IAMORGAN

Still a work in progress but there seems to be a trend of posting these to FT before finished - so here's mine!

I'm in KL until next Sunday so will continue to update.

I don't do photos - I like text (as you can tell...) so if you have a spare few hours, do enjoy.

Introduction

This trip was many months in the planning. I had taken advantage of the ex-DUB sale fares and booked a trip DUB-LHR-KUL-LHR-DUB. I had previously booked an ex-DUB fare to HKG involving a stop in SIN and more TPs but as my mum died earlier this year, had to cancel it. I was therefore pleased to see the sale come back and, as KUL (unlike HKG) is a city I have never previously visited, I thought it would be nice to give it a try.

I am a BA GCH as a result of a work placement for 6 months to DOH (possibly the only benefit to come out of that placement - the phrase “hospital pass” springs to mind) and, as a result of FT, I have become accustomed to flying J or better to the extent now where the thought of anything more than an hour in Y causes me to question how much I actually need / want to make the trip…an expensive addiction and one for which airline and travel marketers over the world will be thanking their lucky stars (or, more likely, patting themselves on the back for a job well done - and probably quite rightly too, when you think about it for a moment).

As I live in Birmingham, I needed to get myself out to Dublin. I also only had 6 days of annual leave left to use so was slightly restricted. I originally booked a FR (shudder) ticket BHX-DUB on Saturday AM (the first flight out) to connect with the 1300 BA flight back to LHR. However, I became nervous about this on three fronts: (a) the fact that the flight was FR; (b) the fact that it was on a Saturday morning and the risk of a misconnect; and (c) the fact I’d have to get up at the crack of dawn, spend all day hanging around, to then have a 13 hour overnight flight to KUL - this was meant to be a holiday, not a military endurance test! I had booked a FR flex ticket for about Ł59 (I think they call it Ryanair Business or something) - a Ryanair business class ticket…anyway, one of the perks of this ticket is unlimited fare difference changes - i.e. it is a fully flexible ticket, to all intents and purposes. I was therefore able to amend this ticket to have me going to DUB on Friday 11 September at 20:25. However, my concern was then that I would need to be away from work bang on time on the Friday (17:30) and this isn’t something that can in any way be assured. I then took a trip to Paris with AF with whom (prior to the AZ status match programme) I had no status and I spent 45 minutes waiting to check in and the entire journey was pretty poor. I had visions of this with Ryanair and didn’t think it was what I needed after a busy week’s work. So I booked myself on the earlier Are Lingus flight that departed at 19:55….because that’s logical, right…

This holiday was designed to be a 'thinking' holiday - had a busy first year as a NQ solicitor, had to help my dad out with selling the family home and moving (he phoned me one day to say "I'm selling the house", a week later he had a purchaser and completion took place in September - so all very fast). I was also coming to the realisation that my mum did EVERYTHING relating to the house - he couldn't work the heating, in his new house he told me the wifi was broken (it wasn't switched on) the boiler didn't work (he needed to read the instructions) and the plumber hadn't been around in spite of chasing. To set this in context, he was renting somewhere rural for a bit to see whether he liked it before buying. As a young person I am consoled to the fact that I am not going to be able to buy anywhere until I'm about 30 - that's my target. I could sacrifice a lot and save but I value other things - travel, having a good time, and so on, over having my 'own' place, for now. I am used to renting and know the score. My dad had a lot of learning to do! So I'd had a week where, in addition to trying to hand over all of my files to my non0-existent team (we're going through quite a lot of change at work right now which means everybody is either on maternity leave or has left), I had also had to spend quite a lot of time on the phone to Savills to chase various things, and had also had to get over to Burton a few times in the week to help with things - so by Friday I was ready for this holiday. I had no particular desire to visit Malaysia - it was in the ex-DUB BA sale, was somewhere new, and the IC had reasonable prices and looked like it had a good Club lounge - so I intended, basically, to go there, lounge about the hotel, catch up on sleep, maybe watch some films, do a bit of shopping / swimming and then come back re-energised.

Departure day came and my boss was actually in a very good mood given that one of her team was going off on maternity leave that day, our team trainee moved to a new team that day, an Associate in the team had just left the firm and that I was now buggering off on holiday leaving her and the new trainee on their own for the following week. She was so chilled that, because she “had a party on Sunday” to get ready for, she left the office at 4:30 on Friday (oh to be a Partner…) To be fair, we have all had a pretty horrific year as a team with a major piece of litigation meaning that nobody could take time off over the summer and many late nights, weekends etc. So I managed to get away from the office a whole 15 minutes early at 17:15. I had used the Virgin Trains app to book a mobile ticket for the 10 minute hop from Birmingham New St to Birmingham International station - I had been planning to take an Uber (yes they do have them in the regions - even Uber Exec - I think they have one uber Exec covering the whole of Brum as there is never one available) but I figured at that time and given that the entirety of central Birmingham is currently a building site for no other reason than reinstalling the tram lines the council took out 20 years previously and a new development called Paradise Forum which I really should know all about working in the commercial property sector but I don’t. Anyway, i digress, I had booked a mobile ticket because it would be quicker. New Street station has allegedly been revamped. Much of the station was closed / cordoned off for about the past 3 years whilst all of this work was underway. It was launched late last year…but still isn’t finished. The result is that whoever designed it thought it would be a good idea to move the ticket machines to the centre of the station (there are now 5 entrances) meaning that there is a slightly comedic moment where people herding from all 5 entrances congeal. And it takes about 10 minutes to get to a train because you then have to walk to either end of the station to actually get to the platform. So, mobile ticket. Which nobody checked at any point of the journey. Given it was the 17:30 from Birmingham to London, I knew it would be busy and I didn't want to have to deal with droves of people, so I booked First Class - it only cost Ł4.30 with my 16-25 Railcard and as people in the regions are too tight to travel First Class I knew it would be empty. Virgin put 11 coach trains on this route, 4 of which are First - my coach had about 10 people in it, which was ideal as it was serene as a peak time train can be. I was relaxed as I had plenty of time for my flight and knew I'd even have time to relax in the lounge beforehand.

roadwarrier

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IAMORGAN

2. Birmingham to Dublin on Aer Lingus

Airbus A320-214
EI-DVM (Retro Livery)
Scheduled Departure 19:55
Actual Departure 20:44
Scheduled Arrival 20:50
Actual Arrival 21:50
Seat 12A (Overwing emergency exit)

I must say that I am a secret fan of Birmingham Airport these days. I left my desk at 17:15 and by 18:00 I was in the No 1 Traveller lounge at the airport, having walked 10 minutes to the station, caught the “slightly delayed” 17:30 Virgin Trains service and checked in my bag (I can travel light but I can’t do without my shaving foam, deodorant, EDT, after shave…all of which are over 100mls). There is a sky train from the railway station to the airport, which takes about 2 minutes. I was already in relaxed holiday mode and there was a distinct ‘end of the week’ feeling at the airport, with business people looking fairly relaxed and the usual majority of Thomson / Thomas Cook passengers off on their holiday. In any event, there was no queue at the three Are Lingus desks. There was one other person there who was kicking off massively (to the extent that I actually looked around me to see where the TV cameras were) at having to pay to check his oversized hand luggage in “I knew Ryanair were bad but I didn’t expect this from Aer Lingus - why are you charging me double?” His complaint seemed to be that (a) his bag would fit in the overhead locker even though it was well outside the size in the gauge and (b) he couldn’t pay the online rate. The Swissport handling agent probably didn’t toe the party line completely when she said in best black country “well, look, the airline has to make money some way don’t they. Don’t blame me mate I agree with you it’s a total rip off but them’s the rules”.

