Re: Musings around flights to West Australia.
Posted: April 23rd, 2022, 12:29 pm
A couple of recollections from my long haul experiences (mainly between LHR and Bangkok).
I have nothing against flying from Heathrow, apart from:-
~the time wasted flying in ever decreasing circles around the south of England, when returning to Heathrow, rather than being able to fly straight in and land, and that in conjunction with the fact that as an oldie, I tend to need the toilet often. There's nothing worse than being strapped in with the seat belts signs on and needing the toilet. The wisdom of keeping well hydrated directly conflicts with the resultant frequent need for the toilet. Another reason why I favour Premium or Business class seats, - there aren't usually any toilet queues. I understand the alternative solutions to needing a toilet regularly are rather drastic, like being wired for sound, or is it, tubed with a catheter.
So I prefer direct flights as it saves repeating the tedious and time wasting being strapped in whilst waiting and taxiing for take off and circling for landing and getting desperate for a toilet.
I did try an indirect flight once, with Emirates (Economy class) from Birmingham to Bangkok, via Dubai. It must have been around 2004 as it was at the time of the World Cup in South Korea/Japan, and there were football fans on the plane. It was a night flight. On the first leg the chap behind me seemed to be a centre of attraction for other people interested in the football, as there was almost constant flow of people stopping to chat to him, right behind my left ear, and holding and pulling on the back of my seat. My seat back was constantly being banged, kneed or kicked.
Realising that if I asked him/them to desist it was only likely to get worse, I bit my tongue for about an hour or more, in the hope it would stop, before asking politely if he would mind not banging the back of the seat as I was trying to sleep. Needless to say, the banging got noticeably worse. So, I went to the toilet and then on the way back, told the purser what was happening. She remarked they had been causing other problems including smoking in the toilets, and she moved me to a seat in Business class. That was the first time I experienced almost lie-flat seats. Ones where you slowly slid down onto your feet.
We then landed in Dubai, around 2.00 am. My recollections were a huge terminal building with the AC set very cold. I felt very tired and the few seats there were, were all occupied with people stretched out sleeping. So there was nowhere to sit, let along stretch out. The stopover was a very long 4 hours, hanging around in the cold, before eventually we had to queue and re-board, what was I think a Boeing 767. I was seated at the back of what I recall thinking looked like a cinema auditorium. The rest of that leg went without incident.
Following that experience, I have always stuck to direct flights, or via a distant travel hub, such as KL or Singapore, and have flown with, in order of preference and quality: EVA, Singapore, Thai, or Malaysian airlines.
If I don't manage to sleep on a 12 hour night flight, then I end up feeling like a zombie on arrival. So I now fly business class.
One can research airlines and airports with Skytrax: https://www.airlinequality.com/review-p ... e-reviews/
I have observed that whilst the Middle Eastern airlines offer very good passenger in flight experiences, they all too often fall down in terms of their ground service and particularly when flights are delayed, or connections missed.
I have nothing against flying from Heathrow, apart from:-
~the time wasted flying in ever decreasing circles around the south of England, when returning to Heathrow, rather than being able to fly straight in and land, and that in conjunction with the fact that as an oldie, I tend to need the toilet often. There's nothing worse than being strapped in with the seat belts signs on and needing the toilet. The wisdom of keeping well hydrated directly conflicts with the resultant frequent need for the toilet. Another reason why I favour Premium or Business class seats, - there aren't usually any toilet queues. I understand the alternative solutions to needing a toilet regularly are rather drastic, like being wired for sound, or is it, tubed with a catheter.
So I prefer direct flights as it saves repeating the tedious and time wasting being strapped in whilst waiting and taxiing for take off and circling for landing and getting desperate for a toilet.
I did try an indirect flight once, with Emirates (Economy class) from Birmingham to Bangkok, via Dubai. It must have been around 2004 as it was at the time of the World Cup in South Korea/Japan, and there were football fans on the plane. It was a night flight. On the first leg the chap behind me seemed to be a centre of attraction for other people interested in the football, as there was almost constant flow of people stopping to chat to him, right behind my left ear, and holding and pulling on the back of my seat. My seat back was constantly being banged, kneed or kicked.
Realising that if I asked him/them to desist it was only likely to get worse, I bit my tongue for about an hour or more, in the hope it would stop, before asking politely if he would mind not banging the back of the seat as I was trying to sleep. Needless to say, the banging got noticeably worse. So, I went to the toilet and then on the way back, told the purser what was happening. She remarked they had been causing other problems including smoking in the toilets, and she moved me to a seat in Business class. That was the first time I experienced almost lie-flat seats. Ones where you slowly slid down onto your feet.
We then landed in Dubai, around 2.00 am. My recollections were a huge terminal building with the AC set very cold. I felt very tired and the few seats there were, were all occupied with people stretched out sleeping. So there was nowhere to sit, let along stretch out. The stopover was a very long 4 hours, hanging around in the cold, before eventually we had to queue and re-board, what was I think a Boeing 767. I was seated at the back of what I recall thinking looked like a cinema auditorium. The rest of that leg went without incident.
Following that experience, I have always stuck to direct flights, or via a distant travel hub, such as KL or Singapore, and have flown with, in order of preference and quality: EVA, Singapore, Thai, or Malaysian airlines.
If I don't manage to sleep on a 12 hour night flight, then I end up feeling like a zombie on arrival. So I now fly business class.
One can research airlines and airports with Skytrax: https://www.airlinequality.com/review-p ... e-reviews/
I have observed that whilst the Middle Eastern airlines offer very good passenger in flight experiences, they all too often fall down in terms of their ground service and particularly when flights are delayed, or connections missed.