Return LAX-SFO-JFK-ICN-HKG-SIN-CMB-SIN-BKK F

[jhm]

Thanks for the report and pics, fumi! Perhaps one more post with some overall opinions about the whole experience ?

[fumitani]

Thanks for the report and pics, fumi! Perhaps one more post with some overall opinions about the whole experience ?

I still have two more segments I need to post about and then a conclusion will be written

I need to think how I will summarize things because I have a lot to say

[fumitani]

I woke up at 10:45am. Well I didn’t want to wake up from my bed. I will not be able to see home again for at least 2 more months. That’s if I go to Japan during spring break. So I woke up and took a shower. Then I grabbed my two suitcases that I was going to bring back to the US. I packed my stuff in about ¾ of a suitcase. Then my sister wanted me to bring her stuff so it made the other suitcase full. Then it wasn’t enough so an extra duffle bag. No problem *G gets 3 bags to checkin anyways. So after finishing the packing load the car with the three bags. I went to the local noodle shop I always visit once when I go home. It is a 2 minute drive from home. It takes longer to park the car than to drive there. Once I parked the car, went to eat and then headed to Daimaru, and then bought some sweets for the plane.

Then time to head to the airport. I got on the wangan highway and got to the airport. Oh I should say that the speed limit in Japan is ridiculously slow 80km/h for you miles people it’s about 50mph. Either way I never follow the speed limit and was driving about 120km/h which is about 75mph. Okay on with that it takes about 40 minutes to drive from my house to the airport.

Once we arrived at the airport I went to the parking area. I parked the car on the 4th floor. And then went down a floor to cross the bridge to the terminal. Then up to the 4th floor to the United checkin desks. This photo was taken about 30 minutes after I checked in.



The premier security line was non existent. I went though and then the wait for the premier check was about 10 minutes. The checkin lady checked me in all the way to SNA. When she printed my boarding pass it had my UA number on it which I got changed to my NH number she was confused to why, but she was okay with it. Once I got done with checkin I went down to Lawsons. Before lawsons I went to buy a book on airplanes. Then lawsons I got an onigiri and my favorite jelly drink.

Then I told my mom parking is expensive so go home it’s pointless to stay at this airport. Our family uses the airport so much that we know almost everything about it. Then I went up to the departures level.



The North departures level was packed so I walked over to the south departures. It was much quicker. I got through in no time. Once I got to the airside I went to the united contracted lounge. The Asuka Lounge. That was full and it doesn’t even have a bathroom inside. So knowing that NH has a lounge I walked over to the NH lounge.

Entrance to the NH lounge.



I took three pictures of the interior of the lounge.





I stayed in the lounge for about 20 minutes or so? Then it was time for boarding. I walked over to gate 10. It was about a good 5 minute walk to the gate. Once I got to the gate someone checked my passport and ticket. Then the ladies were checking if we had any liquids. I didn’t have any and the ones I had were in a ziplock bag already so no problems. Then I go up to the GA to ask about if anyone was sitting next to me. No luck again. There was someone next to me. He saw that I had a C boarding pass so he let me through past the Y passengers.

Here is a picture of the gate.

[fumitani]

UA886 KIX-SFO
Jan 22nd 2007
N799UA 777-200 XC/XI
Departure Gate 10, Arrival 91
Departure RWY ?, Arrival 28R

Once onboard, I put my rollerbag in the overhead lockers. I sat down and snapped a photo of F.



Then I put on the headphones and listened to channel 9. I love listening to this. Especially in japan there are more diverse airlines. And they use squak. I got asked for a drink about 10 minutes after I got seated. I got OJ. Then doors closed. F had 1 passenger and C 3 empty seats. Y was oversold. I saw 1 opup for a premier. Then takeoff was from the otherside of the runway.

The flight time today was 9:10. It was not bad. The quickest I have ever gotten across the pacific was from KIX-LAX 8:50 minutes that was fast. Before takeoff when we were at the gate they got the meal orders. I didn’t bother with the 1K deal today because I already preordered my Japanese Obento.

