Trip report KL/KE/OM/MH: AMS - ICN - ULN - ICN - KUL - AMS

Business trip to Mongolia and Malaysia. Two new carriers for me (Korean and
Malaysian), and one new airport (ICN (Incheon, Seoul))

Monday 8 December 2003
KL 865 Amsterdam - Seoul, B747 - 400 Combi
Scheduled 17:05 - 11:25*, actual 17:25 - 11:20*

Train to Schiphol, pick up my tickets (the most expensive tickets I have had
so far - if I remember correctly- for a total of EUR 9,250 all business
class except for the OM flight which is economy). Nobody at business class
check-in, quite a long line for passport control/security but it moves
rapidly. Buy some whiskey and wine for the colleagues in Mongolia and go to
the lounge for a few drinks.

Flight is only 50% full in business class, which the stewardess says is
unusual for this route. Anyway, seat next to me is empty. Watch a movie
about a horse ("Seabiscuit") which is OK, eat some food (I can't remember
now what it was), and sleep a few hours.

Arrive on-time at an empty ICN, find my way to the Korean Air transfer desk
and get my boarding pass for the flight to Ulaan Baatar. ICN looks nice,
with room for growth.

Tuesday 9 December 2003
KE 867 Seoul - Ulaan Baatar, B737-800
Scheduled 13:20 - 16:10, actual 13:25 - 15:35

I am in seat 7E, and when I enter the plane I start counting the rows and
when I am at the 7th row the number of the row is 14! I go back and find out
row 7 is the first row on Korean Air's 737's. Full flight. Good views over
China and Mongolia. Arrive at ULN in beautiful weather. The pilot tells us
it is minus 25 C. Our local project assistant is waiting for me at the end
of the jetway, and she takes me to the VIP-lounge and asks for my passport,
USD 53 and a passport picture for the visa, and my luggage tag. 25 minutes
and a few coffees later she comes back with my passport and bag, and all
formalities have already been cleared by her.

Leave the airport and feel the COOOOOLD......

Off-topic: the cold in Ulaan Baatar in December is unpleasant, but what is
much worse is the polution. About half of Ulaan Baatar's population of
800,000 still live in traditional Mongolian tents ("gers"), which are heated
by coal and wood. Ulaan Baatar is located in a valley surrounded by low
mountains, and when there is no or little wind (often), all the smog stays
in the valley. One night I couldn't even sleep, as there was smog even
inside my hotel room. (and no, I didn't leave the window open with minus 30
C outside!)

Friday 12 December 2003
OM 301 Ulaan Baatar - Seoul, A310-300
Scheduled 09:10 - 13:30, actual 09:15 - 13:15

At this moment Mongolian Airlines only has one plane good enough for
international flights (my old friend the A310-300 Chinggis Khan on which I
have done two returns between Berlin/Frankfurt and Mongolia), so I am happy
to see the reliable beast again. During the summer season they also used a
B737-800 but the Irish (ex Aer Lingus) management of OM has decided to cut
costs and lease the B737 to some other airline during the winter season.
Mongolian politicians are not happy about this, and during my stay the
newspaper reported that the B737 will be operational again by mid-December
and more flights between Ulaan Baatar and Seoul, Beijing and Japan will be
added.

Off-topic: another story making the front page during my visit was the first
ever international football match on Mongolian soil. Mongolia played the
Maldives (imagine players from the Maldives in Mongolia in winter!) and lost
1 - 0 at home. The return match in Male was lost by Mongolia 12 - 0. (I
wonder if all the Mongolian players have asked for asylum on one of the
Maldives beaches)

Arrive at the airport at 08:10. Pay the 12,500 tugruk airport tax. Check-in
is quick and they can send my bag to KUL. Read my book and board the plane.
First time I am flying OM in economy class and what a horrible experience.
Smallest seat pitch I have ever seen. I can't get rid of my legs and I am
not that tall (189 cm or 6 foot 3) Have to leave my legs in the alley, but
of course they come with their carts all the time. They offer me a meal but
I am unable to lower the traytable so I skip the meal. And they use this
same plane for the 10-hour flight between Ulaan Baatar and Germany! (with a
stop in Moscow)

After a miserable flight I am happy to arrive at ICN. Get my boarding pass
for the KE flight to KUL, and as I accompany a colleague who will be flying
to New York in first class I am allowed into the first class Korean Airlines
lounge which is nice. Check e-mail, chat with my colleague, write Christmas
cards and have them mailed by Korean Air free of charge, and read some
papers.

Friday 12 December 2003
KE 671 Seoul - Kuala Lumpur, B747
Scheduled 17:10 - 23:10, actual 17:15 - 22:35

Only 8 pax in business class (upper deck). Very good service on this flight.
Read my book and eat the (Korean) food (minced beef with rice) which is OK.
Uneventful flight. Route is west coast Korea, east of Taiwan, Manila, with a
right turn east of peninsular Malaysia to Kuala Lumpur.
Long lines at immigration, get some ringgit from an ATM, my bag is already
waiting for me and has -like me- survived the change from minus 30 C to plus
30 C.

