The First class lounge has been voted the best first class lounge in the world but I’m sorry Thai Airways…I have to object and say that this is not correct. The best first class lounge is in Frankfurt (Lufthansa First Class Terminal) but that is a different story that you can read about here (XXX). But the first class lounge in Bangkok is great –you have lots of good chairs, separate rooms if you are traveling in a group, lots of good free drinks (but only Moet and Chandon champagne) and a good selection of food. You can also take showers, get a PC to get online, the wifi is free etc. But there is also a Royal Orchid Spa where you can get a massage complimentary! There is no better way of starting a long flight than having 1 hour full body massage!

When traveling in June 2012 there was a bit of fuzz as we were supposed to travel through London but when we checked in we got another routing via Frankfurt. Luckily the two flights had take-off at approximately the same time and the advantage was that we got a Boeing 777 leased from Jet Airways instead of an old Boeing 747. Due to this we got a first class with separate compartments like you can find on Emirates first class and Singapore first class. There are only 8 first class seats on the 777 (in a 1+2+1 configuration) and we got first class treatment the moment we got in there. The headset was already in the seat together with the duvet, menus etc. It didn’t take long before we got offered some drinks to start with and it is hard to say no when they ask you if you want a glass of Dom Perignon champagne

I was seated in 2A and I got a HUGE seat by the window. It resembles the seat that you find on Swiss airlines first class where you have a big seat and an ottoman in front and when reclining you form one bed. The difference between Swiss and this Thai flight was that the Thai flight included a small compartment where you can close the door to get more privacy around your seat.  Like on Swiss the table is HUGE and it is so large that you can actually invite a guest to come and sit with you so that you can dine together and face each other while you are eating –how great is that? The remote on the Boeing 777 were a bit confusing as there is one large remote just to cover the seat adjustments and then there is one regular remote to control the multimedia. The Thai AVOD system is quite good and it was displayed on a large 17” (or is it 20”?) screen so seeing movies etc was not a problem.

It was a bit scary to look behind the seat of the first class seat btw – there was lots of trash there so I’m not sure there are routines in place to handle this – it could have needed a round of vacuuming! The toiletry bag that we got was OK and the TUMI bag included stuff that you normally need: lip balm, mouth freshener, brush, tooth brush etc.  When the service started we started getting hot and wet cloths and I can honestly say that I have never gotten that many in my life before! We got these lovely warm and scented clothes both before and after meals!

When the table was set for two it was beautiful with the Thai logo stamped into the butter and fresh bread served. We got real caviar to start with (with garniture), followed but a salmon dish and topped up with a slow cooked beef cheek. One of the pieces of the beef cheeks was quite tough but the rest of the pieces were delicious. We also got an ENORMOUS cheese platter – me and my friend could have easily have shared this and not been able to eat it all but instead we got two large portions of cheese each! The dessert was a bit of a disappointment – I got a small chocolate cream and a pretty dry “muffin” with custard and berries on top.

The great thing about having a small compartment is that it is easy to get some privacy to be able to slip into the pajama that was handed out. The seat with the huge table in front is also perfect for pulling out the PC and working a bit. The only problem in my seat was that someone had stuck something into the power socket so I wasn’t able to get power to my PC and they didn’t have a plug adapter either. The table was a bit hard to move back and forth – so hard in fact that my friend and I had to really put our muscles into moving it. In the process of moving the table I managed to get my finger sliced but the flight attendant was there to patch me up.

The flight time from Bangkok to Frankfurt is about 10-11 hours so there was time for another food serving before landing. This time I started with breasola served with a mix of mozzarella and tomato and it was delicious. After this we got a tom kha gai (a typical Thai chicken soup which is creamy, a bit spicy and a bit sour) and the main dish was a chicken breast served with garlic mashed potatoes. Having chicken breast on flights is normally not a good idea as it normally becomes quite dry but this chicken was actually quite good. Once again the dessert was nothing special and I was a bit disappointed by that. But you can enjoy some very good cognac if you are into that – they served Otard Extra 1795.

The service onboard was great and we were mainly served by two flight attendants and towards the end of the flight they came to say goodbye with a traditional wai. I tried to talk a bit with the one flight attendant to hear what her work schedule was like etc. but she seemed to be very professional and didn’t seem to be interested in getting into personal details which is fine.

