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Flight Review – Air Asia X Premium Flatbed, Kuala Lumpur – Melbourne

Following a relaxing road trip to the Cameron Highlands, it was time to continue my travels to Australia to visit my family for the first time in eight years.

Having considered various options for the flight to Melbourne, I settled on Air Asia’s afternoon flight, with a late evening arrival.

I usually don’t mind flying in economy class on daytime flights, but a little research revealed that Air Asia X operates their A330-300 aircraft in a 9-abreast configuration, as opposed to the industry standard 8-abreast.

As this is one of the tightest configurations in the sky and I am not exactly the most compactly built person, this simply wasn’t going to work. Therefore, I decided to upgrade to the Premium Flatbed product.

My flight began at KLIA2, the low-cost terminal of Kuala Lumpur Airport. Air Asia X does not offer lounge access with its premium product, so my travel day started at the Plaza Premium Lounge, which is accessible with Priority Pass. To my surprise and delight, breakfast was still being served at around 11:30am.

Boarding commenced around 40 minutes before the departure time. There was no priority boarding, but this didn’t bother me as I am often among the last to board anyway.

The Air Asia X Premium Flatbed product occupies the first two rows at the front of the aircraft and is arranged in a 2-2-2 configuration. Despite the name, the seats do not in fact recline to a fully flat position. Rather, they are angle-flat seats.

As always in a 2-2-2 arrangement, I chose a seat in the centre pair, which allows direct aisle access for both passengers.

I was allocated seat 2G, but it transpired that one of the pair of seats in front of me, 1D, was designated as inoperative. As a couple had been allocated to these seats, I was asked to switch to 1G in order that they could sit together. Of course, I readily acquiesced as this meant I had extra room and a guaranteed empty seat next to me.

There was no special catering in the premium section, but my ticket included a choice of meal and a soft drink from the buy-on-board menu. I chose one of the chicken and rice dishes.

As unappetising as it looks, it was actually rather tasty and was perfectly adequate after my brunch in the lounge.

A little later in the flight, I was also offered a light snack.

Air Asia X does not offer any WiFi, and I am not a fan of in-flight entertainment, so I semi-reclined my seat into a La-Z-Boy style position and dusted off a book I had been meaning to read for some time.

I also took advantage of the 3-for-2 offer on Tiger beer at 40MYR ($9 or £7) for three cans.

Later in the flight, I decided to try the angle-flat position, more through curiosity than any overwhelming fatigue.

A blanket and pillow were provided.

At first, the position seemed comfortable enough, but I quickly found that it wasn’t conducive to restful sleep, and I only managed to doze fitfully for around an hour.

With a couple of hours of the flight remaining, I realised that with a midnight landing in Melbourne, sleep was going to take priority over a room service dinner.

In order that I could go straight to bed at the airport hotel on arrival, I purchased another one of the chicken and rice concoctions from the on-board menu.

Again, whilst not the most memorable meal I have eaten in the sky, it was perfectly tasty and obviated the need to organise dinner in the middle of the night in Melbourne.

In conclusion, it is difficult to know how to categorise this product. The hard product is a significant step up in comfort from premium economy and aligns with the low end of long-haul business class products. The soft product, however, is firmly in basic economy territory.

However, the main reason I paid for the upgrade was to avoid the tight configuration in economy class, and in that sense it served its purpose.

The catering was basic, but perfectly adequate, and I was more than happy reading my book and drinking my Tiger beer. I also saved around $800 or £600 against a business class ticket on this sector.

In order to assess the product fairly, it is necessary to consider the price point at which it is marketed. I paid $877 (£677) for this one-way sector, which is comparable to the premium economy price on the legacy carriers.

Honestly, the premium economy market is where this product is competing, and is likely to attract a clientele who is looking for a more comfortable experience without paying the often eye-watering prices of business class tickets.

With this in mind, I think this product provided, on balance, a better overall experience than a traditional premium economy product, at a similar price.

Whilst I would not be overly enamoured by the prospect of spending an overnight flight in the angled seats, this flight provided good value for money, and I would be more than happy to repeat the experience on a daytime flight.

Flight Review – Royal Jordanian Business Class, Amman – Bangkok

15 December 2024
by thebouncer

After a short stroll around Amman and a few hours of rest, I was ready for my overnight flight to Bangkok.

The experience began with a relaxing visit to Royal Jordanian’s Crown Lounge in Amman.

