Gotta Requalify

Domestic or International? I was in the domestic lounge in Christchurch, I thought all the domestic lounges in NZ kept the bar closed until the afternoon - but I fly domestic on Air NZ so infrequent that things could have changed.

I could have tried to turn the TV on, but at 5:45am, didn't think there would be much to watch.

Kiwi Flyer

Oh yeah - I was thinking international lounge. Although I do have a vague recollection also from some years back when I visited domestic lounge this early.

Gotta Requalify

Part 4b – Tokyo Getting to the airport

This part isn’t part of the RTW trip, but part of my experience so will include it here – I did say at the start I may go off topic.

To cut a long story short (for a first). I rung Amex in Australia on the Monday and they cancelled my card and told me the address in Tokyo where to pick up a new one on Tuesday. I was only in Tokyo for 3 days, and the office is only open until 5, so didn’t have much time to get it. If you have never been to Tokyo, if you don’t know where an address is, it is very hard to find. It would take 30-40 minutes to get in the “rough” area by train and then trying to find the office would be almost impossible.

Remembering adverts from a number of years ago about the benefits of Amex and how they deliver to anywhere, I gave the office a call and asked if they could deliver. They had all my details and were expecting me – this was impressive. My hotel name is not common and they couldn’t understand my accent so after a couple of minutes of “Strings” no “Strings”. I grabbed one of the locals showed him my Itinerary which had the name of the hotel on it. He spoke to him in Japanese and then hung up. Saying only “Done!”. After a brief pause with no other words - what was done I asked? He said the card would be delivered the following day to my hotel. And sure enough by the time I got to my hotel in the afternoon it was waiting for me. About 30 hours after reporting it missing to Australia.

I was speaking to my family in Melbourne on Tuesday and they told me that the Taxi driver had delivered it home. He had slipped it under the door and didn’t speak to anyone. So I did a favour by letting him take an extra fare on the flight out and he returned my card free of charge.

I will thank him when I get home in a couple of weeks.

On the Thursday it was once more time to get to the airport for the next flight. The Narita Express train is very comfy in Green (First) class but depending on the time of day, not every train from Shinagawa to Narita has a Green carriage. When I tried to book the train I was told no Green, and to prove the point they show me the timetable all in Kanji as if I can understand. So I ask Ordinary to Tokyo station (7 minutes) and Green from Tokyo to Narita (60 minutes). Which I had done on the way in, so knew it was possible.

If you don’t do it this way but get a standard train from my station to Tokyo, it would take about 15 minutes, have no room for luggage and take another 10 minutes from the arrival platform to the platform that the Express leaves from. The cost of the split travel is the same as if it was Green all the way, but for the time savings it is worth it. Only as I knew it could be done, did I pursue it. But it took 4 people and 20 minutes to get solved.

Day arrives and I go to the station to catch the train. One thing about Japanese trains. Be there before your scheduled departure time as they WILL arrive on time and WILL leave on time.
I get to Tokyo station and leave the ordinary car and wait for the next train to arrive (which has the Green car), so they could be coupled and depart for the airport.

Which brings me to the point of writing this section. There were some people on the platform with a Japan Rail Pass. A very cheap way of moving around the country on the excellent fast rail network. However, on express trains like the N’Ex, you have to get a ticket for the seat. It is still free when using the rail pass, but every seat on this train is reserved so before going to the platform you need to go to the office and get a ticket.

They didn’t know this and when I explained it to them, they were upset as the train was leaving in a couple of minutes and they would never get a ticket in time. So I suggested they just hop aboard, but don’t sit down, as in the past I have seen them sell a ticket to someone that was in the wrong carriage – after lots of loud discussion. Plead ignorance always helps.

So an hour later, I arrived at Narita airport. It is always a lot faster to get from the arrival platform to the departure hall by lift, as it’s about 5 levels up. So as everyone else heads up the endless escalators – go and wait by the elevator.

Kiwi Flyer

Some good tips there. Pretty good service by the taxi driver and by Amex ^ When I had to get a replacement card back home I am sure it took more than 30 hours, let alone half way across the world.

jtrader

Actually, I would be interested in a description of the hotel. I was visiting one of the new office buildings adjacent to the hotel just last week and was wondering what it was like (I didn't have time to go inside for a look).

MikeLaw

Bravo for a highly enjoyable report. Keep 'em coming!

Can anyone translate for a slow-witted Yank?

Kiwi Flyer

Lolly = candy.

Like barley sugars (I think you have these?) but coloured and slightly fruity flavoured (plus clear one is mint)

JohnMD

Excellent report. I look forward to remaining segments.

Gotta Requalify

Part 5 – Tokyo to San Francisco (United UA852 – Business)

After arriving on the floor to check in your bags from the train station, I find the aisle with the United desks. From the way I approached, I couldn’t see where to check in for business class. There was a queue to get your bags x-rayed, so I kept walking and behind some signs I found the First / Business / 1K / Star Gold check-in. If I hadn’t looked for a shorter line, I wouldn’t have found it.

There was no line at any of the counters. But there were separate rows for each of the above types of customers. I walked up and down the roped laneways and got to the desk. Looking at the desk agent each time I passed him going up and down (with him watching me as well.)

Got there eventually and passed over all my gear including my Air NZ Points card. He found my bookings, printed out my BPs and said that my bookings had my Singapore Air numbers and asked what I wanted to do. I asked that the number get changed, which he happily did but was concerned telling that it only affects flights on my ticket from this day forward. It doesn’t include flights from previous days. That’s okay I told him. It was nice that he was concerned.

