Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Saturday, March 03, 2012
Trip report: BNE-SIN with EK
BNE flight display board. I miss the good old flip ones.
Flight details:
Flight number: EK 433
Day: 11 Jan 2011
Seat: 39H. Nearly didn't get it.
Scheduled takeoff: 0245
Actual takeoff: 0255
Scheduled landing: 0800
Actual landing: 0800 on the dot
At the gate: 0805
Registration: A6-EGG
And so, another year ended for me in Brisbane. 2011 had been a very interesting year for me, but overall I would say it was a good year, and in totality I was very blessed in my dealings for 2011. It also was a milestone in my personal life, moving on from being a student to being another member of the workforce.
I had never intended to go back to Kuching for the 2011-2012 summer period. I would be looking for a new job, trying to settle into the new world called "working" and starting my new life. This is not to say that I do not want to go back to Kuching, but my circumstances at the time suggested that I would be spending the (Gregorian) new year of 2012 looking for a new job.
Still, I was blessed, and for all my worries of spending the start of 2012 looking for gainful employment, I managed to confirm a job before Christmas, which in turn only started in February. Given these developments, my parents asked if I would like to go back to Kuching in the nearly 2 months gap between my old job and starting my new job.
While I didn't mind, this conversation was done during before the peak Christmas period, where the mood is "buy! buy! buy!" and BNE-SYD air tickets were going for $200 one way. I felt the chances of me getting a reasonable fare back home were slim at best, and resigned myself to just sending a card back home.
So it was in these circumstances that I found myself at home, alone, on Christmas Eve, where everything closed at 3pm, and having nothing much to do, randomly clicked on a few airline websites to see how crazy prices were at that time of the year. MH was quoting AUD1700 for the whole BNE-KUL-KCH leg roundtrip. SQ was asking for AUD1600 for BNE-SIN alone, and I'm talking economy class here people. QF was asking for AUD1500 for BNE-NRT one way. EK was doing BNE-SIN roundtrip for AUD883.
Wait, what?
Checking my eyes, I did a search for a departure date of 10 Jan and return on 8 Feb. Yep. Still AUD883. Moved around dates a bit. Yep. Still AUD883 as long as you fly after 10 Feb. 9 Feb was completely blocked off for some reason, and anything before then was just ridiculous.
With my adrenalin rushing through my veins, I checked out AK for their SIN-KCH flights around those dates. SGD209 once you add in luggage allowance but without food. MH was doing the same thing for SGD228, and would have food and be able to check my bags straight through to KCH.
I did some math: it all came up to around AUD1056 for the whole BNE-SIN-KCH sector. Not the cheapest I've had, but not too bad considering that time of the year and how close I was to the flying date at the time of booking.
Then EK decided to screw me over.
 |
| Midnight at the airport. EK is the 2nd one out for the "day" |
So there I was, going to book for EK for the dates of 9 Jan - 8 Feb, but after selecting and confirming those dates, when I clicked "purchase" to go to the next screen, a error message was inserted into the page frame, saying that the seat conditions had changed, and was redirected to the search page again. Upon a re-search, my desired flight dates of 9 Jan had gone!
The next available flight is 11 Jan, 2 full days later. I grabbed and booked it. Later, I tried again, and annoyingly 9 Jan was available!
I had booked my MH SIN-KCH flights by then!
As I said at the time, Emirates (EK) is screwing with me. Their booking availability has no relationship with their actual seating availability.
It certainly is by design, how these things happen with their online booking systems, and it is a business decision rather than any technical limitations.
So for me, 2 days less in Kuching, 2 more days in Brisbane to while away time. *sigh*
You would have thought being forced to fly at odd times they would be more sensible in other parts. Oh well.
10 Feb 2012 was a very hot day for Brisbane, and even by night the mercury had only gone down to 30C. I spent the day packing and trying to stay cool, and at 2230 was kindly given a lift to the airport by a friend. After profusely thanking them and paying off my debts, I made my way into the International Terminal of BNE.