The lounge is in a pleasant setting on a mezzanine level, overlooking the terminal.

This is quite an expansive lounge and offers a variety of food options, including a pizzeria, bakery and ice-cream station.

The lounge also has shower suites at a cost of $20 (£16). As I had come straight from my hotel, I opted not to avail myself of this and headed instead to the serviced bar.

After a couple of hours relaxing in the lounge, it was time to board the Boeing 787-8 for the 1:40am departure to Bangkok, a flight time of a little over eight hours.

The business class seating on the Royal Jordanian Dreamliner offers a flat-bed option and is arranged in a 2-2-2 configuration. As always with such a configuration, my preference was for the centre pair of seats, which offer direct aisle access to both passengers.

The footwells for these pairs of seats are at least separated and not angled towards each other, which was an improvement on my earlier Eurowings flight.

The seat adjacent to me was occupied for this flight. However, I was unconcerned by this, as there was sufficient space between the seats and adequate private screening when in flat-bed mode.

As it was now around 2:30am, local time, a light meal of hot and cold appetisers and dessert was offered, comprising both western and oriental options.

I chose the western menu of mozzarella salad, risotto and lotus mousse, all of which were fresh and tasty.

A variety of drinks are also offered.

The menu does not proactively offer alcohol, but beer and wine are available on request. Due to the late hour and relatively short flight time, I chose not to imbibe, preferring to maximise my sleep time.

After around four hours of reasonably comfortable sleep, I awoke around an hour and a half out of Bangkok.

Again, there were western and oriental options for the breakfast service.

I chose the western menu with a Spanish omelette, chicken sausage, mushrooms and tomatoes, served with a croissant and fresh fruit.

In conclusion, Royal Jordanian’s Crown Class, whilst not a top-tier business class product, provided a perfectly satisfactory experience for a relatively short overnight flight.

It was certainly superb value for money at £508 ($648) for a three-sector journey from Cairo to Kuala Lumpur.

Flight Review – Royal Jordanian Business Class, Cairo – Amman

5 December 2024
by thebouncer

After my Nile cruise and Pyramids tour, my Egyptian adventures had come to an end, and it was time to continue eastward for the next phase of my winter wanderings.

For the princely sum of £508 ($648), I had secured a one-way ticket in Royal Jordanian’s Crown Class from Cairo, via Amman, to Bangkok, connecting with Malaysia Airlines to Kuala Lumpur.

This review will focus on the regional sector from Cairo to Amman.

Having originally booked a semi-civilised 09:05 departure, I was hit the dreaded schedule change and ended up with a decidedly less palatable 06:25 flight.

This eventually worked in my favour, as my dephased body clock had me retiring at 7pm the previous evening, and the extended layover allowed me the chance to take a short tour in Amman.

The check-in process at Cairo Airport was somewhat chaotic, with scanners and baggage x-rays at the terminal entrance. Having paid the ubiquitously required baksheesh to the dubious characters manning these checkpoints, I made my way airside, to the generic VIP lounge.

The lounge itself was relatively well equipped, with ample seating, a breakfast buffet and a selection of beverages.

Once at the gate, the boarding process was much smoother and more efficient, and I was soon settled into the business class cabin for the 90-minute flight to Amman.

In sharp contrast to flights of this length in Europe, Royal Jordanian offers spacious recliners, in a 2-2 configuration on its A320neo aircraft. These seats feature an extended pitch, with ample legroom for a short flight. The window seat next to me remained unoccupied for this lightly loaded sector.

Once airborne, an Arabic breakfast was served, with a selection of breads, cheeses and jams, fruit juice and coffee.

By the time I had finished my third breakfast of the day, the descent into Amman had begun.

The infernal obstacle course that is Cairo Airport aside, this was a pleasant and relaxing flight once on board, and certainly a far superior experience to intra-European business class products.

Flight review – Lufthansa Business Class, Frankfurt – Paris, with Senator Lounge Frankfurt

Following a pleasant flight from Punta Cana back to Europe, I had a short connection to make from Frankfurt to Paris CDG.

After 9 hours on board that flight, my first port of call was the Camel smoking lounge, conveniently located airside.

With my nicotine craving satisfied, I headed off to the Lufthansa Senator Lounge, which can be accessed by American Express Platinum card holders travelling in Lufthansa Business Class.

The first thing I wanted was a shower. However, there was a waiting list and I had to pick up a pager to notify me when a shower was available.

In the meantime, I decided to grab a quick coffee.