Once in the air long set of announcements started. Then the crew sprung into action. We start with water and nuts. Yes FT loves complaining about hot nuts. I have never received cold nuts!



Then after the nuts and drinks were distributed it took them at least 20 or so minutes to get the meals started. By the time we got our appetizer the passenger in the F cabin already finished his meal and went to snooze.

Appetizer.



Followed by the main meal



Finally dessert.



Food was just ok. No comparision to SQ. SQ wins hands down even OZ! Flight went by okay. There was nothing special about the flight. Once we arrived into SFO we parked at gate 91. Then of course my ritual dash to the immigration in the US. I was the first one there. But I’m not a US citizen so immigration took a while, but still was no problem. Once I cleared security I turned on my cellphone. Great a voicemail from United. My connecting flight was cancelled! The priority bag tags sorta worked. My bags came out about 20th 25th and about 40th. Once I cleared customs I went to recheck. I asked the lady I wanted to get on the next flight to LA. 10:50am. It was oversold taking volunteers. So I booked the 12:02pm flight.

After that I went to the arrivals lounge. As an upgraded passenger I know I was not allowed to use it, but it doesn’t hurt to try. I got to the arrivals lounge the lady asked for an invitation, I said I don’t have one I produced my boarding pass stub and she checked the computer and I was allowed in. SCORE! I got to the shower room. Took two pictures of it.




Then after the nice 20 minute shower. BTW the water in the arrivals is not strong enough. I got out got to have some fruits with some water. Then I asked the lady that does UA give out vouchers or a cab ride to SNA. She was not sure so this was puzzling my mind to go LAX or wait 2 more hours at SFO. I left the Arrivals and cleared security went to the RCC. I decided that I wanted to go SNA. I rather wait 2 more hours then spend 60 more dollars on transportation if UA didn’t give me extra money. So at the RCC I asked to take the later flight. One of my bags couldn’t get offloaded, but the other two made it. I headed over to get some food at the foodcourt. After that I went back in the RCC and just sat there bored off my mind. I did not have enough time to go to SFO city or do anything. And luck is never on my side flight was delayed till 3.40pm. so in total I was at SFO for 6 hours!

So about 40 minutes before departure I went to gate 69. F had 2 more seats. I was at the top of the list. 1k and full Y ticket was still no good. F checked in full.

UA751 SFO-SNA
A320

I stopped taking specifics of the flight. Rather I was so tired as soon as I sat in the exit seat I fell asleep. I woke up when they were coming around with water and fell back asleep again. Then I woke up when the airplane hit the runway. So I remember nothing about the flight. I don’t even know the flight time.

Once we arrived into gate 5. I went down to the bathroom and then headed to luggage services. They located my other bag and it was going to be sent to my house the next day. My other bags came out about 5 minutes later. Took a taxi home. I was back in Irvine again.

Next and final installment is the conclusion with my thoughts about the trip.

[CGK]

Fumitani, you brought back my memory about KIX and Kyoto.

[Rejuvenated]

Don't mean to spoil your party fumi, but it looks like you've exceeded the bandwidth limit of your album account and the pictures are not appearing.

[fumitani]

Fumitani, you brought back my memory about KIX and Kyoto.

Sorry I will try not to post pictures of KIX next time I go home then

Don't mean to spoil your party fumi, but it looks like you've exceeded the bandwidth limit of your album account and the pictures are not appearing.

I expected this to happen. I made a new account to post my return report. So both my accounts won't work till next month

If anyone wants to check my pictures

www.photobucket.com

Login: fumitani2
pw: sqtalk

[Lobster]

Fumi thanks for your trip reports I have really enjoyed reading them and looking at all the photos

[Peter11]

Some people swear they only look at these kinds of things for the "articles" . I look for the photos

Thanks for posting so many pictures.

[CGK]

I look for the photos

Do you want to browse my so-called private photos?

[Peter11]

I think I recall hearing about the shock and awe (or was that the Iraq war?) of some certain periodical you shared at a London Do. I think that's about all I need to know.

[CGK]

I think that's about all I need to know.

You don't want to hear and see all intimate details?

