Leroy and Bubba take part in an SQT ERT* - KUL-SIN-KUL on Air Asia

[Leroy and Bubba]

*ERT = Emergency response team

Hello SQTalk,

Mummy thought that Uncle I needed some cheering up, so we thought we'd go visit him and cousin Lee and Ryu

Mummy got our hopes up when she told us she got us tickets, and it was a "P" fare! We were excited as we were looking forward to more First Class treats!

Didn't realise until we didn't go straight on to the main terminal building and instead turned left to the LCCT did we know we were riding on AK. Seems we're getting lots of LCC BIS time, which we had our first experience in december sitting on the blue virgin.

Since Air Asia, Tiger and Jetstar started flying KUL-SIN-KUL they have been offering some very keen airfares, much less than what MH/SQ and to a certain extent, less than what JL/UL have been charging. Mummy's in a state of perma-skint so no First class for us . P, A, F are actually some of the lower fares you can buy on AK. :o, we think.

----side note----: Pet peeve alert. Many malaysians call Air Asia "AA". To the point where citibank's got a credit card that earns "AA" points. I'd like to see someone try to redeem their "AA" points for a Transatlantic Flagship suite award. Everyone in malaysia flies "AA". Doesn't take more than a couple of little bears to figure out that "AA" is of course, really the airline code for Alcoholics Anonymous. Everyone knows THAT!
----end side note----

Anyway - here's the report

On our way to the LCCT. It's a good 12-15km away by road around the perimeter of the airport. As the crow flies, probably about 5-600m, so some one dig a tunnel QUICK!


Check in was easy enough. Got our Boarding pass in 2 minutes. Mummy decided then to stump up another RM40 roundtrip for "x-press boarding" - gives you the best choice of seats since it's free seating. You get a stamp on your BP like so:



Leroy sitting on mummy's lap


The LCCT is reasonably comfy, but there's no denying it's a tin shack with some extra decor, and nothing more. Reasonably efficient though, given the traffic.



The terminal's even got pretty good seat pitch!

[Leroy and Bubba]

Boarding time! Those with Xpress boarding queue up at a separate gate, then head out to the plane with a 200m or so head start on the rest of the non Xpress boarding pax.

Here's 9M-AFX (sorry for the blurriness) waiting to take us to SIN. Hurrah! New A320!


All boarding is done via the ramp as there are no aerobridges at the LCCT.


We got 1A, and 1B was empty. AK320's have a bit more legroom in rows 1 and 12 and 14( emergency exit rows). Pitch is otherwise, dismal!


Transparent screen - according to mummy it reminds her of those BD A319's


Naughty Man in 1D. He did not have xpress boarding, so when the rest of those pax were released, he sprinted, past the "guide" (which you're not supposed to overtake) and past all the xpress boarders - and very nicely boarded first, almost running over a few elderly people (who get xpress boarding as a complimentary benefit from AK) in the process. Shame shame!


The flight was uneventful, although there were no drinks for free, no lobster, no caviar, no Krug, no Suite/bed. Mummy bought a bottle of mineral water for RM4, which was a bit expensive, but what to do when you're so high up?

Interestingly though, our cruising altitude was 26,000 ft, and we cruised for all of 2 minutes (according to mr. Pilot). The 777's that we normally take on golden goose airlines cruise at 22,000 or so ft and for a few minutes longer.The overall time is the same, I guess the widebodies have different dynamics and optimal settings for short haul hops.

[Leroy and Bubba]

We arrived in T1 then popped over to T3 to try to get some free choccies.

This pic says it all. Leroy's almost in tears. RESM does not love leroy


Met up with Uncle I, and Uncle Jubilee777 and uncle MAN Flyer.


Then had a bit of a wander around T3 too.


Not long after, uncle MAN Flyer had to leave us to go somewhere. That man in blue is either checking uncle MAN Flyer's boarding pass, or asking for his hand in marriage.

[Leroy and Bubba]

After spending a night at cousin Lee and Ryu's place we got up to go back to the airport




Finally! The words make some sense (according to mummy!) - She's been googling up "crow plaz singapore airport hotel" for the longest time and not getting proper results


The former "crow plaz" from afar

[Leroy and Bubba]

Leroy checking up the departures board in T1. There will be some unhappy bears aboard Kangaroo Airlines 72 today that's for sure !


No cheeky pics at check in today.


Luckily mummy had purchased xpress boarding. This is the pitch in Row 12, first emex row. Seat does not recline, but neither does Row 11, which is NOT emex, so do avoid ROW 11 if flying AK's A320. Row 14 does recline, so highly desirable as well.




General cabin view on the new A320's. Nice and new, but a tad cramped

[Leroy and Bubba]

Rain on departure

Was pretty wet when we left, but still managed to get one or two not so good shots of some golden geese.

From left to right: SWJ, SWI, and the 1000th Darwin 700 off the line, 9V-SMU. Mummy says she's been on all three of them before.


Pic dedicated to uncle SQ LPP - 9V-SWK


All of them sit tightly huddled together like a happy family. Except one or two prima donnas. Here's Aunty SKB, a Dinger 200 who's all by herself at some remote place. Rather anti-social. Maybe she doesn't like her sisters.


On departure from SIN. Naughty Man Mas Selamat is somewhere down there. We hope they catch him soon!


And we're home! A pair of golden kite Darwin 700 and Kelling K6's. Mummy says she'll take us on a long haul trip with them this year. Hooray!

Thanks for reading


Bye bye 9M-AFL! Our ride for the day.

[lee_apromise]

Dear bears, I've got a question for you guys. Do you know the maximum weight allowed for check-in luggage if one flies AK from SIN to KUL (booking flight + hotel)? I'm planning my trip to KUL to see my friends in november

[jhm]

Excellent! Looking forward to the FR trip report later this year...

[SQflyergirl]

Excellent! Looking forward to the FR trip report later this year...

That'd be cool. Only thing is i don't where these 2 might go to pick up a Ryanair Jet.

[SQflyergirl]

Dear bears, I've got a question for you guys. Do you know the maximum weight allowed for check-in luggage if one flies AK from SIN to KUL (booking flight + hotel)? I'm planning my trip to KUL to see my friends in november

ought to be 15kg. IIRC.

[jjpb3]

That man in blue is either checking uncle MAN Flyer's boarding pass, or asking for his hand in marriage.

Can the man bring Dom and Krug back into the SKL F, and overhaul the T3 SKL complex? If not, fuhgeddaboudit.

[SQ LPP]

Deleted....
Seems everyone gets confused...

[The High Flyer]

Nice TR, SQflyergirl. Good to know the bears and mummy had a nice trip.

Nice pic you of T1 you have that. Looks a little jaded, but does bring back memories of those days when T1 was all Singapore had. I'll be heading there next week, and once more later this month! Hee.

[SINFJ]

Leroy and Bubba how much did mummy pay in all.??

[Leroy and Bubba]

Leroy and Bubba how much did mummy pay in all.??

erm... mummy got it for free we think. We were watching her. When it came to the part where we think you're supposed to pay, she just took out a square piece of plastic from her purse and started hammering away at the keyboard.

She entered some random numbers then waited for a few seconds, and the next thing, the computer said yes, we can go! We definitely did not see mummy insert any paper notes into her computer!

Later we tried to go to singaporeair.com and tried to book some first class tickets and tried hammering away at the keyboard too... but we were not successful . Computer says no...



edit:

mummy has just taught us some numbers.
She paid RM256 round trip. That's Two Billion, Five Thousand and Six Trillion Ringgit. Bears travel free.