RTW Part 2
Oct 13, 1999 | 3:14 am
#1
Original Poster
In memoriam
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Washington
Posts: 1,173
RTW Part 2
Instalment 2
Oct 6 “Asia Here I Come”
My BA wait list had cleared and I was off on the 6th from London to BKK on BA at 22:15. This would be the first intercontinental journey on my RTW trip back to Las Vegas from London. I waved goodbye to my flat that had seen some awesome times in London and was quite shocked at how clean it still was. The landlord I am sure will have other opinions, but I guess that is still to see in security deposit arguments.
As I have mentioned I am not a big fan of BA. They may be a great airline, but no matter when I fly them, call them, or speak with an agent something always goes wrong or pisses me off. So I guess I should not be surprised when I entered Terminal 4 to find a mass of humanity more fitting to the Piccadilly Line at morning rush hour. All the economy queues were massive. No problem, I am in Business Class. HA HA HA HA HA HA….. HA HA HA HA… it took 43 minutes (I timed it!) for me to reach an agent to check in. Although BA had 4 agents checking us in, there was no way they could cope with number of passengers in a reasonable time. I will “credit” BA in that they did provide 1 agent and a 1 “supervisor” to watch the line and make sure every one in that line was actually in business class. BA also had some “suit” come out and apologise for the delay and tell us that “staffing levels were below what was expected”. No kidding. Why this suit or the 2 "watch the line agents" did not simply check people in themselves was beyond me.
Fortunately I had about 120 minutes of off peak time left on my mobile for the month, so I chatted away to friends that I will not see for a while. After reaching the front of the queue, the check in agent was extremely efficient and had me and my bags checked in no time at all. I made my way to the BA Business Class lounge. Although large, the lounge was still full due the number of flights that depart at this time on BA. Since it was getting late anyway, I just grabbed some mineral water and headed to the gate. The flight to BKK (continuing to Sydney) on a 747-400 was completely full in all classes. I had an aisle seat on the lower deck. The flight took off on time and the service was fast and efficient. Four separate meal choices all presented at my seat so I could make a selection. My seatmate was from Sydney and she was a great help in giving me things to do while there. In return I told her about the 100K mile bonus offer. She flies the SYD-LON route 4 times a year and said she would make sure her travel agent ticketed the correct carriers next time so that she would get the bonus. The entire dinner service took less than 90 minutes, which is a huge plus for a 10:15pm flight, since most passengers wanted to sleep. I decided to try the Nytol trick and downed one. The seats were better than AA in my opinion, but I was still unable to get a sound sleep. I need to be flat to sleep I guess. All in all the flight was quite nice and BA lived up to my expectations of good in the air, but crappy on the ground. Breakfast was served prior to our landing in BKK.
After clearing BKK immigration, I found my bags were already on the baggage carousel. I handed in my customs form on my way out and found a large number of people were being stopped. Fortunately, I was not and I made my way into the arrival hall. I had booked the “Ultimate Getaway Package” with the Pan Pacific, which offered a 2-night package including RT airport transfers, American Buffet breakfast, and 25 USD food and beverage. The total cost with taxes was $235. An incredible deal I thought. As directed I turned right out of customs and was greeted by a rep from the hotel who after a few minutes wait escorted me to my private car. The car was a relatively new White Mercedes that sped me to the hotel in about 30 minutes. I had heard horror stories about BKK traffic so I was quite pleased we only encountered problems when we neared the hotel. As we pulled into the hotel, I was met by an “Assistant manager” type who escorted me through the entire check in process and up to my room where my bags were already waiting. The room was extremely large and had a great view over a racecourse and BKK.
It was about 4pm local time, but I was extremely tired. At this point I regretted taking the Nytol, since the nap I took lasted until 1am! The hotel offered 24-hour room service that quickly delivered a club sandwich to my room. I then set up a wake up call and slept again until 9 am. I figured that should be enough sleep for the rest of my journey. The next morning I grabbed a quick breakfast in the hotel restaurant and took a taxi to the Royal gardens. As you walk in, there are many guides that will show you around for a reasonable price. My guide was definitely worth the money as she explained details of the purpose of many of the over 100 buildings within the gardens. I then walked to the river and saw many of the other hotels I considered staying. I took a cab back around 17:00 and had a quick bite to eat. I then explored the area around my hotel per the concierge recommendations. Got back and had a wake up call set for 5am, to make my flight to HKG. I got the same driver and car back to the airport (does he work 24 hours a day?) who whisked me there in under 20 minutes. If I had to re-do this trip, I would choose to arrive in BKK in the morning and see all the sites the first day, then leave the next morning. Also, I would also not choose the Pan Pacific. Although a great hotel it is simply too far away from the major tourist sites.
