H C Chai

That is a nice ad... I quite like the pic, but there seem to be some conflicting information there : The headline says : All seats in July AT S$31 nett But the small print says : Seats are limited and may not be available on all flights... What is that suppose to mean!? Flights to Malacca, Alor Setar and Kuala Terengganu are not starting until Sep / Oct but they are featured in this promotion for travelling in July. Hmm...

There is no more protection here, the protection is already there and MASwing is only trying to make sure the government enforce it. I am glad that I never experienced FAX myself, but what they did to the rural folks of Sabah and Sarawak should not be forgotten.

Yes, ethnic food is becoming very popular in the UK. I remember reading an articile few years ago saying that curry has overtaken fish & chips as the most popular dish at schools. There was also an article on Telegraph earlier this year showing that Chinese Chow Mien is now the most popular dish in the UK. I am not sure how reliable the survey is but one just need to look at the number of Chinese and Indian Restaurants / Takeaways in the country to get an idea that how popular they are. http://www.telegraph...urite-food.html The person who wrote the article in the Times obviously prefers traditional british food to the ethnic food.

I guess the best airline meal depends on who you are and what your expectations are. I saw this articile in the Travel section of last week's Sunday Times - it is written by an English person for English readers. The comparison may look a bit random at first, (5 scheduled airlines + 1 charter airline + 1 airport restaurant), but if you live in the UK it does make some sense - BA, Virgin and Thomsonfly are UK based carriers and Cathay, Emirates and Singapore are the main foreign carriers that serve the UK - Australia routes. No idea why Qantas is not in the list. MH as usual is forgotten - but judging from the food they serve these days maybe thats a blessing in disguise...

Hi all Thanks for all the advice... much appreciated!! The reason I have not included Damascus, Amman, Cairo etc. in the list is because they are in a different redemption zone from Dubai, Muscat etc. - I do not have enough miles to go there. But yes I agree with most of you, if I were to choose a middle eastern country to visit - I'll pick Jordan! Looks like I am down with either Muscat or Sanaa. Muscat sounds more relaxing and offers better choices of hotels. Guess I need to check Skywards availability to see which destination offers a schedule that suits me best. Once again thanks a lot

Hi all! Need some advice here... I have just over 40,000 miles in my Emirate's Skywards account and half of them are expiring by the end of the month. As I work in the UK, 40,000 will only take me as far as Dubai and/or an EK destination in the middle east. I understand that some of you have visited or are currently working in the Middle East, I wonder which of the following destinations would you recommend? I am planning to spend a long weekend, most likely in April-May 2010 (no leave this year). I would love to go to Sanaa in Yemen, it seems to be a very interesting city to visit. The only thing that worries me is the threat of terrorism. Dubai Bahrain Dammam Doha Kuwait Muscat Riyadh Sanaa Many Thanks in advance

There is a transit hotel located at each Terminals (above the departure level on the airside, there is no need to clear immigration). Budget rooms are available at either T1 or T2, they are priced at a very reasonable rate of S$41.20 (approx RM100) per block of 6hrs. I stayed there in Feb - the rooms are small, windowless (could be claustraphobic for some) but comfortable. Showers are shared but they are very, very clean. You can reserve a room via the hotel's website (here). They do not require credit card guarantee. Otherwise you can take Azizul's advice, find a quiet spot and get some sleep. There are some sleeper seats around too.

Just to share, as some of you may have already found out from FT site, Turkish Airlines is doing some really fantastic offer ex-UK to the Far East. Fares are available in May-Jun, Sep-Nov, bookable at Opodo. All flights require a change in Istanbul. Booking class code is L, that gives you 100% Krisflyer miles or 50% bmi miles Some flights are operated by the leased Jet Airways B77W! London - Singapore £248 (approx RM1,300) London - Hong Kong £182 (approx RM960) London - Bangkok £286 (approx RM1,500) All fares are return and inclusive of taxes. Too bad I have no holidays left this year to take advantage of these low fares! (administrator: please remove this thread if you think its inappropriate)

Ah, now it makes sense. Now I know why there are no new airports being built in Kapit, Long Pasia, Semporna and Tommangong...

Doesn't it make more sense to use the money to improve the road condition between Mukah/Sibu and Mukah/Bintulu? Sibu is a mere 42 miles (68km) from Mukah but the journey takes 3hrs - thats not even 15mph. How many white elephants do we need in this country in order to get a place in Guinness World Record?

You can also consider BNE as your entry and departure point (or both - flying into MEL and back from BNE). EK's promo fare to MEL has become very limited especially in early June. BNE on the other hand still has good availability. Also EK uses 777-300ER on the SIN-BNE route (MEL is served by the non-ER 773) There are dozens of flights between SYD-BNE, and the fare is slightly cheaper than MEL-SYD (around A$85 o/w)

You can also fly into Fukouka with both EVA and China Airlines via Taipei.

