florens

Hey guys

This is my first trip report, so I hope you’re going to enjoy it. I am not a writer, so I apologize in advance if this report does not meet the standard expected here.

I have decided to write this report in several installments, whose details are outligned at the end of this post. I hope this is okay like this. Of course I'll add plenty of pictures.

I just came home from a one week holiday in Malaysia together with my OH. To start off, I’ll post the flight details, including fare information and load factors:

• 24/03/17: AF1193, 1100-1210, BSL-CDG, E70, F-HBXM, 9D, Y/X, 76/76, 100%
• 25/03/17: QR40, 1515-2335, CDG-DOH, A388, A7-APF, 14K, J/R, F: 7/8, J: 43/48, Y: ~300/461, 67%
• 26/03/17: QR848, 0235-1515, DOH-KUL, A346, A7-AGA, 3F, J/R, J: 24/24, Y: nearly full, ~99%
• 27/03/17: MH1436, 1330-1430, KUL-LGK, B738, 9M-FFF, 2A, J/Z, J: 14/16, Y: 82/150, 58%
• 31/03/17: MH1447, 1330-1425, LGK-KUL, B738, 9M-MXP, 1A, J/Z, J: 16/16, Y: 110/150, 80%
• 01/04/17: QR845, 0930-1200, KUL-DOH, B77W, A7-BEG, 3K, J/R, J: 42/42, Y: ?
• 01/04/17: QR37, 1500-1955, DOH-CDG, A359, A7-ALM, 2E, J/R, J: 36/36 (5 kids), Y: 244/247
• 02/04/17: AF1192, 0920-1015, CDG-BSL, E70, F-HBXB, 7C, Y/X, 75/76, 98%





The QR flights were booked on 10/01/17 during the worldwide sale as part of a companion special fare for €1295.95 per person and booked into R yielding a total of 560TP (I credit to BAEC). The MH flights were just around $140 per person and booked into Z, yielding 40TP each way. The AF were cheap positioning flights for around €140 per person.

As you can see, the QR flights were interesting since I had 4 different aircrafts with 4 different seats. I flew QR last year on the B788 and A388, so I wanted to compare the reverse herringbone seats to the A359 and try the B77W and A346 too.

I did post a few comments already on the QR flights in the QR board, but you can expect some pictures and further comments too later on.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/qatar...xperience.html

As far as the hotels are concerned, we stayed at the following properties:
• 1 night at the Mercure Gare du Nord for 119€
• 1 night at the Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur, an Autograph Collection for 360MYR including breakfast (~$81)
• 4 nights at the Andaman Langkawi, a Luxury Collection Resort for 853MYR/night including breakfast (~ $192)
• 1 night at the Westin Kuala Lumpur for 525MYR (~ $118)
• 1 night at the ibis styles CDG airport for 105€ including breakfast

A few quick comments on those hotels:

Mercure Gare du Nord
Really not a great hotel. The rooms and furniture were worn and in bad shape. There was a bad smell in the bathroom. Checkin and checkout were slow and the wifi was very slow too. Wouldn’t stay there again. Good location (RER line B takes approximately 35 minutes to CDG from Gare du Nord)

Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur, an Autograph Collection
A lovely property. The room was beautiful and large, the restaurant served tasty food.

The Andaman Langkawi, a Luxury Collection Resort
I wrote a few comments about the resort here already: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28105189-post283.html
Expect more comments and pictures in the respective installment.

The Westin Kuala Lumpur
I was a bit disappointed. The hotel is nice, but the checkin took long and the sink design is really poor. You'll see it in the respective installment. Good Italian restaurant (Prego).

Ibis styles CDG airport
Small rooms! Barely any space for a suitcase. Very close to the CDGval station though to get to T1 and T2. Simple, yet pretty good breakfast

I’ve planned to do 5 installments:
1. AF, Paris
2. QR flights to KUL via DOH
3. MH flight to LGK and Langkawi
4. MH flight back to KUL and Kuala Lumpur
5. QR flight back from KUL to DOH
6. QR flight from DOH to CDG

I can’t say how quickly I can post those installments, so bear with me please.

