AN*G-BNE

Preamble: The Planning

Or lack thereof, in this case...

A long organised 5 day trip to KUL on MH had been scheduled and ticketed (non-rev positive space J, as I had been contracted to do some work for the carrier). Leaving Sat July 4th from BNE at 2320.

Then, a last minute requirement to travel to LHR suddenly came up with very little notice. Unfortunately, there was a requirement for me to be in London for most of the week before, including the morning of Friday, July 3rd.

Looking at the flight schedules, there was a TG flight departing Friday at 1230, via BKK, and getting back into BNE at 2245. Having done the bkk-BNE many times before, I was reasonably confident that TG991 would get into BNE a bit early, probably around 2230, giving me 50 minutes to transfer on to MH141.

A 50 minute turnaround at my home airport? Everyone thought I was mad. The logical thing to do, of course, would be to break my journey in bkk, and do a BKK-KUL return, but then, I didn't want to miss out on the chance to fly MH J long-haul, which I have never done before.

Checking up, I discovered that in the case I missed the connection, I could transfer to the same MH BNE-KUL flight the next day, with no penalty. And with the load in J at that time only 18/35, I thought I'd take the risk.

So, my itinerary ended up looking like

With having relatives in London to visit, Mrs AN*G and Master 6 decided to come along on the first trip as well, purchasing a Q fare and using their GUPs (Mrs AN*G still has a GUP2 to use by Dec) to upgrade to J. The BKK-LHR sector and the BKK-BNE sectors were waitlisted for all of us. BKK-LHR showing C4 D4 J0 Z0 looked a certainty to clear, and it did overnight. However, BKK-BNE was varying between showing C0 D0 J0 Z0 and C1 D0 J0 Z0, so that was looking quite a problem, especially since I had a flight back out 50 minutes later. After 5 days, and a couple of calls to ROP in BKK, that waitlist finally cleared, and stayed C0 D0 J0 Z0 from that point on.

AN*G-BNE

BNE-BKK
TG992
Depart Scheduled 2359 Actual pushback 0002
Arrive Scheduled 0600 Actual gate arrival 0520
Pre-allocated seats 14EFG
HS-TKC

That morning, I had been checking to see which plane had left BKK for SYD, as it would be the one carrying us to BKK. Knowing how TG tend to switch planes - I was sincerely hoping that we would not get substituted with an old config 777. To my relief, it was HS-TKC that had left BKK for SYD and BNE, one of the new config planes. Though, admittedly, odds are pretty good now, with all the 777-200s already converted, and 4 (TKA TKB TKC and TKF) of the 6 777-300s done, and TKD in the shop.

The pre-booked taxi didn't turn up, so we made the decision to drive ourselves. Arriving at the airport at 2210 we were fortunate to find a park 2 bays away from the walkway from the long term carpark to the terminal - a simple 2 minute stroll. Because of our slightly later than planned arrival, check-in was more or less smpty, in both economy and business. This time, for a one week trip, we had decided to all just use carry-ons, which caused a raised eyebrow at check-in. Guess they don't see too many families travel from Brisbane to London with no checked-in baggage. We were given an express departures card, which we used to zip through security quickly, though the normal line was no more than 2 or 3 minutes long. From there, we were through express immigration in no more than 30 seconds, and it was off to the Air New Zealand lounge for a short wait.

As was expected, the NZ lounge was quiet, with only the TG and SQ (to SIN) flights scheduled to depart around then. Just using the chance to send off a few quick emails, and to check on the load from BKK-LHR (we were going to try, without expectations, using the 2009 birthday gift - for the non TG regulars, TG Gold FFs receive a gift each year, and this year was a one-class one-sector upgrade on a space available basis on check-in at the airport of departure, usable from the higher value paid fares (CDJ in business but not Z, and not GVW in economy). More in the next part.

Passengers were called in the lounge around 2335 (only a 2 minute walk from the lounge to the gate). At the gate, the two doors were being used for re-joining passengers from SYD (this flight does a BKK-SYD-BNE-BKK triange) and new passengers embarking in BNE. In between the two, there was also a sign for business and Star Gold passengers, behind a roped off section with a gate agent. Being normal practice in Brisbane for this flight, we headed straight for the agent in the roped off area with boarding passes and *G cards in hand, who promptly opened up the rope and let us through, holding up the next passengers in the line to allow us to proceed to the boarding pass scanners.

