Conference Trip to KUL May 2015 - SQ J Class + Mandarin Oriental Hotel

[VA777]

Travelling on a self funded business trip to KUL to attend the Australian Institute of Company Directors Annual Conference. Travelled on Sunday as I was originally expecting to run one of my own courses in KUL through one of my partners, but unfortunately it was cancelled. I decided to travel as planned and spend a couple of extra days here - much I can catch up on remotely and also to catch up with some people as well.


Booked flights back in January J Class on SQ using AMEX Travel. Bookings went smoothly.


Decided not to checkin online and arrived at Sydney Airport around 9.15 for 11.15 am departure on the A380 service SQ232.


Checkin went very smoothy, cleared immigration (via the APEC Business Travel queue) very quickly, then had to go right down the other end for the express security lane.


Sydney Airport security was an absolute zoo, and even the Express Lane took quite a while (I seemed to have quite a few novice travellers possibly from China ahead of me who were having their bags checked and rechecked and then taken out for manual processing!).


Had a quick visit to the AMEX lounge - wrong part of the terminal, but wanted to check it out.


Wasn’t quite where I expected it (opposite of where I thought). Small lounge, but I thought well presented, had several breakfast items that were gluten free which was great, ordered my coffee and it was delivered to me. Quite impressed.


After catching up on some emails, headed to the SQ lounge, then headed off before being called to board the aircraft.

...to be continued

 

[VA777]

The flight was already boarding when I got to the gate lounge, quickly boarded thought the J priority queue and onto the aircraft. I have had this seat before in the smaller J cabin which I quite like.




There is nothing on the boarding pass around special meals, so I needed to check that in the lounge (for some reason Syd Int’l has a bad hit rate for me in not having meals on board), and there is nothing about my status level either (VA Platinum)






This is the “older” style of seats, but I still find them ok.


Overall I found the service on board “ok” and nothing special, which was a bit of a disappointment given travelling SQ.


Offered a boarding drink and confirmed they had my gluten free meal on board was the only time my name was mentioned. For the rest of the flight, names were not used at all.

... to be continued

 

[VA777]

When lunch came, table was set and my entree was quite pleasant, chicken with beans. Chicken was nice, but too many beans for my liking.




Main course was very pleasant - beef and veggies - with the beef tender and nicely prepared - just pink inside.





The dessert was a major disappointment. On prior business trips, where my clients only pay Y class, for deserts I regularly receive fruit. Knowing that airlines are managing costs down, I have lived with that, although disappointing. However, when you are paying full J fares (i.e. not Y with a point upgrade), I don’t think getting fruit is acceptable when there are many pleasant gluten free desserts available.





Plenty of champagne was flowing during lunch which was great.


Watched a few movies (using my new acquired Bose noise cancelling headset which were great), turned the bed down and had a nap for a while.


Found there was a lack of service and needed to go and get FA to provide a drink and snack which is different compared to my experience in J a few years ago.


Snack meal (forgot to photograph) was very unmemorable, sticks of fish and capsicum, no bread or rice, wasn’t offered a drink and had to ask for one, no tea or coffee service.


All in all, not up to the standard I had anticipate in SQ J Class (but way better than Y).


We left Sydney 5 minutes prior to departure time (which was excellent given it was an absolutely full A380), getting close to SIN the pilot announce that we had made good progress and may arrive 20 mins early. Unfortunately as we got close to SIN, we were sent on two different loop the loops and arrived about 4 mins late (which is a SIN air traffic control issue).


Would be interested in others recent experience of SQ J Class to see if my experience of this flight is the new norm or an aberration.

.... to be continued

 

[VA777]

Transferred to T2 quickly and made a dash for the lounge (fortunately my flight was leaving from E11 so the lounge was on the way and not a there and back (usually the case when connecting on an MI flight).


I find the Business Class lounge in T2 nothing to write home about - it is good and functional, but very full at this time of night, so hard to find somewhere to sit. (No photos - due to the number of people I didn't feel comfortable taking any photos in here)


Grabbed some food, then headed to the lounge.


There was a long queue outside of the lounge to get through security which seemed to be very slow. They were being very diligent, and for the first time out of RDU in the USA did I have any issues with security with my CPAP machine. Wasn’t impressed they were putting the parts out on display for further security scanning, but I suppose there wasn’t much option.


Flight was an A330 with regional J class - comfortable for the short journey (No photo as my neighbour was already there and seemed a little grumpy that he had a neighbour).


Row 11 is the first row - plenty of leg room.


Flight was looking to depart on time, then an unusual announcement from the Captain. We would be delayed about 10 mins as four pax would need their bags unloaded as they would not be travelling as they had lost their passports. First time I have heard that one, how four passengers would loose their passports within Changi I don’t know (maybe one family).