After a few minutes, my pager bleeped and it was time to check out the shower suites, which were well appointed, spotlessly clean and very welcome after an overnight flight.

The lounge itself was quiet and pleasant with a reasonable breakfast selection and an impressive array of refreshments.

Having already eaten breakfast on my inbound flight and looking forward to lunch on my way to Paris, I contented myself with some rather overcooked sausages, Spanish tortilla and a cheeky Rum & Coke.

On arrival at the gate, I noticed that the flight had been delayed for 30 minutes and there wasn’t actually an aircraft at the gate.

This was soon rectified.

Once on board, I settled into seat 2C, which is a bulkhead aisle seat and probably the best seat in Lufthansa’s short-haul configuration. Although it is the usual intra-European business class standard of economy seating with a blocked middle, it offered extra legroom and was perfectly acceptable for this very short flight.

Shortly after take-off, I was served a light lunch of salmon and a glass of German Riesling.

The salmon was tasty and wonderfully fresh and the Riesling, although sweeter than my usual choice of whites, paired well with it.

Very soon after I finished lunch, we were on final descent to CDG and the flight was over in the blink of an eye, a pleasant way to round off a 6-week trip.

Flight review – Eurowings Discover Business Class, Punta Cana – Frankfurt

Following a delightful trip to the Dominican Republic and the USA it was time to return briefly to Europe.

This was done using Eurowings Discover’s long-haul business class, purchased as the return half of a round trip from Paris, which included a superb outbound flight on Air Canada.

My flight was scheduled from Punta Cana at 19:10, landing at 09:30 in Frankfurt. I found this to be more or less an optimal timing for an eastbound overnighter, as it allowed me a couple of hours after take-off to enjoy dinner and a few drinks before settling down for a decent few hours of sleep.

My evening started at the VIP Lounge Terminal A, which is a basic, catch-all contract lounge used by a number of airlines as well as Priority Pass. Although the lounge was nothing special, it was a perfectly decent place to wait and enjoy a couple of pre-flight beers.

Once on board, I took my seat in the centre pair of the 2-2-2 configured business class cabin. In this configuration, I always prefer the centre pair of seats, as it offers direct aisle access to both passengers and avoids the annoying “climbover factor”. As it happened, I was pleasantly surprised not to have a seat neighbour, which proved advantageous later.

Nuts and aperitifs were served shortly after take-off. I opted for a glass of the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, which was served nicely chilled.

Dinner followed soon after with a choice of courses and a reasonable wine and cocktail list.

I chose the serrano ham to start, which was decently presented and fresh, served with another glass of the Sauvignon Blanc.

The beef tenderloin was my choice for the main, accompanied by the Argentinian Malbec. Beef is often not a good choice on flights, as it is nearly always overcooked. Whilst this was no exception, it was still tender and tasty.

I rounded off the meal with the cheese platter and some more of the Malbec.

After a few cognacs, I reclined the seat into flatbed mode and settled down to sleep.

Although it felt rather narrow, the bed was comfortable enough to sleep reasonably. The one thing I noticed was the foot space was rather small and angled toward the neighbouring seat.

As the seat next to me was unoccupied, I was easily able to slide one of my size 12s over to the other side of the divider, but the configuration could have been awkward if both seats had been occupied.

I managed around 4 hours of decent sleep and awoke around an hour and a half before landing, ready for breakfast.

Breakfast was a Spanish tortilla, served with bread, cheese and fruit, along with orange juice and coffee.

We landed a little ahead of schedule in Frankfurt, with more than enough time to catch my connecting flight to Paris, which will be the subject of my next review.

This Eurowings Discover flight exceeded my expectations. While the hard product is decidedly mid-table in business class terms, the service was friendly and attentive. I had a comfortable flight with a decent meal and a good few hours of sleep. I arrived in Frankfurt ready for the day ahead. For a little over £1,000 ($1,300) for a transatlantic round trip, I couldn’t ask for more than that.

Flight review – United Domestic First Class and Regional Business Class

Late last year, I took three flights in United’s Regional Business Class and Domestic First Class.

I flew the following routes:

Punta Cana (PUJ) – Chicago (ORD)

Phoenix (PHX) – Washington Dulles (IAD)

Washington Dulles – Punta Cana (PUJ)

I have consolidated these into one article, as the products are essentially identical.

The on-board hard product was reasonably consistent across the three flights, the standard US Domestic First 2-2 configuration on narrow-body jets.

