pep
Medlem
Nye eventyr siden jeg i tirdags påbegyndte min rejse tilbage til Kigali: Flight diversion, Censureret i Kina (kunne ikke få adgang til mine egne emails!), Nødlanding i Port Sudan, Crash on runway i Khartoum, 1 person kradsede af i økonomi mellem Guangzhou og Dubai. Mistede 6 skilderier jeg havde købt med fra Hanoi. Frataget pas i Khartoum, hvor jeg endda nød det sjældne priviligie ikke at få lov til at checke ind selv. Det gør airport officerer påtvungent for alle transit-passagerer - vel for at være sikre på at de igen forlader dette ellers så herlige land (når man ikke har visum). Jeg ankom til Kigali kl. 02 nat og måtte shanghaje ikke mindre end 2 taxi-motorcykler for at tage hvs. mig og mine resterende kufferter med de sidste 20 km til city centre. At rejse er at leve. Nedenstående er sent til SKYTRAX og de to første reviews er publicerede. I titlerne er anført min score fra 1 til 10 (som er max.)
1. VietjetAir Economy 5/10
Domestic HUI-HAN 14th August 2018 on a new A320 aircraft. I had changed this ticket several times through own web booking management and through phone service. The change fees are so exorbitant that’s it’s often better to discard the first tickets and buy new. Whenever I make a change I lose all prepaid services (luggage meals etc.) and must pay these again for the new itinerary. The worst is the numerous emails one receives prior to departure on “possible schedule changes”: it is not clear whether there is change or not and they send again and again – very stressful as you assume there is a change but most often not. Worse are the frequent schedule changes and flight amalgamations that jeopardise plans and make travelling ridiculous. This time I had booked 6 months in advance – but 5 weeks prior to departure they relegated their morning flight to Hanoi making it difficult/impossible for me to use the ticket unless I went a day earlier and spent a night extra in Hanoi. That gave me serious other problems and I had to travel a day earlier to enable me to catch my connecting international flight from Hanoi. That proved difficult and costly. Useless airline unless you are lucky. However, “luck” counts a frequency of only 60-80% of my flights taken with them. I tend stick to Vietnamairlines and Jetstar on domestic travelling in Vietnam. Onboard, Vietjetair are absolutely fine with fresh staff and fair pricing. However, that faints compared to numerous delays, cancellations, and sudden schedule changes. Not an airline for busy professionals but at times it works fine, particularly if paired with patience. The prices are very reasonable if bought through campaigns or well in advance. But when it comes to travel day it will show whether it was worth the savings. They don’t want to “discuss” their own changes – they just assign a new time. In this case, eventually they pretend to pity me and extraordinary “allowed me” a single and unusual date change so I could be on time for onwards international flights. I decided to go with them as another ticket with Vietnam Airlines would now be expensive. It became a bumpy, and tedious process before all details were straightened out (e.g. they tend to cancel meal and baggage and add-ons if they reschedule the flight – just eating up passengers money in a shameful, aggressive behaviour. Flight was full, but service, and FAs onboard were fine, so eventually I had some luck. Onboard, I bought hot meals and drinks reasonably priced. Became delayed 25 Minutes due to “cargo problems” – merely due to too short turn-around time-slot in Hue.
2. China Southern Business Class 8/10
15 Aug. 2018 HAN-CAN-DXB on E190 and A330, respectively. Check-in in Hanoi was quick, smooth, and professional. I bought 6 huge paintings the previous night in Hanoi old city and brought them with me for further destinations in central Africa. Things worked out better than feared. They allowed me to send this hugely oversized luggage the whole way to Khartoum – they needed 2-3 guys to fit them in as we travel on small aircraft. China Southern check-in staff overruled those rigid guys working in Noi Bai Airport services checking in odd-sized luggage. They use the Sky Team-lounge in Hanoi which is good but provisions cannot at all match the glamorous design and interior facing the runways. Still no champagne, less brands of beer, food offerings are shrinking and wines offered are sub-par. No fresh coffee and fruits display only contains the cheapest of the cheapest fruits: watermelon, papaya, guava, etc. Neither pineapple, mango, jackfruits, nor durian. Very stingy. Flights well announced on media, arrived and departure punctually. Outstanding airline as compared to most other China mainland carriers. Onboard, very sparse offering, but caring FAs. Had 6 seats in a 2 rows 1-2 configuration by myself. They only loaded 1 business class meal. No alcohol onboard except they load 4 beers/pax in business class.
