Airline Trip Reports. Let Us Know About Your Flight!

[steve187]

Airline: cathay Pacifc

Ticket Price: -

How Purchased : direct

Dates: 23/12

Class of Service: economy

Route: lhr to bkk

Aircraft Type: 777

Seat Configuration (i.e. 3/4/3) 3/3/3

Stopover City (If any): hkg

Check-in Location (good or bad?): good

Immigration (good or bad?): good

Excess Bag Fees (if any): 0

Lounges Used: 0

Limo Service Provided: 0

In-flight Entertainment: good tv in seat back

In-flight Cabin Service (good or bad?):

Seat Comfort: good

Food Quality: excellent

On Time Performance: 1/2 hour late take off

Comments: first time with cx, and was impressed

[UbonOz]

Thats a superb price. I'm wondering if they do the same the other direction.

Who did you book with?

Booked direct on UL website.

[smokie36]

Airline: China Airlines

Ticket Price: £1150 return

How Purchased (direct, agent, wholesaler, etc): ebookers

Dates: 20/1/13

Class of Service: Business

Route: BKK-AMS

Aircraft Type: A340-300

Seat Configuration (i.e. 3/4/3): 2/2/2

Stopover City (If any): None

Check-in Location (good or bad?): Fine

Immigration (good or bad?): No probs...less than a minute with fasttrack card

Excess Bag Fees (if any): Nil

Lounges Used: China Airlines lounge

Limo Service Provided: No

In-flight Entertainment: A selection of films, mostly old but kept me busy for a few hours. TV selection was very poor. Handset worked intermittently.

In-flight Cabin Service (good or bad?): Adequate. Bit of a battleaxe serving Biz on this flight.

Seat Comfort: Poor, old style biz class seat with recline nowhere near 180 degrees.

Food Quality: Not good, but then it rarely is out of Bangkok with any airline in my experience.

On Time Performance: Landed 10 mins late.

Comments: Following an excellent flight out in December I was expecting the same on my return but this flight was awful by comparison. Main problem was the cabin feels much more cramped on the A340-300 and with the old style seats difficult to sleep. Poor quality food and lack of drinks runs didn't help, nor did the lack of decent IFE. Lucky I had my Kindle with me.

For a 13 hour flight they really need to use a better plane imo. Still I would use them again based upon the competitive fare.

[canman]

Has anyone flown Air Canada; Asia to Toronto recently? Any comments on the level of service, IFE, meals, legroom etc.

[Poo Ying FeFe]

Has anyone flown Air Canada; Asia to Toronto recently? Any comments on the level of service, IFE, meals, legroom etc.

I took Air Canada for the London - Calgary leg in March 2010 & 2012. The service, food and entertainment where great. There's nothing to worry about IMO.

[beano2274]

Anyone got any trip reports on KLM to the UK? (Bristol or Heathrow) Economy class.

Got one from airliners.net, looked quite good, but experience from anyone here would be appreciated.

[smokie36]

Anyone got any trip reports on KLM to the UK? (Bristol or Heathrow) Economy class.

Got one from airliners.net, looked quite good, but experience from anyone here would be appreciated.

Flew with them from Amsterdam to Edinburgh last month and was a decent flight. Nothing special.

I guess you want the long haul review though.

[beano2274]

Anyone got any trip reports on KLM to the UK? (Bristol or Heathrow) Economy class.

Got one from airliners.net, looked quite good, but experience from anyone here would be appreciated.

Flew with them from Amsterdam to Edinburgh last month and was a decent flight. Nothing special.

I guess you want the long haul review though.

True, but decided to shop around found Qatar to LHR and back from MXP in April/May for 30615 Edited March 1, 2013 by SlyAnimal
Fixed quote for poster

[oldsailor35]

Airline: Sri lankan

Ticket Price: 28000 Baht, one way

Dates: Dec 2012

Class of Service: Business

Route: BKK-CMB-LHR

Stopover City (If any): Negombo

Check-in Location (good or bad?): Good

Immigration (good or bad?): No queue at BKK, 5 mins at CMB

Excess Bag Fees (if any): None

Lounges Used: Sky lounge at BKK and Serendib at CMB, both good

Limo Service Provided: None

In-flight Entertainment: Good choice of movies on both flights

In-flight Cabin Service (good or bad?): Very good

Seat Comfort: Excellent, flat bed seats. Both flights had the upgraded planes (A330's)

Food Quality: Not great, but still ok

On Time Performance: Both flights left on time, got diverted to paris for 4 hours because of freezing fog at LHR

Comments: Overall a very good service, I had a 13 hour stopover and was given a room at the

Jetwing Sea hotel about 15 mins from the airport. I will use Sri Lankan again, hopefully they won't put the price up too much.

