My 1st TR: Chasing QFF Status w/ 12 OW J sectors - Japan & Cambodia via SIN & KUL

[pythonisman]

Japan/Cambodia trip report

I thought I’d write my first trip report as I was lucky enough to travel on one of Qantas’ refurbished international A333s. This trip will take me on a bit of a Oneworld Status run (crediting to Qantas Frequent Flyer), flying with three airlines in the alliance - QF, MH and JL, all in J/Business; taking advantage of some of MH’s incredibly competitive J tickets. This trip will take me on a (hopefully) epic ski trip in Japan; both Hokkaido (Niseko) and Honshu (Hakuba)

I've composed this offline along the way, and am going to post it in a few chunks provided they all work. I'm currently sitting in the QF SIN lounge prior to my return to Australia...

First leg- QF; VH-QPA - the “New Qantas Business suite” in their A330-300 aircraft.
QF5 SYD-SIN

I was kicking back enjoying the SYD QF J lounge (as a nobody travelling in Business class) when boarding was called on time - fairly early in fact at about 45 minutes prior to departure time. Headed down to the gate (amusingly -to me only- the same gate I left for QF81 a couple of years ago, on a vastly inferior jet!). Took my seat in 3E, one of the “aisle aisle” seats, with a retractable armrest.

VH-QPA waiting at the gate

First experiences were great, and everyone in the cabin was commenting on how great the new layout was. The crew were proudly introducing the new business suites and their features. I settled in, asked for a champagne and checked out all the nooks and crannies in the seat.

The new Qantas “Business Suite”

First impressions - It’s very comfortable, spacious and feels private (though the seats with a table in between the seat and the aisle are, as you could expect, much more private). There surprisingly isn’t a huge amount of “seat storage” space. A small shelf you can’t store anything in during takeoff/landing; a small nook with the blanket you’re meant to only store “soft” items in, and a very shallow magazine/safety card holder. I’m guessing you could probably fit a cabin bag or similar in the footwell, but it didn’t seem like that was the done thing.

Business class doesn’t mean you’re classy

Unfortunately we were waylaid on the ground for some time - first with the IFE system; engineers were rebooting just about everything for about an hour on the ground. Made it apparent that the recently reported issues with IFE were definitely not solved!

Engineering, trying to fix the IFE


After the door was closed, I noticed the aerobridge coming back for us, and we were told a tyre pressure indicator had gone off in the cabin, so the engineers were coming back to update documentation on the aircraft, and validate it was ok. After about another 15 minutes, we closed the doors again and then started to push back. For about 30 seconds. Ground crew/engineering called the coughpit and asked them to return to the gate, to confirm that the problem was fixed. We spent about another 15 minutes at the gate and pushed back a bit over an hour late.

Crew came to take orders for the meal choices on the ground. The menu looked pretty decent; I chose a wagyu beef salad starter, lamb rack main, and had cheese for dessert. Meal was solid, not outstanding, the wines were quality Australian and flowed freely.

Wagyu beef salad

Lamb Rack

Cheese plate

Menu

 

[pythonisman]

After dinner and one and a half movies, I started the slide into the suite’s “bed” position, finished off the rest of the second film and then made the transition to try and get a couple of hours sleep.

The QF J suite’s different to any of the other J classes I’ve experienced. First impressions are huge privacy, feels quite spacious, lots of workable space around the seat. I’ve read some others reporting that the footwell of the QF suite means if you’re tall or have big feet (I’m about 5’11”; but big feet), so I was a bit worried about foot space. That wasn’t an issue for me. What I found frustrating was that the height of the footwell area felt like it was lower around the knee than it was at the feet.

As a result, for me (and everyone will feel differently I’m sure); it felt quite cramped until I settled into a position that made sense for me, which ended up feeling a bit awkward.
I’m a side sleeper, and also found the area around the head quite cramped when trying to work out where to fit my arms when sleeping. Like the knee space, that was something I overcame as well, and I ended up getting a good couple of hours shuteye until we hit a bit of turbulence after crossing over Darwin.

Up front, looks like a control system for the IFE

I haven’t yet flown the QF Skybed Mk I (I’ll be doing that most likely on the flight home) so I can’t directly compare it, but for me as a pure sleeper seat I don’t love this product. It is a phenomenal piece of engineering, and watching the transition from seat to bed is pretty cool. Additionally, the ability to recline for takeoff and landing is great, and very welcome. I also noticed a lot of pax didn’t manage (or didn’t try / know) the sash seatbelt for takeoff/landing, but I agree it’s a welcome safety feature and has been proven to save lives/reduce injuries in serious events, a-la OZ214 at SFO.

Closer to landing, crew came round and offered a snack service of either vegetable noodles, fried chicken (karaage) or some kind of small pasta dish, served out of a takeaway noodle box.

