July 13, 2002
BR 67 TPE-BKK Lv0900 Arr1135
Boeing 747-400 Combi B-16405
Another first on this trip was to set my steps upon EVA Airways and a Boeing 747-400 Combi aircraft. The check in at its first class counter was more than efficient and helpful. I did not have any bag to check and the agent quickly printed my boarding pass and entered my frequent flyer number of Continental. After entering the immigration service, I shopped for some magazines and headed to the first class lounge. I was there before, since British Airways had used the BR lounge before. The lounge was empty and I was the only one there. It was a pretty cool feeling. Snack selections included chicken porridge, cream of crabmeat and corn soup, bread rolls, Chinese buns, fruits, Chinese cakes, various nuts and snack, and Japanese iced desserts. Everything was self-served.

Boarding was slightly delayed and no explanations were given. Boarding was done according to class of service and row number, and the ground agents strictly enforced the rules. BTW, all BR announcements were first made in the native language – Taiwanese, and then in Mandarin English, and lastly, English. First class was welcomed first and I headed towards the upper deck immediately. For those unfamiliar with BR, First class and business class were located in first class, and the usual F and J sections were occupied by BR’s upgraded economy class products – Evergreen Deluxe Class. Two F/As welcomed passengers at the door and when I walked into the upper deck, it was crowded with J class passengers (75% full at J), which slightly delayed my entrance into the first class cabin. It did not bother me much, but would bother some picky passengers. I started to see why it was a bad idea to have both F and J in the upper deck. For those flying in J, I discouraged you spending money on its J products – the seats looked small and the legroom was pretty tight – even worst than Cathay Pacific’s regional seat pitch. 44” of legroom was the official number, but my impression was that it was slightly better than those ancient J seats featured on United’s Boeing 767-200s, but not much. I will not pay full fare J and will rather fly the ED class. F class occupies the first section of the upper deck, and there are two rows of seats. The legroom was much better and the seats were more comfortable, which could recline into a nearly flat position. It was not suite style, but decent enough. I quickly realized that I was the only one in the F class section this morning (no wonder why BA pulled out of the TPE market with the lack of Premium passengers). Décor is definitely on the “Chinese” style – green carpets and green seats, accompanied by a choice of bright orange or green blanket – I am speechless. The uniform of the F/A adds more green and orange to the décor. Please change the uniform. That orange butterfly and green jacket were ugly beyond comprehension. The F/As were your typical Asian style, but China Airlines’ F/As were definitely more service-oriented, and easier to approach.

Pre-takeoff beverage was offered to me, before serving J class passengers. The choices and the glassware were the same, which included orange juice and water. Then the F/As passed out a pair of cotton slippers and regular headset to me. J class passengers got a green pair of plastic slippers. Since there was only one galley in the upper deck, you really could see that F and J service was not that different, and you did not feel that the F class service was more personalized or special. I would recommend at least setting up a bar unit in the front section, but then the pilot’s rest seats were set up in the forward section, which included a pair of J seats. Anyway, the pilot apologized for the late push back time but guaranteed that we would arrive on time due to favorable wind. We pushed back at 9:13am, and taxied towards Runway 24 for our takeoff. Safety demonstration was shown, and cold towels were passed out, followed by menus. Soon, we lifted off at 9:28am.

Flying time was three hours this morning, and our routing took us to Tainan, Southern part of Taiwan, and then Danang, Vietnam, before heading directly to Bangkok. We cruised at 39,000ft. After takeoff, beverage service began at 9:46am, and a plate of Japanese crackers and nuts accompanied it. A word about the printed menu – it was a small booklet, which featured some Chinese antiques in the cover. The complete TPE-BKK-LHR-BKK-TPE meals and wine list were included in this booklet. Therefore, I could tell you what was served on the longer segment. The wine list was included here, but I could tell you that caviar was still served, and if you ever wanted to experience a full dinner service, taking the continuation of the evening flight from LHR would be a good flight to take. Anyway, the lunch was served course by course, and I selected the appetizer and soup from the Western menu, and took the main course from the Chinese selection, and then I had the cheese, fruit, and dessert from the Western menu again.

