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Biz Class on Budget: Regent Airways and Biman Bangladesh (CCU-DAC-CGP-DXB)

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  • Biz Class on Budget: Regent Airways and Biman Bangladesh (CCU-DAC-CGP-DXB)

    Background

    This trip report covers two of Bangladesh's largest airlines - Regent Airways and Biman Bangladesh.

    So it happened that recently I had the chance to visit Bangladesh for work and it also so happened that I found myself in Kolkata for one of my projects and then I was then heading to Dubai for more work. Between the 3 places, I found myself the opportunity to fly rarely reported local airlines rather than taking the predictable Air India or Emirates. Prices are also competitive in business class with just about $50 more than economy class on both sectors (CCU-DAC and DAC-CGP-DXB). That says that flying business class is cheaper than economy on large carriers like AI and EK. Awesome.

    Part 1: Regent Airways (CCU-DAC)

    Airline: Regent Airways
    Flight: RX 792
    Seat: 3F
    Class: Business / PEY (sold as PEY but crew and counter and baggage tag refer to it as business)
    Load: 3/12
    Type: 737-800 (S2-AIH)


    The journey started in Kolkata's ultra-modern airport which I adore for reasons I am going to explain later. First I find it totally charming to have the anachronistic juxtaposition of old vintage cars and ultra-modern architecture which I believe is almost a uniquely Indian scene and a rapidly disappearing one.



    Queuing into the terminal building as usual as every passenger has to have their ID and ticket checked. For Kolkata, domestic and international terminals share the same contiguous check-in hall.



    Inside is stunning. The roof floats like a magic scroll with Bengali letters written on them. It looks weightless and elegant and the filtered daylight is out of this world.



    Regent has basically just one daily flight a day to Dhaka and an additional flight every other day to Chittagong. Their check in counter is located at the end of the terminal building.



    Premium Economy has its own counter. Check in was smooth. This is sold as PEY on website, but the baggage tags and the check in agents kept referring to it as Business Class. I believe it was originally branded as business class until recently.

    Immigration and security was quiet at that hour in the afternoon and I soon found myself in the waiting area which is again I really like because these days airports are generally formatted to enhance retail revenue and passengers are enclosed with retail in all direction, held captive. But here, in Kolkata, the 'old grand style' of full view to the tarmac is still there. It's a wide cinematic picture window of planes taking off and landing.



    The plane that was flying us to Dhaka that day arrived 1.5 hours early. This is definitely not Budget airline style of pushing their frames to their limits.



    My bag was being loaded. I spotted it.



    Boarding was called half an hour before the flight and I soon found myself in a Euro-style business class cabin (with middle seats blocked). It's actually slightly better because there is better legroom on these seats. The curtain position is also permanent.



    Legroom is plentiful.



    First impression was good. The plane looks spanking new. And the colour contrast between red and blue is quite refreshing.



    No inflight magazine. No IFE. Just this to entertain.



    Warm towels were soon distributed.

    Last edited by SQueeze; 20 December 2016, 04:10 PM.

  • #2
    And then a glass of apple juice. It's a nice glassware worthy of business class.



    Very soon I notice that two of the three seaters were occupied completely. I figured this must be that Regent flexibly uses this cabin for economy class passengers when flights are running full. When the flight is full, people do get assigned here. They did get the nice apple juice in glassware as well so I noticed.

    The plane pushed back slightly before schedule. They better do since they had at least 2 hour layover for a 35 minutes flight!

    ]

    And very soon we found ourselves airborne above hazy Kolkata.



    It was a short 240km hop, half an hour flight time at flight level 170. Despite that, a meal service was provided. It also tasted moist and delicious (hot dog and cake).



    Not even half an hour later, my first ever sight of Bangladesh. And then we started descent and what wonderful sunset views we had.



    We landed at Shahjalal International Airport 5 minutes ahead of schedule. Its terminal building reminds me of old Indian airports - all of whom are now all gone and replaced by 21st century architecture.



    A rather exotic local airline - US Bangla. And also Hong Kong Airlines in the distance.



    We disembarked at a remote bay. One last look at Regent Airways. God knows when I will be flying with them again.



    And what's this? Lufthansa's First Class service? Haha. The first few passengers that disembark got to use this. Apparently Regent uses a variety of cars, minibuses, and buses to ferry passengers. I didn't get to use the car because I was too slow packing my many hand-carry.