Security at Birmingham took about 1 minute and was very friendly, with plenty of lanes open. There is a fast track but I didn’t have access and there was no need for it. Once through security and duty free (you have to walk through this to get to the main shopping area I mean departures lounge) I went to the no 1 traveller lounge as I wanted to try it with my Airport Angel card (which I get through my Barclays bank account). I stood at the desk for a few minutes but nobody came over and plenty of staff were milling around doing drinks / food, so I just walked in - nobody challenged me! The lounge was packed, and it was full of typical leisure travellers loading up on booze. I stayed about 5 minutes and left because, whilst the lounge spec was actually rather good, it was too crowded (it makes GF on a Monday morning seem tame) and too loud. I was in smart casual clothes (an impromptu dress down day at work to thank for not being in a suit) and I felt out of place and couldn’t find anywhere decent to sit. I went to the much less glamorous Aspire by Servisair lounge, where I was checked in by staff. That was always my usual haunt at BHX and I won’t bother with No 1 again at BHX. It has poor food and drink offerings but I just wanted somewhere QUIET to wait away from the hubbub of the departure lounge. It also has quite good views over the apron.

My Aer Lingus flight was delayed inbound, so I tracked it on Flight Radar - the departures board said “Gate opens in 5 minutes” - which it had done for about 30 minutes. I did pop out of the lounge to stock up on tropical strength insect spray, and some other “emergency” pharmaceuticals just in case (as KUL was new to me and I had had a few people saying to me to avoid salad in the hotel, not drink tap water and so on, which was rather putting me off to be honest). I was also meeting a colleague’s relatives whilst over there to go to the Pasar Malam (night market) and I had then thought “oh my God I could get typhoid”. Quite why I thought Boots own brand ammonium would help me in that situation I don’t know, but there you go.

As soon as the gate number was displayed, about 100 people positively ran towards the gate for some reason. They then proceeded to form a positively orderly queue in front of the gate, leaving all of the seats free. This was in spite of the fact that the inbound aircraft (in an Are Lingus retro livery) was quite clearly still disembarking via steps - where they thought they were going or what they thought they were achieving by doing this, I don’t know. I think people who don’t travel very often just find the entire experience perplexing and stressful and can’t relax whilst waiting for the flight - I have only recently learned my own routines and to relax properly before a flight instead of constantly checking flight status!

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Anyway, I walked over to the window and watched the captain do his walk around check and other preparations take place. I headed back to the gate when I heard the gate phone ring. A benefit of having an emergency exit row seat was that the price includes priority boarding, so I was able to board before the queue of people standing at the gate. Steps were attached to the front and rear, but seeing as I was in 12A (in the centre) and experience has taught me that most people board from the front irrespective of seat number, I thought it would be quicker to go with the flow than the one who is walking back to front against the boarding passengers. They really should print on the boarding pass “use rear steps” or “use front steps” to try to enforce this / make an announcement / remind people when scanning their BP!

Warmly welcomed onboard by the SCCM and I could tell that we had a good, experienced crew. Very chatty male CC member standing by the exits welcoming people on board, helping with bags and generally being proactive in getting the cabin secure for departure. He also did a quick exit briefing. Luck would have it the B seat was free, so in addition to loads of extra legroom, I also had a free middle seat - this is more space than in Club Europe - BA take note! Seat was comfortable leather and aircraft delivered fairly recently according to flight radar 24.

The Aer Lingus pre-departures make me smile “Cabin crew check all doors closed” is one of my favourites! I wonder whether this was introduced following some sort of incident where a CC member strapped themselves in next to an open, armed, door…how can you arm a door if it isn’t closed?! They also then have a PA saying “Cabin crew to stations for cabin secure check”.

Service was BOB, I didn’t partake, but it was undertaken promptly and with smiles all round. Flight was smooth and whilst a little blustery, for Dublin, it was nothing special. It was raining so I was glad to have packed an umbrella.

Upon arrival, I went through passport control - the guy just looked to see that I had a passport but didn’t examine it. I never really get this - I thought it was a common travel area so passports were not required. I think we should make all Ireland arrivals join the queue at LHR for the UK Border as I do kind of object to having to show this! Although it was very quick!

Bags were off fairly quickly and I was on the way to the Crowne Plaza shuttle bus - the instructions told me to walk along the walkway following signs for coach park, Area 14 “Cross the pedestrian road crossings continuing to follow the signs for Area 14/CoachPark. You will see a church on the right hand side. The coach park is located behind the church.”

This tickled me as it seemed so very Irish to refer to landmarks such as a church! Anyway, I stood under the shelter looking at the coach park and thinking to myself that the CP shuttle had five minutes to show up or I was getting a taxi! Another lady wanted to know where the bus to somewhere or other was and I googled it for her. One benefit of being on the network 3 is that Ireland is a “Feel at home” destination so my data allowance was usable in Ireland (as well as France and some other random countries).

The bus came speeding past me so no idea where it was parked but I stuck my hand out and he stopped. I was the only one on the bus and the journey took about 10 minutes maximum.

3. Crowne Plaza Dublin Northwood - re-branded between booking and arrival as Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport

I arrived at about 22:30 and the bar area was bustling. It felt like a warm and welcoming lobby. The guy who checked me in was going through the motions and I was welcomed as a “Platinum” member. I know status is a bit of an ego massager but I am a Spire Elite member of IHG Rewards. This status has been live for about 2 months now (it’s a new status level, notionally above Platinum, requiring 75 nights or 75,000 points). In addition to having received about 10 e-mails from IHG welcoming me to this level but not yet having received a membership card, the hotels seem oblivious to it - recognition has varied between “welcome as an IHG Rewards Cliub member” to platinum. I have only ever had my actual Spire status recognised ONCE - at the Hotel Indigo York, which opened pretty much at the same time as the new level. I had booked a club room and wasn’t upgraded (don’t expect anything from IHG Rewards as a Platinum as they never seem to upgrade you if you book an upgraded room - they have suites at this hotel which were available). I was given 600 points or a free drink, so I think my loyalty is worth about 50p to IHG. I really should change - if it weren’t for the Ambassador programme I would definitely jump ship.

