We touched down a few minutes early on 21L, and taxied to pier 3 if I remember correctly. Immigration had short lines, but I was waved over to a Thai passports only counter and was through in seconds. As I had no checked bags, I was at the airport bus stop a minute or so later. Next A3 to Thong Lo would be in 10 minutes, so I decided to wait and save some baht.
12 September 2004
Bangkok Don Muang (BKK/VTBD) – Seoul Incheon International (ICN/RKSI)
Thai Airways International TG 658
Boeing 777-2D7
HS-TJD “Mukhadan”
2350-0715+1 – On Time
Royal Executive Class, Seat 22D
This flight showed C4 D4 J4 Z4 Y0 availability the day before, but knowing TG, I wasn’t expecting anything in terms of nicer seats. After some bar hopping, it was time to catch a taxi to the airport – I was not looking forward to this red-eye at all. Thai’s Star Gold check-in was deserted while C-class desks had lines – the guy looked pretty bored in his “Thai Premium Services” jacket. I asked for 32H or an exit row seat – “Sir one minute please” and he picked up the phone. A few moments later, his printer spat out a blue boarding pass which he handed to me with a big smile and “Big seat for you tonight sir, business”.
I cleared immigration quickly, and went to the great new lounge by pier 3. Although my boarding pass had “UPG C/CL” written on it, TG decided to bear the costs of my lounge visit instead of writing down my LH card details. I believe at least Virgin and Cathay do not allow lounge access for upgraded passengers. Having arrived rather late, I had just enough time for the massage service, which is excellent. Hopefully it will be a permanent feature and not just a trial.
I left the lounge for gate 4 quite late – and then realized it was one of those bus gates in the basement. Another guy qas running towards the area as well – asked if he is by any chance on TG 658 as well. He told me to mind my own business. Obviously, I was on the last bus, with about five other passengers. We then drove to the cargo ramp, where my old friend HS-TJD was waiting next to a sad looking Orient Thai classic, also headed to Korea as OX 300 later that night. I have flown on Tango Juliet Delta previously from Bangkok to Phuket.
Thai’s 777-200s have the infamous 2-4-2 seating in business class. Although narrow, I found the seat to be ok as far as old style business class seats go. It’s a bit narrow, but legroom is about 45-50”, there is a PTV as well as a proper legrest and adjustable headrest. Royal Executive class was more or less completely empty, I had the middle block of four for myself. As soon as I got to my seat, the flight attendant rushed to me offering the usual pre-departure drinks and a hot towel. I had a glass of Piper Heidsieck champagne. Service was nice but I prefer the looks of her younger colleagues in the back.
Menus and amenity kits were handed out later; the menu features pictures of chilli on the cover and is quite nice and stylish. The amenity kit was one of the best that I have had in business class. Shaped like a traditional Thai pillow, the contents ranged from various quality toiletries to earplugs and a nice foldable comb. Unfortunately, I left the amenity kit unintentionally on the Korean Air bus the next morning – I woke up and had to rush out at the correct stop.
We were pushed back on time, and took off without delay from 21R as usual. A light snack was served after takeoff – this consisted of a plate of open sandwiches and another plate of pralines. I had champagne to drink. A hot breakfast was served in the morning – yoghurt, fruit plate and a choice of an omelette or Asian style breakfast. I fell asleep after the first meal service and woke up as we touched down at Incheon a few minutes early. A big thank you for Thai for the upgrade – 22D was a great seat to spend the red-eye in.
15 September 2004
Seoul Incheon International (ICN/RKSI) – Manila Ninoy Aquino Intl (MNL/RPLL)
Asiana Airlines OZ 371
Boeing 767-38E/ER
HL7263
0900-1150 – On Time
Economy Class, Seat 10C (Bulkhead)
I decided to stay at the Hyatt Regency Incheon the night before in order to avoid an overpriced taxi ride in the morning. A very nice and modern hotel – but the room rate was EUR 140 and a drink in the deserted bar EUR 11, enough said. The Best Western next door will do if I need to stay in Incheon in the future. Lots of crews seemed to be staying at the Hyatt, I spotted at least CX pilots and KE cabin crews. It’s a KAL Hotel branded as a Hyatt actually.
I made it to the Asiana ticket desk at around 6:50 am – ticket printed and tossed at the desk in front of me; efficient but not friendly. Check-in was the same procedure, not that I expected anything else. Security was overly tight again, I passed through two metal detectors without a beep and they still wanted to do the additional stuff with the handheld thing. Sometimes I feel tempted to ask why those detector gates have actually been installed… The screening procedure has been exactly like this on every subsequent trip, along with some additional bag searches.
I have decided to use the lounge closest to departure gate as it’s quite a distance between the two (SQ/OZ), usually it means Asiana Lounge for OZ flights. A nice hot breakfast and some net surfing later, I was ready to board the 767 down to Manila. Filipina flight attendants warmly greeted me upon boarding; their Korean colleagues didn’t say a word. 10C is as good as economy gets on these things – legroom is decent but the seat size is more suited to Asians.
We pushed back on time, took off without delay, and service began soon. No drink service to start with, just meals and one round of water/wine refills. Choice was beef or fish – I had no idea I’d be eating this same trash on all routes ex-ICN for the next two months… I chose the beef – Korean style beef with Korean vegetables and some flavoured rice… It was completely tasteless, yet the portion was large. Service was decent until I received a decent amount of red wine on my shirt… They were simply pouring it over other pax to the passengers in middle seats while Thai and SQ for example fill your glass and then hand it to you…
No other service after the lunch – I ordered one Chivas+Coke and fortunately fell asleep for a while. OZ Manila flights don’t even have a movie, so needless to say they are rather boring. Landing was on time, I was rather shocked to see OZ has no infant seatbelts. The baby in 10A was basically jumping on her Filipina mother’s lap when touching down, while the Korean father was conveniently reading a newspaper in row 11...