28K THB one-way business class to LHR ?now that I call a bargain if that's true

Ahh! Negombo. I flew out of there back in 1953 in an old Avro York , SKYWAYS of LONDON. unpressurised, we flew at 8000 ft all the way. Had to stop every night for refuelling and a top class hotel, 2 stops in India, then refuelled at Makulla (Trucial Omans) short stop,and another "Splash & Dash" at Damascus then on to Beiruit overnight, Rome overnight then London. Had engine problems so the trip was delayed en route at Bombay, stayed overnight at the Taj Majhal Hotel, probably one of the worlds most affluent. The flight took 5 days. Maximum 26 passengers, flight deck crew 5. Capt., Co pilot, Engineer, Radio officer, Navigator. 2 Hostesses. Boy, what an experience and how international air travel has changed in 60 years.

Edited March 3, 2013 by oldsailor35

[steve187]

Airline: Malaysia air
Ticket Price: nonrev
How Purchased (direct, agent, wholesaler, etc): direct
Dates: o/w 7th march
Class of Service: economy
Route: bkk/kul kul/lhr
Aircraft Type: b737 /A380
Seat Configuration (i.e. 3/4/3) 3/3 AND 3/4/3
Stopover City (If any): KUL
Check-in Location (good or bad?): good
Immigration (good or bad?): good upstairs and then downstairs again
Excess Bag Fees (if any): none 30kgs allowance
Lounges Used: none
Limo Service Provided: none
In-flight Entertainment: b737 none/ a380 very good
In-flight Cabin Service (good or bad?): good
Seat Comfort: very good
Food Quality: very good
On Time Performance: both take off a little late but time made up on trip
Comments: A very good first time flight experience with malaysia air, no through flight booking due to our fare class but having to collect bags and enter malaysia was problem free, malaysia immigation very efficient both index fingers scanned, bag collection very quick and dispite having to check in for london flight we still made the connection in the 1 hour 15 mins. stop over time, (the advertised fare for the flights was 15.500 baht, anyone paying this fare would have a through flight booked, and not have to clear immigration etc.) All in all a very good flight experience, food and service on board was excellent and we were even served a magnam ice cream with one meal (a deal braker for me) and my wife has said we will return with M/A dispite her being a direct flight BA fan, flight times were 2 hours bkk/kul and 13 hours kul/lhr would be 12 hours on return

[GrantSmith]

Airline: Thai Airways (Thai Smile)

Ticket Price: B18,000 (two pax)

How Purchased (direct, agent, wholesaler, etc): Direct

Dates: RTN: 05/03 - 07/03

Class of Service: Economy

Route: BKK-MFM-BKK

Aircraft Type: A320

Seat Configuration (i.e. 3/4/3) 3/3

Stopover City (If any): N/A

Check-in Location (good or bad?): TG Royal Silk - Slow check in but made up due to express immigation

Immigration (good or bad?): Easy

Excess Bag Fees (if any): N/A 40kgs Allowance (20 from TG + 20 for Star Alliance Gold

Lounges Used: None, although had access if wanted to

Limo Service Provided: N/A

In-flight Entertainment: N/A - BYO (excellent hahah)

In-flight Cabin Service (good or bad?): BKK-MFM - not sure, I slept most of the flight

MFM-BKK - fantastic, very patient crew considering the clientele

Seat Comfort: Acceptable for a short flight

Food Quality: Basic

On Time Performance: Early both ways

Comments: First time flying TG (Thai Smile), despite the non-TG'ness of the airline (which I guess is the whole idea behind it) the airline itself was pretty good - much better than Air Asia (and its varients).

The BKKMFM flight is pretty much a non-event as I was more than likely still inebriated from the night before add in an hours sleep and you can see why I was out from pushback until the top of descent. The only thing I will say is that unless you have the row to yourself or are in an EMEX row, things are going to be a bit cramped.

