Flight: Singapore Airlines SQ 183
From: Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) To: Singapore (SIN)

Flight: Singapore Airlines SQ 328
From: Singapore (SIN) To: Munich (MUC)

It had been over 17 months since I had taken an international flight, which is the longest I’ve gone without an international flight since living the expat life in 1999. I wasn’t in a hurry to resume international travel during a pandemic, but it was time to move on from Vietnam.

International travel had become so normal for me that I would usually not think too much about it. Now I found myself facing the pre-travel nerves I had when I first went overseas. My journey from Saigon to Zagreb was going to take a minimum of three flights, so I picked an airline combination that offered the best travel times and ease of transfer at airports. With that in mind I picked Singapore Airlines, which accounted for two of the three legs of this trip.

I arrived at Tan Son Nhat to see a deserted international terminal. This airport is usually a hive of activity, so it was unnerving to see it like this.

SGN Airport had become so busy that they are now building a second airport for Ho Chi Minh City. On this day I counted five international passenger flights, two of which were Singapore Airlines.

Passengers have to get a Covid test before flying, no later than 72 hours from your arrival date (depending on where you are going). Even though someone could catch the virus before the flight, I felt a bit better knowing that it is most probably a virus-free flight.

The flight was on an A350 aircraft. Singapore Airlines usually fly a 777 to SGN, and there is always enough demand to fill it. Judging from the number of people that checked in, this was going to be a light flight.

The flight crew were wearing blue protective gear with plastic face shields, adding to the drama of flying during the pandemic.

SQ 183 departs SGN at 15:50 and arrives at SIN at 18:50, for a flying time of 2 hours. I usually ask for a window seat on short flights like this, but on this flight, we got whole rows to ourselves.

I thought it was odd that Singapore Airlines were running another flight three hours earlier when there were so few passengers on this flight. They must be flying with a belly full of freight to make some money back.

I have flown on Singapore Airlines between Saigon and Singapore 4 times previously, and the flights were always full. In fact, every flight I’ve taken on Singapore Airlines is usually full, so to be on a flight with so few passengers was strange.

Once the seat belt sign was turned off, the cabin crew emerged with their plague attire taken off.

In addition to the bottle of water and headset that is usually handed out, we were given a “care kit”.

This contained a small bottle of hand sanitizer, a wet wipe with sanitizer, and an individually wrapped face mask. It was mandatory to wear a mask on board, but I guess this is a spare if yours breaks, or for the occasional maskhole who might make an excuse for not having one.

Singapore Airlines is well known for having quality inflight catering. Every flight I’ve taken between SGN and SIN includes a hot meal. I was surprised then to see a reduced service of a simple lunch box meal.

There were no food outlets open at Tan Son Nhat, so I was ready to eat anything at this point. I got this chicken fried rice box, with some sort of delicious cake dessert.

There is inflight entertainment available, but at about 1 hour and 45 minutes of flying time, there is not enough time for a movie.

We arrived at Changi on time, which would have been weird if we didn’t when you consider how little traffic there was.

As we left the plane we had our body temperature scanned, and then we were tagged all clear with a green bracelet.

As a major regional air hub, there was more activity at Changi, but things were not normal here either. Terminal 2 was closed for renovations (making good use of this pandemic downtime), so we were diverted to a reduced-service Terminal 3.

Most of the seating areas were sealed off and all of the shops were closed. In the area that was open, seats were wrapped up to avoid people sitting in large groups.

A sticker reminding us of the times we live in.

And smokers have to be considerate of social distancing as well.

Food was available by ordering from a menu accessed by a QR code. I’ve been to Changi enough times to know some places that I like to eat at, and I knew what I was going to have when I arrived – laksa.

If my heart wasn’t so set on having laksa I might have tried this meal vending machine, if only to blog about the experience. I’m glad I had the laksa though.

The departure board at least looked somewhat normal, with long-haul flights departing through the night.

The flight crew were dressed in the usual Singapore Airlines uniform without wearing protective gear. They only wore this when arriving and departing from Tan Son Nhat. Ho Chi Minh City has become such a Covid hotspot that it is seen as a hazardous place to fly to.

The flight to Munich was just as empty as the SGN-SIN flight, and this was also on an A350 aircraft. I didn’t count every passenger, but in the back section, I counted 20 passengers in 149 seats (so about 14%).

Flight SQ 328 departs Singapore at 00:30 and arrives in Munich at 8:55, for a flying time of 12H, 25M.

We were given a care kit like the one I got on the SGN-SIN flight.

Unlike the SGN-SIN flight, there was a normal meal service on this flight. I’m a bit of a weirdo because I actually like inflight meals. Perhaps it is the combination of having something to do while flying, plus the association that inflight meals have with flying somewhere far away. Also, I had just come out of six weeks of hard lockdown where I had not had a meal outside my house.

I put this disclaimer here to say that you should not rely on me for food reviews in the best of times. In my state of bewilderment of having been released into the world again, this was the second yummiest thing I had had all year (after the yummy laksa at the airport). Seriously though, this was a fine chunk of chicken breast.

And you also always get ice cream on Singapore Airlines flights.

I can barely sleep on flights, so I usually resign myself to having a movie marathon. Another thing the pandemic has done has to disrupt the movie industry. There have hardly been any new releases over the last year, and nothing appealed to me on this flight. With 12 hours of flying, I figured I should try and sleep.

Maybe I slept – I can never tell when I am sitting uncomfortably upright for so long. I envy those around me who can sleep straight through.

Breakfast was a welcome distraction/activity, and once again I was happy with my inflight meal choice of sausages and eggs.

As we started descending into Munich, the airshow was teasing me by showing that we were flying above Zagreb (my next destination).

The flight arrived at Munich on time, where I had a connecting flight with Croatia Airlines to Zagreb. One of the reasons I booked this flight was to have flights where my bags were checked through to the final destination.

My reintroduction to international flying went as well as I could have hoped for. My biggest concern was having people coughing on the flight, and that didn’t happen. Singapore Airlines continues to be one of my favourite airlines, and I am considering flying with them again to make use of Singapore’s Covid-19 travel lane with Germany when I return.