Through I must say it isn't too bad these days. The last AirTrain into BNE is now at 2130, as opposed to 1930 previously. While BNE isn't the most interesting airport on earth, no one could accuse me to arriving late to the airport.
I arrived at the airport at 2300. EK check-in was only open 3 hours before my flight, around 2345. I wandered around a bit, looking at the group of people that had gathered around check-in row 10. Around 2315 someone came over the PA announcing that the check-in desks for EK433 were open.
I was one of the first few in line, but even then there was a small group of people in front of me. So I queued up. The line just got longer and longer behind me, and it moved slowly despite 8 counters functioning. I knew this was going to be a full flight.
Oddly, I could not check-in online for this flight, as I usually do. The first time I tried the EK online check-in system correctly retrieved my details, but barfed when I tried to do the actual check-in, throwing up an error box in the dynamically generated web page that "this flight cannot be checked-in online, please go to the airport and do so manually"
Tried across the course of the day, to no avail. I wasn't overly concerned, and figured that I should be safe due to the early lead time I had to check-in, not to mention being so early in the airport.
I suppose this is a welcome change from LCC land, where AK and TG charge for the basic right to check-in at the airport.
Eventually I got to the end of the line, and started the check-in process. One interesting observation was the check-in lady did not look at my printed E-ticket at all. It was only my passport which she used to find me in the system, which as usual she had some initial difficulty because the Malaysian passport does not differentiate surnames in the name field.
As much as I am aware that I come from a country where half the population doesn't have surnames, I wish they made the provision for those who have one.
I had a little bit of drama at the check-in. Initially I was assigned seat 25K, which to my horror was a window seat. I would piss off everyone in that row. On long haul flights I need a aisle seat, as I'm not terribly good at sitting still for extended periods of time. I requested for a aisle seat, only to be told that there were no more aisle seats.
I pleaded with her, telling that I need a aisle seat, and that I would take any aisle seat. She gestured to the crowd behind me and said that it was a full flight. I pressed on, asking her to check again, to see if an aisle seat was available.
To her credit, she did manage to find an aisle seat, leaving me with the remark "The seats must have been reassigned". I thanked her and am quite grateful for that. It was a huge relief, and I am thankful for that check-in lady.
That said, I have a sequence number of 88. Chinese cultural paradigms of luck aside, even if all 87 passengers in front of me chose aisle seats, there should be at least one aisle seat for me left. I wonder what really happened that night?
Brisbane Airport was filled with posters wishing their Chinese tourists Happy Spring Festival. I must say it does get quite quiet in the airport at night.
Around 0005, someone came over the PA system and said their check-in systems had frozen, that there was a system malfunction and they're requesting passengers to bear with them while they rebooted the system.
The lines were still long at the check-in counter, and there was no doubting that this flight would be packed to the rafters.
With nothing to do, and with all shops closed at that hour, I just sat down and tried to get some rest. Filling up the departure card only killed so much time. By 0113 I was starting to nod off. BNE was pumping out upbeat tunes from the 80's through the PA system. As I always say, give me back the 80's.
Around 0116 I saw the EK cabin crew make their way to immigration, and decided to make my way in. After the usual ritual of airport security screening, and clearing immigration with an officer who looked like he'd rather be at home in bed rather than stamping my passport, I was on the air side.
Despite the gates not open. there was already a queue snaking out, itching to get on. I decided to try and get some rest. Which is quite hard in BNE as the sofa seats don't have much back support, and no head support. I lay down, looking at the screen made out of multiple screens piping in BBC World broadcasting the chaos in Syria.
In retrospect, I think it was simply just a feed of ABC News 24, which switches to a BBC World feed overnight.
It was quite a well mix of passengers of different demography's on this flight. British holidaymakers with Indian nationals in the mix, Singaporean students, other Australians, young Arab families, and I saw another fellow Malaysian. Not too many screaming children on this flight thankfully.
We started boarding at 0200.
EK has a unusual seating arrangement for their 777's. While the standard 777 configuration from Boeing is 2-5-2 (MH) or 3-3-3 (SQ), EK has a much tighter 3-4-3 seating arrangement. The width of my cabin bag is just barely wide enough for their aisles, and many times I kept bumping into the seats or someone's legs.
