Short hair Francis

Thank you flyerguide88, as a out of state person, I would never know that. We ended up asking the Stowe lodge about that issue and they gave us the exact same response.
That said, I wonder how the states should be liable for that considering double yellow in 99.9 % places would imply no passing.

Burlington was pretty packed that day, we were just looking for a quick warm dinner that night


Great to know fieldeng, one of the smallest states gives out a large amount of speeding tickets.
Guess that pays for gov't services

Thank You Talkmail, great honor to have made the cut this week.
Will try to keep up the standards everybody loves seeing around the forum
BTW, probably going to be thousands of photos when said and done

And grab some provisions, like extra battery along, this will be a LONGG one! ^

Sorry for the slow posting this past week, been flying a good amount lately.
Let's just say SHF just enforced the "No Food Left Behind" Policy on JAL First

Short hair Francis

Part 20 – Never Prayed for an Op-Up so Badly, RJ J/Y JFK – AMM – BKK


I earlier explained the motivation of RJ Y ticket in Part 9 – What We do for Miles and Status, Royal Jordanian Economy Class JFK – AMM – BKK. The RGN RJ Y ticket was a good opportunity to earn 29900+ EQP at a good price of 470 USD return. Lastly I had finally deferred this part of the ticket as late as I could but was coming up towards the 12 months validity, so “use it or lose it”


Jun 16, 2013 – Sunday
RJ 262 JFK – AMM 10:30pm – 4:45pm(+1) [Jun 17] (332/J)
Jun 18, 2013 – Tuesday
RJ 182 AMM – BKK 2:15am – 3:30pm (332/Y)


With a brief rest stop at the jfkeze hostel to drop stuff off and to shut eyes for a tiny while, I was back on the freeway, hard to consider the Van Wyck as one seeing it almost always is clogged with traffic. Luckily it wasn’t terrible as I return Pepi back to Hertz by 8:55pm, god never again, she drank like an Irish drinker on St. Patrick’s day.
With no delay on the airtrain, I was back at the JFK Terminal 8 by 9:15pm.

New York Kennedy Terminal 8




As I was quite late in the check-in process for the Royal Jordanian flight, all the exit row seat were sold out, all the bulkhead have been given away, so I was stuck with 8C, a regular aisle. Oh god, this is going to be one awful flight.
First another patdown by the TSA, probably need to start tipping them with the frequency I am getting , then straight to the AA Flagship lounge for a quick bite and pick up a couple bottled waters for the long flight ahead and by 9:50pm, I made my way down to Gate 12 for boarding

Royal Jordanian Airbus 330-200



*24th flight, 67094 Miles flown since Apr 28
Royal Jordanian Airlines 262
New York Kennedy to Amman
Scheduled - 10:30pm – 4:45pm(+1)[Jun 17], 11 hr 15 mins flight
Delayed Departure – 10:45pm, Late Boarding Complete
On Time Arrival – 4:28pm(+1)
Economy > Business Class , Seat 8C>1D, Operational Upgrade inside the Plane
Food – Dinner, Breakfast
Equipment – Airbus 330-200



RJ boards from 1 line but does provided elite boarding. Most times, the lines are all families and friends travel, so just waive your elite card if necessary.

Oh god this is going to be one long flight, 8C


Just as I was settling in, a gate agent comes onboard and give me a U class boarding stub, wow, my first inside the plane op-up, and it couldn’t come fast enough.
I’m saved
My only problem now is the great difficulty in swimming up the aisle.

Royal Jordanian Airbus 330-200 Business Class Cabin



Upgraded into an Middle aisle Seat





Pre-Departure Beverage


Personally I do like the bulkhead on this flight as it is a full bulkhead and not a cut-out type. Seat is slanted flat, but hey, when you get an op-up on a sub-500 buck North America – Asia ticket you really don’t complain at all. With this upgrade, I ended up 2/8 on op-up with RJ RGN Y tickets, probably the best streak I ever had on op-ups.

The entire plane was full tonight, 24J/259Y, guess that is 1 perk to peak time travel but even with a planned 40 minutes of boarding, door were not closed until 10:45pm with at least 10 gate-tagged bags.