Flight: Bamboo Airways QH 203
From: Hanoi (HAN) To: Ho Chi Minh City (SGN)

Bamboo Airways is a Vietnamese airline that began operations in January, 2019. I had been waiting for an opportunity to review them, so when I had a trip planned from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City I booked a flight.

I compared flights first via Skyscanner to make sure I wasn’t going to be paying over the odds, and the flight prices were competitive with the other airlines flying this route. The cheapest flight in my set time frame was VietJet, but that price doesn’t include a bag.

The Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City route is in the top ten busiest international routes, and Bamboo already have five flights a day between the two cities. By the look of the flight times they are targeting business travellers as there are no flight options during the day.

Bamboo isn’t a low-cost airline like VietJet Air and Jetstar Pacific, and it’s not a full-service airline like Vietnam Airlines. It’s what is now known as a hybrid airline. Unlike a low-cost airline, you get a free checked bag and an inflight meal. It’s not a full-service flight either, as it doesn’t have alliances or a global points system.

My ticket was 1,726,000 VND ($73.68 USD) which is a good price for a flight booked a month in advance.

I arrived by taxi at Noi Bai International Airport and Bamboo Airways have already staked their fair share of branding at the departures entrance.

Online check-in is available for flights departing from Noi Bai (HAN), Da Nang (DAD), Tan Son Nhat (SGN) airports. When I tried to check in I was getting an error message.

I went to the airport early to make sure my ticket was ok. There is an open check-in for all flights, and there was no queue.

There were three Bamboo Airways flights showing on the departure board, so they have already muscled their way into the domestic market.

Flight QH 203 departs HAN 17:50 and arrives at SGN at 20:00, for a scheduled flight time of 2H, 10M. Actual flight time is about 1H, 40M.

The flight arrived on time and the door closed 5 minutes after the scheduled flight time. We were then stuck on the tarmac due to airport congestion and departed 50 minutes behind schedule.

When the aircraft arrived I noticed that it’s registered in Turkey. The aircraft is being leased from Freebird Airlines, though it has been given the full Bamboo paint job. While Bamboo Airways has placed an order for 50 Airbus A321neo planes, it’s not like you can just go down to your nearest Airbus dealership and fly them out.

In addition to the aircraft being borrowed from overseas, most of the crew were foreign as well. There were two foreign pilots, which is not unusual. What was unusual was to see four westerners in the crew, alongside two Vietnamese crew. In all my time of travelling in Southeast Asia, I’ve never seen Europeans working on a domestic flight in Asia. This made me think about all the resources it takes to start an airline, from hardware to human resources. To cater for growing demand, Bamboo are setting up an academy in Quy Nhom that will train pilots, attendants, technicians, ground staff, and flight dispatchers.

Bamboo Airways offer Business Class seating, setting it apart from VietJet and Jetstar.

I was in economy for this flight. When I booked this flight for review purposes I picked the HAN-SGN route as I have also flown with Vietnam Airlines and VietJet Air on this route. I figured if they can’t fill a Hanoi-Saigon flight then they might struggle to be in business. The flight was full, so it might have been more instructive to fly a less popular route to see how they are doing.

Originally I had every intention of getting a regular economy seat so I could compare the legroom difference between the other airlines in Vietnam. As I checked in early I was offered an exit row seat. My brain is not wired to say no to an exit row, so I will have to save that review for another flight. I did look at the economy seats though and it looked like to be not much more room than low-cost airlines (ie not much space).

The inflight magazine for Bamboo Airways is named Look. It’s in Vietnamese with some articles in English. I usually flick through the magazine for the route map, but in this case there wasn’t one. Maybe the routes are changing so fast so they haven’t included it yet.

I was curious to see where they fly now, so I checked the online route map. So far they have established a solid domestic network, and this is the route map as of July 2019.

One thing you will find in the inflight magazine is advertising related to FLC Resorts. Bamboo Airways has their operating base at Phu Cat Airport in Quy Nhon. FLC has resorts here, and it’s likely that future international flights will include destinations in East Asia to serve their resorts. Quy Nhon is a city by the sea that has great beaches nearby, and it’s probably the next big thing in Vietnam after Danang and Nha Trang.

The advertising isn’t a total walled garden though, as there are advertisements for other hotels and resorts.

There is a loyalty program available for Bamboo Airways. According to the T&C’s you need to be a Vietnamese citizen or a foreigner with a Vietnamese address.

There was a free meal service on the flight, which is one of the services that sets it apart from low-cost airlines. They only had one meal available by the time they got to me – prawn noodles. Seafood in the air is not my first choice, but it was actually ok. I will eat anything put in front of me, so this is not the site to come to for food reviews.

There is also a free drinks service so I got a coffee.

We arrived at Tan Son Nhat 30 minutes behind schedule due to the late departure at Hanoi. Tan Son Nhat is even more overloaded than Noi Bai, and our flight was disembarked on the tarmac as there are not enough airbridges in the domestic terminal. While the airlines of Vietnam are expanding at a rapid pace, the airports have not kept up with the growth. There is a planned new airport for Ho Chi Minh City, but will be years before it’s open.

Overall this was a good flight option and no doubt I’ll be on another Bamboo Airways flight again. I wait to see where they will fly internationally.

Flight: China Southern CZ 304
From: London Heathrow (LHR) To: Guangzhou (CAN)

I flew with China Southern Airlines from London to Guangzhou. This flight was the first leg of a flight from London to Ho Chi Minh City. After comparing flight options, China Southern was offering the cheapest one-way flight. This flight was $279 USD, which is a great deal for such a long flight.

Guangzhou is not the sort of city I would just go to for a holiday, but if you are passing through it’s well worth a visit. You can also get a free 6-day transit visa there (depending on your passport), so there is no need to apply for a costly China visa.

I prefer making stop-overs on long flights that require a change of planes, so using Vayama I changed the search to multi-city instead of one way. By doing this it allows you to make a booking with a short stopover. Usually an airline will allow up to 48 hours, though for some it might be 24 hours. I toggled with the dates and I got 2 nights and one full day in Guangzhou for the same rate as the advertised one-way flight. These stop-overs are like a free holiday.

I checked in online the day before, and there are also plenty of self service check-in kiosks at Heathrow for airlines in the Skyteam alliance. When I dropped my bags I was asked if I wanted to join the China Southern frequent flyer program. For this flight I was using my Delta account.