I had been to the Tokyo lounge before but only in Transit, never from departure. So when asked, I said I didn’t know where it was, and was given a map with the reference to the gate it was next to and my gate number.

If you do arrive / transit on a United flight, it is very close to where all their planes come and go from. You arrive, go through baggage x-ray and metal detector, up the escalator and you are there. From check-in, it felt like I was walking to San Francisco. Talk about needing a packed lunch, water bottle and a camel!

After a brisk walk / weight losing marathon, I got there. It is well worth it. The lounge is HUGE – one of the largest I have ever been in. It can easily cater for hundreds of people yet you still feel that you are in a lounge and not back in the general terminal. For those that like it, there are great views of the Tarmac. There were lots of planes coming and going, but you couldn’t sit by the windows to watch, as the summer sun was steaming in and it was just too hot. However, finding a seat somewhere else wasn’t a problem.

Just about all the comfy chairs, had power points and phone jacks next to them. But this meant that a lot of people where balancing laptops on their laps, or hunching over them on low tables in front. I had seen lots of work areas on previous visits – so you don’t need to do this, but not sure if these were full, or people wanted a more comfy chair. If you want to work on battery, there were lots of tables and chairs available to use. But no wi-fi availability. TVs were on all over the lounge on the Olympics, plus a few magazines and papers.

There isn’t much food available in the lounge, snacks only, some Japanese Rich crackers, fresh fruit, cheese and ordinary crackers. There was French red and white wine, Beer, soft drinks and spirits – so I helped myself to a couple of Bacardi’s and cokes.

A boarding call was made at 3:10pm for the 4:10 flight and off I headed for the gate. I had asked on check-in how full Business Class was and was told that there were still seats free, but Economy was overbooked. It never hurts to ask, and was told that it would be up to the gate. When checking in, there were heaps of boarding passes next to the machine for upgrades to business (its amazing how quickly you can scan BPs looking for your name) but no luck – for the first and only time on this trip, I am not in the first row of the plane.

Previously I had looked up on http:\\WWW.SEATGURU.COM and found what they recommend as the best business class seat on the place. I wasn’t likely to get the exit row on the top deck, as I am not a United FF, so had requested seat 25C. They are right – it is a fantastic seat. Okay, so it is on the main deck and not a window, but it really does have a lot of room – in fact that is one of its downsides. There is so much room in front of you, that people were walking in front crossing from aisle to aisle before the plane took off. This wasn’t possible once the leg rests are out. No seat leaning back on you, so much room, that the middle person can get out of their seat and get to the aisle without disturbing anyone. I wouldn’t mind any of the seats in the middle part of row 25.

The left aisle is better than the right, as there are two toilets accessible on that side. You can’t easily cross from the right to the middle toilet as you have to go through the galley and the crew make it really really hard to do. So would recommend any AB or D seat downstairs.

There was one drink given out in plastic cups before take off (Why? If we are given glass during flight are we given plastic before take-off – it makes it very cheap!) Push back was on time and we taxied pass a lot of United planes. I can never get over how many of the planes are there. The take-off roll started at 4:29pm.

There has been lots said about the crew of United flights on the long haul internationals. And this crew lived up to its reputation. I had two looking after my aisle. Dianne was bright, cheerful, friendly and couldn’t do enough to help. (Okay so this isn’t the reputation.) She would be an asset to any airline that she worked for. Kathleen on the other hand had a school house attitude that didn’t want to be messed with, asked for help, get the meal etc. Every time that Kathleen walked down the aisle I felt the urge to sit up straight and pull my socks up.

After take off some pre-dinner drinks were given out (in glass glasses) and a bowl of warm nuts. These were refilled until you stopped asking.

The dinner menu was:
TO BEGIN
Sauteed shrimp with garlic and peppered pork
Cucumber and potato salad with fresh lemon and black olive

Garden Salad
Caesar or soy vinaigrette dressing

MAIN COURSE
We have boarded additional servings of vegetables for our customers who are restricting their consumption of carbohydrates.
Let your flight attendant know if you would like today’s selection of Sauteed spinach and shiitake mushrooms.

Filet Mignon with béarnaise sauce (Beef from Australia)
Baked potatoes with herbs and green beans with carrot batonnets

Lemon grass breast of chicken with red wine curry sauce
Stir-fried Oriental vegetables and chicken rice

Japanese Obento selection
An appetizer of tuna with scallion nuta mix, a stuffed tomato, pumpkin tofu with sesame miso, and green tea soba mushrooms and vegetables, taro potatoes with shimeji mushrooms, carrots, peas and steamed rice.
Served with green tea.

DESSERT
International cheese selection
Bavarian Blue and Gouda cheese

Double chocolate cake
Raspberry and chocolate Sauce

PRIOR TO ARRIVAL
Ham, cheese and scrambled eggs in egg crepe with pork sausage
Hollandaise sauce

or

Fresh seasonal fruit plate with creamy yogurt.

There is a note at the bottom of the menu, saying that if you want the Obento selection, to phone ahead. I would do this, as they ran out really quickly. No-one in the last 5 rows of the downstairs business cabin got this offered and they were coming around asking the Star Golds what they wanted to eat. In fact, all I heard offered was the beef. Which I wanted anyway.