Flight time was 10 Hour 20 Minutes today to Amman



Part 20 Continues Below

Short hair Francis

With the delayed door close and pushback, takeoff was at 11:10pm on Runway 31L with a turnaround the out east towards the Atlantic




RJ 262 Dinner

Appetizer & Salad
Smoked Duck
Grilled Shrimp
Grilled Peeled Asparagus

Seasonal Salad

Main Course
Beef Fillet with Mushroom Cream Sauce
Served with Roasted Potatoes, buttered asparagus, and Vichy Carrots

Cajun Chicken with Sauteed Spinach
Served with Potato Gratin and buttered baby carrots

Stuffed Sole with Lobster Sauce
Served with Mashed Potatoes and Broccoli

Cheese Ravioli with Tomato Cream Sauce
Served Parmesan Cheese

Dessert
Truffle Chocolate Cake

Drinks with Nuts Service commenced about 25 minutes after airborne


With the Appetizer Tray was served about 30 minutes after that

Appetizer Tray


Seasonal Salad


Trio Appetizer


Main Course, Beef Fillet with Mushroom Cream Sauce


Dessert, Truffle Chocolate Cake


The overall food was unimpressive, but hey, I only paid an economy ticket and an oopsy ticket at that. All in all, Beggers can’t be choosers but I would comment, the RJ Y mains I’ve had previously were more tasty than today’s J main; but at 24J/259Y today, no thanks, thank you for the seat.

From drink service to the entire meal service, it took around 1 hr 20 minutes and it was now 1am Eastern and flying above Newfoundland, time for some sleep


Not my most impressive pic, but what can you do when the plane is 100% full.


With my week in Chile and the Northeast US, I passed out for a 7 hours of sleep which is rather rare for me.

Damn, I slept from Newfoundland to Greece, down to 1 hr 50 min remaining



Breakfast was served about 1 hour 20 minutes out

RJ 262 Breakfast

Breakfast Service
Orange Juice
Fresh Fruit Salad

Philadelphia Cream Cheese

Cereal
Milk
Fruit Yoghurt

Main Courses
Apple Pancake
Or
Blueberry Crepes

Butter-Perserves-Honey

Croissant
Assorted Bread Basket

Breakfast Tray Service


Fruit Plate


Breads


Cereal


The Apple Pancake and the Blueberry Crepes are served from disposable heated pans and served individually to you, all in the meanwhile being pushed from a collapsible cart in the aisle

Blueberry Crepe, I went pretty light


Breakfast was overall quick with a tray follow by the trolley cart main course service, and at 3:50pm Amman time, we made our descent for Amman




Part 20 Continues Below

Short hair Francis

Landing at 4:23pm and a quick 5 min taxi into the gate and I’m back in Amman yet again.

One last look at the Royal Jordanian Airbus 330-200


In light of my discovery from my May RJ flight, I soon went to the RJ transfer counter and was given the hotel coupon; the entire process took about 1 hour, from the transfer counter, to immigration, to hotel, to the room.

Amman Airport Hotel




I went down to the dining room at 6:30pm for the complementary RJ Dinner buffet before catching on some extra sleep.
By 11pm, I was back up and start getting ready to go back to Queen Alia Airport

Queen Alia International Airport


Royal Jordanian Crown Class Check-In



My luck went back to normal, as I secured another 5C bulkhead seat for the flight to Bangkok. Seems like my complaint from last month got heard, they actually staff the Crown Class immigration counter instead of letting a passenger waltz right outside the country without knowing.

Amman Royal Jordanian Crown Lounge











Celebration of Royal Jordanian’s 50 Year Anniversary
“Proud of Our History, Aspiring to the Future”



I’ve transit this airport 3 times in 3 months, and they are already putting Hazard cones all over the concourse, what cheap contractor did they use?



Part 20 Continues Below

Short hair Francis

I made my way to Gate 110 for boarding at 1:25am and boarding was already in progress, is there any consistency to the RJ boarding process?