I ended up paying extra to reserve an aisle seat as there weren’t many seats left when I checked in. In hindsight I should have reserved a seat earlier.

I was happy to see that the flight was going to be on a 787. China Southern proudly display “787” as part of the livery, just in case you weren’t sure what type of aircraft it is.

I’ve flown with China Southern previously from Chengdu to Guangzhou, and from Delhi to Chongqing, via Guangzhou. I only remember the Delhi flight as it was on an ageing 767 with worn out seats. From an Australian perspective, China Southern have been offering discounted flights to London as part of a concerted effort to become a Kangaroo Route alternative. It was no surprise that the flight to London would at least be on a new aircraft.

The flight boarded on time, which is a good feeling if you have a tight connecting flight. Flight CZ 304 departs at 22:35 and arrives the next day at 17:10 for a scheduled flight time of 11H, 35M.

Some state-sponsored reading material if you want to go old-school and read a newspaper.

Decent legroom in economy with about a palms length between my knees and the front seat.

I’ve flown on 787 aircraft a few times now, but I still marvel at how big the windows are.

When Boeing built the 787 they named it the Dreamliner partly as it was going to be 8 seats across in economy. Most airlines have opted for the less dreamy 9 seats across. Apparently Japan Airlines is the only airline operating 8 seats across, though they are converting to 9 as well.

The China Southern economy class amenity pack.

Nihao Magazine – the inflight magazine of China Southern Airlines.

The China Southern route map requires a fold-out map to display all the destinations. Surely the decision makers of future routes look at this map and see the lack of routes to South America.

China Southern have so many routes in China that the map is virtually useless apart from showing off how many flights they have.

If you thought that you would need hundreds of aircraft to operate so many routes then you thought correctly. The combined total of 737/A320 series aircraft was 712 aircraft at the time of my flight. They have the largest airline fleet outside of the United States.

There is an inflight entertainment system with wide screens and a good selection of movies. I ended up watching three movies in between checking the route map.

There is onboard wifi if you need it.

I never use the wifi but I thought I should check it for the sake of this review. I liked how the welcome screen on my mobile showed the elapsed time.

By the time I had checked the wifi they had run out of free passes. Being a Chinese airline I would presume that sites like Facebook and Instagram and banned anyway, so what’s the point of checking in if I’m not going to Instagram it.

Dinner is served not long after take off. I got the beef and potato option.

I don’t sleep on flights, and if I do it’s for fitful minutes at a time. Usually I just settle in and watch movies for the duration of the flight. I try and avoid overnight flights that arrive in the morning, so at least with this flight it arrives at night and I can go to bed within a few hours.

Despite the flight arriving near dinner time, for us passengers it felt more like breakfast. before landing a breakfast is served.

The flight arrived on time, and most of the foreign passengers seemed to be in transit. There was only two other passengers with me at the visa-on-arrival section, and that took about 30 minutes to process.

Overall this was a good flight option, and if I found another flight deal like this I would take it.

Since my last visit here in 2010 there is now a metro line connecting the airport. Coming up next is my Guangzhou trip report and second leg from Guangzhou to Ho Chi Minh City.

Flight: Solomon Airlines IE 800
From: Honiara (HIR) To: Gizo Nusatupe (GZO)

Flight: Solomon Airlines IE 801
From: Gizo Nusatupe (GZO) To: Munda (MUA) To: Honiara (HIR)

Solomon Islands is a nation of over 900 islands stretching about 1,500 kilometres across the South Pacific. Being an island nation, domestic air travel plays a big part in national transport. Unlike Indonesia or the Philippines though, there is a small population spread out across the islands. With a population of about 600,000 people (and 85,000 of those people in Honiara), domestic flights are irregular and operated by small aircraft.

I was visiting Solomon Islands with a media group from Australia, and the domestic flights were included in the trip. Solomon Airlines is the national flag carrier and operates all the domestic flights.

Solomon Airlines has a single Airbus A320-200 which is used for flights to Brisbane and other international flights. Domestic flights are operated with Twin Otter and Dash 8-100 aircraft (propeller aircraft). Having become so accustomed to the uniformity of flying A320/737’s, I was happy to change things up with some turboprop travel.

Some of the destinations are too small to have a dedicated route, so they are included in a multi-stop route. Our flight to Munda was via Gizo. This is a triangular route that flies Honiara – Gizo – Munda – Honiara.

[Honiara – Gizo – Munda Map.]

We arrived at the charming little domestic terminal about half an hour before the flight.

There is no airside waiting lounge here, as you just walk out from the terminal to the plane.

I felt extra blessed to be flying with nuns.

A view of the Honiara Airport before taking off.

Friendly service onboard Solomon Airlines.

Solomons – the inflight magazine of Solomon Airlines.

The Dash 8 seats 4 across, so make sure you ask for a window seat because the views are amazing.

Drinks and snacks are served on the leg from Honiara to Gizo.

I spent most of the flight looking out of the window in awe of the little islands and coral reefs.

The flight to Gizo is flight IE 800. The flight stops at Nusatupe Gizo Airport just long enough to drop off and pick up passengers, and you stay onboard during this time. From Gizo the flight becomes IE 801.

Taking off at Nusatupe Gizo Airport.

The flight from Gizo to Munda takes 10 minutes to travel the 51 kilometres. It’s the shortest commercial flight I’ve been on, but it doesn’t even rank in the top 10 shortest flights in the world.

It’s also one of the most scenic flights I’ve ever been on.

Our plane at Munda Airport, which also has a short stop before continuing back to Honiara.

Baggage claim at Munda is a man with a trolley.

Munda Airport is in the town of Munda, like right in the town. The terminal building looks like someones house.

For our return trip to Honiara we had island-hopped from Munda to Gizo. This meant that we got to experience the 10-minute flight from Gizo to Munda again as well as having a look at Gizo Airport, which is an experience in itself.

Nusatupe Airport (the airport that serves Gizo) is an island that has been formed from two separate islands to make a runway.

Of course the only way to get there is by boat. There are shuttle services to and from Gizo that meet each flight, and nearby island resorts also organise boats to and from the airport. We were coming from Fatboys Resort, which is about 10 minutes away by boat. This was possibly the coolest airport transfer I’ve ever done.

