thepinkponce

MH787: HKT to KUL
Aircraft: Boeing 737-800
Reg:
ETD: 10:25
Push Back: 10:53
ETA: 12:55
ATA: 13:15
Seat: 5A

The flight showed a delay of 25 minutes, and although boarding still hadn't commenced at around 10:30, when it did it was fairly efficient and we were away by 10:53.

I was in 5A, and leg room was slightly impeded by the divider between J and Y.

We were served a hot meal on the flight, and I'm not sure exactly what it was but it was pretty nice special mention to the fruit cake which was delicious.




There was IFE provided although I didn't watch this and got my head down for a nap after the meal.



We made a little bit of time up in the air and arrived into KLIA 20 minutes behind schedule.



My first time on MH and all in all they were fairly good, with the service earlier in the day as a OWE being the highlight.

thepinkponce

Homeward bound.

After a great couple of weeks or so, we started our journey back a little earlier this morning.

We arrived at KLIA about 11pm last night which was 3 hours ahead of our 02:00am departure to DOH. We'd allowed a little extra time for the ride to the airport as the traffic had been bad when arriving, but as it happened the roads were clear. We were first in the business class queue and check in opened shortly after.



We were given a voucher for the Plaza Premium Lounge, but firstly wanted to try the MH premium lounge. Our gate is C37 so we headed straight across to the satellite building on the train.



I thought the terminal building was a little confusing. I didn't notice any signage for lounges until after the we departed the train, and even then it was difficult to follow.

The MH lounge is actually located upstairs, and as you step off the train and turn left into departures, you'll see it behind you on the next level.



It's a fairly spacious lounge with plenty of available seating when we arrived, and views onto the airfield. There is a dining area immediately to the right as you walk into the lounge and beyond reception.





Once there, me and my friend both used the shower facilities which were decent, although very hot after showering. Individual bottled amenities were provided along with toothbrush and hair brush. The showers were located at the very far end of the lounge.







We were wanting to check out the restaurant / dining area, however this closed at 11:30 so we'd just missed it as the last MH flight had just departed.

We were the only two in the lounge at this point, and went and looked at the buffet choices which was a selection of fruits, snacks, sandwiches etc. Not the best you've ever seen, but certainly not the worst either.







We got a couple of sandwiches each and were about to head over to the Plaza Lounge for a nosey when one of the staff brought us over a selection of 4 cooked meals from the restaurant - including soup, pasta, a potato dish, a spicy duck and rice dish along with a selection of small deserts. Really nice touch and the food was great.





We felt guilty leaving so we hung around for a little longer before heading across to the Plaza Premium lounge at 00:20.

The Plaza lounge is located on the same level as the MH lounge, but is further round on the right as you depart the MH lounge.




Upon the arrival we actually struggled to get a seat. It was absolutely packed, so much so that I felt uncomfortable taking any photos of it as there would have been many people in the photos.

There were a few hot food selections available, including vegetarian noodles, chicken and steamed rice, along with Chinese cabbage.





There's a bar which is paid, however the boarding pass had been stamped saying it was valid 'free flowing beer and selected liquors'




The lounge itself is actually a nice, large lounge with views out onto the airfield but for the volume of people - considering we were the only two in the MH lounge.

We were on an A340-600 back to DOH, so I'll give an update on that one soon.

thepinkponce

QR853: KUL to DOH
Aircraft: Airbus A340-600
Reg: A7-AGD
ETD: 02:00
Push Back: 01:58
ETA: 04:20
ATA: 04:03
Seat: 2A (J Cabin 4 rows in 2-2-2 format)

We were in 2A and 2B on this mornings flight and the cabin looked full aside from 1A and 1B which I found surprising. Not sure if QR block them for their premium passengers but it seemed strange that they weren't taken.

The seat was very similar to that on the A320 we had from HEL to DOH. There isn't anywhere near the space in the footrest as there is on the 787, but for me it was still fairly comfortable in the flat position.



