole meal, so I’ll take my small victories where I can get them!

Following the “eat the airline’s home food” strategy worked well on this flight, the shrimp curry was exceedingly tasty and probably the best flavored dish I’ve had on an airplane. The shrimp themselves were fairly large but a tad shrimpier tasting than would be ideal. That said, the sauce was tasty enough that I’d definitely order it again given the opportunity.


One last taste of Southeast Asia

The crew on this leg was much-improved over our DPS-BKK flight. Only two of us stayed awaked through the dinner service and the crew did a great job pacing the service to our particular preferences. For example, I ate somewhat faster and the crew rolled out the cheese cart for my cheese course, rolled it back to the galley, then came back out with it a bit later when he was ready.


Cheese cut to order

The fruit was fresh tasting and the cheese itself was good although I’d wish they’d had a little more variety of taste. I don’t mind one veined cheese, but two on a plate that size seemed excessive. The final course was ice cream, definitely the least “first class” part of the service. While the presentation was nice, I’d have rather had a United sundae.


At least they put the ice cream in chocolate cups

The service concluded with a box of Lindt chocolates and an invitation to “take as many as you’d like” followed all-too-quickly by a hot towel. And hot towels and chocolate don’t mix. By this point, I was fairly exhausted so I asked that my bed be made up, put in my ear plugs, put on my eye mask, and tried to get some shut eye.

Although the bed is both plenty wide and plenty long, I felt, even with the mattress pad, that it was fairly firm, and that there seemed to be an awkward gap between where the seat part met the footrest. To remedy the situation, as well as mitigate the all-too-common problem of overly warm aircraft cabins, I slept on top of the mattress, as well as the blanket. Also, I tried putting my head at the nose end of the bed so that it was slightly higher than my feet.

Our route took us across northern India before turning almost due north (avoiding Iran/Iraq?) for a bit then back to a more westerly heading north of the Caspian Sea. I managed about five hours of sleep and woke up around 3.5 hours out of Brussels. I asked a flight attendant for a cup of tea, and sipped on it while browsing through the IFE selection. While the screen was impressive, the selection wasn’t any better than we’d had on our other Thai flights.

Around 2.5 hours out of Brussels a flight attendant asked if I’d like breakfast. I probably should’ve waited a bit longer but others in the cabin had already started so I figured I might as well. The options were as follows:

Second Serving

First Course
Fresh Fruits
Plain Yoghurt, Fruit Yogurt
Cereals
Fruit Juice, Raspberry Yoghurt and Honey Smoothie

Main Course
Poached Egg on Toasted Brioche Bread with Mornay Sauce
Grilled Back Bacon, Pork and Cheese Sausage
Panache of Mushroom in Herb Cream Sauce
or
Spanish Omelette
Pork and Cheese Sausage, Grilled Back Bacon
Pommes Paillasson
Or
Cold Cuts Platter
(Easter/Black Forest Ham, Salami, Fontina Cheese)

Assorted Bread, Butter, Jam, Honey
Tea, Coffee, Chocolate Malt

The service began with a fruit plate (curiously, the grapefruit was wrapped in plastic), a cup of yogurt, and a bread basket.


Unwrap before eating

As I’ve mentioned, I don’t think western breakfasts mix well with airplanes so instead of one of the options on the breakfast menu I asked for the pork noodle soup from the snack menu. Although it initially was served a tad tepid for my tastes, once reheated it hit the spot.


Soup for breakfast!

I began watching Mission Impossible 3 towards the end of breakfast and, embarrassingly, was sufficiently engrossed that I hadn’t even realized we’d begun our decent and, after a short pause to change out of my pajamas when the “prepare for landing” announcement was made, was still watching when our wheels hit the ground in Brussels.

gba

January 12, 2012
Lufthansa 1005, BRU-FRA
A320, D-AIQM
Depart: 8:20am
Arrive: 9:25am
Duration: 1:05
Seat: 5F


I was originally booked to fly BRU-IAD-SEA in United Global First with a five hour layover in Brussels but when space opened up on Lufthansa’s FRA-SEA nonstop, even if it was only in business, I decided I’d rather save some time and avoid the chaos that is customs at Dulles and quickly rerouted our return. Unfortunately, Lufthansa First Class space never materialized so, while we were travelling on a first class award on the return, we had to rough it in business class.

I’d only been through Brussels Airport before when departing internationally and hadn’t been particularly impressed. After making our way through customs, transit security, and the tunnel connecting the international and Schengen piers we found ourselves in a somewhat more pleasant terminal than I’d been in before.

Although neither Thai Airways in Denpasar nor the Brussels Airlines service desk at BRU was able to print our boarding passes for our Lufthansa flight, with a Star Gold card and a Thai ticket stub we were welcomed in to the Brussels Airlines Schengen lounge. When the gate for our flight opened about 45 minutes before departure, we left the lounge and the Lufthansa agent issued boarding passes for our flights to Frankfurt and on to Seattle.

Our aircraft arrived from Frankfurt on-time and was quickly turned around. Boarding began about 25 minutes before departure. Although our A320 seemed fairly busy, we were still able to close the door a few minutes early. After a long taxi seemingly from one side of the airport to the other, we took-off to the west, made a big U turn, and, in the pilots word went “directly to Frankfurt”

A scheduled flight time of one hour means no more than 45 minutes in the air but Lufthansa still manages a surprisingly decent breakfast service consisting of Movenpick yogurt, a roll with ham and cheese, and a mini-pound cake. The highlight was definitely the yogurt, which was good enough that I was tempted to go out and buy some when I got home.


