Now that I'm in LHR on my way back to Kazakhstan after my MHD, I'll get to putting my notes together and post my trip reports. My whole trip, from Kazakhstan to Cancun and back, comprised the following:

SCO-SVO Kaliningrad Air
SVO-LHR British Airways
LHR-YYZ

YYZ-YOW (unexpected plane trip thanks to "Paul" the AC ticket agent at YYZ)

YOW-YYZ
YYZ-YEG
YEG-YYC
YYC-YVR
YVR-LAX
LAX-MEX
MEX-CUN
(two days in CUN)
CUN-MEX
MEX-LAX
LAX-YVR
YVR-YYC
YYC-YYZ
YYZ-YOW (unused)

YYZ-LHR
LHR-SVO
SVO-ALA
ALA-SCO

A dozen cities, five airlines, two weeks.

Stay tuned.

Look forward to it!

It costs MX money and they likely don't believe the investment is worth it. Most of the lounges in Bradley Terminal only operate for select hours prior to transPacific and over the pole Europe flights. MX would have to have a dedicated lounge with full time staff since they have flights departing all day. Their margins are so thin on transborder flights, unlike the high margins on J and F passengers for the intercontinental flights of the other carriers in Bradley, it is not financially viable. Though it would be logical for a dedicated, full day STAR Alliance Lounge to be created here, which can be used by all STAR partners.

I think I noted this "problem" in my MHD report. Glad you completed the journey, and managed to get a couple of days of sun in at your CUN turnaround.

Now, the real question is what will be left in your MHD package from BB once customs in your part of the world gets through "censoring" it.

[This message has been edited by Shareholder (edited 04-20-2001).]

I'll have BB send it to the Precision head office in Calgary and they can ship it somehow. Is it a pin? A newsletter? The excitement is killing me...

I don't want to give the secret away, though I know it has been posted in various oblique references throughout MHD postings over the past couple of months. Let's just say that with the swelled heads those of us who have now done the MHD have, it won't fit!

Extended MHD Leg One - SCO (Aktau) to DMD (Moscow Domodedovo)

Kaliningrad Avia flight 993...Tupolev 134 A aircraft

A 7:40 am departure from SCO means my driver came around to my apartment at 6:15 and we headed out to the airport. Aktau airport is very typical of Soviet-era airports - run down buildings, very slow, no lounges, no jetways.

I stood in line and passed through customs without incident, dropped my bag off and picked up my boarding pass (no seat assignments...ever heard of "festival seating"?). I strolled into the waiting area and happened to run into one of my other expat business associates. She was on her way home to Germany, so it was nice to have someone to talk to on the flight.

We herded onto the "bus", if you can call it that (basically a glorified cattle herder) and puttered out to the aircraft. Since there are no seat assignments, everyone pushes and shoves to get on the plane first. I'm surprised there aren't any news stories reading "Foreigner Gets Trampled By Storming Herd of Airline Passengers as He Tries to Get a Seat".

The Tupolev-134A is similar in size to maybe a Fokker 100 - about 80 seats, no business class, old planes, built for purpose not comfort. I tossed my computer onto the overhead "shelf" (not "bin", "shelf").

Russian planes have flight crews of FOUR (pilot, co-pilot, navigator, radio operator), and there were four very attractive Russian stewardesses on this flight.

Meal service is pretty much non-existent. The FAs roll the drink cart down the aisle about forty minutes into the flight (alcohol is available and people do buy it that early...scary). No sandwiches or anything. Coffee service a bit later.

Flight time was just under three hours, and we landed at the newly-renovated Domodedovo Airport outside of Moscow proper right on schedule at 9:30 local time. While there are new jetways at the airport, we got a tarmac spot and a bus (a nice bus this time).

A sidebar about Domodedovo Airport. Two and a half years ago, when I moved to Kazakhstan, I travelled through DMD and it was an absolute dump of a Soviet-era airport. Incredible inefficiencies, long lineups, dark, awful.

Since that time the company that runs the airport, East Line, has spent millions of dollars to completely renovate the airport, so much so that it is absolutely not recognizable. It is now a beautiful glass structure, well-lit, modern, jetways, and two runways certified to handle planes as large as 777s! There is talk of trying to lure Lufthansa and other airlines away from Sheremetyevo, as the new DMD is a very modern airport.

Anyways, back to my report. Plane landed without incident, I collected my bags after going through the passport control, my driver picked me up and he took me to the Novotel at Sheremetyevo to await my next flight. (And on the way he stopped at McDonald's for lunch...)

More to come...

Just another little note about flying on Russian airplanes... the FAs are not at all strict about seat belts and sitting down until the plane comes to a complete stop...more often than not people are standing up as soon as those back wheels hit the runway!!

Leg Two - Moscow SVO to LHR 11 April

BA 873 Economy seat 17J Boeing 767

After a quick arrival and speedy passport check, I headed out with my driver towards Sheremetyevo Airport - about 80 km away. Fortunately it was a nice day in Moscow with little traffic.

As is my usual custom when passing through Moscow I had my driver stop at McDonald's for lunch - something that I don't get to experience very often any more! I also stopped at IKEA to pick up a couple of catalogues (yes, there is an IKEA in Moscow - I was surprised myself.)

I spent a few hours of down time at the Novotel Hotel near the airport - they have a day-room rental rate, which is a great way to relax.

