BKK birthday break

[LadyC]

As a birthday gift, the gentleman offered to take me on a short break OS. Deciding to use the EK Skywards points he had accrued, BKK was decided as the destination for a quick 3 night getaway. So very shortly, we will be heading off from MEL to get up to SYD for our 19.45 departure. With the new QF-EK tie up announced, I thought there might be some interest in their J product offering. I've heard the lounge in Sydney is quite good so I am looking forward to it!


Tally ho!

 

[LadyC]

QF 446 - MEL - SYD JASA

A fairly non eventful flight up. Take off was delayed by about 10 minutes but we managed to make up time and arrived in Sydney on time. We used the Qantas transfer bus and after a 10 minute wait, we were on the bus and made it across to the International Terminal in short time.

 

[LadyC]

Emirates Check-in and Lounge

A very easy check in process. We were traveling business class, so arrived at check in with HLO. Only one person in front of us, we only waited a few minutes to check in, processed quickly and were off to the Lounge!

The Lounge is at the far end of the International Terminal but also very close to the gate where the Emirates flights depart from, which is very handy, as you only want to do all that walking once!

we arrived in the Lounge with about 45 minutes to spend enjoying the food, drink and surroundings. It is a large lounge with a separate dining area and a small business centre. Although I didn't utilize the facilities, there were showers available. I think there were around 20 people in the lounge at the time we were there, so it felt very spacious.

Adjacent to the dining area is the main food and beverage section. The food selection appeared quite impressive, With offerings including steaks, seafood, soups and desserts. Various alcoholic beverages were also available, including Moët as the champagne but I didn't partake as I was saving myself for the flight. The dining area is at one end of the lounge. At the other end there is a second smaller bar area to get drinks from.

So I snacked on a crayfish salad, which was reasonable, as well as some middle eastern fare of baba gannoush and tabbouleh. I can't recall what the gentleman had as savoury but he did have some little desserts. A chocolate tart, a lemon curd tart and blueberry cheesecake, all minis of course! I only took from the buffet, so I am not sure if they cook to order. The food was pretty reasonable for a lounge, a lot of variety and the staff are always quick to clear your plates. The lounge was very clean and nice but looked a little dated in color scheme.

I will post up some photos a bit later, when I figure out how to do it from an iPad!

 

[jetlagger]

Emirates Check-in and Lounge

A very easy check in process. We were traveling business class, so arrived at check in with HLO. Only one person in front of us, we only waited a few minutes to check in, processed quickly and were off to the Lounge!

The Lounge is at the far end of the International Terminal but also very close to the gate where the Emirates flights depart from, which is very handy, as you only want to do all that walking once!

we arrived in the Lounge with about 45 minutes to spend enjoying the food, drink and surroundings. It is a large lounge with a separate dining area and a small business centre. Although I didn't utilize the facilities, there were showers available. I think there were around 20 people in the lounge at the time we were there, so it felt very spacious.

Adjacent to the dining area is the main food and beverage section. The food selection appeared quite impressive, With offerings including steaks, seafood, soups and desserts. Various alcoholic beverages were also available, including Moët as the champagne but I didn't partake as I was saving myself for the flight. The dining area is at one end of the lounge. At the other end there is a second smaller bar area to get drinks from.

So I snacked on a crayfish salad, which was reasonable, as well as some middle eastern fare of baba gannoush and tabbouleh. I can't recall what the gentleman had as savoury but he did have some little desserts. A chocolate tart, a lemon curd tart and blueberry cheesecake, all minis of course! I only took from the buffet, so I am not sure if they cook to order. The food was pretty reasonable for a lounge, a lot of variety and the staff are always quick to clear your plates. The lounge was very clean and nice but looked a little dated in color scheme.

I will post up some photos a bit later, when I figure out how to do it from an iPad!

Thanks for your report so far.. Sounds nice! Look forward to ongoing..

 

[LadyC]

EK 419 SYD-BKK

I've never flown Emirates business class so was looking forward to the experience! The lounge was indicative of the flight as the cabin was only 1/4 full in my part. The gentleman and I were in seats 10J and 10K. The seats are nice and spacious and the gentleman, who is 6 foot 4, was more than satisfied with the seat and leg space.