Continental breakfast

The engines were throttling back for decent before we’d even got our breakfast but this didn’t stop the crew from offering both drinks and refills before preparing for landing. For the second time on the trip, in typical Frankfurt fashion, we landed to the east, taxied all the way across the airport to a remote stand west of the main terminal, then had a long bus ride to the arrival area below the B gates.

gba

January 12, 2012
Lufthansa 490, FRA-SEA
A330-300, D-AIKE
Depart: 10:20am
Arrive: 11:55am
Duration: 10:35
Seat: 14J


By the time we got off the bus, we had less than an hour before our connecting flight departed and we needed to walk up from the bus area, down into the tunnel, across to the A gates, through passport control, only to find that our departure would be from a bus gate as well.

I don’t like bus rides, but I don’t miss jet bridges. It’s always cool to be able to see your home for the next 10 hours from the ground. With passengers arriving by bus, we had our choice of boarding through 1L or 2L; we opted to walk through first class to our seats in the middle of the main business class cabin. When we arrived at our seats, we found not just the standard pillow and blanket but also a bottle of water and amenity kit already tucked into the appropriate storage areas.

Once we were seated, flight attendants came through the cabin offering water, oj, and champagne. We pushed off the stand on-time and quickly took-off to the east before making a big left turn towards the northwest. Following the standard post-take off announcements, the crew distributed menus, followed by hot towels and table cloths. Soon the beverage cart was rolling through the aisle and I had a bitter lemon which was served with a package of yummy mango-vanilla flavored cashews and perused the lunch options:
LH 438, 440, 452, 454, 456, 458, 490, 498, 534, 542 01/13-02/13

Appetizers
Prawns with Potato Salad, Tomato Jelly and Avocado Cream

Stuffed Veal Involtini, Brussels Egg Salad and Belgian Mustard Sauce

Mixed Winter Leaf Salad with Brown Mushrooms, Bell Pepper and Cherry Tomato with Vinaigrette Dressing

Main Courses
Salmon Trout in Vegetable and Mushroom Stock with boiled Potatoes

Belgian Beef Goulash in Chocolate and Beer Sauce with mashed Celery and caramelized Apple Wedges

Your further choice in January:
Pasta Roulade filled with Ricotta on Lemon Sauce

Your further choice in February:
Ravioli with Cheese Cream accompanied by Leaf Spinach and Butter Sauce

Cheese and Dessert

Morbier, Yogurt Cheese and ashed Goat Cheese presented with Fig and Walnut Chutney, Apricot Slices

Chocolate and Coffee Cream, Pear Compote and Caramel Mousse

Fresh Fruit Salad

The appetizer cart came through the cabin from back to front accompanied by drink refills and a bread basket. Unlike Thai first class, there was a choice of appetizers, but unlike Thai business class a salad was simply one of the choices, not an additional course. The appetizer was tasty, if a bit minimalist, and the olive bread definitely stole the show.


LH should sell that bread on the ground

Entrees were served from the cart from the back of the cabin to the front after appetizer plates were cleared. I like beef and I like chocolate so I opted for the goulash which, although you might not be able to tell from the picture, was pretty tasty, and the flight attendants offered extra sauce to those wished.


It’s goulash, it’s not supposed to be pretty

Once everyone had finished their main course, the fruit/cheese/dessert cart came through the cabin. I think you’re only supposed to pick one but I said “please” and got both a nice plate of cheese and a decent dessert along with a piece of Belgian milk chocolate. The meal service concluded with tea or coffee.


Just looking at the picture, I’d think this could pass for F food

After eating, I reclined the seat and tried to watch a movie but the IFE at my seat kept crashing and resetting. Fortunately there were open seats in the cabin so we could hop across the aisle and watch a film…and get an additional water bottle. Lufthansa’s seat doesn’t have the best reputation although it was good enough for lounging during a daylight flight, and it wasn’t as angled as other “angled lie-flat” seats I’ve had, to me the whole contraption seemed a bit plastic and rickety.


LH C seat controls, foot well, and screen

About 4.5 hours out of Seattle, the carts rolled through the cabin with the midflight snack which was a choice of a ham or cheese wrap. Given the amount of food Lufthansa serves for both the main and second service, this wasn’t at all necessary and the wrap itself was quite forgettable.


The cardboard box was the best part

Our route took us way up north to get to Seattle. Out of Frankfurt, we flew north of Amsterdam, well North of Iceland, and across the top of Hudson Bay before turning southwest towards Seattle. After several recent flights from the east coast to Europe, I’d lost an appreciation for how far north flights to the west coast go!

The second service began an hour and a half before landing in Seattle with hot towels. The meal itself was served all at once on a tray, along with a choice of bread from the basket. The snack cart was followed immediately by a beverage cart. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it was reasonably tasty, fresh and refreshing.

Soup & Salad

Creamy Mushroom Soup with Shiitake Mushrooms and Herbs

Mixed Leaf Salad with fried corn-fed Poulard, Apple and Celery, boiled Egg, Cherry Tomato, Zucchini and Red Radish, presented with French Dressing

Dessert
Chocolate and Raspberry Cake


My last airplane meal for a long, long time

Our decent towards Seattle began about 30 minutes before landing as we flew over the Canadian Rockies. After crossing the U.S./Canada border we flew almost due south, over downtown Seattle, and landed on 16L fifteen minutes ahead of schedule.


Just beginning our decent

Ten flight, five airlines, and 28,798 miles since we’d left SeaTac, we were home, and if you’ve made it this far through the report, I’m sure you understand how we felt!

Thanks for reading!

gba

SanDiego1K

Great report and beautiful pictures. I really enjoyed seeing the different business class products. And I particularly enjoyed the Bali hotel reviews. I was very taken with the rice paddy view from the restaurant at the Chedi Club.