RTW Trip - Star Alliance (long)

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Member for

21 years 1 month

Posts: 1,029

Trip report from my travels - 18 flights in 18 days with 7 different carriers.
I have focused on the long haul flights although brief details of all flights are included. I have probably forgotten a few things such as hot towels etc but I hope you find it enjoyable and informative.

2004 RTW Report

Flight 1 of 18

Southampton – Edinburgh 25/9/04

G-JEAY HS146 Flybe

Take off : 07.42 Landing : 08.51 Duration : 1.05

Comments :

Not much to say – drinks / snacks available but at a price.
Crew friendly and helpful. Legroom adequate for flight.

Flight 2 of 18

Edinburgh - Frankfurt 25/9/04

D-ABIZ 737-300 Lufthansa

Take off : 12.41 Landing : 15.09 Duration :1.28

Comments :

Snack consisted of a small cheese roll + usual drinks service
Crew efficient & good information from flight deck. Legroom adequate.

Flight 3 of 18

Frankfurt - Munich 25/9/04

D-AIAT A300-600 Lufthansa

Take off : 17.27 Landing : 18.02 Duration : 35 minutes

Comments :

Same snack as previous flight and usual drinks were offered.

Flight 4 of 18

Munich – Rome FCO 25/9/04

D-AISF A321 Lufthansa

Take off : 20.04 Landing : 21.07 Duration : 1.03

Comments :

Same snack as previous flight. Crew efficient with updates on flight progress from flight deck.

Flight 5 of 18

Rome FCO – Singapore 26/9/04

9V-SVD 777-200 Singapore Airlines

Take off : 13.02 Landing : 06.27 Duration : 11.25

Comments :

This was my first flight with Singapore Airlines for several years and was pleased to see how much better it was than my previous ones.
Route took us over Istanbul – Mumbai and Phuket and was a little ‘lumpy’ at times.

Lunch was served about 90 minutes after departure and was very good.
It consisted of an appetiser of pasta and vegetable salad with beef pastrami and a choice of either wok fried chicken in 5 spice sauce with vegetables and rice or panfried salmon in pesto veloute with vegetables and potato.
Dessert was ice cream with cheese & crackers to follow along with the usual drinks.

As this was to be an early morning arrival into Singapore a breakfast was served about 2 hours from arrival. This was excellent and consisted of a fruit appetiser, yoghurt and a choice of either braised egg noodles with chicken, black mushrooms and leafy greens or egg roll with tomato, mushrooms, chicken sausage, grilled tomato and potatoes with the usual bread rolls, preserves and drinks available.

Cabin crew were very attentive and came through the cabin frequently with drinks / fruit etc.

IFE was very good (PTV’s) with the latest films on offer including Troy, Van Helsing and The Day After Tomorrow + several more. Only minor thing was the headsets which were uncomfortable and a bit fiddly.

Overall I would rate this flight as very good, certainly the leg room was adequate with good service.

Flight 6 of 18

Singapore – Kuala Lumpur 27/9/04

9V-SRO 777-200 Singapore Airlines

Take off : 08.44 Landing : 09.23 Duration : 36 minutes

Comments :

Drinks service only on this short flight. Very hard landing.

Flight 7 of 18

Kuala Lumpur - Bangkok 28/9/04

HS-TAC A300-600 Thai Airways

Take off : 08.38 Landing : 10.25 Duration : 1.47

Comments :

A breakfast was offered on this flight which consisted of a rubber like scrambled egg and was pretty grim. Usual drinks were offered.
The aircraft was looking its age both internally and externally – it was scheduled to be a A330 which was one of the reasons it was chosen.

Crew were friendly and attentive despite the poor food offered.

Flight 8 of 18

Bangkok – Hong Kong 28/9/04

HS-TJA 777-3D7 Thai Airways

Take off : 10.39 Landing : 14.03 Duration : 2.24

Comments :

Much better food on this flight – a salad to start with spicy beef with rice/beans for main course. A sponge cake dessert was also included but the flavour was not easily determined (lemon possibly) Usual drinks on offer and the cabin crew were friendly and attentive.