There is a little airport terminal, alongside drums of aviation fuel.

The bag trolley loaded up, ready for a swift loading.

No need to arrive here an hour before the flight. Even half an hour was a bit generous for time, as there is not much to do at the airport.

The plane stops for just long enough to drop off and pick up passengers.

And off we go for our 10 minute flight to Munda. I was amazed to see how many little islands had houses on them. People are out there living the island life.

After picking up passengers in Munda it was on to Honiara again. This segment takes about 45 minutes, so enough time for a drink and a snack to be served.

Landing in Honiara, which seems so much bigger after being in Gizo and Munda.

Upon returning to Honiara I was looking at the domestic route map again, wondering what other trip I could take in the future.

If you’re visiting Solomon Islands you definitely have to go beyond Honiara (don’t just go there to tick another country off the list). My trip was an introduction to the Solomons trip, tailored for first-timers. I can’t vouch for the rest of the islands, but I can say that this flight and the destinations was a memorable trip.

Flight: Emirates EK 392
From: Dubai (DXB) To: Ho Chi Minh City (SGN)

I flew with Emirates from Dubai to Ho Chi Minh City. This was a booking with points from Qantas, who are their partner outside of the Oneworld Alliance. I’ve flown with Emirates a few times before I like their service, so this was an easy choice to make.

My last flight with Emirates was from Dubai to Johannesburg, which was a connecting flight from Barcelona. This time I was staying in Dubai, so I would experience the checking in process of Dubai Airport as well.

When I first flew with Emirates in 2006 I remember being thoroughly impressed with DXB Airport. It felt modern and spacious, and that Dubai was living up to its goal of becoming the centre of the aviation world. Now, 12 years later, DXB feels cramped and completely overwhelmed with the traffic it now receives.

The one improvement from my previous visit is that there is now a metro station at the airport, so getting here is much easier. I was staying at a hotel in Deira, which is the cheapest area to stay in Dubai.

Checking in at Dubai was smooth enough given how busy it is. There is a dedicated checking in hall at Terminal 3 for Emirates, which is overwhelmingly the largest carrier at the airport. The check in process is open for all flights, and the big lines move fast.

Along with the metro, the other best thing about DXB is when they are giving away free ice cream. I may or may not have gone back for seconds.

But don’t let the free ice cream distract you from how overcrowded the airport is. Part of it has to do with the terminal design, which is a like a skinny tube with gates on either side.

The departure lounges for the gates do not have much space, and crowds spill out on to the hallways. It’s a completely different experience to my first visit, when Emirates was only half the airline that it is now.

Dubai have built a new airport (DWC Al Maktoum International Airport), which has ambitions of becoming the biggest airport in the world. Emirates are expected to move there by 2025.

To highlight how crowded DXB has become, my flight was boarded via a lower gate using buses to load the plane. Emirates only fly 777 and A380 aircraft, and bus gates are usually reserved for smaller aircraft like 737/A320.

On the bus we go.

Our plane happened to be parked far away from the terminal, so it was a mini tour of the airport grounds.

My flight was in August, which is the hottest month of the year in Dubai.

Hot work while standing around in the sun while loading a 777 load of passengers via the tarmac.

Anyway, now that the DXB experience is done, here is the flight review. I was flying economy, and the 777 have seats in 3-4-3 configuration.

One of the highlights of Emirates is how good their inflight entertainment is. The screen is as wide as the seat, and they have electrical and USB plugs.

One of the reasons I picked this flight was the flight time. The flight departs Dubai at 9.30, and arrives in Ho Chi Minh City at 20.00. The scheduled flying time is 7H, 30M, though the actual flying time was 6H, 37M. This is as close to perfect a flight time as it gets for me. Fly during the day and arrive in the evening, so no jetlag the next day. I can’t sleep on flights, so I am being more selective with my flight times these days. Of course the people flying back from SGN to DXB have to pay it back with an overnight flight, so I probably wouldn’t do that flight.

There wasn’t an inflight magazine available, so I’m not sure if they have been discontinued completely. The ubiquitous duty free magazine is still there.

I haven’t flown enough airlines to be able to proclaim that one particular airline is the best in the world, but I wouldn’t argue with the award of World’s Best Inflight Entertainment going to Emirates (and for 14 years running at that).

Emirates has an enormous selection of movies to choose from. I’m usually scouring the movie selection trying to pick one. Here I had several I wanted to watch.

There are different themes, such as all the DC movies.

And all the Marvel movies.

The menu for todays flight.

The flight is not quite long enough to justify two full meals, so there is an “After Take Off” meal and then lunch.

The “After Take Off” meal was a smoked turkey sandwich and coffee.

For lunch I got the grilled chicken with peppercorn sauce.

Despite all the tempting movies to watch I ended up just working for the flight. I find day time flights a great place to get work done.

The flight arrived pretty much on time, and then we were stuck on the tarmac for 20 minutes. Like Dubai International Airport, Tan Son Nhat International Airport is also having issues with overcrowding. SGN long ago ran out of space, and they haven’t even started building the new airport for Ho Chi Minh City. Eventually the plane was parked on the tarmac and we were bussed to the airport terminal. This is the first flight in a 777 where I had to bus it to and from the plane.

Overall though this was a great flight to get back to Vietnam, and I would be happy to fly with Emirates again.

Flight: Ryanair FR 2436
From: London Stansted (STN) To: Krakow (KRK)

It had been nearly 10 years since I had last flown Ryanair, and after my most recent flight it might be 10 years before I fly with them again.

I had forgotten when exactly was the last time so I looked it up on my FlightMemory. It was a flight from Nador to Marseille in 2008. These were two cities I never would have thought to fly between, but that was the beauty of flying Ryanair for me. I needed an exit ticket from Morocco to somewhere in Europe. I hadn’t been to Marseille so that was a good way of discovering it.

I first flew with Ryanair when I was living in Ireland in 2002, and I used to fly with them often when I was spending more time in Europe. Even back then, Ryanair bashing was something of a sport among travellers, but I always defended them. “They’re a flying bus!” I would say, “and you know what you are getting when you buy a ticket.”

