VN 931 - LPQ-REP - AT7 - Y

After a relaxing six days in Luang Prabang, it was time to head to our next destination Angkor Wat. It was an interesting town. Our hotel was centrally located, as were most of the sights, so we were able to walk most everywhere. We never had to wait for a table at any restaurants and everything was affordable. Most people spoke English and menus were also in English.

For our departing flight, I noticed a a fifth-freedom flight between LPQ-REP on VN. It sounded like a good opportunity to try out an airline that I've never flew before. The price was cheaper than QV and we had already experienced QV for the inbound.

Upgrades? Prior to the flight, we were sent several emails offering us business class upgrades on our LPQ-REP flight for at 75% off. It was in Vietnamese, but there was a link that showed an English translation. The link no longer works since I've completed travel, but I believe it was for about US$100. What's strange is that I don't recall seeing a J cabin on any of the seatmaps as it was only an AT-72. Even if there was such a cabin, it wasn't worth it for a two hour flight. There was also an offer to have a row of seats, but again, not really worth it as I was traveling with someone and it was a short flight.

Our driver took us to the airport two hours early, which might have been too much time to spend at the airport. The new LPQ is built not too far from the old airport. It appeared to be a very nice building, designed in the traditional style from the outside.

We walked through the Departures door and found the VN check-in desk directly in front of us. Since the two economy lines had people waiting (one group each), the agent ushered us into the Business Class line. Immigration was quick as was security. Though there were separate lines for international and domestic departures, all passengers ended up in the same terminal. The airport, though newly built, was seriously lacking air conditioning. It was warm everywhere. There was no wifi, so we basically had a snack and sat there waiting for our flight. We arrived about an hour and a half early--we could have came an hour later and we'd still be okay on time.

Here are some pictures of the terminal.


LPQ has one restaurant (on the ground floor) and shops scattered throughout the two floors. Be sure to bring Lao Kip! We only had about 60,000 Kip left so we were fairly limited on what we could buy in terms of food. We both ordered pancakes at the restaurant. My partner got a flat pancake with whipped cream all over it. Ten minutes later, I received lumps of cooked dough with a mass of whipped cream to cover the fact that it didn't look like a pancake.

When boarding was announced, everyone rushed the gate. The agent held up a sign that said they were only boarding rows 1-10, so the mob of people backed off. We held row 2 boarding passes so we went up to the podium and were escorted out on the tarmac and to the plane. Boarding was through the rear of the plane.


Here are some pictures of the cabin.


The service was pretty bleh. The cabin crew didn't really seem to care about anything. There were no smiles even when we were "welcomed" aboard.

I'm not familiar with Lao or Vietnamese aviation law, but several observations were troubling. First, the passenger in the same row the AB side didn't put her backpack in the overhead compartment nor underneath the seat in front of her; rather, she placed next to her legs which looked fairly uncomfortable. The seat next to her was empty. She must have had a cold because she had a hacking cough throughout the two hour flight. Second, since some people's carryon baggage couldn't fit in the overhead compartment, several people stacked them in an empty row. I'm not sure how safe this is as they could easily pop out. I've seen this before on other airlines, but the cabin crew would affix the seatbelt through the baggage. Lastly, I did not see the cabin crew doing any safety checks to make sure that the baggage was stowed nor seatbelts buckled on take off. However, upon our final descent, one of them did warn a passenger to keep her seatbelt buckled.

They did not turn on the air conditioning until we were cruising. I was a sweaty mess for most of this time (at least the emergency card came in handy as a fan). Even after the cabin cooled down, it was still very warm and the vents didn't work. My partner's AC unit was missing so there was a big hole instead. The FA passed out moist toilettes, but what I really needed was a fan.


We were served a small snack and a small cup of water. It was a piece of dry cake and something that I couldn't finish. It turns out it was a banana jello of some sort with coconut shavings. I'd rather have had a bigger cup of water and bag of peanuts. The snack boxes were handed fairly early into the flight and they didn't collect them until the pilot told the cabin crew to prepare for landing.


I know I shouldn't generalize one experience on a short regional prop plane to the entire company, but I found my VN experience to be pretty poor and the worse flight of the trip (including all the low-cost carriers). I do not believe I will fly VN again.


