Travel Options (WP/*G for SIN, HKG & KUL)

[mella2007]

re: Travel Options (WP/*G for SIN, HKG & KUL)

Love the way you pack! I'm looking forward to visiting Changi in June for the first time...all the hype...!

 

[SeatBackForward]

re: Travel Options (WP/*G for SIN, HKG & KUL)

Given that I was flying with CX, the QF F lounge was the place to go, heres the obligatory shot of SYD T1 F Lounge

Its a great place to sit by the window and watch the airport be an airport, and with a powerpoint and wifi, im actually able to be quite productive. Here's the airport at dusk, remembering that CX138 is one of the last flights to leave SYD. But here is a BA flight, presumably going to somewhere in Britain.

So on board, as per a recent posting here on AFF, CX didn't appear to make any special deal about OWE passengers. My seat for the flight was 12A, in the new business style of seats on the CX A330. Again, nice little seat, plenty of legroom, I found it a bit annoying that the screen is not visible during takeoff, but really a minor issue.

Given that I was going to be landing and starting the day in HK, the objective of this flight was sleep. So I opted to skip the dinner, however I did get to try their non-alcoholic coughtail. Here are their dinner, breakfast and drinks menu (Apologies for the unclear photos, I was too buggered to try for better)

I wasnt sure if I got much sleep or not, but considering that at one point I was looking out the window and could see the "plane" travelling on a track with overhead wiring, and thinking to myself "Oh boy i better get a photo of this to post onto AFF"...I realised, that i must've gotten some sleep afterall..

So about 1.5hrs out of HKG, breakfast was served, and a morning coffee was a treat!

But the sweet goodness of the coffee wore away when I realised it was 2:30am HK time....knowing I had a full day of work and meetings ahead of me. The flight landed at 4:20am, and of course being at the pointy end meant I was one of the first to hit Immigration.

I've never seen HKG so quiet, in fact, arriving so early meant that even the Airport Train hadn't started operation yet, so I had to take a rather unusual step of taxi from HKG onto Hong Kong Island

Not cheap, but the extra half hour being able to relax in a hotel room rather than waiting for the train was worth it IMO.

Will continue the report after I return on Thursday evenings return flight.

 

[SeatBackForward]

re: Travel Options (WP/*G for SIN, HKG & KUL)

Thought I'd also put this up, Its not often you get to see blue skies in HK these days, and I've forgotten how pleasant this time of year can be around here:

 

[ozbeachbabe]

re: Travel Options (WP/*G for SIN, HKG & KUL)

Is that a Miles & Smiles *A Gold card I spy in your travel documents?

 

[SeatBackForward]

re: Travel Options (WP/*G for SIN, HKG & KUL)

Is that a Miles & Smiles *A Gold card I spy in your travel documents?

Yes and also one around the handle of the rollercase. Gotta Love status matches

 

[SeatBackForward]

re: Travel Options (WP/*G for SIN, HKG & KUL)

Just to keep this one ticking along. I Haven't written up a report about the return flight. In fact most of the interesting part of the return was visiting the brand new Wing F Lounge at HKG, was only opened the day before I visited. The posts are here: http://www.australianfrequentflyer....-f-lounge-reopens-6th-47054-5.html#post758425


It was an overnight CX flight -however I only got about two hours of sleep so was pretty miserable in the morning. Nothing unusual on the flight.

I did however get a dud NC headphone in the seat I was sitting in. It seemd to hiss at full volume anytime the cord moed about, which the CSM agreed was annoying. After making a big deal about it, the CSM returned and offered me a survey to fill out, I think was just a standard CX survey they issue out. Not sur eif they target passengers with it however. I was honest in my appraisal.

Now onto booking the KUL trip for next week.

 

[eastwest101]

re: Travel Options (WP/*G for SIN, HKG & KUL)

How much more money would it cost your company if you flew CX versus the non points/SC earning QF airfares. It seems so silly as employess will always find a legal workaround to avoid flying QF. I'll bet your company will still pay more for the CX fare than they would if they'd let you travel on whatever QF fare (that earned points & SC) you travelled on prior to the contract fare.

It's kind of ironic that the contract fare is designed to attract business to QF (by denying ff points/SC) but the reality is that it will cost them money as the end result is that people will end up flying more with competitor airlines.

One big issue also is sometimes the company travel co-ordinators will refuse to put your WP card in the booking as they assume they have to do this in order for you to not earn ff points or SC. This is a huge problem because unless your number is in the pnr you won't be able to select your WP preferred seating, get any special services that are automatically linked to your profile or worse denying you the chance to be in the running for an-op.