Not only would I happily choose them when presented with multiple options, but I used to go to their website to look for travel deals. Their website was really ugly in 2008, which made you feel like you were scrummaging through a bargain basement bin looking for a cheap flight.

Flying with Ryanair in 2008 was a simpler experience. You paid for a checked bag and a carry-on was free, and there was no pressure to check in online before getting to the airport. Things have changed in the preceding ten years, and now here I am joining the chorus of Ryanair bashers.

I flew with Ryanair from London to Krakow. My eventual destination was Ostrava in Czech Republic, which is about three hours away by train. There is a direct London-Ostrava flight with Ryanair, but it wasn’t on the dates I needed and it was more expensive. I figured I would fly somewhere close by and see another city while I’m at it. I tried other cities in the Czech Republic, but the prices were far more expensive, so after comparing multiple flight options, Krakow was the best option for price and for being an interesting city I wanted to visit.

Ryanair fly out of four London airports – Gatwick, Luton, Stansted, and Southend (which I don’t count as London but they do). Stansted is Ryanair’s biggest base so this post is also a review of Stansted, as it’s part of the overall travel experience of flying with Ryanair from London.

I don’t remember consciously deciding to stop flying Ryanair the last time I flew them, but I do recall the last time I arrived at Stansted that I said to myself to not to fly there anymore. That was in July 2010, so I’ve done well to have abstained for so long.

Half the problem with Stansted is how far out of London it is. According to Google Maps, Stansted is 65 km from London Victoria (the closest transport hub to where I was staying).

I booked a National Express bus ticket for 12 midday, giving myself plenty of time for delays. My hotel checkout was at 10am, so I didn’t want to wait around. The incoming bus was late so we didn’t leave Victoria Coach Station until 12.24, and it arrived at Stansted at 2.07, making it a 1h, 42m trip just to get to the airport. There is a train (Stansted Express) which takes 50 minutes, but that departs from Liverpool Street, so by the time you get there from West London you don’t really win much time.

When I arrived I saw a banner proclaiming that Stansted has welcomed 100,000,000 passengers in the last four years. 25,000,000 passengers a year is an enormous amount when you consider that this is the third biggest airport in London. There are plans to expand the airport to accommodate 43 million passengers a year.

Ahh Stansted, where you can check the weight of your bag for a pound.

I was there before my flight check in was open, so used this time to do some work. A young guy sat next to me in a bit of a panic as he didn’t check in online before arriving. He cracked open his laptop to try and get online to check in. It’s a £55 fee if you don’t check in first, and the check-in window is 48 hours to two hours prior to departure.

I had checked in online but I wasn’t confident about using a boarding pass on my phone. I had read that if you don’t have an EU passport you will still need to print a boarding pass. I found conflicting reports about this, so to be safe I printed a boarding pass. This is an extra pain as internet cafes are becoming increasingly rare. I found a place that charged a pound to print a page.

Once your flight check in is open you go to the main check in area. There is no separate queue for each flight.

I had a bag to check in so I went to the Self Bag Drop area.

There you weigh your bag and tag the bag yourself. You then need to go to another bag drop counter. It was here that my printed boarding pass was checked and stamped. This is required for non-EU passport holders as they are checking for visas if you need one. Here is a horror story of a boarding pass that wasn’t stamped.

Once I checked in and went through security (via the maze of duty free shops) I arrived at the airside departure lounge. Holy crap has this airport become crowded since I last used it. My gate wasn’t confirmed until an hour before the flight, so there was nowhere else to go except for this holding pen where everyone else is waiting for their gate number.

I couldn’t believe how cramped and dirty Stansted had become, or maybe I’ve been spoiled after spending so much time in Asian airports (hello Singapore!) Even Tan Son Nhat in Saigon, which is having its own capacity issues, is a pleasant airport to travel in and out of.

Once the gate was announced I went to wait to begin boarding. So far the flight was on schedule.

When my boarding pass was checked I was told my carry-on bag would be placed in the hold. I thought that as I already paid for a checked bag that a carry-on bag is included. I meekly protested but I didn’t want to be that guy who makes a scene and ends up as a news story in the Daily Mail. I took out my electronics in preparation to have by bag separated from me.

I’m still confused about this, but according to this article “the current rules allow passengers to take two bags through the security checkpoint to the departure gate. But only travellers who have paid for priority boarding can carry them onto the aircraft. Other passengers’ larger bags are tagged at the gate and placed in the hold.”

The rules will change again later this year, when you will have to pay a £6 priority boarding fee to bring your large carry-on with you onboard.

The flight departs London at 18:00, arriving in Krakow at 21:25 for a scheduled flight time of 2 h 25 m, though the actual flying time is under 2 hours. Todays flight pushed back 6.29 and departed at 6.38.

There are airbridges at Stansted, but Ryanair prefer boarding via the tarmac (because it probably saves them money).

I was surprised once the plane was loaded how much space was available in the overhead cabins. It took 45 minutes to get everyone onboard, so I don’t see how this system of removing bags is time saving.

Once I took my seat I noticed one of the cost-cutting measures that has been introduced since I last flew Ryanair, which is the removal of the seat-back pockets. This is annoying for two reasons. Firstly, as there is no place to put the safety information card the safety information is stuck onto the head of the seat in front of you. It just makes the whole cabin look ugly. And secondly, because seat-back pockets are actually useful. I had my laptop, kindle, and bottle of water with me, but nowhere to put them during the flight. I had the bottle of water between my legs, with laptop and Kindle alternating to my side.

This is a cost-cutting measure because with no pockets, there is no rubbish to be left behind, which then saves the cleaners time when cleaning the plane during the short turnaround.

There is a famous story in the aviation business that American Airlines worked out they could save $40,000 per year by removing one olive from each first class food tray. I think Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary got inspiration from this story. I imagine him dreaming up ways to save a tenth of a pence per passenger on each flight. He is known for coming up with outlandish ideas to try and save money. Some of his ideas are so outrageous that he is often accused of just looking for free press. While some of the ideas are ridiculous, they are probably trial balloons, and they might end up becoming reality.

One of the cost-cutting measures I do agree with was the removal of reclinable seats. I think for short haul flights it’s rude to recline, and especially when seats are configured in the low cost airline model (ie packed in tightly). By removing the reclinable seats it saves the airline on repairing broken seats.