This trip was my first to Cambodia. We were given arrival/departure and customs card onboard. So, we basically filled the same information three times. When we arrived we were bussed to the terminal. At the entrance, we were given a Quarantine card on which we had to fill out at that time. All the desks were taken, so I completed mine against the wall. Then, I submitted my form and had my temperature taken. Next, we were given the Visa form (I'm not sure why we couldn't have gotten these onboard). Then, we lined up to submit our visa form, passport picture, passport, and payment ($30). We were then sent to the next line where we had to wait for our passports to be returned to us.

Just to note, only bring new $20s or smaller bills when paying. The family next to us were trying to pay in $100 bills but they visa officers were declining them even telling them that the bills had a tear. In actuality, I think they wanted smaller bills instead.

Next, we went through immigration. The immigration officer took my picture but did not fingerprint me. My partner was fingerprinted though. Finally, we headed through customs and handed our forms to the customs agent.

In all, the process took about 30 minutes. We had carryon luggage only, but it appeared all the checked baggage was on the belt by the time we got through the whole quarantine and immigration process. Fortunately, our driver was already outside waiting for us.

REP-KUL - AK 543 - A320 - Y

Siem Reap was one of my favorite destinations on this trip. We only spent a short day visiting the temples in Angkor and the rest of the time just relaxing at our hotel and in town. After all the hectic travel and sightseeing schedules in the previous few weeks, it was good to just lay low. Even though we barreled through the Angkor temples (it was too hot!), I'll come back a few more times to see the rest.

After our driver dropped us off at the airport, we proceeded to the AirAsia counter. The lines weren't that long (maybe 10 passengers deep), but there was a family at the front of our line that took forever to check their bags. When they finally finished, it only took each passenger a minute or so to check in.

The airport looked fairly new with very wide open areas. The side facing the tarmac had all windows, which provided a wonderful view. It looks like they were doing construction on one end of the airport. The only bathroom we found was clear on the other side of the airport. Interestingly enough, I found a sign in the airport detailing expected Asiana delays!

There were several duty free shops where you can buy Cambodian products. There were some restaurants, a local baggage store I saw in Alley West, and a pharmacy. I bought the most expensive water at the pharmacy ($2/bottle)!


There are many seats in the terminal. We sat near the gate, which was unattended at the time. One passenger got up and started using the computer! A gate agent came over and asked what he was doing, to which he replied that he wanted to check his email. Who in their right mind would think that it is okay to try an access the computer at an airport gate?!?!

Here is a picture of our airplane from inside the terminal.


Boarding was through both the front and rear of the airplane, which was quite efficient. Here are some shots of the seats. I recalled seeing images before of AirAsia ads all over the cabin (e.g., on seatbacks and overhead bins), but there were none inside the cabin.


Standard economy leg room. There was sufficient legroom for a short flight. We had the window seat open. We paid $8 each to sit together when we first booked the ticket.


Our cabin crew was headed by a male senior FA and a group of young female FAs. The FAs may seem a bit brusque and direct to western travelers, but they were professional and respectful.

We pre-ordered our meals knowing that we would most likely miss breakfast. Like most LCCs we've flown, they have a no-outside food policy. AK has a no outside food/beverage policy. I still had my expensive bottle of water from the REP airport that I brought onboard. None of the cabin crew said anything about it though.

Here is the menu, which looks quite nice--even better than some F menus I've seen. It was cheaper to order it in advanced, and you have more options with pre-order. My whole meal was $6. Pre-orders are also served first.


I ordered a chicken satay and rice with meal package which came with water, a cookie bar, and a Kit-Kat. The FA took our boarding passes and stamped it. After handing us all meals and boarding passes back, she said "Enjoy your breakfast."

The chicken and rice were very flavorful. It had a kick to it without it being to spicy. I enjoyed it a lot. The salted caramel bar was delicious! It was two pieces of thick shortbread with caramel in the middle. It was quite a heavy dessert bar. My only gripe was that the water (100ml) was too small. They could have given us pint bottles instead, at least.


We landed in KLIA2, which is the low cost terminal at KUL. We walked a fairly long distance to immigration. This is what I like to see: all counters open and fully staffed with few passengers in line. I was directed to ASEAN counter and I got through in just a couple minutes. There is a duty free shop right after immigration as well as baggage claim. After customs and getting some cash from the ATM, we hopped on the KLIA Ekspres, which conveniently took us to KL Sentral where our hotel was located.

