mmmm food in the FCL or a Y meal to BOM! Tough choice.... :D

I just had a very good experience on my NCE-DXB leg ! Welcomed by the Purser and Senior cabin manager in Y, & congratulated for hitting Plat. I managed to change seat for an aisle with a free seat next to me and got an espresso from J galley after lunch !

So far so good... And FCL is nice ;)

Plat in Y (part deux)
 

Second part: DXB-BKK
Nice recognition, no better seats available. Purser was sorry for me as the flight has 4 seats left in Y, so no upgrade for me. FA & Purser asked if I had a pleasant flight and if I could sleep despite the seat (like once you're plat, you can't sleep in Y :p)

Third part: BKK-HKG
No recognition, but nice friendly young FA (just enrolled). Flight was empty (usually it is full, especially in November as it is the high season in HK) so I could move to the exit row. Purser said Good Bye & "Hope to see you soon with us". So she knew from the manifest, but didn't went thru the welcome protocol. As previously said, it is almost better than the 'forced' recital...

Did MAA-DXB-LHR on EK 547 + 007 on Nov 10-11. No recognition or anything special. Got the now usual "have you flown on a 380 before" and "do you know how to operate the seat" questions. And they ran out of my meal choice at breakfast, which was annoying.

For me, getting the meal choice right is the most important (not expecting it to be served early / out of turn).

Oh yeah! Nice experience. The F lounge (concourse A) is, in my humble opinion, incredible! nice food a-la-carte, very relaxed atmosphere and good massage. And I got op-up in the dxb-maa leg (from y to j).
Good start!

Today I had a quick hello from the purser, then the traditional 'is that the first time you fly on this plane?'
But as HKG-DXB is a quick hush hush service at the end of the crew rotation, the service was lousy (they forgot to ask me for the drinks service, and I didn't get any nuts).
The second leg to DXB was brilliant because another passenger showed up in BKK with the same seat number... After 10mn the senior cabin FA came back with a smile and a fresh BP for me ! :cool: bumped to the front !

Last night's Platinum experience was a very warm flight which ensured I didn't sleep well at all.

I first thought you had some hot FA that tormented your dreams...

I wish that were true :p

Not really a platinum experience but anyways...

I just called the dedicated IO line and they weren't able to assist with my relatively simple request, he rudely hung up shortly afterwards with no explanation other than "we cannot do that" - despite my protest that I have made this request a myriad of times (two or three ;)) and had it fulfilled, umm okay...

I later called the 'normal' line and they were able to satisfy my requirements within a matter of minutes - albeit requiring to confirm with multiple colleagues.

This trivial loyalty program makes me wonder sometimes.

Platinum Experience 2013
 

What was your relatively simple request?

Having dodged air travel for just over a month now - nice not to be living out of a suitcase, and actually hanging up my clothes rather than putting straight back into my case.

I have my first flights as a Plat member coming up - 3 flights (6 sectors) - Dubai to Shanghai, Hong Kong to Dubai, Dubai to Bangkok, Phuket to Dubai and Dubai to Gatwick (return). All in December, all in Y.

Looking forward to using the First Class check in, hopefully my bags will arrive in the first wave when collecting due to the first class baggage label - also I'll get to see what the 1st Class Lounge is like.

I will report back and let you know how they go.

Hmm ............

Maybe they will.

Or maybe they won't !

You're at the mercy of the baggage handlers, and of course it's not unknown for handlers at some airports to take great delight in ignoring things like premium cabin tags ......
.

My first flight as a Plat member. Dubai to Shanghai.

Checked in online to secure a decent seat - get to the airport and went to the First Class checkin counters - so I can ask about exit seats, the immediate response was, "sorry they're all gone", then she had a quick change of heart and found 2 free exit seats, a middle and an aisle seat - I went for the ailse seat.

I asked about upgrading with miles to Business, she said there was one seat free - I was in a hurry as I had a conference call to make so I thought to myself I'll upgrade from the lounge. Naturally when by the time I got to do it, it had been taken (I'm a dick).

The flight was from concourse A - went into the 1st Class lounge, always wondered what was behind those doors - to be honest, it's not that much different than Business Class, or didn't seem it to me - the a la carte menu was nice - poached eggs on toast. Am I missing something?

Boarding time, exit the lounge and walk to the gate (I never board from the lounge, I join my cattle class comrades) - turned out that the plane was parked in Sharjah, so was nice and sticky when we got to the plane.

Up the steps - zero greeting from the guy on the door. Got to my seat and sorted my stuff out, staff busy rushing around so sat down with my suit jacket on my lap with my boarding pass on top - normally the crew come and ask if you'd like your jacket hung.

Just before take off the senior member of Economy came and very quickly "welcome back on board Mr V anything I can get you" and then he was off.

So far, all very 'Gold' like. Oh, he hung up my jacket.

After take off, came round with the drinks service and the small packet of snacks - I asked (as it was a full flight) if I could give my preference to the meal - not a problem, made a note. I think my meal was probably the first out - that was nice.

A change to the Y service, they now serve tea/coffee with the drinks service during the meal. I was asked if I'd like a drink with my meal I said no, I'd wait for the tea/coffee service. So I had to go to the galley and make a special request, the crew member wasn't exactly enamored with the idea of making me a cuppa - I actually made it myself.

I did overhear the crew talking about when a break was - the meal service was finished very quickly and all the crew vanished to the back of the plane.

The senior crew member came by to make sure everything was OK (he actually did this probably 3 times during the flight). On one occassion he happened to be near me as a laptop bag (with laptop) fell on me from the overhead cabin - he offered me some ice. The person who's laptop it was not very happy.

I'll post a new thread about something during take off - but as for this, being a Plat member, from the service side, the same as a Gold member. From the benefits side, I don't think I got the best from the lounge (too busy), I'll take more time on my next flight, being able to use the 1st Class check in and the luggage tags - nice.

Plat = Gold + FCL + 1st Class check in + earning miles faster.

And yes, FCL is nice, but only just nicer. Some people on here are more....discerning....and might be able to explain the quantam shift in food and beverages.