Well the fish was flicked off my plate as fast as it was settled in front of me. There were two shrimp stuck to the side, so this was easy to do. With an apology to the guy they hit.
The steak was okay – but Singapore still do it better. This one was a lot better than the one I had on Air NZ. The whole meal was filling and tasted okay.

Couldn’t sleep. Tried but couldn’t. So I spent the entire night watching movies. United still has very small personal TVs and the movie selection is set and repeats every two hours. However, I found enough to watch, including movies I had already seen.

The seats themselves are comfortable. They don’t lie flat but with the recline and footrest angle, make if comfortable. Also with no seat in front and the extra leg room, make this feel roomy and not closed in due to the wall in front.

Went looking for a drink during the night and when I approached her, Dianne leapt up out of her seat and asked how she could help. Had a few more B&Cs but still couldn’t sleep. Just as I started getting sleepy, they turned on the lights for breakfast.

The ham crepe was nice and filling – not too dry.

The rest of the flight was uneventful and we arrived early around 9am.

Not sure if it was due to the arrival early, or the change in season, but compared to when I arrived on this flight in March, there were a lot more people in the customs line compared to last time. Also, while it looked like there was a queue management system, there wasn’t. It was a free for all and people were ducking under ropes, you could get stuck behind someone for 15 minutes or find another queue went twice as fast as your one. They are so close to a decent queue management system that with only a little more work, they would have a first class entry procedure that would be the envy of the other US airports.

Even though it took about 30 minutes to get through passport control, the bags still were not ready and it took about another 10 minutes for them to turn up. Then we had to queue up again to recheck in our bags. Considering all they have to do is pick them up and put them on a belt, it is amazing how long this take. So with about 60 minutes left, I headed for United Arrivals for a quick shower to freshen up. It always amazes me how much better I feel after a shower. The arrivals suite has large showers areas for you to move around in, including a private toilet.

After the shower a quick drink and upstairs for the next flight.

Summary – They don’t look it, but they are comfortable seats. If they improved their AV and got rid of the crew attitude they really would have a world beater. If I have to fly on a United International flight, I wouldn’t object, but they are never my first choice.

Notice: when getting a taxi, look at how they open the boot / trunk of the car. I noticed the taxi from IAH to the hotel used a key, but didn’t think much more of it.
When we got to the hotel, the driver couldn’t find the key to open the boot. He told me he couldn’t open it from inside the car and needed the key. I asked him to call AAA, but he refused. He then proceeded to try and rip out the back seat of the taxi to get to bags. He could get one side clear, but not the other. So he tried to pull my bag through the gap and only managed to start scraping my case on the frame of the car, so I told him to stop. After a while trying, the driver called his wife who had a spare key. She took another 15 minutes to turn up. After a sleepless night, it wasn’t a good day, but I kept my humour (and gave the driver a tip – for the amusement.)

Gotta Requalify

Part 6 – San Francisco to Houston – (United UA724 First)

I had learnt from my previous trip that the fastest way through security from the arrivals lounge is to walk to the terminal and go through the United First, Star Gold or 1K lines, rather than go through the normal lines between the International and Domestic terminals.

The lined moved fast and there was a guy at the start of the queue yelling out that today everyone’s shoes must be x-rayed. This saved a lot of time as everyone was prepared. He didn’t say it and there were no signs around saying, so I asked, do laptops need to be taken out of the bag. He acknowledged this, which again saved time, but not for a person a few feet back as he didn’t remove his laptop and it took him a lot longer to get through. I got to the gate about 10 minutes before boarding.

The gate agent called for First Class boarding and when I went up to her she indicated that I should put my BP into the machine, getting more insistent with her gestures – as it had my ticket stapled, I couldn’t do this. I eventually got through, she sort of apologised and onto the plane I went – she was a lot more friendly the next time I saw her.

Ah! Back to the front of the plane again. Seat 1C on an Airbus A319.

Not having slept from Tokyo to San Francisco, I tried to close my eyes and started to doze, so missed a lot of the take off action, and must admit, didn’t really care at this point as I was tired, but as soon as I got into the air, BING! Awake. All I can remember is the plane pretty much left and arrived on time.

We were offered drinks before take off and shortly after take-off hot towels.

I was the third person offered the choice of the meal, which was a Linguine with Mushroom Sauce or Salmon. Well you know what I think of fish, and mushrooms are up their as my second choice for a ruined meal, so wasn’t sure if I wanted to eat. In the end, picked the Linguine. The person in 1A was told that there was no more Linguine but he wanted the Salmon anyway.

The FA went away and I got up from my seat and went to her and said, I am not really hungry so please offer the Linguine to other people and only if someone else doesn’t want it will I have something to eat. She insisted that as a higher level, I had the first choice of meals, but said that I really didn’t care. Seats 2A & C wanted the Salmon, and the other 2 in row two were sleeping, so missed out on the meal service. FA came up and said everyone got what they wanted, I think that made her happy as well, that she got to offer a choice as she warmed up and got chatty.

Garfield the movie was playing, so I watched this while eating. Fresh bread rolls were offered, a nice green salad and the Linguine was also nice. I managed to flick the mushrooms off the plate (wasn’t many left as the FA said she had done the same) Is it normal for the FA to pick out mushrooms on request – or was that a special service?

It was getting very late for me, I was full from the International flight and just couldn’t finish the bread or salad – but ate all the pasta.

