Saturday, February 22nd, 2020
In contrast to the rather restless Business Class at the LH 350, where passengers from the Premium Economy Class constantly opened the curtains, walked through Business Class toilets, at First Class I had a perfect sleep, 7 hours non-stop, until 1 ½ hours before arrival.
Just before breakfast I went to the washroom to get back in style, to receive my pre-ordered breakfast: scrambled eggs ‘medium’, with a nice portion of farmed caviar.
Soon FlyNet was switched off and we descended towards Changi airport, passing the city of Singapore on the south. Surprisingly we arrived at SIN even 30 minutes before the scheduled arrival time.
Still in the aircraft we had been informed that a temperature check would take place right after deboarding – which then didn’t happen at all. In contrast to my expectations inside the terminal nearly nobody was wearing masks, 5% at max. The real fear of the virus looks to be far below the media fear.
After a stop at the nearest smoking terrace
I took the Skytrain towards Terminal 1 where I was passing the shops, taking the stairs up to the Thai Airways Lounge.
At arrival I directly ask for the cost of an Upgrade to Business Class. The announced SGD 248 (approx. US$ 180) seemed to be a good deal – and I accepted.
The lounge was quite empty so it was easy to allocate a seat, drank some Espresso.
After 30 minutes the ticket officer arrived, who told me there would not be any need for paying for an upgrade since the aircraft is so empty, I would have the complete row by my own. For a 2 hour flight I could save my money. Also she informed that Bangkok airport would be empty, no waiting at the immigration, even without Fast-Lane.
If she would have been working for me in sales, she would be gone by now…
At 8 pm I left the lounge heading for Gate 23, passing a Burger King outlet where I say to my surprise that even Burger King is offering Pseudo-High-End food by now. What the hell… !
When I read the words ‚truffle-oil‘, ‚truffle-mayo‘…, I feel sick. There’s no truffle in ‚truffle-oil‘, even the oil is questionable, there’s no truffle in ‚truffle-mayo‘, maybe even no real mayo with eggs. It’s just chemical – I don’t understand why they’re allowed to use the word ‚truffle‘. Does a Burger King Burger really need truffle ???
In front of the gate no cue at the security check, a good sign !
And also inside, emptiness.
Through the Business-Class/*G entrance towards the Thai Airways Airbus A350 where I had seat 34F, third row behind Business, aisle seat in the middle block.
After ‚Boarding completed‘ was announced there were maybe 40 persons inside the aircraft.
Ich changed tot he empty window block next to me. To my surprise the Economy seats of Thai Airways were quite comfortable, much softer than the Lufthansa-NEK-pendant, with plenty of legroom and even footrest, in addition a more than acceptable IFE system.
Even fleecy blankets were handed out before pushback.
Inside the aircraft I mentioned a higher percentage of people wearing masks – but mostly also the useless blue paper masks.
I’ve been so tired that I already slept when the aircraft took off. The offered food I skipped, just took a Coke Zero and ate the Thuna-sandwiches I brought with me from the lounge.
Again I fell asleep, the blanket making a good pillow.
10 minutes before time we arrived at BKK airport and I started my way towards immigration. The airport has been quite crowded, luckily by people heading for their connection flight. Therefore immigration was empty, even only 5 counters were in operation.
Even my luggage arrived fast – a surprise it arrived at all taking under consideration how often it has been reloaded.
Outside I changed money and straight bought a Thai-SIM-card, valid 10 days with 25 GB data, at US$ 17.
While normally you have to wait quite a while before getting a taxi into down, today there was no waiting at all. So I first had a smoke, then we left.
Within 30 minutes the cab brought me to Sukhumvit Soi 24 where I had a reservation at Hyatt Place at US$ 90 including taxes. Hyatt ??? Yes, I needed to stay one night at Hyatt not to lose my 60’000 points which are still sleeping there for years. So the first short night was the night of choice.
After I paid US$ 14 for taxi and toll I headed upstairs to the lobby, better than expected, far better than the Hyatt Place Orlando where I stayed some years ago.
What I liked was the area with drinks, snacks and sandwiches. So I took a Coke Light at US$ 1.60 – better than to walk to a 7/11.
The lady informed me that in my case, since I’m a member, breakfast would be included. Not too bad for just being a ‚member‘ without any status.
Further she informed me about the amenity menu, what would be included, what I could offer at extra cost any time. A very good service in case you forgot something or the luggage has been lost.
I even received a small upgrade to a more spacious corner room at the 15th floor, nice !
Over all a very good experience compared to the equally priced ALOFT, newer, with a hint of luxury. Just the location, inside Soi 24 can’t keep up with Soi 11 where the ALOFT is located.
I just unpacked the necessary so my lengthy trip ended.