4pm and I am still sitting in the airport. Plane spoil.
We have had a bad year last year as far as business was concerned and this year calls for a bit of belt tightening on everybody's part.
My usual travel arrangement would have been to buy a B-class economy fare and then using my mileage to upgrade to business class. This time round, I decided to save a bit of money and opt for an award return ticket as I have accumulated close to 200,000 FF Miles liao (Not because they gave me a lot but rather, hardly able to use coz they keep saying no award upgrade seats available and all sorts of excuses $#$@*&!!!).
60,000 for an economy return ticket (Non mileage accrual). Cheap coz free mah....
So there I was sitting in the bladdy plane waiting for take off when the Captain announced over the PA that starter engine rosak. Now waiting for spare part to deliver and will be delayed an hour.
Better rosak on the ground then in mid-air, I told myself.
1 hour ended up to be 3.5 hours where the engineers gave up and declared the plane not air-worthy as we were all herded out of the plane. NW staff were quite good as I was quickly transfered to a flight on Cathay Pacific and because between airline-to-airline, I knew this was going to be a full fare economy flight and quickly flashed my Marco Polo Club card. 6,900 free FF miles. Small consolation lah.
Still, economy class in the best airline is still nowhere near the business class of the worst airline. It was most unfortunate.
All my prefered seat selection were gone as a result of this transfer. I may be a Platinum member in NW, I am just a mere peon Marco Polo Green and so I got stuck right at the back in Row 57. I became part time flight toilet attendant.
20 cents, please. You want tissue?
The CX flight eventually took off at 4.30 pm. 8 hours later. Luckily, this was a direct non-stop flight as compared to a connection in Narita if I were to fly via NW. And so while I may be stuck in the HK airport for 8 hours, I arrived a mere 3.5 hours later.
A lot of things happened at the back of the plane. Got this indian kid crying for 6 of the 10 hours we were airborne. Could have strangled the kid but refrained coz I just couldn't accept the money that everybody (including his parents) were offering me to do it. iSaint.
Another eurasian kid sitting in the aisle across from me, suddenly did the merlion onto the aisle between us. OK... time to wear my shoes the rest of the journey liao. I must say the CX attendants were very professional about it. Granted, I can sense they were a bit peeved with the extra (also not to mention stinky) work, they nonetheless still maintain a friendly attitude as they got down on their knees and cleaned up the mess. Salute.
The journey was bumpy due to turbulence but not to the extend of having your testicles pasted to the ceiling. Instead, it was a cradle type of rocking that lulled you to sleep very quickly. With my noise cancelation earphones switched on although not plugged in to anything, I was soon snoozing in the most awkward of posture. iNeckAche.
Breakfast was a disaster not that the food was bad but the idiotic char bor sitting in front of me suddenly decided to return her seat, mid-meal, to upright position. The spring in the seating must have been brand new as the seat sprang back to upright position in 0.000001 second, thus catapulting my orange juice into the air, 2 somersaults and a half twist before landing onto my lap.
7.5, 7.5, 7.5, 7.5, 7.5 flashed the panel of judges that would have made Fu MingXia or Guo JingJing proud.
Heng, I had my blanket draped over my lap as it valiantly made the ultimate sacrifice for me. Other than a orange smelling sleeve, I got away pretty much unscathed. Just when you thought I would pledge my eternal loyalty to the blanket from hereon, I switched it with the char bor's when the latter headed to the toilet.
Yes, iBastard.
We have had a bad year last year as far as business was concerned and this year calls for a bit of belt tightening on everybody's part.
My usual travel arrangement would have been to buy a B-class economy fare and then using my mileage to upgrade to business class. This time round, I decided to save a bit of money and opt for an award return ticket as I have accumulated close to 200,000 FF Miles liao (Not because they gave me a lot but rather, hardly able to use coz they keep saying no award upgrade seats available and all sorts of excuses $#$@*&!!!).
60,000 for an economy return ticket (Non mileage accrual). Cheap coz free mah....
So there I was sitting in the bladdy plane waiting for take off when the Captain announced over the PA that starter engine rosak. Now waiting for spare part to deliver and will be delayed an hour.
Better rosak on the ground then in mid-air, I told myself.
1 hour ended up to be 3.5 hours where the engineers gave up and declared the plane not air-worthy as we were all herded out of the plane. NW staff were quite good as I was quickly transfered to a flight on Cathay Pacific and because between airline-to-airline, I knew this was going to be a full fare economy flight and quickly flashed my Marco Polo Club card. 6,900 free FF miles. Small consolation lah.
Still, economy class in the best airline is still nowhere near the business class of the worst airline. It was most unfortunate.