[CGK]

Sorry I will try not to post pictures of KIX next time I go home then

Don't worry. It was part of life. And yeah, I flew out from KIX flying LH on my birthday, and no one said anything.

[fumitani]

Conclusion of the Trip.

First of all thanks special thanks to sftrvlr for helping me ticket my CMB-LAX roundtrip F. If it wasn’t for him this trip wouldn’t have started in the first place.

My 1 month winter vacation from school consisted of.

LAX-SEA-IAD-PBI-IAD-LAX on UA
SNA-SFO-KIX on UA
ITM-HND on NH
ITM-HND on JL
KIX-SIN-BKK on SQ
BKK-SIN-CMB-SIN-HKG on SQ
HKG-ICN-JFK on OZ
JFK-SFO-LAX-SFO-JFK on UA
JFK-ICN-HKG on OZ
HKG-SIN-CMB-SIN-BKK-SIN-KIX on SQ
KIX-SFO-SNA on UA

It’s over 60k BIS miles, but I enjoyed it. Most of the segments were MR anyways.

The trip itself went smoothly with no problems when checking in. Even after that scary call I got from OZ back in October, which I had to travel the segments in order and if I threw away any of the segments away I would get a HIP check. No HIP check’s ever had to occur and my connections all went smoothly.

I was also glad to be able to meet the famous CGK on the first day of my trip. Don’t worry the other 4 that I met was a wonderful addition also. But I really wanted to meet him because he has been transiting though LAX so many times and I missed him way too many times when I only live 45 minutes away.

All my miles have posted except for the JFK-SFO-LAX so I am still waiting for that to get resolved. Once those miles post the goal of the trip will be completed. To make NH Platinum in 3 weeks, even when calling NH and getting updated on the situation about my miles posting they are saying, “you sure did a lot of travel in a short period of time. Did you know you can travel 50k PP by December.” Of course I knew, but the whole point is to get 2 years worth of *G on NH.

Crew’s

It was good to travel on SQ F again after 10 + years of not traveling F. The best crew on SQ I had was SIN-BKK-SIN with Fi. She was the best and most fun crew set I had. Both CMB turn crews were great also. Both the crew to HKG were the worst and I seriously have to rate the HKG-SIN crew the worst of worst. They were super robotic and never got once addressed by name. They pretty much did their job and the supervisor was not strict in any case.

OZ crew will have to be rated as excellent. I can’t believe how wonderful they are. It would be much better if I spoke Korean and I know that as a fact because the other passengers which were Korean always got better treatment that me. Don’t get me wrong even though I only spoke English the service was wonderful. I don’t question why OZ always get’s #1 in the world for in cabin service. Too bad I could not speak Korean either because when I was bored in the ICN-JFK-ICN both sectors I could not really communicate or have a nice conversation with the crew.

UA crew will be rated as ok. As everyone knows UA crew is way too inconsistent. But on a personal conversational level which I did with most crew it was great. Since they travel a lot and give me insider information about the airline it is wonderful to know the airline. As a 1k member which is not even going to get 2P status for next year, I know it’s a waste, but hey I have to move on with life. My parents don’t want me to spend countless hours in the air anymore. And since I made my goal no point in traveling so much in little time. I will be doing couple MR’s this year if the price is right. UA crew needs to get out of the union and get younger people helping the incabin service. Seriously the 8 sectors I took throughout the vacation service was never the same. It was either great or terrible or just whatever.

Seats.

As mentioned many times in the trip report itself I had a chance to sit in a variety of seats. SQ Skysuite for me is the best out of all. I like it because it’s comfortable to relax and sleep in. The new SQ F seat is way too wide too slippery in relaxing mode. I guess it’s the Leather or material they use. But the bed is by far ahead of all other seats. The regional SQ F seats are comfortable for a short sector, but over night to CMB is not great.

OZ F seats are much too outdated. Although they are comfortable to sleep in. If anyone else is flying OZ F in a long haul sector make sure you ask them to do double layer bed padding. That way the bed will be much softer and more comfortable to sleep in.