Impressions of the room were slightly poor at first as there was what appeared to be a party going on in the room next to mine. I could hear the music as soon as I got off the lift on the Club level and it got progressively louder as I went along the corridor. Loud RnB music. I went into my room and closed the door. It was still audible but much reduced (good soundproofing) - I did consider going back to reception now as I had visions of midnight antics and door banging etc - but I frankly couldn’t be bothered and I also thought it unlikely that anyone staying at an airport CP would really be up late. As it happens, I heard someone come out of another room, bang on the door, remonstrate rather loudly with them followed by a hotel employee coming up about 5 minutes later, at which point the music was turned right down and to be fair to them, stayed that way. So it was no bother. I have stayed in a Premier Inn in Birmingham City Centre before where I have heard the hotel issue an ultimatum at 3AM to either stop the music or leave the hotel. On that occasion, I got a full refund. I was relieved as I didn’t need to be sleep deprived before a long day followed by a 13 hour overnight sector.

The room itself was large (I have become accustomed to Hotel Indigos which have a much reduced footprint requirement according to IHG brand standards - there is a manual online somewhere which shows IHG’s spec for each brand). Decoration was odd. I couldn’t work out whether it was just not recently renovated, or whether it was just designed by somebody with an odd sense of design!! Anyway, the bathroom had a separate bath and shower (a big plus), some sort of American branded amenity - what is it with Ireland and their love of all things American?! Flat screen TV and work desk with cheap-looking chair (but at least it was a proper work chair). I personally would NEVER allow a chair with wheels to go in a room with a carpet as I know what this can do to the carpet!

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I wasn't best pleased to see a Cisco IP phone on the desk - spooky resemblance to the phone on my desk back in Birmingham. Was tempted to cover it with a blanket.

Bed was comfy and I slept soundly. I also had a diet coke and sparkling water from the minibar. I always amaze people by my ability to sleep late - I set an alarm for 9:45AM and woke up at 9:43 so turned my alarm off. I was impressed to be in an airport hotel without any corridor noise.

Check out was with the same guy and there was a short queue - he was very efficient and for some reason wouldn’t take any money for the minibar consumption - maybe it’s a Club benefit (I didn’t visit the club so was quite pleased by this).

I have gone off Crowne Plaza in recent years. They seem to have a significant number of tired properties and most of them seem to rest on their laurels without trying very hard in my view. As stated before, the way in which IHG has handled the introduction of Spire has really annoyed me and most CPs, as full service hotels with multiple room categories could do a lot better if they wanted to. The CP London-St James used to be a decent property and this has now switched to Taj following renovation. I think IHG is in danger of going behind the curve in hotel development and they seem to have a delibertian approach to management of their franchises. The only saving graces are InterContinental hotels, which I think could stand on their own two feet without IHG and Hotel Indigo in Europe - I always stay at an Indigo property if I can as I’m fed up of red carpets, drab bathrooms with rusty fittings and mediocre service. At least Hotel Indigos, despite having shoebox rooms do have a degree of personality, tend to be recently renovated and have mod-cons such as reliable wifi, powerful showers and are located in places that I actually want to be.

I had considered staying at the IC Dublin (formerly the Four Seasons) but the price for the one night was either 50,000 IHG Rewards points or about EUR300 for the night, and I didn’t want to pay that much - Dublin is an expensive city but the whole purpose of the trip was to save money on a business class flight.

Shuttle bus appeared a few minutes after 11 and I got on with a First Officer for Lufthansa and a Canadian group of 4 flying AC to Toronto. They weren’t sure of their terminal, nor was the driver, so I informed them it was Terminal 1 at Dublin.

The shuttle stops at T2 first followed by T1 and drops you right outside departures at T2 or at the coach park for T1 but no big problem. It was a lovely fresh morning and I enjoyed the air. I had seen from Trip Advisor that the CP had a park outside of it, but I assumed it would be in the middle of a business park and the “park” would really be some brownfield land tarted up until they could turn it into an Amazon distribution centre, but the park actually looked really nice (then again, everything looks so much better in the sun!) - had I known I would have got up half an hour earlier and gone for a stroll…possibly.

IAMORGAN

4. Dublin to London

BA835
Scheduled Time of Departure 13:00
Actual Time of Departure 12:55
Scheduled Time of Arrival 14:25
Actual Time of Arrival 14:34
A319 G-EUOH
Seat 1A Club Europe

The BA check in area was immediately visible once in the departures area - there are quite a few flights now with LCY and LHR and there were I think 3 or 4 Traveller desks, plus 2 Club desks. There was no queue for Club and I was checked in quickly. Directions to the DAA lounge were given and I was told that I could use fast track security. This really was excellent - no queue at all and I was through within about 30 seconds. In fact, the only problem was that there was no preparation area and although I had taken my belt off and put it in my bag along with my wallet and phone, I still had to pause for a moment to pull my laptop out and remove my jacket - no biggie but I don’t like to stop at the security line and this struck me as needing a larger prep area.

Once through, I went straight to the DAA lounge - been here before so knew where it was. It is large but totally boring. There was some soggy-looking fruit salad and natural yoghurt in a concession to healthy eating, some sugary danish pastries and I think there may also have been cereal. I had a danish, a banana, a black coffee and a water whilst I waited.

Even BMI used to have a lounge at Dublin and, given the number of BA departures per day from Dublin, it would be great if BA could install a Galleries Club (or “British Airways Lounge” as they now seem to be branding them) in Dublin. I suspect (but have no inside information) that BA will be moving to Dublin Terminal 2 when they finally get hold of Aer Lingus. Whether EI will be re-joining OneWorld, I don’t know. It would be good if they did and they are going back upmarket again after Willie Walsh ruined or rescued them, depending upon your view. Dublin T1 is fine - there’s a nice looking pub by the BA gate and had I been travelling with somebody, that’s where I would have gone over the bland lounge to be honest.

Moved to the gate about 5 minutes after they announced boarding in the lounge and I arrived at the gate literally as they started priority boarding. This was done for Club Europe and Gold first and was enforced.

