My Best Redemption Yet! (SYD-BKK-HKG-TPE-GUM-NRT-ICN-HKG-BKK-SYD) TG/ BR/UA/OZ F & J

[smit0847]

Re: My Best Redemption Yet! (SYD-BKK-HKG-TPE-GUM-NRT-ICN-HKG-BKK-SYD) TG/ BR/UA/OZ F

Flight #7
ICN-HKG TG629 B777-200
Seat 14A Business Class (2 Class plane)

ICN is a much, much bigger airport than TPE. We had quite some difficulty finding both our gate and the OZ Lounge. I was pretty disappointed by the OZ Lounge considering it is their hub and they are supposed to be one of the best airlines in the world. While I liked the dark moody fit-out with all the bookshelves, the food options were almost minimal – just a few rather stale pastry options. Disappointing compared with the generous spread in both TPE and NRT (and I think NH and BR are probably smaller airlines than OZ?).


We headed to the gate quite early as there was little in the lounge to keep us entertained. We boarded a 777-200 which is my favourite J aircraft for TG day flights. Nice and spacious and roomy. This flight was very lightly loaded (maybe 4 other pax in a cabin of about 30 seats). This is a fifth freedom flight which continues onto BKK. I was pretty surprised to see they operated this route given they fly direct ICN-BKK as well. I had really, really hoped to get OZ J on this flight to avoid 'yet another' TG J flight but there was no availability. This was a very standard TG J flight so didn’t take pics sorry. The only thing I really remember about this flight was the pax sitting behind us. They appeared to be an Indian Mother and daughter and were connecting onto BKK and then I think to DEL. It was very obvious it was their first time in J (perhaps one of their first times on a plane) and the daughter especially, who would have been about 20 years old was incredibly and infectiously excited. She had all sorts of questions about how the transit stop worked (i.e. did they have to get off and where did she go if they did). To their credit the crew were wonderful with her – very patiently answered all of her questions and got a bit caught up in her excitement too. There was a substantial lunch for this three hour flight after which I took a nap after a fairly large night in Seoul.

The other thing I remember from this flight was when we landed in HKG. The second the seatbelt sign went off we saw a flash beside our seats – a girl from Y had literally sprinted up to the front of the plane right to the door desperately trying to get off. Crew explained that she could not get off until the door was open (the aerobridge wasn’t even connected) and asked her what the urgency was. She explained that she had a connecting TG flight to BKK and only had 45 minutes to make the connection. Supressing a smile, the crew explained that she would be reboarding this same plane at the same gate, most people on this flight were in exactly the same position, it would not be leaving without her and she should go back to Y to wait with everyone else. She very sheepishly moped back to Y much to the amusement of the J pax and crew.

 

[smit0847]

My Best Redemption Yet! (SYD-BKK-HKG-TPE-GUM-NRT-ICN-HKG-BKK-SYD) TG/ BR/UA/O...

We knew we'd have one more night in HKG in order to get an F flight with a neat connection into SYD (with 3 hours of Flounge time of course!). Rather than staying in HKG again we decided to take the ferry over to Macau. I'm not really sure what I was expecting but I hated it. Crowded, confusing, it rained pretty much the entire time, rude people, expensive accommodation, zero Portugese culture. I had expected beautiful old buildings, but these had been converted into H&Ms and Forever 21s. If I hadn't known it was a Portugese colony I would never have guessed- it was about as Portugese as a Nandos store in Beijing. We stayed at the Sofitel Ponte 16 which was comfortable but expensive. We went to the massive casinos like the Venetian and while size wise they were impressive, they were soulless. Endless walkways and corridors, no sense of direction and a lot of bored people wandering aimlessly.

Definitely the sort of place you only need to go once.

 

[smit0847]

Re: My Best Redemption Yet! (SYD-BKK-HKG-TPE-GUM-NRT-ICN-HKG-BKK-SYD) TG/ BR/UA/OZ F

The next morning we were both keen to get out of Macau so caught the ferry back to HKIA.
Dirty Macau by daylight

When we arrived we collected out baggage and headed to the ferry-side airline check-in counters, chuckling to ourselves that they should have a separate F class counter for us (multiple airlines share a single counter at the ferry check-in). Armed with our F boarding passes we made the rather long slog to the lounge on the terminal transfer train. I didn’t love HKG as an airport simply because its all so spread out and takes quite some time of going up and down to get anywhere. I knew we had multiple lounge options and that the new SQ lounge had just opened but was miles from our gate. We didn’t have a huge amount of time and were getting a bit sick of lounges so just headed for the TG lounge. I believe this is the only TG operated lounge outside Thailand (correct me if I am wrong) so wasn’t expecting much but was really pleasantly surprised. The lounge is divided into two sections – J and *AG on the left and F on the right. We were personally escorted into the F side, where there was seating for about 30 people (odd considering TG only have 1 F flight at a time from HKG!) and provided with menus. We ordered some dim sum and juice from the menu which was promptly brought to us. I’m not a big fan of those open lounges where you hear all the noises of the airport and look over and open barrier to all the Y pax below but this was a good lounge. I wandered over to the J side just to have a look and found a pretty substantial buffet and loads and loads of chairs.

