H C Chai
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Posts posted by H C Chai
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(1) Oh dear ! Even the mighty SQ cannot cope apparently
(2) Bear in mind it is British weather you're referring to and the is still (by my estimation) some 12 hours before "this weekend" strikes
(1) On my last attempt, I was put on hold for 60 minutes. I finally gave up and sent them a feedback form via their website. This is becoming a joke. I can understand that BA is overstretched because all their network are affected, but for SQ, come on...
(2) Touchwood! As far as the forecast goes, its going to be sunny with a high of 17C.
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Yes, I am not going anywhere. SQ flights have been cancelled, or delayed indefinitely as they called them.
Received a text alert asking me to phone the SQ call centre to have my flight rebooked. Tried about 5 times calling them, was put on hold for 20 minutes+ on each ocassion and still couldn't get through to a representative!
Oh well, at least the weather is going to be nice this weekend.
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Source: http://news.bbc.co.u.../uk/8621407.stm
Icelandic volcanic ash alert grounds UK flights
Airline passengers are facing massive disruption across the UK after an ash cloud from a volcanic eruption in Iceland grounded planes.
The Air Traffic Control Service (Nats) said no flights would be allowed in or out of UK airspace from midday to 1800BST amid fears of engine damage.
Airports operator BAA confirmed all flights at Heathrow, Stansted and Gatwick would be suspended from midday.
And in Scotland, authorities have already shut all their airports.
The restrictions, in accordance with international civil aviation policy, were imposed after the Met Office warned ash could clog engines.
Passengers were advised to contact their carriers prior to travel.
Experts have warned that the tiny particles of rock, glass and sand contained in the ash cloud would be sufficient to jam aircraft engines.
Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow airports were shut as Nats said it was restricting flights "in accordance with international civil aviation policy".
One passenger at Glasgow told the BBC: "I'm meant to be going to Lanzarote. We've travelled from Oban, leaving at 3am. Now we've decided we might as well just go home and do a bit of gardening."
The ash cloud disrupted all flights to and from Manchester with a similar picture at Newcastle airport where all arrivals were cancelled and all outbound flights either cancelled or subject to indefinite delay.
Liverpool's John Lennon airport suspended all flights until at least 1300BST.
British Airways said it had cancelled all domestic flights for the whole of Thursday, which affected flights at London's Gatwick, Heathrow and City airports.
The company said it would refund its passengers or offer the option of rebooking.
Budget airline Ryanair said no flights were operating to or from the UK on Thursday and it expected cancellations and delays on Friday.
Engines shut
Birmingham airport warned of severe disruption with about 90% of flights cancelled, and there were problems reported at East Midlands, Leeds Bradford, Cardiff International and Bristol.
Most flights were suspended at Belfast International Airport and George Best Belfast City Airport, with some in and out of Dublin airport also hit.
Nats spokesman said: "The Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre has issued a forecast that the ash cloud from the volcanic eruption in Iceland will track over Europe tonight.
"Nats is working with Eurocontrol and our colleagues in Europe's other air navigation service providers to take the appropriate action to ensure safety in accordance with international aviation policy."
The European air safety body, Eurocontrol, said the cloud of ash had reached 55,000ft and was expected to move through northern UK and Scotland by 1300BST.
Brian Flynn, assistant head of operations of its central flow management unit, told the BBC: "As it moves toward the Netherlands and Belgium it will dissipate and lose intensity, like any weather phenomenon. But we don't know what the extent of it will be."
Further south, five easyJet flights due to depart from Stansted airport in Essex were cancelled, along with all northbound flights from Southampton and Newquay airports.
Bournemouth airport grounded a flight to Dublin but said all other departures were on schedule.
Met Office forecaster Philip Avery said the ash could take several days to clear.
He said: "It is showing up on imagery at the moment, extending down as far as the Faroes but it looks as though the wind will drag it a good deal further south.
"Nats has good cause to be very cautious about this because in about 1982 a British Airways jumbo had the unnerving experience of having all four engines shut down as it flew through a plume of volcanic ash."
There was a nearly identical incident on 15 December 1989 when KLM Flight 867, a B747-400 from Amsterdam to Anchorage, Alaska, flew into the plume of the erupting Mount Redoubt, causing all four engines to fail.
Once the flight cleared the ash cloud, the crew was able to restart each engine and then make a safe landing at Anchorage, but the aircraft was substantially damaged.
A BAA spokesman said: "Passengers intending to fly today are asked to contact their airline for further information."
