A Stamp Collecting Journey with TG, OZ and TK

[phaleesy]

Heehee... I was thinking of a different kind of stamps - postage stamps - when I read the title.

Thanks for sharing the TR, SilverChris.

Based on my limited experience, I'm not a fan of TG ground service.

[SilverChris]

G'day, Sydney! It was a warm Tuesday morning, and the weather was perfect for flying. In no time, I found myself back in the airside area of the International Terminal, with a stylish blue Asiana boarding pass.



Immigration and security were swift thanks to the express pass given by the OZ check in staff, though I was stopped for an explosives swab - my second consecutive time when leaving Australia. And there I was thinking I had an innocent look

Leaving the security check area, I found myself in the middle of a large duty free store. The Air New Zealand lounge was slightly over 5 minutes away.


This has to be among my favorite lounge entrances. Warm, modern and classy with an NZ touch to it (spot the two adorable "kiwi's"?)


The lounge itself was fairly nice, and wasn't too crowded when I arrived.




The best part of it (for aviation nuts, at least) has to be the fantastic tarmac view.


Almost directly below was the jumbo I flew on just a few hours ago, preparing for her return to the Thai capital.


An SQ 773, EK A380 and my ride to Seoul, HL7500 that just landed after a 10 hour red eye.




I had a badly needed shower after having a bite, and found the shower rooms to be fairly spacious although the cleanliness left a lot to be desired. Still, I appreciated the fact that i didn't need to wait for one.

[SilverChris]

Gate 24 was over 10 minutes away, discounting the fact that several travellators were out of order (I looked like an idiot stepping onto one and instinctively stopping without realizing that it wasn't moving.)

Departure hall view from the outside the lounge, which I left about 5 minutes before boarding began.


Halfway through my trek to gate 24, an announcement was made informing passengers of OZ602 being delayed....by 5 minutes. Seriously? I know they had good intentions but it did give me a scare when I heard "OZ602" and "delayed" in the same sentence.

There was a long queue at the Economy boarding lane when I arrived, though I walked straight to the priority line and was through in a few seconds.


I find it rather odd that QF has a three digit codeshare flight number. Maybe I'm just too used to the airlines here where most, if not all codeshare flight numbers are in the upper 4-digits (eg SQ5123, MH9876 etc).

Another odd occurrence this morning was the use of only one aerobridge for boarding, which resulted in quite a queue to board the aircraft.


Asiana Airlines OZ602
Depart: Sydney - SYD 1010
Arrive: Seoul Incheon - ICN 1850
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200ER
Registration: HL7500

Anyeong haseo! I was warmly greeted by one of the FAs (they all looked rather similar to me) and directed to the correct aisle, all in Korean. Interestingly, I was also initially addressed in Thai on TG. Do I really look that Asian?

Pre-departure drinks were served while boarding was well underway, which meant requiring the Economy passengers to pause behind the FA while I selected my beverage


When I selected my seat online a few months ago using the OZ website, the only window available seat was 4A. Every other seat seemed to be taken, which surprised me as I didn't expect the flight to be THAT full. At check in, I was moved up to 2A and had the seat beside me blocked, though it wasn't necessary as the flight was only half full (or half empty, depending on how you look at it )


Once again, I wasn't lucky enough to get an equipment swap to a "Quadra Smartium" equipped bird with the wonderful 1-2-1 staggered seats, though I fully knew what to expect and turned my expectations down a notch. For the record, it happened a handful of times in the past 2 months, though not today, unfortunately.

The seat itself wasn't all that bad (as long as you're not stuck in the middle seat) and had a fairly generous pitch. Amenity kits, slippers and headphones were waiting at the seat.


The crew didn't have an issue with me placing my backpack below the seat ahead of me, despite the notice that read "No Stowage" - a far cry from SQ which insists on all hand baggage going into the overhead compartments.

At the start of the safety video, the crew (including the "Inflight service manager" who was a male FA) stood along the aisles and bowed in unison ^




Contents of the seat pocket.

[SilverChris]

The captain came on the blower to inform of us of a delayed pushback due to ATC congestion. Not that I minded the slightest bit, though. Flying time today was 10 hours and 10 minutes. Coincidentally, our departure time was 1010.


After the safety video was done with the purser (I think) came over to each passenger and thanked us for flying with Asiana, and informed us of our flying duration and arrival time. While it wasn't exactly personal (we weren't addressed by name and it was basically a memorized script) it was a very nice gesture nonetheless.