Thanks for reading this and let me know if you have any questions!

F

roadwarrier

Thanks! Looking forward to reading this.

Also, Mercure Gare du Nord - I agree with your sentiments. But, in my case, I needed something convenient for the one night, so it did what it was designed to. I would not select it again in a hurry, but if between trains, or a train and a flight, it is convenient.

florens

First installment: AF and Paris

Friday 24th March 2017
Welcome to the first installment which is about our very short stay in Paris. As was mentioned before, we needed to get to Paris in order to catch our exCDG flight to KUL. We’ve both been to Paris many years ago (not together though) and were looking forward to revisit the City of Love. The flight onboard Air France’s Embraer 170 (operated by hop!) was uneventful, there was a quick drinks and snacks run during the 30 minute or so cruise.

Boarding at Gate 1 in BSL:


After arrival at Terminal 2G we had to wait for about 20 minutes to collect the luggage, which seemed ridiculously long. Terminal 2G is used for smaller planes, mainly all non-Airbus short haul flights and therefore all hop! Flights use 2G as well as some other airlines (Cityjet, Luxair). Terminal 2G is very basic and reminded me a bit of Budapest’s low cost terminal hall used by Easyjet and the likes. Anyways, after we collected the luggage we took the shuttle bus which goes to T2, where the TGV and RER railways stations are located. We wanted to grab a 24h ticket (I thought it would be valid for 24h from the time of purchase). As this type of ticket couldn’t be bought at the machine we queued at the counters for a couple of minutes only to find out that the ticket is indeed a day ticket valid for 24h on a specific date only. So we ended up buying a oneway RER B ticket to Gare du Nord for 10€ each, which we could have also bought at the machine… Anyways, we boarded the filthy RER train which took us to Gare du Nord in just half an hour. The hotel Mercure Gare du Nord is located just opposite the train station, so we checked in to get rid of our suitcases before heading to town. We didn’t have a lot of time, so we didn’t visit any sights, we just walked by. Our walking tour started at Notre Dame and the famous bookshop Shakespeare and Company, which was rammed full, and then we headed west to the Louvre, Place de la Concorde, Champs-Elysées, Arc de Triomphe and finally the Eiffel Tower.

A few pictures from our walking tour:
Notre Dame


Louvre


Arc de Triomphe


Tour Eiffel


It was getting late so we headed back to the hotel and decided to have dinner at a small Indian restaurant called Kashmir House. Food was decent and cheap, so I can recommend it!
After dinner we headed back to the hotel to get a good night’s sleep!

Saturday 25th of March 2017
We got up quite early and had breakfast at the Boulangerie Mekerbeche Olivier. We still had some time left in Paris, so we headed to Montmartre to see Sacré Coeur. It was a beautiful, sunny day. Around noon we went back to the hotel, checked out and took once again the RER B train to CDG.

Sacré Coeur:

wtcmor

Great start looking forward to this

florens

I agree. The location is indeed very convenient, that's why we chose it in the first place. And it's alright for one night surely.

This is motivating, thank you. I promise you it'll become more interesting, especially the flights!

Steve_19

Interesting report and well laid out. I've enjoyed your pictures of Paris - I would rate the trip pictures as more interesting then the flight photos.

florens

Second installment

Saturday 25th March

After a quick ride in the CDGVAL which connects the terminals, we arrived at T1, where QR operates from. Checkin was open and was very quick. We got lounge invitation cards and then headed up to the immigration checkpoint and then straight to the lounge. (Security is at the gates in the satellites). QR’s Business and First Class Lounge reopened recently and is beautiful and huge. There is no distinction of J and F in the lounge as far as I can tell (I saw some F pax in the same area as we were). We were the first ones there at around 2.5h before departure time and sat down in the dining room to enjoy lunch. The buffet consisted of about 7 different salads, cheese, bread and butter, a couple of mains and desserts. The food was plentiful, tasty and fresh. The staff was incredibly friendly and proactively filling up my champagne flute which was empty all the time…