Unfortunately one of the seats was so badly worn, the I could feel parts of the fittings through the seat cushion. As the flight was full, the only option was to use a blanket as additional padding.

Fortunately for me, I was asked to move after take-off to accommodate a couple with a pet, erroneously seated in a bulkhead row. Obviously I readily acquiesced to this!

After this flight, I received a credit to my United MileagePlus account of 2,500 miles, labelled “Inflight Compensation Miles”.

This was not discussed on board, and I am not sure whether this was for the worn seat or being asked to move.

Either way, I considered it a fair and reasonable gesture.

Seat pitch was a uniform 38″, providing decent legroom.

I sampled a variety of the on-board catering, including both the omelette and shakshuka breakfast options, as well as a lasagne lunch dish.

Whilst the presentation of the lasagne left a little to be desired, it certainly tasted a lot better than it looked.

All of the dishes were tasty and filling and the on-board service was much more proactive than that on Air Canada Rouge’s Business Class product, of which I was rather critical in my recent review.

Overall, I was happy with the product and service, which was quite consistent across all three flights.

The upgrades from the standard economy product worked out at around $150 or £120 for each of the 4-5 hour sectors, which considering that baggage fees were included, I considered pretty good value and would be more than happy to pay again on a future flight.

Flight review – Air Canada Rouge Business Class, Montreal – Punta Cana

Following on from my transatlantic flight and my layover in Montreal it was time for the last leg of my journey to the Dominican Republic, a flight on Air Canada Rouge to Punta Cana.

This flight had originally been booked in Economy Class, but I was able to place an online bid for an upgrade.

My bid of 225USD (£179) was rejected, but during the online check-in process, I was offered a price for a cleared upgrade of 241EUR (£206).

I tried to pay for this online but two credit cards were rejected by the Air Canada website. The payment was eventually processed at the check-in desk at CDG.

On the day of the flight itself, check in and bag drop at Montreal was a breeze and I was through and into the lounge in minutes.

The lounge was pleasant and quiet, with a small selection of food and drinks. As I had already eaten a decent breakfast at the Holiday Inn I contented myself with a couple of beers.

The priority boarding was smooth and I was installed in seat 1F very quickly.

I am normally an aisle seat man, but with the amount of room in the bulkhead seat, the window seat was no hardship.

Although this was obviously nowhere near the comfort level I experienced on my flight from Paris I found it perfectly acceptable for 4 hour flight down to Punta Cana.

Around an hour after take-off a drinks service was offered and I chose a Canadian beer.

Lunch service followed shortly afterwards. I chose the chicken tagine main, which was served with the salad and dessert on the main tray.

After the meal service was finished, the cabin crew retired to the galley and were more or less not seen again for the rest of the flight, although I did manage to get a drink after going up to the galley myself.

Overall I have to say that I was not particularly impressed with Air Canada Rouge’s Business Class product.

Compared with Air Canada’s long-haul Signature Business Class the difference is night and day.

Seating was identical to US domestic First Class and the conspicuously absent service fell below even that benchmark.

Some time ago I wrote an article on whether business class was worth paying for. My

While this was a pleasant enough way to spend a few hours, I’m not convinced it was worth £50 per hour.

In all honesty, were I to fly this route again I would select an aisle seat down the back and keep my credit card in my wallet.

Flight review – Air Canada Business Class, Paris – Montreal

After my flight to Paris and a short stopover it was time for the first long haul flight of my 5-month travel season.

A fortuitous deal meant that this would be in Air Canada’s Signature Business Class.

As my flight was leaving from Terminal 2, I started my travel day in the Extime contract lounge rather than the Star Alliance Lounge in Terminal 1.

The lounge was located after security but before passport control and offered a reasonable selection of food and drink.

After around an hour in the lounge I boarded the flight and settled in.

This flight was operated by a 777-300ER with business class seating in a 1-2-1 configuration. All business class seats on this aircraft offer a fully flat bed and direct aisle access.

I was given a small amenity kit and a pre-departure glass of champagne.

The dinner service began shortly after take-off with nuts and another glass of champagne.

The menu and choice of drinks offered an impressive array of options.

The appetiser was tasty and the salad was fresh.

For the main course, I was informed that the beef cheeks were not available. This was not an issue for me, as I had already chosen the chicken curry.

The curry was tasty and unusually for an airline meal, had a nice spicy kick.

I chose the Côtes du Rhône white wine to accompany the main course and this was generously poured and regularly topped up.