All in all this was a great experience. The spa treatment at Bangkok airport is great before going on a long flight and the small suites on board the flight is perfect if you want a bit of privacy for working or for sleeping. As they provide a pajama you can slip into a comfortable outfit while enjoying the great food and drinks served. Thai Airways might not have the same modern layout as you can find on Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa these days but this will change soon when they introduce the new A380 (see presentation here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6Us4r02JRk ). I had a great flight from Bangkok to Frankfurt on Royal First Class and I look forward to flying with them again. If you want to read about a previous experience on Thai Airway first class (on a Boeing 747) you can read this blog entry: http://gardkarlsen.com/blog/?p=497

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com – trip reports and pictures

The next flight was the Air Canada flight directly to Calgary on a Boeing 777-300ER. On the business class (or Executive first class as Air Canada chooses to call it) they have a 1-2-1 seat configuration but they are angled. You can see the same configuration on some of the Thai Airway flights these days (on the planes that they have leased from Jet Airways). The seat itself was not bad as you can recline it all the way down and it connects with a small foot stool in the front to form a horizontal bed. But I’m not sure about the angled configuration. If you travel alone it feels a bit weird as you are looking over to what 2-3 other passengers are doing. And if you are traveling as a couple you get a bit too far from each other to really talk without raising the voice. And if you have a window seat it is a bit tricky to look out the window as the seat is facing in towards the aisle.

When I got to my seat 3D the blanket and amenity bag had already been handed out. The amenity bag was not very impressive as it only contained socks, eye shades, ear plugs and a toothbrush – but then again, what more do you need? J There was also a headset in place and it was actually non-detachable and I think it is the first time I see that on a flight. They didn’t look that great and I was glad I was bringing my own BOSE noise reducing headset. But the sound quality was not great and I’m not sure if it was because of a problem with the socket or the quality of the actual movie. The TV folds out from the side of the seat and I would guess it was about 15” – for me it was a bit on the small side as it was not possible to bring it closer. The screen is a touch screen but I still think there is room for improvement as it was very slow to navigate around the system. But the selections of movies were quite good but games were not working. The TV can also be controlled by a small remote and this contains a small joystick that was not very easy to use. And I think it is the first time that I have seen commercials being shown before a movie on a flight!

We had to wait almost two hours onboard the plane before we could finally take off – Heathrow can be really busy! When I first got on board the plane I was offered sparkling wine and not champagne. I’m not sure why they do it like this as flight attendants were very generous with the champagne later on. The meal was served after a while and the starters were a green salad with tomato and parmesan cheese and with the olive oil/balsamic vinegar it was delicious. The smoked salmon was also served at the same time and that was also quite good. While I was enjoying the starter, the main dish was prepared. There was a choice of 4 main courses and I went for the rack of lamb which was simply excellent. I don’t think I have ever tasted so juicy meat on a flight in a long time. After the main meal I got some cheese and it was fun to try some Wensleydale cheese after seeing a Wallace and Gromit movie on a flight home from Asia recently. To round it of an apple pie was served together with coffee – all in all I have to say I’m impressed by the meal. It must have been one of the best meals I have had on a business class flight.

I took the same route back from Calgary and check-in at the airport was uneventful. The Maple leaf lounge at the Calgary airport looked a bit tired to start with but when I walked around it was quite big with various seats and it also had a nice view towards the planes parked on the outside and towards the city center. There were food, fruit, soft drinks, wine etc on offer.

Going back I had once again a Boeing 777-300ER and I had picked seat 1G. Once again amenities were already laid out on the seat when I got there but this time the toiletry bag was different. I guess it makes sense to have a different toiletry bag on a night flight compared to a day flight. Once again the service was good and I enjoyed the salad for starter together with a small dish including scallop and tiger prawn. There were several options for the main meal and I was tempted to go for meat again but as I had eaten a bit of meat during my stay in Calgary, I went for risotto instead. As I love risotto it is always a potential for disaster. The risotto served on this flight was not great in any way but it was lighter than then meat option. The meal was rounded off with a selection of cheese and a toffee apple cranberry cake.

As this was a night flight I got to test out the seat for real and when reclined all the way down it forms a more or less flat bed that provided a good place for a few hours sleep. I did wake up in connection with breakfast and got served an omelet, sausage etc. After we had landed in London, one of the cabin crew asked me if I wanted to see the cabin crew resting area on the second floor and I have never been offered this before so I said yes of course. There was a small staircase leading up to it and on the second floor there were two beds and two comfortable chairs. After a short stop in London I took a SAS flight back to Norway.

Just a few things that I didn’t like about the flights/planes/service on board AirCanada:
First of all it is a bit strange to be seated at an angle. The seat itself was pretty good but if you are traveling with someone this is not an ideal configuration. On the way over the TV that you fold out was a bit loose and the menu system on the inflight entertainment is not very good. Games did not seem to work at all both ways. And when using the BOSE headset instead of the headset that was supplied, there was a constant cracking sound. Going to Calgary there was a toilet in business class where the sink was not working.

But all in all: the service and food on board the flights were quite good and as the seat provides a flat bed for sleeping.

All in all I would rate the Air Canada Executive First Class higher than e.g. Scandinavian business class as they do provide a lay flat seat and the food is a bit better but it still does not compare with the seat and service from Singapore Airlines.