On-board, the load in J was just 14/34, if my counting was right. Peeking back through the curtain, it looked like most passengers had a whole row to themselves, unless they were travelling together. With 3 cabin crew serving the J cabin, service was prompt and efficient. With the late night departure, we usually have dinner at home, and go to sleep as soon as the seat-belt sign is off. This was no different, so I can't report on how the meals were, as I was asleep for most of the flight, only being woken up by the sounds of the breakfast service being prepared. Mrs AN*G and Master 6 slept through breakfast too, but I can report that they didn't miss anything - it was remarkably uninspiring.

We arrived at one of the last gates on the E concourse at BKK - and for those familiar with BKK will know what a long walk that is to anywhere. Our first stop was going to be the transfer counter, where hopefully our upgrade vouchers could be exchanged for first class boarding passes. If not, well, we always had the LHR-BKK flight to try. I wasn't too hopeful, for 2 reasons. One: the F cabin had been showing F1 A0 P0 for a long time, and the seat map showed only 3 seats unallocated (I was more hopeful of LHR-BKK, which was showing F4 A4 P4, and a seat map with only 1/10 allocated), and secondly, it has been uncertain whether the upgrade voucher could be used with an already upgraded (using the GUP). Oddly, when using the GUP to upgrade, it books into J, which is specifically listed as a fare class that the voucher can be used on, so we thought we would try anyway.

Upon asking at the transfer counter, the agent mentioned that because this upgrade would fill the first class cabin and close it, he needed to get an override from the flight manager to allow it. No mention of the GUP. Ringing the flight manager, and after a short conversation which I could not understand, he smiled and told us that it was ok. Typing away furiously, things were not working. Twice, the machine spat out new business class boarding passes. In the end, it was back on the phone to someone to take over, and a minute later, he was told to just reprint, and out came 3 first class boarding passes.

AN*G-BNE

BKK-LHR
TG916
Depart Scheduled 1225 Actual pushback 1230
Arrive Scheduled 1820 Actual remote stand arrival 1810
Pre-allocated seats 24F 25FG
New seats 2E 3EF

A long walk to the Royal First lounge later, and it was time for our first experience of the new TG Royal First lounge at BKK. Fittings were very similar, with the addition of a sit-down dining area, and a few private rooms seating 4 or 5. Breakfast and lunch were called for during our stay. Some may like this, but we were certainly uncomfortable at being waited on - to get food, you tell them what you want, and they either plate it and take it over to you, or have it freshly cooked and taken over, and then served to you whilst kneeling and walking on their knees. For the self-sufficient, it is a very disconcerting experience.

Time passed quickly snacking (we had cooked to order spring rolls [delicious], chicken rice noodles, toasted ham sandwiches; plus lots of fruit), visiting the playroom (in the Business class section - the playroom would now be quite unused, I would expect, with the D concourse lounge where the playroom is being a Business class only lounge, and the *G members using the C or E concourse lounges), and walking around the airport shops. Before long, it was time for boarding, though Master 6 was a bit put out as he only had 10 pages to go to finish his current Enid blyton Famous Five book. An escort came to walk us to the gate (no buggy, as it was one of the closest gates), and the lounge staff came to line the exit to wish us goodbye. I have no idea if that is normal practice for the first class lounge, or whether it is because Master 6 was doing his usual charming of the lounge staff during the stay.

Our first visit to the Royal First lounge over, we were escorted through security, and then second stage security by the agent, all the way through the boarding gate and onto the plane, where we were handed over to the cabin crew in First.