Boarded and was warmly welcomed by the Purser. I noticed that we had two Pursers on this flight (a common trend on Eurofleet these days - such a waste of talent and I will rue the day that BA’s legacy fleets get closed down as they are so polished, on the whole). Club on today’s flight was remarkably empty - row 1 was completely empty save for me in 1A, row 2 had 3 pax and row 3 had 2 pax, and that was it. We were 2 short in Club I heard and we left without the 2 allocated 1D an F (HBO and not in the lounge according to the dispatcher). A bit like with job interviews, I have a theory that you can tell how the flight is going to go in terms of service within about 7 seconds of boarding. Very good first impressions as the Purser was greeting everybody at the door, chatting to people and generally setting the tone for a professional yet relaxed flight to London. This seemed to trickle down to the rest of the crew who were also being nice to passengers. A little child fell over somehow on boarding and hit his head and the Purser took control straight away, asked his colleague to watch the door and helped the (presumably) mother with her 3 kids, baby stroller and hand luggage down to her seat, helped her get her stuff packed away and re-organised their seating so they were seated adjacent to one another. He then hung jackets (a lot of crew don’t bother these days as the wardrobes on some aircraft have been removed or not installed, I’m not sure which it is).

Many will know all about BA’s incident at Dublin last Christmas where a BA aircraft had a row with an ATCO for saying they were “ready” for departure when the cabin wasn't actually ready. A report was filed and BA changed their procedures. The crew on this flight had clearly got the memo as doors to auto was called as soon as the airbridge moved away, and the safety video started whilst on stand - the Purser also reminded his crew over the inter phone when receiving door checks of the very short taxi and asked for “checks nice and promptly please and any problems let me know straight away”. He had already hung jackets and done hot towels whilst waiting for boarding to finish.

Only hiccup that I noticed was he said he was going to show the safety video for “this Airbus 320”. We were on a 319. The correct safety video was broadcast, however.

We were secure and cabin crew were seated by the time the pushback tug was disconnected…we then promptly joined a queue of about 15 aircraft waiting for departure and we didn’t get airborne until 40 minutes after pushing back, much to my amusement. Interesting array of aircraft - the usual EK 777 (it seems that it doesn’t really matter where in the world you are, you will always see at least one Emirates widebody), a clapped out United 757 waiting for departure (you would think that they would ditch the 757 for Airbus) and lots of EI Airbuses.

Once airborne, service started promptly and was by hand with each passenger being addressed by name, with chit chat where it was appreciated. The food was also, for the first time ever in CE in my experience, described by its full name - it’s not just a “chicken salad”, apparently!! The dessert was also introduced - I thought that this was a nice touch and I’m pretty sure it used to be in the service standards manual but is never followed in my experience. It’s normally “chicken salad” or “salmon salad” if you’re really lucky.

I had a diet coke to drink and as he passed back through the cabin, a further mini-150ml can was presented. Although I had declined tea at the time of my meal, when clearing my drink and tray he said “there’s still time for some tea or coffee if you’re ready now Mr Morgan” - I did fancy a cuppa so had one. This was truly outstanding service - it’s easy to do with a load of 5 in Club and an experienced crew down the back (I imagine that most sccm on short band 1s are constantly worrying about getting secure in time for landing and are wondering what is going on behind the curtain - having a second Purser working down the back (even working down - you don’t get to Purser on BA without experience to my knowledge) probably put his mind at rest that all was in hand). All was cleared away well before 10 minutes to landing and a nice prompt cabin secure was achieved within about 2 minutes of the seatbelt sign being switched on.

I noticed this in particular because it was in sharp contrast to my last DUB-LHR BA flight where the Purser dropped an entire bar insert worth of glasses during the clear in on a choppy night in quite a busy Club cabin with about 15 minutes to landing. She remained calm and produced a dustpan and brush (who knew that BA carried these as standard?!) and cleared it away but it did lead to her losing the plot slightly - she started handing out landing cards which I didn’t think she needed to (on this flight an Australian couple in row 2 asked for a landing card and he explained why they didn’t need one, much to their amazement! “How good is that”! they said), then realised when she got to row 2 that she still had 3 rows of Club to clear in despite there now being about 8 minutes to landing. She achieved cabin secure of a fashion after the gear was down and the flight deck called her to find out what was happening. Lights were unceremoniously turned off at about 1000 feet and she sat down as we were crossing Hatton Cross roundabout (no exaggeration). I think we probably ought to have gone around as she hadn’t checked anything properly and Mr 1D still had his bag at his feet etc. This flight was decidedly more organised.

Landing was further delayed as we had to do a couple of racecourse circuits in a holding pattern, and the landing was nice and smooth. We arrived at a domestic stand and had steps attached to the rear and disembarked by busses. This annoyed me slightly as BA do this far too frequently at LHR and it is entirely for BA’s convenience, to hell with Club passengers who might want to get off first. I know it’s petty but being the very last one off and being shouted at to get onto a bus which I was already doing - I had asked the people inside politely to move down and they were doing so, just not quickly enough for the ground staff member who started shouting (and yes I did say back at the ground staff member “You’d have me arrested if I shouted at you so please don’t shout at me, I am not deaf”). I don’t appreciate being shouted at by anybody and there are ways to speak to people - shouting at them rudely is not the way forward.

We were then bussed to the Dublin airbridge, which was vacant. I know that as we were slightly late inbound, the aircraft was obviously needed for boarding ASAP but is the Dublin airbridge / gate not also a domestic gate? The aircraft went to Milan (BA554) next so I don’t see why they couldn’t have parked it at the Dublin gate unless it had literally just become vacant. I am not an ops specialist but I don’t see why it is so difficult to get this right and it is a MAJOR annoyance for a lot of people, such that it puts them off from flying BA. They need to look at things such as this.

Overall, this was an excellent flight. Club Europe was definitely a premium experience (except the arrivals experience which wasn’t) and I sent a ‘Well Done’ form online for the Purser. It’s such a shame that there is no real scope for progression for people such as the Purser given that BA are now recruiting cheaper models - what incentive is there for Eurofleet or Worldwide crew to even bother any more? It annoys me that apparently customers won’t pay a premium for better service and the airline says away from marketing superior service (other than stunts such as To Fly To Serve whilst cutting crew numbers, removing Pursers from key positions and generally taking away tools cabin crew need to actually deliver what BA say they want from them).

4. BA 33 LHR-KUL

Scheduled Time of Departure 20:15
Actual Time of Departure 20:31
Scheduled Time of Arrival 16:05
Actual Time of Arrival 16:08
777-236
G-YMMO
Seat 10A (Club World)

Flight connections was ok although there was a couple in front of me who were annoyed and kept asking where Fast Track security were - security guy said “this is fast track security” to which the couple said “you’re joking?!” He asked whether they wanted to come out of this line and join the other one and they backed down after that! Anyway, it only took about 5 minutes which I personally think it acceptable at busy periods at a hub airport and was hassle free.

