thaia345 From Indonesia, joined Oct 2006, 814 posts, RR: 17 Posted (1 year 3 months 1 week 16 hours ago) and read 12737 times:
Reason for Trip
This time I am heading to ice cold Rovaniemi in Finland for a winter driving program with some friends. After which we will spend a few days in Copenhagen and London. Most of the trip is with TG in F, with all internal Europe flights in a privately chartered Legacy 600.
Date: 26 Jan 2012
Route: Jakarta (CGK) - Kuala Lumpur (KUL)
Flight: Garuda GA820
ETD: 0840
ETA: 1130
Seat: 2F (Executive Class)
Aircraft: B737-800
Flight time: 1hr36mins
Registration: PK-GMG
1st Flight: 21 Jan 2010
A wet and rainy day in Jakarta, got to the airport with about 1hr to spare before ETD. After a quick check in, we just spent some time in the GA lounge before boarding was called. I wont talk to much for my short haul sectors as the main event are the long haul and private flights. But as you can see, GA is now a force to reckon with in the region, really lifting up their game in recent years. Once I didn’t even want to fly them, and now I can say they are one of my preferred airline.
Date: 26 Jan 2012
Route: Kuala Lumpur (KUL) - Bangkok (BKK)
Flight: Thai Airways TG418
ETD: 2100
ETA: 2151
Seat: 12K (Royal Silk / Business Class)
Aircraft: B777-200
Flight time: 1hr41mins
Registration: HS-TJD
1st Flight: 10 Dec 1996
After almost a full day stopping over in Kuala Lumpur, its now time to head to BKK where we will meet our B744 to FRA. One of my friends also will be joining us from KUL onwards.
Preflight
After arrival from KUL its off to the Royal First Lounge where we had our showers and then its time for a quick bite and smoke and before long we were called and escorted to our waiting bird.
Shower Room @ Royal First Lounge
Some snacks before the flight
Looking into the empty dining room
Inflight
Full flight in all classes today, but once I stepped on board, it became the usual place of tranquility for me up front in the nose of the queen of the skies.
Already a familiar view of the cabin from those of you that follow my TR’s on Thai
Rare white Rimowa Amenity kit (usually its Purple or Silver)
Seat controls and IFE
Inflight Menu
A very cheerful and personal crew tonight. Slightly longer flight time of 11hrs and 15mins due to strong head winds. After take off supper was served.
I managed to enjoy a movie on my iPad along with my meal. Managed to get about 7hours of sleep and soon enough it was time for breakfast and final descend began. Another fantastic flight with TG.
Date: 27 Jan 2012
Route: Frankfurt (FRA) - Helsinki (HEL)
Flight: Private Jet
ETD: 0810
ETA: 1110
Seat: Private
Aircraft: Embraer Legacy 600
Flight time: 2hrs 10mins
Registration: HB-JED
1st Flight:
As my next 3 legs are on the very same aircraft and crew, I will just let the pictures do the talking. Basically being a private charter, everything was excellent, from the aircrew to the catering provided. I must say that me and my friends are very fortunate to be able to experience this and definitely something that we will not take for granted. The locations that we flew into also helped the great photos that I took.
Landing in Helsinki
HB-JED taken as we were walking towards the FBO terminal after disembarking her
And now on to the next leg to RVN
Taken parked next to our bird
And now I’m lucky enough to be on the jumpseat
Video of take off from HEL http://youtu.be/Z8T3ZJvYVo4
Landing in snowy Rovaniemi @ -28 degrees celcius
Video of Landing in Rovaniemi http://youtu.be/rku8nxYo79M
After 4 days in RVN, now its time to go to CPH, got to wait awhile for deicing truck, but not a problem for me as it gave me an opportunity to walk around the Legacy and take some nice pics
And more cabin views
Coming into CPG
Video of Landing in Copenhagen http://youtu.be/Sljgq9_IWBQ
Date: 04 Feb 2012
Route: Copenhagen (CPH) - London Luton (LTN)
Flight: Private
ETD: 0840
ETA: 0936
Seat: Private
Aircraft: Cessna Citation II
Flight time: 1hr 50mins
Registration: G-JBIZ
1st Flight: 1979 (a very old bird indeed)
As there were only 4 of us on the last leg from CPH to London, we decided to charter a Bravo, however, it was replaced at the last minute by a really old Citation II, built in 1979 as the Bravo had to undergo unscheduled maintenance. Although I was not too happy with last minute change of equipment, I was also a little excited to fly a bird that’s only 1 year younger than me !