Chinese Light Meal
Hors D’Oeuvres
Glazed Phoenix Prawn and Roulade Chicken Stuffed with Plum
Honey Glazed Fish Slice with Sesame

Soup
The Triple Twirler Soup

Main Course
Steamed Phoenix Prawn and King Scallop in Green Royal Sauce and Fried Beef Spareribs in Spicy Garlic Sauce
Served with Fried Mixed Vegetables and Steamed Rice
It was excellent, although I did not like scallops much, but both prawns and beef spareribs were really good.

Seasonal Fruit
Oven Baked Pastry Roulade with Date Filling

Western Light Meal
Carpacio Salmon and Mixed Mushroom Salad
Double Boiled Beef Consomme with Sherry Wine
The salmon was really fresh and I liked the mushroom salad much – couple kinds of expensive Japanese mushrooms were used. The soup was another surprise. There were many chopped celery and carrots to form the soup base, and some cheese bread sticks topped the soup as well.

Grilled Fillet of Beef with Madeira Sauce
Ruby Cabbage and Pumpkin
Roasted New Potato with Rosemary

Cheese and Seasonal Fruit
Swiss, Camembert, and Cheddar cheese, accompanied by crackers, dried banana, apricot and figs…
2 slices of papaya, melon, cantaloupe, and three large grapes…

Brownie with Scotch and Chocolate Sauce
Too good to describe it!

UCC Freshly Brewed Coffee – A pretty famous Japanese brand

Taiwan Traditional Selection
Penghu Loofa with Flour-rice noodles
Served with
Stew Penghu Peanuts in Five Spices
Braised Soy Chicken and Soy Egg

Seasonal Fruit
Oven Baked Pastry Roulade with Date Filling

Wine List
Champagne
Laurent-Perrier Grand Siecle 1990
Burgundy White
Puligny-Montrachet “La Gerenne” 1997
German White
Niederhauser Herrmannsberg Riesling Spatlese 1999
California White
Robert Mondavi Winery, Chardonnay, 1999
Bordeaux Red
Chateau Lynch-Bages 1997
California Red
Murrieta’s Well Vendimia Red 1997, Livermore Valley
Australia Red
Wolf Blass President Selection Shiraz 1999

The meal was carried out in a good pace, but the F/As quickly disappeared after the lunch service. Indeed, my dessert plate was not collected till twenty minutes after I finished it, and set up my bed. I found that a bit unacceptable, and I had to ask for drinks, and CI’s first and business class products were leagues ahead. The only thing that saved BR was the safety records and the ED class. The personal TV was the classical type with 6 channels of movies and short subjects. As usual, CNN and TTV (Taiwan) news were first shown on the main screen, prior to the showing of movies at the PTV unit. Soon, descent began at 12:02pm, and the F/A finally showed up again with a tray of lemon (Gold) candies and BR’s mint thins, which were also served in J. Finally, we landed on R/W21L at 11:28am, and quickly parked at gate 54, the new pier. As some of you knew, BR had the bowing tradition as well. The F/As bowed after the completion of the landing announcements. As you can tell, I am not impressed by BR service, which is below my expectation. I don’t know whether it is due to my age or appearance that F/As are not enthusiastic about the service. If I will go out of my way to fly BR, I will not do so, and I will not fly its J products. When you are thinking about flying AA/CO code-share flights with BR on the TPE routes, I do not encourage it, if you are flying J. F class is okay, but J is definitely not a good idea.

AY 91 BKK-HKG Lv1440 Arr1830
McDonnell Douglas MD-11 OH-LGA with the updated livery
The transit area was pretty busy at BKK, and I was surprised to see that there was a Finnair desk, which was situated next to the LH desk. I sat in the transit lounge until an hour and half prior to departure. I saw that the LH desks were staffed, but did not realize that LH handled the ground services for AY. (Since AY was OW, it was hard to guess that AY used LH agents). For some reasons, I did not bother to ask the LH girls if the AY desks were staffed. They usually ended up telling me to head to the gate. Anyway, I walked to the gate, 54 in the new pier, and found the gate to be relatively empty, except an handsome Thai AY F/A and a few passengers (5 the most). The aircraft had yet to arrive from HEL, and finally, I saw an agent walked towards the gate. She quickly checked me in and did not bother to invite me to the F and J lounges, which were a long way from the gate. Stupid me! At least, she did not say anything about my choice of routing.

