Leaving family
After 9 nights in Kuching, I leave today for Kuala Lumpur connecting to Tehran. It was great to meet my step-sister for the first time since childhood. We worked well together on various issues facing our elderly and deteriorating parents … her dad with dementia and my mum who had suffered a fall recently.
I started the day with a visit to say goodbye to Mum and then readied myself to depart by Grab (formerly Uber) to my brother’s place for lunch. The 15km ride cost RM15 less a RM5 voucher. At RM10, it was an awfully cheap ride by foreign standards (USD2.50).
I got dropped off at the airport after lunch around 1h30 prior to departure and went airside for a little wait before boarding the AirAsiaflight to KL. The crew on this flight were very welcoming and included two Indian-flagged crew who didn’t appear to be Malaysian Indians. As usual, we left early before its scheduled time of 1505 and landed early around 1645.
Connecting to Tehran
With no luggage, it was a speedy exit to find the bus to Terminal 1. Lucky me, it was there went I walked out but there was a detour to the Long Term Carpark where I changed to another bus. The route isn’t circular (LTCP – T1 – T2 – LTCP) and may require a change for fastest travel time. While free, I’d probably be happy paying RM2 to go on the train as it is a little faster but less frequent.
I got to Terminal 1 around 1730, some 5h45 before my 2315 departure. I changed some money for EUR30 to pay for my ride from Imam Khomeini Airport to Qom as I didn’t have the right denominations (in case they had no change in Euros).
With all chores attended to, I settled in for a snack at McDonald’s to await check-in opening. I wandered to the check-in area about 3h30 prior to departure to find a long queue already. Mahan Air was probably being cheap and only paid the ground handlers to turn up 2h30 prior to departure which meant an hour waiting for it to open and another half hour to get to the desk. Strangely, time went quickly during the wait.
Queue for check-in forming well before the opening time. Hardly a hijab in sight until the plane landed in Tehran.
I managed to get an aisle seat and get my 7kg hand luggage through despite the airline’s probably unenforced 5kg limit. Most people had big heavy bags making full use of the 30kg free checked baggage allowance.
Going to airside 2h prior to departure, I didn’t have much time in the crowded Plaza Premium lounge. The shower was under renovation and the food was very greasy kwayteow, oily pasta and some salad. This wasn’t their usual standard. I settled for a beer and some salad, brushed my teeth and went to the gate at 2200, the stated boarding time.
Departure was scheduled as 2315 but had been changed to 2300 on the boarding pass. All were onboard a little before 2300 and we closed up early for the 8h full-ish flight to Tehran.
After the shallow climb of the A340-300, the crew started serving dinner. I opted for the abgusht with rice. It was flavoursome and with a side salad, yoghurt, cheese/crackers bread roll and dessert, it was far better than on more highly rated airlines. In fact, you couldn’t fit all that food on to the tray or the table of an Air New Zealand 787 Dreamliner (the tables are tiny).
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- This was a reminder as to how cramped newer planes have become. This ex-Olympic Airways A340 was fitted with thickly padded, wide seats with plenty of recline and legroom, plus a footrest.
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- Supper for 2315 departure. Abgusht beef stew with saffron rice and vegetables. Salad, yoghurt, great coffee mousse, cheese, crackers, roll, water and choice of drink (no alcohol of course). Condiments and toothpick. In fact there is so much food you could not have fit in in the tiny table of my last Dreamliner 787 flight from Auckland to Singapore.
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- Pre-landing snack of sandwich. Nice bread stuffed with what looked like ham (but I guess it is chicken or turkey) with condiments. Trio of fresh fruit. Choice of hot and cold drinks (non-alcoholic)
Booking & flying Mahan Air
I had originally booked on AirAsia X from Kuala Lumpur to Tehran for about NZD100; pretty good for an 8h flight. Sadly they withdrew from the route again; the same thing happened to me a few years ago and it was starting to seem like my third trip to Iran was never going to happen.
Fortunately I thought that my travel insurance would cover this cancellation even though I booked over a year in advance and the cancellation was advised months prior to the flight. I looked on the usual travel sites and fares were around NZD1000+ and all indirect, eg. via Dubai, Doha or Abu Dhabi etc.
I knew that the trade embargoes prevented the Iranian airlines from being listed so I tracked them down and found Mahan Air was bookable for around NZD500. They were also able to book my domestic Iran Air ticket.
My insurance company paid out the difference between the NZD100 and NZD500 tickets plus the cost to change my domestic Kuching to Kuala Lumpur connection, less an excess of NZD90 and some exchange rate differences.
So, I still managed to get to Iran, my doorstep to Europe, cheaply again!