All my prefered seat selection were gone as a result of this transfer. I may be a Platinum member in NW, I am just a mere peon Marco Polo Green and so I got stuck right at the back in Row 57. I became part time flight toilet attendant.
20 cents, please. You want tissue?
The CX flight eventually took off at 4.30 pm. 8 hours later. Luckily, this was a direct non-stop flight as compared to a connection in Narita if I were to fly via NW. And so while I may be stuck in the HK airport for 8 hours, I arrived a mere 3.5 hours later.
A lot of things happened at the back of the plane. Got this indian kid crying for 6 of the 10 hours we were airborne. Could have strangled the kid but refrained coz I just couldn't accept the money that everybody (including his parents) were offering me to do it. iSaint.
Another eurasian kid sitting in the aisle across from me, suddenly did the merlion onto the aisle between us. OK... time to wear my shoes the rest of the journey liao. I must say the CX attendants were very professional about it. Granted, I can sense they were a bit peeved with the extra (also not to mention stinky) work, they nonetheless still maintain a friendly attitude as they got down on their knees and cleaned up the mess. Salute.
The journey was bumpy due to turbulence but not to the extend of having your testicles pasted to the ceiling. Instead, it was a cradle type of rocking that lulled you to sleep very quickly. With my noise cancelation earphones switched on although not plugged in to anything, I was soon snoozing in the most awkward of posture. iNeckAche.
Breakfast was a disaster not that the food was bad but the idiotic char bor sitting in front of me suddenly decided to return her seat, mid-meal, to upright position. The spring in the seating must have been brand new as the seat sprang back to upright position in 0.000001 second, thus catapulting my orange juice into the air, 2 somersaults and a half twist before landing onto my lap.
7.5, 7.5, 7.5, 7.5, 7.5 flashed the panel of judges that would have made Fu MingXia or Guo JingJing proud.
Heng, I had my blanket draped over my lap as it valiantly made the ultimate sacrifice for me. Other than a orange smelling sleeve, I got away pretty much unscathed. Just when you thought I would pledge my eternal loyalty to the blanket from hereon, I switched it with the char bor's when the latter headed to the toilet.
Yes, iBastard.
-Voxeros
1. Pam left...
Monday, 29 January 2007 2:44 am
sounds eventful!! glad you landed safely though!! SQ charged me 70000 miles for my flight back to sg - no, they gave a 15% discount coz it was booked online and surprisingly very very easy (compared to previous attempts to redeem flights!!). Wish you were going home this time...sigh!! :(
2. JayWalk left...
Pam: To redeem economy ticket is relatively easy. They will pull all the stops to make your life difficult if you using your mileage to change for upgrades instead. Stingy bastards....
Pam: To redeem economy ticket is relatively easy. They will pull all the stops to make your life difficult if you using your mileage to change for upgrades instead. Stingy bastards....
3. spinnee left...
Play indian movies in front of it. Sure 100% stop crying with all those dancings & singings.
Monday, 29 January 2007 12:10 pm
How to stop ah neh baby to cry? Play indian movies in front of it. Sure 100% stop crying with all those dancings & singings.
4. akk left...
Monday, 29 January 2007 2:56 pm
hehehe....since I never had the luxury of the business class, so i dunno, but hell did I have lots to tell you about my own flight to SF. And that is after seeing somebody we know relac one corner (literally) by himself in the business class a curtain away from me, heheheheh....
5. JayWalk left...
Akk: Perhaps you should blog about this.
Monday, 29 January 2007 3:13 pm ::
Spinnee: I supposed the kid just need some kind of distraction which obviously the parents are too bor chup to do anything.Akk: Perhaps you should blog about this.
6. Pam left...
Monday, 29 January 2007 6:47 pm
I guess you've never tried redeeming anything from SQ huh? trust me, a few years ago, it was a nightmare.
7. JayWalk left...
Pam: SQ? No I have not. Can't afford to fly SQ. :P
Pam: SQ? No I have not. Can't afford to fly SQ. :P
8. Gary left...
Tuesday, 30 January 2007 7:08 pm
maybe you should also try selling some condoms.. some quickie on the plane in the air..
9. JayWalk left...
Gary: Sell what??!! Cannot lah.... so many mamas in the plane. Every corner got one mama-shop set up liao lor....
Gary: Sell what??!! Cannot lah.... so many mamas in the plane. Every corner got one mama-shop set up liao lor....
10. barffie left...
Thursday, 1 February 2007 12:23 pm
Ya Gary is right. You can offer some "kwa chwee" for those who want to join in the mile-high club. Ho say!
11. JayWalk left...
Barffie: DRINKS! GAR-LEE POK! KWAY CHEE!!! As for mile-high club, aiyoh... planes these days so small how to do? Maybe wait for the new Airbus A380 then see how lah.
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