Regards
Gard
gardkarlsen.com – trip reports and pictures

The seat was a proper business class seat with a 2+2 configuration. There was of course an offer of having champagne to start with and they also handed out a big menu where the options were sea bass, chicken breast or pasta. When I wanted some red wine together with the food, the flight attendant asked me if I wanted Turkish or French wine. I have not gotten the memo that Turkey is a great wine producing country so I went for French wine and the FA was like “why does everyone want the French wine?” The various starters were great but the chicken breast was dry as it often is on flights.  My colleague ordered a glass of cognac after the food and we asked what kind of cognac it was. The FA replied that it was “VIP cognac”. It is not a brand that we are familiar with and I guess she could say that we were wondering about her answer. So she went to get the bottle and it was a Hennesey VSOP (so VSOP became VIP) – but all in all we got great service and the FA seemed to be enjoying her job.

As I had a bit of time at Istanbul Ataturk airport I had the pleasure of waiting a bit in the Turkish Airlines lounge. It is a huge lounge and I guess it is needed as Istanbul airport has become quite a busy airport and hence there were lots of people in the lounge. Here you can get something to eat, wine and spirits was available, they have recliners, TV screens and with a username and password you can also get online.

The flight to Beijing was at about 11 pm and I think boarding started about 1 hour prior to departure.  We had to take a bus out to the plane so there was no business entrance into the plane like you often see on larger airports. When we checked in my colleague and I got seats behind each other and when we got into the plane we asked if we could change seats and if the flight was full or not. She replied that the flight was full but it later turned out that there were lots of seats available on business class and we did get to sit next to each other. The Turkish Airlines flight TK020 is a Boeing 777-300ER and the configuration in business class is a kind of strange 2+3+2 configuration.
The seat was good and when inclined it links up with the foot stool (or ottoman) in front of it to form a bed that is almost completely flat (I think it is 177 degrees). Blankets, slippers, amenities pack and headphones were already laid out in advance before I came on the plane which is a good solution in my opinion.

In front of each seat there was a 15” screen and the in in-flight entertainment system seemed to be quite good with lots of movies on demand. But it was kinda annoying to have the control docked in a space next to the seat on the right hand side – it was hard to reach when I started reclining the seat!  I was not that impressed with the headphones – I’m not sure it is noise cancelling or not but they didn’t feel like it at least. After takeoff I got the menu and it was quite extensive. I had a choice of two starters and I chose the potpourri of Mediterranean meze and it also came with a small salad, some yogurt and cucumber etc. It was also possible to get a soup before going to the main meal where I went for the mushroom ravioli.

When they brought in the meal it was served on a tray of course but the various dishes was served on glass plates and I got real cutlery. Each tray also had a small salt and pepper shaker – the only “problem” was that the butter was brick hard! I tried chicken as a starter, I tried the leak soup and finally the mushroom ravioli. At the time I was getting hungry so I found the meal to be very good. After dinner they walk past with a dessert trolley and I asked for the chocolate “fondant” and tiramisu. This was not very good in my opinion – it did not resemble real tiramisu.
The amenity kit was contained in a rather big bag and it contained some lip balm, toothbrush, eye shade, comb/brush, ear plugs, socks etc. The toothbrush was horrible as it was built up by two parts and it kept on falling apart when I used it. The toilet on board the 777 was a bit larger than what I’m used to on the SAS Airbus A340 which means that it is easier if you want to slip into a pajama before you try to get some sleep.

The seat is quite good and when you recline it, it connects to the foot stool in front to give you a long and almost flat bed. It is also great that there is room under the stool as you can store e.g. shoes there. I had a pretty good sleep when flying to Beijing and I actually did not wake up until they announced that we were descending and seats had to be in an upright position. I shouldn’t complain about that of course but when I got the menu at takeoff I did fill out my breakfast menu and handed this over to the FA and indicated that I wanted breakfast but no one woke me up and by the time I did wake up it was too late for breakfast. The 2+3+2 configurations seems a bit strange but it seemed to work out pretty good – there is a small gap between the seats so you can get out without having to step on the passenger next to you – and there is also a small wall that you can raise if you want a bit more privacy. But it can’t compete with the amazing configuration of the business class on Singapore Airlines.

On the way back I flew the same route – Beijing-Istanbul-Copenhagen on business class. The plane on the way back to Europe was also a Boeing 777 so it was very similar to the one that I had when flying to China. Again the amenities were laid out prior to passengers coming onboard – everything was pretty much the same but the toiletry bag was a smaller version with different brand of lip balm and moisturizing cream. It is a bit weird that this has not been standardized.  This time I got a menu with my name on it and the food was once again quite good. The business class was completely full on this flight and it seemed like they were struggling a bit to serve all the business class passengers at more or less the same time so the FA seemed a bit stressed out. One asked me if I wanted some more red wine and I said “yes please” but I never saw the wine. When she was serving dessert I asked for port wine and I think she remembered as she first gave me some dessert and then she ran off and brought me a huge glass of port. Once again I slept pretty well in the seat but again I was not woken up for breakfast even if I had put the sticker on the seat indicating that I wanted breakfast service and once again the breakfast menu that I filled out was ignored. In the end I had to call the FA and ask for breakfast and what I got was not what I had ordered but at least I got something to eat.