Fears over the ash forced the Great North Air Ambulance - covering parts of North Yorkshire - to be grounded, but the Royal Air Force said it would maintain its search and rescue operations.
An RAF spokesman said: "We will continue to provide full search and rescue cover, however we will consider all requests we get on a case by case basis.
"The ash is mainly affecting the air traffic control radar but we can fly in cloud and reduced visibility.
The eruption under a glacier in the Eyjafjallajoekull area of Iceland is the second in the country in less than a month.
A Nats spokesperson said the volcano was still erupting.
Opps! I will be on SQ321 tomorrow
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WY's return ticket from DOH-KUL via MCT is insanely cheap! Only QAR1460..that's like QR1100 cheaper than the MH codeshare ticket and QR1400 cheaper than the cheapest QR's ticket.
They also have some attractive introductory offer ex-London too. Return LHR-KUL via MCT all in for £408 (RM2,000), with good connections and all sectors operated by A333/A332's. Not insanely cheap but it offers probably the best hard products one can get for travelling between UK and Malaysia - new planes, slimline seat with 34" pitch, 10.4" PTV and mood lighting.
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So this means this will revert back to the A319/320?
I think BI operates a mixture of A320/B763 on this route.
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I just found out indirectly that deal has fallen through ... boo!
The B777-300ER's are going to Thai Airways instead.
Thai upgrades premium seating
Starting June 1, premium fare passengers booking Thai Airways between Bangkok, Paris CDG and Tokyo Narita will be sampling some of the world's best seating such as suites in first class and fully flat beds in business class.
It will be a far cry from the situation today where flights on these routes are operated by Thai's ageing B747-400s which, as our readers have testified, have varying standards. In some cases the seating can be up to two generations behind that of regional rivals Cathay Pacific and SIA (for more information see Bad for Business in the March 2010 edition of Business Traveller).
Thai can upgrade its product offering virtually overnight because it is leasing, rather than buying, state-of-the-art planes.
The aircraft in question are three B777-300ERs which Thai is dry leasing for a period of three years (it means Thai provides its own cockpit and cabin staff) from India's Jet Airways at a reported cost of over US$1 million per plane per month.
The B777-300ERs are equipped with eight suites in first class (1-2-1) and 30 fully flat beds in business class disposed in the herringbone layout (1-2-1). The 274 economy class passengers are not overlooked as their seating comes with seat back entertainment systems and other comfort enhancements.
Although Thai has not yet announced this development in Europe, details of the transaction appear on Jet Airways' website. This information has also been confirmed by the carrier's executive VP for commercial affairs, Pruet Boobphakam, in an interview with the Bangkok Post.
Flight schedules for the B777-300ERs are now posted on Thai's website. Starting June 1, they will operate:
DailyTG676 Bangkok-Tokyo 0735-1545TG677 Tokyo-Bangkok 1655-2125
DailyTG930 Bangkok-Paris CDG 0005-0705TG931 Paris CDG-Bangkok 1340-0555 (next day arrival)
From July 16 there will be an additional flight to Paris CDG operating every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday:
TG932 Bangkok-Paris CDG 1130-1830TG933 Paris CDG-Bangkok 2030-1245 (next day arrival)
Thai says it is anxious to acquire further B777-300ERs to operate on key routes while its fleet of B747-400s undergo retrofitting with more modern seating.
In his Bangkok Post interview, Pruet Boobphakam revealed that Thai is in talks with lease a further three B777-300ERs but this time from Air India.
These particular aircraft are on final assembly at Boeing's Seattle factory so, if the deal goes ahead, they will be brand new when delivered next October. Details of these new planes' seating is not yet confirmed. But the current Air India B777-300ERs feature four fully flat beds in first class (1-2-1) 30 fully flat seats in business class (2-3-2) and 303 seats in economy class.
The economic downturn has left India's airlines with surplus capacity so that is why they are anxious to lease out aircraft. Jet's three B777-300ERs were leased to Gulf Air for a few months last year and had been earmarked for Royal Brunei Airlines (see online news December 23, 2009) but that deal has fallen though.
With Thai's B747 refurbishment expected to take a couple of years it is to be hoped that the leased planes will appear on other European routes too. Currently only when passengers fly Bangkok-Zurich with Thai (a route served by a modern A340-600) can they be sure of sampling the carrier's best premium products.
For more information visit thaiairways.com.