Once through security I went first to Boots to buy some further ‘essentials’ - some alcohol hand gel for the flight to KUL, some Ibuprofen just in case. I then went to Duty Free and replaced the EDT that BA had broken a few weeks before (and paid out on without question - major brownie points from me). I then went to the F Lounge to charge my mobile phone ‘spare battery’ that I now use during flight to ensure that my phone stays alive for the full flight as I have found that I can’t rely on seat power.

The F Lounge was actually very busy so I went and sat in the work and entertainment area just to send a few work e-mails I hadn’t got around to doing in my rush to leave the office on Friday (which prompted a response from my boss “STOP READING E-MAILS YOU ARE ON HOLIDAY!”) The W&E area is always quiet and I really like it. I also recently properly discovered the F terrace which is my favourite part of the lounge. I stationed myself there and grabbed a glass of pink bubbly - I think some people hadn’t noticed it as I then set a trend. A mate of mine who is also a Gold won’t get pink champagne when on his own as “it is too feminine”. I told him in future just to get 2 then it looks like there is one for somebody else. Anyway, I only got 1 glass and din’t care how it made me look. I took a sofa (the only seat) and was joined by a man who I think may have been a FT’er. He proceeded to make a phone call - now I personally wouldn’t do this on the terrace as it is so quiet but each to their own. He was joined by a colleague and I gathered that they were traveling to Jo’Burg for work. I also gathered that they were off to Durban, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town and the hotel they were staying at in Durban, which was apparently highly recommended. I knew that Reed & Mackay had booked their trip and no I was not listening - I just couldn’t block it out. They had also packed golf shoes and the guy was flying back on the 744 in the F cabin that wasn’t F (I assume from CPT, he was in seat 2A). The other guy laughed and said that he didn’t get it “it’s like being in a Jag from the 1980s). The other guy knew all about the Starbucks voucher from C gates (I was going to politely point out that this had been stopped). I would love to know what job they did as part of me thinks I’d like to do a job such as theirs…..being a lawyer based in Birmingham is all well and good but the furthest my business travel is going to take me is London. I did do a secondment to Dubai last year and was put on a project to Doha (which got me to Gold as I managed to get QR flights instead of EK - everyone thought I was mad but EK platinum is not worth anything to me based in the UK).

They went to board their A380 and I found my favourite seat on the terrace - right at the end on the right by the fire escape and under the Flight Information Display. It is so serene and private there that you are oblivious to anybody else. There was a menu on the table, which was amazing because they have definitely been hidden lately. I am sure they’ll be stopping the menu service very soon - I know BA.

At about 19:00 I went to ask at Guest Services whether there was a planned gate number yet and was told B34. I took the train over to satellite B (I can’t remember how to walk there in that direction). I spotted a few worldwide crew on the shuttle (or I thought they were worldwide from their demeanour) and thought they fitted the profile for my flight - I guess that KUL is a popular WW route as I imagine the allowances are quite good, it’s a 2 night trip I think, and I was therefore expecting a very “senior” crew on this sector. I was proved right as I saw the same 3 people at baggage claim. Went to the B gate lounge and I must say that I have been totally spoiled by the F Lounge over the past year. When I lose Gold in November I was consoling myself that there isn’t a huge difference between GC and GF, well, there is. The food out was not great and there weren’t even any sandwiches!!

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Anyway, boarding started at about 19:30 and I was warmly welcomed by a guy in a Captain’s uniform - I assumed he was VCC (BA have a fleet of volunteer cabin crew from across the business who need to stay current in order to remain qualified - no idea whether pilots also have to fly as cabin crew to remain current or whether being a pilot exempts them from this) but it turns out there were 3 Captains and a Senior First Officer on this leg (I guess some sort of check ride - again - fancy that - senior Captains getting KUL as a destination…). I clocked the CSD straight away. He was in his late 50s as expected, he had already removed his jacket (I’m pretty sure that’s against uniform standards but hey ho), had white-greying hair and reading glasses that were pushed up on top of his head - in other words, exactly what I was expecting! From his mannerisms I got the sense he probably had probably joined Imperial Airways and then never left.

Once at my seat, I had put together a smaller, draw sized, bag together containing ‘essentials’ for the flight - it was a night flight and I didn’t want to be in and out over sleeping pax’s legs to retrieve stuff. In my bag for the storage locker I had my noise-cancelling headphones, alcohol hand gel, my phone charger, and a pen for any arrival paperwork). I always put my passport and money in my bag in to the overhead - I know the wisdom is to keep this on you but I think the risk is greater that I will lose my passport / leave it in a storage drawer. If I have to evacuate without that stuff then so be it. I do keep my shoes on, though. I had not even sat down when the crew member looking after my section arrived. I knew immediately that we were going to be well looked after as she smiled, asked how I was, took my jacket and offered me some champagne.

The flight filled up to be completely full in J (I’d been trying to MFU to F for about 3 months but no availability and before departure it was F0 JC WC Y9 so high premium demand) and drinks were offered. As we were preparing to depart, a lady asked for her jacket back to get something out of the pockets - lady CC was very polite (I actually thought to myself how lovely she was about it) - clearly the CSD thought the same as he was making his was down the cabin - he said something like “ooh, <name>, nothing is too much trouble for you today - of course I will hang your jacket” in a mock accent. Whilst I know this was just banter I thought it was a bit off really. I didn’t have any interaction with the CSD at all during the flight, and he didn’t really say anything on the PA either - his welcome PA consisted of his name, a reminder about seatbelts and that was it.

The in charge captain (Robin somebody or other) introduced himself and his crew and told us the estimated flight time was 12 hours 35 minutes. We were being delayed by a few minutes as the “water meter is broken. As it’s a long flight if we run out of water the toilets won’t work and there will be no tea or coffee so I am getting them topped up to overflowing to make absolutely sure we don’t run out. It is delaying our departure by about 10 minutes but I would rather take a slight delay which we will make up en route than run out of water on this flight.”

Pushed back about 15 minutes late and safety video commenced - it was not introduced in any way - no “we are about to interrupt our high life entertainment” announcement, nothing about PEDs being disconnected from the seat power when not in use or anything else.

Once airborne, the service commenced immediately. Hot towels and menus were distributed. The menu was actually quite uninspiring in my view, for dinner at least, although the wine list caught my eye - some lovely Pouilly-Fume - I know nothing about wine but I know that I don’t normally drink white!

