We asked about late checkout from the W when we checked in – by which I mean 1pm (!) – and was told they would ‘have to see’ because they were quite full. I didn’t push, and didn’t ask again, I just took late checkout and certainly they knew I was doing so as we had reserved a hotel car for 1pm. I suppose it’s possible that the hotel had become a designated conference property listed in advance with SPG for the dates in question, and I didn’t specifically rule out that possibility, but it was sufficiently unlikely that I wasn’t worried about it. We had the same driver for our return to the airport as for our pickup. He never spoke to us on the drive to the hotel, and didn’t speak to us…
Lounge Report 2009
Tag Archives for Lounge Report 2009.
Thai Airways First Class, Bangkok to Hong Kong, Part One: Ground Experience
8:00 am Bangkok, Thailand (BKK) to Hong Kong, Hong Kong (HKG) Thai Airways Flight 600 First Class Seats 2J, 2K Duration: 2h 45m Boeing 747 1,063 miles traveled We got up early for our 8am departure, wanting to take as much advantage of the Thai Airways Bangkok departure experience as possible. We caught the shuttle over to the airport just before 5am, and had the driver stop at the first dropoff area, the First/Business Class check-in. The driver took our bags out of the back of the van, I nodded over to one of the waiting porters who came over, I told him first class and he loaded up our bags and brought us over to the first class checkin lounge. We had a seat, handed our passports over to the Thai Airways agent, and…
Flight From Chiang Rai Back to Bangkok
3:30 pm Chiang Rai, Thailand (CEI) to Bangkok, Thailand (BKK) Thai Airways Flight 135 Business Class Seat Assignment at Check-in Duration: 1h 15m Airbus A300-600R 414 miles traveled We left the hotel a little bit after 2pm for our 3:30pm flight and even that was more than plenty early. We were at the airport in about 10 minutes, checked in within two minutes of our arrival (after running our bags through security screening at the entrance) and there was no line whatever for security screening before the gate area. There’s a Thai Airways lounge at the airport, but it’s not much better than waiting outside in the terminal. A woman checks eligibility for entry into the lounge, but there’s a sign on her desk that says “Self Service.” Although there’s not much service you can…
Thai Airways Domestic Business Class, Bangkok to Chiang Rai
1:25 pm Bangkok, Thailand (BKK) to Chiang Rai, Thailand (CEI) Thai Airways Flight 134 Business Class Seat Assignment at Check-in Duration: 1h 20m Airbus A300-600R 414 miles traveled Our driver was right on time at 11:15 am for our return to Suvarnabhumi. A quick 20 minutes and we were there. This time it was dropoff at the domestic checkin, heading to the business class line. No one ahead of us, no line to speak of at security, and we headed down to the domestic business class lounge. Royal Silk Lounge Entrance Lounge Lounge restroom Lounge hallway (to vip area, there were a couple of soldiers there, so…) Lounge food After a quick check of email, and a too-sweet can of fruit juice, it was time to head over to the flight. Boarding was a zoo,…
Lufthansa First Class: Ho Chi Minh City to Bangkok
9:10 pm Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (SGN) to Bangkok, Thailand (BKK) Lufthansa Flight 773 First Class Seats 83H, 83K Duration: 1h 30m Boeing 747-400 461 miles traveled Since we had a late flight, I asked about 6pm checkout but was told that would incur a half-night’s charge. But they extended 5pm checkout complimentarily, and offered that we could enjoy the evening h’or douerves in the lounge rather than leaving for the airport straight away, but we we decided we’ve rather be off. We caught a cab to the airport and despite significant traffic (it took better than an hour) the cost was ~ US$8. We entered the terminal just as Lufthansa was about to open its counters, all of the staff were huddled in a meeting while passengers began to queue. It was rather…
United’s New First Class, Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh City
Wednesday, April 15 8:40 pm Hong Kong, Hong Kong (HKG) to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (SGN) United Flight 869 First Class Seats:04F, 04E Duration: 2h 30m Boeing 747-400 935 miles traveled After checking out of the hotel we grabbed a cab down in front of the W. The hotel staff member assisting us on our way was a little bit concerned that we were heading off to the airport ‘only’ 2.5 hours before our flight, but I wasn’t in the slightest. There was a bit of traffic heading in the opposite direction but the roads were all clear for our drive. We pulled up to the airport and headed inside, strangely there wasn’t anybody in either the business or first class checkin lines ahead of us. I say strangely because even though I knew…
Connecting Flight, Tokyo – Hong Kong in ANA’s Club Asia
We arrived at Narita right on time around 3:25pm. After a quick transit security screening we headed up towards the ANA lounges. We weren’t given a lounge pass at check-in, and were continuing in two-cabin business class on ANA subsidiary Air Japan’s 6:40pm Hong Kong flight. I decided to walk towards the First Class lounge, even though ANA treats their lounges as departure rather than arrivals lounges and thus technically I would only be entitled to use the business class lounge. I approached the woman standing outside the lounge to greet passengers, ostensibly looking for directions, and showed her my first class boarding pass stub from my arriving flight. That was the only thing I showed her, she saw first class on it, and indicated I was in the right place! She escorted my to…