We were immediately assisted with getting our bags up in the overhead storage bins, and settled into our seats, with me in 2E, Mrs in 3E and Master 6 in 3F (I think he quite enjoyed the feeling of being separate and independent, but still able to look over the centre bar to see Mum and to use the in-seat phone to ring Dad. Bags away, the obligatory pre-flight drink offered (and graciously refused, for none of us drink anything more than water or the odd juice), we sat back in our seats.
Then, disaster. As the doors shut and the safety video started, I reached into my jacket pocket to retrieve my phone to turn it off, and did so. I put it into my shirt pocket so that my jacket could be hung up, bent over to get the amenities bag, and my phone fell out of my shirt pocket, into the magazine storage section of the seat (those unfamiliar with TG First: the magazines are stored in the side wall of your area). Now, these are about 10 inches deep, so that the magazines can sit in securely with the top 2 inches or so exposed. They're also about the width of 3 magazines, or, just wide enough for a phone to slip into, and down the bottom of a 10 inch pit. Quickly, I stuck my hand in, only to discover that my hand was indeed fatter than 3 magazines, and was now stuck in there. So, here I was. Plane taxiing, safety video screening, seat belt light on, me on my knees on the ground, bent over the magazine rack with my hand stuck in it and no seat belt on. The only saving grace was that the height of the seat meant that Mrs AN*G could not see me. With all cabin crew in their seats for takeoff, I was on my own. With my one free hand, I grabbed at the magazine rack wall, hoping to widen it sufficiently for my stuck hand to be free. 10 long seconds later, it was out. Sufficiently embarassed, I retreated to the safety of my seat, trying to work out how to retrieve the phone. As the plane's nose lifted off the ground, I heard my phone start sliding back (it's a long magazine rack). Not knowing if there were any dividers inside the rack, and fearing I'd see my phone race past Mrs AN*G on its way to the galley, I grabbed one of the magazines and shoved it in hard into the rack to stop the phone from sliding further. That worked. I felt the magazine hit the phone and stop the slide, and then, saw this familiar pale blue/white glow emerge from the magazine rack, followed by the familiar Nokia start up music. Oh bl***y great. Obviously in the process, I had hit it's power button with the edge of the magazine. Now I had a switched on phone, while the plane was taking off. Then, a brainwave. Chopsticks. Magazines as chopsticks. Grabbing another magazine, and pushing it on the other side of the phone, I managed to lift the phone up the rack until I could see it emerge over the wall of the magazine rack. All I needed to do was to grab it. Only problem was that the left hand was holding one magazine. The right hand was holding another. And I was still buckled up during takeoff. Now what? Do I stay there till I can get help, with a switched on phone? Do I try to flip the phone higher into the air and try to catch it? Or try to slide the phone higher till it falls out? Weighing it all up, last seemed the least likely to lead to more disaster. Slowly, easing my magazines upwards, more and more of my phone began to tantalizingly appear,until it plopped out onto the floor. Magazines abandoned, I grabbed the phone, switched it off, and put it back firmly into my pocket and settled back.

A quick look around the cabins after takeoff indicated that the loads were quite good. 10/10 in F, 39/40 in C, and probably 90% in Y. Interestingly, our 3 seats in C which we had only relinquished a few hours earlier were filled - op-ups or standby upgrades I wonder? Probably the latter. Y wasn't totally full so no need for op-ups.

Pyjamas were handed out then, unfortunately only a few mediums and large ones were available. So, I took a large (medium fits me better), and Mrs AN*G and Master 6 took medium sizes (small fits Mrs AN*G better). At this time, we were also given our arrival documentation and an invitation to use the express path for immigration.

Soon after, lunch was served. Moving over to Master 6's ottoman, I set up to have lunch over there - with Mrs AN*G just across the central divider, it was easy to share. Each of us chose a different main for added variety, each one was quite tasty indeed (being people of simple tastes, we were afraid that the food was going to be too fancy, but our fears were unrealised). The entrees of satay and spicy fish cakes were very nice too.

