Trip report: long trip to Asia, 4 airlines

[King F. Hui]

A long trip to Asia using 4 different airlines. Photos from the trip have been uploaded to this web site.

Here is a trip report.

Air China CA992 YVR-PEK B-6505 A332 J class 29OCT09

From the look of it, this is a fairly new aircraft. FA did not offer to hang my coat in the closet but folded it up and stuff it in the overhead bin. AVOD monitor is on the seat back, about 7", a little small in today's J class standard. Very few (3-4) English movies and are about 2 months behind those western airlines (e.g. AC). The headset is placed in a not so obvious place - a cavity under the armrest, out of sight. The seat is a 170 degree "slider" lay flat seat. Since the seat is not horizontal, the body tends to slide down the slope when it is in the flat position.

Meals were served in China and glass but no salt and paper with the meal tray. You have to ask for them. Fruit plate and ice cream was served as desert but no cake. I thought CA does not serve cake period. Later I found a stack of desert cake in the galley. The FAs were too lazy to serve them. Early on one can find foot prints on the toilet - some passengers just cannot use a sit down toilet. There was no blanket placed in the seat or offered to the passengers. You have to ask the FA before they give it it you. The blanket is a nice thick cotton one like those in AC's J class. 2 meals were served and a tray of snacks was place in the bulkhead. The FA gave everybody a bottle of water after the first meal, there is no water/juice service in between meals (5-6 hours). Before landing, the FA collected all the menus handed out at the beginning of the flight.

After crossing the International Date Line, I lost one day and arrived PEK the next day evening.

Air China CA1555 PEK-TAO B-5426 B738 F class 30OCT09

The connecting flight to Qingdao (TAO) at Beijing (PEK) was late. However, they never bother to change the display on the monitors in the terminal. It seems CA or the airport never do that, even when we left at 2040hr, the monitor was still showing the original scheduled departure time 1905hr. The so-called First Class actually was the old Business Class. CA just changed the name, not the service. No entertainment system in this First Class cabin of this B737-800, however there were 2 FAs and the Crew Chief to serve 8 passengers. A hot meal on China and glass was served on this short one hour flight. Domestic J class, nothing to write home about.

Korean Air KE846 TAO-ICN HL7561 B738 J class 01NOV09

TAO has a new terminal built for 2008 Beijing Olympics as the water events were held here. The terminal is parallel to the runway so it is great for me plane spotting and taking photos.

All 8 seats in J were occupied. There is no entertainment system in this aircraft. Water/juice was offered upon boarding. Finally a warm towel! A hot 2 course meal was served on china and glass in this short flight of 55 minutes flying time. Very impressive. FAs were running all the time. A small tooth paste like tube of chili source was placed in the meal tray even I have the western meal.

Landing was parallel to the Incheon Bridge linking the Incheon Island (where the airport is located) to the mainland. A nice view.

Photo of interior here:
http://www.airlinefan.com/airline-ph...37-800/HL7561/

Korean Air KE627 ICN-CGK HL7598 B772 J class 01NOV09

My first time at ICN. Connection time was tight so I head straight to the gate after getting off KE846. Signs are clear and huge. They are placed at where you expect them.

The J cabin was full. The monitor flips out from the space between 2 seats. A fair number of English movies in the AVOD selection in addition to Korean programmes. Water, juice, hot towel and newspaper were offered upon boarding. A blanket and headset were placed in the seat. The seat is not lay flat but quite comfy.

Lunch was, interestingly, with 2 starters and soup before the main course. FA gave each pax a bottle of water and there was no water/juice offered in between meals. Another light snack was served in china about 2 hours before landing for this 7 hours trip.
Departure and arrival were on time.

Garuda Indonesia GA306 CGK-SUB PK-GER B738 04NOV09

GA domestic is the only airlines operates domestic flights out of the CGK international terminal. 2 security checks at CGK, one upon entering the check in area (only passengers allowed in) and one before the gate. The plane is fairly new and single class seating. There is no entertainment system. The flight was full and departure was on time. A boxed snack was served along with drinks. The snack box contained an Indonesian bun and a piece of cake. CGK-SUB is the most traveled city pair in Indonesia. There are many hourly flights operated by many LCC airlines. GA is the only legacy airlines on this route and the fare is higher, but the plane is still full. The FAs came back for the second round of drink service, Pretty good service considering this is only an 1 hour flight.

Garuda Indonesia GA321 SUB-CGK PK-GEP B738 05NOV09

When I got to the gate, the apron was fairly empty. Within 20 minutes, all the planes were arriving at the same time. My flight was delayed for 40 minutes due to late arrival of the plane from CGK. The plane ride experience was similar to the last flight from CGK.