From Istanbul to Copenhagen the rather new Boeing 737 was replaced by an older Airbus A321 and it contained seats in a horrible cyan/ turquoise color. Instead of having a proper business class seat and a 2+2 configuration, this plane had standard seats with a 3+3 configuration with the middle seat blocked to give each passengers a bit more space. But once again the service was very good and I got a very good breakfast including one of the best omelets that I have had on a plane.

Conclusion
I think Turkish Airlines long haul business class is quite good. The seat is almost horizontal and provides the possibility to sleep well when traveling for many hours and the service is quite good with a decent menu with various options and several options when it comes to the wine. But it seems like they are struggling a bit with the breakfast menu setup or at least it failed both ways when I used them. The on board entertainment is quite good as you can start watching a movie right away and you can watch it until you land basically – not like SAS where it takes forever to start it and they terminate it like 30 minutes prior to landing.

Regards
Gard
gardkarlsen.com – trip reports and pictures

When I came to Stavanger airport on February 20th 2009 at about 4 PM there were long lines of people waiting to check in. But thanks to my SAS Eurobonus goldcard I went to the business check in counter and this line was very short so after 5 minutes I was check in. I also asked the lady behind the check in counter if you could enter a request in the system to upgrade from my current Economy Extra ticket to business class ticket using my frequent flyer points. It did not seem like she knew what she was doing as she had to ask a colleague of her for everything.

Then I had to line up for security check…there is no fast track at Stavanger airport but even if the line was long it didn’t take to get through. The international section of Stavanger airport is not what I would call exciting – there is only a bar, a duty free shop and a small café. But I used the time to take some photos with my new Canon IXUS camera and as I had my laptop with me (known as Bjarne the 5th) I could also get online. The first leg of the trip was with SK1879 to Copenhagen (CPH) and it is a flight that only takes a bit over an hour. The flight is a SAS flight but it is operated by Atlantic Airways.
I had an isle seat and I was happy there was a seat free between me and the guy by the window as the seats are not that wide on the BAe 146. It was also good to have some distance to the guy as he had a nasty cough. By the way, I see that Atlantic Airways have posted an explanation on the sound that you get after take off : http://www.atlantic.fo/Default.aspx?pageid=4431. As I was in business class I got a cold meal: it was egg, some sort of ham on top of dark bread and a fruit trifle for dessert. Not too bad when you keep in mind that it is a short trip. I also enjoyed a small bottle of red wine and some Baileys in my coffee on the flight.

When I landed in Copenhagen I went straight for the SAS lounge. Once again I asked if it was possible to upgrade to business by using my frequent flyer points and after a bit of work on the PC the woman said “I have now posted a request for an upgrade” – based on this I’m not sure that the person that checked me in in Stavanger got it right. I had a couple of hours of waiting in Copenhagen but they had several types of cheese that I enjoyed (they even had some Manchego cheese) together with a couple of different red wines.

The boarding on my next flight was not supposed to start until 10 PM but already around 9 it seemed like the gate was open so I decided to head out there to see if I could fix the upgrade. When I came to the gate there were already lots of people there and the guy in front of me wanted to upgrade his group of 4 from Economy to Economy Extra but he was told that Economy Extra was full. Due to this he went for upgrade to Business for all 4 and I thought “Oh no, there goes my chances for the upgrade”. But when I came to the counter there were still seats left in business and after 20.000 points were taken from my SAS Eurobonus account, I got a new boarding pass and got seat 4E.

After a few minutes waiting we could board the plane but it took a bit of time before take off as it was snowing in Copenhagen and the plane had to go for de-icing – I think it is the first time I have experienced this in Copenhagen. But at about 11.30 PM it was finally time for take off towards Bangkok. This was flight SK973 in a SAS Airbus A340. After take-off we got noise cancelling headset, slippers and the toiletry bag that contains stuff like ear plugs, eye mask, tooth brush, socks, shoe bag etc.