The full menu is below:

DINNER

Starters

Smoked trout with red pepper coulis and new baby potato salad

Barber’s Somerset cheddar mousse with a poached baby pear and walnut granola (my choice)

As an alternative to butter, olive oil is available upon request, please ask your cabin crew (I didn’t ask, but it wasn’t offered - there was a guy serving my side as well and, whilst he wasn’t rude, I got the impression that he was just going through the motions)

SALAD

Fresh seasonal salad served with vinaigrette

MAIN

Stir-fried prawns in pumpkin and sweetcorn sauce with garlic-scented broccoli and cauliflower and steamed rice

Roasted corn-fed chicken breast with white bean cassoulet, glazed celeriac and broccoli

Penne pasta with lemon rocket pesto, Parmesan, olives, roasted courgette and peppers

Chilled main course salad of seared spiced Shetland salmon with Asian-style slaw, ginger and lemongrass dressing (my choice)

DESSERT

Lemon fondant with blackcurrant confit

Bleu d’Auvergne and coastal cheddar cheese served with grapes and biscuits

A selection of fruit (my choice - apple AND a banana! The fruit basket wasn’t on the trolley so the guy who was serving me shouted to the lady who was following up with the bar trolley to “chuck me an apple and a banana” - she ignored him and offered me the fruit basket to select myself)

Tea, coffee and chocolates

BREAKFAST

STARTERS

Chilled fruit juice (Yep - orange - why is this a “starter” surely it’s a bar drink)

An energising fruit smoothie of buttermilk, fruit and oats

Roasted fruit and nut granola with fruit compote and vanilla yoghurt

BAKERY

A selection of warm breads and breakfast pastries (had a bread roll - no pastries in the basket)

MAIN

Traditional mixed grill of scrambled eggs, grilled turkey rasher, chicken sausage, tomato, mushrooms and has-brown potatoes

Beef congee

Continental breakfast featuring salmon gravlax, sliced pastrami, sliced smoked duck, Gruyere and Cornish Yarg cheese (Due to a very small element of risk, this dish is not suitable for pregnant mothers and those whose system may be immunocompromised) (My choice)

Hot smoked salmon with asparagus, scrambled egg muffin and hollandaise sauce (hadn’t seen this for some reason at the time - I would have had this had I seen it - I assumed when I saw fish that it was some sort of Asian breakfast option and, other than smoked salmon, I don’t eat fish for breakfast!)

I had two glasses of Pouilly-Fume 2014 “Argile a S” Domaine Bouchie-Chatellier, Loire Valley, France. It was great and had what I would describe as a charcoal type taste

The goats cheese was delicious - really restaurant quality and went down really well. Wine was topped up, as was my water

The main course salad was also great - and quite a big piece of salmon. I often go for the “simplest” option on the menu as I think that this leads to the lowest chance of disappointment. I then had some fruit for dessert and refused any further booze. I am a big drinker normally but have a rule NOT to drink much when flying - as a minimum I will always have two glasses of water to every alcoholic drink when flying and tend to have a maximum of 2 drinks.

I then watched a few episodes of W1A (I think that I could definitely be Director of Better - or possibly Secretary of State for Betterness, or something like that. Anyway, that’s all good then) on AVOD, followed by Episodes. The CSD had dangled a bottle of water in front of my nose and then turned lights off. My reading light wasn’t working but I didn’t mind too much as everyone else was reclined by this point. Cabin was mercifully cold - I really like this!

I had decided early on that I would try to avoid sleeping as I wanted to ‘enjoy’ the experience - yes, I know that may seem sad - but I don’t fly longhaul J very much and wanted to watch some movies and take advantage of the space. I then watched the “Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”! This was quite good although I did start to drift off. I got some Bose noise cancelling headphones for my birthday from my mum (just before she died) and they are definitely one of the best presents I have ever had. Watched a few other things and about 4 hours before landing had to go to the loo - I gingerly folded my video screen away (being careful not to bash it into the seat as i know from experience how much that can vibrate the seat), quietly stowed my foot stool and climbed over the sleeping guy’s feet and went to the galley. I gingerly opened the curtain to avoid casting blinding light into the pretty much entirely sleeping cabin and went to the loo. A male CC member was sat there reading a paper. I did think about standing up for a bit but went back to my seat. I then realised I was quite thirsty, having finished my bottle of water. I wasn’t going to be annoying and get up for a second time during the flight and considered pressing my call button. However, I didn’t want cabin crew movement to disturb anyone else and thought it was only about 2 hours until breakfast so decided against it. I then listened to the hits show on the AVOD and then breakfast started 1 hour 30 minutes out.

Whilst I’m sure there were water / juice runs (I can’t believe that even a senior WW crew such as this would want to sit around for 10 hours doing nothing, it must get boring!), being in the window coffin seat with the divider up I couldn't see and, certainly nobody leant over to offer me anything. I find the 500ml bottle of water good, but not sufficient for such a long flight.

The breakfast was far more inspired and the continental breakfast was pretty good actually. The fruit salad was poor - it was very hard and needed a yoghurt or something else to go with it - a piece of apple shot off my plate as I was trying to stab it with my fork - that’s how hard it was!

After two black coffees (I was offered more by lovely CC member) I popped to the loo - there was a big queue and I got to the toilet at 40 mins to landing. That gave me enough time to put my smaller bag back into my larger back and generally faff around a bit to get sorted before landing. Having never been to Malaysia before I was surprised not to have been given a landing card as I was amazed they weren’t required. I heard a fellow pax ask about this to which the CSD said “they weren’t loaded on this flight” and off he breezed.

Landing was very smooth (well done, Robin) and parked at the gate shortly thereafter. Having been to other parts of Asia - HK, Shanghai, Tokyo, Osaka, I was curious to see what KL was like. I think I was expecting a slightly less developed version of Hong Kong. I was expecting haze, but not to the extent that was actually present - it was very high. Turns out that some states have declared emergencies due to the haze - so it is exceptionally bad at the moment.

Disembarkation was quick and there was no queue at immigration. I didn’t need a landing card, I wasn’t fingerprinted and I think it probably takes longer at the UK Border with a UK passport than the process in KL - it was quickly stamped (not using my last remaining blank page - I had worried about this). Bag was about 10th off in spite of long connection. I then went through the abandoned customs area (brilliant) and was met by hotel driver. Straight into car (he asked me if I needed to use toilets at it would take about an hour) and I had to sign my registration card and was promptly presented with my room key!! Amazing. Car had wifi as well which was great. Being a Sunday afternoon, traffic was light and I think the journey took about 50 minutes. I went straight up to my room (I was escorted to the lift and declined help with luggage as I only had a small wheelie bag and feel very strongly “if you pack it, you stack it”.

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IAMORGAN

I had booked a Club room and, having read the thread on FT about it, was slightly nervous about the IC KL. I knew they had a reputation for being stingy to Royal Ambassadors (I lost this status in March due to my secondment to the Middle East and our hotel provider being Rotana and am on a mission to get it back - currently have 40 stays this year, all of which are personal!) let alone to Ambassadors. I had e-mailed the hotel in advance and informed of the policy - I was given an Executive Suite (I knew what I had to book to get this) and I was very happy indeed. Large full suite on 27th floor with lounge and huge separate sleeping area with massive bed. Marble bathroom with separate tub and a guest WC. They had said there was a chance of me being given a smoking suite - I pushed back on this and the Club team took care of me very well saying that they would personally check my room prior to arrival and make sure it was ok. As it happens, I was given a non-smoking suite in any event.