The skyline of Sydney could be seen in the background. So close yet so far! On hindsight, a real holiday here could have costed me a fortune judging by the strength of the Aussie dollar.


We made a fairly long taxi to runway 34L, and waited for a Virgin Australia 737 to land before beginning our powerful takeoff roll.


Goodbye, Sydney! Liftoff was at 1040, half an hour past our STD.


Never knew there was an Ikea near the airport!


Flying eastbound after takeoff


Seatbelt sign was switched off 9:54 away from ICN.


(Still) no noise cancelling headphones were available in J.


Menus and wine lists were handed out.

[SilverChris]

Lunch was a rather lavish affair (by J standards) today. In comparison, SQ throws in Satay as the canapé for the full lunch and dinner services - which is as generous as it gets with them, while I don't think TG offers anything "solid" before the appetizer (correct me if I'm wrong here!)


The western options sounded nice, though I heard the Bibimbab was a must-try on OZ, so I went with the latter.


The pre-landing snack menu was as follows.


The bubbly onboard today's flight.




The major letdown was the absence of AVOD. Still acceptable on a 1 or 2 hop, but a 10 hour long haul?! I ended up watching Here Comes the Boom for the second time in less than 24 hours. Just forget I ever said I wouldn't watch again it in the forseeable future onboard my previous sector.


I'd initially asked for the western appetizer (I'm a huge fan of salmon, and the Korean appetizers didn't sound too interesting) which the FA agreed to serve. Five minutes later she returned with an apologetic look and informed me that they'd run out of western appetizers. I was totally fine with it, though she apologised profusely and I nearly felt bad about asking for it in the first place.

Eventually, the table was set and starter delivered along with yet another apology.


The crew were very refined and friendly, with every move as gracious as it could be.


I had a glass of bubbly which was poured with much professionalism.


Next came the turnip roll, which was pretty average.

[SilverChris]

After the cold dishes were cleared it was time for the pumpkin porridge. All this while I was thinking that it was pumpkin soup, and only realized it was porridge when having a closer look at the menu when writing this report! It's probably because I only had about two or three spoonfuls of it - I just despise all things pumpkin (except Halloween).


The FA was rather concerned about me barely touching it at all, though I reassured her that it was just my distaste for pumpkin and nothing was wrong with it.

The most anticipated part of the meal: Bibimbab


You basically mix everything together until it's a complete mess before digging in. Instructions were found on the menu.


Although I'm an Asian (my friends argue that I'm a "banana": yellow outside, white inside, but that's a discussion for another day) my taste buds are leaning more towards the west so I regard meals like this as a delicacy. Even so, I wasn't impressed. I think the Bibimbab is overrated, but maybe that's just me.

The view of this seemingly endless island (considered a continental landmass) was amazing.


After the main course was cleared we were about to leave the Australian mainland.


The amazingly uninspiring dessert followed next.


Coffee and tea was served from a nicely presented trolley. The smiles and warmth of the crew were nicer, though


Could there be a classier way to present your selection of teas to passengers?


I realized they were serving western desserts at the same time, and they were more than happy to spare one for me. It wasn't fantastic either, though at least I've had a "real" dessert now.


Lastly, some Korean cookies. Basically some tasteless crunchy stuff that I could have done without.

[Kyo]

Lunch was a rather lavish affair (by J standards) today. In comparison, SQ throws in Satay as the canapé for the full lunch and dinner services - which is as generous as it gets with them, while I don't think TG offers anything "solid" before the appetizer (correct me if I'm wrong here!)

Well, SQ236 from BNE-SIN had lunch service and no satay was served... I normally take the redeye so I'm not sure if this is normal or not. And it's probably been mentioned (vaguely, irrc) on some other thread on this forum, probably the satay thread.

[9V-JKL]

Well, SQ236 from BNE-SIN had lunch service and no satay was served... I normally take the redeye so I'm not sure if this is normal or not. And it's probably been mentioned (vaguely, irrc) on some other thread on this forum, probably the satay thread.

All SQ flights ex-Oz do not serve Satay. All Satay is uploaded in SIN and since the Aussies don't allow any meat imports....therefore, no satay...

[SilverChris]

All SQ flights ex-Oz do not serve Satay. All Satay is uploaded in SIN and since the Aussies don't allow any meat imports....therefore, no satay...

There was definitely satay onboard SQ214 PER-SIN when I flew in December.