To my fellow passengers: sorry if my bag bumped into you!
When I got to my seat I tried to find a overhead locker to stow my cabin bag, but all the lockers around me were full. Seeing me look around for some space, this Kenyan air-hostess pointed to one for me, which I loaded my bag into. And ran into my second problem.
The locker wouldn't close! And it wouldn't open!
It had got itself into such a position that the locker couldn't close completely, but has caught on to something which left it unable to open. After seeing me struggle (and hold up the other passengers) for a while, she came to my aid. After more struggling she kicked off her shoes and stood on top of the arm rests while the both of us tried to get it out.
By this point I was in a state of panic, but she kept calm, and eventually with both of us we managed to dislodge my cabin bag and open the locker. It was to find another locker for my bag, and I apologized to the other passengers held up by me.
I have a lot of respect for cabin crew, and was thankful that she came to my help. Throughout the flight when we met we had eye contact and acknowledged each other.
With A6-EGG just a few months old (I think it had been in service with EK for less than 6 months when I flew it), the ICE system was brand new, and the screen was a touch screen.
It was also the sharpest screen I've seen thus far. Sorry Air NZ. You're now second place.
Pushback was at 0242, and we were in the air by 0250. The power and force of the 777 engines never fail to impress me. It never gets old, and I the takeoff portion of the 777 is always the highlight for me.
As the cabin lights were on, it was hard to get some sleep, so I played around with the IFE system a bit. My mind was in no mood to be able to comprehend anything, so I just poked around. Its a new system, with a different interface with the old ICE that I experienced the last time I flew EK.
"Supper" was wheeled out at 0353. It was actually very delicious. A salmon roll, with a blueberry muffin. I wonder why the gave us cutlery. Can't imagine too many people eating either of them with a fork and a knife. But the food was delicious, and worth staying awake to eat it.
Drinks came along, but there was no juice. Choices were soft drinks in small cute little cans. I decided to go easy on the sugar at that hour, and just requested for a simple glass of water.
10 Feb 2012 was a very hot day for Brisbane, and even by night the mercury had only gone down to 30C. I spent the day packing and trying to stay cool, and at 2230 was kindly given a lift to the airport by a friend. After profusely thanking them and paying off my debts, I made my way into the International Terminal of BNE.
Through I must say it isn't too bad these days. The last AirTrain into BNE is now at 2130, as opposed to 1930 previously. While BNE isn't the most interesting airport on earth, no one could accuse me to arriving late to the airport.
I arrived at the airport at 2300. EK check-in was only open 3 hours before my flight, around 2345. I wandered around a bit, looking at the group of people that had gathered around check-in row 10. Around 2315 someone came over the PA announcing that the check-in desks for EK433 were open.
I was one of the first few in line, but even then there was a small group of people in front of me. So I queued up. The line just got longer and longer behind me, and it moved slowly despite 8 counters functioning. I knew this was going to be a full flight.
Oddly, I could not check-in online for this flight, as I usually do. The first time I tried the EK online check-in system correctly retrieved my details, but barfed when I tried to do the actual check-in, throwing up an error box in the dynamically generated web page that "this flight cannot be checked-in online, please go to the airport and do so manually"
Tried across the course of the day, to no avail. I wasn't overly concerned, and figured that I should be safe due to the early lead time I had to check-in, not to mention being so early in the airport.
I suppose this is a welcome change from LCC land, where AK and TG charge for the basic right to check-in at the airport.
Eventually I got to the end of the line, and started the check-in process. One interesting observation was the check-in lady did not look at my printed E-ticket at all. It was only my passport which she used to find me in the system, which as usual she had some initial difficulty because the Malaysian passport does not differentiate surnames in the name field.
As much as I am aware that I come from a country where half the population doesn't have surnames, I wish they made the provision for those who have one.
 |
| 30KG luggage allowance with EK FTW |
I pleaded with her, telling that I need a aisle seat, and that I would take any aisle seat. She gestured to the crowd behind me and said that it was a full flight. I pressed on, asking her to check again, to see if an aisle seat was available.