MFMBKK - having had suitable sleep levels the night before, I was wide awake for this flight. And all I can say is that the cabin crew on this flight (and quite possibly all flights ex-MFM) should be nominated for sainthood! Having to deal with the mainland chinese in a professional and thai manner was nothing short of miraculous!

Having taken our seats, my wife proceeded to place her hand luggage in the overhead bin (as is required for EMEX seating) after sitting back down she then went to place her handbag in the overhead bin and to her shock noticed that our hand luggage had been moved, we both stood up (I smacked my head on the overhead bin - thus causing me more annoyance) and my wife saw a mainland chinese man moving our bag - now what transpired in Thai after that I have little knowledge of but suffice to say the wife was less than pleased by this and the swift response from the cabin crew was amazing.

Now, said mainland chinese man appeared inebriated as well (bright red cheeks, glazed eyes etc) and began apologising - to which I and my wife were not having a bar of! A few choice english words were conveyed - followed by an elbow to the ribs from my wife for using such choice words - and the wife then began to search through the bag to ensure nothing was removed - fortunately (I guess for both us and the mainland chinese gentleman) nothing was removed - cabin crew then went to the flight deck to inform the Captain of the situation and requested said gentleman to be removed from the flight and handed over to the authorities in MFM.

The Captain advised that as nobody had seen the passenger remove anything from the bag they have no reason to remove him (I respect the Captain's decision on this, however he does have the right to remove any passenger that has caused a disturbance to his aircraft - he is probably aware of this and possibly determined that the delay caused by having to remove the passenger (calling authorities, physically removing passenger and then removing passengers luggage) was not worth it. As such the passenger was moved to the back of the plane with the cabin crew and was watched over by them. I must say that despite this, the cabin crew were amazingly friendly to both my wife and myself!

The rest of the flight was rather uneventful, plane went up - leveled out for a bit - plane went down. Now arriving at swampy we stopped on the taxiway for maybe a minute - the usual arrival announcement was made but as soon as the plane stopped moving, this appeared to give all the mainland passengers (now call this racial profiling, but I did not observe any other passengers apart from the mainlanders do this) carte blanche to get up and start moving towards the front of the plane. The Captain quickly came on the PA and lambasted the passengers and told them in no uncertain terms to sit down until the seatbelt sign was switched off. A short time later we were at the remote stand (parking bay not using aerobridge) and deboarded onto a bus to be taken to the main terminal.

Would I fly TG (Thai Smile) again? I probably would as they are rather convenient and the cabin crew were very professional and friendly.

[thonglorjimmy]

Has anybody flown Air France to Paris recently, looking at a trip in September. We were going to use Thai on one of their A380's but AF are coming in at about 30% cheaper, albeit on a 747.

[beano2274]

Qatar Airways

30615 Baht at Queen Sirikhits but because of work commitments I had to change, changes cost extra 19000 baht, (destination, dates)

Ecomony

24 March 2013

BKK to FRA (return at beginning of June 2013)

777-300 (3-3-3), 330 ? (2-4-2)

Doha

Row Q at Swampy Door 7, okay.

Immigration at Swampy great no problems and very quick, Frankfurt met at end of air bridge by Polizei who checked passports, then Immigration later.

No excess baggage

No Lounge used

No limo service (taxi from Nonthaburi)

777-300 great with a button to expand the screen, A330 small and old.

Great service from the staff

Seats in 777-300 lovely leg space, in A330 box under the seat infront

Food passable (both trips Breakfast and a hot snack)

1 hour late from BKK, no real reason given, then 30 minutes late in Doha, arrived on time in FFM.

Lots of small kids on board and mostly Indian, noisy and parents not thinking of other passengers, but apart from that was okay.

[tamesisfwp]

Airline: Jet Airways

Ticket Price: gbp 602 Return

How Purchased – agent at last minute

Dates: depart Monday 25^th March at 1005, arriving BKK Suvha… 7.40am

Class of Service: economy

Route: London Heathrow – Mumbai - BKK

Aircraft Type: 777-300 and then

737-900

Seat Configuration: 3-4-3 and 3-3

Stopover City: Mumbai

Check-in Location (good or bad?):

Smooth and professional

Airport security at Heathrow:

more form than substance – lots of shouting and handing out clear plastic bags
but I later found 3 items in my bag that should have been declared or binned.