The Club level is level 26 and is quite upscale with glass windows. I am not sure that KL is a particularly spectacular city (compared to say the IC Hong Kong with views of the river etc) but it still looks good. Service here is excellent and the afternoon tea was very good. Twilight drinks are 5:30 to 7:30 which is quite early for my liking but hey ho - and they had a buffet open.

On my first evening I was being met by a my boss’s sister (she is Malay) and they took me out for dinner - I had about an hour to unpack, shower and change - but felt surprisingly good, considering.

Whilst I enjoy travelling, I do not like ‘slumming it’ and I must say that the idea of venturing off the beaten path filled me with horror. They had told me to wear shorts, but knowing that dengue fever was a real issue in KL, I put long sleeves on, socks and trousers and put a significant amount of Deet tropical strength on! I don’t handle being ill very well!

Meeting up with them was very nice - we went to a local restaurant about 10 minutes drive away and they ordered for me. Although I am perfectly capable of using chopsticks they insisted on giving me a knife and fork and also in warning me every time I took a scoop of anything “CHILLIES!” We had a traditional Hokkien noodle (which is basically pork, prawn (oh my God, shellfish, what if it has been in dirty water, am I going to catch Hepatitis), and noodles - I think it also involves lard and eggs. Anyway, it tasted very nice. We also had some steamed fish which had “Malay parsley”, ginger and lots of other flavours, and some sort of chicken dish, with rice. It was all very nice although I hadn’t left that much room from the flight and was feeling slightly nervous about food hygiene (yes, paranoid). However, I did enjoy it and I could see that the place looked very clean and the food was piping hot so I decided it was an acceptable risk.

They also gave me some coconut jam to take back to the UK for my boss (and one for me!) and said they’d meet me on Thursday to take me to the passer malam (night market). i was again slightly nervous about eating from hawker stalls and thought to myself that I would go and have a look but not touch any of the food…

The purpose of this trip was really just to have some ‘thinking time’ - so I didn’t really want to do tourist-y things - I wanted to ensconce myself at the hotel and just relax for a week. However, I did want to get some good evening city snaps. I was also very tempted to do some TP runs with MH or CX (neither of whom I’ve travelled with) but resisted the urge as I wanted to protect my bank account.

Service in the Club lounge has so far been great - I’ve only been down there at night so far for cocktail hour (having slept in beyond breakfast!)…although I did try their afternoon tea! Whilst it is set up as a self service and you can help yourself, the staff are very proactive in bringing you anything you might need and my glass has never been empty. Hospitality has been much better than in, say, Dubai, where you can sometimes feel a little overwhelmed with an abundance of staff constantly asking you whether you need anything. The service here has so far been nothing other than professional, appropriately friendly, and extremely attentive!

Some pics:

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Wednesday was apparently Malaysia Day. Unfortunately, as many will know, there is quite a lot of political tension in KL at the moment and there were protests back at the end of August. There was a counter-protest planned for that day and I was advised to stay clear of KL city centre. I ignored that advice but did stay close to the hotel during the day - didn't really see anything. There was a protest but not on the same level - although it was pointed out to me that the news had been censored on Malaysian TV - apparently the Japanese news went to adverts as the presenter started to talk about the antigovernment protests and then came back on whilst another story was underway. Hmm.

Anyway, Thursday was the day I had been looking forward to - time to visit the Pasar Malam. I got the LRT over to Setiawangsa station from Ampang Park, which is right outside the hotel. The total fare was RMB 1.60 which is about 25p!

Was met at that stop by the people showing me around - we went to a local mall first of all where they pointed out the prices of electronic goods there - I saw iPhone 6 64GB for sub-Ł500.

I also had my first "bubble tea", which it turns out is from Taiwan originally - mine was a blend of Earl Grey, tapioka pieces (!) and I think sugar! It was very nice and I could easily get addicted!

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Then it was off to the night market. We arrived quite early, which was definitely a good idea as everything had just been set up and there were comparatively few people there. It was a great experience and, in particular, it struck me how many families - young / old alike came out to the market - there were people in suits who had clearly come straight from work, teens, grannies - the list goes on. The only thing missing were tourists! I don't know which market we went to but I saw no other 'western' looking people during my trip there! The people I was visiting also took the time to do their weekly fruit / veg shop - apparently they come every week to shop for veg there. It's good in that you can try things before you buy. I was encouraged to try different things and the stall traders were very keen for me to buy!

In fact, one street vendor was so excited that I was trying food from her stall that she insisted on getting a photo with me on her phone....I apparently may appear in marketing for the stall going forward...lol!

In no particular order, I had:-

- Some sort of crispy pancake;
- Fruit mixed with prawn crackers (basically), some gloopy black sauce (I think it was soy) and peanuts!
- Ditto but the 'Indian' version which also had some tofu and was served hot.
- A very very nice laksa with chicken and pork.
- Lots of fruit.
- Lots of peanuts - served in their 'pod' - obviously remove peanut from pod before eating!
- Drank some sort of milky soy based drink - again - delicious.

Whilst not all of the food was to my taste, there was nothing that I thought was 'disgusting' or even approaching that. The laksa was superb and I would eat it every day if I could (I do have it in the UK but obviously it isn't quite the same). I am not a big fish eater so steered clear of that!

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Purchases - mainly biscuits for the office...

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We also then went to a 24 hour restaurant that was on a street corner for some traditional 'Indian-Malay' food. This was also very good. I was very full by the end of this!

We then had a bit of a drive around the city centre and the key locations were pointed out for me!

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Remainder of my trip involved a few drinks, pottering around the city centre, and doing the odd e-mail or two for work - nothing taxing! The IC was the perfect base - very responsive service on the whole, good food, and nowhere felt excessively busy - even the Club lounge during Twilight drinks.

Housekeeping was very quick indeed in turning my room around every day, and 3 pieces of laundry per day on the house meant I went home with all of my shirts cleaned, ironed and folded! Bonus!

I had considered getting the train back to KLIA - I enjoy getting public transport but decided to go for the car service again (yes, I could have got a taxi for less) - as this was a holiday and meant to be purely relaxation, I decided to go for it and organised it through the club lounge host. I also confirmed a 4pm late checkout.

BNEFlyer

Nice report so far! Interesting to hear that the premium cabins were full to KUL, especially when MH are using the A380 on the route.