[9V-SIA]

Enjoying this TR

One day, I'd like to do a Circle Pacific route with Star Alliance to try out as many J configurations as I can.

You must be the only member of the A300 Fan Club!

It did put Airbus on the map...

[SilverChris]

The lunch service was conducted at a leisurely pace, wrapping up just as we were leaving the southern hemisphere.


Lights were dimmed and window shades were shut, at which point I fell asleep for about 3 hours. The seat was far from flat, though I still had a pretty decent nap.

After waking up an FA came over an offered me a hot towel, and asked if I cared for a midflight snack. I wasn't hungry, but I just had to include more pictures in this report, so...

I had a ham sandwich, which was delicious. I only expected to have a few nibbles of it, but surprisingly finished the whole thing.


For the first time in years, I actually felt bored on an aircraft. Granted, most of my flights are just short hops, though every other long haul had at least some decent IFE to keep me entertained. I played a round of inflight trivia, though it got boring after a while as I knew the answers to pretty much every question. Now I'd like to clarify that I'm not bragging, but pointing out the fact that the questions were just...to easy.

See what I mean?

There wasn't much else to do with the window shades down and IFE which is practically non-existent so I stared at the flight map and tried to get some work done on my iPad.


Soon enough, the lights were back on, followed by another round of hot towels.




CIQ forms were distributed. I was handed a Korean version of the customs form at first, though the FA quickly apologized after I asked for an English one.


The pre-landing meal was served slightly over 2 hours out of ICN, starting with the delicious smoked chicken breast and greens.


I had the porridge, which was as bland as it could get.


I'm not sure if the guys at OZ were running low on inspiration or budget, but they seriously need to serve more impressive desserts.


Cabin view after the meal service.

[SilverChris]

Making landfall over the southeastern tip of the Korean peninsular.


An ICN guide video was shown shortly before landing.


A beautiful sunset over the Yellow Sea.


Another aircraft overflying us in the opposite direction. Nice contrail!




The cabin was prepared for landing, and the purser came over again to thank everyone for flying with Asiana. Another plus point for OZ!

We landed at 1850, right on schedule.

Incheon? I thought we were going to Seoul!




12 minutes of taxiing and 2 abrupt stops later, we finally pulled into the Main Terminal.


Cabin view after disembarkation


The lovely crew were once again at the doors, bidding farewell to passengers. I thanked them and proceeded into the terminal, where immigration took 10 minutes to clear.


A flight from Taiwan must have landed before us as the immigration hall was filled with Taiwanese passport holders.

My bags were first off the belt and I was through customs in no time. I quite like the arrival hall of ICN - organized, spacious and modern. It was near freezing outside, which made me feel grateful for not needing to head into Seoul.


The OZ experience was great, though it could have been better. The crew were excellent, giving the SQ girls a run for their money anytime. It's the hardware that is in a desperate need of an overhaul. The "IFE" was a joke with no AVOD, and noise cancelling headsets were still not available for J passengers. The food could be improved, especially the desserts, though I'm sure there are others who prefer healthier (and boring) desserts.

I won't hesitate to fly OZ again, though i'd probably avoid the non QS 772s until they get refitted or retired.

Next up, a 12 hour journey to Istanbul with TK! Time to adjust my watch...and expectations

[SilverChris]

After meeting another relative for some top secret classified document handover, my mission was complete. I had over three hours to go prior to my 2355 departure, so I took a slow stroll outside while taking in the now freezing temperatures. As I said, it never dips below 22°C where I'm from so call me crazy, but I actually enjoyed 10 minutes of it.



In some ways, my home airport, KUL is pretty similar to ICN. Both opened within three years of each other (1998 and 2001 respectively) and have a rather similar terminal design - a main terminal and a satellite/concourse connected by a train - and serve a similar number of passengers annually. I'll try to keep my comparisons brief, so do try to bear with me!



ICN's check in hall has a more welcoming feel to it, compared with KUL's black and grey design that really bores me out. It was still early, but I dropped by the TK counters to find out what time were they starting check in.

TK91 is a codeshare with OZ, though the latter does have its own flights to IST.


There's no mistaking TK's counters. Lionel Messi - a brand ambassador - proudly carries a Miles & Smiles Elite Plus card, probably indicating where the priority lanes are.