Crossing great aircraft views along the tarmac
Theres our Citation II
Special seat for a bag that we couldn’t fit into the cargo hold
Video of Landing in Luton http://youtu.be/L8dnTYC5P2g
Hello Luton
Date: 05 Feb 2012
Route: London Heathrow (LHR) - Bangkok (BKK)
Flight: Thai Airways TG911
ETD: 1150
ETA: 0610+1
Seat: 1K
Aircraft: A350-600
Flight time: 11hr50mins
Registration: HS-TNC
1st Flight: 05 Oct 2005
Preflight
The evening before was terrible in London with strong snow fall which wrecked havoc around the greater London area. I checked early in the morning and found out my flight was operating as normal. Gave myself plenty of time and got to the airport with 2.5hrs to spare.
T3 @ Heathrow
After completing all formalities including my tax refund it was off to the Lounge which was really crowded. I must say the star lounge in CDG is much better.
Nice snowy day and heavies getting ready to depart on their loung haulers
HS-TNC waiting for me
Inflight
Realised that the A346 is now used to LHR is due to some carbon index tax that airlines have to pay, so the older the aircraft like the B744, the more you have to pay. Even 1 rotation on the FRA route uses the B773ER now. Anyways, its nice to be back onboard my inner sanctum of TG F.
Crew were great and immediately recognized me when I came onboard.
More heavies
T5 @ Heathrow
Bye Bye LHR
Shot of the Lav, love windows in lavs!
Finally the sun decides to appear above the clouds
AVOD by TG, and my Ife, my trusty iPad2
Inflight Menu and meals
Breakfast
Sorry I didn’t take many shots after this as I was really tired after the flight back from LHR. I hope you guys enjoyed my TR and will post my next TR soon which I just got back from.
Date: 06 Feb 2012
Route: Bangkok (BKK) - Jakarta (CGK)
Flight: Thai Airways TG433
ETD: 0820
ETA: 1140
Seat: 12A (Royal Silk/Business Class)
Aircraft: A330-300
Flight time: 3hrs 00mins
Registration: HS-TED
1st Flight: 03 Feb 1995
gabrielchew From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 2512 posts, RR: 13 Reply 1, posted (1 year 3 months 1 week 12 hours ago) and read 11929 times:
Thanks for posting. I just booked with TG KTM-BKK in C and BKK-FRA in F so this was good timing to have a look at the products. Would you be able to enlarge the photos of the menu as it's a bit small to see? How much time do you need to make the most of the F lounge in BKK? IS it easy to get an appointment for the massage? Also, do you ever pre-order from the online menu flying in F? I've booked the Chinese Roast Duck - have you tried it?
thaia345 From Indonesia, joined Oct 2006, 814 posts, RR: 17 Reply 4, posted (1 year 3 months 1 week 3 hours ago) and read 10621 times:
Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 1): BKK-FRA in F so this was good timing to have a look at the products. Would you be able to enlarge the photos of the menu as it's a bit small to see? How much time do you need to make the most of the F lounge in BKK? IS it easy to get an appointment for the massage? Also, do you ever pre-order from the online menu flying in F? I've booked the Chinese Roast Duck - have you tried it?
Hi Gabriel, glad to know that you decided to fly TG. PM me your email and i shall send you a bigger file size of the menu. When are you actually flying your TG flights? TG will start flying the A380 to FRA in the 3rd quarter of 2012, so good if you can be on that flight. To make good use of the F lounge in BKK, give yourself a good 3 hours (thats including getting the full massage). I know the appointments are pretty hard to get by between 9.30pm till 11pm, so good if you can be there earlier. I always pre-order from TG's online site. And yes, the duck is fantastic! My wife had the porridge pre-ordered too and she said it was great too
Quoting nipoel123 (Reply 2): didn't know Airbus was making a -600 version of the A350,
Apologies, a typo from me ! hahahaha i use my iPhone to write up my TR's and damm those touchscreen alphabets are too small for my gigantic fingers!
Quoting debonair (Reply 3): Hi, great TR and finally (!!) a perfect new size of pictures- great short upload-times! Well done!!
Thanks! I used iPhoto to upload the pics to photobucket. but unfortunately, this wont be the case with my next TR, had some issues with both cam and iPhoto uploading
mxp From Italy, joined Aug 2003, 389 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (1 year 3 months 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 10037 times:
HI
very nice trip report and also very interesting to me because of some motivation
In june im should fly GA and it appears its very good in business
Do u know how is TG business class beetween HKG-BKK and BKK-SIN? i book both (the second just to fly the A340-600)
thanx and regards
ALberto
thaia345 From Indonesia, joined Oct 2006, 814 posts, RR: 17 Reply 6, posted (1 year 3 months 5 days 20 hours ago) and read 9490 times:
Quoting mxp (Reply 5): Do u know how is TG business class beetween HKG-BKK and BKK-SIN? i book both (the second just to fly the A340-600)
Hi Alberto! Thanks for reading my TR.