More drinks were passed out. Hot towels at the end of the flight. After the movie ended, and they played some short features I tried to close my eyes, but I just can’t sleep on flights. I might miss out on something!

I am writing this a couple of weeks after the flight and my memory has been fogged by a few too many Barcardi’s since the flight. But on the US Airways flight, the seat width seems bigger and the seat a little more comfortable (on the US plane).

Bags turned up, but were not first off the plane (or even near the front), even though they were tagged with priority. However, there were a lot of other people still waiting, so they had been of some use.

Summary of the flight. Good, functional, okay food, nice crew. Too tied to read, so having entertainment that didn’t require thinking was a bonus.

Gotta Requalify

Part 7 – Houston to Pittsburgh – (US Airways US1271 – First)

I spent the night before my flight in the Marriott hotel located at the airport. It is connected to all terminals via an underground automated train that makes getting around very easy – it also gave me an extra hours sleep ready for my 53 Hour marathon trek home.

By choice, I wanted to maximise my flights on Singapore Airlines. So from Houston I had to get to JFK. Which is difficult on Star Alliance, as only regional jets from Washington fly into JFK, and I didn’t want to spend any more time in Economy class than I have to. Plus the more connections I make, the more chance of a flight delay or lost luggage. I also chose US Air as I have never flown them before, and Air NZ were offering double points during September on US flights, so extra bonus.

So I have a one hour stop in Pittsburgh, 11 hours in Frankfurt and 4 in Singapore. Flying the rest of the 37 hours. As I have a round the world ticket, I have to keep going in the one direction, and can’t take the short route home via the west coast.

Back to the Marriott - I will give more details about the hotel room later, but I just want to say that if you stay there - you have to have dinner in the restaurant at the top of the hotel. It is amazing - a revolving restaurant with unrestricted views of the entire IAH airport. The only problem is, if you have a meal there with other people, you are not likely to talk to them much (especially if you are a flyertalk member) as the views are impressive. It is an expensive meal for what you get, but wow - what views!

When checking in for the US Airways flight, they have people saying, just go to the nearest self check-in kiosk. They won’t check you in, until you are rejected by the machine. I said I had a paper ticket, but they still wanted me to try. When it rejected me once, a person came over to help, but it didn’t like her either. I think because today’s flights were very complex. So the staff agent, took my ticket to the agent and then she tried – asking the question where is your final destination today – Melbourne I answer . Which does confuse them when I am in Houston, they don’t get many doing that.

She said that she would try to check my bags through to Melbourne (2 days and 5 flights would have been an interesting label), but as I am changing from LGA to JFK, I didn’t want that. I wanted to know that at least they are in the same terminal, and the last point I saw them. Well, after some discussion, she agreed and gave me my boarding passes.

As I went through security, they said that I was required to go through secondary security. Never had that happen before. Not sure why when I asked, they just kept saying it was my lucky day. They have an interesting description of Luck. It took about 10 minutes, wasn’t too bad, I wasn’t running late, and it is their job to make the flights safe. So I tried to be as friendly as possible to them, they didn’t return the humour.

Got to the gate early, sat down and read.

Boarding started just after 8am. They called for families and people needing help. And then they called for boarding Zone 1 and 2 – no calling for 1st class, Star Gold, or Dividend Preferred. After watching what appeared to be other “Business Travellers” I decided to board and see what happened. I was allowed to board, and when I got onto the plane found first class and the overhead bins almost full. So this appeared to be standard practise.

Just after sitting down, I was offered a drink (soft, coffee etc) which arrived promptly in a plastic cup. I was sitting in seat 1C, on the 737-300 which has no cut out for the feet and doesn’t give much room when trying to stretch out. Also above row 1 on either side there is no overhead storage space. Seat recline is okay, but wouldn’t want to do more than 3 hours in these planes. There were two spare seats in First, and the last person to get on the plane was in First, didn’t have any room to store her bag, so the crew said there was plenty of room down the back of the plane. Rather than help, they just sent her back to find the room. She didn’t want to leave her bag alone, so moved to the back of the plane to be near it. This meant 1A became free and I had a Window seat to watch parts of America I have never seen before. The rest of the plane was around ¾ full. Also the plane was really cold. I know it was morning, but there was no excuse for it to be that cold. The Temperature of the plane didn’t get okay into well into the flight.

The window next to 1A was dirty and hard to see out, but if I turned and looked out of the window at shoulder level, I got a much better view.

There is also no - I mean zero in-flight entertainment on this plane. No music, no video. All the holes for the head phones have been covered up. So this gave me time to catch up on writing my Flyertalk reports. It wasn’t a surprise as had seen this listed on www.seatguru.com.

Just before boarding I watched about 10 planes trying to get to the run way at once – the 8am slots. So they would have been a few minutes behind schedule.

Push back was slightly ahead of schedule, there were no planes in front of us, so we started our take off roll less than 8 minutes later at around 8:36.

Just after take-off we were offered another round of drinks (soft, coffee, orange etc) and asked if we wanted to have breakfast, which was a fruit plate and with what was described as a bagel, but a hot croissant turned up with strawberry jam. The fruit was pineapple, strawberries, small red grapes and a couple of slices of melon (rock and another green one). This was eaten quickly (as it wasn’t a huge amount) and the plate was also removed quickly leaving me time to work (write this) read or sleep. I did hear one guy asked if there was anything else to eat and was offered another breakfast plate, as she had one spare.

About half an hour later FA came back and offered another round of drinks.