Another Royal Jordanian Airbus 330-200

*Really got to know this plane very well the last couple of months

*25th flight, 71344 Miles flown since Apr 28
Royal Jordanian Airlines 182
Amman to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, Continuing Service to Hong Kong
Scheduled – 2:15am – 3:30pm, 9 hr 15 mins flight
Actual Departure – 2:12am
On Time Arrival – 3:06pm
Economy Class, Seat 5C
Food – Snack, Breakfast
Equipment – Airbus 330-200






Royal Jordanian Airbus 330-200 Economy Class Cabin


Bulkhead Seat, 5C



Load were about 65% with most either traveling as pairs or had an empty seat next to them. For myself, I lucked out yet again and had another 5A/5C pair.
Door closed 2 mins late and pushback was within the next minute or two.

Bye Bye Amman, not sure the next time I’m back



Airborne by 2:30am with no airport traffic, flight time to Bangkok today was 8 hour 30 Minutes



Flight Attendants came up about 25 minutes after takeoff with the snack sandwiches, same procedure from the May flight


I finally caught up to most of my sleep earlier so I went back to the book I brought for extra reading.


Sun rising over the Middle East



As we have been airborne for over 3 hours, I took another short 2 hr snap and woke up over India



Back to the book for a little while and breakfast was served as we were over Western Burma


*Back in 10 days AGAIN

RJ 182 Breakfast

*Don’t remember if RJ offers a 2nd choice for breakfast, and usually the Dinner RJ provides even in Y is actually good.

And over the Burmese/Thai border, lots of T-storms afoot



Part 20 Continues Below

Short hair Francis

At 2:35pm, we made our descent into Bangkok Suvarnabhumi






With our on time departure from Amman, we landed into BKK at 2:59pm and parked at the gate E1 at 3:06pm.


Good, I actually have a chance to get home early and standby for the 4pm CX flight back to HKG.


Next Part
Part 21 – The Horrible CX Innovation, CX Old Long Haul “Coffins” J BKK – HKG

jackrussellterrier

Great Trip report - to read! - not sure I'd want to do quite as much as this!

I even felt relieved myself when you got the op-up from JFK to AMM. It happened to me only once on board many years ago from FRA - GRU from Y to J after a SIN to FRA sector the previous night in Y so I know the great feeling.
Makes me appreciate my 100% J these days though. Don't want to go back down there for LH at all!

LH4116

Looking great so far. Are you half ways with the report already?

You must've been really lucky to have scored an upgrade on the ex-JFK segment. I guess the flight was heavily overbooked? Though I'm surprised they upgraded you over their own elites (unless they had been upgraded already), but I guess your high fare class may have played a part.

Looking forward to the rest!

mpc7488

Nice report, I echo the comments above - I was rooting for you to get the op-up

Short hair Francis

Thanks jackrussellterrier, it's all good in spirit, this crazy hectic style isn't for everyone just as backpacking isn't really my type of thing either.
I did do JFK-AMM in Y about 4 weeks ago prior to this flight, on a emptier flight with a bulkhead and empty next to you.
I'll admit, it's not horrible, but on a "packed to the gill" flight, no thanks
Sometimes we do need a memories of Y just to remember the good side of the curtain.
I still consider myself rather lucky seeing I hold a 20:80 ratio for Y vs. J/F travel


Thanks LH4116, halfway in what way may I ask, posting wise I am not, 20/59?

Not really sure how I scored it to be honest with you, the flight was J7 Y0 a long time out.
I am guessing they might not have that many elites, the RJ personnel at JFK remember me the 2nd time I came around and I was only an Emerald
I also had a BKK-AMM one in Apr that was also like that, op-up at gate but the BKK manager did ask me to change into more J class flying attire in advance.

Thanks mpc7488, op-up are good words to hear for sure ^


Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the US and Safe Travels.
Will get another section up very shortly for the extra reading time you all might have tomorrow, well between the football commercials and cutting the turkey anyway

Short hair Francis

Part 21 – The Horrible CX Innovation, CX Old Long Haul “Coffins” J BKK – HKG


As I got directed to the wrong gate for my flight to Rangoon lol , I decided to fly to Hong Kong instead. Another short BKK – HKG to go back home for a week, luckily as today’s Royal Jordanian flight was on time, I was able to jump from the 6:40pm CX flight up to the 4:10pm flight.

Jun 18, 2013 – Tuesday
CX 712 BKK – HKG 4:10pm – 7:55pm (343/J)

Armed with a 1 hour 5 minutes connection, I quickly made my way through the airport to get check-in for my Cathay Pacific flight. As the earlier 4:10pm wasn’t sold out, I got moved up complementary.