 

[smit0847]

Re: My Best Redemption Yet! (SYD-BKK-HKG-TPE-GUM-NRT-ICN-HKG-BKK-SYD) TG/ BR/UA/OZ F

Flight #8
TG601 HKG-BKK B747
Seat 2E First Class (moved to 1A)

We were individually advised when boarding was ready and could see the plane only a few gates away anyway. There were about 6 of us in the F side who walked to the plane together. I hadn’t bothered checking the rego that morning but correctly guessed this would be old F. We boarded our allocated 2E and 2F and when everyone had boarded I noticed that 1A and K remained empty. I asked the crew if we could move to those seats and they encouraged me to without hesitation.
After take-off being a bit restless (I was actually getting a little bored of flying by this stage!) I went and sat on the ottoman of 1K with my mate for a drink. This is by far the best feature of the TG old F – I love how you can sit together. The crew came to set the tables for dinner and the crew with a smile suggested we dine together as it looked like ‘we were having a party’. Why not we thought. The crew set the table carefully and beautifully and we commenced with a standard smoked salmon entrée (my god TG like serving salmon). We had pre-ordered our main courses months ago to the point I had completely forgotten what I had ordered. It turns out it was a Pad Thai. Pad is a bit Business Class so this was served with a large lobster tail. While the lobster was as dry and rubbery as a gum boot the pad thai was quite good and any meal is going to taste good when accompanied by bottles of 94 Dom!





After dining I returned to my seat to recline and have a short nap. This was a good flight- it was fun dining together and there were no classless F pax like on our BKK-HKG flight

 

[boomy]

My Best Redemption Yet! (SYD-BKK-HKG-TPE-GUM-NRT-ICN-HKG-BKK-SYD) TG/ BR/UA/O...

My recent flight HKG-BKK was also almost empty in F, I wonder how much longer TG will keep operating the 747 3 class on this short route.
Would be great if TG served the 94 Dom but you probably had the 04

 

[smit0847]

Re: My Best Redemption Yet! (SYD-BKK-HKG-TPE-GUM-NRT-ICN-HKG-BKK-SYD) TG/ BR/UA/OZ F

We landed on time and exited first to see a TG staff member holding a sign with our names on it. My goodness TG do ground service well in BKK! She took us to a buggy and whizzed us to security and then walked us to the familiar F Lounge. At 3pm the lounge was once again quiet so we once again asked for a private room, booked our massage, once again ordered the grilled beef and a glass of champagne, and relaxed.

I happened to ask the staff member if there was any chance we could sit in 1A and K. They took our boarding passes to investigate. I hadn’t really been looking forward to this flight, firstly because it was the last flight of our fabulous trip and also because the flight had been showing F0 with all seats assigned for months before the flight so I expected it to be completely full. I wasn’t hopefully of scoring better seats (I think we had only managed 2K and 3K). I was pleasantly surprised when the lounge member returned a few minutes later with boarding passes for 1A and K.

During my previous massages in the F spa I had noticed the enormous baths in the corner of the private rooms. When we were collected for our 4pm massages (for our 5:45 departure) I asked at the spa desk if I could use the bath/Jacuzzi after my massage. They assured me this was fine. I had my massage (the woman doing it had much better English than most of the F spa masseurs). When I finished my massage I asked about the bath to which the masseuse nodded and pointed to the shower. I clarified, saying I wanted to use the bath. She looked a bit worried and asked me when my flight departed. It was now 4:55. I told her 5:45. Although my boarding pass said boarding was at 5:00 (ie in 5 minutes) I knew they never board F pax that early. She hurried out to the front desk to check. She came back saying I could but I needed to be quick because my flight was boarding in about 20 minutes. I assured her I would be quick and she set the bath to run. She left me in private and I slid into the bath. Sitting in the peaceful calm surrounds of my own private relaxation room, completely naked in a luxurious bubble bath in the middle of one of the busiest airports in the world, I thought, life really doesn’t get much better than this! All I needed was a bottle of champagne and more time to truly be in heaven!

Conscious of the time, at 5:15 I dressed quickly and made my way back to the F lounge feeling extremely relaxed. 5:30 came and left and we became a bit worried. I wandered up to the desk but before I could even get there the staff raced up to me to assure me boarding hadn’t started yet and would be slightly delayed. To be honest, given how brilliant our 24 hours in BKK had been at the start of the trip, we would have been very happy if the flight was delayed overnight! At about 5:45 (the scheduled departure), they collected us for boarding and walked us the short distance to the gate.