With no seat-back pockets, there is no place for an inflight magazine, so that has been done away with as well. I suppose sick bags can be ordered upon request (just hope you can hold it in until it arrives).

The cabin crew walk through with a menu, so I took one to see what is on offer.

A mean deal (sandwich, drink, and crisps) is ‎€10.

A coffee is ‎€3.

And alcohol starts at ‎€5 for a beer.

During the flight the crew were cheery and friendly so I couldn’t fault them there. And the other passengers didn’t seem to mind either. A group opposite me were knocking down those €6 bottles of mini spirits, and they were having a great time.

I was wondering if it was just me that was annoyed about the carryon bags and no seat pockets. Maybe if you fly Ryanair all the time you don’t notice these changes over time, like the metaphor of the frog in the boiling water.

So that was my flight with Ryanair. As I used to say about them, it’s a flying bus; a cheap way to get from A to B. If I absolutely had to get somewhere, and Ryanair was offering a flight €100 cheaper than the next flight, then of course I would take it.

What is galling about Ryanair is that their current slogan is Low Fares Made Simple, when a more accurate slogan would be Low Fares Made Complicated.

I can’t recall an airline I’ve flown recently that is so complicated, and I fly low cost airlines all the time. From the pressure of having to check in online, not knowing if I need a printed boarding pass, opaque carry-on rules, and no seat pockets.

In Asia I fly AirAsia, Jetstar, and VietJet on a regular basis, and they are simple to fly with. I don’t like these rules which are designed to trap passengers with fees who forget a part of the travel process. If Ryanair want to live by the “Low Fares Made Simple” slogan, just charge for a checked bag, and enforce the size and weight limits of the carry-on baggage.

It’s a shame it got so complicated as their new site is now much easier to find bargain flights using the cheap flights finder. 2008 James would have loved this feature, but in 2018 there is no “1 penny plus tax” fare that could entice me to fly Ryanair.

I don’t want to be that guy on his 234th flight with Ryanair who proclaims he’s never flying with them again. I might end up flying with Ryanair in another decade as my once-a-decade reminder to not fly Ryanair, but from now on I’m actively avoiding flying with them again. There are so many flights across Europe that I would just go somewhere else.

Air Astana is the national flag carrier of Kazakhstan, with bases at its former capital (Almaty) and new capital (Astana). With international flights distributed between these two cities, Air Astana offer a unique stop-over opportunity when travelling from East/Southeast Asia to Europe.

Most national airlines around the world fly out of their home base (usually the capital), which makes connecting flights a simple process. In Kazakhstan, the capital was moved from Almaty to Astana in 1998, and money has since been poured into the new capital to make it a worldly destination.

With flights needing to serve both major cities, routes are split between the two. Flights to Western Europe fly out of Astana, while there are more options to East/Southeast Asia from Almaty, with some destinations having flights from both cities. That means that any destination not served from one city, a domestic connection is made to the other.

With the airline operating two hubs, passengers can fly from Bangkok to London (and vice versa) with a free stopover in both Almaty and Astana. With this flight combo you get to see the two main cities of Kazakhstan, and when I booked it was about the same price as a direct Bangkok-London flight.

This double stopover would also work combining London, Paris, Frankfurt, Warsaw, and Kiev, to Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Beijing, and Seoul.

Originally I had intended to do this combo via Ho Chi Minh City. Unfortunately the SGN service was cancelled just months before I took this flight. I’m not sure if this is a permanent cancellation or a seasonal stoppage.

For this flight search I used Vayama, which I find to be good for making complex international bookings. Using the multi-city option I put a full day in between each flight, giving me a day and a half in each city.

[Search for Air Astana flight with Vayama.]

There are flights from both Astana and Almaty to Bangkok, so you could just do Bangkok – Astana – London. Among the cheapest flights I found were with this option, but where is the fun in that?

It seems that having flights to Bangkok from two cities might be stretching the airline a bit thin. A few weeks before my flight I got an email saying my Bangkok – Almaty flight had been cancelled, and I was put on the next days flight. As a result I only got to have half a day in Almaty. My schedule was already tight, so I wasn’t able to move this flight.

This was my first time to Kazakhstan, and thus my first time on Air Astana. I hadn’t heard much about them, and I didn’t know what to expect. It turns out that they have won awards, including the best airline of Central Asia.

Here is my review of the three flights, and what to expect when flying with Air Astana.

Bangkok (BKK) to Almaty (ALA)

I checked in online to make sure I got a reasonable seat. The check in process was also showing the Almaty to Astana flight, even though I wasn’t flying that leg until the next day.

Checking in online saved time at the airport as the queue for online check in was much smaller. I made sure that the bag wasn’t checked through to Astana instead of Almaty.

I never get tired of seeing the departure halls of Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Flight 932 departs at 10.15 and arrives at 16.25, making it a scheduled flying time of 7H, 10M. As I lost a day due to the rescheduled flight I only had one afternoon to explore Almaty. I could not afford any delay today. Fortunately the flight left on time, and as it was summertime in Almaty I would have a late evening and early morning sunrise to see the city.

Free newspapers upon entry. I already had my Kindle loaded with books, plus I didn’t need the challenge of trying to read a broadsheet paper in an economy seat.

The flight from Bangkok to Almaty is with a 767, which maybe my favourite wide-body aircraft.

It’s my favourite because the economy seat layout on the 767 is 2-3-2, so there is only one middle seat per row. By comparison a 777 is usually 3-4-3 across.

The welcome drink and snack.

Tengri – the inflight magazine of Air Astana.

The entertainment units are wide, and the screens are easy to see in any light situation.

Nomad Club is the frequent flyer program for Air Astana, though I didn’t join it. Not because I wouldn’t join a club that would have me as a member, but the frequent flyer offering is very limited if you are not from Kazakhstan or not a frequent traveller of the region. It’s not in any alliance either, so I couldn’t collect points anywhere else.

I did check out the route map to see where else I might go. This always induces more wanderlust. Damn, I should have joined the Nomad Club, if only to have a Nomad card in my wallet.

