Premium passengers all get one free complimentary meal, and Air Asia X has recently introduced premium meals that look like a typical economy class meal with orange juice cup, bread, and some side dishes depending on your meals. For my free meal, I chose the pancakes set, as it comes with a tub of strawberry yogurt, a packaged roll, and an orange juice cup. The Big Breakfast features an omelet entrée, with strawberry yogurt, roll and orange juice cup too.
The presentation was pretty nice and it tasted fine.
I also paid for a can of coke light too, and yes you have to pay for other beverages. The only free beverage was the bottled waters, orange juice cups if you order those premium meals, and a free cup of tea or coffee after meal. The F/A used the manifest to verify order, and I was addressed by my last name throughout the flight too.
Lights were turned off in the premium cabin shortly after the meals were clear. There was a duty free service at 11:40am, but the F/As left the premium passengers alone most of the times.
As expected, the two F/As in the premium cabin went to help out in the economy cabin after our meal services are completed. I had the chance to snap these galley pictures.
The toilet features basic amenities and even some floral decoration!
As I said earlier, no full flat bed position picture… but here was the oversized pillow and duvet given to each premium passenger. They were very comfortable and I was tempted to buy the duvet, if I had more spaces in my luggage. The F/As collected them after the pilot announced time to prepare for landing.
Here is the seat in the recline position! I like the red adjustable headrest.
I also like the bulkhead row too, and in the future, I will choose either 1A and 1K, and I have no problems crossing the leg-rest of my neighbor during midflight. There are plenty of spaces in the bulkhead row.
Two hours prior to arrival, there was a second service in economy cabin, and most passengers in the premium cabin also ordered a second meal. They were pretty frequent travelers and knew that they possible needed a second meal towards the end of this six hours flight. I ordered Uncle Chin’s chicken rice and upgraded the meal to include a salad and dessert. Today’s green salad is pretty fresh and it comes with a pack of Thousand Island dressing, as well as a Vanilla crumble cake with blueberries. It was a very delicious meal and I always like the chicken rice served by Air Asia. There was no tea or coffee service, but an orange juice cup was served.
A slice of cheesecake was also served after the meal service, as it was a special gift by the catering team of Air Asia. It was a nice gesture.
Winglet shot
Descent finally began at 3:21pm Japan local time, and the F/As also came around with more bottled waters for the premium passengers. For some reasons, we were placed on the holding pattern for ten minutes. Here were some scenery shots as we decent into Nagoya!
We finally landed on R/W18 at 4:14pm, and I immediately spotted this Boeing Dream-lifter in the tarmac.
As expected, there was a water canon salute, and it was always a nice thing for traveling on inaugural flights.
We parked at gate 18 (which was definitely the best gate here at NGO) at 4:20pm, right on scheduled.
Gate 18 was right across from the immigration hall, and once you left the plane, you just walked straight to the immigration counter.
Immigration was a breeze, as we were the only flight arriving at that time of the day.
Baggage was delivered quickly, and priority-tagged bag arrived at the belt first. So I was through all the formalities within fifteen minutes, and was able to check in at the Centrair hotel by 4:45pm. Pretty amazing.
The flight was honestly what I expected, and the service was professional, and the seats were comfortable. Most importantly, the price was right, and with that kind of pricing scheme, you can’t really ask for fancy meals served in china and brand name toiletries. I will recommend premium passengers to bring eye masks in the future, as the F/As started the service a bit earlier than other airlines. The only thing that I hope D7 will do in the future is to stock paper napkins in the bathroom, as tissues are not designed to dry off your hands. In terms of catering, I think it is fair to give each premium passenger one free meal, and I like that Air Asia X allows me options to purchase additional meals and to upgrade my meal to premium. Not sure if I am a fan of Air Asia X but I personally will not mind flying D7 Premium in the future. The nine abreast economy looks very unwelcoming, but the premium flat beds are good. As soon as the LCCT becomes historic and KLIA2 is opened, I will reconsider using Air Asia X on some of the connecting flights to Colombo, Male, and Taipei.
Here are some additional picture I took from the observation deck, as well as from the fourth floor plaza area, as Air Asia X held a press conference for the media. I did not stay, as it was only for invited guests, and they were quite crowded. I rather spent some times at the observation deck.
I hope you enjoy this trip report!
Carfield