Report by Alex McWhirter
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Hi,
So means that we can grab our stuff and check in for the SQ flight? AK flight arrives T1 so we have to clear immigration and then proceed to T3?
From my booking the AK flight arrives SIN 8.20pm. Back in Feb the flight arrives around 5pm.
Yeah, when you arrive from KK, clear the immigration, grab your stuff at baggage reclaim and take the Skytrain to Terminal 3 if you want to check in early.
I don't know which date you are travelling, are you sure your flight is still scheduled to arrive SIN at 8.20pm?
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AK.
You won't be able to check through your luggage from BKI to HKG.
Since you are flying SQ on SIN - HKG, you should be able to check in your luggage in SIN up to 48hrs before flight departure. You can either get a hotel room in the city or proceed to the immigration if you wish to stay at the transit hotel (the transit hotel is located at the airside). Suggest taking the transit hotel located at Terminal 3, as this is where the HKG flights are departing from. Also both Terminals 1 & 2 always have ongoing renovation works - the noises from these works can be very unpleasant.
Btw, AK flight from BKI arrive in SIN at 8.30pm?!
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Which airline you are flying with on BKI - SIN?
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This service is mainly to counter the strict bilateral agreement between the UAE and Saudi Arabia, where EK is only granted a daily flight into JED. The reason is almost the same as the deployment of the A380 to YYZ.
DXB-JED vv is a busy route, very high load and yield. It's a turnaround service, so it can be used for crew training as well as maximizing the fleet's utilisation in between long haul journeys. Currently at 4 weekly, the A380 into JED will become daily by May 2010.
Hmm, interesting. Could this be the reason why Emirates have been reducing its A380 services to Heathrow? At the moment there is only one daily flight operated by the A380 (EK001/002), the remaining four are still operated by the B777-300/B777-300ER
Btw, I have finally made my first A380 flight! Flying Emirates on LHR - DXB last month, that's two and a half years after it went into commercial service...
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Somebody PLEASE SHOOT ME! Just as I was just planning on making a trip to AKL end of this year, BI just had to go on and spoil my plan. KCH-AKL via BWN is was only 2350+ back when I checked last January...back then they had Sun, Mon and Thu...what is going on?
We are in the same boat... I was planning a trip for my parents to Brisbane, until few weeks ago BI seem to have decent fare and schedule for KCH-BNE via BWN. Now I only get an error message saying there are no flights available such route.
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Interesting article! I really hope that the lease will materialise... Looks like BI is getting ambitious again - leasing more planes and opening up new routes! OTOH, it puzzles me why they are not improving the frequency of some existing routes (BWN-KCH for example) but still bother to keep them by offering a mere 2x per week schedule.
Hi H C Chai, BI will start flying BWN-KCH 3X weekly from Apr.
Kenneth, I just found out that BI has changed the schedule for BWN-KCH and will carry on offering just 2x per week from April!
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AK/D7 Flight suspension! What happen? Is this the consequences of mounting India flights???
http://www.airasia.c...lightsuspension
Route Date effective
Kuala Lumpur Abu Dhabi Kuala Lumpur 21 Feb 2010
Kuala Lumpur Manado Kuala Lumpur 25 Feb 2010
Kuala Lumpur Haikou Kuala Lumpur 10 Mar 2010
Kuala Lumpur Palembang Kuala Lumpur 21 Feb 2010
Miri Singapore Miri 1 Mar 2010
Tawau Singapore Tawau 2 Mar 2010
Kuala Lumpur Guilin Kuala Lumpur
25 Mar 2010
Reduced frequency from 7x weekly to 4x weekly
What a shame, some of these routes don't even last for a year. I feel sorry for the people who are affected by the flight suspension, imagine having to go through the hassle of changing travel plans, rebook flights etc. I also see that D7/AK are not offering the option of transfering affected passengers to another airlines operating the same route. Oh well, they are LCC's after all.
Any insiders know which route will be axed next? KCH - SIN?
I was thinking about flying them on SIN-KCH in Apr, but I am not too sure now. -
With Emirates flying the most advance fleet complements the superb inflight service, MH is very likely to loose market share on this route.
Hmm... for me 'superb' would have been an overstatement. I have flown with Emirates several times, although only on the 772, 77W and 332. Each time the overall experience is far from superb - slightly above average at best. Yes Emirates may have cutting edge IFE, fancy mood lighting and sometimes excellent catering in Y, these are however let down by their below average seating (10 abreast seating in 777's Y, 7 abreast in 332/343s' J) and a hit and miss cabin crew service. These are the two areas where MAS is doing a much, much better job than Emirates.
