thaia345 From Indonesia, joined Oct 2006, 814 posts, RR: 17 Posted (1 year 4 months 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 9271 times:
Date: 10 Jan 2012
Route: Faro (FAO) - Zurich (ZRH)
Flight: Private
ETD: 1740
ETA: 2103
Seat: Private
Aircraft: Cessna Citation Sovereign
Flight time: 2hrs 30mins
Registration: OE-GEM
1st Flight: 27 June 2005 After the end of the event, we left our hotel and got to Faro Airport at 1715. I have earlier requested our ETD at 1800. But when the pilot and ground handler met me curbside they told me getting an earlier ETD is not a problem and once we were sent to the aircraft, we promptly taxied at 1740 and took off less than 2mins later.
D-BMVV a Falcon 2000EX owned by my BMW colleagues
Boarding my Sovereign
Taxiing past BMW’s 2000EX and a CL604
Take off into the sunset
Cabin views
Inflight was a pleasure. A nice meal was prepared for us and I killed time watching my iPad and also chatting with the crew.
Coming into Zurich
Last shots of the cabin and the Sovereign @ ZRH
Date: 11 Jan 2012
Route: Zurich (ZRH) - Frankfurt (FRA)
Flight: Private
ETD: 0906
ETA: 1011
Seat: Private
Aircraft: Cessna Citation Mustang
Flight time: 54mins
Registration: OE-FMY
1st Flight: Sep 2009 And the journey home begins. Left the Hilton Airport at around 0830 and arrived at the FBO around 7mins later. The Mustang was running a little late due to ATC delays out of Germany where it originated from. Not a worry for me as I had plenty of time and my scheduled ETD was 0930 anyways. The aircraft arrived at 0853 and then my bags were loaded and by 0906 we were already starting up our engines.
A pretty empty apron at ZRH’s biz jet area
Interior of the Mustang
Learjet 60XR of Vista Jet
Video of take off from ZRH http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvj27...-8W4TA4hX22Qw&index=7&feature=plcp
Cabin and views out of the window
Flight itself was smooth and soon enough we were on the ground in FRA. Really had fun with 4 legs in biz jets. By the time we got into the Frankfurt area, we were immediately put on a holding pattern due to heavy air traffic hich is the norm for FRA!
Video of landing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lF3P...-8W4TA4hX22Qw&index=6&feature=plcp
My summary for the little Cessna Citation Mustang is thats its just like your average family car but for the skies. And this detail is also very obvious in the cabin furnishings itself, brilliant little plane it is.
Date: 11 Jan 2012
Route: Frankfurt (FRA) - Hong Kong (HKG)
Flight: Cathay Pacific CX288
ETD: 1350
ETA: 0600 +1
Seat: 2A (First Class)
Aircraft: B747-400
Flight time: 10hrs 36mins
Registration: B-HUG
1st Flight: 11 Aug 1997
Preflight
After arriving from ZRH, the FBO arranged for a van to take me to Terminal 2 where my CX flight was departing from. Although it was still a long time before ETD most of my time was spent getting my tax refund done. Once formalities were completed I just spent the rest of my time before boarding at the CX F lounge.
When I got to the gate it was a B744 instead of the scheduled B773ER. Anyway it was not an issue for me as I am always happy to fly in the nose of the queen of the skies. Unless there was something wrong with the trip sheet prepared by my agent!
Inflight
When I got onboard I was surprised to find out there was only me an another pax in F. Pretty surprised but happy as service levels will be at the very top with 2 flight attendants for the each of us.
Cabin Views
Pics of the lav
More cabin views
Inflight menu
Airshow
Getting ready for pushback
My normal ride
Video of take off http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCiat...-8W4TA4hX22Qw&index=5&feature=plcp
Take off!
More cabin views
Meal time
Getting ready for bed
Breakfast
Final pic before landing
Overall another flight by CX in F which did not disappoint me, they are really one of my favorite airlines out there now, and I am starting to fly them more and more, really hope my TG improves its inflight product asap before I go on a full convert to CX ☹
Date: 12 Jan 2012
Route: Hong Kong (HKG) - Jakarta (CGK)
Flight: Garuda GA863
ETD: 1650
ETA: 2050
Seat: 1A (Executive Class)
Aircraft: A330-200
Flight time: 4hrs 31mins
Registration: PK-GPM
1st Flight: 15 April 2011
Preflight
After arriving from FRA I just checked into the Regal Airport Hotel and managed to get rest. Checked for my GA flight about 1hr20mins before my ETD. Really crowded in security and immigration but took me no more than 20mins to clear both formalities. Bought some wine and cigarettes and then its off to the gate for me. PK-GPM will be operating the flight today.
Inflight
About 80% full in both classes today. If you look at my inbound flight on PK-GPL this aircraft has newer full flat seats from BE Aerospace. Although looks identical to MH and TG J seats, somehow this one on GA is a lot wider and more spacious plus and goes full flat unlike GPL which strangely does not have an airshow map, GPM had.