Lounge entrance


Appetizer


Main


Dining area


Coffee brought to the relaxing seating area


Magazines and newspapers


After lunch we sat down in a quieter area and enjoyed coffee and used the bathrooms which were cleaned every single time someone was in it, before heading to our gate 36. Security was quick and we then had to wait a couple of minutes before boarding started. The area was packed and the flight wasn’t even full (Load was F: 7/8, J: 43/48, Y: ~300/461, 67%)! In fact, economy boarding was under way before business and first class boarding started. The plane came in about 45 minutes late, so probably it took them some time to clean the cabins.

Boarding


After stepping onboard as first passengers we went to our seats (14F and 14K) and were offered pre departure beverages (no champagne though ex CDG!).

The CSD came by and distributed the Brics amenity kit as well as the ŕ la carte menu and drinks list and informed us about the flight time. She was a very friendly Romanian FA. The menu reads as follows:



The cabin crew came around before takeoff to ask for our meal choices and we decided to dine about 2h before landing, since we had just had lunch in the lounge. After takeoff from runway 9R I had a glass of white wine:



I then quickly went to the bar/lounge area where I spent most of the flight drinking G&T! The bar/lounge area was extremely quiet for the first half of the flight, there was barely anyone there.

Bar area




I used to the time chat to another Romanian FA (there were 4 in total onboard) and soon there was sunset.



I eventually went back to my seat to dine.

Salmon amuse-bouche:


Salmon starter


Beef main


I then went back to the bar/lounge area after dinner to chat to a fellow FTer: G-CIVC. I recognized him in the lounge since he had a Flyertalk bag tag and then went to talk to him. Soon after we started our descent and landed on runway 16L. After a quick transit security we went straight to Al Mourjan Business Class Lounge to wait for our connecting flight and meeting yet other FTers: xhemp who came back from MLE and flew onwards to FRA and mrpalert who was on a mileage run from LAX to DPS via DOH.

Sunday 26th of March 2017

The layover was quick and soon already it was time to head to gate C4 to board our A346 A7-AGA which would be our plane to KUL. The load of this flight was: J: 24/24, Y: nearly full, ~99%.

The menu reads as follows:




At this point we were both getting tired, so I already napped during taxi and went straight to sleep after the very long takeoff roll. The seat on the A346 really feels cramped and not so private without much storage room. I had to put quite some stuff in the overhead bins. I slept for a couple of hours, before having breakfast. The omelette was bland and the croissant inedible.



Cabin shot:


The seat:


Soon we were descending into KUL, where we landed at around 3pm on runway 32L and then taxied to the satellite building. Immigration was very quick and visa free for Swiss citizens and we then went to the taxi stand where we took a taxi to our hotel, the Majestic Kuala Lumpur, an Autograph Collection. We went to have some drinks and dinner and soon went to sleep, as we were quite tired.



The property is really beautiful, see for yourself:

Lobby


Room

Room view


Bar




Lobby


Dinner time


Tea selection


Afternoon tea room


I hope you enjoy this report so far!

F

offerendum

I like the view from your room. The hotel has character

jmj9905

Seems like I see butternut squash soup on a lot of QR J menus. Thanks florens. Look forward to the rest of the report.

Fredrik74

Qatar looks good. Not sure about the Majestic style but I like the view.

Thanks for posting.

florens

It has!

Thank you!

Qatar was fantastic. Regarding the hotel style, I guess each to their own!

florens

Third installment: MH and Langkawi

Monday, 27th March 2017

We started off with having breakfast at the hotel before heading to the airport once again, where we checked in for our domestic flight to Langkawi. Being oneworld Emerald we used the Malaysia Airlines First check-in which was efficient. We then headed through security and to the lounge.

