Asia, the Long Way: Turkish Business Class Tokyo to Istanbul

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Chris

I left the United lounge shortly before the revised, scheduled boarding time.  The flight status TVs throughout the lounge had out of order signs next to them (despite being on) that didn’t exactly inspire my confidence.  Our departure was a bit further delayed, giving me a moment to snap a few pictures of the plane and take a quick walk to the end of the pier before boarding commenced.

Poor business class award availability for this flight notwithstanding, the cabin was quite empty:  15 of the 28 seats were occupied.

Turkish 51
Tokyo (NRT) to Istanbul (IST)
Friday, March 30th
Depart: 12:28PM
Arrive: 6:51PM
Duration: 12 hours, 23 minutes
Aircraft: 777-3F2ER (TC-JJL)
Seat: 2B (Business Class)

Like Air New Zealand’s safety video featuring the All Blacks (when your flight’s IFE is working properly), Turkish Airlines has a slightly off-beat one of its own with Manchester United.

The obligatory, pre-departure flight show:

The menu read as follows:

Since I had requested a vegetarian meal, my appetizer came preplated rather than served off of the cart.

After the meal, the flight attendants closed the window shades and turned on the mood lighting for our long flight across Asia.

About two hours out from Istanbul, we had a second meal service.

Overall, I was impressed by the Turkish Airlines business class product’s superb soft product, but I felt the seat left a bit to be desired.

New planes with new interiors goes a long way at providing a compelling hard product.  When I took this trip in late March, the 777-300ER I was on was about 13 months old; in comparison, the Thai 747-400 I took to Tokyo was about 21 years old.  That said, as a hard product person, the question I had for myself was “who would put up with a middle seat in paid business class in this day and age?”  It’s a question I ask myself every time I see the legacy United’s “new” 8 abreast business class product on its 747’s and 777’s.  (I shudder to contemplate United’s old business class product for long-haul travel, even if I enjoy their p.s. service domestically.)  In comparison, Air New Zealand fits 26-28 lie-flat business class seats, each with direct aisle access, on its 777’s in the same space that Turkish Airlines uses to fit 28 angled lie-flat business class seats, consisting of 8 window seats and 4 middle seats without direct aisle access.

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Asia, the Long Way: United Club Tokyo Narita

Posted on May 28, 2012 by Chris

Because of my short redeye into Tokyo, I actually wound up going to bed early and somehow managed to wake up after sleeping about 8 hours.  This left me with a few hours to kill in my hotel room, eating breakfast at my hotel, and then finally a few more hours to kill at the airport.

Star Alliance carriers share much of the check-in space at the south wing of Terminal 1.  I arrived at the terminal a bit before the three hours prior to departure mark and saw that Turkish was assigned to the same check-in area as Air China.  After a highly choreographed changeover, check-in opened and I was advised to relax in the United Club until my flight began boarding.

For once, I found a United Club offering a fare different than cheese, crackers, and trail mix.

The lounge was nearly empty while I was there.

The Tulip lives.

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Asia, the Long Way: Hilton Tokyo Narita

Posted on May 26, 2012 by Chris

For my stay in Tokyo, I chose to stay at the airport.  While the first part of my plan (checking in early to freshen up) did not go quite as expected, it was convenient for the second half of my plan:  Being able to get to the airport at a leisurely pace for my late morning departure.

As a Hilton HHonors gold member, I was given a voucher for a complimentary breakfast at their restaurant.  The buffet was a vast collection of Japanese and Western dishes, but I chose to not take photos as it was rather busy and I didn’t feel like explaining what I was up to.

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Tokyo

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Chris

Bleary-eyed from my redeye, I dropped off my bags at my hotel and then wandered into downtown Tokyo.

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Asia, the Long Way: Thai Business Class Bangkok to Tokyo

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Chris

For my hop to Tokyo, I selected the Thai-operated redeye.

Having relaxed in the Thai business class lounge until 45 minutes before departure, I decided to head to my gate.  Boarding didn’t start until around 25 minutes before departure, leaving me standing around the gate wondering how they could manage to board an entire 744 in 25 minutes when United can’t seem to board an A320 in 35 minutes.  Nonetheless, we managed to depart miraculously on-time.

Thai 640
Bangkok (BKK) to Tokyo (NRT)
Thursday, March 28th
Depart: 10:10PM
Arrive: 6:20AM
Duration: 6 hours, 10 minutes
Aircraft: 747-4D7 (HS-TGK)
Seat: 12A (Business Class)

This flight is a surprisingly short flight, until one studies a map:

Bangkok to Tokyo is a 2889 mile direct flight.  For comparison, San Francisco to New York is 2586 miles and Los Angeles to New York is 2475 miles.  While American and United serve a midnight snack (normally a chicken sandwich or a fruit and cheese plate) on their Flagship and p.s. routes respectively, Thai offers two meals on this flight.

The menu read as follows:

Due to the short flight time, I chose to skip the dinner and focus on sleep instead.  Breakfast service started about two hours before landing.

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Bangkok

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Chris

For reasons that weren’t clear to me when I was wandering around (and even now), Times Square is to be found in Sukhumvit Bangkok as well.

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Asia, the Long Way: Aloft Bangkok

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Chris

For my night in Bangkok, I chose the Aloft in Sukhumvit.

Overall, my room felt like a cookie-cutter replica of my previous Aloft stay last summer.

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Asia, the Long Way: Swiss Business Class Zürich to Bangkok

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Chris

Zürich Airport has a terrific aircraft observation deck prior to the main security checkpoints.  (Since it seems the emergency exits for it dump out onto the tarmac, the area has its own screening checkpoint.)  As I had some time to kill and I preferred to look at planes rather than my laptop inside of the Senator lounge, I spent a bit of time there.

A number of the benches are marked with major cities and their distances from Zürich, including my next destination, Bangkok.

The Swiss Senator Lounge in Zürich was no different than the Lufthansa Senator Lounges I’ve seen, with the exception that chocolates were substituted for pretzels.

Swiss 180
Zürich (ZRH) to Bangkok (BKK)
Tuesday, March 26th
Depart: 10:45PM
Arrive: 2:40PM
Duration: 10 hours, 55 minutes
Aircraft: A340-313X (HB-JMG)
Seat: 10A (Business Class)

First class boards from the forward entry door.  Business class and economy board from the middle door.

Swiss Business Class is configured in a staggered configuration, giving some seats direct window and aisle access.  I chose 10A over the wing.

Unlike every other airline I’ve experienced to date, Swiss provides a card with instructions on how to use the seat.

The seat was superb in all aspects except for its underseat storage as my laptop bag could not be stuffed sufficiently into the opening in front of me to satisfy the cabin crew for takeoff/landing purposes.

The amenity kit was nothing extraordinary:

With tradition, the takeoff flight show:

The menu read as follows:

I had ordered a vegetarian meal in advance, which featured the artichoke ravioli on the main menu.

Dinner ended while we were north of Turkey, over the Black Sea.  I finished watching my movie and went to bed, enjoying the two meter long bed.

I woke up about an hour outside of Bangkok to have breakfast of a croissant, some yogurt, and juice.  (Considering the time change, this wound up being my lunch.)

Overall, I was astounded by the quality of the Swiss business class product, from seat, to cabin crew, to food served.

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Zürich

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Chris

To continue my trend of proving I wandered outside of the airport, I present Zürich.

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Asia, the Long Way: Holiday Inn Express Zürich Airport

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Chris

For my stay in Zürich, I chose the Holiday Inn Express near the airport. The S-Bahn into the city was a short five minute walk from the hotel, so I was minimally inconvenienced.

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