Dinner was served at 12.30 AM and the starter was a salad of chorizo, artichokes, mushroom, sun-dried tomatoes etc. For the main meal I had the option between the halibut or beef. I went for the beef but as usual it seems like it is hard to get this right on flights. For dessert there were two kinds of cheese with port wine on the side (what happened to the Sauterne that was mention in the menu?) and to round it of there were coffee with various liqueurs and some candy. At this point it was time to round it off so I brushed my teeth and got comfortable in the seat. The seat in business is a lie-flat bed but it is not 180 degrees and due to the inclination I always seem to slide down. Seems like the trick is to tighten the seat belt firmly to avoid the sliding. I’m not that impressed with the entertainment on the SAS flight. I did have my own (small) personal TV screen but the selection of new films was not that great and the games are pretty boring. Isn’t possible to buy and upgrade of the game package? I went to sleep at about 1.30 AM and slept relatively well until about 7. At 8 AM breakfast was served and I enjoyed Shrek on TV while I was eating

At about 09.30 AM or 3.30 PM local time, we landed on Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok. Once I got out of the plane there was a sweet Thai lady with a sign with my name on it and she escorted me to the Thai counter where I got my boarding pass for the next leg. I asked if I could use my Eurobonus points for upgraded but this was not possible. I only had an express stop in Bangkok and at 4 PM it was boarding time for TG417 and I had seat 32D in this Boeing 777-200. Thai Airways have a very colourful interior by the way – yellow, blue and dark pink chairs. But it is also matched by the colourful uniforms of the cabin attendants. All of a sudden it was time to food again and this time I had the option of fish or chicken. I went for the chicken with noodles and it was nice and tender and served really warm. Thai are pretty efficient when it comes to the serving (well, the plane was not full) and one example is how they serve drinks: the fill up glasses in advance with water, juice etc and put these on trays together with beer cans and then people just pick what they want when they guy walks around with the tray. The chocolate mousse was pretty good and there was also a tuna salad to start with. Not a bad meal for a flight that lasts less than 2 hours.

At about 8 PM I landed on Sepang airport outside KL. I was a bit nervous that my luggage wouldn’t make it due to my short stop in BKK but it made it. So I got my suite case, got on the KLIA Express train and I took a taxi from KL Sentral to my hotel (Traders) where I wrote this. As you can see from my cell phone blog I can’t complain about the view at least. When I went back after a week it was in SAS Economy class and you can read about that experience here.  A month after this I flew on Emirates airlines in business class and it was fun comparing that to the SAS business class. You can read about the experience with Emirates Airlines on this page. Get in touch if you have any questions.

After a week at work in KL it was time to start the trip back home – and I was just getting over the jet lag on the last day there I checked out early from the hotel but as I’m a regular at Traders hotel I was allowed to use their facilities throughout the day. But after a glass of wine during “happy hour” in the afternoon, it was time for me to get on the road. I took a taxi to KL Sentral and from there the KLIA Express train to the airport. If you are flying Emirates or Malaysia Airlines you can actually check in at the train station but as I had a Thai airways flight, I had to drag my suitcase on board the train. If you want to read more about KL feel free to check out my KL trip report.

I came to the airport at about 7.30 on February 27th and check in was fast. I asked if I could request an upgrade from Bangkok (BKK) to Copenhagen (CPH) but the lady behind the counter told me that I had to make this request in Bangkok. I went through immigration to check out, safety control and took the train out to the terminal to find a lounge.
I first stopped by the Singapore Airlines lounge as I have a Eurobonus Goldcard and Singapore Airlines is also a part of the StarAlliance. But it seems like this lounge is only if you are flying business with Singapore or have a Krisflyer goldcard. So I went over to the Thai lounge instead – right opposite of the Singapore lounge. The Thai lounge is OK but it is relatively small and the selection of food and drinks is limited. But at least I could sit down in a comfortable chair, get a cold drink and get online on the wifi. It didn’t seem like there was any wine on offer in the lounge by the way.

Short video from the lounge

I didn’t stay long in the lounge as I had to go to the gate at about 8.30 pm. My flight was TG418 and I was seated in 33B on this Boeing 777-200. The flight was actually quite full and I guess there are a few people that commute between KL and Bangkok and this was a Friday night. The flight itself was pretty boring…I was stuck in a middle seat so there was not much space to move around. The highlight of the flight was the meal of course. Some sort of Waldorf salad, chicken in a pepper sauce with rice and vegetables and a sweet rice dessert.

The flight was about 2 hours and we landed in Bangkok at about 10 pm. I first headed to the transfer desk to make a request for an upgrade on my SAS flight from Bangkok to Copenhagen. From there I went to the D section of the airport as the flight was leaving from D2 and as there is a Thai lounge there.The Thai lounge in the D section is huge and offers a combination of chairs, reclining chairs, room for meetings, work stations for getting online etc. There are also big TV screens in the lounge that shows news and there is a nice selection of snack and drinks. I have seen better food selection in other lounges but the Thai lounge is not bad at all.

Once again I didn’t have to wait that long as my flight was at 12.30 am. I had to go through security once again when going to gate D2 and once again the machine went off so I had to get frisked once again. I don’t really mind being felt up but it is kinda annoying when you have been through lots of these controls during a long trip. It didn’t take long before I reached D2 and I was of course hoping and keeping my fingers crossed to get an upgrade to business class by using my Eurobonus points…but I soon got the bad news: “Flight is full today”…meaning no upgrade. I got seat 23B on this SK972 to CPH in the Airbus A340 – this was an aisle seat in the 2 seat part of the 2-4-2 configuration.