Compared to the A380 crew, this crew were very attentive. I was always called by name even when they didn’t have the pax list in front of them and it looked like a relatively full J cabin.


Prior to departure I was asked if I wanted my gluten free meal, which I was, and when I received it I was glad a “topped up” in the lounge on the way through. It is a short flight so I suppose I shouldn’t expect much more.



Basically Salmon and Lettuce between Rice Cakes.


Finally got under way about 20 minutes late and they seem to stand just off the gate for an unusually long time before very slowly taxiing to the departure run way.


Flight was smooth and arrived in KUL about 37 mins late - seemed to have an excessively long pathway to past the airport and make final approach.


Cleared immigration quickly, and the timer at the baggage carousel indicated 15 min for bags when I arrived, and I think they were pretty accurate - about 16 mins the first bags arrived

... to be continued

 

[VA777]

Prebooked the VIP KLIA Ekpress Train from airport to my hotel, all went very well and arrived at my hotel without any dramas.


First time staying at the Mandarin Oriental KL, was impressed with the reception, checkin process and my room.





This morning had breakfast at the Mosaic Restaurant in the hotel. Usual fair of stations to select food from, and I asked about Gluten free and they advised me to ask the chef at each station. Key staff kept referring to me by name, didn’t need to go back to the juice station for a refill, they did that for me, and when I was at the pastry station seeing what might have been available, the senior wait staff who had been looking after me, came down to advise that I couldn’t get anything from there but they had some GF bread and how many pieces I would like for toast.


Very impressive way to start this stay at the hotel.

 

[VA777]

More to come later in the week...

How well will this hotel work as a conference venue, and then the return trip.

 

[coolkid101]

Great read..loving the pictures.

 

[VA777]

Thanks coolkid101

 

[zzap]

Great stuff! Looking forward to hearing about the rest of the trip.

 

[VA777]

Mid stay update.

Having been a resident at the Mandarin Oriental for a few days I thought I would provide an update.

Room is working very well, and internet in the room until today has been fantastic (I Chaired an Audit and Risk Committee yesterday for 3.5 hours via Skype with very little issues).

Breakfast at Mosaics is included in my room and has been fantastic in relation to my gluten free (and other "speciality" dietary requirements). I have had dinner there the last two nights as well (just convenient) although I have ventured our for lunch.

For both dinner and lunch the wait staff and chefs have been fantastic to work with, provided good quality and tasty meals. By day two staff were calling me by name, which is amazing given the number of people coming through the hotel.

The room service people have been fantastic, before I departed I requested additional bottles of water each day, which have been placed without follow up and at no additional cost (as far as I know!). The tea/coffee cups are rather small and when I asked if a larger cup was available it was delivered within 10 minutes. Also asked for extra tea bags and sugar - again refreshed to the agreed numbers each day without any additional follow up.

Thinking this hotel is fantastic - as a resident yes - but the conference stated today and the wheels fell off quite a bit.

The conference, the Australian Institute of Company Directors Annual Conference, according to the Australian High Commissioners opening remarks is the largest meeting of Australian business leaders in KL, I think there are between 3 - 400 of us, plus the AICD support team. In talking to the head of MOHC Elite program, he mentioned that they had invested heavily in internet and wireless connectivity throughout the hotel and conference rooms. Well it collapsed as all of us tried to connect this morning (our conference material is via an App on our phones and tablets, and is set up for online polling, online Q&A, surveys, note taking etc). By morning tea, we were asked to limit ourselves to one device on the wifi network , but that still didn't help for most of us and it overwhelmed the resident wifi network as well! Eventually we had some connectivity by lunchtime, but it was a little flaky.

The other major downer was how they managed lunch, which was sit down in one of the ballrooms. Those of use with food restrictions have a card to place on our table for the wait staff to see. What actually happened is they set up a row of tables for Gluten Free and Vegetarian meals separate from the main tables, and gluten free mean vegetarian! This didn't go down well with most of us. Also the options for morning tea weren't great, and afternoon tea a slight improvement. With the price we pay for this conference, this has not gone down very well.

So I am still very my up on the Mandarin Oriental as a resident, and fortunately to conferences was very interesting and engaging to distract us from the woeful wifi and inappropriate approach to managing special meals.

..... to be continued in a day or so.

 

[VA777]

SQ Desserts for Special meals - supplementary comment

I ran into another director I know who also flew up on SQ. She is a vegetarian, and without me asking complained that dessert for vegetarians is a fruit platter, as per mine as gluten free and was not very impressed. She has even more options that I do in the dessert world!