Saturday 20 December 2003
MH 016, Kuala Lumpur - Amsterdam, B747 - 400P
Scheduled 23:45 - 06:25*, actual 01:05* - 06:35*

My friend drives me to KLIA in the pouring rain, and we arrive at 9:15 PM.
Check-in is quick, and we have a few drinks before he goes back home and I
proceed to the MH-lounge. Nice lounge with drinks and Malay food. No reason
given for the delay of our flight.
I have an upper-deck seat which is OK for business class long-haul, but not
as good as CX or KL. Get the famous sateh skewers, and a nice chicken
Malay-style meal. Good, professional service. Sleep 7 hours and they wake me
up for breakfast 3 hours and 15 minutes before arrival in AMS. Why so early?
Arrival in a very windy and rainy Amsterdam. Schiphol is very busy, but my
bag is quick and take a taxi home.

Sjoerd

Sjoerd writes...

they wake me
up for breakfast 3 hours and 15 minutes before arrival in AMS. Why so
early?

Excellent question, and one I've been asking for a very long time. Heck, if
they can serve a hot breakfast to all the passengers on a 45 minute flight
on a 737 or A320, why do they insist on waking people up so early on these
intercontinental flights in BC?

3 hours 15 mins is definitely unforgiveable.

Cheers, Howard

Quoting "Howard Long" regarding Trip report
KL/KE/OM/MH: AMS - ICN - ULN - ICN - KUL - AMS in a message dated Sun, 21 Dec
2003 12:57:02 +0000 (UTC):

Excellent question, and one I've been asking for a very long time. Heck, if
they can serve a hot breakfast to all the passengers on a 45 minute flight
on a 737 or A320, why do they insist on waking people up so early on these
intercontinental flights in BC?

3 hours 15 mins is definitely unforgiveable.

Cheers, Howard


CO 9/8 EWR--NRT & CO 98/99 EWR--HKG have consistently been 2 hours
before landing that I've witnessed. Of course, there are three meal services on
those flights so perhaps that's a factor.




__________________________________

Regards,
Arnold.

(E-mail address altered, to prevent spamming. :-|
Remove all asterisks and the *hates*spam* to get true address.)

"Sjoerd" wrote ...
Business trip to Mongolia and Malaysia. Two new carriers for me (Korean
and
Malaysian), and one new airport (ICN (Incheon, Seoul))


So what's the final verdict on Korean Air? In previous posts you seemed to
point out their poor safety record of the past, but there have been changes
and are improving a lot (so I've heard). So are your doubts gone, would you
fly them again and even perhaps recommend them now?
Greetz,

*or would you need a long haul trip for that first?*

"Thur" schreef in bericht
...
"Sjoerd" wrote ...
Business trip to Mongolia and Malaysia. Two new carriers for me (Korean
and
Malaysian), and one new airport (ICN (Incheon, Seoul))


So what's the final verdict on Korean Air? In previous posts you seemed to
point out their poor safety record of the past, but there have been
changes
and are improving a lot (so I've heard). So are your doubts gone, would
you
fly them again and even perhaps recommend them now?


Service was definitely fine and planes looked new. Safety seemed to be OK,
but the statistics tell me otherwise. I would fly them again.

Sjoerd

"Howard Long" wrote in message
...
Sjoerd writes...

they wake me
up for breakfast 3 hours and 15 minutes before arrival in AMS. Why so
early?

Excellent question, and one I've been asking for a very long time. Heck,
if
they can serve a hot breakfast to all the passengers on a 45 minute flight
on a 737 or A320, why do they insist on waking people up so early on these
intercontinental flights in BC?

3 hours 15 mins is definitely unforgiveable.

Cheers, Howard



The last time I flew long haul business class (many years ago - Air Canada)
they had a card to fill in which asked what times you wanted meals, as well
as how you wanted to be address by the staff.

On Sun, 21 Dec 2003 09:22:41 +0100, "Sjoerd" wrote:

KL 865 Amsterdam - Seoul, B747 - 400 Combi
KE 867 Seoul - Ulaan Baatar, B737-800

I know the world doesn't work like that, but I find it somewhat amusing
that the great circle rute from Amsterdam to Seoul actually goes over
Mongolia.

On Mon, 22 Dec 2003 10:48:50 -0000, "Miss L. Toe" wrote:

The last time I flew long haul business class (many years ago - Air Canada)
they had a card to fill in which asked what times you wanted meals, as well
as how you wanted to be address by the staff.

Did the form have enough room to write "Supreme Master and Spiritual Leader
of the Known Universe Through Ages Past and Future"?

"Jesper Lauridsen" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 22 Dec 2003 10:48:50 -0000, "Miss L. Toe"
wrote:

The last time I flew long haul business class (many years ago - Air
Canada)
they had a card to fill in which asked what times you wanted meals, as
well
as how you wanted to be address by the staff.

Did the form have enough room to write "Supreme Master and Spiritual
Leader
of the Known Universe Through Ages Past and Future"?


I did think of putting 'Oi You'

"Jesper Lauridsen" schreef in bericht
...
On Sun, 21 Dec 2003 09:22:41 +0100, "Sjoerd"
wrote:

KL 865 Amsterdam - Seoul, B747 - 400 Combi
KE 867 Seoul - Ulaan Baatar, B737-800

I know the world doesn't work like that, but I find it somewhat amusing
that the great circle rute from Amsterdam to Seoul actually goes over
Mongolia.

Yes, when I woke up on the AMS - ICN flight we were *exactly* over Ulaan
Baatar! I could see the city and the airport!

Sjoerd