And with little time and a longish trek to gate F6, I declined the sub-par CX lounge in lieu of earlier boarding.

Cathay Pacific Airways Airbus 340-300




*26th flight, 72392 Miles flown since Apr 28
Cathay Pacific Airways 712
Bangkok Suvarnabhumi to Hong Kong
Scheduled – 4:10pm – 7:55pm, 2 hr 45 mins flight
Actual Departure – 4:07pm
On Time Arrival – 7:47pm
Business Class, Seat 19K
Food – Dinner
Equipment – Airbus 340-300 (26J/257Y 2 Class “34B” Configuration)




Boarding commenced when I arrived at the gate at 3:50pm.

Cathay Pacific Airways Airbus 340-300 Business Class Cabin



Cathay Pacific Airways Airbus 340-300 Business Class Seat



Pre-Departure Beverage



What can I say about the old coffin, it’s an alright regional seat if I wished to catch up on some extra sleep and the AVOD is adequate for the short regional legs they operated on. The only problem was that when Cathay designed back in the day decided to squeeze an extra seat in each aisle compared to other airlines operating the herringbone set-up. This definitely bit them hard as they had to replace the coffins seat with the newer Cirrus seat relatively early with the super amount complaints they received from customers.
I seem remember well about all the complaints people put on editorials in the South China Morning Post.

With a 20 minute boarding process, the doors were closed slightly ahead of schedule at 4:06pm, making an on-time flight back to Hong Kong with take-off time of 4:23pm.


Flight time to Hong Kong was 2 Hours 11 Minutes today


4 Engine is no longer 4 Long Haul


Flight attendant started the service about 15 Minutes after take-off

CX 712 Dinner

Starter
Marinated Thai Prawn and Scallop Salad

Main Course
Stir-Fried Beef Tenderloin with Ginger and Spring Onion, steamed jasmine rice, kalian with carrots and mushrooms

Pan-Fried Salmon Fillet with basil butter, steamed baby potato with chives, sautéed snap pea and shallot confit

Roasted Chicken with Honey Chilli Sauce, steamed jasmine rice, and sautéed baby asparagus with carrots and mushrooms

Dessert
Haagan Dazs Ice Cream
Tea and Coffee


I declined the nuts today and just went with the drink


Dinner Tray


Starter, Marinated Thai Prawn and Scallop Salad


Main Course, Stir-Fried Beef Tenderloin with Ginger and Spring Onion, steamed jasmine rice, kalian with carrots and mushrooms

*Actually wanted some Chinese food seeing I haven’t had any over 10 days

Dessert


Entire meal took about 1 hour 20 minutes, leaving about 50 minutes prior to arrival, very similar to most of my previous BKK – HKG flight and at 7pm HKG time, we started our descent


Part 21 Continues Below

Short hair Francis

Final Route of Today’s CX 712


Coming into HKG


*Can even see the strobe lights from Runway 7L/7R

Finally landed at 7:40pm with a short 7 minutes taxi to the 60’s Gate.
Back in HKG for to rest up for 1 full week then another 3 week Around The World trip starting next Tuesday.
For some people, life is a beach, right now Life is Great

Riding into the Sunset



Next Part
Part 22 – Singapore Airlines Long Haul Business HKG – SIN – DPS

Rami Tamimi

Thanks,very much great trip report. You are very lucky,I have never receiveed an opup with RJ,neither with RJ Silver (Ruby),nor with BA Silver (Sapphire)...also they tell me that row 5 is for sale in the A330...(

Short hair Francis

Thank You Rami Tamimi, glad to hear people are enjoying this ultra long report
Ya I went 2/8 on op-ups flying BKK-AMM-JFK 2x Round Trip on RJ.
Pretty crazy I got them as a AA EXP (Emerald), I am wondering if fare classes had something to do with it.
Love buying full fare Y lol
When/Where are you trying to assign row 5?
I only got them at check-in, they try to save row 5 for baby bassinet passengers

Rami Tamimi

I tried to request row 5 at 7th circle (RJ Amman city terminal),and at the airport,and they say that they charge for it (like emergency exit rows)

Wondering why did you not continue with RJ all the way to HKG?