All in all we landed something like 70 minutes late into Changi, arrived after a bunch of big jets from China and the Philippines, so there was about a 20 minute queue for immigration, and our bags were out for collection by the time we came through.

Once landside I made straight for the Crowne Plaza at Changi, to try and catch a few hours before my next leg, the early morning MH602 at 0640 (ugh). Almost everyone I walked past enquired what my ski bag was, not surprising given the variety of ski resorts in SE-Asia

View from my room at the Crowne Plaza in Changi


Second leg- MH; 9M-MSC - 737-800 with BSI.
MH602 SIN-KUL

After a brutal, rudely early alarm going off (after an unrewarding ~3 hrs shuteye) I walked (rather than sky-trained, as it didn’t start until 0500) to Changi T2 for MH check-in. There was no-one at the J checkin counter, and check-in was painless enough, though I struggled hard with communication trying to work out where the oversize bag drop was. (Apparently you just drop your oversize next to the economy queue, which I was incredibly dubious about, thinking at the time that I might be renting skis when I get to Japan!).

Immigration outbound was painless as usual at Changi, and I went to the MH Golden lounge to see what was available pre-flight, but given it was still about 4:50AM my body had no idea what I was doing.

It’s business time


Golden lounge at T2 SIN is quite small and basic, with a modest variety of Malaysian and Western breakfast foods. I had some milk as I felt like calcium, and some fruit for vitamins.
Boarding was called not much after I got there (at an hour prior to departure!)

MH Golden Lounge in SIN - It’s early


I brushed my teeth and then headed to the gate which was a way away for boarding, cleared security and waited for boarding. Non-status pax jumped to board as soon as J-class and elite boarding was called, but the gate staff sorted those people out promptly and I was one of the first on the flight, settling in.

MH’s 738 J product (at least on their BSI jet) is quite capable for a regional service, I’d say anything up to about 3-4hrs would be perfectly fine. In these types of layouts I prefer row 2 (or higher) rather than row 1 due to legroom under the seat in front. Service is very swift, professional, attentive, and friendly. Refreshments are served, a hybrid sweet/savoury danish, a crossoint and a nut bar.

Sunrise

“Refreshment”

Flight was uneventful, taking off on time and landing about 35 mins later (barely making it to 24,000ft). Smooth ride for the morning up to KUL.

Once in KUL I made my way to the satellite golden lounge to kill a couple of hours prior to my next flight. Never having been there, but reading positive things, I was looking forward to it, especially the ‘relaxation’ area. I found this area, found an empty, dark bay, and set myself up with an alarm on my phone, stuck on an eye mask and got about 2 hours light dozing (not really sleep, just a nap I guess, which helped.

“Relaxation area” inside the MH Golden lounge - satellite terminal

Nasi Lemak breakfast

I made my way to the gate for our departure. I swear, every single person in the departure lounge was coughing, sneezing, splurting, Exploding in fountains of humanity all around me it seemed. Great, heading to the snow, on 2 nights of about 3 or 4 hours of sleep, what could possibly go wrong?

 

[JessicaTam]

Great start to the TR. I am enjoying the photos (except perhaps the elevated foot-rest) too!

Bring on the next instalment...

 

[boomy]

Glad to see another first TR.
The new QF A330 J looks great. I thought I will finally get it tonight but it was swapped in the last minute to the JQ style J
Enjoy the the snow and keep posting photos.

 

[Major]

I always like the food choices in the KUL Golden lounge. Good photos, keep them coming

 

[TomVexille]

This looks like fun. Looking forward to reading the rest.

 

[pythonisman]

Thanks very much for the comments! The majority can be posted now, with just the last 2 flights or so that I need to write up, maybe tonight depending on how conscious I am...

Third Leg- MH; 9M-MRP - 777-200.
MH70 KUL-NRT

J seating on MH 772

The J cabin on this aircraft filled up very very fast, with what seemed like no seats going empty. Economy gangway retracts, but still waiting on door 1L. I’m crossing my fingers hoping the seat next to me stays empty. Give me some space. Give me a window *and* an aisle. Give me anything but don’t stick me next to one of the people who was erupting cold and flu in the departure lounge, please!

Miracle! The door closes, I’ve got a shadow! Looks like 2 other free middle seats in rows 4 and 5, but not a quiet cabin. Given what Expertflyer was showing as booked a few hours before the trip, I’m thinking most of the pax in J are upgrades, with MH pretty aggressively pushing their upgrade bid options to get some extra revenue (and who can blame them with the current state they’re in).