The new lounges in Guangzhou are almost on pair with those of Cathay in Hongkong. I had a sleeping room for some 3 hours with excellent sleeping facilities, including true eiderdown duvets. 2nd flight on a much larger A330 was close to perfect. Take off champagne. Lie flat bed-chairs in staggered configuration of 1-2-1. WiFi onboard working well but restricted according to Chinese laws (Google, facebook etc. not allowed). Food and caring very good. Got loads of lamb-chops which is my favourite onboard. Good wines and excellent teas. Poor beers and softdrinks. FAs are very attentive, but misunderstandings with Westeners are frequent. Fine amenities, good IFE. Flights on time. On the 2nd flight a person onboard died of unknown causes, incident were untold until doors opened in Dubai as emergency staff entering the aircraft asked for the “dead person”.
3. Flydubai Business 3/10
Flew Dubai to Khartoum morning 16/8-2018. Arrived to DXB the previous evening from T1 and had to move by busses to T2 to get BP. Terrible mess and nightmare to queue up in T2 – completely disorganised with no signage and information. A goat-market of dimensions. Most check-in staff incompetent and could not find peoples bookings resulting in many hefty discussions (people almost fighting) for the whole transit hall. Eventually I was granted to pass the 2nd security and enter their Lounge in T2 which is far below standard to all the lounges in T1. Spent almost 4 hours from arrival before entering the lounge – and still without BP as my “booking did not exist”!? They brought it 3 a.m. by courier to the lounge, though. No recognition nor prioritisation of business class customers in the entire T2. Only the lounge gives a small advantage (have champagne and beer), though it is not impressive and food are lousy. While onboard the B737 the business class cabin turned out to differ from economy and was decent with large seats and free services, inc. take-off champagne. 2 hot-meals were offered, both of very mediocre quality. When descending for Khartoum the KRT airport was suddenly announced closed due to "a crash on the runway" with "no casualties". Thus, we were diverted back to Port Sudan where we were halted on the runway for 2-3 hours together with other airlines - flights resumed but we lost totally 4-5 hours. The ground mess in Dubai will make me think twice to struggle with this airline again. Was given Miles to my Skywards account as Flydubai recently fully integrated their FFP programme with Emirates. Major drawback is luggage: I was guaranteed from DXB that both pieces were identified and loaded. However, 1 piece did never arrive in KRT and was obviously not loaded. Could not access any Lost Luggage counter and could neither get PIR report not contact Flydubai as their emails bounches. De facto had to forsake 1 piece of luggage due to they lied to me and impossible to contact them. Lost my connection in KRT and was reported a "no-show".
4. Ethiopian Economy 5/10
Travelled KRT-ADD-KGL on 16 Aug. 2018 on B737-800 and B737-700, respectively. Both flights delayed. Arrived in KRT 5 hours late (with Fydubai from DXB) due to closure of the airport. KRT airport had a crash and the lanes were blocked 4 hours in the morning. Had to accept No-Show and rebooking fee to ET just outside the airport. Had no visa but transit passed relatively smoothly with a lot of officers leading and attending me while retaining my passport. A humiliating experience but I know these things eventually works out well – just don’t be fuzzy. Ticket reissue went very fast, paid 100 USD cash. Both Boarding passes received in KRT which proved crucially necessary: flight became 45 Min. delayed. Bus-gatings from/to terminals throughout, very tiresome: I waited in KRT >30 Minutes with 80 passengers in a double-bus before it took-off to the aircraft 200 meters away. Transit in ADD was horrible due to hundreds of people waiting and blocking security check. Managed in last Minute to board an old 737-700 to Kigali. However, after boarding delayed >1 hour on tarmac due to “gas refuelling” discovered through the captains’ recalculation of amount needed. Service onboard were fine on both flights and could refill hot meals and drinks, inc. wine. Expensive ticket. Cannot recommend for unexperienced travellers.