Flight 9 of 18

Hong Kong – Osaka Kansai 2/10/04

JA8323 767-281 All Nippon

Take off : 14.57 Landing : 19.05 Duration : 3.08

Comments :

Choice of western or Japanese meal – with chicken/pasta & salad with noodles on offer. The Japanese meal was eel so I passed on that – usual drinks service with a friendly and English speaking crew. Little information from flight deck.

Flight 10 of 18

Osaka Kansai – Tokyo Haneda 4/10/04

JA 767-281 All Nippon

Take off : 10.17 Landing : 11.11 Duration : 53 minutes

Comments:

Only a drinks service was offered on this short flight. Again announcements were given in English and Japanese. Crew friendly.

Flight 11 of 18

Tokyo Haneda – Sapporo 6/10/04

JA8955 747-481D All Nippon

Take off : 11.35 Landing : 12.48 Duration : 1.13

Comments :

A chaotic and late departure with a party of wheelchair passengers having to be boarded first and ANA failing to have sufficient staff & wheelchairs to cope with this.
Only a drinks service offered on this short domestic flight. Legroom was adequate for the trip although a longer flight would get uncomfortable.
Crew were again friendly with announcements in both English and Japanese with newspapers in both languages available.

Flight 12 of 18

Sapporo – Tokyo Haneda 8/10/04

JA8099 747-481D All Nippon

Take off : 09.37 Landing : 10.57 Duration : 1.20

Comments :

Only a drinks service offered on this short domestic flight. Crew friendly with newspapers & announcements in both English and Japanese.

Flight 13 of 18

Tokyo Narita – Vancouver 8/10/04

C-GFAF A330-200 Air Canada

Take off : 17.28 Landing : 9.19 Duration : 7.51

Comments

I was surprised to see a A330 pull up at the gate for this flight as a A340 is the normal equipment.

Meal was good and consisted of a pasta salad, beef with noodles, carrots, broccoli and a sponge cake for dessert. Usual drinks were offered.

As it was an overnight flight a breakfast was served before landing and this was a fruit salad + omelette.

Crew were attentive (but on the mature side) and came through the cabin with drinks at regular intervals but were not as welcoming or friendly as those of Asian carriers.

I would not expect a beaming smile all the time but at least try to make the passengers feel as if you want to be there. The crew looking after my section
did not make me feel particularly welcome.

IFE was a disappointment with no PTV’s and so a limited choice of films.
Headsets were a little uncomfortable and fiddly.

Hot towels were offered before both meals.

Flight 14 of 18

Vancouver - Calgary 10/10/04

C-FDSN A320-200 Air Canada

Take off : 11.08 Landing : 13.08 Duration : 1.00

Comments:

Usual drinks service only on this short flight. Crew more friendly and attentive than the trans-pacific crew.

Flight 15 of 18

Calgary - Toronto 11/10/04

C-FTJR A320-200 Air Canada

Take off : 09.20 Landing : 14.34 Duration : 3.14

Comments

A breakfast was offered on this flight and 2 choices were available. A fruit plate (grapes/oranges/grapefruit) or scrambled eggs.
Other items on the tray included a yoghurt, carrot bar with the usual drinks available.

Crew were friendly and attentive.

Flight 16 of 18

Toronto - Manchester 11/10/04

G-WWBD A330-200 BMI

Take off : 18.43 Landing : 05.50 Duration : 6.07

Comments :

Departure was a bit chaotic for this flight. We had pushed back from the stand before all passengers were seated and cabin crew did seem a little disorganised. They were handing out amenity packs, blankets and a drink during the boarding process and gave the impression of being in a rush.

Meal was very good and consisted of a mixed seasonal salad with Italian dressing and a choice of 3 main courses. There were a) chicken stuffed with broccoli and cheese, mashed potato and mixed vegetables b) stirfried beef with black bean sauce and noodles c) farfalle pasta with spinach and creamy pesto sauce. I chose the beef which was very good.

Also included was cheese & crackers, small kit kat chocolate bar and once the main course was finished a tub of ice cream was offered.