Iraq Airways 744 at KUL

Menu

Wine list

Service again on this flight is absolutely stellar, with the crew not missing a trick even with an almost packed cabin. I didn’t realise that the entree service is an AND set of dishes, rather than an OR (I was going to go for the Satay given what I’ve read elsewhere). Satay served, was really good, especially the chicken. I was offered a second helping, and not realising there was more coming I happily accepted. Second set were better than the first, more tender and less dry (especially the beef).

MH’s famous satay

Second entree is a plate with a small prawn and pickled vegetable salad, and a cold soba noodle dish, with bread. I wash down my entree course with a few glasses of the Champagne.

More entrees

I chose the beef main course. The vegetables were great (especially the potatoes), sauce was really good, but the meat was very dry and a bit boot-like. Oh well, I’m full of satay! I choose the Bordeaux for mains which is a good match and a nice drop.

I’ll have the beef, please

 

[pythonisman]

Tiramisu for dessert, less like a tiramisu and more like a coffee mousse cake, but it’s tasty. I try the Teh Tarik which is excellent, and I might try one later with a bit of a kicker in it, and see how the crew feel about that!

“Tiramisu” - not traditional but tasty

I watch a movie with dinner, after I work out how the IFE works (at first it seems like it’s a loop system, but then looks like it’s controllable? I can pause my movie at least) There’s an “interactive” mode which even enables the touch screen. So much better!.
The crew dim the cabin so people can get a bit of rest. Most of the cabin looks like they feel about the same as me so I join them, and doze a bit in the angle flat (look like Recaro?) seats. They’re not stellar, but I’ve got a shadow and I’m tired enough that it doesn’t really matter, and I catch a bit more sleep to try to catch up a bit.

MH’s 772 J seat in bed mode

MH’s 772 has one of the largest loos in the sky up the front of the J cabin. With enough room to swing at least two cats, it’s a welcome change from the cramped space most airlines provide. This takes the “disabled” toilet concept so much further, and is greatly appreciated. It’s also kitted out with some nice Aigner fragrances and creams, which is a nice tough.

These amenities help you feel less like a zombie

Snack before arrival is a forgettable “sandwich” course, plus some icecream which was tasty.

Sandwiches, icecream

I asked the crew if I could have one of their signature “Teh Tarik” drinks with a shot of baileys. They smiled, a mix of confused and mischeivous, but obliged. It was tasty, but I’d probably just enjoy the drink unchanged in the future and look for a different apertif.

My spiked Teh Tarik

Sunset behind the beautiful 777 wing and big, Rolls Royce engine

Landing into NRT was a few minutes early, and without incident. Immigration and customs were a breeze, and priority baggage worked swimmingly. I even discovered that in Japan, the baggage handlers will put your oversize gear on the conveyor - rejoice! My skis come out almost right after my suitcase, without having to go wait at some oversize counter like in every. Other. Airport.

I love you, Japan

To the snow! Fourth leg - JL; JA-???? (too tired to get tail number)s - 737-800
JL501 HND-CTS

What on earth suggested to me at the time of booking that two 6:something AM flights, two days in a row was a good idea? Whatever it was, I regret my choices, and I regretted not being able to extend the sleep as I desperately needed it.
Oh well. I got to the Tokyo local train for the first service of the morning (04:38) to connect at the monorail down for Haneda airport. At least I didn’t have to get out to Narita for this flight.

Waiting for the first train in Tokyo. Yuck

When I got to the airport, just over an hour before scheduled departure, I was greeted by a sign explaining that due to high winds, flights to Hokkaido were likelty to be cancelled or significantly delayed. Given that I’d organised this trip myself, including things like transfers to my accommodation I was a bit scared that I was going to end up having to work out how to defer my onward transfer.

Check in opened at 0530, with an amazingly in-sync bow by all the check in clerks after the lead announced that check in was open (I love Japan and Japanese custom, and this to me was heartwarming). I struggled in limited Japanese, and the attendant struggled in limited English, to check me in. She was asking for the credit card that I had booked with. No problems - I brought that - but it wasn’t right. I tried all my other cards just in case it was one of those, but no dice. Luckily I’d printed my reservation confirmation and had the email from JAL stating that I needed to check in from about a day before - but she still wanted some kind of number from me to confirm that I was me (despite all my ID etc).

It turns out she was after the phone number that I’d used in my booking, and once I verified what that was I was checked in. The agent didn’t blink when I was about 12kg over the check-in allowance (of 20kg), despite me being willing to pay for the excess luggage if I was asked.

Security and boarding were uneventful, and we boarded on time. JAL’s “Class-J” seats on this flight were tiny. I am a big bloke, but still. Width wise, the 2-3 layout felt slimmer than the 3-3 of a normal economy seat, due to the divider between the seats. Oh well. For the +0¥ that I paid for class J over regular economy, I’ll take the status credits and not worry about the seat.

