Star Alliance Mega-Trip 2012
First
Class on Thai Airways BKK-HKG
Thai Airways 606 BKK-HKG Boeing 747
Wednesday, January 20
Depart: 4:00PM Arrive: 7:45PM
Duration: 2hr45min
Seat: 1A (First Class)
We
departed from gate D8 on an older regional 747 aircraft.
There were two jet bridges available and I used the left one for premium
cabin passengers. The purser came by
before take-off offered me a pre-departure beverage which I declined. He also mentioned/confirmed that I ordered a special
meal that was spicy.
The
safety video was played on the old style overhead projector screen.
Being seated in 1A, it was hard to see it clearly. After we took off,
the meal service started immediately with the hot towel service to kick
it
off. I started off with a still water
when not nuts were brought out.
Then an
appetizer of pork satay with peanut sauce and cucumbers were given. The
purser suggested that I enjoy some Dom
Perignon with it... which I accepted. Then
the bread basket with butter came along with the pumpkin soup.
My main course chosen on this flight was the
Spicy Thai Basil with Beef served with a fried egg and it was delicious. Next we had a fruit and cheese plate followed
by a chocolate mousse tart with almond crème.
This was all followed by a cup of green tea and landing card for Hong
Kong. I had my personal TV turned to the
airshow so I could follow our progress into Hong Kong.
After
I filled the landing card out, I asked the purser for a tour of the Business
class split amongst the front of the plane on the main deck and the upper
deck. In First, there were 4 passengers
including myself with seating enough for 10 passengers. One passenger was a monk who I believe was
upgraded to First by the gate agent. The
safety video we had was shown on the old style projector screen (this bird is
very dated). The galley for First and
Business occupied the right middle section of the plane (similar to KLM’s 747)
which is a rarity for 747 configurations.
In the upper deck, there was 1 passenger (private cabin) and about 5 on
the main deck. Upon returning to my
seat… and once again, I blogged and tried to catch up before I forget the
details on my last few days of whirlwind travel. I did manage to recline the seat into the bed
position and grabbed a few winks before landing. Since the cabin lights were turned off, I
managed to fall asleep rather quickly and even had a short little nightmare
“napmare”. The service was very good on this
flight and I would not accept anything less from Thai Airways. We landed in Terminal 2 of Hong Kong
International Airport.
Upon
landing, there was an agent with three names on the paper waiting on the jet
bridge… the three official passengers in First as the monk had a wheelchair for
him upon arrival. We were taken by
shuttle to the immigration area and it would have been about a 10 minute walk
without the golf cart service. The line
for visitors to Hong Kong was pretty long and took about 15 minutes to get
through.
The e-channel for frequent visitors of HKIA automated gates looks like
an easy process to go through. Based on
previous research, the only requirement was for someone to enter/leave Hong
Kong 3 times within a 12 month period.
This trip would fulfill at least 2 of the 3 times for me as both on the
inbound and outbound fights to china, I would be clearing customs/immigration on both
sides of the trip into/out of Hong Kong.