    ]

    But the bus was nice too. Panoramic window. New and clean.



    And then I was in the terminal building, which reminds me of old Mumbai and Delhi airports.

    Baggage claim hall and waiting hall. Very spacious and comfortable for meeters.



    Last edited by SQueeze; 17 December 2016, 12:16 PM.

    Comment


    • #3
      Part 2: Scenes of Dhaka

      Not many people visit Dhaka for tourism purposes. It's chaos on earth. It's a city of millions of rickshaws.



      For those with special interest in architecture, the Parliament House is a stunning sight to behold and a must-see. Unfortunately I was rushing between meeting and the airport and I couldn't see the interior due to lunch hour.





      Artistic framing of views.



      Reflection and symmetry.



      Euclidian geometries which self-shade the interior.

      Comment


      • #4
        Part 3: Biman Bangladesh (DAC-CGP-DXB)

        Airline: Biman Bangladesh
        Flight: BG47
        Seat: 3F
        Class: Business
        Load: 1/12
        Type: 737-800 (S2-AFL)


        This segment is interesting. And I have to say it's one of my better flights ever. The hardware is vintage but the service outshone everything else and the culinary offering was also a delight. Better than expected!

        So after a rushed visit to the parliament building in Dhaka, I found myself back at Shahjalal airport which is another interesting modernist building. Look at those fluted columns.



        Pretty unique and photogenic for me - a modernist-lover. It gets pretty interesting inside too.



        Long queue for Saudi Airlines. Almost all passengers are male and labour.



        Biman's counters were pretty empty. I was also early (2.5 hr in advance).



        With a quiet immigration and security, I soon found myself in DAC's transit hall. Curiously, this is an airport with decentralised security like Changi. One of the few left in the world.

        Vintage-style duty free. Really reminds me of old BOM



        And the waiting area. Not very appealing due to lack of daylight.



        The upper level is where the lounges are and here if feels better with daylight. This looks possibly the largest lounge used by various foreign airlines.



        Thai has his own lounge.



        As does Biman - Maslin Lounge.



        How classic!



        Food offering was plentiful. And I took quite a few heaps of these. They were all delicious.



        Various Hot food. Also delicious.

        Comment


        • #5
          And they also have a proper coffee press machine.



          But alas, it was not giving coffee. I asked the staff in charge and he put some instant coffee and then used the machine to get hot water. What an anti climax. Haha.



          I was happy in the lounge, as the wifi connectivity was also quite fast. May be because I was practically the only one using...

          I left the lounge 45 minutes prior to the flight and everyone was almost all boarded. Biman was on time contrary to its reputation.

          The 737-800 which would be flying us to Dubai via Chittagong.



          I entered the plane, not quite sure what I would be getting. And I found an old interior of recliner business class seats. The first row has got a huge legroom.



          I was seated in the last row as per my usual preference.



          My seat. Actually the entire cabin was mine only as I was the sole passenger that evening.



          The economy cabin is of a different colour scheme that doesn't seem to match in any way to BG uniform of livery. This must be a second hand aircraft inherited from another airline. I soon discover lots of Portuguese signs. I am still not sure what airline it once belonged to.



          Inflight magazine and duty free shopping.



          Route map. Their international routes are mainly to the Middle East. Almost all passengers were male. And I believe most of them were labour and blue collar. I was the only foreigner in the flight. BG is purely O&D market.



          They are in the midst of rejuvenating their fleet. I wish it was one of their new 777s to DXB. 787s will be coming in 2018.



          Soon after a snack box was delivered. This is for the short 30 min flight to Chittagong (Bangladesh's 2nd largest city and main port town).

          Comment


          • #6
            Push back was on time. Well done BG. And we passed their widebody fleet. So many of them parked and grounded....



            And then interestingly we passed a junkyard of old planes. Their famous DC10 which flew as recently as 2014 are collecting dust now. The blue liveries seem to be United Airways (which seems to have gone bankrupt).



            And then we soon overflew the incredible maze and chaos which is Dhaka.



            Only to find ourselves descending again after a brief 25 minutes towards the port city of Chittagong. And what a beautiful view of descent over the typical Bangladeshi scene of water, delta, and more water!



            We had a one hour transit at CGP where some 20 odd passengers disembarked and another 40 embarked.