The crew really didn’t have much to do, as there isn’t really a meal service. One was always stationed in the first galley, so could be called upon easily for service. At one stage, we were flying over a large city, so went and asked for the name, to allow me track our progress. The FA was happy to oblige and rang forward to ask. Name didn’t mean anything to me, and wasn’t a city US Air fly to as it wasn’t on their map. Later in the flight, three of the crew got together and started talking loudly, laughing etc. It is a job, and they need to enjoy themselves, but their conversation was very clear as I’m sitting in 1A and if you were trying to sleep would be annoying. My complaint is not them getting together, just did they have to be so loud?

Flight arrived early, landing at 12:06 and at the gates a couple of minutes later. It turns out that the plane is the same as the next one I am catching, even though the flight number changes. This is good, as I know in future, there is no way I could miss this connection.

It Pittsburgh, I went to the lounge closest to the gate the US Airways “B” Lounge, but it was closed, so I had to walk all the way into the central area for the only lounge that is open.

The lounge is big and comfortable and quiet, only about 4 or 5 other people in the lounge (okay it is a Saturday of a long weekend, but boy was it quiet), but that’s about all going for it. You have to pay for food and drinks, apart from pretzels and tea/coffee which is free. There were a lot of work areas, and free Wi-Fi.

Summary: Functional, okay flight, but not good if you want to sleep or hungry. Nothing wrong with it, just nothing to bring me back.

Gotta Requalify

Part 8 –Pittsburgh to New York (La Guardia) – (US Airways US764 – First)

Pittsburgh is a nice airport. There are lots of different types of shops, huge number of food outlets. It has a cross type of layout and does make transiting easy. Especially if you come and go on the same plane.

I arrived from the lounge a few minutes before boarding began. They called for families, and people needing help. After the last flight, I joined the queue, but as my boarding pass was being checked, I heard them call for first class. Guess I jumped the queue a bit, but there were no hassles.

The plane was really hot when getting on board. A real difference from the cold plane on the first leg. Even the crew were commenting / complaining about the temperature. So down I sit in 1C, once again. The first row is good.

Just after a few first class passengers were seated, the FA came out with water bottles for everyone. Once the last passenger was on-board she came around for a drinks order and tried to call me by name. I asked for a B&C. She went back getting orders and came across a passenger that wasn’t on the manifest. She asked to see the boarding pass and found out she should have been in 13A not 3A – it’s a mistake we all make for sure. FA said to wayward passenger to stay there for take off and then to move to her assigned seat. We were well on our way to the taxiway by this stage. Total passengers 118, including 7 in First class, 5 empty seats, including one next to me. After take-off switch to 1A.

Times: 1:13pm Doors closed, 1:16 push back. 1:24 take off roll with no line. Scheduled time of departure 1:20pm. Landed at 2:20 with only a few minutes to the terminal. Scheduled arrival was 2:39.

Soon after extra passenger was moved down the back, the drinks turned up. Two Bacardi miniatures, a warm can of coke and a plastic cup with ice in it. Every can of drink I got from the FA was warm, so if you didn’t have ice it wouldn’t be very nice.

After giving out the drinks, the FA came back with a basket of snacks. She kept insisting to help yourself, so I grabbed a (14g) bag of Cape Cod Potato Chips, small bag of cashews, English Bay Strawberry Fruit Bar and XOXO Chocolate Biscuits. These were nice.

I would take this flight again, just for the views coming in on arrival. They are amazing. We flew over the Stature of Liberty, and up the Hudson river. The right hand side of the plane had the best views of the city and would have had perfect views of the World Trade Centre site. But when I tried to stand up and look was told to sit down. Cutting across Manhattan, there were great views of Yankee stadium, which had a game going on and you could see the crowd. I wish I had my camera out, but as said earlier, the window was dirty and I kept on having to look at the window over my shoulder to get a clean view.

I had read a lot of bad things about LGA, age, attitude of staff, layout etc, and it almost turned me off flying there. I almost even considered flying economy class into JFK on United Express. But really, there was nothing wrong with the US Air terminal. It was while not new – clean, nice and open. While leaving, I could see some of the other terminals and they had the 50’s architecture that might make it more unpleasant, but there is nothing wrong with the new US Air terminal, and not a place to be avoided.

Upon arrival, I went to the baggage area and looked for the carousel and stood next to it waiting for the bags to turn up. And Waited. And Waited. Then people started leaving and going to the one next to it. Yes, the bags turned up on a different carousel. As soon as I went over there my bags were coming around, so don’t know how long they took to appear.

I was approached by a lot of people asking me if I wanted to take a taxi. But turned them down. I went outside looking for the bus to JFK, but while there is a sign there telling the price, there isn’t really anything letting you know where to wait. It was hot outside, I didn’t want to walk up and down the footpath looking for the bus stop with my bags, so I went back inside to the Info desk.

The person in front was asking how to get to JFK, so I listened. And when told that it would be a 45 minute wait for the $11 bus, or a few minutes wait for the $13 option. I asked where to pick up the bus. She said straight outside and someone would be there to help. Well, I went outside, there was no-one there to help. I asked someone waiting next to the sign with the cost and she didn’t know either.