The flight up went quick as I napped most of the way, only really waking up to have a drink when offered, and then for landing, which was uneventful.

Sunrise over Tokyo, Fuji-san in the background

 

[pythonisman]

There was snow on the ground at CTS so I was getting excited for going skiing, hopefully this afternoon!

I’d booked a “Hokkaido Resort Liner” through Niseko Ground Service as a transfer up to Niseko, and this went according to plan, with the bus only being about half full, so I got a spare seat next to me.

This leg features planes, trains and automobiles

We arrived on time, and despite being really tired, I got a bit of a surge of energy when I saw the ski slopes, and went out skiing for a few hours the first afternoon.

I was very happy with my digs in Niseko/Hirafu

I won’t go into a lot of detail as to the ski component of the trip, if you want to know please feel free to ask - suffice to say that I got out on the hill all 7 days, with only 2 short days due to weather/tiredness. We had some wonderful snow while I was there, exactly what Niseko is famous for.

Hokkaido snow didn’t fail to impress me this trip - plus look at that view!


To the other snow! Fifth leg - Niseko - Hakuba; JL; JA-009D - 777-200.
JL510 CTS-HND

The transfer from Niseko was the same story as the way up, painless and as expected. Check in at Chitose was pretty frantic - weather was again causing some delays, but check in was less difficult this time, and bag drop again went without question for my overweight luggage. The flight was oversold and there were no F upgrades available so I was flying Class J again.

We had been delayed from a 13:00 departure to 13:15 and then 13:20, but we didn’t start boarding until about 5 minutes before that, so we were never going to be on time.

The Class J seats on this 772 were far, far superiod to the 738 seats on the outbound leg, and the plane looked and felt brand new. the 2-4-2 layout felt like a decent amount of space on the 777, and the flight was apparently only going to last about 1hr 10m. It indeed looked like a 100% packed full flight, I looked around and couldn’t see a single spare seat anywhere.

JL’s newer Class J in their 772

This 772 had a nose-camera fitted, and we got a view of the sleeting runway as we taxied out and took off.

Again the flight was uneventful, save for the nose-camera on landing which gave a great insight into how little visibility the pilots were flying that day. The runway lights were only visible from very near to landing, but the pilot pulled off a very smooth touchdown and we only had a short taxi into the gate.

Priority luggage worked brilliantly with JAL on this leg- every single bag in the first batch was from First class, followed by all bags which were tagged with what looked like JAL’s elite status. My bags came out close to last, but that’s ok. I was already late and had already missed the Shinkansen I wanted, so I had a bit of a layover.

I made my way to Tokyo station, and bought a ticket on the Shinkansen Asama 537 in Gran Class to Nagano. Why not, I thought, when it was only about $55 more than a ticket in regular class.

JR Gran Class - Asama 537

Gran class

JR’s Gran Class is fantastic. Even though this was a relatively short trip, it was still very comfortable and spacious, and private. It also feels much quieter than other Shinkansen I’ve caught, but that could just be the newer series of train as well.

Gran class seats

While I sped away toward the Japanese alps at about 240km/h through the outskirts of Tokyo, I enjoyed some beer, mixed nuts and reclined my seat back and enjoyed the ride. I’d definitely recommend it if you were going on a longer trip, or even just for something a bit special. There were only 4 other peopl in the cabin of 18 seats on my trip, so it wasn’t particularly popular today - but it is a Sunday afternoon, so it’s likely there’s just not the demand for it in this timeslot.

 

[pythonisman]

So. Much. Snow!

I’ve never seen as much snow as I’ve seen in Hakuba this year.

The Japanese alps

Amazing Gyoza


And it’s time to head back now for the next sector of my trip- or should I say, sectors - there are four.
Unfortunately, for the normal person in me, it was far (far, far!) cheaper to book two return flights SIN-xKUL-NRT return plus SIN-xKUL-PNH return, than it was to book SIN-xKUL-NRT; NRT-xKUL-PNH-xKUL-SIN.

This means in the next 24 hours I’ll be travelling on 4 MH sectors- MH71, MH601, MH614 and MH762. Hooray for airport lounges, and boo for sleep I guess.

Sixth leg: Tokyo - Kuala Lumpur; MH; 9M-MRH - 777-200

Sunset as I leave Tokyo

Are VA making a play for Japan, or is this purely for codeshares? (I can cross my fingers for the former, right?)

I arrive at Narita for check in too early to check in, because I’m an idiot and wanted to make sure I had plenty of time (the last time I cleared security/immigration in NRT it took an eternity at T1 on SQ, even in J. I chill out for a half hour at a nearby coffee shop and then queue up behind a growing group of people wanting to check in, and check in. It turns out two things are different about NRT T2 than T1 (or maybe it was just T1 in 2013 and now it’s fixed) - but there are zero queues for security or immigration, AND there’s a fast path for elite or premium cabin pax. After check in I’m through to airside in about 4 minutes, and make my way to the QF lounge in the satellite terminal.