After lunch, it was a movie for each of us (Return to Witch Mountain for me, The Tale of Desperaux for Master 6, which he had been looking forward to, having read the novelisation of it earlier in the year). It was then a pre-agreed nap time for Mrs AN*G and Master 6, to help with the time zone adjustments, whilst I watched another movie before settling in for a short nap. Waking up with 3 hours to go, we found something bizarre had happened. The IFE for our seats had been rebooted, and had come up with an earlier version - it had the menu for May instead of June, which meant that all the movie and TV listings were for the wrong movies - movies that weren't loaded on the movie server. A few resets later, nothing had been fixed, and it looked like it was only certain seats that were showing this problem. But yet, in the early part of the flight, everything was working correctly. My guess from looking at the Linux boot-up messages and the error messages when selecting a movie that wasn't loaded: there are several TFTP servers on the plane which provide a boot image to the in-seat system. Which server your seat connects to is depending on the load at the time. One of the servers probably wasn't updated hence the older menu. The cabin crew were utterly horrified at this, and kept saying how terrible it was for something not to be working properly in First. After they gave up trying to fix it, Mrs AN*G found some movies which were in both May and June and just watched one of those, whilst Master 6 and I played a few games.

A light snack was served before landing, and we were down at Heathrow. Sadly, it was to be a remote stand, and when we arrived, all the ground crew were there, waiting. Except that someone forgot to bring the stairs. Much commotion and radioing on the ground later, and after 2 apologies from the captain and about an annoying 15 minute wait, a solitary set of stairs rolls up to 2L. Whilst this must have been unusual, the cabin crew recovered quickly, and held back the C & Y passengers, while guiding the 10 of us in F through the galley that runs alongside the C cabin downstairs, and round to 2L for deplaning and into the bus. While waiting for all this, the in flight manager again apologised for the IFE problem, and said that he'd already noted it in the flight log, with our names and seat numbers. I'm not expecting anything to come of it though.

A short bus ride later and we were in T3, and with no luggage to wait for, it was straight through immigration and customs and out into the throngs. Judging by the waiting crowd of greeters and meeters, there must have been quite a few planes from the sub-continent arriving. Either that, or whole families turned up to welcome a single returning traveller.

It was reasonably easy to spot our driver with placard, who promptly whisked us away to our hotel for the next 5 nights.

AN*G-BNE

LHR-BKK
TG917
Depart Scheduled 1230 Actual pushback 1238
Arrive Scheduled 0605+1 Actual remote stand arrival 0545+1
Pre-allocated seats 24F 25FG

The night before, on checking our ROP mileage accounts, there was an interesting but pleasant anomaly. I was expecting to have been credited with J mileage for BNE-BKK and BKK-LHR, and expecting that Mrs and Master 6 to have Y mileage (as their tickets were GUPped). However, I had J mileage from BNE-BKK and F from BKK-LHR, Mrs had Y mileage from BNE-BKK and F from BKK-LHR, and Master 6 had Y mileage from BNE-BKK and nothing from BKK-LHR. Hmmm... looks like the agent at BKK, in processing our birthday upgrades had just rebooked us into F, assuming Master 6's would post soon. Mrs AN*G was quite happy - receiving 150% mileage instead of 100% for the Q -GUPped to- J -Gold BDay upedto- F sector.

Arriving back at LHR, a quick glance at the board in the departures hall showed that Zone C was being used to check in our flight, with the Business Class counters being right at the far end, away from the entrance doors. With two Business counters open, and us 2nd in line, we didn't expect too long a wait. Unfortunately, both people in front of us had difficulties checking in, and when it was our turn, the difficulties continued.

No problems checking self and Mrs in. However, the check in agent (SAS Ground Services) kept muttering that she could not find an e-ticket for Master 6, and eventually asked if we'd not paid for his booking. Yeah sure - you mean after the two flights from BNE-BKK and BKK-LHR that he'd already taken? And even upgraded one of those? And with all 3 of us on the same PNR? Then, it clicked to me... remembering that last night, Master 6's BKK-LHR had not posted, I wondered aloud if the BKK agent had neglected to pull his e-coupon in the midst of trying to do the upgrade, thus creating a no show for Master 6 and automatically cancelling the rest of his ticket? Yes - that turned out to be the case. Now, this wasn't too bad, as I knew the LHR-BKK loads on this flight were light, but how about the BKK-BNE which we'd been waitlisted on for a long time and was zeroed out constantly ever since the waitlist cleared?