It was the row right behind Economy Extra and I think this gave some extra legroom and that was of course nice (but then again I’m only like 177 cm/ 5” 10’). Before take off the air con was on and there was lots of “steam” as the cold and warm air met. But it was still very warm on the plane but as soon as the doors were closed it got a lot better. Luckily there was a bottle of water for each seat so that we could stay hydrated. The seat was a bit narrow (or maybe my ass is just getting wider ) and the placement of the hand control is a bit strange. Located on the inside of the seat rest made it hard to get it out and a bit hard to adjust things like channels and volume. The screen is on the tiny side if you ask me and you do not have video on demand in economy and hence you just have to find a movie that has just started. The games were the same boring games that I have tested in business class on SAS.

Take off was on schedule and at about 12.30 am we were on our way towards Denmark. After take off we got our headsets and dinner was soon ready. The meal that evening was chicken on pasta and fried vegetables on the side and there was a cream dessert to round it of. Note that you on SAS economy “only” get two alcohol beverages complimentary. Funny enough I was not sleepy so I started watching the Matrix, The Usual suspects etc. I also walked around in the plane a bit and I walked all the way to the back were a couple of the cabin crew were located andI got some water and candy from them. I found it to be considerably noisier in the back of the plane compared to at my seat over the wing. In the end I had to face my fears…I went back to my seat and tried to get some sleep. But it is not easy as the seats are not really comfortable for sleeping. The flight this time turned out to be quite a marathon flight as they had to slow down due to turbulence. Because of this the flight was 12 hours and 18 minutes!

After a night with lack of sleep and lots of acrobatic attempts to find a comfortable sleeping position, it was time for some breakfast at about 5 am Scandinavian time. The breakfast was very standard…a bun, some ham and cheese, some orange marmalade, orange juice and yogurt.

We landed at about 6.45 am and it was so nice to get out of the plane and walk around on “terra firma”.The sun was rising as we landed and it was beautiful. There was a bit of a stampede as there was a flight leaving for Oslo in just 30 minutes after our landing – but I managed to get through security control without any problems

I went to the SAS lounge to get some coffee, water and get online. It seems like they have gone over to Mac in the lounge now and I don’t mind that. But I think I have to find out how to type in the @ sign when using Mac because I had major problems with that

At 8.10 am it was time for my last leg with SK1870 with Atlantic Airways to Stavanger in Norway. It would have been great with a window seat on this flight as the weather was pretty good. But I was stuck in an aisle seat – well, I was passed out most of the time as I was getting really tired. I landed in Stavanger and as usual it was a bit of a shock…I left KL with like 33 degrees and came to 1 degree and light snow in Stavanger.

Conclusion
Despite of being a Eurobonus goldcard holder this is the first time I have flown SAS long haul in economy class. All in all I wouldn’t say it is any better or worse than other companies that I have used…it is always a bit hard to travel long flights like this in economy class as it is hard to sleep in the economy seat. I would have enjoyed seeing video on demand and I would also like to see more than two complimentary alcoholic drinks. I also like playing games on long flights as it is more interactive – I would like to see better games on the SAS flights.

In the beginning of 2009 I came across a good offer on Emirates Airlines to Asia and as a colleague and I was going there, we decided to go for it. The price was £1350 per person for a round trip from London to Bangkok and in addition to this I bought tickets from Stavanger to London and Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur.

So on March 26th 2009 we took the bus to Sola airport to take the flight to London Heathrow.
Our flight SK4627 was supposed to take off at 5.50 PM but after we went through security, there was a power failure at the airport and that lead to some problems. But it “only” lasted for 30 minutes and we used the opportunity to enjoy a glass of beer and something to eat.

When boarding we were in the front and eager to get in. And soon they started letting people go through but the walkway to the plane was still blocked near the plane as they were not finished getting the plane ready. So we had to stand there for 5 to 10 minutes and that was not very pleasant as I only wore a thin shirt (and it was still a cold spring day in Norway). So I was pretty frozen when we finally got onboard and I had to grab a blanket on the way to my seat. Due to a slot time in London, the passenger were instructed to find their seats as fast as possible. I have never seen a Boeing 737 be filled this fast. We did take off on time and hence we got to London on schedule.

We had economy tickets and that means that you have to buy food and drinks on board. Normally I don’t buy stuff on board but this time I went for coffee and Baileys to warm up. After we arrived in London we had to freeze again – after we got our luggage we went to the Hoppa bus service to take a shuttle bus to the hotel but we had to wait awhile before the bus came. We did try the taxi service by the way and we were turned down and they asked us to go for the Hoppa service. I guess they didn’t want to just take a short trip.