Maybe the QF lounge isn’t great, and I should hve gone to the main terminal’s JL lounge - but as QF22 has boarded there are barely any pax here at this time, so it’s quite nice. Not much food on offer (various cold Japanese snacks including Sushi, bits of okonomiyaki etc) some hot pasta and soup. There’s also a beer robot serving up either Asahi or Suntory malts. The Suntory brew is a bit better here and I have a couple of those, and a glorious shower while I wait for our flight to board.

Flight is about as uneventful as a red-eye landing at 0415 can be. Supper is served promptly and is tasty. I forgot to take a photo of the menu, the mains choices were a Japanese style Chicken dish, a lamb dish and another Japanese style seafood/sea urchin dish - entree is again satay plus a yam soba, and a smoked tuna with a small cold vegetable jelly (kindof like a terrine but not).

The satay is again a hit - even better this time in fact, but the noodles are fairly plain and the vegetable jelly isn’t my thing. I do eat the smoked fish which is tasty though. The Japanese chicken dish is excellent and very well cooked, and well balanced. Service is swift and my empty plate is whisked away moments after I’m done, replaced by the next course. The dessert is sweet and tasty but not outstanding.

Post-satay starters

Very tasty chicken dish

I don’t remember what this is...

After supper I change into comfortable clothes and make my seat into a bed to get some rest. It’s announced on this flight that MH have a “new” foot cushion for this service, presumably to try and bump up the feet and get them a bit closer to 180° for a better sleep. While the idea is sound, unfortunately it doesn’t give you enough elevation to get anywhere near that, still feels like about a 160° angled flat bed, and means the footrest isn’t usable (as it’s holding the cushion) so you end up slipping out even more. After about an hour of failing to fall asleep using the cushion I remove it and manage a few decent hours rest; waking after the morning refreshments are served, which I’m fine with as I’m still full from supper.

Landing into KL is about 10 minutes ahead of schedule, and I head for the MH Golden lounge at the Satellite terminal to try and get a bit more sleep before my next legs. Unfortunately all the sleep pods are occupied, but the lounge is almost empty at 4:15am so I do as others have done and commandeer a comfy leather couch, set an alarm, don earplugs and an eyemask and manage about another 90 minutes of rest which is very welcome. I have some breakfast in the lounge before heading over to the main terminal to catch my next flight down to Singapore, where hopefully my change of luggage will be waiting for me and I’ll be able to switch out all my heavy ski gear and suitcases for a much lighter bag for the next segment of my trip.

Quiet in the golden lounge at ~4AM

Oh, and as a side note - 17 days after taking my initial MH flights they’ve credited properly to my QFF account, hello status credits!

 

[pythonisman]

Seventh leg: Kuala Lumpur - Singapore; MH; 9M—MXV - 737-800 with BSI.

9M-MXV

MH’s 738 J product (on a BSI jet)

I’m tired, I’ve had a bit of a kip in the lounge but I’ve realistically had 4-5 hours broken sleep and am now getting on another plane (and there’s the prospect of there being another two flights after this today). Everything is pretty ordinary in this process - boarding works, we leave a little late, and I start stressing as I realise I’ve booked my turnaround itinerary with only 2 scheduled hours between arrival time and departure time (i.e. not counting delays, customs, baggage, luggage sorting, check in, security etc- or how long this will feasibly add to my time (or subtract from my pretty minimal layover).

I must be getting edgy- the tail number 9M-MSG amuses me greatly

With the inbound flight being a bit late, I start to have visions of a huge immigration queue, lost bags, you name it.
The flight itself is ordinary, and is only a 40 minute segment from KUL to SIN. We make up a little of our delay in the air.

I didn’t eat on the plane, food offered was either a “mushroom roll” (some kind of hot dish) or a chicken curry in a roti (I’m guessing another wrap style dish). I only saw the mushroom dish served and it looked tasty, I would definitely order it if I was offered on a future flight. I’m also impressed the cabin crew is managing to serve an almost full J cabin a hot meal on a ~40 minute flight, without blinking.

We land a few minutes behind schedule and proceed to an agonisingly long taxi wht feels like all the way around the airport. I bolt off the plane to get to the front of what I’m imagining is going to be a huge immigration queue - only to find that it’s empty and I’m straight through. The attendant didn’t even really blink when I said I was only going to be in Singapore for 2 hours and just had to switch baggage.

MH’s priority baggage worked perfectly here too, with my suitcase third off the line and my oversized ski bag out about 2 minutes later, first out of the batch. Onto a trolley and out the green lane and I’m off to switch bags / store my ski gear and change for the Cambodia trip.