After the agent, with the Thai flight manager (dressed in the usual purple Thai uniform) disappeared into a back room for about 2-3 minutes, they came back and said that all was fine - they'd fixed it up and reinstated the booking. A few seconds later, and our 6 boarding passes came out - 3 for LHR-BKK and 3 for our connection from BKK-BNE, and all with our preferred seats. Phew! I wondered if reinstating this caused an oversell in J for BKK-BNE.

We were directed to the London Lounge, operated by SAS, and after an uneventful immigration and security, helped considerably by access to the express path, and a short detour to the WH Smith as Master 6 wanted to see if he could pick up any more Enid Blyton books (he'd bought a few in London, at less than half the price we pay in Australia), we entered the London Lounge. On entry, the gentleman processing us called out to his colleague (there were 2 of them working on the entry desk), "hey - the little one has his own gold card". Downstairs was quite busy, but we did manage to find a quiet corner in the upstairs section, near the business centre and settled in there for the not too long wait till boarding.

As we weren't sure how long it would take to walk to the gate, we left the lounge before the monitors had changed to "boarding". The gate area was completely packed, with lines for 2nd stage security screeing stretching well out into the hallways. The lines moved quickly enough though, and as we entered the holding area, there was signs of movement at the boarding doors. Heading down that way, the calls for First, Business and Star Gold passengers came as we were half way down. Now, I don't know what it is, but it is the same, airports around the world. Everyone starts to jostle and line up whenever some announcement comes over - even if it is one announcing a delay. Anyhow, this being no different, the hordes started to assemble at the boarding door, blocking the way for anyone who was really supposed to board now. Fortunately, with practised ease, the gate agents started moving all the economy passengers to the right, clearing the way for the handful of premium passengers to board.

After boarding, the downstairs C cabin appeared to have 5 seats empty (out of 14), including 24G. Great! This meant that we could have Master 6 in 25G, and as there is a mini-aisle on the G side of the seats too, it was easy for me, if I were to breathe in, to walk over to Master 6 from my seat without having to climb over Mrs AN*G.

My quick trip around indicated 3/10 in F, about 8-10 empty in J (so about 30-32/40) and Y being quite full (95%+, maybe even 100% as there were a quite a few lined up for the toilets). Being on the 747, Master 6 & I had the tail camera switched on for the taxi and take-off. With a slightly late pushback, we counted 19 jets in the takeoff queue ahead of us, and so, we were on the ground for over 30 minutes post pushback.

This time, the IFE was working, and with the July movies. After take-off, again we selected 3 different mains for lunch, again all quite enjoyable, though at medium, the pork was a little too underdone for my liking (I'm a well-done to burnt sort of man). Same deal. Watches to BKK time (some minor confusion because Master 6 had already adjusted his in the LHR lounge based on the world clock map in the back of his travel diary, but had neglected to account for the fact that UK was in daylight savings), lunch, one movie and bed.

As Mrs AN*G had quite a few late nights with relatives, we swapped seats and she was asleep before the lunch service completed, not to reawaken till descent into BKK. Master 6 watched his 1 movie, and then it was bed for him too, leaving me to decide which of the movies was least revolting (I settled on one involving a supercomputer sending threatening text messages, but can't recall the title). After that, it was bed for me too, waking up around the same time as Master 6 for breakfast. Neither of us had much beyond the fruit, intending to have a better breakfast in the lounge during our short transit.

This time, arriving at the D Concourse, it was a very short walk to the main lounge, to be greeted by 2 of Master 6's favourite staff. As we were all pretty hungry, it was straight to the breakfast buffet. This was only going to be a short transit, with our flight back to BNE boarding at 0720, we would only have just over an hour at the lounge. Breakfast and freshening up done, it was time to say goodbye again to the lounge staff, and back to the plane. Because of extended goodbyes with the staff, including one funny one along the lines of "and where are you going today?" "Me and Mum are going home to Brisbane, but Dad is going to Kuala Lumpur via Brisbane", by the time we reached the gate, we were one of the last passengers to board.