            Continuing passengers to Dubai remained onboard. Security was quite relaxed. I didn't have to identify my overhead luggage for example. Or may be because I was the only passenger of the cabin and also the only foreigner? In India, in the same-plane transit situation, everyone have to show their boarding pass and identify each and every bag in the overhead compartments to security officers.

            It's a refuelling stop here too.



            I checked out the toilet which still has signs from the previous portuguese-speaking owner and is very basic for business class.



            I was then pleasantly surprised to be offered a plate of nuts and drinks. It seems to be a dry airline although I didn't really ask for alcohol. I almost notice there is no alcohol in the country - not even in the restaurant I had dinner in the day before. But it's in any case not a big deal for me.



            And then warm towel was offered.

            By that time, the friendly lead Stewardess chatted me up. She noticed by DSLR and she was wondering if I was an aviation spotter.

            Awhile later she came back to say if i knew how to use the life jacket and I was like "what?" I never used a life jacket before and I hope I never got to use it. Well, she said that since I was the only passenger, would it be ok if she doesn't do demonstration.

            "You have seen it before right?" and she literally winked. I was a little speechless. And she broke it "well, just ask me if you need clairfication" .

            "Or you go on my lap!"
            To which we both laughed at that.

            It is rather relaxed safety procedure but I was fine with it. Just hope nothing unfortunate would happen.

            Observation so far about the crew. The two ladies are not exactly attractive like Jet Airways. They are on the plump and older side. But they are definitely genuinely friendly and know how to engage, almost like first class style. And for me, this is more important than anything else.

            Comment


            • #7
              At 630pm sharp, as per schedule, we were pushed back and was off to DXB. It would be a 5h45 min flight.

              Not too Long after reaching cruising altitude, the more junior Stewardess came by and passed me the menu which looks quite elaborate with 4 mains selection. She also asked when I would like my dinner. Wow, quite truly personalised.





              I was not so decisive but she was patient and started explaining and querying if I would like spicy or not etc. In the end, she said she would just check, and since I indicated my preference for spicy, she said she would give me either chicken or mutton whichever look more spicy.

              Dinner came half an hour after that and I was impressed.

              It started with a tray of salad, appetiser, and breads. And it was good visually and tasted very nice as well.



              And then the Main came, and she brought two of them since both of them looked similar in spiciness and asked me to pick. Very personal. She also added that I could have both if I wanted to !

              I picked the mutton. And she added that if I didn't like it, I could have the other one. Just call her. Very good service.



              Anyway, the mutton was good. And the portion generous.

              After that, fruit platter was served. I could also pick my fruits. Again very nice.



              And lastly I had the dessert with a cup of tea.



              All in all, the catering quality is pretty good! I think it's better than Air India. So far the service is also better than Air India despite AI's quite stellar improvement lately. BG's genuine service is really not what I had expected.

              The only drawback about BG is that there is no IFE. And their flights need not necessarily go direct, for example the routing via Chittagong. But I am a really happy flyer because I think I get a really good value for money.

              Comment


              • #8
                Thanks, SQueeze. Never been to Bangladesh. Probably never will. So seeing the country through you is as good as it gets.

                Comment


                • #9
                  I enjoyed reading this TR, SQueeze!

                  I've been to Dhaka once, many years ago, and found it to be an amazing place. Similar to India and Pakistan, and yet different. Very friendly people, and a bustling, chaotic city.

                  The last time I was there, it was during Ramadan, and our business meetings went on all day through lunch, only ending close to 4pm. I stuffed myself at breakfast so I was fine with a late lunch, but my Singaporean colleague skipped breakfast that day, and by the time the meetings ended in the mid afternoon, I think he was close to passing out.

                  Quite sad to see the airplane junkyard and the Biman DC-10 in such poor shape.

                  Originally posted by CarbonMan View Post
                  Thanks, SQueeze. Never been to Bangladesh. Probably never will. So seeing the country through you is as good as it gets.
                  Never say never, CarbonMan!

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Thanks for the great TR, SQueeze! Biman's service and food looks better than I've heard most of the time, and Regent Airways doesn't look bad either.

                    Also nice to see Bangladesh in a TR! I believe the only other time the country was featured in a TR on this forum was when SQflyergirl went there a few years ago.

                    Comment

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