The search for Candy continues! (To Europe and Back, including the SQ A380 in R)

[Leroy and Bubba]

Being full means we have to go to sleep. Besides, the crew pulled down the shades already anyway. Dunno why they do that, but it's a well documented habit of theirs.


Of course we do the pretend to be asleep routine, but then get up and take some more pics. (in almost pitch black) - we're very clever though. We set the shutter to a 5 second exposure and hold it rock steady whilst it's open.

The bed is fully flat, and aunty P was knocked out for a good 5 hours. No duvet like SQ though.


Load in F is 5 today, so not too bad for sneaking around and not trying to wake anyone up!


We're still a good 2 1/2 hours out from Suvarnabhumi, but look at the tailwind!


Suddenly the lights come on full blast (not gradual like other airlines) - and the only saving grace is that it means that it's time for breakkie!

The breakkie menu (which they call the second serving)

Fresh Fruits
Fruit Yoghurt, Plain Yoghurt
Cereals

Main Course
Scrambled Egg with Tomato
Fennel Sausage
Fried Potato Cake
Grilled Half Tomato with Herb

or

Baked Potato Leek Souffle
Veal Sausage
Sauteed Wild Mushrooms
Tomato Basil Ragout

or

Assorted Cold Plate
(Cheese, Cooked Ham, Hungarian Salami)

or

Chinese Yellow Noodle Soup with Roast pork


Roll, Croissant, Cinnamon Pastry, Almond Pastry
Butter, Marmalade, Jam, Honey
Tea, coffee, Hot Chocolate

[jhm]

The food on TG F looks okay. (I remember also jjpb3's TR on the same.) Perhaps I'll overcome my aversion to TG one day...

My SK J last week was rather a good flight. A much better meal than BA Club Europe - a tasty (albeit slightly dry) piece of chicken with Middle Eastern herbs; couscous and vegetables; and a small pot of chocolate goodness. resm would have been pleased about the choccy balls handed out. Friendly service from the single - male, young, Scandinavian - crew member. All in all, I really couldn't complain even though I paid lots of BD miles for this flight.

[Leroy and Bubba]

A croissant never fails to whet the appetite!


No prizes for guessing our choice! After an overdose of western food, it's nice to have something asian instead


The other pax slowly but surely wake up too


The sun is also beginning to rise off the port side


Soon enough, we're on finals for Runway 1R at Suvarnabhumi


Quickly turning off the active, we're in Thailand. Sawasdee Kap! Note that they didn't dim the cabin lights during landing!


Even though we've arrived at a jetbridge, we're ushered off downstairs onto a bus. Time to get one last glance at HS-TGJ before we're off. Thank you princess Hariphunchai!

[StarG]

Yumm... !

[StarG]

The TG F suites look really good - but with the world economic downturn and everything, I wonder when will be the next time they redo it/launch the next generation F products (if at all).

[allmotor_2000]

TG F product appears identical to MH F product

[9V-SIA]

Your TRs never fail to enlighten and entertain

Thanks for posting

[SQflyergirl]

I've since found out why the BA map displays are the new generation types as found on this aircraft in this post

http://www.sqtalk.com/forums/showpos...6&postcount=64

It's because G-EUUZ was only delivered 6 weeks ago

resm would have been pleased about the choccy balls handed out.

Fully agree ! They're by Lindt, and I kept searching for them in FRA but couldn't find them. They're sensational.

The TG F suites look really good - but with the world economic downturn and everything, I wonder when will be the next time they redo it/launch the next generation F products (if at all).

Maybe they will get a chance with their A380's. For me, apart from the lack of privacy, it's a comfortable seat, and their layout makes the density seem very low in comparison to SQ's.


Granted, the "zone A" area for TG is a little smaller than other airlines (the forward most part of the C cabin on the lower deck on the left hand side of the plane is right at door 1L, whereas the F cabin "area" on other carriers tends to extend a bit aft of that) - but it still feels very uncrowded.

TG F product appears identical to MH F product

I believe the seats are the same, however, MH IIRC, has slightly bigger PTV screens, as well as the neat electronic shutter control for the blinds.

Your TRs never fail to enlighten and entertain

Thanks for posting

Thanks

[Leroy and Bubba]

BKK's TG F lounge and the final leg in the trip - BKK-KUL on LH F

The bus drops us off in the terminal proper and we're then put on a buggy to go to the excellent Thai F lounge. Not going to put up many pics as you would have seen them already here

We were last here in early november 2008 before the trouble started with the yellow and red shirts started.

We suppose Lufthansa is trying to appease both sides then: Red Boarding pass jacket, with yellow boarding pass!


We're also keen to see if the drama has actually ended up permanently damaging the place, but as far as we can see, it's business as usual !





One small thing of note though was that if you arrive very early in the morning, there doesn't seem to be enough hot water to go around. Mummy claims to have been frozen from having a shower that got progressively colder and colder as it went on. A minor niggle, but coupled to the fact that the shower room itself was already freezing to begin with - not pleasant !

