Many thanks for the encouragement everybody ^ and the weather report of course :-:. Always nice to know that it is much worse at home!!!



Part 2

Route: OSL-SVO
Airline: Aeroflot
Aircraft: Tu-154M
Seat: 4A
Flight number: SU212
Class of service: Business
Scheduled departure time: 09:00
Scheduled arrival time: 13:25

There was quite a queue for the Aeroflot economy check-in desks. Although the screen above the desk suggested otherwise (it states CSA Business Class), it seemed that the adjacent line was for Aeroflot Business passengers. We must have waited for 20 minutes in that queue before making it to the front. The agent expressed surprise at being presented paper tickets! He talked us through as he processed our check-in. To be honest, I think he was actually talking to himself as he refreshed his own memory on the process involved. He presented us with a multiple flight BP. I had not seen one of them before but it contained flight and seat details for each flight!

Security was an absolute breeze and we headed straight for the OSL Lounge. Without doubt, this has to be the best contract lounge that I have visited. Although nothing too special; it was clean, bright and quite modern. It reminded me of the BA Terraces lounge. I spotted a 1:100 model BA Concorde on the receptionist’s desk. Upon closer inspection, it was the same as the one that I had received a week or two back. Initially, they came with a £200 price tag but BA recently dropped it to £50 to shift the stock. I was glad to take one off of their hands at that price. Thanks krug!


After eating a continental breakfast, it was time to board. We made our way down to Gate 50 and I took the opportunity to grab a few pictures of the Tu-154 that was to transport us to Moscow.


I had never been on a Soviet airliner before and had been thoroughly looking forward to the experience. The seats reminded me of US Airway’s domestic First seat, pretty wide with around 38” seat pitch. The seats were laid out in a 2-2 configuration with 4 rows along the left and 3 rows (and an emergency exit) on the right. We were seated in 4A&B and were the last to be served throughout the flight. Although on the plus side, the seats in front of us remained empty and therefore had nobody reclining into us. There was a wooden trim to the cabin that really did give it an antique feel and entering the lavatory was like stepping back in time. The FA realised that my moderately sized hand luggage was too large for the overhead storage compartments and placed my bag between the back of my seat and the bulkhead behind. I would have to say that the overhead compartment was just about the same size as that on the upper deck of a 747. Realising that placing the bag there would prevent me from reclining my seat during the flight, once the FA had vanished; I removed it and placed it under the centre of the seats in front as our footrests were immovable. It easily protruded from under the seats and I was fully expecting an FA to point it out and remove it. Although it was noticed by the FA, nothing was said.


We were given a choice of water or orange juice as a pre-flight drink. I immediately took a liking to the Aeroflot branded glass and it would appear that somehow during the flight one managed to sneak itself into my cabin baggage. I must remember to give that back before the end of the flight. Not too long after, the FA was back taking our orders for the post-departure drink.

I know that Aeroflot have a certain unfair image in the West and we made our own jokes before and during the flight, but joking aside – I don’t think that I have ever paid as much attention to a safety briefing as I did on this flight. Mrs TEX277 began ribbing me when she noticed that I had actually taken the safety card out of the pocket and was studying it carefully.


The food was a little bit of a mixed bag. The starter and dessert were good but the main course did not meet the same standards.

Moscow SVO Transit

We arrived 10 minutes early and made a delayed exit from the aircraft. We had 6hrs 20mins between flights and were really in no mood to rush into the departure lounge. After most of the economy passengers had disembarked we made our move. The lady on the transit desk replaced our SAS issued multi-flight BP with a lovely one on Aeroflot stock and gave us our lounge invites to the Date First Class Lounge.

The first hour of our 6hrs 20mins lay-over was spent walking into just about every duty-free shop in the terminal. It did get a little exciting when we began to play a game of ‘Who can find the most expensive bottle of Cognac?’. Ultimately, I was victorious with a €5700 bottle of Remy Martin Louis XIII Black Pearl. The tour of the duty-free shops in Moscow did highlight the good value of UK high street shops though. Needless to say, we made no purchases. The terminal itself is certainly not somewhere that you would want to spend a lengthy connection due to lack of seating and facilities. Upstairs in particular, there were many people lying on cardboard boxes to get some rest whilst they waited for their connecting flight.

Having exhausted the little interest that we had in the duty-free shops and with nothing else to do in the terminal, we made our way to the Date First Class Lounge. I am not really sure how it deserves the name ‘First Class’; we were non-elite business class passengers and the facilities were akin to those in a United RCC complete with people speaking loudly into their mobile phones. Full disclosure: food selection was superior to the RCC (and a free bar) and in all of the time that I have spent in a RCC; I have not had a chap with a step ladder working his way around the lounge vacuuming the ceiling. Anyway, the place has free wifi and that’s all that matters. Oh and it did not have those bloomy ugly telephones on every table either!)