Immigration was a breeze this time, and priority baggage worked fine. After getting some cash from an ATM, I lugged my staff upstairs and took a regular taxi to NAIA terminal 2 in order to avoid the downstairs rip-offs.
15 September 2004
Manila Ninoy Aquino Intl (MNL/RPLL) – Mactan Cebu International (CEB/RPMC)
Philippine Airlines PR 849
Airbus A340-313X
F-OHPK
1500-1615 – On Time
First Class, Seat 2A
Same flight as last time, but this time I finally got to try the Airbus A340-300 First Class. Check-in and security was a breeze, and I headed to the Mabuhay Lounge as usual. As I had a few hours to spare, I decided to ask if they had an adaptor available so I could plug in my laptop and do some trip report writing . The lounge supervisor personally went to find one for me, and I was even more pleased to find out that they offered free wireless internet as well. That made time pass by a lot quicker obviously. I also enjoyed some sushi and a few beers – definitely a top notch domestic lounge.
Boarding was from S2, and started on time. The A340 First is arranged in a 2-2-2 layout just like business, but legroom was very generous. The seats are electronically controlled, and recline to almost flat position. As we were waiting for boarding to be completed, newspapers, hot towels and drinks were offered. Later, the flight attendant responsible for my section took the dinner order from me as well as introduced herself.
The flight itself was just like described earlier, so I won’t bother going into more details. My food choice was stir fried beef with noodles – tasty meal again. As soon as the trays were cleared, we were already on descent into Mactan Cebu… I could have handled a longer flight in these nice seats. I stayed again at the Marriott, nice stay with some small glitches.
19 September 2004
Mactan Cebu International (CEB/RPMC) – Manila Ninoy Aquino Intl (MNL/RPLL)
Philippine Airlines PR 848
Airbus A330-301
F-OHZM
0930-1040 – On Time
Mabuhay Class (Business), Seat 17K
I had bought a ticket for the 7:30 am departure, but decided that’s way too early… I first tried to upgrade it to C at the local travel agent – no business class was offered. The flight had been changed to a regional jet… err Beoing 737… one class service. It was an easy choice to rebook onto business class on PR848, leaving two hours later.
This was another CEB-MNL run, nothing special but a nice flight. This morning, my side of business class was served by a very nice lady called Erica, and assorted dim-sum was served in business class. A quick ride, and an on-time arrival into Ninoy Aquino made it easy for me to get to terminal one in good time before Asiana check-in would close.
19 September 2004
Manila Ninoy Aquino Intl (MNL/RPLL) – Seoul Incheon International (ICN/RKSI)
Asiana Airlines OZ 372
Boeing 777-28E/ER
HL7596
1500-1615 – On Time
Economy Class, Seat 10C (Bulkhead)
Asiana check-in was quick at the business class desk – but the lady was a trainee. She had to ask everything from the supervisor, and forgot to put any priority tag on my bag. Also, it was the usual hassle showing onward tickets from Korea to here and there. “Asiana Airlines – Asia’s Hidden Jewel” lounge invitation was handed to me, and luckily this time the departure gate was in the same concourse as well.
The Misacor lounge was it’s usual self – some pasta and pizza to eat and tequila and other spirits to drink. After a while, the 777-200 landed, followed by a company 767 freighter. What I find funny is that when OZ operates a 767, KE is a 777. On days when OZ sends the 777, KE is usually a 747. Some kind of rivalry here? The lounge was deserted and comfortable, and boarding was soon called.
After the customary bag search at the gate, I boarded the triple seven, and took my seat in the first row of economy. 10C has pretty much unlimited legroom as the bulkhead doesn’t extend that far. The seat itself was old-style, thick seatback and no adjustable headrests. However, it was much more comfortable than the 767 seats of Asiana. There is also a standard PTV, and I especially liked the e-mail/SMS feature.
After a while, one of the flight attendants came and told me “your bag is too big”. I said it’s a standard Air Canada brand carry on, and the bin can be closed just fine. “It’s too big and too heavy. You move it.” Fine. If 12 kgs is too heavy for her to move, I surely can get up and move it. To her amazement, I simply closed the bin without moving the bag. Flight attendant didn’t say a word. I figured if Thai 777 bins can be closed, surely the ones on OZ could be closed as well.
The doors were closed early, and we were pushed back with two passengers in business class and about 50% load in economy. 10B remained empty which was nice. Took off without delay, and the meal service started soon. Service was poor throughout the flight, something I’d expect on a U.S. domestic flight. The meal was beef or chicken – the beef was again very bland and tasteless. I asked and got a whisky with coke after the meal, the order for a second one an hour later was met with “no more” from the same “Senior Stews” who had issues with my carry on bag. At least on Ryanair, they’d let me purchase my drink…
I sent a few e-mails using the PTV and followed the flight path on Airshow in order not to get bored – thankfully the seat was rather comfortable when reclined. We started our descent quite early, shortly after passing the island of Jeju, and touched down at Incheon a few minutes early. Korean immigration was a total joke that day – three desks were open for non-Koreans (with lines extending to the concourse), while the rest were for Koreans and were empty. I was through after about 45 minutes, and obviously my bag was waiting there on the belt.