But our shuttle bus H3 finally came when we took it to our hotel Sheraton Skyline for £4 each. Check in was fast and we just had dinner at the Al Dente Italian restaurant at the hotel. What I remember best from my previous stay at the hotel was the comfortable bed and it still was. The lounge at the hotel was small but cosy. The breakfast selection in the lounge was not over the top in any way but more than enough. There was also a very good view of one of the runways at Heathrow from the lounge in the hotel – pure heaven if you are into plane spotting

On March 27 it was time to start the “Emirates experience”. We took a hotel taxi to the airport (£10 to terminal 1 and £12 to terminal 3) and we came early as we didn’t really have anything else to do. When you drive in towards the airport you pass a big model of Emirates Airlines A380.

But at check in we got some bad news…our flight had been delayed so we would not be able to catch our next flight from Dubai to Bangkok…but we had been rescheduled to a new flight from Dubai to Bangkok about 6 hours later on.

So we just went to the Emirates lounge in Heathrow terminal 3 – we were a bit surprised with the anonymous lounge entrance but it turned out that it was just the lobby. The rest of the lounge was located on a floor above. We found some nice chairs and at 11 am lunch was brought out. They brought out dish after dish and as you can see in the photos and video there was lots to choose from. It seems like Singapore Airlines uses a gate near by as we saw one of their A380 being pushed from the gate right next to where we were seated. We tried some of the food (of course) and also tried some of the drinks they had to offer.

The Emirates lounge was nice but I think I have to say that the Malaysia Airlines lounge in Kuala Lumpur was better when it comes to facilities (chairs, layout, showers etc). But the selection of food in the Emirates lounge was pretty amazing. Cold appetizer such as salmon, trout, shrimp, salad, hummus etc etc. The warm food selection included schnitzel, shaepards pie, fried salmon, chicken tangine, ragatoni etc…and there was also a good selection of cheese and dessert. The only problem was that some of their portions were too big..

So finally at about 2.30 PM the Emirates A380 landed on the runway right outside our window and it didn’t really looked that big when it was seen by itself. But when it came closer and next to other planes it was easy to see that it was a huge machine. It parked at the gate right outside our seats so we could see all the details. It is amazing to see all the logistics involved when they prepare a flight. – suitcases going out and in, food loading, cargo etc. At 4 pm it was time to board and the we could board without leaving the lounge through the lobby we came in as their was a door leading right into the area for boarding.

We came into the plane on the upper deck and we were seated in the front. I had seat 8G but because of the configuration (1-2-1) I was seated a bit too far from my colleague – it is easier to understand when you look at SeatGuru. But this was resolved when we could move to 7E and 7F as the plane was not full. I’m not sure there is much more to say apart from the fact that the seat and business class is impressive. I hope that the photos and video can give some sort of impression of what it was like.

Each seat had a small section with water (I would preferred something else than Evian) and we also got noise cancelling headset, eye shades, socks (it would have been better with slippers) and we also got a toiletry bag with shaving kit, after shave lotion, deodorant, tooth brush etc. The TV was a 17” screen with the ICE system and that means that you can be entertained ”forever” – according to the information we got there were more than 600 channels of TV, movies and music to choose from.

About 4.15 PM it was time for take-off and as I was seated in the middle of the plane on the upper deck, it was hard to get an impression of what was going on. But due to the tail camera it was possible to keep an eye on the activities.

The take-off was very quiet and more quiet than any other plane that I have tried out. But when cruising at normal speed the noise level was more or less equal to other flights that I have been on. After take-off we chose food according to the menu. I went for the champagne to start with, the arabic mezze as appetizer and veal as main course and cheese cake for dessert. We asked how long it would take for the food to be served as we wanted to take a look around the plane. Our host then suggested that we went for champagne in the bar/lounge in the back on the plane and he would come to get us when the food was ready

The lounge in the back of the plane was great. We had champagne there and sat in the sofas as the “fasten seatbelt” sign was lit due to turbulence. In the lounge it was also possible to get some light snack and of course there was room to stretch the legs.

After a while in the lounge we went back to our seats and the food was served. The food was very good and it was a treat getting it served on nice plates with proper cutlery. But one thing that was a bit annoying was the serving coordination. My colleague and I was served by two different hosts and our food came at different times. So I guess I now understand why e.g. SAS sometimes do “synchronized serving” as it is always nice to get food served at the same time

I also had to wait pretty long to get some coffee and Baileys served. I ended up going back to the lounge after the meal – the staircase leading down to economy class was “blocked” and I asked them why, The only reason was that they wanted to avoid people from Economy walking around on business class. But I did get to take a walk down to the economy class and it didn’t look bad at all.

I did get tired eventually and I want to my seat to check out how it would work as a bed. But I was very disappointed as my seat didn’t function properly and I could only recline it a bit. My host tried to reset the seat/computer but it did not fix the problem. So the only option would be to put the seat in a reclining position manually. As this was a relative short flight it was not a huge problem but I would have been very disappointed if this had happened on a long haul flight lasting 12-14 hours.