I agree there ozbeachbabe - that is such a massive "own goal" by QF marketing that I cannot believe that QF management ever signed off on such deals, they've essentially sabotaged the work of their own loyalty team, and furthermore have invited their corporate customers to try out Qantas's competitors whom already have better prices, products and more frequency. Great plan. :evil:

 

[SeatBackForward]

Ok so onto the third and final of my unusually high level of Intl travel. In between posts I've realised that technically this has meant an Intl trip in J every month this year. The last trip is to KUL this week. And the best timed flights to KUL from east coast Aus are no doubt MH. The fact that they are now part of Ow was coincidence, but a very pleasant one.

I've also been reading about Malaysian joining Oneworld here too:http://www.australianfrequentflyer....in-oneworld-alliance-30578-41.html#post768841

Event he day before i'm leaving, Im not sure whether it will be a two day or three day trip, still awaiting confirmation of some meeting times. If I don't hear back it wil be the shorter of the two. If thats the case I'm considering a different baggae option. I've recently purchased a Victorianox Werks Traveller Slim Garment Bag.



The idea behind this is to save time Ironing, and to also have a wrinkle-free shirt to wear into the office after landing upon return. But if the trip ends up being three days, i'll just end up taking the suitcase as I wont be returning to the office.

 

[SeatBackForward]

So MH has just recently joined OW. Beginning of February 2013 in fact. After being one of the first AFF'ers to tryout the new Wing F Lounge, I will be one of the earlier (not first) to try MH as a OW airline. As any trip, the first thing i'm interested in is seat selection. Going to MH's website and selecting Manage Bookings brings up this screen:



On the other thread I linked earlier, there is indication that you can use MH's mobile site to view your booking details, but no seat selection however. So the only way to select seats is by ringing them up (errgh not my preferred option). Or to wait until T-48 to do online check-in. Which is what I did.

Seat selection options were fairly slim for me even though I checked in at T-47!


I stuck with the default 17C although in hindsight I think Upper Deck 6H would've been better. BUT MH doesnt let you change the seat selection online. I'd have to ring them up I think. Anyhow its not that big a deal for me to be in 17C.

Now as its a a MH 744, There should be a First Class I believe. I wonder if any of the OW benefits may be showered upon OWE ??? I doubt it, but one can live in hope.

 

[SeatBackForward]

As it turns out my trip is going to be thrre nights away, which means I wont need to return to the office, so no suit bag use..Im alwayss a little bit disappointed when I get something for my travels but don't get to immediately use it...

So here's what I've packed for the KUL trip:


Just the standard clothing in the rollerbag, this time i've taken some casual clothing too as I may end up having some free time between work events. I was at work for the first half of the day which made the often boring trip in the taxi to the airport a little less boring, I don't know why I'm posting this, but here is the innards of a typical Sydney taxi as hailed from the street:


Being a WP with Qantas, meant I had the luxury of sitting in the SYD F Lounge, now as a MH customer as they are part of Oneworld. Interstingly, they said they would make announcements, but the MH flight did not appear on the old fashioned flight display screens around the lounge. Here's the exact same view from seat I sat at before I did the HKG trip, but this time in the daytime:


Boarding MH was a little odd, they used Gate 51, which is a real tucked away corner of SYD. Boarding was announced with the annoucement that F, J and OWE could board at anytime. However there is only enough room for one queue at gate 51, and as a soon as the general queue saw people "jumping" the queue, they all decided it was their turn too. Unfortunately, the gate agents, made no attempt to police this - why is priority boarding such a dilema amongst airline?

But once on board, I found out the aisle seat 17C I had selected online, would be next to an empty 17a, so I quickly seated myself in there. Refreshements of Juice were offered - no offer of Champagne. Here is a shot of the cabin across row 17:


And the obligatory legroom shot, my last flight back in 2010 with MH i recall had the J cabin with ample legroom, this wasn't far off the mark:


The service was very good, I wouldn't say as "warm" as the SQ service was, but definitely nothing to complain about.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Well once onboard, the usual reading of the In-flight magazine, Duty Free catalogue, and Dinner options took place, here were the menu options:

Food Menu


Wine Menu


Drinks Menu

Now one of the real treats on board MH is the satay, it is actually really really good!