A couple of subtle differences to the A320 seat is that the USB and headphone jack are located next to you rather than behind you and there is a little area for storing your shoes. There is however a real lack of storage space with nowhere really to put anything - even the menus or newspaper if you take one. One positive is that there was a movable seat divider unlike the long haul A320 I mentioned.




After the usual offer of amenity kits, newspapers, hot towels, menu's and pre-take off drink, pyjamas were also brought around as it was a night flight. However, they only had sizes S/M or L/XL on board - either too small or too big. Not a major deal for me as I was dressed comfortable enough and had shorts in my hand luggage if needed. Plus another glass of lanson




Again the menu options were good. I wanted to get some sleep on the flight so I decided I would just go with the breakfast menu and asked the crew member if she'd wake me up around 2 hours before the end of the flight if I hadn't already eaten, which she did.







I was offered a further drink after take off and was brought another glass of Lanson and some nuts before putting the seat down to sleep.

Menu wise I went for the Honeydew smoothie, the greek yoghurt with strawberry compote and granola, and the omelette with chicken sausages. Once again, all really nice.





2B went for the orange juice, salmon and the vanilla French toast. Again, really good.




The inflight entertainment system also seemed to be different, and whilst there appeared to be slightly less selection, the system itself seemed much more responsive - a comment I made on the HEL to DOH leg.




Once again another very enjoyable flight, a few hours sleep, a nice crew

thepinkponce

I've (finally) added the photos of the flight from DOH to HKT on the 787 now in post 34.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/27352931-post34.html

thepinkponce

So I'm back in the Al Mourjan lounge in DOH, awaiting our flight to HEL. The transfer from aircraft to lounge literally took us around 20 minutes from touching down, which is amazing really.

Ive had a shower, and the facilities are excellent. The best lounge showers I've used. There are two areas in the lounge for showering. The first is straight ahead of you when you walk in (behind the water feature). There was a waiting list for this shower, even at 4:30am!

There's a larger shower area in the restaurant at the far left end of the lounge as you walk in. If you head towards the toilets and quiet area the facilities are there. It's much quieter and we got showers within a minute or two once they were prepared.





The shower room was really nice. There were no small bottles of toiletries, just the large bottles although toothbrushes are provided. Just a note that there are no hair dryers in the rooms either, but if you want one they will provide you with one which plugs in.





Unfortunately I can't offer you any further food updates from the lounge as I don't think I could eat anything but it's the same as it was the last time I was here.

thepinkponce

QR301: DOH to HEL
Aircraft: Airbus A320
Reg: A7-AHQ
ETD: 08:15
Push Back: 08:18
ETA: 14:50
ATA: 14:36
Seat: 2F (J Cabin 3 rows in 2-2 format)

Well, it was all going so well wasn't it. The most disappointing QR flight of the trip unfortunately.

It started off badly - gate 23 which is a coaching gate. We arrived at the gate in good time and the flight had just started boarding. However we were actually stopped from boarding the coaches by the ground crew, who insisted it was economy passengers only and that a separate bus was being provided for business passengers.

So not only was there no priority boarding, they actually wouldn't allow business class passengers to board the coach. A couple of people moved into the economy queue but were just stopped by the ground staff and told to wait with the rest of us.

We waited around 15 minutes until the flight was 'closed' and all economy passengers had boarded the first coach.

A few people raised the issue to the ground crew as the first coach was boarding, and I pointed to the priority boarding sign explaining that we should be allowed to board at our leisure. The reaction appeared to be one of surprise when they seen the priority boarding signs and everyone explained that we should have at least been able to board the first bus with all other passengers.

After a further wait we eventually all board our bus and arrive on board the aircraft - which was another long haul configured A320 - literally 10 minutes before the doors closed. As a result of this, there were 4 crew rushing around a 3 row cabin trying to get everything done. It was so rushed that we were actually given an amenity kit by two different crew members. When it was handed back, there was a very confused look.