 

[smit0847]

Re: My Best Redemption Yet! (SYD-BKK-HKG-TPE-GUM-NRT-ICN-HKG-BKK-SYD) TG/ BR/UA/OZ F

Flight #9
TG475 BKK-SYD B747
Seat 1A First Class

On flights to Australia they have an annoying liquids check at the gate to which we had to wait several minutes for the random pax in front of us to be checked. The TG staff member with us seemed extremely embarrassed that F pax would have to wait for anything but because the screening staff were AoT and not TG, there was nothing he could do. There were some extremely unhappy Indian pax very loudly arguing with the screening staff as they confiscated their duty free. They had clearly been told the wrong information that it would be ok to carry this onboard through BKK to Australia and kept arguing that it was not their fault and they shouldn’t be penalised.

After we eventually got through the screening there was a big scrum of people down below trying to get onto the plane. The gates at BKK are really badly designed in that they try and funnel large amounts of people around seats through very narrow spaces. As we walked down the ramp and only the lower boarding gate floor the gate staff saw the TG staff member and made a path for us to come through, called us through and we had our boarding passes scanned. The TG F lounge staff member then literally pushed his way through the crowds so we could get to the aerobridge. There was a very long line of Y pax stretching the entire aerobridge and into the gate area waiting to board. The TG staff member politely but loudly forced the line to part so he could take us directly down the aerobridge. We got a LOT of very angry and confused stares from the Y pax and I think I actually heard someone say ‘who the hell are those people?!’ – it was actually a little embarrassing. Fortunately they were using dual aerobridges and there was no-one in line for the F/J bridge so we could board quickly. TG should really have waited until all pax had boarded before bringing us down from the F lounge so we could have quickly and calmly had our bags screened and boarded directly. I’m guessing there was a miscommunication about when boarding had started given the slightly delay. There was nothing First class about pushing through throngs of people!

It was disappointing, but unsurprising to board a 747 with old F for our last flight. In hindsight with F0 months in advance and 10 seats allocated to pax it was always going to be old F because new F only has 9 seats. With late boarding and what looked like a completely full flight, everyone seemed a bit edgy and crew raced around madly trying to do everything. There was a very unhappy passenger standing at the back of the F cabin when we boarded and he remained standing there for a good 15 minutes. From what I could gather TG has issued two J pax with the same seat on their boarding pass and the rest of J was full. He was very unhappy as he said he had been travelling all day and said he was happy to sit in Y, he just wanted to get home. The situation was not helped by two bogan male pax who for some reason were seated in J and had clearly been hitting the Singha beers in the lounge before the flight who started heckling him to sit down (when he didn’t have a seat). I think they eventually found him a J seat upstairs (after saying the cabin was full). Perhaps they downgraded someone else?

Anyway, all was good in 1A and after a good sticky-beak I faced forwards for the rest of the flight and relaxed. The same routine continued again – dom, hot towels, table being set, caviar etc. I hadn’t pre-ordered for this flight so went for a signature menu item of red curry. I had tried the signature red curry on a previous TG J flight from BKK-MEL and it was absolutely dreadful – the curry sauce was like red water and had no taste at all. I’m pleased to report that this F class version was significantly better and had a good amount of spice and flavour.


After a fairly late night previously and a long day of travelling I was pretty tired after dinner and most pax started preparing for bed. The crew made up my bed with mattress and blanket while I changed into my pyjamas. My biggest issue with old F is the headrest in bed mode. It sticks up a lot from the seat so its like having a large hard pillow there already. When placing a pillow on top your head is significantly elevated to the point where it doesn’t even feel fully-flat. I noticed this once again as I lay down but was so tired that I fell asleep anyway. Old F is not as comfortable for sleeping as new F.

I slept well for about 6 hours and woke up to see some other pax already having breakfast. I never understood how they could be hungry 6 hours after a massive 6 course meal but people were tucking into eggs and bacon like they hadn’t eaten for days. The crew asked if I wanted anything and I just asked for some juice and fruit. I wasn’t hungry but thought I probably wouldn’t be eating anything for the next 2 or so hours so should eat something now.

We landed on time, our bags were first out and we headed to the VA dom transfer desk saying farewell to our life of luxury.

 

[Austff]

Re: My Best Redemption Yet! (SYD-BKK-HKG-TPE-GUM-NRT-ICN-HKG-BKK-SYD) TG/ BR/UA/OZ F

Thanks for the great TR , it has made my wife & I look forward to our trip even more .

 

[SuzieQ68]

Re: My Best Redemption Yet! (SYD-BKK-HKG-TPE-GUM-NRT-ICN-HKG-BKK-SYD) TG/ BR/UA/OZ F

Still trying to work out how you managed to do so many legs in F/J on such little redemption.....regardless, fabulous TR - thoroughly enjoyed the detail and gave me a few ideas for future travel!

Thank you!