Unfortunately for me, the entre was some prawn dish, given i don;t eat seafood, all I had was some garlic bread and fruit.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Onto the main meal. It was the Ayam (chicken) for me!


And some random shots from the window





Gee Australia is a big place!

 

[Princess Fiona]

Nice pics !
Shrek is flying MH next month for the 1st time and will be very interested.
The chicken curry looked quite good

 

[yohy?!]

Just to keep this one ticking along. I Haven't written up a report about the return flight. In fact most of the interesting part of the return was visiting the brand new Wing F Lounge at HKG, was only opened the day before I visited. The posts are here: http://www.australianfrequentflyer....-f-lounge-reopens-6th-47054-5.html#post758425


It was an overnight CX flight -however I only got about two hours of sleep so was pretty miserable in the morning. Nothing unusual on the flight.

I did however get a dud NC headphone in the seat I was sitting in. It seemd to hiss at full volume anytime the cord moed about, which the CSM agreed was annoying. After making a big deal about it, the CSM returned and offered me a survey to fill out, I think was just a standard CX survey they issue out. Not sur eif they target passengers with it however. I was honest in my appraisal.

Now onto booking the KUL trip for next week.

This has happened to me on every CX flight in J - it's a defect in the plug I think, just have to jiggle it the right way to stop it hissing!

 

[yohy?!]

tbh MH doesn't look like it stacks up to CX or SQ at all (maybe I'll try it if they bring back the super cheap ex-HKG fares )

The SQ part does give me an urge to get back on one of their 380s soon! (darned WP/OW handcuffs!) The product and service are just sensational, on the all-J upstairs config row 96 has even more space without any seat in front that it's basically an F-sized seat.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Just in case there were any questions about it, MH plays a little OW intro upon every selection on their IFE:



Arrival at MH was a breeze, second off the plane somehow, Immigration queues non-existant, and no immigration forms to be filled out. Just the scan of the index fingers. Walking out past baggge carousels (thats a favourite moment of mine when travelling HLO) and customs, down the escalators to the KLIA station.

The humidity here makes the inside of the KLIA a sancutary:



Last time I had been to KUL I caught a pre-paid taxi from KL Sentral station, this time I wanted to be a little more adventurous and try the local transit. At first I couldn't find the line to get to Ampang Park where I needed to go, until I realised it wasn't a train I was catching, but the elevated (and sometimes not so elevated) LRT. So I bought my MYR$2 token (yes a token, not a ticket) and went up the escaltor to the station



The LRT has driverless trains, I highly recommend standing near the front and looking through the front window. Tunnels never looked so interesting!

 

[SeatBackForward]

SEQ No.2 I don't think i've ever had such a high Seq number on a boarding pass before:

 

[SeatBackForward]

Couple of other points I forgot to mention..

Legroom in row 17 by the window is..plentfiful. MH have a knack for lots of legroom!



IFE is quite good actually


The Amenities kit is in a TUMI bag, best quality bag i've ever received, with a metal frame around the zipper to keep it sturdy. Will be hanging onto this one for sure!

 

[SeatBackForward]

I'm thinking this entire thread should be moved to Trip Reports?

 

[SeatBackForward]

So onto the return..

Getting the reliable KLIA Express back was a breeze, this time in daylight getting to see the sourrounds of KL, the airport is quite far out indeed. This sort of forward thinking is unheard of in most Australian cities...



Upon arrival at KUL, MH Business, MH First Class, Enrich Gold & Platinum, One World Sapphire and Emeralds may use the special preimum check in counters. Iw as even treated to the sit down lounge area, although I could have walked upto one of the many empty counters if I really wanted to check in quicker. Perhaps this sort of treatment suits the colonial era??

Last time I was in KUL was in 2010, I was only Silver at the time, but had the privilege of travelling KUL>SYD in J so took the first lounge that came to me, which was in the main terminal. This time I wanted to try out the Satellite Lounge - which I am led to believe is bigger. So onto the Automated shuttle, out to Satellite C. Just remember that this satellite terminal is like a Big X, so you can walk around and around and around the centre until you find the bits you're after...such as the MH Golden Lounge, its actually above you D'oh.




First thing I needed was shower so I asked where they were, up the back near the Washrooms was the answer..so I turned left and headed to the lounge. Here's the map of the MH Golden Lounge for those interested.



Now, havin recently been in SIN and HKG, the shower was..well...a shower. I don't know why I was expecting anything more, perhaps the new Wing F lounge spoilt me? but anyhow, it was a shower, it served its purpose. I had no reason to complain.