After 7 hours we landed in Dubai. When we were approaching the airport we even got a glimpse of the spectacular Burj Dubai – the tallest building in the world. The landing was not perfect in any way as we came in a bit skew but we got down at least. As we had been delayed out of London we only landed at 3.30 AM and we missed our connecting flight to Bangkok

Here is a YouTube video with a summary of the Emirates experience:

When we got out of the plane in Dubai there was lots of chaos as the plane had arrived late and many had missed their connections (like we did). We started by going to an Emirates counter and after a while in line we got instructions that a hotel was arranged but as it was outside the airport the guy we talked to did not recommend it as it would take some time to get there and as we had a new flight in only 5-6 hours he recommended that we should stay in the lounge instead. We also asked if it was possible to change the ticket to get directly to KUL instead of via BKK (we had chosen this route due to a meeting in Bangkok on the way home) but this was not possible. We were also a bit worried about our next connection (from BKK to KUL) as this was not connected to our Emirates flight.  In order to try to fix this we walked through terminal 3 to terminal 1 but none of the ticket counters were open in the middle of the night so we gave up and retired in the lounge in terminal 1. I guess we should have chosen the lounge in terminal 3 as that looked newer and bigger but we were fed up with walking and the lounge in terminal 1 was very close to our gate for the next flight. The Dubai airport is getting very big by the way and the design is a bit like BKK airport.

In the lounge there were no sleeping facilities and we just used the cushions from the chair to make up a couple of beds on the floor. But we didn’t get that much sleep – at about 6 am the activity picked up on the airport and they started announcing many of the flights (in both Arabic and English). In the end I gave up on the sleeping and moved over to drinking coffee and surfing the net

We walked over to our gate at 8 am and when we got our new boarding cards we noticed that we had been upgraded without any notice. This means that we got bumped up from Business to First class on our flight EK418. After a bit of waiting we boarded our Boeing 777 and it seemed to be a bit older model but that didn’t really matter. I had seat 1E on this leg.

When we found our seat there was already a bowl of chocolate in place and the noise cancelling headsets were in place already. Each seat had a small “bar” with water, juice, soft drinks etc. After this we also got a towel, a new toiletry bag (a bit nicer than the previous one but with the same contents), slippers, menus and pyjamas of course.

So then we were at it again so to speak – how can you resist when they are serving a Moet & Chandon Dom Perignon 2000 even if it was only like 9 am. It is a hard job being a “journalist” for these kind of flights but I guess someone has to do it.

The first class seat was pretty good and the table that was folded in front of me when eating felt like it was a square meter. I also had a big screen (17” I think) with the ICE system which is excellent. This can give you hundreds of channels with movies, TV, music, games…all on demand of course. But I think what was most surprising for us was the notice from the crew saying that there was no schedules for meals, drinks etc. The serving was on demand in other words and we could order stuff from the menu whenever we wanted. This is a bit weird when you are just used to getting food when the hosts served it. We started with some more champagne and nuts – my host spilled quite a bit of champagne on my pants by the way and that was of course a bit of a let down. I could see where it was heading when he started pouring but strapped in the seat it was hard for me to avoid it when it started spilling

As it was morning I went for the omelette while my colleague when straight for the steak. After a while the dishing up started with a bread basket, salt and pepper grinders, cutlery etc. We also got some fruit to start with and then I got the omelette with potatoes, mushroom and vegetables. After this I went for a cheese platter and I had the option of a sauterne or a port wine from 1985. I went for the sauterne and as you can see from the photo the host was quite generous with the potion – was that half the bottle that went into my glass? :;-)

To round it of I had some coffee, Baileys and Godiva chocolate. I think I can summarize it by saying that the meal and experience was great.

As I didn’t get that much sleep in Dubai and after a bit of drinking I was getting a bit tired so I reclined my seat and it was pretty much flat. My host also put a top madras on the seat to make it softer. The toilet was not that great by the way and it was quite tiny so I’m not sure where you are supposed to change into the pyjamas. I got to sleep a couple of hours and when I woke up I thought to myself that I wouldn’t have minded it if the flight was longer

After a 5 ½ hour flight we landed in Bangkok at about 6 PM local time. Once again we had a landing that was not that great as the pilot slammed the plane down on the runway there was also a pretty noticeable bump as the nose wheel touched the landing strip. But maybe it is just me that are not used to sitting this far towards the front of the plane

At BKK airport we went to the Thai ticket service to see what we could do about the flight that we missed to KUL. They informed us that we could change the ticket for the same flight the next day – so we called the hotel in KL and said that we would be one day late and we got into a taxi and drove into Bangkok – a night in Bangkok is always fun When it comes to Thai I wish it was simpler to use points from SAS to upgrade. It should be easier to use points across the boards within the StarAlliance. I know that it can be done today but it just seems to be quite a hassle today.

That is the end of this trip report. The next day we flew to KUL in an Airbus 340 on economy. I plan to also make a summary of the trip back home again.