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Believe the BI flight to LHR is a transit flight and not direct?
BI does offer direct flights between BWN and LHR, although there is a stop in Dubai both ways. Hopefully with the introduction of the B77W, they are able to offer non-stop service between LHR and BWN.
BI may take away some MH market shares at BKI... As for KCH I am not sure how they can get things worked by just offering 2x per week. Sometimes I feel that their management is running the airline as if we are still in the 80's.
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A$594 is a bargain, that is just over RM1,800. I hope that EK will come up with similar promotional fare ex-KUL soon.
Also worth mentioning is Emirates' frequent flyer programme - Skywards.Despite its recent 'enhancement', it is still one of the more generous programme around. Even with the heavily discounted fare (A$594) one still get 10,000 Skyward miles. MH promotional fare only gives 30% of actual miles flown, thats roughly 2,400 Enrich miles for a KUL-MEL roundtrip.
Emirates is also one of thefew airlines that does not impose fuel surcharge on tickets. Therefore when redeeming the miles, one just pays the airport taxes and security charges :good:MH fuel surcharge on KUL-MEL currently stands at US$100 each way, that means an Enrich member has to fork out RM680 on fuel surcharge when redeeming his 'free' flights on KUL-MEL-KUL.
Those who based in Australia may find it more attractive as Skywards miles can also be used on Virgin Blue flights. A roundtrip KUL-MEL will clock up enough miles for a free one way flights such as MEL-ADL, MEL-SYD, MEL-HBA, SYD-HBA or SYD-BNE with Virgin Blue. And two roundtrips will give you a freereturn SIN-HKG with United.
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This is good news indeed! I am not keen on flying their B777's but with this new daily flight now I have the opportunity to avoid them altogether, i.e. A380 on LHR - DXB and then A345 on DXB - KUL.
My doubt is how long they are going to keep the A345 servicing this route, as it can be easily replaced by the 777's...
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Traitor! (LOL)
The filter statistic is a bit interesting, choosing 'Top 50' led me to almost your entire record (except for maybe those sectors with only 1 flight only). The banner - what's the number of days for? To show how long one has been a member?
I think the number of days on the banner refers to the total time one spent on the plane.
Yes the filter statistic is interesting, and it reveals a lot more information than Flight Memory too... maybe a bit too much info for some.
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I just copied all my flight segments from Flight Memory (FM) to OpenFlights.org (OF). The data transfer isn't as tedious as I thought, but it is not too straightforward either. There is a step by step guide on how to do the transfer on the OF site. It took me less than 30 minutes from signing up to completing all the data transfer (I have 215 segments in FM). However I need to do some tidying up later because OF does not recognise some airports and airlines. This is mostly due to the fact that I entered the incorrect information on FM.
The main reason I am doing this is because OF offers a better and more user friendly map which can be zoomed in and out. It also has some statistics not offered by FM, as mentioned by Azizul previously.
One of the tools I like is that the viewer can filter the route map by airlines and year. For example, I can ask the map to show me the flights I have taken with AirAsia:
I am not abandoning FM (I still like them - except the map!) and will be updating my future flights on both sites - should not be a problem since I am not a frequent flyer.
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I guess this means Business class passengers travelling on the morning flight to PEN will be using the SATS Premium Lounge instead of the Silver Kris Lounge... Also Star Alliance redemption flight into or out of PEN will have to be routed via BKK on Thai Airways Int'l.
Anyone knows if they are keeping the Silver Kris Lounge in PEN?
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... i m sure if they sell it at the right price.. the demand will be high n just hope other krispy creme will not affect the sale of other food onboard
Yeah, used to be just in Harrords, now they're everywhere! IIRC there is one at Stansted airport too.
How much does a Krispy Kreme cost in Msia? I guess its cheaper than the UK - a single glazed ring doughnut is £1.10 (RM6) over here.
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Eh ? I was on MH631 three times (BKI-SIN-KUL), two times to SIN and once to KUL (transit in SIN). We were using a YEE30 ticket to KUL with a brief stop in SIN. YEE30 ticket between BKI/KUL was RM711 in year 2001.
Hmm... I am pretty sure. But that was back in early 1997, just before the Asian Financial Crisis. I remember reading the T&C's of YEE30 saying that BKI/KCH-KUL are not applicable on flights via SIN or BWN. Maybe this has been relaxed since then?!