Regarding TG between both HKG and SIN, here are very notorious for last minute exchanges of aircraft equipment, so although it might say A346, last minute it can be changes to anything from a B772,B773 or even the A333. So you really have to cross your fingers that your equipment dont get changed. Once even on a regular A33 flight from BKK to CGK, aircraft was changed to a B744 !
malioil From Bahrain, joined Jun 2010, 99 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (1 year 3 months 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 9031 times:
Hello !
Brilliant TR, what a fantastic trip... something I'll want to do one day is charter an aircraft and go around the Arctic... but that is something that'll need proper saving from my side.
You do not need to answer this, but how much did the charters cost? Would I be right in pricing it between 25,000-30,000 Euros? Just curious, I am familiar with prices in the US and here in Bahrain but not those of Europe.
The TG F product looks like a very solid product, what an F class should be- a true experience of luxury, something it would seem most airlines have forgotten.
Again, wonderful TR, a glimpse into a world many of us would love to be apart off. Something great, a pinnacle of commercial aviation of sorts.
Congratulations on a fabulous trip, and a great trip report.
thaia345 From Indonesia, joined Oct 2006, 814 posts, RR: 17 Reply 8, posted (1 year 3 months 4 days 18 hours ago) and read 8582 times:
Quoting malioil (Reply 7): Would I be right in pricing it between 25,000-30,000 Euros?
I paid around Euro 45,000 I think. Routing is FRA-HEL (1 night layover), HEL-RVN (3 night layover), HEL-CPH. The aircraft stayed the entire time with me, and the crew too.
Quoting malioil (Reply 7): Congratulations on a fabulous trip, and a great trip report.
LH4116 From Sweden, joined Aug 2007, 1673 posts, RR: 15 Reply 10, posted (1 year 3 months 3 days 14 hours ago) and read 7744 times:
Hi Mr. H, fantastic report!
Once again your standard TG F trips, very nice to see you flying the A346 for a change. The plane looks quite a lot brighter and cleaner than the B744. Private jet was an interesting read as always, was quite amazed to see the catering. Looked quite spectacular, not something one would expect on a short flight. But then again it's a private jet
Do you have any plans to start flying private all the way from Indonesia to Europe? Perhaps something for later during the career
"Wheels Up!"
//Jonas
I won't stop complaining until SAS reintroduces free service in Economy Class!
julio777 From Indonesia, joined Jan 2012, 19 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (1 year 3 months 3 days 12 hours ago) and read 7682 times:
Hello
Love the trip report as usual, in particular the detail of pj flghts! Tg first class is not something that i am looking forward though due to a change to be TGed ha ha, but the food looks great. Love GA biz class cabin and it's onboard service but sometime i feel it's the cabin felt too red for my eyes....i wish they would change the colour of the blanket, pilow, and head cover to a softer colour so it will not be too tiring in my eyes especially for medium to long flight. The colour of the seat it self is very nice.
thaia345 From Indonesia, joined Oct 2006, 814 posts, RR: 17 Reply 12, posted (1 year 3 months 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 7207 times:
Quoting nethkt (Reply 9): I'm confident that Platinum status will be granted to you soon.
Hi Net, I have actually been awarded Platinum status since the first time TG announced Platinum status (the card arrived 1 week after TG had the formal launch in BKK)
Quoting LH4116 (Reply 10): Do you have any plans to start flying private all the way from Indonesia to Europe? Perhaps something for later during the career
Hi Jonas.....that is still a dream, as you know the furthest I have been on a private jet is the distance of Jakarta to HongKong/Macau. Got another on towards end of the year from the East coast of the US to the West Coast
Quoting julio777 (Reply 11): Love GA biz class cabin and it's onboard service but sometime i feel it's the cabin felt too red for my eyes...
I agree with you , the Y cabin actually is much nicer on the eyes !!
julio777 From Indonesia, joined Jan 2012, 19 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (1 year 2 months 3 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 6096 times:
Hi Mr H
Just to share, i did jkt-kl-jkt sector last week and yesterday, 3 flights with Garuda and 1 flight with Mas ( kl-jkt as i could not get seat on Garuda). I wish i had taken same photos to share the experience in economy class with Garuda and Mas. My conclusion is Garuda product is now really superior compared to Mas ( i flied Mas new 787-800NG) Garuda's cabin crew, seat comfort, cabin ambiance are all really excellent, the thing that Mas is significantly better is their avod with more quality programs compared to Garudas'. The thing that i didn't like with Mas is their economy class seat, realy uncomforatble, feel like flying lcc but with avod and meals . Next week i will do jkt-ams-jkt with Garuda, i will try to post my trip report if ihave some free time
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due to a change to be TGed ha ha, but the food looks great. Love GA biz class cabin and it's onboard service but sometime i feel it's the cabin felt too red for my eyes....i wish they would change the colour of the blanket, pilow, and head cover to a softer colour so it will not be too tiring in my eyes especially for medium to long flight. The colour of the seat it self is very nice. 
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