To her credit, she did manage to find an aisle seat, leaving me with the remark "The seats must have been reassigned". I thanked her and am quite grateful for that. It was a huge relief, and I am thankful for that check-in lady.
That said, I have a sequence number of 88. Chinese cultural paradigms of luck aside, even if all 87 passengers in front of me chose aisle seats, there should be at least one aisle seat for me left. I wonder what really happened that night?
Brisbane Airport was filled with posters wishing their Chinese tourists Happy Spring Festival. I must say it does get quite quiet in the airport at night.
Around 0005, someone came over the PA system and said their check-in systems had frozen, that there was a system malfunction and they're requesting passengers to bear with them while they rebooted the system.
The lines were still long at the check-in counter, and there was no doubting that this flight would be packed to the rafters.
With nothing to do, and with all shops closed at that hour, I just sat down and tried to get some rest. Filling up the departure card only killed so much time. By 0113 I was starting to nod off. BNE was pumping out upbeat tunes from the 80's through the PA system. As I always say, give me back the 80's.
 |
| Walkway down to gate 75 |
Despite the gates not open. there was already a queue snaking out, itching to get on. I decided to try and get some rest. Which is quite hard in BNE as the sofa seats don't have much back support, and no head support. I lay down, looking at the screen made out of multiple screens piping in BBC World broadcasting the chaos in Syria.
In retrospect, I think it was simply just a feed of ABC News 24, which switches to a BBC World feed overnight.
It was quite a well mix of passengers of different demography's on this flight. British holidaymakers with Indian nationals in the mix, Singaporean students, other Australians, young Arab families, and I saw another fellow Malaysian. Not too many screaming children on this flight thankfully.
We started boarding at 0200.
EK has a unusual seating arrangement for their 777's. While the standard 777 configuration from Boeing is 2-5-2 (MH) or 3-3-3 (SQ), EK has a much tighter 3-4-3 seating arrangement. The width of my cabin bag is just barely wide enough for their aisles, and many times I kept bumping into the seats or someone's legs.
To my fellow passengers: sorry if my bag bumped into you!
When I got to my seat I tried to find a overhead locker to stow my cabin bag, but all the lockers around me were full. Seeing me look around for some space, this Kenyan air-hostess pointed to one for me, which I loaded my bag into. And ran into my second problem.
The locker wouldn't close! And it wouldn't open!
It had got itself into such a position that the locker couldn't close completely, but has caught on to something which left it unable to open. After seeing me struggle (and hold up the other passengers) for a while, she came to my aid. After more struggling she kicked off her shoes and stood on top of the arm rests while the both of us tried to get it out.
By this point I was in a state of panic, but she kept calm, and eventually with both of us we managed to dislodge my cabin bag and open the locker. It was to find another locker for my bag, and I apologized to the other passengers held up by me.
I have a lot of respect for cabin crew, and was thankful that she came to my help. Throughout the flight when we met we had eye contact and acknowledged each other.
With A6-EGG just a few months old (I think it had been in service with EK for less than 6 months when I flew it), the ICE system was brand new, and the screen was a touch screen.
It was also the sharpest screen I've seen thus far. Sorry Air NZ. You're now second place.
Pushback was at 0242, and we were in the air by 0250. The power and force of the 777 engines never fail to impress me. It never gets old, and I the takeoff portion of the 777 is always the highlight for me.
As the cabin lights were on, it was hard to get some sleep, so I played around with the IFE system a bit. My mind was in no mood to be able to comprehend anything, so I just poked around. Its a new system, with a different interface with the old ICE that I experienced the last time I flew EK.
"Supper" was wheeled out at 0353. It was actually very delicious. A salmon roll, with a blueberry muffin. I wonder why the gave us cutlery. Can't imagine too many people eating either of them with a fork and a knife. But the food was delicious, and worth staying awake to eat it.
Drinks came along, but there was no juice. Choices were soft drinks in small cute little cans. I decided to go easy on the sugar at that hour, and just requested for a simple glass of water.