Eighth leg: Singapore - Kuala Lumpur; MH; 9M—MXC - 737-800 with BSI.
I check in to the flight with about 70 minutes to go before departure (probably the shortest lead time I’ve ever had on an international leg) and the attendant asks to clarify which time my flight is, as if I’ve left it too late. He then asks me about my visa status for which I’m unsure (I’m still waiting to hear back regarding the application for an e-Visa over two weeks ago!) so I say that I can get a visa on arrival and he doesn’t question me (I think this is true also).

Thankfully I’ve got boarding passes issued, am through customs and airside with still about an hour before my flight leaves. I’ve made it, and I’m stoked, and also kindof feeling disgusting after a redeye flight, transit, bags, stress and everything else has made my body excrete about four litres of sweat - good thing I changed into clean clothes!

I make it to the lounge and call the Cambodia e-Visa folk and am told that my application is about to be approved. Bingo, now I have a visa, which I print in the lounge. I head down to the gate just as boarding is called, settle into my seat and relax for the first time in about 3 hours, almost falling asleep as we’re rolling along the tarmac.

Another short (45 min) sector, and again a hot meal! This time I opt for the Satay which is excellent (not as good as their long/medium haul satay but still tasty) as does about 2/3 of the almost full (15/16 pax) cabin.

Of note - Based on a combination of looking at expertflyer fare bucket availability, seat maps and then seeting offers to upgrade from economy for cash all over the place - I’m pretty sure MH is making a bit of extra cash by selling empty J seats to economy pax at the last minute (lounge/gate almost). I’m fine with this as a strategy for them (I have zero interest in them going under) but it definitely does seem to mean full premium cabins. Also what I’ve noticed is that it seems (as you’d hope) that the cabin crew are aware of who are status or fare paying pax, and who are upgrades, based on the order in which you’re served in the cabin. I could be completely wrong here, but it seems that for every flight I’ve taken, someone else is greeted / has their meal order taken / meals and drinks brought first (assuming they’ve got OW status which I don’t yet), then it’s me, and then they start sequentially going through the rest. So at least as a fare paying pax I’m not made to feel like the cheap upgrade seats are getting service preference over me, which is nice.

I head back to the golden lounge for a 2h40m layover, have another awesome shower (though the shower stalls have no seat or bench to sit on while you get ready, you have to stand - they do have an amazing hair / everything dryer mounted to the wall which makes you less sticky getting ready) and kick back with a small bowl of “dry wonton mee” and the bubbly, but I’m sorry I didn’t catch the label.

The MH satellite golden lounge is deserted now - being quieter at lunchtime than it was when I was here at 0700 this morning.

Ninth leg: Kuala Lumpur - Phnom Penh; MH; 9M—MLO - 737-800 with BSI
Same old experience boarding and in the lounge, though next time I’ll probably check out the main terminal golden lounge rather than getting out to the satellite.

I am the only person in the business cabin on this flight, 1/16 - so I guess my previous comment re: upgrades didn’t apply here. The entire plane is very, very lightly loaded - maybe 30 or 40pax on a 738 so it’s just a light flight. (Light enough that I was worried the flight might get cancelled- but apparently the return flight was full - so lucky me.

Menu for a light meal- KUL-PNH

Service with only me in the cabin is as you’d expect, and I enjoy my choice of seat (2A) and have free reign of the menu, and the crew are very liberal with the pouring, I polish off most of a bottle of South Australian Shiraz (it’s not bad, but not great) on my flight.

I choose the Chicken Biryani for my meal and it’s enjoyable, nice and spicy and interesting. The prawn coughtail is very ordinary though- two small prawns in sauce with some fruit.

Chicken Biryani

Flight is on time and we land in Phnom Penh without incident. I’m first off the plane and straight through immigration, where there’s an extra card to fill out for a health questionnaire (i.e. do you currently have, or might you have ebola or MERS?)

I pick up a $5 4G/LTE SIM card for my phone on the way out of the airport with 4GB of data to use over a month. Insanely cheap, I didn’t think it’d work at all really, but it turned out being excellent in the built up areas, and passable (Edge data) in pretty much every other regional area.

“Smart” network prepaid pricing

My transfer down to Sihanoukville is waiting, on time, and very comfortable (a nice recent model Lexus RX300 @$55 for a ~210km trip is also crazy cheap) - but then I think cheap is part of the drawcard and theme to the trip.

Cambodia is as you’d expect on the roads

Six days in Otres becah in Sihanoukville is really enjoyable, and I head back to Phnom Penh for the journey home.