AN*G-BNE

BKK-xSYD-BNE
TG991
Depart Scheduled 0800 Actual pushback 0810
Arrive Scheduled 1945 Actual remote stand arrival 1930
Depart Scheduled 2115 Actual pushback 2108
Arrive Scheduled 2245 Actual remote stand arrival 2225
Assigned seats 12 DEF

Given the waitlists and the zeroed out flight for weeks, I was expecting a totally full C cabin. And guess what? The load was 10/30. 20 empty seats. What gives? Being a day time flight, the plan was food, reading and movies. However, the rush of the week had caught up with all of us, and much of the flight was actually spent asleep. I struggled to stay awake, wanting to sleep on my next flight, the overnight back to Asia, but tiredness got the better of me, and soon, before I knew it, I was asleep and being woken up for a light evening snack before landing. On waking up though, I discovered that my IFE handset was broken. Operationally and physically. It looked like at some stage, it had been caught in the seat mechanism and cracked in two. With only an hour till landing though, it wasn't a problem to rely on the touchscreen. Still, I reported it to the cabin service manager.

I don't normally mind the short stop in SYD. What I find annoying is having to gather up all the hand luggage to take it off, get it security scanned, and sit around for 20 minutes before taking it back on-board again. This time, during the short stop, we made sure that I had everything I needed in my carry-on, and nothing I shouldn't have.

The typical chaos that is SYD re-boarding of TG991/992 occurred again. No one was sure which side was for newly joining passengers and which was for re-boarding passengers. And there was no attempt at any form of priority boarding. Waiting till everyone was one, we finally re-boarded for the last leg of this trip.

On reboarding, the CSM called to me and waved over a man in Thai uniform, and introduced him as a service engineer, proudly saying that he'd replaced the broken handset whilst on the ground. Interesting that they keep spares at remote stations - must get quite a few breakages, I guess.

This time, the C cabin was full with passengers mostly starting in SYD and going to BKK. Aha! So that's why the C cabin had been zeroed out - not the BKK-SYD sector, but the SYD-BNE sector that was full. With only an hour flying time, a drink and a pastry were offered, and it was time to descend into BNE. Filled out the arrivals card and the swine flu questionnaire for Mrs and Master 6 during descent and handed it to them.

AN*G-BNE

BNE-KUL
MH141
Depart Scheduled 2320 Actual pushback 2338
Arrive Scheduled 0600 Actual remote stand arrival 0530
Assigned Seat 3G

We were off the plane at 2235, and the departures monitor leading back upstairs to the transfer/departures area was showing that MH141 was not yet boarding. I had my OLCI printed boarding pass already, so didn't need to look for a transfer desk - I would just join the flow of TG992 passengers who had commenced in SYD and were just transitting in BNE. After all, the MH141 passengers had done the same half an hour ago, with MH141 also doing the triangle - KUL-SYD-BNE-KUL. A quick goodbye to Mrs AN*G and Master 6 close to immigration, and I was off, upstairs to the transfer area. It definitely feels strange doing a transfer/turnaround in your home airport.

In no time at all, I was clear through security. Stopped by quickly at the gate to show my OLCI printout (there was a little box that said it had to be stamped for validation), and explained my situation to the agents (QF ground handling). With an expression that clearly showed that she thought I was slightly insane, she initialled my OLCI paper, and printed out a real boarding pass, and said I was welcome to use the QF lounge for the next 5 minutes or so. Not wanting to pass up the chance to see the QF lounge, I went in. I was expecting to be asked for a lounge invitation, but wasn't. I must admit the QF lounge seemed a bit dark and cramped to me - a few too many walls in the wrong place, I suspect.

At 2255, boarding for MH141 was called, and off I was again, after my 3 minute visit to the QF lounge. Priority boarding was in progress when I got there, and so went straight on-board, still with the Thai Royal Silk tags on my 2 carry-on items. Impressions of the MH Boeing 777 C cabin - more space between rows of seats - you can actually get past other people when fully extended in bed mode without having to climb over them. I found the seats to be narrower than the TG or LH seats though - not sure if it's true or just my perception.