I was booked on an 8:15am Canadian flight to HKG. Business class checking was quick, although the economy line looked extremely long. I was given an aisle seat in the lower deck on another 747-400. After paying the 500baht (13USD) airport tax, I made my way to the CP business class lounge “morgue”. Canadian had its own lounge, but it was could not have been any bigger than 30ftx15ft. Although adequate to handle the number of passengers, it was too confining and nobody said a word. I decided not to stay there, and walked around the airport instead. Boarding was quite quick since CP allowed BC passengers to board first. Canadian operates a Business First type product and the seats were in my opinion better than AA First Class. After take off the 5 lower deck BC passengers were served by 1 of the best flight attendants I have ever encountered. She seemed to really enjoy her job and seemed to speak every language known to man. I felt guilty that she had to speak boring old English to me! The flight took about 2 hours and Immigration and Customs Clearance in HKG was quick. I was pleased about that since I would need to go through this procedure 2 more times in the next 24 hours.
After clearing the airport I walked over to the Regal Airport Hotel and checked in to my room for the night. My bags were delivered 10 minutes later. A great room for me since I could watch plane after plane land at the airport without the associated noise levels. The windows must have been quadruple sound proofed!
That’s it for now…. I am off a return MNL trip this afternoon and a return TPE trip tomorrow morning. Those are the only 4 segments that I am taking just for the miles.
rich
Oct 6 “Asia Here I Come”
My BA wait list had cleared and I was off on the 6th from London to BKK on BA at 22:15. This would be the first intercontinental journey on my RTW trip back to Las Vegas from London. I waved goodbye to my flat that had seen some awesome times in London and was quite shocked at how clean it still was. The landlord I am sure will have other opinions, but I guess that is still to see in security deposit arguments.
As I have mentioned I am not a big fan of BA. They may be a great airline, but no matter when I fly them, call them, or speak with an agent something always goes wrong or pisses me off. So I guess I should not be surprised when I entered Terminal 4 to find a mass of humanity more fitting to the Piccadilly Line at morning rush hour. All the economy queues were massive. No problem, I am in Business Class. HA HA HA HA HA HA….. HA HA HA HA… it took 43 minutes (I timed it!) for me to reach an agent to check in. Although BA had 4 agents checking us in, there was no way they could cope with number of passengers in a reasonable time. I will “credit” BA in that they did provide 1 agent and a 1 “supervisor” to watch the line and make sure every one in that line was actually in business class. BA also had some “suit” come out and apologise for the delay and tell us that “staffing levels were below what was expected”. No kidding. Why this suit or the 2 "watch the line agents" did not simply check people in themselves was beyond me.
Fortunately I had about 120 minutes of off peak time left on my mobile for the month, so I chatted away to friends that I will not see for a while. After reaching the front of the queue, the check in agent was extremely efficient and had me and my bags checked in no time at all. I made my way to the BA Business Class lounge. Although large, the lounge was still full due the number of flights that depart at this time on BA. Since it was getting late anyway, I just grabbed some mineral water and headed to the gate. The flight to BKK (continuing to Sydney) on a 747-400 was completely full in all classes. I had an aisle seat on the lower deck. The flight took off on time and the service was fast and efficient. Four separate meal choices all presented at my seat so I could make a selection. My seatmate was from Sydney and she was a great help in giving me things to do while there. In return I told her about the 100K mile bonus offer. She flies the SYD-LON route 4 times a year and said she would make sure her travel agent ticketed the correct carriers next time so that she would get the bonus. The entire dinner service took less than 90 minutes, which is a huge plus for a 10:15pm flight, since most passengers wanted to sleep. I decided to try the Nytol trick and downed one. The seats were better than AA in my opinion, but I was still unable to get a sound sleep. I need to be flat to sleep I guess. All in all the flight was quite nice and BA lived up to my expectations of good in the air, but crappy on the ground. Breakfast was served prior to our landing in BKK.