I finished off the meal with the cheese platter, a glass or two of port and a couple of brandies.

By this stage there were only around four hours left of the flight, so I decided to put my seat into flat-bed mode for a short nap.

I had a nice two-hour sleep before a light pre-arrival meal of Arabic mezze with fruit and coffee was served, along with a couple of tasty little chocolates.

After this, we began our descent to Montreal, where I had a one-night layover before continuing to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

Air Canada’s Signature Class was a very relaxing experience and a thoroughly civilised way to begin my long-haul travels.

I can recommend this product as a very solid option for a trans-Atlantic flight.

Flight review – Air France Economy Class, Zurich – Paris

After my first normal Summer at home on the shores of Lake Constance for four years, it was time to take flight again for another five months on the road.

My journey started with a short flight to Paris, from where my next long-haul adventure would begin.

For this short flight, I had booked myself in Economy Class with Air France, using 7,000 Flying Blue Miles. During the online check-in I was offered an upgrade to Business Class for €79 (£69/$83). For a one hour flight, I declined this offer.

My flying day started in the Marhaba Lounge, accessed via Priority Pass.

After a decent lunch in the lounge, I boarded the aircraft for the short run to Paris CDG.

The flight was very lightly loaded and I had a row of three seats to myself.

The legroom was perfectly fine for a short flight.

A snack and drinks were served shortly after take off.

Almost as soon as I finished my coffee, we were descending into Paris for an on time arrival.

I was glad that I had decided to decline the €79 upgrade offer. Some time ago, I wrote a piece on whether business class travel is really worth it and at times I believe it is.

On this occasion, however, I was glad I kept my credit card in my wallet.

This flight was one of the better short-haul experiences I have had in recent years and an easy and painless way to begin my Winter travels.

A very poor experience with Swiss

Last Monday, I decided at the last minute to take off to Barcelona for a few days.

Barcelona is a lovely city and I will be reviewing it in the coming days, but getting there and back was far from straightforward.

I was booked on a direct flight from Zürich to Barcelona on Swiss, returning via Munich on Lufthansa.

I got to Zürich a few hours early and checked out a couple of the Priority Pass lounges, which again I will review in the next few days.

Around an hour before the scheduled departure, I got the dreaded cancellation SMS from Swiss. I had been rebooked on a connecting flight via Frankfurt, with a 28-hour delay. Needless to say, on a 4-day trip, this was totally unacceptable.

By this stage, Zürich Airport had descended into chaos, with many Swiss and Lufthansa flights cancelled. As I waited in the 2-hour queue for the transfer desk, I researched other available options.

I found a Vueling flight some 4 hours later, bookable under an Iberia codeshare, which I know that Swiss are capable of booking. Mindful that there were very few seats left on this flight, I called Swiss Customer Service while standing in the queue.

Unfortunately, Swiss flatly refused to rebook me on that flight, regardless of their obligation under the EU261 Regulation to rebook passengers in the most expeditious manner possible.

As this was clearly in contravention of that condition, I took matters into my own hands and booked myself on the Vueling flight at a cost of €329.79.

The last step was to make sure my return was not cancelled when I no-showed the unacceptable rebooking option. This was done when I finally reached the transfer desk.

The final insult was delivered when I was informed that the cancellation was due to “weather”.

Forgive me if I am somewhat sceptical of this, when the only cancellations were from Swiss and their parent company Lufthansa, but every other airline was flying with short delays.

Are Swiss claiming they were subject to different weather conditions than British Airways, Finnair, SAS, Tailwind, Sun Express and Vueling?

Either way, a reasonable attempt to mitigate the delay was clearly not made, as I managed to beat their rebooking option by 24 hours.

As it happened, I arrived at my hotel in Barcelona at 1am, a delay of around 5 hours. Actually not a disastrous result, but only because I fixed the issue on my own initiative.

Naturally, this required me to pay upfront for the replacement flight, but this is recoverable under the relevant regulations, when the airline has failed to provide a reasonable alternative.

Most Ombudsman services and regulatory bodies will generally back up your claim if the airline has refused to rebook a clearly available same day alternative.

I will write an update with the result of my claim from Swiss, which will include the cost of the replacement flight plus €250 cancellation compensation.

As a side note, the Vueling flight, which I will also review in the coming days, was a pleasant experience and exceeded my expectations.

Swiss however, which is usually a very good airline, left a lot to be desired on this occasion.

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