1. VietjetAir Economy 5/10
Domestic HUI-HAN 14th August 2018 on a new A320 aircraft. I had changed this ticket several times through own web booking management and through phone service. The change fees are so exorbitant that’s it’s often better to discard the first tickets and buy new. Whenever I make a change I lose all prepaid services (luggage meals etc.) and must pay these again for the new itinerary. The worst is the numerous emails one receives prior to departure on “possible schedule changes”: it is not clear whether there is change or not and they send again and again – very stressful as you assume there is a change but most often not. Worse are the frequent schedule changes and flight amalgamations that jeopardise plans and make travelling ridiculous. This time I had booked 6 months in advance – but 5 weeks prior to departure they relegated their morning flight to Hanoi making it difficult/impossible for me to use the ticket unless I went a day earlier and spent a night extra in Hanoi. That gave me serious other problems and I had to travel a day earlier to enable me to catch my connecting international flight from Hanoi. That proved difficult and costly. Useless airline unless you are lucky. However, “luck” counts a frequency of only 60-80% of my flights taken with them. I tend stick to Vietnamairlines and Jetstar on domestic travelling in Vietnam. Onboard, Vietjetair are absolutely fine with fresh staff and fair pricing. However, that faints compared to numerous delays, cancellations, and sudden schedule changes. Not an airline for busy professionals but at times it works fine, particularly if paired with patience. The prices are very reasonable if bought through campaigns or well in advance. But when it comes to travel day it will show whether it was worth the savings. They don’t want to “discuss” their own changes – they just assign a new time. In this case, eventually they pretend to pity me and extraordinary “allowed me” a single and unusual date change so I could be on time for onwards international flights. I decided to go with them as another ticket with Vietnam Airlines would now be expensive. It became a bumpy, and tedious process before all details were straightened out (e.g. they tend to cancel meal and baggage and add-ons if they reschedule the flight – just eating up passengers money in a shameful, aggressive behaviour. Flight was full, but service, and FAs onboard were fine, so eventually I had some luck. Onboard, I bought hot meals and drinks reasonably priced. Became delayed 25 Minutes due to “cargo problems” – merely due to too short turn-around time-slot in Hue.
2. China Southern Business Class 8/10
15 Aug. 2018 HAN-CAN-DXB on E190 and A330, respectively. Check-in in Hanoi was quick, smooth, and professional. I bought 6 huge paintings the previous night in Hanoi old city and brought them with me for further destinations in central Africa. Things worked out better than feared. They allowed me to send this hugely oversized luggage the whole way to Khartoum – they needed 2-3 guys to fit them in as we travel on small aircraft. China Southern check-in staff overruled those rigid guys working in Noi Bai Airport services checking in odd-sized luggage. They use the Sky Team-lounge in Hanoi which is good but provisions cannot at all match the glamorous design and interior facing the runways. Still no champagne, less brands of beer, food offerings are shrinking and wines offered are sub-par. No fresh coffee and fruits display only contains the cheapest of the cheapest fruits: watermelon, papaya, guava, etc. Neither pineapple, mango, jackfruits, nor durian. Very stingy. Flights well announced on media, arrived and departure punctually. Outstanding airline as compared to most other China mainland carriers. Onboard, very sparse offering, but caring FAs. Had 6 seats in a 2 rows 1-2 configuration by myself. They only loaded 1 business class meal. No alcohol onboard except they load 4 beers/pax in business class.