... I hope those of you who are carrying the old timetable of MAS could probably provide such prove. I love the night flight to KUL, my father returns to KL every year and he took all of us along. Like you, I just LOVE the widebodies and I was always hoping for the A300B4 (my favourite aircraft) but at times we get the 3 holer, DC-10-30, which was equally good to me. Interesting enough, you can see both A300B4 and DC-10-30 parked in tandem in BKI's old terminal (current Terminal 2 location). The view from BKI's viewing deck was so great and expansive that I could spend the whole day there spotting aircraft. I recalled whenever we had the DC-10-30, it tends to go direct to KUL from BKI without stopping at KCH?? Perhaps it was the DC-10-30 which were used on the NRT-BKI-KUL route?? Or SEL-BKI-KUL route. On those sectors, we were mistaken by the crews and the pax. to be Korean or Japanese.
I do have some timetables, I started collecting them in 1993 and stopped in early 00's. I also had two timetables dated 1989 and 1990. I will dig them out when I go home next time. It will be interesting how the routings / frequencies changed over the time. IIRC there were very few non-stop flights between BKI and KUL back then, except a daily YN and a handful of mixed/international flights that carry on to MNL/NRT/SEL/TPE. Most domestic flights to BKI had stops in JHB, SIN, KCH, MYY or LBU. I still remember the crazy MH2610 that did PEN-KUL-KCH-MYY-LBU-BKI.
Equally spectacular, if not more so, when crew had to do coffee/tea (hot, not cold !) service on BWN-BKI and LBU-BKI sectors
Was once on CX flying from BWN with what must have been very favourable tail wind and a runway 02 approach into BKI - the poor girls seemed in two minds as to what to do with their trays of drinks, the plane already shuddering from the lowered undercarriages !
Wow... that's probably why when I flew Royal Brunei on this route couple of years ago, drinks were served before pushback and the crew only handed out sweets during the flight
Few years ago, was on a BI F50 flight, KCH-BWN. They managed to serve fish with rice! Probably the dutch lady propped slow enough to serve a hot meal.
KCH-BWN took almost 2hrs with the F50, there is no need to rush
Wish I could take this flight, I don't think it lasted very long... -
I missed the days when I travelled to SIN non-stop on the MAS' A300-B4-203(sometimes via KCH)!! I remembered very well that the time when the 5 star airline made a substantial cut back on capacity to SIN was during SARS (April 2003). Since they have phased out the A300B4s the B737-400/500s were plying the BKI-SIN (or BKI-KCH-SIN) route.
You just brought back my childhood memory!
I missed the 80's and 90's (especially the HK movies!) ... but I never recall MH did SIN-KCH-BKI with the A300-B4 back then. I do remember they had the twice weekly MH60 doing KUL-KCH-BKI-HKG & vv. I was on the KUL-KCH leg a few times. I loved this flight, it gave domestic passengers a flavour of how it was like travelling internationally (being on a widebody + experience Subang T1). Best part of it was the flight left KUL just before 7am, hence the night tourist fare applied (thats about 30% off normal Y fare). Back then they still gave out menu for Y class passengers - I even took one home with me. Maybe I should dig it out and see what they serve on the KCH-BKI leg back then Also circa yr 2001 or 2002, there still was the KCH-SIN-KUL vv on the 734. I enjoyed the stop to pick up some duty free stuff at Changi (whilst on a domestic flight). Earlier, the route was even served by the 772. When -MRA was first delivered, the routes it normally flew in the first few weeks were KUL-SIN-KCH-SIN-KUL-BKK-KUL.
Oh, so domestic passengers travelling on this route are OK to leave the plane in SIN, wandering at the departure hall without a passport? I always thought how it was like travelling on this flight. I almost took MH641 (KCH-SIN-KUL) once but my mum changed the flight to a non-stop one at the last minute so that she could save RM100 (the YEE30 fare doesn't applied to flights via SIN).
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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...
Sorry, the second ad didn't load up when I posted the reply above. I like the first ad but the second one - oh dear!
Icelandic volcanic ash alert grounds UK & European flights
in General Aviation
Posted · Report reply
Thanks for reminding me! How could I have forgotten that! Phoned up the Singapore call centre, was put on hold for almost 20 minutes but managed to get my flights re-booked to Monday 19th and waitlist on Sunday 18th. Now I just need to sit back, relax and keep my fingers crossed.