I guess this happens everywhere. I am planning a trip to Spain this Christmas, at the moment the cheapest option for me to fly from London to Madrid is with British Airways ex-LCY. Same in Australia where Qantas could be cheaper than Virgin Blue on some routes. And MH's fare for London-KL (May & June departures) is also cheaper than AKX's Stansted-KL.

Hope you have a better luck this time with the immigration officer! Make a seat request via Skywards! IMO the front cabin is slightly better, less people moving along the aisle. The aisles are extremely narrow on EK's 777!

Long layover can be tiring, but sometimes you can turn it into a 'mini' stopover - the BI fare you quoted includes a STPC in Brunei if there is no same day connection to your final destination, which means if you choose to leave AKL on 13 Nov, BI will provide you with transfers, one night accommodation and breakfast in BWN for free. If they put you on a decent 4-5 star hotel, why not? It's pretty strange that the online booking engine let you book the 13-Nov AKL departure, hmm. STPC has to be pre-arranged, here is an extract from BI's fare rules

Are those fares quoted above one-way? If you are just going back to KCH for break, SQ has 3-month return AKL-SIN-KCH for just under NZD1,600. I flew BI medium haul almost 2 years ago on BWN-BNE & vv. The outbound sector was operated by a refurbished B767 with PTV's, unfortunately mine didn't work. The return sector was an old B767 with no PTV's and awful seat pitch. Overall it was okay for the price I paid.

Just to share... Emirates is having some attractive offers ex-SIN to Brisbane, Melbourne and Colombo, for travelling up to end June. SIN-Melbourne return is only S$403 (RM950) incl taxes! Good availability too. The fare also earns you 7,500 Skyward miles. New Skywards member will also get an additional 2,500 bonus miles. Good for those in SIN and Johor! What an offer!

Good news for passengers! Fares ex-UK are already plummeting. This week both MH and SQ are offering great fares - £399 (RM2100) to SE Asia with MH and £489 (RM2500) to Australia with SQ. MH £499 fare to Australia also comes with a free return ticket within Malaysia. This also reminded me of what BA/Cathay did when Oasis started the HKG-LGW flights few years ago. Image from malaysiaairlines.com Image from netflights.com

Its true that AKX fare isn't cheap compare to offers from other airlines (e.g. Qatar £380 return to KUL, Qantas £399 to SIN, RBA £368 to KCH and so on), but they do work out cheaper if you are flying during peak season or just wanting to fly one way. Perhaps they need to come up with another £99 ow offer, their current offer of £190 ow makes them look rather expensive.

Its good to see that the inaugural flight took off smoothly. Hopefully this route will thrive

Also Kenneth, if you want something more interesting for your return journey, take the flight with a transit in SYD and fly QF31 (operated by A380) to SIN. On certain days it costs only A$14 more compare to a direct MEL-SIN flight. Of course that is when time is of no essence. Qantas A380 has self service snack bar in Y...

Hi Kenneth, IIRC EK uses the older version of 773 on the SIN-MEL run, so the likelihood of you getting new generation of entertainment system (ICE) is very low. Also all EK's 777s have 10 abreast seating in Y, on a full plane it can be extremely uncomfortable even for a medium built person. They are not the best choice for SIN-MEL route, in terms of both comfort and price... Hmm, MH doesn't have cheap fares in July! SIN-MEL one way starts from S$639 (nonstop), the SIN-ADL-MEL one is slightly more expensive at S$655 (RM1,575). That's about RM400 more than AKX's KUL-MEL. But QF is not a LCC so you get the extras such as better legroom + shoulder room, meals, drinks, IFE, miles and 23kg baggage allowance. Alternatively you can book your brother a return ticket. The return sector is bookable until Feb 2010 (come home for CNY? ). The problem is you must choose a date for the return flight - they won't let you leave it open. Also bear in mind that you can only change the date once at S$75. For KCH-SIN-KCH try to book the MH flight. They still have promo fare - RM110 a.i. one way or RM220 return. Unbelievably good value Good luck!

Btw, Kenneth, have you tried MH? As reyneo mentioned, most deals from legacy airlines have restrictions such as 30 days max stay... but MH is an exception, they do deals for one way flights too. I did a quick search, return KUL-MEL (for end May/early June - I don't know your dates) is just under RM1.6k. KUL-MEL one way is bookable too, for just under RM800 a.i. Problem with MH is their website isn't as user friendly as the others. There is no flexible date search so finding a cheap fare requires a lot of patience...

Interesting thread Kenneth! I didn't even know that BI has changed their timings for BWN-KCH, again! Bad for Australia bound passengers, but good for those going to DXB/LHR. Apart from the airlines and routings you mentioned, SQ is also having some good offers ex-KUL or PEN. Return KUL-MEL is about RM2025 a.i. However its only good for departure until end May, and you must travel in pairs. Also it can be tiring since you have to transit in both KUL and SIN.

There you go, one more reason not to fly Ryanair!