UA PS F seats which are the same as the spacebed sorry, but I don’t like it one bit. Please give me Row 9 A or D with a Y ticket upgraded. I would not pay 60k miles or even a C ticket and upgrade to F for the PS sectors. The domestic F seats are nothing to write about anyways.

Aircraft.

I got to fly 772, 744, 77W, on SQ I would have to say that F is the best in the nose of the 744. The 77W is alright, but still it feels very cramped with those big seats. 772 needs to upgrade the seats.

744 on OZ is wonderful. If you get to fly a combi version of the aircraft take row 1 because there is much more room. If you fly a full pax version get row 2 or even row three. Row one is very limited in room space.

757 PS service seats in F doesn’t really matter. 777 on UA the mini cabin is the best. Domestic 735 or A320 or Teddy configs is no different.

JL domestic 773 is comfortable.

NH domestic 772 the new generation seats are much to short to sit comfortable, even on a 1 hour flight.

In flight Entertainment.

SQ get your aircraft fitted with all AVOD. The AVOD 772 are great even with 747. The new KrisWorld system is great on the 77W. Just a few tweaks here and there. Although mine didn’t have any problems technology these days should allow the system to be quicker. I did have some problems with mine, the only problem was that the sound didn’t come out at times. The new noisecancelling headphones are so much better than the old generation ones.

OZ needs to upgrade their entertainment system BAD. I mean they don’t even have VOD it’s still using the loop system. Their TV screens are from the late 90’s. Your headphones in F should be noisecancelling. I used my own headphones on all OZ sectors.

UA the personal DVD players are a great idea. Other than that upgrade your 777’s to AVOD. KOSS noisecancelling headphones are ok.

Amenities

SQ I got two amenity kits on the CMB-SIN sectors, but they were the old Givenchy ones plus PJ’s. I also got 20+ playing cards. On top of that their new generation socks and slippers are super good.

OZ does not give amenity kits anymore. Rather I got a PJ which is comfy to use. I use them to sleep now. Thanks. Also before landing OZ on my JFK sectors gave me a present from WedgeWood. They were a pair of salt shakers and a Wine Cork set.

UA the stuff they give out is the same as PS C so if you flew them you know you get ear plugs eye shades and socks. That’s it.

Lounges.

SQ your SIN lounge is great, but I can’t wait for the new terminal 3 in SIN for a next generation lounge. The shower in the F side smells a bit, but it is still clean.

HKG has great lounges. The IFL, TG F, SQ F lounges offer great food and showers and everything you want. Never used the shower facilities so I’m not sure.

ICN the best during the trip. If you are hungry there will be no problems filling yourself up. The SQ lounge has better shower pressure, but the OZ has better amenities and the water temp is inconsistent. Next time I will still shower at the OZ.

JFK LX lounge since I didn’t have time the shower was great for a short 20 minute visit. The water is not hot enough nor is the water pressure strong enough.

LAX IFL well you need showers!

SFO RCC your bathroom stinks, but your customer service is great

BKK TG F too many people working and doing nothing service is good. Oh I did visit the shower, but never posted the pictures. The lounge is good.

CMB Lotus lounge. Food is good, but one week is trashed up and one week is spotless. Oh your shower facility is a storage room. Great if one wants to shower.

So in real conclusion now after everything is put aside.

I had a wonderful time. New airports that I haven’t used before CMB, HKG, ICN were a great addition to my trip.

The trip was well worth it. I was tired throughout the whole trip, but I enjoyed it. Will I ever do it again? Yes if I have time and the money.

Once again thanks FT and SQT for the wonderful memories I will leave with me. If there is anything I left out it will be posted later on.

After 60 pages of Microsoft Word and 20000+ words later this trip is finally done

Any no comments to grammer please, I never checked grammer


Oh oh oh I forgot to add the photo galore trip report of the return was all for you people who asked for photo galore. I didn't intend to take soo many pictures and post so many pictures. On top of that this trip I focused a lot on food. Did I over do food?

[9V-JKL]

for the fab reports! I enjoyed it thoroughly. Personally, I prefer Photos Galore to Words Galore. And no, you didn't over do on the food