We Ubered to the airport a little after 1000. It was a few minutes before bag-drop opened for our flight when we got there. Once Kim had offloaded his suitcase, we went to the lounge where we waited until our on-time departure to Kuala Lumpur.
It was about 1600 by the time we collected Kim’s suitcase. I have a 2335 departure from KLIA whereas he had 2355 from KLIA2. We thought we’d have about four to five hours to kill till check-in opened.
We needed food, so NZ Curry House at the lower-most floor beckoned. After the yummy food, we stayed briefly killing a total of an hour before venturing to somewhere more comfortable. After looking at some shops, we parked ourselves at Texas Chicken for another couple of hours.
After 1900, we thought it would be reasonable to try Kim’s bag-drop. They may be more flexible about the 3h limit since he was in Premium Flatbed. But se delayed ourselves by buying some papaya slices from Jaya Grocer before heading to check-in. Fortunately for him, they accepted his bag and he went airside.
I took the RM2 train to KLIA as there was one nearly going (the free bus goes every 20 minutes). At KLIA, check-in had already commenced for my flight even though it was about 3.5h prior. I queued up and was given a boarding pass more or less immediately.
Airside at the Plaza Premium lounge, there were 7 names ahead of mine waiting for the shower. I wsan’t hungry so just relaxed. After about 40 minutes, I had only moved a little up the list. But the lady allowed me to jump the queue if I promised to be quick.
At the gate, I met a few Yemenis. There was a pilots and then a few clerics. They are on the way to Sana’a but nowadays they have to go to Cairo to catch Yemenia.
Once boarded on the B777-300, it was nearly full I was surprised that I had got a boarding pass so quickly on standby. The aircraft was hot inside just like KLIA Terminal 1. They don’t make aircraft aircon like the A320 which always seems so powerful when it blows large plumes of condensation in humid weather; and all that without a hiss and a roar.
We pushed back on time. After quite a while airborne, the cabin finally cooled down. The flight was relatively quiet down the back and nothing like the Emirates B777-300 I experienced in a similar position a few years ago. Maybe they have different engine types.
Turkish Airlines is pretty classy. They don’t seem to skimp, eg. amenity pack for economy, the menu card and high quality meals, Their plastic bowls were a bit of an over-kill. The appetiser, salad and dessert bowl were all different shape and the disposable lids had to be matching! A stock control nightmare I think.
I liked the way one flight attendant addressed women “Lady, what would you like to drink?”. English as a second language, LOL!
I managed to sleep about 3.5h between meals, rested for a little more before watching some TV. It was a 9.5h flight with just 5.5h between meals so I didn’t do too badly.