Surprisingly, it was only half past 8 and check in had already begun, though the monitors still indicated otherwise. There didn't seem to be a Business/*G lane, though there were online check in lanes which had shorter queues. Oh, and no fancy carpets for their premium passengers either (more #firstworldproblems)


The agent greeted and asked where I was I bound for in Korean (again!), though she quickly switched to English after getting a blank stare. I enquired about the load for tonight's flight, and was told it was "full". How many passengers? "22 out of 36". I didn't try to debate whether or not 61% was "full", which probably turned out to be a good idea as she blocked the seat beside me "as a courtesy for a Turkish Elite member". Hmm, guess the card did come in handy after all... She'd already pre-completed all the lounge invites for everyone in J, and I was off in 5 minutes.

I wasn't about to spend 3 hours airside, so I dragged my carryon along with me to the furtustic looking "Transportation Centre" a few hundred meters away from the main terminal.

Shiny, modern and, well, futuristic. I was impressed by the cool design of it, though it wasn't immediately clear what purpose it served to me except for being a link to the car parks.


Various theories started running through my mind. A cleverly disguised terminal preparing to welcome passengers from some intergalactic express in 2050? Hardly unbelievable as there seemed to be a long track to seemingly nowhere as you can see in the following photo.


It was time to head airside, though I seemed to catch the security staff off-guard as I walked into the passport control entrance. Needless to say, I was the only passenger at security, so I received all the wonderful attention. I was asked to remove my laptop in Korean (again..) though they were friendly and efficient. Passport control was just as desolate, so I guess it was understandable for the officer to be more interested in her iPhone 5 than stamping this Korean-looking traveller's passport.


Korean carriers occupy the main terminal, so passengers of all foreign airlines need to head over to Concourse A by an underground train.


It reminded me a bit ZRH, really..


And the train itself reminded me of SIN. The inter-terminal SkyTrain is of the same rolling stock, I believe.


I had access to three lounges in this terminal, namely the contract lounge of TK (don't be misled into thinking that it's TK's own lounge), SQ's new Silverkris Lounge and OZ's *A lounge.

[SilverChris]

I was quite excited to visit the SKL which was barely two months old. As most of us know, SQ used to have a fabulous lounge in ICN but closed it in 2009, but decided to reopen one as part of their plan to "improve" their lounge experience, however unbelievable that might sound.


The cheerful agent greeted me as I stepped in. She took my boarding pass and *G card, and literally ran from her seat into the office to scan them. Meanwhile, I was invited to have seat inside.

It was totally empty. I must have been the only guest there for over 40 minutes! That meant the ability to take pictures freely without disturbing anyone. Except the cleaner lady, perhaps.


It doesn't scream much in character, but still pretty decent. Most seats have power points, which is great (assuming you have an adapter which the lounge dragon couldn't lend to non SQ passengers)




Several hot food options were on offer including chicken wings and Vietnamese noodles.








An array of finger food was also available, such as scones, bread, sandwiches and chips.

[SilverChris]

I tried a bit of everything, and was blown away. I couldn't save my appetite for the TK flight, as the food there was just amazing. They even had macaroons and delicious cheesecakes, so I was more than happy there.

It was about 16 hours since my last shower, though the SKL had showers so it was a convenient "one stop" lounge for me. Guess SQ was sensible enough to think of their SQ15/16 ICN-SFO transit passengers who wanted to freshen up, unlike their HKG SKL that doesn't even have toilets.


There were three or so shower rooms, which were spacious and immaculate. Unfortunately, SQ once again demonstrated its hatred for ensuite bathrooms by separating the toilets and showers. Not so "one stop" after all....



The water pressure was great, but the temperature was horribly difficult to control. It was hard to get that goldilocks moment as even the slightest adjustment would turn freezing water into lava. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but you get the idea.

I left the SKL at 2215 as the passengers of SQ603 started to trickle in. Next stop, the China Eastern contract lounge. As the name suggested, it was nothing to look forward to, but for the sake of lounge hopping...





It was still a decent enough place to hang around for an hour, and also featured massage chairs, which I would have used if it wasn't for the sleeping beauties hogging them.




There was mostly finger food, which was pretty underwhelming.


Instant soup


Booze selection wasn't great either.


My last stop was the OZ Business lounge. Looking at the list of customer airlines really made me wonder if alliance partnerships meant anything at all. TK chose to use the subpar "VIP" lounge, whereas non aligned airlines and certain Oneworld airlines use the OZ lounge.


It had a warm and cozy atmosphere, and featured the library theme just like its main terminal counterpart, minus the open and spacious feeling.