Route: SVO-HKG
Airline: Aeroflot
Flight number: SU595
Class of service: Business
Aircraft: 767-300ER
Seat: 2A
Scheduled departure time: 19:55
Scheduled arrival time: 09:45+1

By the time that we had made our way to the gate, general boarding was well underway. We joined the queue and soon enough were being welcomed by the cabin crew and directed to our seats 2A&B. Before the doors were shut the cabin crew had to fight off two separate economy passengers attempting to be reseated in economy. The first chap explained to the cabin crew that he had purchased a business class ticket (that apparently cost US$5000) and should be in business despite his BP showing an economy seat assignment. After some protestations, he was making his way back to economy. The lady with an extremely young child (we guessed it could only be a couple of months old) seated in the centre of row 2 was being helped settle in by her husband. He had an economy BP and attempted to persuade the cabin crew to allow him to remain in business for the flight to help his wife with their child. He too was soon on his way back to economy.


Not quite certain of the type of seating to expect on this flight, I was pleased to see that the 767 was fitted with the ‘Presidential’ seats (i.e. angled lie-flat). There were so many free seats in business and, after a quick count, realised that of the 30 seats only 11 were actually occupied. Pre-flight drinks including Champagne were offered, and accepted, menus distributed and orders for meal and post-departure drinks were taken.


We were both quite impressed by the food on offer and were looking forward to dinner. After take-off the personal IFE systems were distributed along with headphones. Neither of us had ever used these before and began investigating them immediately. They were very easy to use but, I assume due to memory size issues, only contained a limited selection of films, music and short programmes.

It was not until the aircraft was at its initial cruising altitude of 33,000ft, that the ‘fasten seat belt’ sign was extinguished. Before then, even the cabin crew had remained seated. As we were a little late departing (scheduled 19:55, actual 20:25), we were hoping that the meal would be served asap so that we could get some sleep on this overnight flight. Needless to say, this was not going to be the case. When the meal service did begin, the cabin crew did a fantastic job of ensuring that empty plates were removed and quickly replaced with the next course.


The appetiser was fantastic with the notable exception of the Salmon caviar tartlet. They had evidently been pre-prepared causing the caviar to have been exposed for too long. This made it quite dry and it ended up sticking to my teeth. The salad was ok, the soup was barely lukewarm whilst the main Char Sui dish was good enough and the dessert was gorgeous. Excuse the absence of the cherry on the dessert in the picture. I couldn’t resist. It was close to 2hrs after departure that we had finished our meal. Unfortunately, I was not tired enough to sleep and watched a film instead.

I know that others do not like these angled lie-flat beds as some have a tendency to slip down. This was not a problem for me but I still struggled to make myself comfortable for sleep. I prefer to sleep face down and just could not find room to accommodate my hands and arms beneath my head. Ultimately, I did manage to get a couple of hours sleep before breakfast was served about 1hr 30min outside of Hong Kong. The breakfast was quite simple but I found that I enjoyed it more than the traditional breakfast offerings that I have received towards the end of overnight flights on other carriers.


A stewardess led the husband in economy up to take a seat in business next to his wife with the young infant. To be fair the infant had been remarkably quiet during the flight with only a few small outbursts. Seated in 2A&B allowed us to disembark quickly through door 1L. My fears of a long walk were unfounded as within a couple of minutes we were at immigration. There were no queues whatsoever, so I walked straight up to the immigration officer to present my passport. Mrs TEX277 used the automated HK ID system and we were both in the baggage hall within a minute of arriving at immigration.

Our blue Aeroflot Business Class luggage tags were no help whatsoever in receiving any sort of priority handling. Most of the first bags off had a black priority label but after that there were many bags without any priority making their way around the carousel. It was 20 minutes after the first bags arrived, that ours presented themselves.

Ibis Hotel North Point

We checked in a couple of hours early due to the morning arrival of the Aeroflot flight from Moscow. We were welcomed and checked in quickly and informed that we had been upgraded to a harbour view room for our 4 night stay. I had done some research and had discovered that the rooms at this hotel were small. However, I was not quite prepared for just how small they really are. Let’s just say that the bathroom is not too bad but the actual room itself is a desk, bed and just enough space to walk around the side and front of the bed to get to the door and bathroom. We can put up with it for this stay but I very much doubt that we’ll be coming back to this hotel in future.


Hong Kong

Having been to Hong Kong several times before and done the whole tourist thing, we decided to take things easy in Hong Kong. The only 'touristy' item on our itinerary was a free Cantonese Opera Appreciation Class run by the Hong Kong Tourism Board. Our guide introduced us to the fundamentals (characters, singing and acting styles) before we sat in on a performance. We popped into the Beijing Olympic Flagship store in the Bank of China to stock up merchandising. Being in an Olympic city with less than 10 days to go before the event commences, it was impossible not to be drawn in by the whole affair. Mrs TEX277 had looked into securing herself tickets to the equestrian events being held in Hong Kong but was too late, as tickets were now sold out.