The new lounges in Guangzhou are almost on pair with those of Cathay in Hongkong. I had a sleeping room for some 3 hours with excellent sleeping facilities, including true eiderdown duvets. 2nd flight on a much larger A330 was close to perfect. Take off champagne. Lie flat bed-chairs in staggered configuration of 1-2-1. WiFi onboard working well but restricted according to Chinese laws (Google, facebook etc. not allowed). Food and caring very good. Got loads of lamb-chops which is my favourite onboard. Good wines and excellent teas. Poor beers and softdrinks. FAs are very attentive, but misunderstandings with Westeners are frequent. Fine amenities, good IFE. Flights on time. On the 2nd flight a person onboard died of unknown causes, incident were untold until doors opened in Dubai as emergency staff entering the aircraft asked for the “dead person”.
3. Flydubai Business 3/10
Flew Dubai to Khartoum morning 16/8-2018. Arrived to DXB the previous evening from T1 and had to move by busses to T2 to get BP. Terrible mess and nightmare to queue up in T2 – completely disorganised with no signage and information. A goat-market of dimensions. Most check-in staff incompetent and could not find peoples bookings resulting in many hefty discussions (people almost fighting) for the whole transit hall. Eventually I was granted to pass the 2nd security and enter their Lounge in T2 which is far below standard to all the lounges in T1. Spent almost 4 hours from arrival before entering the lounge – and still without BP as my “booking did not exist”!? They brought it 3 a.m. by courier to the lounge, though. No recognition nor prioritisation of business class customers in the entire T2. Only the lounge gives a small advantage (have champagne and beer), though it is not impressive and food are lousy. While onboard the B737 the business class cabin turned out to differ from economy and was decent with large seats and free services, inc. take-off champagne. 2 hot-meals were offered, both of very mediocre quality. When descending for Khartoum the KRT airport was suddenly announced closed due to "a crash on the runway" with "no casualties". Thus, we were diverted back to Port Sudan where we were halted on the runway for 2-3 hours together with other airlines - flights resumed but we lost totally 4-5 hours. The ground mess in Dubai will make me think twice to struggle with this airline again. Was given Miles to my Skywards account as Flydubai recently fully integrated their FFP programme with Emirates. Major drawback is luggage: I was guaranteed from DXB that both pieces were identified and loaded. However, 1 piece did never arrive in KRT and was obviously not loaded. Could not access any Lost Luggage counter and could neither get PIR report not contact Flydubai as their emails bounches. De facto had to forsake 1 piece of luggage due to they lied to me and impossible to contact them. Lost my connection in KRT and was reported a "no-show".
4. Ethiopian Economy 5/10
Travelled KRT-ADD-KGL on 16 Aug. 2018 on B737-800 and B737-700, respectively. Both flights delayed. Arrived in KRT 5 hours late (with Fydubai from DXB) due to closure of the airport. KRT airport had a crash and the lanes were blocked 4 hours in the morning. Had to accept No-Show and rebooking fee to ET just outside the airport. Had no visa but transit passed relatively smoothly with a lot of officers leading and attending me while retaining my passport. A humiliating experience but I know these things eventually works out well – just don’t be fuzzy. Ticket reissue went very fast, paid 100 USD cash. Both Boarding passes received in KRT which proved crucially necessary: flight became 45 Min. delayed. Bus-gatings from/to terminals throughout, very tiresome: I waited in KRT >30 Minutes with 80 passengers in a double-bus before it took-off to the aircraft 200 meters away. Transit in ADD was horrible due to hundreds of people waiting and blocking security check. Managed in last Minute to board an old 737-700 to Kigali. However, after boarding delayed >1 hour on tarmac due to “gas refuelling” discovered through the captains’ recalculation of amount needed. Service onboard were fine on both flights and could refill hot meals and drinks, inc. wine. Expensive ticket. Cannot recommend for unexperienced travellers.
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