After putting away our hand luggage, we were offered a pre take off hot towel and subsequently a drink. I took a champagne (Moët) and the gentleman just had some water. After not much further ado, off we went and the ride to BKK had begun.

Emirates have what they call 'lie flat' beds on this route. Whilst they are flat, they aren't horizontal, so more on that later. Once the seat belt sign was off, the cabin crew came around and offered us a mattress for our seat. This is a seat length mattress, a few cm thick, to help cushion the seat. Nice touch although I am not sure how much comfort it actually added. The toiletry bags were also handed out - Bulgari products with the usual inclusions such as toothbrush, toothpaste, moisturizer.

Dinner is served on this route, followed by snacks closer to landing if you are awake and interested. So firstly the warm nuts were offered as well as a drink (just sparkling mineral water for me). Dinner consisted of entree, main, salad, soup (apparently) and dessert. All meals are halal, so no pork on offer here. There were two entrees, a bresaola and buffalo mozzarella salad and a seared tuna loin. Both the gentleman and I had the bresaola which was very tasty. There was supposedly a soup offering but that didn't appear at any point. On offer for mains were a beef tenderloin, chicken stir fry or steamed blue eye cod. I had the chicken which I was very satisfied with and the gentleman had the fish which he seemed equally happy with. I had a NZ Sauvignon blanc with my meal which wasn't very nice so I didn't finish it. I think that is a reflection more on my palate than the wine itself. There were some desserts on offer but having stuffed myself at the Qantas lounge and the Emirates lounge, I called it quits at that point. The gentleman finished with the fruit platter. Hot towels were handed out again after dinner service was cleared.

Emirates have a fairly fancy in flight entertainment system called ICE. I must admit though, with the advent of tablets, I much prefer to pull out the iPad and watch a show of my choosing (Anthony Bourdain this time).

After a 5.30am start, I was ready for a snooze at this point. So seat in full recline, pillows and blanket at the ready, and off to sleep I went. Admittedly, it was a fairly broken sleep. I have back issues and found that lying flat on my back was very uncomfortable, so needed to sleep on my side. I flipped from left to right a number of times but otherwise managed to sleep for 5-6 hours. I am not particularly tall and found that I needed to sleep 'up' the seat, otherwise I felt I was sliding down it. The gentleman slept through relatively well also. He couldn't straighten his legs but is fairly used to that problem with plane seats so was otherwise happy.

After a fair to middling sleep, the lights were on and we were about 50 mins from BKK. Another hot towel, immigration forms completed, bags sorted and before we knew it, an easy landing and roll into the gate. We arrived around 00.55 and had a very quick passage through the airport and customs (thanks to the premium/express pass). I think we made it through in about 15/20 minutes and the majority of that time was just walking the length of the airport.

 

[Sprucegoose]

I appreciate your comments re walking the BKK terminal. They will be holding the BKK marathon there soon....

 

[LadyC]

Some photos from the Emirates Lounge

 

[drron]

I can't recall what the gentleman had as savoury but he did have some little desserts. A chocolate tart, a lemon curd tart and blueberry cheesecake, all minis of course!
!

So the gentleman enjoys a good tart!
Sorry I just couldn't help myself.:shock:

 

[LadyC]

So the gentleman enjoys a good tart!
Sorry I just couldn't help myself.:shock:

What are you implying good sir?!? Let's just say he has a sweet tooth

 

[LadyC]

Some photos from the flight to BKK

 

[JohnK]

Nice trip report LadyC!

 

[LadyC]

So my whirlwind tour has come to an end. BKK has been covered a few times of late, so I won't say much more than we did a few typical BKK touristy things - had a suit made, ate some delicious Thai food and haggled with a few taxi drivers on price.

 

[LadyC]

Emirates Lounge BKK

Again, a smooth check in and a priority pass made immigration a quick process. The Lounges are a bit tricky to find - BKK airport is very big and doesn't have the clearest signage. We made our way there eventually and as it happens it was close to our gate which was handy.