Excess Bag Fees (if any): generous 30kg allowance so not an issue.

Lounges Used: None

Limo Service Provided: None

In-flight Entertainment: The

movie I watched kept cutting out so gave up. The menu showed an extensive
selection.

In-flight Cabin Service (good or bad?): On first leg generally good but they

seemed to think that I could not fit into my seat more of a joke than a
concern. I am bigger built but certainly not fat – bigger and fatter people
sitting within the same section had much bigger seats and fitted ok. This
really pissed me off. The male staff seemed incapable of doing any work and the
girls had to work overly hard to compensate for the lazy arrogant men.


Seat Comfort: first flight dire –

second flight ok but a whole aircraft from a toilet with a very long queue.


Food Quality: not as good as just

October 2012


On Time Performance: left and

arrived on time


Comments:

This airline really failed me

this trip and enough that I should think of abandoning my return flight in
June.

I could not actually sit on the

777-300 seat and had to sit on cushions above the seat. The staff seemed amused
at my discomfort.

Mumbai was the same old security

nightmare and I was booed by hundreds of Germans (hehe) as I was pulled to the
head of the security queue to enable the Mumbai to BKK leg to leave on time. The
security procedures were keystone cops meets hello hello meets Inspector
Clouseau. – ah but the uniforms were impeccable!

The 737-900 is totally

inappropriate for this journey, being configured 16 1^st class and
160+ second. Two toilets at the back served the economy seats and the full
flight of over 3.5 hours caused a queue for the toilets of more than 9 long,
and must have been a real pain for the people sitting at the back. The need to
serve drinks and snacks meant a long expedition to the toilet from where I was
sitting in row 10.

Immigration at BKK: no queue this

time and smiling officer granted my 3 month on my one year semi retired visa to
the day. Was amazed!

[tamesisfwp]

After a few days' reflection on my flight I felt it necessary to put this to Jet Airways for comment.

I will post their response here if they dare to make one - other than the usual adodyne PR drivel.

Watch this space.

Best wishes all

Stephen

[3SoiDogNight]

Let's take it a step further and add aircraft registration number.

I travel a lot so I'll post my most recent flight which was to & from Vientiane, Laos.

Airline: Thai Airways

Registration # HS-TDD outbound, HS-TDG inbound. Both Aircraft delivered to Thai Airways in 1992
Ticket Price: 5500 baht
How Purchased (direct, agent, wholesaler, etc): cash at the Thai Airways office headquarters near my home at Vibhavadi Rangsit.

Dates: April 16 - 19
Class of Service: coach
Route: BKK - VTE
Aircraft Type: Boeing 737-400
Seat Configuration (i.e. 3/4/3) 3-3
Stopover City (If any): non-stop
Check-in Location (good or bad?): excellent
Immigration (good or bad?): quick
Excess Bag Fees (if any): none
Lounges Used: not this time but I did drink a lot of beer before the return flight at the airport in Vientiane.
Limo Service Provided: No
In-flight Entertainment: Heineken
In-flight Cabin Service (good or bad?): Excellent as always
Seat Comfort: Excellent. I always have an empty seat next to me.
Food Quality: a noticeable improvement.
On Time Performance: excellent
Comments: I always fly Thai Airways and their flights have always been cheaper for me than the so-called discount carrier called Air Asia. Most of my flights are last minute so the discount carriers are of no use to me. Thai Airways has always been good to me as I'm a Royal Orchid member and these miles on the short flights add up to get a nice upgrade to Business Class when I make those long-haul flights back to Los Angeles.

Edited April 23, 2013 by 3SoiDogNight

[UbonOz]

Airline: Sri Lankan Airways

Ticket Price: THB63,260/person/return

How Purchased (direct, agent, wholesaler, etc):Airline's Website

Dates: Forward 22 April-BKK/CMB, 23 April-CMB/LHR, returning 6 June

Class of Service:Business

Route:BKK/CMB, overnight at UL expense, CMB/LHR

Aircraft Type:Airbus A330-200

Seat Configuration (i.e. 3/4/3) 2/2/2 - 18 total in Business Class

Stopover City (If any):Colombo, Sri Lanka

Check-in Location (good or bad?):Good @ BKK, CMB has dedicated departure area, staff take care of all check-in formalities, excellent.