AK 880 - KUL-DMK - A320 - Y

This trip was my first time in Kuala Lumpur. Though I've flown through KUL many times, I've never left the airport. Our visit in Kuala Lumpur was a bit mixed. It was the holiday right after Ramadan so everyone was out celebrating. It was a bit hectic and crazy, and of course, it was super hot. I'd like to go back and give the city another try--maybe when it's not during a major holiday and when it's cooler.

We had yet another early flight at 08:35 and we were about half an hour away from KLIA2 on the KLIA Ekspres. We left our hotel early to catch an early train. Here is their schedule departing from KL Sentral.


We checked in online and printed out our boarding passes at the hotel since the flight was so early. I didn't want to deal with checking in at the airport. This was a good call since the lines at the AK check-in counters were quite long. I was also grateful that we only had carryon bags because the checked bag drop off counters also looked very long.

The immigration line was quite long. It took us about 20 minutes to get through. One of the lines next to us was cut in half to form a new line, but they just merged into the same immigration desk!

Then, we went through customs which was just having our bags x-rayed. I set of the metal detector (with my phone), but no one stopped us. Our gate was at the Pier P at the other end of the Skybridge, which KLIA2 estimates a travel time of up to 38 minutes!!! It only took us about five minutes, but with limited moving walkways, I could see how for some passengers it would take awhile.

We located the Plaza Premium Lounge, but we had to wait a few minutes before it opened. We had a quick snack and then headed to our gate. There is a security checkpoint right before the pier for all the P gates. I liked this set up more than KLIA since there are restrooms, shops, and restaurants. At KLIA, you are essentially just trapped in a room at the gate. We headed to the gate and waited a few minutes to board.

Here is our plane from the waiting area.


I heard the announcement to board, but no one seemed particularly hurried to get up. We casually walked up and were one of the first to board even though all the Hot Seats (rows 1-5) were mostly filled. We handed our boarding passes that were printed on standard 8.5x11" paper. The GA ripped it half to take the bottom portion, but it was not done very cleanly! Although this aircraft was the same as our previous flight (A320) it looked a bit different.

On these seatbacks, there is a display which may have been used for ads at one time. You could slide a piece of paper in from the corner. Now, they're just empty.


We had four FAs on this cabin crew. The two female FAs were in the front, and the two male FAs were in the back. We had a slight delay due to catering: the bottled water was not yet loaded.

As one last reminder of Malaysia, I pre-ordered the Nasi Lemak plus meal set. I'm quite impressed with AirAsia catering. Again, pre-orders were served first. The FAs took our boarding passes and stamped them before serving our meals. The Nasi Lemak was quite flavorful and good. The sambal had enough spice in it without being too overpowering. It was a simple, traditional meal that was well prepared.


We landed at DMK, which is Bangkok's old airport and serves the low-cost carriers. This was my first experience with DMK. After exchanging our remaining Ringgit, we went through immigration. There weren't too many passengers in line, but the officer in my line did take several minutes with each person. After immigration, we headed through the baggage claim area and out of customs.

The last two flights were my first on AK. I've heard mixed reviews about their service, but was very curious on trying this low-cost carrier. Yes, they do make you pay for everything, but I felt it was a good value on such short flights. On both flights, we paid extra to select our seats and we sat in row 6 both flights, right behind the Hot Seats. I was content paying for row 6 instead of paying more for rows 1 through 5. We weren't in any hurry. If anything, we needed to burn more time due to our early arrival time with regards to hotel check-in.

I was a bit apprehensive about the cabin baggage restriction--7kg for all your bags. My backpack was well over 10kg, but fortunately it has the appearance of being small and lightweight. Actually, no one ever checked our backpack weight or dimensions. There were other passengers who clearly had larger and heavier bag, but no agents said anything. Overhead bin space was never an issue for either of our AK flights. I was amazed by the quality and diversity of their catering, with lot of local Malaysian specialties. The food was much better than most of the domestic F meals I've had on AA.

I would fly AK again, especially if they were much cheaper than a OW carrier.