My flight was scheduled to depart at 17:30, so I caught the shuttle bus at about 15:30 and headed over to the airport. Sheremetyevo-2, while not a run-down airport like others I have seen, is not as modern as other international airports. Kind of dirty, not well-lit, and it's showing age. Work has started on Sheretmetyevo-3, which is Aeroflot's ticket into the Delta-Air France alliance, apparently.

Customs restrictions aren't as strict in Russia as they used to be, but there are still long lineups, with only one line and many seemingly idle customs officers chatting it up.

The fellow at the front of the line I was in happened to get the unlucky card in the draw, as his bags were being given a good going-through, paperwork and all - while everyone else in line stands and waits. Eventually a senior officer just let everyone through.

I ventured over to the gate, which was not open yet to due the late flight in the next gate (the two gates share a departure area) - Delta 031 to New York. Three hours late in departure. They had not even started boarding the DL flight, so I wandered through the shops and stopped for a coffee.

I went back a while later and they had finally boarded the Delta flight. While standing in line waiting to get into the departure area, we all found out why the DL flight was delayed in leaving - a small group of people arrived in a hurry at the gate and we were pushed back to make way.

The passenger for whom the flight was being held was none other than former Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev. He is much shorter in person!

Back to the topic at hand...

My BA flight boarded smoothly and on schedule. This particular 767 was set up with one of those "flexible" business class planes you sometimes see - I sat in economy but had a nice leather seat. Further back in economy the seats were cloth. On this flight, Club Europe was 16 rows - I was in row 17. No first class.

The movie was "102 Dalmations".

Some female BA flight attendants wear name tags that show a title of "Stewardess".

The chief cabin steward had a very cutting, very British sense of humour and so did the pilot, cracking jokes on the PA. It was a pleasant change to have a flight crew with a sense of humour.

Overall the flight was pleasant. No complaints. On time. Only complaint I have is that it landed at Heathrow terminal 4, which doesn't have the regular "Hotel Hoppa" busses - you have to take another bus to another terminal. I always get lost at that airport!

I finally found my proper hotel shuttle and made my way to the Travelodge for a night's rest.

Next segment...AC 857 LHR-YYZ

Extended MHD - total qualifying miles

Just a note that all of my flight segments from my extended MHD (starting and ending at LHR) have been credited to my Aeroplan account: 25,661 qualifying miles on 16 segments.

The strange thing is that I only flew 15 segments.

It's an MHD thing. That's just the way they work.

Nice report so far SkinnyJ.. I suggest you might also want to post this in the trip report section as there will be more people reading it there.

Extended MHD Leg Three: LHR-YYZ 12 April 2001
AC 857 Boeing 747-400 J class Seat 6A (Upper Cabin)

After a good night�s sleep, I caught the Hotel Hoppa and made my way back to Heathrow Airport. I had previously confirmed my upgrade (on the only AC flight to YYZ that day that had any upgrades available), so check-in was a breeze. The agent tagged my bags with the spiffy dayglo �Priority� tag, printed my boarding pass and gave me the MLL invitation (which apparently you need at LHR).

After checking in, I walked over to the AC ticket counter to pick up and pay for my MHD reservations tickets. While the ticket agent was very helpful, and also surprised at the fare, he suggested I wait until I get to Toronto�he would have to re-price the fare in pounds. Unfortunately, I took his advice, which in retrospect was a bad idea. (Some of you in the AC forum may have read about my experience in YYZ with �Paul� the ticket agent and his supervisor �Mary�.)

Breezed through the fastrack security line towards the MLL. I relaxed a while at the MLL, eventually making my way down to the gate for boarding. Full flight by the looks of it. I certainly enjoy being able to board �at my leisure�.

As this was my first trip in the upper cabin, I took a window seat. The storage bin next to the seat is a nice feature, although some water had leaked from somewhere into my bin and I couldn�t store anything there. My seatmate in 6B had flown to LHR that morning for a business meeting and was doing the turnaround. He slept all the way.

Champagne and juice service before takeoff. No menus available for the meal service, but the choices were dictated to me: chicken, salmon, or a vegetable pasta. I opted for the chicken, as I am uncomfortable eating fish on an airplane based on my experiences in the former Soviet Union in this regard.

I chose a red Chateau Grimard 1996 wine, and there were two whites available as well. After the meal there was dessert service (I had a delicious pear mousse cake), cheese and port (I passed), and coffee. Halfway through the flight they served ice cream (no cookies), and sandwiches before landing.

I chose to watch �Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon� on my movie screen, as the other choices didn�t really thrill me. Enjoyable movie.

Earlier on in this post I mentioned that my seatmate slept for the whole journey. That made it somewhat of a challenge getting out of, and back into, my seat, without making contact with other seats. Unfortunately the fellow in 5A in front of me must have woke up on the wrong side of the bed � in getting back into my seat I had to hold onto the corner of his seat back to steady myself. He tore a piece out of me quite soundly, verbally. �Don�t EVER touch my seat like that again.� Any tips on how to maneuver back into a window seat are appreciated!

Thanks SkinnyJ for the continuing saga.

I just lightly tap the seatmate to wake them but it is why I prefer the center bank of seats as no one has to crawl over anyone else and there is seldom much to see out the window on those trans-atlantic flights.

Still need you to e-mail me.