Garuda Indonesia GA860 CGK-HKG PK-GPH A332 J class 06NOV09

A 5 month new aircraft that you can still smell the new interior. There were only 6 passengers and we have 3 FAs to serve us. Water/juice and hot towel upon boarding as J pax board in a separate bridge to the front. The hot towel was refreshing as we came in from 32 degree C heat and high humidity. Indonesian, Chinese and English newspapers were offered. A pair of slippers and an amenity kit were offered to each pax. In contrast KE did not offer an amenity kit in my last 7 hours ICN-CGK flight. A plate of mini sandwiches (smoke salmon, chicken, turkey) were served before the main meal. The meal was served in china and glass with an appetizer of sliced chicken and potato salad. 3 choices of main course of Chinese, Indonesian and western. Haggan Daz ice cream for desert but they won't give me a spoon. So I have to use the little plastic spatula in the ice cream cup. FA came back for more bread and drink refill. After the meal the FAs disappeared behind the curtain. This aircraft is equipped with a crew rest cabin with 2 bunk beds behind the cockpit across the front washroom. One FA walked through the cabin once a while. The seats were horizontal lay front and I managed to have a cat nap in the lay flat bed. The blanket was a regular Y class type. The flight was uneventful and we arrived HKG on time.

Korean Air KE604 HKG-ICN HL7784 B772 11NOV09

A rare sunny clear day in HKG this time of the year (Nov) so I went to the airport early (1000hr) to shoot some photos from the outdoor Skydeck at T2. However, the Skydeck now opens at 1100hr but then I then found the walkway from T2 to Car Park 3 is a perfect place as it sits between 2 runways. There were 4 plane spotter from UK already there spotting. KE flights use gate 18 and just a short walk from the security area. The J class seats in this aircraft are a lot better than the last KE B772 (KE627 above). These seats are for intercontinental long haul flights - horizontal lay flat, wider seat pitch, bigger AVOD monitor and more seat configuration controls. FA offered to hang up my winter overcoat in the closet. Water, juice and hot towel before take off. May be this was a day time flight, there was no blanket in the seat. Soup was served in addition to the appetizer. However, the soup was only lukewarm. Chinese, Korean and western food were offered as main course. The rest of the flight was uneventful.

Asiana OZ ICN-PEK A330 J class 14NOV09
After 16 days on the road, finally homeward bound.

Air China CA991 PEK-YVR B-6076 A332 J class 14NOV09
(to be continued)

[King F. Hui]

Asiana OZ ICN-PEK A330 14NOV09
After 16 days on the road, finally homeward bound. I planned to spend 2-3 hours before flight to explore ICN, therefore no time to check out the Asiana lounge.

This was a short 1 hour 10 minutes flight so many services were [condensed]. The FA offered to hang up my winter coat in the closet, then water/juice/hot towel as soon as I sat down. First the seat, it was a 180 degree lay flat. Only have time to try out the various seat settings after the seat belt sign was off and before the meal service. That was only 2-3 minutes. The seat was fairly comfortable and not lumpy.

Large seat back monitor but AVOD was kind of short in programmes, only one Korean movie (excuse: short flight, but I complained to Service Director), some audio channels inactivated (short flight, again complaint to SD). The map is old AirMap. A little disappointed that it was not the new high resolution map. The headphone was a so so quality one. But I bring my own Bose QC headphone anyway.

There were only 4 passengers in J cabin, as soon as the seat belt sign was turned off, FAs come around to serve drinks and take meal orders. The meal was served in china and glass but in economy class style, everything in one meal tray. May be this was a short flight. This was a step down from KE meal service I got in my last short TAO-ICN flight (reported above). Food was good, smoke salmon as starter and beef tenderloin as main course. Yes, a tube of chili source but no salt and pepper in the tray.

The FA were very attentive (3 FAs to 4 pax) and came back frequently for bread and drinks. Typical Asian FAs, they give you very good service but won't engage in a casual conversation. I am a non-drinker, so no comment on the selection of wine and other alcoholic beverages. No Haggan Daz ice cream :-(

After 2 visits to ICN, I am rating this my #1 airport, even above HKG mainly for the good signage everywhere.

The flight departed and arrived on time. To my surprise, PEK sky was clear after the snowfall the day before.

OZ FA did not give me any Chinese form to fill in as I was transferring to an international flight. I got held up at PEK health inspection to fill in the health report form.

Air China CA991 PEK-YVR B-6076 A332 14NOV09

Transferring at PEK was slow (waited for 30 minutes in queue) as there was only one immigration officer on duty to process all transfer pax. Passport, airline boarding pass check and of course, the rubber stamp.

CA has a very large J class lounge here as PEK is their HQ. Unfortunately no hot food until 5:00pm. Only instant cup noodle and package snacks. The sandwich is about the size of my finger. Only cheese or fried egg sandwich. There are a few mobile phone charging stations in the lounge (and also around the terminal). CA offers F/J pax free electric cart ride to the gates within the international terminal area. There were 2 carts waiting outside, down the escalators from the CA lounge. I choose to walk, check out the terminal and take some photos.

The new PEK T3 is a good place to spot planes as it sits in between 2 main runways. By the time I got to the gate, most passengers have been boarded.

J cabin was full and the lay out/seats are the same as my last CA flight YVR-PEK. However, the FA in this flight offered to hang up my winter coat in the closet instead of rolling it up and throw it in the overhead cabinet.

Push back was 40 minutes behind schedule but no announcement. After taxing out, the plane sat for another 30 minutes in the taxiway and again no announcement.

The in flight experience was similar to the last CA flight CA992 from YVR. I am not going to repeat here. Yes, foot prints on the toilet again.

The flight was 2 hours late arriving YVR.

Next trip: Christmas in HKG using AC