The person that was at the info desk came up and asked if we wanted to share a taxi to JFK. The cost would be a little over double the bus, but we could leave now and with bags it was a little easier, so I said yes. I also found out that the Taxi drivers don’t call it JFK. I kept on saying that and they repeated Downtown. The lady called it Kennedy and he said okay. There was a car stuck on the middle lane of one of the express lanes, so it was a very slow as the road splits into two, with the right two lanes going to JFK. Once we got past that it sped up. Total cost $28.10 – so I gave the guy $30 and the lady gave me $14 – she didn’t have any bags. Don’t know if that was enough.

Scheduled time of arrival at LGA – 2:39. So here I am at Kennedy about 3:15, two and a half hours before check-in opens on the Singapore Air flight and finishing up these reports. Hopefully, I will be able to send them once in the Virgin Lounge that Singapore uses for First Class and PPS passengers.

Summary: Same Plane, Same Seat, Different Crew, it makes the world of difference. If I could get this crew on my next US Air flight, I would fly them again. They would not be my first choice of airlines, as lack of in-flight entertainment and small – to non-existent meals just doesn’t cut it for a first class ticket (or even business class). As they only fly 733’s into Houston which is where I generally fly, I don’t have much choice as to plane type. However, there was nothing that turned me off them for life.

Gotta Requalify

Part 9 – New York (JFK) to Frankfurt – (Singapore Air SQ25 – First)

When first arriving at JFK Terminal 4, I found the aisle that would be used by Singapore Airlines and went and found the nearest seat – which is by the windows. The chairs seemed comfortable, at first. But after 2 ½ hours sitting in them, my butt hurt, and still does the following day.

At around 5:30 I saw the signs go up. I finished the previous report and headed over at 5:45pm to the lines and lined up in the First Class line. They were still getting everything set up, and I didn’t mind waiting as it was good to stand up. When she finally asks me to come up, we chat and she tells me that she was trying to pre-check-in all the first class passengers, but couldn’t do mine as she needed my passport number (for the Australian leg.) I pass across my Air NZ points card, ticket and passport. I then asked that she change the FF number to Air NZ.

I have been a FF on Air NZ for a long time. On my card are two zeros + 6 numbers for a total of 8. But the system expects a 7 digit number. So I am very use to now telling the agents enter a leading zero, which is generally above their knowledge level, they scoff at me or give a “I know better than you” look – but then eventually find out they need to put in a zero. I wish AirNZ would either only print one zero (as you see them trying to enter 8 digits) or take off the need for the zero. I also wish my travel agent would just use the Air NZ number like I repeatedly tell them to do, but as I have said earlier – they are idiots.

The check-in agent doesn’t know how to cancel my SQ FF number to enter my NZ one in and asks two or three colleagues. They offer advice or try and do it for her. They then have trouble printing all my boarding passes, I offer advice that as it is over 24 hours until my last flight they might not be able to do it, but that isn’t it either. The check-in agent tells me sorry to take so long, and I say, don’t worry I have been here for 2 ½ hours and it is good to stand. Then she asks, why didn’t I go to the lounge. I say with all my bags, how would I get through Security? “Oh no, in this terminal everything is before security!” Well, as Captain Feathersword says “Blow me down!” I didn’t explore the terminal and I didn’t know that.

In Terminal 4 – all lounge access is before security – you should be able to talk your way in while waiting. I have never seen that talked about – even when reading reviews of the Virgin Lounge. My butt still hasn’t forgiven me!

Check-in was taking a long time, so the agent said, go to the lounge, and they would bring all my boarding passes, tickets and passport to me. Nervously I leave these out of my sight and head off.

Terminal 4 in JFK very much reminds me of Hong Kong terminal. The roof is lower to the rows of check-in, but it is all one building. Very exposed support beams, openness and very new looking. When walking to the plane, arriving and departing passengers are kept separate and the customs hall has a glass wall open to the tarmac, I could look into it from my seat and it looked very light and bright. Not sure how long the queues are, but compared to other arrival stories, I don’t think arriving in Terminal 4 would be a bad experience – but that is just from the outside looking in.

Lots of food places, lots of shops, all open to regular people and travellers. You can have a final meal / drink / time together and only part at the last minute if you wanted to. It is very family friendly that way. The lounges are on a mezzanine level, (same as check-in) over-looking the shops / departure level. When leaving, there where two lanes – one for economy and one for first/business. They check passport / boarding pass and I am not sure if this was a mistake or not but there were first class passengers going though and got directed to a short x-ray / metal detector line on the right. Next in line where a family of business class passengers and they got directed to the general line on the left. I went through, the guy was indicating for me to go left (from the line that only business / first should have been in) but just kept heading to the right and showed him my BP. I heard him say oops. Not sure if the short line was for business as well, and if it was, and I was that family with the young / sleepy / yelling child I would be angry. I get it pays to stand your ground. They tried to show the boarding passes, but before they could he gestured more strongly to the general lane and they just followed.

Anyway – after check-in, I went to the lounge. First Class and PPS members can use the Virgin lounge. Other business and Star Gold passengers use the Swiss Lounge next door. As I got to the Virgin lounge, my name was checked off a list of Singapore customers and in I went to what was really a very non-traditional type lounge. Very retro-sixties, very funky, different. First of all, it was open plan. They means you get to stare at the people checking in, that they get to start enviously at you. I was hungry as it had been a long time since my last bit of food, so first stop was the tables for a meal. They have a menu there with snacks plus the daily specials. As soon as you sit down, they rush over (I do mean rush) and ask what you want to drink. (Go-on guess) 1 B&C later, they ask for my food order. I had 3 of them talking / joking, trying to remember the daily specials, giving advice on what was nice. Very friendly.