Immigration (good or bad?):Good

Excess Bag Fees (if any): N/A

Lounges Used: Air France Lounge in BKK, OK, nothing special. Lounge in CMB is being renovated, temporary lounge is not good.

Limo Service Provided: Provided but did not turn up at LHR, see my comments.

In-flight Entertainment: OK, have seen better

In-flight Cabin Service (good or bad?): Excellent

Seat Comfort: Old business class seats BKK/CMB. Lie Flat/Seats CMB/LHR, excellent

Food Quality: Excellent

On Time Performance: See my comments

Comments:

I will do a trip report on my return journey in June.

Flight BKK/CMB on time, service good. Old seats, OK for 3.5hour trip.

Flight arrived CMB 2100, transport provided to hotel, dinner and breakfast provided. Did not have dinner as we had eaten too much all day. Breakfast was very good buffet.

Departed CMB at 1300, eleven hour flight, on time for an expected arrival of 2000 at LHR.

Approximately 3 hours from LHR captain tells us we have a technical problem and will be landing in Frankfurt for safety reasons. One engine was shut down, only had one left, if that had failed we would have been up there all day.

Spent 2.5 hours in Frankfurt and issue fixed and off to London. Arrived LHR around 2300.

No limo to greet us, two other vehicles for other passengers did not arrive. Had to pay £80.00 to get home.

Phoned UL office in London first thing this morning, they could not apologise enough and said they would investigate why and let me know response, they would also reimburse the ground transport fare. Have not heard back from them, will wait a couple of days and see what happens before they get another phone call from me.

All in all, everything was really good on the entire trip. First time I have used UL, would certainly use again.

[Smalls]

Just an anecdote:

Flew Air Asia from Thailand to Bali recently.

Price: 5,100thb

In a rush, I didn't think about how much luggage I was going to be bringing. I had a bunch of stuff that I was taking to Bali on this trip. Anyway, I booked 20kg for luggage (because that's reasonable.)

I arrive at DM airport only to realize that I was taking 34kg of stuff. Air Asia informed me that this was going to cost me an additional 7,000thb! Before anyone says anything, I know it's posted on their site: 500+thb/kg over what you book. However, in circumstances where it was obviously a mistake I thought someone would be able to offer the upgrade which costs 1,500thb at the time of ticket booking.

Nope! The woman informed me that "...you manage booking ticket by self, you manage pay by self." She was pretty rude and absolutely unsympathetic.

So, this post is just a warning to travelers of Air Aisa: ALWAYS KNOW HOW MUCH YOUR LUGGAGE WEIGHS! When in doubt, book to the next weight - it could save you quite bit.

I ended up paying nearly one and a half times for my overweight luggage as I did for the entire flight. I hope this saves someone a few baht. Lessons learned.

[oldsailor35]

Just an anecdote:

Flew Air Asia from Thailand to Bali recently.

Price: 5,100thb

In a rush, I didn't think about how much luggage I was going to be bringing. I had a bunch of stuff that I was taking to Bali on this trip. Anyway, I booked 20kg for luggage (because that's reasonable.)

I arrive at DM airport only to realize that I was taking 34kg of stuff. Air Asia informed me that this was going to cost me an additional 7,000thb! Before anyone says anything, I know it's posted on their site: 500+thb/kg over what you book. However, in circumstances where it was obviously a mistake I thought someone would be able to offer the upgrade which costs 1,500thb at the time of ticket booking.

Nope! The woman informed me that "...you manage booking ticket by self, you manage pay by self." She was pretty rude and absolutely unsympathetic.

So, this post is just a warning to travelers of Air Aisa: ALWAYS KNOW HOW MUCH YOUR LUGGAGE WEIGHS! When in doubt, book to the next weight - it could save you quite bit.

I ended up paying nearly one and a half times for my overweight luggage as I did for the entire flight. I hope this saves someone a few baht. Lessons learned.

Why would you have to warn anyone to be aware how much their luggage weighs. I would have thought this would be 'common sense' surely , one of the first things would to aware of your approx baggage weight.

[3SoiDogNight]

Just an anecdote:

Flew Air Asia from Thailand to Bali recently.

