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Selamat Datang...err...So NOT!! with boring LH Y
ND - 9 Aug, how could anyone not be in holiday mood!? Well, I decided to take a short trip to neighbouring Jakarta to fulfill my obsession on diecast collectibles shopping spree
As I searched online a couple of weeks b4 ND holiday, I found an amazingly low fare on LH @S$177 SIN-CGK-SIN with all taxes included. So, it's a no brainer and clicked clicked clicked...the ticket was printed! Yeepee...
Route: SIN - CGK
Flight: LH 778
Aircraft: B747-400
ETD: 17:00 (delayed to 17:15)
Date: 06 Aug 2010
Got in to Changi T2 quite late at abt 16.05 as I had printed my boarding pass at home. I had to literally come up with an excuse to leave the meeting room just to make it in time for my flight to CGK that night. A friend who earlier flew to CGK with GA told me to check my LH flight as CGK airport experienced a bizarre event...the electricity was down twice on that day itself and tens of flights were delayed bcos of that!! Wow, what a news....didnt think that this sorta thing would still happen at a major airport like CGK.
Anyway, the flight was delayed by abt 15 mins, which is no big deal, but nevertheless annoying as the waiting room in Changi was so full of people and I had to give up my seat to an expectant mother and stood there for like 30 mins. It was apparently a full flight on a B747-400
2 LHs side by side...A346 to Munich and our B744 to CGK
Boarding started at abt 16.55 and I was greeted by this cheerful crew.
Not the signature SQTalk legshot tho as there's no way for me to cross my legs in LH Y seat
Took off, airborne...and meal time!! My hungry tummy was longing for some hot meals....was thinking hard what I would get this time...chicken noodle? beef in blackpepper sauce? fried rice?...hmmm...the cliché of all those SQs and GAs inflight meals suddenly appeared in my mind
Oh...ohh....really...ohhhh...LH, is this the best you can do??
Cold and hard mini sandwich (however it was tasty), some vanilla custard thingy with berry filling on top and a 2-finger kitkat with mini bottle of water (200ml!!) were all we got. No top-up, no choice, either you take it or they take it back for you! Disappointed.
The flight was very uneventful up to this stage...i wanted to purchase a LH diecast on board, but I was told that no duty free sales was offered on this short sector.....I chinned up to the TV monitor hoping to catch some good humorous show, but ended up more confused instead as LH was shockingly showing a 1970s German TV series. Good on ya mate!!
Anyway, the time seemed to take ages to tick and I just couldn't wait to land. Finally the time showed 17.45 (CGK Time), seat belt sign was ON, seat was back in the upright position, window shade was UP and........errr........GUBRAKKKKKKKK.......
One of the female crew fell down as we were hit by an extremely strong turbulence!
The plane ride felt exactly like the Battlestar GALACTICA before it was shut down. Up and down, bang left and right. No more photos from this moment onwards....everyone was holding tight to their seats' armrest, some hugged, some cried, some screamed and the passenger next to me grabbed my arm so tightly that I felt numb after a few minutes. I couldnt imagine what it was like had I flown on a smaller plane that night...even B744 could be so badly shaken. The pilot tried to make an attempt for landing in this bad weather with just some 400 metres above the ground and at the last minute decided to pull it up again....the flight tracking monitor showed that we climbed up again and we could also hear the revving engine of the plane. I swear to God that my palms were so sweaty...it really sh$% my pants!!
Finally after circling the sky for another 30 mins, we landed safely at 18.25 LT with baby turbulence and crosswind just seconds prior to actual touchdown.
Just when I thought the nightmare was over, apparently it has just begun! After 100 steps out from the plane towards the immigration clearance, this is the view:
I took the above pic after some 15 mins of waiting or so...the queue was at least 300 metres long. I just couldnt believe it. All flights landed at the same time due to the bad weather and the immigration side just couldnt cope with the number of pax.
The waiting continued for another 45 minutes (already 1 hour by this time) and I had a glimpse of a notice which a lot of people were looking at too:
This aint be good...it adds up to the frustration of waiting process now. It basically reads: "We apologise for the inconvenience caused during this period as we're in the midst of installing the Border Control Management system at this airport. Longer queuing time is expected during this period". So, SQTalkers...run for your life towards the immigration counter as soon as you land in CGK next time. No more toilet stop!!
Great!! Kept on waiting in queue line until approx 20.15 (which was exactly 1hour 30mins). Felt so good to finally get out of this airport and headed to the taxi counter for my journey to relative's house. And guess what?? Jakarta was drenching in heavy downpour and my taxi journey took more than 3 hours to reach! So much so of a "Selamat Datang" (or "WELCOME") ala Indonesian style for me.