These are a few of mummy's favourite things! Some seriously good Khao Pad, Diet Coke... and some funny cylindrical object she puts in her mouth and lights up. Urgh!

*Leroy and Bubba warning: Smoking may seriously damage your health (you heard it here first!)

[Leroy and Bubba]

As it's a pretty long layover, we partake of the Spa - which in our estimation, is also very good. Their massages are far more firm than the normal downtown ones. I suppose TG did go out and get the best of the lot, and it shows!

Soon enough, we're told to go to gate D4 where our ride is waiting!



The aircraft operating today is D-ABVD "Bochum" - she was in FRA yesterday too, and she'd be doing the short continuation of LH782 to KUL before returning tonight as LH783 to FRA, also via BKK.


We're taken upstairs, instead of to the nose. LH has 16 F seats on the upperdeck. It's not the most modern pod style seat, but for our 1 hour 45 minute ride today, it's comfy enough!








There's probably no one best seat in the house (lots of different opinions and preferences about this), but mummy seems to like 84K best of all so that's where we are - right at the back of the upper deck!

[Leroy and Bubba]

edit: Just as we were about to board, we're told that one of our 3 suitcases can't be found, and they're trying to locate it - with no success. They tell us to lodge a report with LH in KUL when we arrive. They have no idea where it was lost either.

Anyway: The load in all classes is very light today, so doors are closed and we're ready to go very quickly!


On the way out to the runway, it's easy to see that BKK is a very busy airport. To think, not one month ago, the whole place ground to a complete halt - that has GOT to hurt!
We're reminded of Austria again! It's a sign mummy! *hint* Take us to Austria!


HS-TGF and a bunch of other airplanes. For those who are curious: HS-TGF, along with TGA, TGB, TGG, TGY and TGZ are the 6 744's that did not receive the new cabin upgrade, as such have still got the 14F/50J config, and are used on mostly scandinavian routes where the F cabin is sold as J, J as Y+.






Departure is on 1L, so lucky us since we're on the right hand side!

[Leroy and Bubba]

The takeoff is powerful and sprightly. Anyone who's ever been on a 744 used on a short route with a low load will tell you that's the case. Aunty Bochum leaps off the tarmac with alarming vigour. The pic below shows us at a very decent height within not very many seconds of lift off!


As it's such a short flight - the crew spring into action very quickly.

The menu for "dinner"

Hors d'oeuvre

Mozarella filled Tomato Cup with Air Drief beef, green asparagus radicchio, Iceberg Lettuce and Pesto Sauce


Entrees

Mixed Vegetable crumbed patties with Spicy tomato sauce, Carrots, Broccoli and Baby corn

or (our choice)

Mild green thai Shrimp and Curry with Egg fried rice and mixed vegetables


Dessert

Ginseng Pannacotta with whipped cream

The taste on all three weren't bad, but the portion sizes for the main meal was a bit small! Mind you, there were three of us sharing it!

[Leroy and Bubba]

It's easy to forget how hard you're climbing when you're eating, but here we are, at FL430 in the flashest of flashes!


In cruise, a few things remind us that we're near home, we're near the end of our journey!

This is Penang Island. Captured in the evening sunlight (note the long strip extending from the mainland to the island, that, is Penang Bridge. A great place for visitors, and food hunters alike!


Some 150 Nautical miles out, we're beginning our descent into some rather nasty looking weather over the state of Perak.


Which thankfully looks to be clearing up over Selangor


We land at 1900 local, and the abundance of golden kite tails means only one thing: We're home!


We're off the plane and through Immigration very quickly - where we begin the agonizing wait for Luggage at KLIA, especially today, since we were already told one of our bags may not have made it from ARN - it's a pet peeve of mummy's and true to form again today, the display "till first bag on carousel" shows 12 minutes 30 seconds.

We get two of the three, and then file straight to the lost baggage area to report the missing suit case and head on home!

[Leroy and Bubba]

Postscript

The next day (thursday Jan 8), we're told a tagless bag was found in FRA that matched the description of our suitcase, so aunty P provides LH KUL with a manifest of items inside to provide to LH FRA for them to open it up and do a matching process.

The response comes back within 45 minutes: They've opened it and it is indeed our suitcase.

The bag finally returns into our possesion at 0100am local (ridiculous!) on the morning of the 11th of January, a full 102 hours late. - still, we're lucky to have gotten the bag back considering the entire airline luggage identifier tag had fallen off!


And that, uncles and aunties - concludes this Trip report. Thanks for reading

[jhm]

This reminds me that I should - but still haven't got round to - making up a laminated card with my details in large letters to put on top of the things inside each of my case for precisely this situation.

Surely delivery of your bag back at 1am (local time) means that they've been literally working 24 hours to get your bag back to you ASAP ? The advantages of having a shiny LH card I suppose...