Price: 5,100thb

In a rush, I didn't think about how much luggage I was going to be bringing. I had a bunch of stuff that I was taking to Bali on this trip. Anyway, I booked 20kg for luggage (because that's reasonable.)

I arrive at DM airport only to realize that I was taking 34kg of stuff. Air Asia informed me that this was going to cost me an additional 7,000thb! Before anyone says anything, I know it's posted on their site: 500+thb/kg over what you book. However, in circumstances where it was obviously a mistake I thought someone would be able to offer the upgrade which costs 1,500thb at the time of ticket booking.

Nope! The woman informed me that "...you manage booking ticket by self, you manage pay by self." She was pretty rude and absolutely unsympathetic.

So, this post is just a warning to travelers of Air Aisa: ALWAYS KNOW HOW MUCH YOUR LUGGAGE WEIGHS! When in doubt, book to the next weight - it could save you quite bit.

I ended up paying nearly one and a half times for my overweight luggage as I did for the entire flight. I hope this saves someone a few baht. Lessons learned.

For the price you paid to fly Air Asia to Bali, you could have bought a Business Class ticket on Thai Airways which allows 40kg for your luggage as well as earn lots of miles and of course be treated to Royal Silk service that includes use of their International Business Class lounge at Suvarnubhumi.

I'm allowed to bring up to 30kg on my Thai Airways flights in economy. You would have only had to pay for the extra 4kg which I'm not sure how much that would have been.

Air Asia is NOT a discount carrier! It's a scam and a s--tty airline! Never fly them!

Air Asia is only a discount if you buy your ticket many months in advance and you don't expect to use anything, eat anything or drink anything. They even charge for WATER!

Edited May 4, 2013 by 3SoiDogNight

[GrantSmith]

Air Asia is NOT a discount carrier! It's a scam and a s--tty airline! Never fly them!

Air Asia is only a discount if you buy your ticket many months in advance and you don't expect to use anything, eat anything or drink anything. They even charge for WATER!

So, it is or it isn't? Make up your mind...

Also, you don't have to fly Business Class to be treated to "Royal Silk" service

[3SoiDogNight]

Air Asia is NOT a discount carrier! It's a scam and a s--tty airline! Never fly them!

Air Asia is only a discount if you buy your ticket many months in advance and you don't expect to use anything, eat anything or drink anything. They even charge for WATER!

So, it is or it isn't? Make up your mind...

Also, you don't have to fly Business Class to be treated to "Royal Silk" service

My mind is made up. It's a s--t carrier and a scam. Avoid them at all cost!

[wooloomooloo]

Never flown Air Asia. I've checked the offers and website, listened to the hype, and not something I want to be part of.

You pays your money you takes your choice.

[yermanee]

Arrived yesterday from a short trip to the home country with Qatar Airways. Here the review :

Airline: QATAR
Ticket Price: 72.600 Baht
How Purchased (direct, agent, wholesaler, etc): Airline direct
Dates: 1^st May – return 6th May
Class of Service: Business
Route: BKK – DOH – BRU – DOH -BKK
Aircraft Type: BKK/DOH/BKK B777 – DOH/BRU/DOH A330
Seat Configuration: 2/2/2 both aircraft types.
Stopover City (If any): DOH
Check-in Location (good or bad?): Excellent
Immigration (good or bad?): Excellent – Fast track offered by airline.
Excess Bag Fees (if any): No
Lounges Used: Thai at BKK – Premium at DOH
Limo Service Provided: No
In-flight Entertainment: OK
In-flight Cabin Service (good or bad?): on 3 of the 4 flights outstanding - 4^th and last flight not so.(see comments below)
Seat Comfort: B777 flat bed excellent – A330 reclining flat bed a bit uncomfortable.
Food Quality: excellent – Wines a bit of a let down – Except for the Lanson Champagne wich was outstanding, the other wines were of lesser known wineries and the Meursault I tried was not upto standard.
On Time Performance: Yes
Comments: Excellent airline except for the Doha experience, the long bus rides and taxiing of the aircraft eats a lot out of the quality time in the excellent lounge. The 4^th and final flight was a bit of a nightmare because of one family with a 5 year old son who terrorised the whole business compartment for all of the 6 hours. The crew refused to do something about it and after my initial request I was treated a bit less friendly. Must have been an influential family but nevertheless.