While waiting for the boarding to complete, I got an SMS from Mrs AN*G - they were home safe - first through immigration and quarantine with no bags - car right at the doorstep, and with us only a 18-20 minute run from the airport at that time of the night, they were back home by 2310. Not bad for a 2230 arrival. And no one checked their bags, or took the swine flu form from them or even looked at it.
With a slow boarding, doors didn't close till around 2335. J was completely full - didn't see an empty seat anywhere (35/35). I'm guessing it's mainly due to the Economy+ sale - buy full fare economy, travel business (but with economy baggage allowance and premium economy mileage). For some reason, I was starving and thirsty. Downed the offered juice in a gulp, and asked for another, which was cheerfully handed over. For a split second, I kicked myself for not adding by Velocity Rewards number in when I checked-in, then realised I wouldn't get any miles on an non-rev ticket anyway. Not sure what the fare basis was - it wasn't on the e-ticket that was sent to me. The only clue was in the endorsements box ("NONEND MH CORP ONLY"), but I'm pretty sure I'd have no chance of getting DJ points. Maybe I'll send in the boarding passes anyway - no harm trying, I guess.

Compared to TG, the late supper service was quite slow. Delicious satay entree, followed by a very tasty Malaysian main. After all that, I was ready for a good sleep, which I promptly drifted into (I have the enviable ability to sleep anywhere, on just about any surface).

Waking up to the sounds of breakfast, the cabin lights were just being adjusted to dawn levels of brightness. Breakfast was not very inspiring though - in fact, I passed on it except for the fruit.

Again, with no bags, I was straight through, except for the brief stop to get my temperature taken by the flu brigade. Coming out into arrivals, I was immediately accosted by local taxi touts. Now, although my usual modus operandi with taxi and hotel touts is to immediately launch into a verbose diatribe in some foreign language (completely irrelevant that I don't speak that foreign language if it even exists at all - chances are, neither do they), this time, I was in no mood for that game, so just brushed them off in the local dialect (having lived in Malaysia for a few years previously, I still retained some small smattering of the language - particularly those words pertaining to food). No sign of my assigned driver though - I'd been told that a corporate driver would be waiting for me. After about 20 minutes of waiting, I got sick and annoyed of this, and rang up the office. Of course, being 6am there, no one was at work. Eventually, 30 minutes late, the driver from the corporate office turned up - as it turned out, he didn't have the experience/interest/knowledge to check the flight arrival times, and as such, didn't know the flight was in 30 minutes early, and besides, wasn't expecting me straight out with no bags. Hmph! You'd expect better from an airline corporate office driver, wouldn't you?

Things didn't get any better when we pulled up at my hotel, only to discover that there had been a communications error. I was arriving early, at 6am. Right. So to guarantee an early check in, I had to book and pay for the night before as well. Fine. That's normal practice. Only problem is that they noted that earlier night booking, and then, on top of that, noted that I was arriving early at 6am - yesterday. And so, I was a no show, and they'd cancelled my booking, and they were totally full today/tonight. I was in no mood for that. Fortunately, they were most apologetic, re-instated my booking at a reduced rate for the remaining nights, and walked me to the Marriott (less than 2 minutes walk away) for this morning and tonight.

AN*G-BNE

Placeholder: soon to come

Thai-Kiwi

A great read! I look forward to the next few installments.

Despite being a *A kinda guy, I'm taking #2 son to BKK/KUL on BA and AK SEP/OCT. The price was very good from WLG-BKK on a super sale, and I still have QANTAS Club access to ease the pre-flight moments - we have 10 hr layover in SYD (groan).

I doubt I'll be able to use my ROP Gold standby upgrade this year, and so will lose it. Visited BKK in Mar (Q GUPped to J), which is nice on 777-200ER.

Be aware that whilst J miles posted initially (ie 125%), there was a reversal entry an regular Q miles were substituted. The J-F standby upgrade Gold Cert may have worked.....but be forewarned

Cheers, TK

BearX220

Thanks for a really good read. I'm interested in others' impressions of MH J service since trying it myself for the first time last month... so look forward to your KUL-BNE account. For myself, I thought the in-cabin experience was excellent, but can't understand why they don't join one of the big three alliances -- they're kind of a strategic orphan.