Chilling on the beach in Cambodia

 

[pythonisman]

Tenth leg: Phnom Penh - Kuala Lumpur; MH; 9M—MXP - 737-800 with BSI

Check in is a breeze in Phnom Penh (for elites / business pax anyway!) and there is basically no queue at passport control or the security checkpoint, so I head to the “le Salon” lounge for about a 45 minute wait for boarding. The lounge is nothing to write home about, and is just a quiet place with some lounge chairs, a coffee machine and some self service snacks/drinks.

le Salon in PNH

Boarding is called a little late but we taxi on time bound for KUL. J cabin is 7/16 and crew take the drink/meal order. I choose a glass of champagne and the Chicken Chettinad.

Menu- PNH-KUL

Wine list- PNH-KUL

The smoked salmon is a lot better than the prawns on the outbound leg, the chicken dish is tasty and enjoyable, and the carrot cake is quite moist and delicious. Overall a better meal than the outbound leg.

Lunch service PNH-KUL

As the cabin is far from full I have both a window and aisle seat to myself, and settle back and watch some TV episodes for the pretty short flight. As with most of the legs of this trip, we encounter some light turbulence for which the flight deck pop on the seatbelt sign and crew suspend hot drinks service. I’m ok with the ‘better safe than sorry’ approach to turbulence, but MH is definitely on the conservative side of things.

I settle back with a glass of the bubbly and enjoy the flight.

I stop by the MH Regional Golden lounge for my shortish layover before my flight to Singapore.

View from the MH Golden Lounge - Regional

Eleventh leg: Kuala Lumpur - Singapore; MH; 9M-MLI - 737-800 (no BSI)

You can definitely feel the decor shift from new to old in this jet. The recliners are extremely comfortable - moreso I believe than the new seats, if nothing else they don’t have the IFE control stalk in the arm so they’re a bit wider, and feel a bit softer. They are definitely more scuffed up though.

I don’t dine on this leg, but the options are for a refreshment - either a vegetable pie or something in Bahasa that I don’t catch- but from the pax next to me it looks like a roti with a meat curry type sauce, and a Lindor ball.

We land in Singapore and have my longest taxi yet, all the way round T3, then T1, then to just about the furthest gate at T2. Oh well. I spot VH-OEB which will be my ride home tonight for QF82.

Priority baggage works brilliantly once again, and my bag is about the third off the carousel. I make a dash for the “left luggage” service to pick up all my ski gear and switch bags over. When you have 2 large and 1 small bag it’s not the most economical, but it sure did make travelling through Cambodia a whole lot easier. The idea of bringing skis with me to Sihanoukville wasn’t my idea of fun!

 

[boomy]

Interesting routing. Have you spent any time in KUL and SIN or just transits?

 

[pythonisman]

Interesting routing. Have you spent any time in KUL and SIN or just transits?

I've spent time on past trips in both Malaysia and Singapore, but not this one. This trip was booked a bit ... ad-hoc and as such resulted in a bit of backtracking and a fair bit of bouncing through airports - I knew my brother was having his bucks in Feb in SE Asia, but I didn't know where; so I booked flights to SIN during a sale with the view to using it as a hub.

Then I got the opportunity to go on a ski trip in Japan, and figured if I'm already in Singapore it was better to fly from there rather than originate out of Sydney, which had the added bonus that J class fares intra-asia are pretty reasonable (especially when on sale) compared to when they originate from Australia.

In hindsight, it probably wasn't the most efficient use of time; and I had to clear immigration in SIN twice writing "Transit - 0 days" on my arrival card, but thankfully there were no significant delays and everything went pretty smoothly.

 

[feezable]

Amazing Gyoza
!

I am sure Gyoza is the reason my son has chosen Japan for his end of year 6 mum/son adventure, I can't wait to show him this photo when he gets home

 

[pythonisman]

I am sure Gyoza is the reason my son has chosen Japan for his end of year 6 mum/son adventure, I can't wait to show him this photo when he gets home

I can happily point you to exactly this restaurant in Tokyo as well, it's in the "Sports District" which we went to for some ski shopping.
They serve many different variants of gyoza, and I will ritualistically head back to this very restaurant next time I'm in Tokyo!

 

[Kangol]

Excellent TR! How much were the tickets and when did you buy them?

 

[pythonisman]

Excellent TR! How much were the tickets and when did you buy them?

The SYD-SIN QF segments were bought close to a year ago during a sale, but I had to change the dates so they got closer to a rack rate. The MH double return flights were booked back in October/November during some aggressive sales MH were running (at least ex-SIN). The SIN-xKUL-NRT was about AU$950 and the SIN-xKUL-PNH was about AU$500, all in Z class bar one of the SIN-KUL sectors I think which booked into D.

I'll see if I can get the final sectors post up tonight, before I crash. Made it through the day at work today on about 4hrs sleep but I am very, very ready for sleep!