The load was definitely on the light side, but the J cabin (last two rows) was filled up with Thai passengers heading to a conference in Hong Kong. I sat at 2A and thankfully, I had no neighbor. The AY F/As had already set up a bar in the front galley – champagne and orange juice, Real glasses (actually very elegant design – transparent with patterns – it reminds me of Saworski – don’t know why) were used and the F/As continued to refill our glasses with jugs of orange juice and champagne. The Finnish F/As were very friendly throughout the flight, which made the flight more enjoyable. In term of seats, AY’s J seats were pretty good with nice blue upholstery and carpet. Recline is good with headrest and couple magazine pockets. The TV screens are huge, and the seat pitch is the typical 50”. The best seats will be 1D & H, which had tons of legroom in front of them. Row 1 and 2 had the 2-2-2 abreast sitting, and Row 3,4, & 5 had the 2-3-2 abreast arrangement. There was an aft section with two extra rows of seats as well. Door was closed at 2:30pm, as the load explained the quick boarding. It was also due to the efficiency of most European airlines. Taxi was quick and we took off from Runway 21R at 2:49pm.

Flying time is two hours and twenty-two minutes, and we cruised at 37,000ft. Hot towels were first passed out, followed by a beverage service with a bag of quick American mini pretzels. I remember someone was asking about AY service from HEL to BKK, so I included the food on this segment as well. (The supper service looked a bit skimpy, but I believe that AY offered a pre-flight dining at HEL airport. However, the breakfast looked cheap too, which could use yogurt, cereal, and museli.) However, I was surprised that the BKK-HKG segment featured a rather nice lunch, which included a sherbet service in between. It was just like a restaurant.

Helsinki to Bangkok
Supper
Graved Beef with Mushroom Terrine
A Lighter Choice of Seasonal Soup

Fried pike perch with sauteed sweet peppers, creamed potatoes
Or
Feta cheese and spinach stuffed breast of chicken, red currant sauce, oat risotto

Crème brulee

Breakfast
Fresh Fruit Salad

Crepe filled with egg and spinach, marinated chicken fillet
Or
Cold cuts – sliced turkey, salted beef and cheese

Bangkok to Hong Kong/ Singapore
Lunch
Parma Ham, grilled peppers, mixed salad
Lime Sherbet
Bread basket included white rolls, rye bread, crackers, and wheat rolls. The appetizer came with a bread plate and the fruit course, which included 2 slices of papaya, pineapple, cantaloupe balls, grapes, and dragon fruits.

Pan-fried red snapper with ginger sauce
Or
Breast of duck in red curry
Pre-plated casserole dish – the duck was good, but it was too spicy for my taste. The portion was pretty large.

Seasonal fresh fruit
Assorted Pastries
After dinner, the F/A passed out a plate of mini pastries, which included chocolate torte, cheese cake, custard pies, and some other stuffs.

Wine List
Champagne
Joseph Perrier Cuvee Josephine 1997, Champagne, France

White Wines
Meursault Les Casse-Tetes 1990, Louis Max, Bourgogne France
Sancerre Blanc “la Grande Cuvee” 1998, Pascal Jolivet, Appellation Sancerre Controlee, France

Red Wines
Les Fiets De Lagrange 1996, Saint-Julien Bordeaux France
Real De Asua Reserva 1995, Cune, Rioja, Spain

Sweet Wines
Chateau Guiraud 1996 Premiere Cur Classe, Sauternes, France
Graham’s 30 years old Tawny Port Portugal

Duty free carts were rolled out after dinner, and in-flight entertainment included an episode of “Simpson” in the main screen and a very detailed Hong Kong destination video. The bathrooms were pretty small, compared to those new style bathrooms featured in the Boeing 747s, 777s, and new Airbus planes. No amenity kits were passed out, which did not surprise me, but I found a basket of toothbrushes, combs, and various toiletry items in the bathrooms, which suggests that AY may not pass out amenity kits anymore in the J cabin. I guess some frequent AY flyers can confirm or debunk this fact. Descent began at 4:44pm, and we landed on R/W25R at 6:11pm. We quickly parked at gate 22, and both door 1 and 2 were used for disembarking.

I hope you enjoy these trip reports, and the next set will come in two weeks, which include my first QF international flight, and farewell to full Air NZ domestic service tours, and my first flight on Aer Lingus.

Carfield