After clearing BKK immigration, I found my bags were already on the baggage carousel. I handed in my customs form on my way out and found a large number of people were being stopped. Fortunately, I was not and I made my way into the arrival hall. I had booked the “Ultimate Getaway Package” with the Pan Pacific, which offered a 2-night package including RT airport transfers, American Buffet breakfast, and 25 USD food and beverage. The total cost with taxes was $235. An incredible deal I thought. As directed I turned right out of customs and was greeted by a rep from the hotel who after a few minutes wait escorted me to my private car. The car was a relatively new White Mercedes that sped me to the hotel in about 30 minutes. I had heard horror stories about BKK traffic so I was quite pleased we only encountered problems when we neared the hotel. As we pulled into the hotel, I was met by an “Assistant manager” type who escorted me through the entire check in process and up to my room where my bags were already waiting. The room was extremely large and had a great view over a racecourse and BKK.
It was about 4pm local time, but I was extremely tired. At this point I regretted taking the Nytol, since the nap I took lasted until 1am! The hotel offered 24-hour room service that quickly delivered a club sandwich to my room. I then set up a wake up call and slept again until 9 am. I figured that should be enough sleep for the rest of my journey. The next morning I grabbed a quick breakfast in the hotel restaurant and took a taxi to the Royal gardens. As you walk in, there are many guides that will show you around for a reasonable price. My guide was definitely worth the money as she explained details of the purpose of many of the over 100 buildings within the gardens. I then walked to the river and saw many of the other hotels I considered staying. I took a cab back around 17:00 and had a quick bite to eat. I then explored the area around my hotel per the concierge recommendations. Got back and had a wake up call set for 5am, to make my flight to HKG. I got the same driver and car back to the airport (does he work 24 hours a day?) who whisked me there in under 20 minutes. If I had to re-do this trip, I would choose to arrive in BKK in the morning and see all the sites the first day, then leave the next morning. Also, I would also not choose the Pan Pacific. Although a great hotel it is simply too far away from the major tourist sites.
I was booked on an 8:15am Canadian flight to HKG. Business class checking was quick, although the economy line looked extremely long. I was given an aisle seat in the lower deck on another 747-400. After paying the 500baht (13USD) airport tax, I made my way to the CP business class lounge “morgue”. Canadian had its own lounge, but it was could not have been any bigger than 30ftx15ft. Although adequate to handle the number of passengers, it was too confining and nobody said a word. I decided not to stay there, and walked around the airport instead. Boarding was quite quick since CP allowed BC passengers to board first. Canadian operates a Business First type product and the seats were in my opinion better than AA First Class. After take off the 5 lower deck BC passengers were served by 1 of the best flight attendants I have ever encountered. She seemed to really enjoy her job and seemed to speak every language known to man. I felt guilty that she had to speak boring old English to me! The flight took about 2 hours and Immigration and Customs Clearance in HKG was quick. I was pleased about that since I would need to go through this procedure 2 more times in the next 24 hours.
After clearing the airport I walked over to the Regal Airport Hotel and checked in to my room for the night. My bags were delivered 10 minutes later. A great room for me since I could watch plane after plane land at the airport without the associated noise levels. The windows must have been quadruple sound proofed!
That’s it for now…. I am off a return MNL trip this afternoon and a return TPE trip tomorrow morning. Those are the only 4 segments that I am taking just for the miles.
rich
Oct 14, 1999 | 4:01 am
#6
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: May 1999
Posts: 46,817
Thanks Rich. The Pan Pacific is a bit out of the way, but Bangkok is such a large city it is tough to be close to everything! I always have a tough choice between staying more in the heart of the city versus along the Chao Prah river. Regarding your flights in/out, it seems I too always arrive rather late and depart very early. this does minimize the traffic somewhat.
Oct 19, 1999 | 1:21 pm
#7
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: New York
Posts: 7,983
CP's new international business clas has a 65 inches legroom, five inches more than CX or the standard first class sleeper seat.
CP is not a bad airline... How is the menu by design breakfast?
I am new to the site and am glad to read all these wonderful reports. They are great.
Thanks,
Carfield
CP is not a bad airline... How is the menu by design breakfast?
I am new to the site and am glad to read all these wonderful reports. They are great.
Thanks,
Carfield
Oct 19, 1999 | 1:44 pm
#8
Commander Catcop
Join Date: May 1998
Posts: 10,259
RichLond: I meant to give you FOUR PAWS UP for a memorable and balanced and fun so far series of RTW trip reports.
You are an inspiration for when I can take my RTW trip! Good luck and think about putting NYC in your plans!
You are an inspiration for when I can take my RTW trip! Good luck and think about putting NYC in your plans!