So I guess GA decided to slightly revamp the J seats on the newer A332.
Taxi and take off
Menu
Looking across the cabin
Meal time
Overall it was a nice flight with GA with good service an also a really excellent in-flight product.
My next trips are:
26 Jan Rovaniemi, Finland, with stops in KUL, BKK, FRA, HEL, CPH and LHR: Ga in Biz, TG in F and biz jets: Embraer Legacy 600 & Cessna Citation Bravo
19 Feb New York with CX in F
Thanks for reading guys, below are my Trip reports from newest to oldest.
Avianca From Venezuela, joined Jan 2005, 5857 posts, RR: 40 Reply 2, posted (1 year 4 months 19 hours ago) and read 7375 times:
what a great report! well as usual!
would be really interesting to know how much you or your company is spending per year for your travels! impressive! specially all these trips on biz jets!
thaia345 From Indonesia, joined Oct 2006, 814 posts, RR: 17 Reply 3, posted (1 year 4 months 10 hours ago) and read 6928 times:
Quoting MSS658 (Reply 1): The pics taking off from FAO look just stunning.
Great CX/GA part as well
Enjoyed the watch/read.
Hi Marc! Thanks again for reading and glad to know you enjoyed it.
Quoting Avianca (Reply 2): would be really interesting to know how much you or your company is spending per year for your travels! impressive! specially all these trips on biz jets!
Hi Avianca, actually we are quite lucky that as we know our trips in advance, we manage to get a lot of our trips on empty legs, but for those that we charter outright, we usually try to share the costs with other companies that we know whom are also going for the conference/meetings that I am attending
UnitedDC10Fan From United States of America, joined Oct 2011, 10 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (1 year 4 months 8 hours ago) and read 6730 times:
What a great trip you had! Luxury the whole way.
I have to make one observation, and I'm wondering if I am alone in my thoughts or if others share my opinion. As I read through these reports when people fly in a really gorgeous, fancy, expensive first class suite on a widebody, how come the food that is served is so incredibly un-appetizing? The menu items are just disgusting, but of course this is just my opinion. For the Cathay flight in this report, I saw nothing on the menu that appealed to me---nothing! Why don't they serve "normal" food in first class? It's always weird stuff that I've never even heard of before.
Maybe I'm just a simpleton, but I would love to see menu offerings in first class such as: filet mignon with baked potato, baked chicken breast with veggies and rice, red snapper with veggies and mashed potatoes, etc, etc...Why do they not serve normal foods like this? I must say that if I ever get the opportunity to fly first class, long-haul in a really fancy FC suite like the one in this TR, I suppose I would have to call the airline in advance and order a special meal. I don't know what I could order or how specific I could get. I wonder if there's a way to just say that you want "beef" or "chicken"? Does anyone know?
thaia345 From Indonesia, joined Oct 2006, 814 posts, RR: 17 Reply 6, posted (1 year 3 months 4 weeks 12 hours ago) and read 5723 times:
Quoting ronerone (Reply 4): I am quite curious about your comment on TG's product. What has slipped in their First Class product and how was it before?
Hi Roni! ....I mean they still got good full flat seats on their F product on their long haul birds, but in terms of space, ambience and luxury, CX and SQ are way above them on that aspect, only the B773ER on lease from 9W has a good solid F product. I guess I just love my privacy when on the flight ...
Quoting UnitedDC10Fan (Reply 5): As I read through these reports when people fly in a really gorgeous, fancy, expensive first class suite on a widebody, how come the food that is served is so incredibly un-appetizing?
Actually I have to agree with you on this
Quoting UnitedDC10Fan (Reply 5): Why don't they serve "normal" food in first class?
Quoting UnitedDC10Fan (Reply 5): Why do they not serve normal foods like this? I must say that if I ever get the opportunity to fly first class, long-haul in a really fancy FC suite like the one in this TR, I suppose I would have to call the airline in advance and order a special meal. I don't know what I could order or how specific I could get. I wonder if there's a way to just say that you want "beef" or "chicken"? Does anyone know?
With CX, sadly in F there is no Book the Cook service like SQ or TG, when I fly on TG, I suually just book something simple like fried rice with some stir fried meat. I guess CX 'thinks' they have put in a lot of effort on the menu that no book the cook service is necessary. Theres quite a number of times when I am on the HKG-LAX route, I would just opt for the snack as my main course as its more appetizing to me.
Sponsor Message: 
From Indonesia, joined Oct 2006, 814 posts, 
From Belgium, joined Oct 2010, 2212 posts, 
From Venezuela, joined Jan 2005, 5857 posts, 
From Jordan, joined Aug 2004, 1541 posts, 
From United States of America, joined Oct 2011, 10 posts, 
Sponsor Message: 
Printer friendly format