I mentioned that my original flight was cancelled and I was placed on the next days flight. This flight was only half full as well, so it seems they are not filling their Bangkok services, at least during the week I travelled. For long-haul flights I usually get an aisle seat so I can stretch my legs often. With a row to myself I could have a window and aisle.

As much as I enjoy having an empty row, I always feel bad for the airline when a flight leaves half full. I was only at the start of my flight and I could see how this airline rates so well among those who have flown it.

The amenities pack with items more useful for a night time flight.

The lunch menu, with a choice between braised beef or roast chicken.

The roast chicken was great.

And I loved the box of assorted Kazakh chocolates and sweets for dessert.

I know I shouldn’t drink coffee inflight, but I can never say no.

This flight has wifi available, starting from $5 USD for email and social media. For some reason flying is one of the few occasions when I don’t get wifi separation anxiety. I love the enforced offline time that flying provides, and I never buy the wifi option. I use the time to read, watch movies, or do some offline work.

A Kazakhstan migration card is provided during the flight.

I didn’t watch any movies on this flight, so I just had the flight tracker playing to see what I was looking at out the window.

Here we are about to cross the Bangladesh coast.

Apparently this is somewhere between Peshawar and Kabul.

Approaching Almaty over the spectacular Tian Shan mountain ranges, which means the Mountains of Heaven. I’m not disagreeing with that name choice.

A second meal is served before landing. It’s not a long enough flight for two full meals, so a light snack of a hot apple pie is served.

Almaty is located at the foot of the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains (part of the Tian Shan mountain ranges), and the mountains provide a stunning backdrop for Almaty Airport.

The flight arrived on time, so by the time I got dropped my bags off at the hotel I had about three hours of light to explore the city, plus half a morning the next day.

Almaty (ALA) to Astana (TSE)

After my brief exploration of Almaty, part II of my Air Astana adventure was the domestic leg from Almaty to Astana. As you would expect there are numerous flights to choose from throughout the day, so I picked a midday one so I didn’t have to rush in the morning.

Most of these flights are point-to-point flights on A320’s. I didn’t realise that I booked the Astana-Frankfurt flight, which originates from Almaty. The good news is that this is on a 767 as well.

Once again I was happy to be sitting by a window with a row to myself.

Flight 621 departs at 12.55 and arrives at 14.40, for a scheduled flying time of 1H, 45M.

A last look at the mountains surrounding Almaty.

The tough thing about doing this multiple-stop trip is that I now want to see more of Kazakhstan. I was looking over the domestic map to see where else I could go, and contemplating a thorough visit of “The Stans”. Kazakhstan is the 9th largest country in the world (and largest landlocked country) so it’s no surprise to see there is an extensive domestic flight network.

A light lunch is served on this flight, and there was only one option of chicken pasta.

Once you start heading north of Almaty, Kazakhstan flattens out to an endless expanse.

I had a window seat for this flight, and I was fortunate to have picked the right side (on the right side) giving you a great view of the city when approaching the airport from the south.

Astana is the geographical opposite of Almaty, with not a mountain in sight here. Being on the Great Steppe it’s a flatness as far as the eye can see.

I had a day and a bit in Astana, and it was well worth making time to having a look around the city instead of flying through. Here is my trip report on Astana – the futuristic capital of Kazakhstan.

Astana (TSE) to London (LHR)

The third and final leg of my trip was from Astana to London. I checked in online to reserve an aisle seat.

Astana Airport is suitably futuristic like the rest of the architecture in the new city.

Checking in at the airport was a breeze.

Todays flight was on a 757. This aircraft is like an extended version of a 737 (single aisle with 3-3 seat configuration).

In contrast to the Bangkok flight, the flight to London was full. If you are an airline flying to Heathrow and can’t fill the flight then you would have to question your ability as an airline.

Flight 941 departs Astana at 14.40 and arrives in London at 16.45, making it a scheduled flight of 7H, 5M.

The Air Astana flight safety video is shown three times in Kazakh, Russian, and then English. After watching this nine times in fours days I had the jingle stuck in my head for a while.

A welcome drink and snack.

The menu is also presented in Kazakh, Russian, and English.

When lunch was served the mood lighting was on, thus my photo has a purple-red glow. I can assure you the lunch tasted better than this photo looks.

The western routes of Air Astana.

An amenities pack is provided of stuff I didn’t need. I only opened it for you, dear reader. Collectors of airline paraphernalia will be satisfied with the items with Air Astana branding.

The same movies were on as on the Bangkok flight. I usually watch movies on overnight flights, but for day flights I enjoy the opportunity to do laptop work without the distraction of internet. One of the major reasons I booked this flight (apart from the double stopover bonus) was that both flights were during the day. I can never sleep on overnight flights, so I base my flight searches on time of day.

The flight arrived on time at Heathrow, and by the time I got to my hotel it was dinner time. I was able to go to bed like it was a normal day. By flying from Bangkok to London via two day-time segments I avoided jetlag completely.

So that was my Air Astana experience. I got to fly with a great airline while experiencing interesting stopovers (and visiting a new country). I would be happy to fly Air Astana again, either to see more of Kazakhstan, or on the way to somewhere else in Central Asia.

Flight: All Nippon Airways NH 880
From: Sydney (SYD) To: Tokyo Haneda (HND)

I flew with ANA from Sydney to Haneda Tokyo. My flight was arranged by the Tokyo Convention & Visitors Bureau who provided the flight for my trip.

This was my first time flying with ANA so I was looking forward to trying them out. All Nippon Airways (ANA) are a Tokyo based airlines with hubs at both Tokyo–Haneda and Tokyo–Narita. They are rated with a 5-Star Airline Rating by Skytrax, which is the biggest airline rating site in the world.

I went to check in online the night before the flight. I usually check in to book a preferred seat, but in this case there was only one seat available – a middle seat! Did everyone already have a seat allocated? Rather than booking my seat I bailed out and opted to try my luck at the airport.

The Sydney – Haneda service operates overnight, departing SYD at 20:55 and arriving HND at 5:25. The originating flight from Tokyo is also overnight and arrives in Sydney in the morning, so the aircraft is parked for most of the day. I presume that overnight flights are preferred on both legs, otherwise they would sent the flight back in the day time.