We gave our menu choices without really having any time to study the menu properly and were served a pre take off drink which many in the cabin didn't have time to finish, as as soon as they'd been served they had to remove them for take off.

It was so so rushed purely because of the delay to getting business passengers on board. This isn't the crews fault obviously but it really affected the cabin.

The flight pushed back just a couple of minutes after schedule.

I had a glass of Lanson after take off, and was given a couple of fairly small top ups - i.e less than half a glass - so I sensed something was wrong. When another crew member asked if I'd like another, the CSM brought it over and told me that they were running low on it but they had more of the brut.

I managed one more glass of brut before they told me that they had also none of that left, although to be fair to the CSM she was making clear they had plenty of red or white wine on board. But with around 3 hours of the flight to go there was no champagne left on board which was disappointing.

For the first time I actually felt like a hindrance to the crew, and leading up to the point before they advised that there was no champagne left it felt the same. I think part of that can be put down to rush and pressure they were under at the start of the flight as it obviously affected them.

Aside from these obvious issues, the food again was great, and the seat was fine for the length of the flight. I took a cheese board at the start of the flight, before the strawberry & fig smoothie, the salmon and the sun dried tomato tart later in the flight. Very good again.








I've taken a couple of extra photos of the seat to show the subtle difference between the A340 and A320 seats with the privacy screen, and the stowage underneath the screen for menus and news papers. I had the same issue with the USB and headphone jack being behind the seat, in that the USB came out a few times during the flight.




We arrived into a very chilly Helsinki around 15 minutes early, and once again immigration was very quick with bags collected almost immediately.

thepinkponce

BA795: HEL to LHR
Aircraft: Airbus A320
Reg:
ETD: 07:45
Push Back: 07:50
ETA: 09:00
ATA: 09:17
Seat: 6A

After again spending some time in the beautiful Finnair Premium lounge this morning, we boarded the BA flight at gate 37 which is right next door to the lounge, and pushed back pretty much bang on schedule.

We had a lengthy taxi of around 30 minutes before being airborne at 08:20, which ultimately affected the arrival time, and we've just touched down 17 minutes behind schedule at LHR.

The end of a great trip, and hopefully you've enjoyed my first trip report. Thanks for reading.

miamiflyer8

Great report! Did you use the Sauna in the AY Premium Lounge and did you need to clear transit security at HEL?

thepinkponce

Hi miamiflyer we didn't transit in HEL, as we stopped over last night and caught the first BA flight back to LHR today so we just cleared immigration as normal and left. I just wanted to play it safe in terms of the separate PNR's. My friend has transited in HEL before however, and we seen the transit security which is about 20m away from the Finnair lounge.

Didn't use the sauna in the lounge either - was there at 6am this morning and it was a bit to early to subject the regulars to that

db07mufan

Thanks for sharing ! Nice prelude to my trip in January, same on the 787 and then A320.

I however have a 8 hour layover at night in Al Mourjan, i hope there are places to get a shut eye

thepinkponce

Hi db7mufan if you check one of my previous posts from yesterday regarding the showers in Al Mourjan, they are actually located within a 'quiet zone' of the lounge. So as well as the showers they actually have an area that's reserved for people who want to sleep etc. This is away from the main hustle and bustle of the lounge, and it did seem quiet enough that you'd be able to get some sleep. Enjoy your trip, especially the 787 ^

miamiflyer8

Oh sorry for not reading the last line. Hope you enjoyed your time in Helsinki and had a safe journey home.

NoY

Excellent report, well done^ Am on the HEL-DOH flight very very soon. Looking forward, although looks packed.

thepinkponce

Enjoy! It was a very busy flight, particularly on the outbound leg.

db07mufan

Thanks thepinkponce

Did you manage to take a peek into the quiet zone? Were they lounge chairs or just sofas? How comfy were there for sleeping