Night mood lighting. My camera does no justice how nice it actually looks.
I was going to order a glass of red wine to help knock me to sleep, but I fell asleep waiting for my service call to be answered. Just as well I suppose.
About 2 hours of sleep later, I was woken up by the flash of a Polaroid camera (Y'know, those that print out a picture instantly). The (female) cabin crew had taken a shine to a young family's baby in front of me, and were taking pictures of it and giving the family the pictures. I thought it was quite awesome, and that is actually quite some memento to take back with you.
Having been awoken, I found getting back to sleep quite impossible, and so decided to play around with the IFE a little bit.
As mentioned previously, the IFE is touch screen, through one can still navigate it using the physical controls. Maybe its just me, in this age of kinetic scrolling and capacitive screens, and while it was a lot more responsive that the older system I used the last time, I found navigating to be a bit cumbersome.
Their music playlist had a "Best of Anime" section, with "The Biggest Dreamer", but not sung by Wada Kouji, probably due to licensing restrictions. That to me is blasphemy. There is only one person who can do Biggest Dreamer, and that is Wada Kouji himself.
The playlist had a lot of classics. The original 1950's opening theme of Astro Boy anyone?
But they had Nami Tamaki, so I'll let this slide this time.
I must say the ICE system of navigation could do with a few tweaks. It was pretty annoying, when browsing the playlists, when selecting one of them, the song will go the first song in the new playlist, stopping the current song you're listening to. It would have been great if they only played the songs when it was selected, and allow me to browse the other playlists while listening to Nami Tamaki.
Even if she was a one hit wonder.
 |
| The Simpsons. If there was even a model dysfunctional family they'd be it |
I found the placement of the headset jack on the seat in front of me problematic. Call me a traditionalist, but I'd prefer it on the armrest. Every time I had to leave my seat I had to unplug it.
No problems with EK legroom. Aisle's and seats may be narrower, but the generous 34" legroom makes up for it.
Truth to be told I didn't watch much. Most of the time I was just listening to music. Watched a few loose eps of The Big Bang Theory, The Simpsons, How I Met Your Mother, and Two and a Half Men. Didn't quite have the energy for a full movie.
Breakfast
Breakfast what wheeled out at 0835 (0635 SGT), and was delicious. The meat patty was a little too salty, but the sausage was nice, and the tomato was sweet instead of the usual sour. Mushrooms were well done, and the potato was nice and juicy.
Jam and croissant. What more can a man ask for?
The bun was good, and those round cheese things (not pictured) they serve with it is quite nice.
Drinks came along, and I had some mango juice and a 7-up.
Coming into Singapore
Please don't judge my by my choice of soundtrack..........
Downwards camera. The industrial areas of Batam?
Overall it was a good flight. Quite smooth, not too much turbulence, even when crossing the equator near south Borneo.
The cargo ships along the Straits of Singapore that lubricate the wheels of the global economy
Industrial areas of Changi
Approach into Changi
Runway 02L, the T3 side
Touchdown
A 4 hour+ wait lay ahead of me in Changi for my connecting flight to KCH. I was in no rush to get off the plane, and was actually the last person to get out. The Kenyan air hostess welcomed me to my destination, to which I responded that I was in transit.
The army of cleaners were waiting for me outside the plane to get it, and a new crew would come to replace the one I was with for the last 8 hours.
Final thoughts:
Emirates is still good, and my impression of them is they're where SQ was 25-30 years ago: good service for cheap(ish) fares. Give a few more years and they'll be like where SQ today: they know they have a premium product, and can get away with charging extra.
One thing EK cannot do through, is the local touch. Their cabin crew is very international, and those of middle east appearance are usually from Lebanon. Their own Emirati population would not want to work in such a position. Unlike Singapore, which has the Singapore Girl, Emirates does not have something that is uniquely theirs.
Still, they are a good airline, and where they lack in service they make up for food, presentation and comfort. I have no qualms flying them again, and hope they continue to route more of their southern hemisphere flights via Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.
One day through, I will scrape enough change to try their first class. Preferably on the Kangaroo route to Europe.
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