 

[pythonisman]

Twelth leg: Singapore - Sydney; QF; VH-OEB - 747-400 (4 class config), A333 equipment swap

I’m not sure what the circumstances for the switch out from an A333 to the 744 were, but I’m not really annoyed in any way, or complaining. Secretly I was hoping for QPA again but I wouldn’t expect to be so lucky twice; and the 744 (IMHO) is a nicer plane than the Airbus- plus there was a (very slim) chance of me securing a seat in the nose of the plane, in the old F cabin.

That’s a funny looking A330-300 (much prettier if you ask me)

Well there was a chance, but it didn’t eventuate - that’s ok, I’d never flown the QF Skybed Mk I so why not give it a go (and as long as next month’s flight transpacific doesn’t end up in the same seat I’ll be happy - though VH-OEB has been operating transpac recently, so who knows what’s going on?)

The QF lounge in Singapore was brilliant as ever, and fairly quiet. I asked the service desk about changing seats into the first 4 rows, but am told that it’s full at the moment, and that they’re actively trying to bump pax from QF6 to QF82, due in part to a late inbound aircraft, and from what looks to be one of the old JQ config birds? That’d suck!

There was no priority boarding to be spoken of in the gate lounge, so I queued behind a very obvious DYKWIA WP QFF pax who was in the old F seats who seemed unimpressed.

The J cabin tonight is 100% full (with the exclusion that the upper deck wasn’t used), so it looks like they’ve either managed to bump a bunch of people forward on their journeys, or offered more upgrades than they usually would have, with 42 J (inc 14 F) seats occupied.

J Cabin on QF82 for my flight

PJs are distributed, with most pax looking to change into them before pushback, and orders are taken for supper. I chose a roast duck ragout with polenta, paired with an Australian shiraz (I didn’t catch the vineyard and was a bit tired to care). The duck was a little dry but the rest of the dish was quite tasty and I was content.

Singapore - Sydney menu in Business

I had a few glasses of red and some cheese following dinner, before getting changed myself, settling back to watch a short-ish movie, and catching some Z’s.
And catch them I did. While it took me a little bit to get to sleep, I reckon I got better quality sleep on this flight than almost any other flight. I started dozing when we had about 5hrs to go, slept through breakfast service and woke up with about 40 minutes to go before touchdown - huge for me who usually can’t sleep more than about 2hrs at a time on a plane.

—- An aside and a comparison on the new vs. old QF J seats:
I haven’t flown the Skybed Mk II - I’ll probably get to do that in a couple of weeks on a trip to the states for work. That being said - directly comparing the Skybed Mk I with the Qantas Business Suite (Skybed Mk III?):
Mk I to me, feels wider especially around the head/shoulder area, especially as a side sleeper. I found myself scrambling against the shell for purchase in the new bird but felt there was more room in the older seat to actually spread out and relax. Or maybe I was just more tired and not looking forward to going back to work...

Obviously the lack of fully flat seats is a big negative for Mk I - which I’m hoping is resolved with the Mk II product. The lack of direct aisle access is definitely a negative. Personally however, I feel that something like the SQ, or NZ J product feels more spacious and comfortable - but I’m a big guy, and everyone is different. I’m not at all saying the new seat is bad, it’s definitely not, I’m just not sure how I feel about it yet. It’s *definitely* a significant step up from the Y+ style current domestic J seats in QF’s A330 fleet.
End aside -—

QF 744 J cabin - Skybed Mk I’s aplenty

We touchdown and have a short taxi to one of the bigger gates in Sydney, and emerge right outside duty free. Immigration is dead at 6:50, and many pax are through waiting for bags before the carousel starts to turn. Priority baggage working well again here (by now my bag has about 7 priority tags - a mix of QF and MH Business and Priority stickets) my bags are out in the first few. Unfortunately an area Sydney airport has been pretty painful in recent experience - oversized bags - is abandoned and noone shows up for about 10-15 minutes, then when they do they’re drip fed bags with no apparent priority or order.

Noting that a few flights had landed from other parts of Asia, I was pretty worried that customs was going to be packed, but thankfully there was zero queue, and despite declaring (sporting equipment) I’m through in about 30 seconds.

I check my QFF account later in the day and note that my overnight flight has already credited — hello QFF Silver, and hopefully next week when the remaining 2 MH sectors credit this should see me bumped up to gold!

—

I hope you’ve enjoyed my first go at writing a trip report. I’ve enjoyed the travel, and the writing actually, now that I’ve worked out the best workflow for me.
Not sure if I’ll do another for my next trip, in 10 days; to Miami and NYC flying QF J / AA J/F — maybe if my F upgrade MEL-LAX comes through I might write one!

-Tyson

 

[boomy]

Thanks for sharing this unusual trip and congrats for achieving QFF Gold!