Unlike the Virgin lounge in Heathrow, there are no beauty treatments (massages, haircuts etc). Which was a bit of a disappointment, as people had raved over this one compated to the one in London, so I had expected everything to be superior.

I had a turkey burger and it was incredible – you always hear of stories how the first bite of something blows you away with the taste sensation. Well this did it. I have never had anything like it. Followed by apple shortcake, vanilla bean ice-cream and another B&C.

While waiting, a virgin flight was called and the lounge emptied out. So after my meal, I went and sat by the window. The lounge never seemed overly full. There were plenty of seats all the time.

They had 4 Apple Macs, a printer and 2 work areas that you could work on. Unfortunately I had packed my Wi-Fi card in my luggage, so needed to get wired access to the internet, so I could post all the trip reports I had just written. No such luck. They only cater for wireless. I tried to pull the cable out the back of the mac or the wall, but they must be glued in or something. Someone saw what I was trying to do, so asked if they could help. I said I needed wired network access pointing to the Ethernet cable and she said she would go and get someone’s help. You know you are getting too old, (or talking to an idiot) when their “helper” comes up and tells me I need an Ethernet card. I politely point out, I have a Ethernet card, I don’t have a Wi-Fi card and he tells me they are the same thing. I try to explain they aren’t, while thinking that it is highly likely that his parents didn’t even know each other, when I see it just isn’t getting through and give up. Looks like these reports will have to be all posted together at a later stage.

The lounge has small TVs that you can view with headphones, Apple iPods you can listen to, plenty of soft comfy seats. Lots of magazines that can only be really described as “Trendy”, in magazine racks all over the place. Also heaps of copies of Richard Branson’s biography. None of them had must be left in lounge stickers, so I am not sure if you could take it with you. And every time you only have 25% left in your glass, people coming up and asking if you would like another. They say that if you can name a cocktail, list the ingredients and tell them how to mix it, they will. I saw lots of cocktail glasses being used.

At one stage, a waitress came up and asked if I wanted another drink and when I said B&C, she asked what flavour do I want. I ask what have you got and she goes back to the bar. Comes back with sorry, I was thinking of vodka, there are no other flavours of Bacardi. Yes there are – normal, Black, Gold, Spice, 8-year old, ONO & Limon that I have at home. Then she asks if I would like a 151? Never heard of it, so she gets the bottle and brings it to me. Normal Bacardi is 40% alcohol by volume. This is 151% proof and 75% alcohol by volume. It tasted very nice.

Just before 9pm, bored, I headed downstairs, had a general look around and headed to the gate. They only had one air bridge open, so turned left and headed towards first class.

Got to the galley and they rushed over to take my boarding pass to show me to my seat 2A. I would have to agree with most people’s comment that this was one of the best seats in the house. I never understood why people said 1B would feel claustrophobic until seeing it. Most front cabins in Jumbos have a locker at the front of the plane to store bags etc. On Singapore there are two side cabinets to store clothes after changing into your sleeper suit, and between them, is the front part of 1B’s seat. (TV screen, tray table etc.) Your field of view is very much the encroaching cabinets and the wall in front. But apart from the start and end of flight when clothes are being stored, fetched, the only time someone would walk up beside you is to get you something, it is very private.

There were a total of 6 in first – two couples in the middle, myself and 2F – who was originally in 3A but wanted to move. He was always the last to be served on everything.

The seat itself is comfortable, lots of leg room, wide with a massive TV screen in front of you. This plane had the latest AVOD, so 60 movies to choose from, plus lots of TV shows and other short features. The tray table is not in the arm, but under the TV, and slides down to you. This allows the easiest method of getting out of your seat while the table is laid that I have ever seen. At the side of the seat is a little pocket / compartment that is felt lined and excellent for storing glasses and other little items.

Once seated, they offered a drink – of course Champagne. I asked what they had and was asked Dom Perigon. So I had that. I will have Krug on later flights, but I think I prefer Dom to Krug – but what a choice. The drink is pored at your seat, and I was slow drinking it, so never got offered another one before take off.

Items were brought out one by one, so you could review and store before the next item. The menu came out in the leather folder and stayed available until after everyone left the plane. Eye shades / socks – you have to ask for ear plugs. The Bvlgari amenity kit (male or female). And lastly the sleeper suit. I asked for the large, which fit, but has very short arms and legs. Not sure if this was the design, but it was loose and cool to sleep in.

Push back was early at 9:35 with a 10pm take-of roll. We arrived at 10:45, 25 minutes early and had to wait a few minutes before a gate was available. At the gate around 10:51.

Throughout the flight, from the moment I came on board until I left, whenever someone approached me, they always called me by my name. It almost went to the extreme, if they hadn’t said my name in the first 5 words, they tried to fit it in twice as many times.

After take-off another round of drinks, again pored at your seat. You were given the choice of warm cashews / mixed nuts / macadamia. I had the later and a refill. They are not salted or roasted, but nice. Also a hot towel was handed out.

When they set your table, they come out with everything on a try and lay it out by hand. Metal cutlery, glasses, salt and pepper, butter, side plate. It looked very professional. Rather than a tray, a large plate was placed down and everything was served on that.