I cant be bothered to write the experience on the return journey as LH was simply boring for this sector. Here is pic of the signature meal on my return journey and thanks for reading
As I searched online a couple of weeks b4 ND holiday, I found an amazingly low fare on LH @S$177 SIN-CGK-SIN with all taxes included. So, it's a no brainer and clicked clicked clicked...the ticket was printed! Yeepee...
Route: SIN - CGK
Flight: LH 778
Aircraft: B747-400
ETD: 17:00 (delayed to 17:15)
Date: 06 Aug 2010
Got in to Changi T2 quite late at abt 16.05 as I had printed my boarding pass at home. I had to literally come up with an excuse to leave the meeting room just to make it in time for my flight to CGK that night. A friend who earlier flew to CGK with GA told me to check my LH flight as CGK airport experienced a bizarre event...the electricity was down twice on that day itself and tens of flights were delayed bcos of that!! Wow, what a news....didnt think that this sorta thing would still happen at a major airport like CGK.
Anyway, the flight was delayed by abt 15 mins, which is no big deal, but nevertheless annoying as the waiting room in Changi was so full of people and I had to give up my seat to an expectant mother and stood there for like 30 mins. It was apparently a full flight on a B747-400
2 LHs side by side...A346 to Munich and our B744 to CGK
Boarding started at abt 16.55 and I was greeted by this cheerful crew.
Not the signature SQTalk legshot tho as there's no way for me to cross my legs in LH Y seat
Took off, airborne...and meal time!! My hungry tummy was longing for some hot meals....was thinking hard what I would get this time...chicken noodle? beef in blackpepper sauce? fried rice?...hmmm...the cliché of all those SQs and GAs inflight meals suddenly appeared in my mind
Oh...ohh....really...ohhhh...LH, is this the best you can do??
Cold and hard mini sandwich (however it was tasty), some vanilla custard thingy with berry filling on top and a 2-finger kitkat with mini bottle of water (200ml!!) were all we got. No top-up, no choice, either you take it or they take it back for you! Disappointed.
The flight was very uneventful up to this stage...i wanted to purchase a LH diecast on board, but I was told that no duty free sales was offered on this short sector.....I chinned up to the TV monitor hoping to catch some good humorous show, but ended up more confused instead as LH was shockingly showing a 1970s German TV series. Good on ya mate!!
Anyway, the time seemed to take ages to tick and I just couldn't wait to land. Finally the time showed 17.45 (CGK Time), seat belt sign was ON, seat was back in the upright position, window shade was UP and........errr........GUBRAKKKKKKKK.......
One of the female crew fell down as we were hit by an extremely strong turbulence! The plane ride felt exactly like the Battlestar GALACTICA before it was shut down. Up and down, bang left and right. No more photos from this moment onwards....everyone was holding tight to their seats' armrest, some hugged, some cried, some screamed and the passenger next to me grabbed my arm so tightly that I felt numb after a few minutes. I couldnt imagine what it was like had I flown on a smaller plane that night...even B744 could be so badly shaken. The pilot tried to make an attempt for landing in this bad weather with just some 400 metres above the ground and at the last minute decided to pull it up again....the flight tracking monitor showed that we climbed up again and we could also hear the revving engine of the plane. I swear to God that my palms were so sweaty...it really sh$% my pants!!
Finally after circling the sky for another 30 mins, we landed safely at 18.25 LT with baby turbulence and crosswind just seconds prior to actual touchdown.
Just when I thought the nightmare was over, apparently it has just begun! After 100 steps out from the plane towards the immigration clearance, this is the view:
I took the above pic after some 15 mins of waiting or so...the queue was at least 300 metres long. I just couldnt believe it. All flights landed at the same time due to the bad weather and the immigration side just couldnt cope with the number of pax.
The waiting continued for another 45 minutes (already 1 hour by this time) and I had a glimpse of a notice which a lot of people were looking at too:
This aint be good...it adds up to the frustration of waiting process now. It basically reads: "We apologise for the inconvenience caused during this period as we're in the midst of installing the Border Control Management system at this airport. Longer queuing time is expected during this period". So, SQTalkers...run for your life towards the immigration counter as soon as you land in CGK next time. No more toilet stop!!
Great!! Kept on waiting in queue line until approx 20.15 (which was exactly 1hour 30mins). Felt so good to finally get out of this airport and headed to the taxi counter for my journey to relative's house. And guess what?? Jakarta was drenching in heavy downpour and my taxi journey took more than 3 hours to reach! So much so of a "Selamat Datang" (or "WELCOME") ala Indonesian style for me.
I cant be bothered to write the experience on the return journey as LH was simply boring for this sector. Here is pic of the signature meal on my return journey and thanks for reading
sorry it didn't go so well. If you think this immigration queue was bad you should've seen it when they first deployed it 
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