I hope you do go to a hawker stall and eat all the food, including the seafood, wearing shorts and a tshirt ! I never understand how people can go to a place such as SE Asia and then not eat the food or 'live the lifestyle' for a few days. Just relax and enjoy it!

IAMORGAN

So, I'm booked on BA34 on 20 Sep - I had been continuing to check availability for MFU to F but nothing opened up in any cabin. The loads looked pretty healthy again - and the seatmap at 32 hours out looked like this:

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Good luck to those who hadn't paid to pre-allocate their seat!

Online check in failed - this is the screen I got:

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To me, this means it is likely that there is some overbooking and BA will need to do some shifting around before the flight closes. I am not optimistic of my chances of an Op Up - I've only ever had 2 - one on Lufthansa MUC-DXB as a *A Silver (Aegean) and another one on BA when I was silver last August flying DXB-LHR from WT+ to 64K! Sods law meant I had to throw that ticket away and couldn't take the flight!!

I've heard that the lounge options at KL are quite poor, so I am aiming to get to the airport 2 hours before but no more.

I tried to use flightradar24 to find out which 777 will be operating my flight - it has tomorrow's (Monday`s) and Tuesday's flight, yesterday's, but no aircraft allocation at the moment. I am quietly hoping for a cancellation as I would happily take a re-route via HKG or SIN etc...or being stuck abroad - "sorry, I'm stuck in Malaysia. Can I work from home today?"...let's see. I do have to be in Leeds for some training on Thursday though and then I have a very important social appointment on Friday night, so must be back for then!

5. BA 34 KUL-LHR

Scheduled Time of Departure 23:05
Actual Time of Departure 23:10
Scheduled Time of Arrival 05:25+!
Actual Time of Arrival 05:06+1
777-236
G-YMMO (same as outbound a week earlier)
Seat 11A (Club World)

The hotel had tried to tell me that I needed to leave at 5pm for my 11pm flight. Realising that I wasn't going to get anywhere with the lady telling me this I just called straight down to the Concierge later that day and amended my pickup to 6:30 - still much earlier than it needed to be but I didn't have anything to do after I had checked out other than sit in the Club lounge, plus I had that 'going home' feeling. I also didn't want to make somebody have to stay late on my account if they didn't have to!

The journey to KLIA took about 40 minutes - roads were quiet on the Sunday, so I arrived at the airport at about 19:15. BA check in, staffed by MH employees, was not opening until 8pm although it was being set up as I waited there. There didn't appear much to do landside so I stood in the queue waiting for check in to open. Once it finally did, I was called forward and my bag was tagged within about 30 seconds and I was told to use the MH lounge in the satellite terminal. The MH ground staff could not have been less interested in the entire check in process if they had tried really - I asked about changing my Dublin leg to a flight from Heathrow instead of Gatwick and was told I'd have to ask in London because they can't do BA ticketing! I know there have been cutbacks but I always thought that you would have somebody who could make a simple change to my current itinerary available, especially given MH is a oneworld alliance partner and presumably can get into the GDS - anyway, who knows but from a customer's perspective it's not really very good or 'one world'-y.

Going through outbound passport control I was fingerprinted for some reason - this hadn't been done on the way in, which made no real sense to be, but there you go!

Once through customs (security is at the gate) I had a wonder through what I thought was a rather soul-less satellite building and found the lounge. Maybe I was in a funny mood, but I walked in, took a walk around and walked out. All of the seating was very exposed, there was nowhere tucked away (that I could find), I couldn't see what food was on offer or how you were supposed to get it and it probably wouldn't have been anything I wanted to eat anyway. I was craving some BA Galleries sandwiches!

The lady on the lounge reception was very nice and warmly welcomed me, however. I did spot the Cathay lounge but didn't bother going in as I've never really liked Cathay's lounges, either - just noodles which is what I didn't want!

I went to Starbucks and got myself a Malaysia mug - I think the staff serving me were having some kind of joke at my expense although not sure what it was - weird. Whatever. There were loads of seats in Starbucks but of course, in spite of having the entire place to choose from, some Australian tourists came and sat on the table next to me? Don't get this. Same thing on trains when people come and sit next to you when there are loads of free seats / tables. Anyway, I ended up having a conversation with them about their trip to the UK - they were on the MH flight (which was delayed) and were a bit nervous about flying with MH, so I was able to reassure them that MH is a good airline and that they've just been through a very unlucky period to have lost to aircraft in quick succession.

I then went down to the gate and noticed the crew going on - they were smiling which was a good sign!

Security at the gate felt quite intensive but was exceedingly professional. They were suspicious that I didn't get any electrical devices (other than my laptop) out - they asked me if I had them and I said yes phone and it's in my bag. I always put my iPhone and Blackberry into my bag to go through security, along with my wallet and belt etc as it's just too much to try to collect once you've gone through and I hate how inefficient people are and don't like being the one holding the queue up / waiting! However, they wanted to see my electronic devices to swab it presumably for explosives. I obviously look like a terrorist. I also bleeped as I went through the metal detector so had a manual pat down which was thorough but not intrusively so. Anyway, I got the 2 iPhones, Bose headphones, Blackberry out and they swabbed them. Once they were convinced I wasn't going to try to blow up the plane they thanked me for my co-operation. Then went through a further passport check with Malaysian passport officers - why - I have already been through passport control and been fingerprinted, why are you paying somebody to do this?! Anyway, he was also friendly and even wished me a nice flight!

Boarding was a bit of a shambles and consisted of everybody being called forward followed by a lady shouting "First Class, Business Class and Card Holders come this way?"

There were two airbridges in use - one to Door 1L and one to 2L. Anyway, I just followed everybody else and didn't even notice there were two jetties in use until I got to the door and realised I was in First Class. The crew member on the door was welcoming everyone and they were all merrily traipsing through First. Got to 2L and the CSD was standing by the open door with a small trickle of customers - he was trying to get hold of the ground staff to tell them to stop boarding everyone through First but wasn't having much success - I heard one of the ground staff say "it's quicker like this"!

nufnuf77

Interesting report, looking forward to hearing how your potential op-up/re-route went.

IAMORGAN

I'm banking on being in 11A - an upgrade would be a bonus but isn't expected. I hear on the BA board they've been offering VDB of US$125? to go with MH on the 380. Not sure I'd take it for MH J actually. MH F yes!! I'm a weirdo in that I tend to prefer BA CW and the A / K seats for their privacy - you just don't get that on QR or MH - I feel much more as though I'm lying next to somebody than on BA - especially with privacy screen up!

TPJ

You have a very good boss Mr. Morgan

Nice trip report!

KL Interconti is one of my favorite hotels...

IAMORGAN

This was then followed by "sorry to intrude but where is x"?

happeemonkee

Great trip report IAMORGAN

Really enjoying reading this