Malaysia Airlines First check-in




Lounge view to the domestic gates at the Main Terminal


We then headed to the departure gate to board 9M-FFF which will fly us to LGK today. The load on this flight was the following: J: 14/16, Y: 82/150, 58%

Our B737-800, 9M-FFF


The seats were decent enough (US domestic First Class style) for a one hour flight, though I appreciate MH flies longer sectors on the B737-800. Still, it’s better to what we are used to in Europe with the typical middle seat blocked off configuration.



We were offered a pre departure beverage before we taxied out and took off from runway 32R.

Views after departure


The meal consisted of peanuts, chicken Satay and Lindor chocolate. My OH is Vegetarian, so unfortunately she only could eat the peanuts and chocolate. Please note that MH is dry on shorter flights (i.e. flights below 3h).

Meal


After landing on runway 03 we disembarked through stairs as there are no jetbridges at Langkawi Airport.



Baggage delivery was fairly quick and we then headed outside where we were picked up. The drive to the Andaman Resort took about 35 minutes.

Check-in was quite swift and we received a complimentary room upgrade to a partial sea view room, probably because it was my birthday that day!

Hotel lobby:


Room view with partial sea view:


The resort’s North Wing:


The pool area


It was soon time to head to the resort’s restaurant Tepian Laut for my birthday dinner.

Enjoying Veuve Cliquot by the sea:


After dinner I found a birthday cake which has been placed in our room:


Tuesday, 28th March 2017 – Friday, 31st March 2017

It's time for some relaxing! Lying by the beach or pool, reading, watching series on the iPad, eating and drinking, you name it!

At some point we had dinner at Jala, the seafood restaurant, which was very good, but expensive! I paid 252MYR for this fish ($56).



Some more pictures:


















At some point we went to the Datai Resort which was ‘right next door’ to have dinner at the Pavillion, their Thai restaurant. I have to say this was fantastic and the resort looked wonderful, too!

The restaurant is built on 30m high stilts and the meals were fresh and very tasty.

The restaurant


Pool view at The Datai


This picture might look odd, but it is not edited at all. There was a thunderstorm during sunset, and this is exactly what it looked like!



We did visit the Sky Bridge at some point, though we were unlucky weather-wise.

Cable car up to the top (It was reassuring that they were made in Switzerland 😊 )


The Sky Bridge


That’s about it. We stayed at the resort for four nights only. There is a Flyertalk Master discussion Thread on the Andaman, here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starw...er-thread.html

I made some comments on the hotel:


Thanks for reading!

offerendum

The apes are so cute! Vegetarian options are unfortunately often a problem but it´s getting better.

florens

Friday 31st of March 2017

We got up early and had breakfast for the last time at our Resort. After breakfast we went swimming and soon headed to the room to pack up.

We were picked up on time and were driven back to the airport.

After checkin we headed to the lounge, where we found out that MH doesn't have a contract for its business class passengers. We bought the access for 84MYR (19$), but it wasn't worth it IMHO.

Boarding was delayed because they needed to load a wheelchair which took some time. We eventually made it onboard, the load was the following today:

J: 16/16, Y: 110/150, 80%





Comfy seats again


We took off towards the sea and the view was beautiful after departure




After a quick flight we were soon approaching KUL. You can see an Air Asia A320 doing a parallel approach



We landed with a delay of about 30 minutes, the luggage was quickly on the belt and we then headed back to town to spend a couple of hours.

This time we stayed at The Westin, our room was on the 22nd floor.

First stop was KLCC Park and the Petronas Towers


Second stop was the observation deck on top of the Menara Tower




We were quite hungry at this point and went back to the hotel in order to have dinner at Prego, an Italian restaurant. The food was quite good.

Jalan Bukit Bintang at night


As it was the last night in Malaysia we went back to the hotel for a good night's sleep.

onobond

Impressive TR so far, with very nice pics. ^

Looking forward to the last chapters