The lounge is certainly smaller than the SYD Lounge. It has all the same offerings but on a smaller basis. It also looked a little more tired, in my opinion, but was still welcome respite with it's air conditioning and tasty food.

I enjoyed a few of the dishes there including the vegetable rice paper rolls and a prawn ceviche salad.

 

[LadyC]

EK 418 BKK - SYD

Heading towards our gate for boarding, we notice Australian Customs has set up pre-flight screening at the gate. So all the passengers have to open their hand luggage again before getting on the plane. I haven't seen this happen before so I thought I would mention it.

This is an overnight flight, usually leaving around 19.45 and arriving in SYD at 08.30. I say usually, as we ended up being delayed about an hour leaving BKK. Strangely, we were advised by the captain that the asphalt where the plane was parked was a bit soft and if they used the thrusters to try and move the plane, there was concerns something not good would happen. So we had to be towed out a bit, then lost our spot in the queue, etc etc. So after an hour delay, we finally took off and we on our way to SYD. This flight was much more full on return. Business class was still not full but I think they were at about 85% capacity.

They serve both dinner and breakfast on this flight.

Dinner was a three course affair. I decided to have the prawns and prawns! Entree was a salad of hot smoked salmon and prawns and main was asian prawn skewers with rice and vegies. The main was reasonable but nothing to write home about. The gentleman had the lamb main and seemed satisfied with that. No dessert for either of us, straight to sleep or at least attempting to get some shut-eye.

Breakfast is continental style - juices, fruit, pastries, yoghurt. They wake you up around 1.45hr before arrival. So if you are lucky, you can get around 5 hours sleep. Same review as previously on the beds. I tossed and turned quite regularly but that is probably to be expected.

We arrived in SYD approximately 50 minutes behind schedule. Express pass in hand, immigration and customs was a breeze and we were out in less than 15 minutes.

My verdict - I would be very happy to fly Emirates business class again. I think it is a good product and well priced against Qantas. The code sharing will hopefully open up some opportunities. Luckily for me, I snagged a crazy ex-RGN fare with SQ and will be able to sample their J product next month and do some comparisons.

 

[lmere12]

Thanks for TR report, was good to read

 

[Solid]

Thanks for the well written trip report LadyC​!

 

[jetlagger]

Thanks LadyC..
I really enjoyed the lovely read.
I have also had my share of haggling with the taxis & tuk tuks in BKK- Once was left on the middle on highway below an overpass, after not spending up so big at one of the souvenir stores, after not wanting to venture inside, the tuk tuk driver says never mind, no spend ok, I just get my petrol coupon!
OMG.. I'm experienced with those rascals now.
It was hilarious to digest the issue of getting 'bogged" on the asphalt - thought it was concrete? Perhaps, an alternate resolution, would be to try to move everyone from J class to the rear of the plane-
The menu looked quite nice, as well as the lovely photos posted..
I also look forward to reading about your ex Rangoon SQ J adventure...
Happy Travels
Cheers,
jl

 

[LadyC]

Thanks LadyC..
I really enjoyed the lovely read.
I have also had my share of haggling with the taxis & tuk tuks in BKK- Once was left on the middle on highway below an overpass, after not spending up so big at one of the souvenir stores, after not wanting to venture inside, the tuk tuk driver says never mind, no spend ok, I just get my petrol coupon!
OMG.. I'm experienced with those rascals now.
It was hilarious to digest the issue of getting 'bogged" on the asphalt - thought it was concrete? Perhaps, an alternate resolution, would be to try to move everyone from J class to the rear of the plane-
The menu looked quite nice, as well as the lovely photos posted..
I also look forward to reading about your ex Rangoon SQ J adventure...
Happy Travels
Cheers,
jl

Not sure what the story with departure was. The captain was American, so it could have been him using American terminology. I did have a little smirk and wonder whether some materials were short changed in the foundations process. I'm not sure moving us into cattle class would have helped - well that's my story anyway

 

[amaroo]

Wonderful TR - cheers.

We love BKK & always look forward to our next visit.......not a bad birthday present

 

[Deewhy]

Great report Ladyc. Nice read. Look forward to the SQ J out of RGN!