I got to the airport early so I could sort out my seat. The check in staff were super helpful and reallocated my seat to an aisle.

ANA fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliner on this route. The seats are in 3-3-3 configuration in economy. The seats are the new slimmer seats which I find comfortable to sit on.

The first thing I noticed when I sat down was how much leg room there was. This month I had also flown with fellow Star Alliance partners (Singapore Airlines, SWISS, and Lufthansa), and ANA felt the most roomiest in economy.

I don’t think in numerical dimensions so here is my hand to display the space between my knee cap and the back of the front seat.

The other noticeable difference in the flight are the big windows of the 787. I’ve only flown on a 787 once before so I am still amazed by how much of a difference the bigger windows make. Who needs a window seat when you can get a view from the aisle.

Not sure if it was a new Boeing thing or an ANA feature, but the flight tracker had more details than the usual. I was annoyed that it was showing in miles until I realised you can set your preference to metric.

Wingspan is the inflight magazine of ANA.

Checking out the magazine route map is always required.

Dinner was served not long after take off, and I got the beef and salmon combo.

I can’t sleep on overnight flights so I usually don’t even try. Sometimes I look around incredulously at how other people are able to sit in their chairs for 8 hours without even a toilet. I resign myself to having a movie night.

The ANA Sky Channel has a selection of Hollywood, Japanese, and world movies.

ANA also have their own original programs featuring stories from around Japan. A good way to get in the mood for your upcoming trip to Japan.

During the flight a snack pack containing a pastry, cookie (biscuit in Ozspeak), and a nut-mix pack.

With the dinner and snack pack served during the flight there was no breakfast service before landing in Tokyo. There was another drinks service before landing so I got a coffee.

The flight arrives at Haneda at 5:25am. With other long-haul flights arriving in the early morning it took about half an hour to go through immigration. With the early arrival you can get into Tokyo before the morning peak. I was impressed with Haneda airport and how easy it is to get to central Tokyo.

Overall this was a great flight to Tokyo and I would be happy to travel to Japan again with ANA.

Flight: Malindo Air OD 308
From: Kuala Lumpur (KUL) To: Denpasar (DPS)

I flew with Malindo Air from Kuala Lumpur to Bali. I compared flights online with Skyscanner and they were the cheapest, and also flying at a reasonable hour of the day. I had never flown with Malindo, which was another reason I picked them. I like to try out different airlines if it’s an option, and I there there is no points benefit from any airline.

Malindo is part of the Lion Group, which I have flown with before. I went with Thai Lion Air from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, which remains as the airline with the least amount of legroom I’ve flown in. I have also flown with Wings Air in Indonesia. I haven’t flown with Lion Air, which was the airline that belly-flopped in the water short of Denpasar in 2013. Expats always seem to complain about them as well so I went in with low expectations about Malindo. It turned out that Malindo exceeded my expectations, even before I arrived at the airport.

I figured that Malindo would be a low-cost airline given that they are associated with the Lion brand. Upon booking, I found that you get a free checked bag and you can select your own seat at no cost. The booking process is simple with no extra hoops of added charges to jump through. The total fare is shown clearly, without any extras added on. I paid 179 MYR ($40 UD) which is a great deal for a 2-hour 40-minute flight.

Malindo flies out of the main KUL airport terminal (KLIA) and not KLIA2, which is where the low-cost airlines are. If you are going to the airport from KLSentral (the main train station in KL) then you can make use of the check-in facilities at the train station.

I have seen this at other airport trains but have never tried it, so today was my day to test it out. Checking in at the train station is available for Malindo Air, Malaysia Airlines, and Cathay Pacific. There was no one checking in when I went so I went straight to the counter and checked my bag. The bags are loaded onto a special compartment at the end of the train, so it is going to the airport at the same time as you. I was a bit nervous to part with my bag away from the airport, but in the end, it was not a problem, and it was nice to have unloaded my bag so quickly. The airport train takes 28 minutes to the airport, and it’s the fastest airport railway in Southeast Asia.

We boarded via an air bridge.

Upon boarding, I was surprised to see there were personal entertainment units on the flight.

And I was also surprised by the legroom. When I sat down I thought I was in the exit row for a second, such was the amount of legroom. I don’t think in inches, so for scale here is my hand with the amount of space left. For comparison, on my Thai Lion Air flight my knees were touching the back of the seat in front of me.

Malindomag – the inflight magazine of Malindo Air.

There is internet available onboard for purchase, should you need to get some work done or can’t go without for a few hours.

There were 8 movies available in English, though at under 3 hours of flying time I didn’t feel the need to watch a movie.

The route map for the KUL – DPS flight.

A welcome snack and drink are provided after take-off.

A hot meal is also provided on the flight. I got the vegetarian as the chicken option ran out early on.

I entertained myself with a book, though I was happy to have a USB port in the entertainment system so I could charge my phone.

Overall this was a great flight option to get to Bali. Malindo Air also flies to destinations throughout Southeast Asia so they are a good option to fly to Bali in one day.

Flight: Sriwijaya Air SJ 2710
From: Dili (DIL) To: Denpasar Bali (DPS)
How I Booked: Searched via Skyscanner.

Sriwijaya Air is an airline based in Jakarta that flies domestic Indonesian routes and well as a some regional international flights. In this case I was flying one of their international services from Dili in East Timor to Denpasar Bali.

I found the flight via Skyscanner which compares flights out of Dili. The Sriwijaya website looks like it’s from 2001 so I was wondering if my booking would work. I’ve had problems booking domestic flights in Indonesia before but the booking this time was easy. I selected my dates and the next thing I knew I was being asked for my credit card details. No up-sell for baggage allowance, meals, seat, insurance, credit card fee, aircraft fuel, or oxygen. How refreshing.

[Ticket price without all the silly extras.]

I didn’t know anything else about this airline before flying. It’s not in any alliance and outside of of Indonesia I would hazard a guess that most people have never heard of it. The flight is 1.45 hours so I wasn’t expecting a meal service. The meal was plain but I was happy to have something to eat.

This flight was a good option to get back into Indonesia after overlanding to East Timor from West Timor. I note that the airline is expanding services from Dili into other parts of Indonesia so a trip to Dili is now a viable visa run from more places in Indonesia.