For the bread, I had a white roll plus garlic. There were 4 types of olive oil on offer, plain, chilli, Balsamic or truffle. When ordering dinner, the first two courses were fished based. Explaining that I don’t like fish, the FA was upset that I might miss out on something so said she would check in the other two cabins to see what else they might have on offer. She came back and offered a ham salad.

I took the menu at the end of the flight (not the leather folder), if anyone wants to see what was had on the second leg which is a day flight, and one of the reasons, why the breakfast is so light.

Dinner from New York to Frankfurt
Appetisers
Iranian ossetra cavier
With melba toast and condiments

Chilled steamed Maine Lobster
served with choice of cocktail sauce
or Thai sweet chilli sauce

Soup
Philadelphia pepper pot
Chicken chowder with capsicums, beef tripe and onion

Oriental clear broth with spinach

Salad
Fine mesclun leaves
Lemon vinaigrette
Honey mustard lime dressing

Main Course
Seared beef fillet in madeira sauce with spinach and warm shell bean salad

Lamb loin in tapenade jus with roasted vegetables and olive oil-smashed potatoes

Baked Chilean bass fillet with “XO” sauce in Chinese wine, seasonal vegetables and fried rice

Roast Long Island duck confit with red pear in ginger-peppercorns with pumpkin soufflé and baby squash

Cheese
Selection of cheese with garnishes

Fresh fruit
A selection of fresh fruit

Dessert
Warm American pumpkin pie with vanilla ice cream and strawberry coulis

Plus the normal bread, hot beverages and pralines to finish the night.

Continental breakfast from New York to Frankfurt
Juices
A choice of apple, tomato and freshly squeezed orange.

Fruit
A selection of fresh fruit

From the bakery
Assorted breakfast rolls
Butter, jam, marmalade or honey

Plus the normal Hot beverages

The wine for dinner was brought out in a wicker basket, for you to select from. The cheese was shown on a bread board for you to select from. There was way too much food, and I never had the cheese. The Ham Salad was a couple of bits of ham on green leaves, but had no dressing. The steak was very nice and a lot more on the plate than the description does justice. I also had no room for the hot drinks, and the cheeses.

Gotta Requalify

9B Continued due to post size limitation.

After dinner, while they were clearing everything away, they asked, if I wanted my bed setup in 2A or can they make up another seat. I said okay, so they made up 1B for me. I finished watching the movie and then retired to my bedroom in 1B. In the morning, less than 30 minutes before landing, I went back to my seat in 2A. I informed them not to wake me for breakfast, and got almost 4 hours sleep. When I woke up, I went to the toilet and both were full. The crew came up apologised and offered to check back in Business class to see if one was available. I declined the offer and went back to my seat. Just after getting there, they came up and told me the toilet was free now. I wanted to get back into my street clothes, so they took my hangers and put them in the toilet for me (rushing up and down the aisle – almost running, but not quite getting there.)

They didn’t open the window shades, get everyone sitting upright until about 15 minutes before arrival. We could have arrived earlier, as we were doing circuits around the airport before landing – according to the flight tracker.

Upon arrival, they made sure that all first class passengers were off the plane before opening the curtains to business class. There were two air bridges available in Frankfurt, which means that just about always, the second bridge is opened before you can get through the curtains.

I stayed on board to get some photos of the seats, and then left the plane. There was a sign that said Singapore Airlines First Class / Business Class passengers and went up to it. I was ignored. I tried showing her my first class folder, but without looking up, said we are not opened yet please wait. I then said walking away, I only wanted to know direction to the lounge.

Heading towards the main arrivals / customs area, I noticed a golf buggy (or what ever they call those carts that roam airports) and saw the other first class passengers on it and just as I saw them, I saw a sign that said United Red Carpet First Class Lounge. While I was in transit, I wasn’t catching this flight down to Singapore, but waiting for the next one, hence the 12 hour stop over. Different flight number means extra PPS and other points. It is a long walk to the wing with the Red Carpet lounge, is there is a trend here? But I caught up with the other passengers just as they arrived at a secondary x-ray / metal detector – for flights leaving to the United States. You have to go through this to get to the lounge.

I tried to catch the eye of person escorting the other first class passengers by waving my first class red boarding pass, but she like the other German person, can look at you and ignore you at the same time. I just followed them into the Red Carpet Lounge and was shown into the First Class Section.

This was a nice comfortable area, with plenty to drink, but nothing huge to eat. I wasn’t hungry so skipped the food, but did have some water and other liquids.

Feeling hot / sweaty and wanting to freshen up, I asked to have a shower. I was asked for my BP and when shown to them, they took it and went and showed it to the supervisor. Not sure if because the normal Singapore flight would have left before I had a chance to have a shower or asking to see if we were allowed to have one. All I overhead was “Yes, Yes that’s okay.” After about 20 minutes, I was called for and given access to one of the 3 showers they have.

By the time I got out of the shower, the other FC passengers continuing on SQ25 were gone. I stayed a little longer then headed over to the Lufthansa Senator lounge. I was feeling really tired and knew they had a sleeping area. My early question of what do you do in Frankfurt for 11 hours on a Sunday was answered with Sleep. And then write this report.

Summary – while I can’t compare with BA or Cathay Pacific. First class on Singapore airlines is great. If you want quality reserved service, Singapore beats Air NZ, Qantas, Malaysian and United. If you want matey friendly service then go for Air NZ. The seat is better on Singapore airlines. I am very much looking forward to my next two legs on Singapore First Class.

Deimos

Wow, this report is really great. ^