Qatar have been my favourite airline for over a year now. Based in the Middle Eastern kingdom of the same name, the airline has been growing aggressively adding destinations, planes and crew at a rapid pace. Along the way, they seem to have maintained their quality. The airline, has in more recent years become profitable. Last year, they joined the One World network and this week announced they were forming a Saudi Arabian subsidiary: Al Maha. Skytrax list Qatar as one of the few five star airlines in the world, along with Asiana, ANA, Cathay…
Trip Reports
Category Archives for Trip Reports.
I visit Cambodia – my 57th country
A slow third class train trip through rural Thailand, followed by a tuk tuk ride and a walk across the Thai-Cambodian border got me into Cambodia. This is the 57th country I have been to. It is also the tenth Asian country I have visited (along with Brunei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand). Over the next two weeks I will be travelling to Siam Reap and Pnom Penh in Cambodia plus Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hoi An, Hanoi and Ha Long in Vietnam.
Trip Report: Air Asia -four times!
I have not had a good run with Air Asia and have placed them in my bottom ten airlines for the last three years. I was challenged last year by a number of Air Asia supporters so I have been determined to give them a good testing. This month, I flew two flights with Air Asia and two flights with Air Asia X, their international arm. Booking: 7 out of 10 Air Asia has an attractive website that is easy to navigate. The site even has a clear guide on how to book online.…
All about OptionTown
Another way of unbundling has reached my attention. Using the services of Optiontown, I got an upgrade last week, with Air Asia at nominal cost. The way it worked was this: I completed my online booking with Air Asia I then navigated to Optiontown and retrieved my airline booking Chose the upgrade option I wanted Paid a small non refundable fee to apply for the upgrade. Fees can be paid by Credit Card or Paypal Paid a second fee equivalent to 50% of the usual upgrade price. This fee is refunded five days after the flight if upgrade does…
My 500th Route!
My 977th flight today from Penang to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was my 500th route. Since my first flight 45 years ago, I have spent 131 days instead aeroplanes. If I count check in and waiting times, I have probably spent a year of my life in air travel! Eleven of my Top 20 routes have been in Australia with sixty nine trips being between Sydney and Melbourne’s main airport Tullamarine. Not surprisingly Melbourne, Australia my home port which I have travelled into or out of 320 times features in eleven of my top routes. Los…
Trip report: Malaysia “five star”
Of the 5000+ air carriers on the world, There are only six five star airlines: ANA All Nippon Airways Asiana Airlines Cathay Pacific Malaysia Airlines Qatar Airways Singapore Airlines What makes a five star airline? According to Skytrax: The 5-Star Airline rating recognizes airlines at the forefront of product innovation, that set quality benchmarks and trends that are often followed by other carriers. The Airline Rating systems assess the standard of an airline’s Product and Service Delivery Quality, using more than 800 assessment categories, applied across both the Onboard and Airport environments. My experiences with…
Trip Report: Thai to Bangkok
Sat 8th June, 2013 08:05 Kuala Lumpur (KUL) M 09:15 Suvarnabhumi, Bangkok (BKK) Thai Airways TG 420 Non-stop: 2 hours 10 Airbus A330-300 (333) Booking: 8/10 I found the best fare for this flight on Skycanner. Ironically the cheapest fare on this Thai Airways flight was sold via Malaysian Airlines. So while booked on a Malaysian airlines flight number, I was flying on a Thai Airways plane. The logic of airline fares and rules, I have long given up on. The disadvantage of booking on the Malaysian flight was that I was unable to manage…
Qantas to Bangkok-Trip review
This was no ordinary flight for me. According to my flightmemory, it was my 950th flight ever. In addition, it was my 275th flight with Qantas and my 24th on an Airbus A330. Booking: 9 out of 10 Qantas’ booking engine is very streamlined. Six steps take you from enquiry to payment. If you are logged in as a Qantas Frequent Flyer, then the amount of information required to be typed in is minimal. Thanks to Skyscanner, I found the same fare on another website for $249 less. This saved me almost a third of the fare. It has annoyed me…
Virgin America Storm Chaos (Trip Report)
Today, Virgin America a normally good airline gave a disappointing performance. Virgin America (along with JetBlue) occupy top billing for me amongst all of the US carriers. On previous flight, I have given Virgin perfect scores with no exceptions. This most recent Virgin America flight was very disappointing! Virgin America (VX) launched in August, 2007 from their San Francisco base (now in SFO’s magnificent Terminal 2). They fly to sixteen destinations in the United States and three in Mexico. They began a Toronto, Canada service but it was not financially sustainable. This is an issue for the loss making airline which…
Aer Lingus: Budapest to Dublin (updated)
Background Aer Lingus is the flag carrier and second biggest airline in Ireland. Operating since 1936, its name an Anglicisation of the Gaelic Aer Loingeas means “air fleet” . A lot has changed for Aer Lingus in the last six years not the least being the Irish economic situation. The government reduced its 85 per cent stake to 25 percent through a listing on the Stock Exchange in 2006. Ryanair, arch rival and biggest Irish airline has now picked up close to 30 percent and attempted three takeover bids in five years.Abu Dhabi-based and owned Etihad…
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