So all in all a good airline and the opening of the new airport, which should be happening soon, will greatly improve matters

( I hope).

To bad about the last flight which leaves me a bit bitter.

Yermanee

Edited May 9, 2013 by yermanee

[tartempion]

Yermanee, thanks for the report.

I returned from a Etihad business class trip late April, excellent as usual (see my report on previous trip somewhere here)

I just booked my next Etihad trip (aug-sept) in economy this time, business way too expensive at 105k, upgraded two legs with miles and will try the bidding process for upgrades for the two remaining legs, bid prices seem to start at 300 euro/leg.

We had kids on two legs, but all was fine, no problems whatsoever.

I still prefer EY for the privacy suites and fully lie flat beds all the way and will not fly QR as long that new airport is not in operation.

I will continue to Montreal with AC in business class, B767/300ER herringbone, not sure a report on AC is useful here.

At 75k I might book QR once they opened that new airport....late 2013???

Next EVA to AMS and Oman to FRA are on my fly list. (around 90k)

Edited May 9, 2013 by tartempion

[RabC]

Airline: Finnair
Ticket Price: 116K Baht
How Purchased (direct, agent, wholesaler, etc): Company Travel Agent
Dates: 06Apr-16 May
Class of Service: Business
Route: BKK-HEL-LHR-HLE-BKK
Aircraft Type: A-330 and- A320
Seat Configuration (i.e. 3/4/3) Strange on A-330 to allow lie flat 2-2 on A320
Stopover City (If any): Change Aircraft in Helsinki
Check-in Location (good or bad?): Good
Immigration (good or bad?): Good (Fastrack)
Excess Bag Fees (if any):nil
Lounges Used: Louis Tavern in BKK (suprisingly good) Finnair in Hel and Cathay in LHR, all good
Limo Service Provided:nil
In-flight Entertainment: AVOD but limited, however had power supply so watch my own i-pad
In-flight Cabin Service (good or bad?): Good
Seat Comfort: BKK-HRL-BKK V Good lie flat, HEL-LHR-HEL usual European Business no comment really
Food Quality: Good not excellent
On Time Performance:Good
Comments: All in all I was impressed, this was a full fare changeable, refundable ticket so good value. I like the seats when travelling alone on the A-330. Would still prefer a direct flight but my outbound was last minute and at the end of UK Easter Holidays and company wouldn't wear the only direct ticket, which was BA at 280k baht. Helsinki airport is small enough that transferring is not a problem at all.

Edited May 18, 2013 by RabC

[OMGImInPattaya]

Just an anecdote:

Flew Air Asia from Thailand to Bali recently.

Price: 5,100thb

In a rush, I didn't think about how much luggage I was going to be bringing. I had a bunch of stuff that I was taking to Bali on this trip. Anyway, I booked 20kg for luggage (because that's reasonable.)

I arrive at DM airport only to realize that I was taking 34kg of stuff. Air Asia informed me that this was going to cost me an additional 7,000thb! Before anyone says anything, I know it's posted on their site: 500+thb/kg over what you book. However, in circumstances where it was obviously a mistake I thought someone would be able to offer the upgrade which costs 1,500thb at the time of ticket booking.

Nope! The woman informed me that "...you manage booking ticket by self, you manage pay by self." She was pretty rude and absolutely unsympathetic.

So, this post is just a warning to travelers of Air Aisa: ALWAYS KNOW HOW MUCH YOUR LUGGAGE WEIGHS! When in doubt, book to the next weight - it could save you quite bit.

I ended up paying nearly one and a half times for my overweight luggage as I did for the entire flight. I hope this saves someone a few baht. Lessons learned.

For the price you paid to fly Air Asia to Bali, you could have bought a Business Class ticket on Thai Airways which allows 40kg for your luggage as well as earn lots of miles and of course be treated to Royal Silk service that includes use of their International Business Class lounge at Suvarnubhumi.

I'm allowed to bring up to 30kg on my Thai Airways flights in economy. You would have only had to pay for the extra 4kg which I'm not sure how much that would have been.

Air Asia is NOT a discount carrier! It's a scam and a s--tty airline! Never fly them!

Air Asia is only a discount if you buy your ticket many months in advance and you don't expect to use anything, eat anything or drink anything. They even charge for WATER!

And that suits me just fine for trips around the region of 1-2 hours duration. I buy my ticket for usually half most other carriers cost, have my free one carry on bag and I'm set. Also like their online check in and boarding pass printing so I can completely bypass the check-in counter at DM and head straight to immigration.

Their planes are also almost all new...unlike some of the ones used for local runs by Thai and others.

Will be flying UA business first BKK-SFO-BKK later this month and will provide a report.

Edited May 18, 2013 by OMGImInPattaya

[tdm]

Ticket Price: £930.00
How Purchased (direct, agent, wholesaler, etc): ebookers
Dates: april 2013
Class of Service: premium economy
Route: lhr/bkk
Aircraft Type: eva b777-300er
Seat Configuration 2:4:2
Stopover City (If any):
Check-in Location (good or bad?):no queue both legs
Immigration (good or bad?): lhr good, swampy arrival, 3 in queue, departing, no one in queue (amazing)
Excess Bag Fees (if any):
Lounges Used:
Limo Service Provided:
In-flight Entertainment: good choice of recent and older western movies plus asian movies, no issues with kit
In-flight Cabin Service (good or bad?): excellent
Seat Comfort: excellent
Food Quality: it is what it is, ate it and enjoyed it
On Time Performance: arrived 1 hour early in bkk
Comments: Big treat for me to have premium economy, at 5'11 plenty of leg room and recline though those in the rear row of the section have much less recline. good to select the seats asap on eva website direct especially if you want two by the window and though the window seat on the right has an entertainment box in front you can still stretch both legs fully. shyer with the drinks than other airlines but when asked staff are happy to bring it fairly quickly, overall service excellent.

I'm always happy flying eva (usually economy) but if you're taller/larger then for this price the extra legroom/seat size is worth it, for the same dates the economy fare was £640.00.

Edited May 28, 2013 by tdm

[UbonOz]

Please refer to Post #56 which was the forward journey, BKK/CMB/LHR on 22 April.

Airline: Sri Lankan (UL)

Return Journey: LHR/CMB/BKK

Dates: Th 06 Jun - LHR/CMB(2130/1220+1)& Sa 08 Jun - CMB/BKK(0730/1300)

Class of Service: Business Class

Aircraft Type: Airbus A330/200

Seat Configuration (i.e. 3/4/3). 2/2/2 - Old Seats - LHR/CMB & New Seat/Bed - CMB/BKK

Stopover City (If any):CMB overnight as flights do not connect. Airline pays stopover hotel, meals and transfers in CMB.

Check-in Location (good or bad?): LHR very quick, fast track through immigration. CMB has dedicated business class check-in, also efficient and quick.

Immigration (good or bad?): CMB - very quick. BKK - Fast track voucher given for business class passengers, took two minutes.

Lounges Used: Gulf Air lounge used by UL at LHR. Nice quiet lounge with view of the gates. Food was OK but not extensive. CMB is still being renovated, food was good (See Post #56).

Limo Service Provided: Home to LHR, very efficient driver.

In-flight Entertainment: OK

In-flight Cabin Service (good or bad?): Excellent, too much food. Staff were very friendly.

Seat Comfort: LHR/CMB - Old Seats, quite comfortable, like an old comfy lounge chair. CMB/BKK - New Seat/Bed, very good.

Food Quality: Excellent, more than you need.

On Time Performance: Both sectors on time.

Comments:

I would certainly use UL for business class again. Not sure about using economy class, have not tried so unable to comment. I do not think UL would pay for the stopover in economy, would not use for that reason.

Their business class fare was certainly good value.

The only dissatisfaction I had was when we boarded at LHR, we had been allocated different seats to what I originally booked online. I did not notice this at check-in, my fault. I complained to cabin staff and they moved two single travellers to sit together and we then were able to sit together.

If you book seats online, check they are correct at check-in, easier to sort it out then rather than a confrontation on-board.

Overnight hotel in CMB, Goldi Sands, was rather average but food was good and staff friendly.

Overall, the UL business class experience was more than I expected, never used them before.

[Konini]

Ubon, can I ask what class ticket you got please? We are on discount business (Z class) and UL not paying the overnight in Colombo.

Thanks in advance.