As this was an overnight flight a breakfast was served. This consisted of a pot of fruit and choice of a hot cheese or bacon ‘toastie’ I had the cheese and found it to be barely warm and not very nice.

IFE was good with PTV’s and good choices of films / audio although the headsets were uncomfortable and fiddly.

Hot towels were offered before each of the meals and the crew were attentive and passed through the cabin with drinks at regular intervals.

Flight 17 of 18

Manchester - Edinburgh 12/10/04

G-RJXA Emb145 BMI

Take off : 09.16 Landing : 09.51 Duration : 35 minutes

Comments

The penultimate flight of the trip and one of the shortest. I was surprised to find a breakfast snack being served and consisted of a hot egg/bacon sandwich which was much better than the ‘toastie’ offered on the trans-atlantic flight. Usual drinks offered and considering the short flight the 2 crew did well to get it all served, collected and stowed.

Flight 18 of 18

Edinburgh - Southampton 12/10/04

G-JEAK HS146 FlyBe

Take off : 16.13 Landing : 17.21 Duration : 1.08

Comments

The last flight of a long trip – drinks / snack available but at a price.

Overall I would rate the Singapore Airlines flight from Rome to be the best of the trip with the Thai Airways (KL to Bangkok) being the worst (poor food)
Lufthansa were efficient and professional as to be expected with Air Canada not far behind. However both could learn something from the Asian carriers when it comes to giving the passengers a smile and a feeling that they are pleased to be there.

Original post

Member for

20 years 1 month

Posts: 4,255

Nice report mate! I've always wanted to do a RTW Trip with Star, and i believe it isn't that dear?

Member for

20 years 5 months

Posts: 10,625

Man... that must have been one tiring adventure... seems you didn't stop off for very long anywhere!

Brilliant report

Member for

21 years 1 month

Posts: 1,029

The price was not too bad - if you average out the number of flights each cost less than £90 - not bad considering the mileage was over 23000.

yes it was tiring especially the last few days but well worth it - pictures will follow when I can start processing them.

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 6,503

Thai Airways (KL to Bangkok) being the worst (poor food)

Excellent report there.

My last flight with Thai in April was also terrible, but it wasn't just the food that was bad, the service was also terrible. The food was overcooked, grissly (therefore chewy) and quite disgusting overall.

Member for

20 years 11 months

Posts: 12,842

Sounds like a great odyssey, i noticed on the flight from Tokyo to Vancouver, you commented that the crew were attentive but a bit on the mature side, did that have an effect on the overall service in your opinion

Member for

21 years 1 month

Posts: 1,029

Steve,

only in the fact that if they had smiled I would have been sweeping bits of makeup out of the meals ;)

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21 years 1 month

Posts: 1,029

Here are a few pics from the above trip - Kualu Lumpur Subang

Attachments

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21 years 1 month

Posts: 1,029

a few from Hong Kong

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Member for

21 years 1 month

Posts: 1,029

a few from Japan - Osaka Kansai / Haneda / Sapporo

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 748

What a fantastic report and what a fantastic itinerary. Can I ask how you went about booking this trip? I feel a plan happening!

Member for

20 years 10 months

Posts: 9,401

Absolutely superb photos :)

Member for

20 years 5 months

Posts: 5,019

WOW!! Fantastic report and fantastic.

Member for

20 years 11 months

Posts: 12,842

A very Diverse and enjoyable montage with an equally enjoyable report

Member for

21 years 1 month

Posts: 1,029

Thanks for the kind comments - glad you like the picture although they have suffered a bit as a result of size limits. Have now got slides back so may add a few more later ;)

Dusseldwarf - a very patient and understanding travel agent. The trip did evolve over the months though - in an effort to get new types / airlines (failed miserably on both counts but did get to fly on new types with same airlines) Originally it was planned to fly from my local Eastleigh (Southampton International) to Manchester to pick up Lufthansa (CRJ700 to Frankfurt) Unfortunatley the price of a return ticket was very silly (£150+) so we looked for a cheaper alternative. This turned out to be FlyBe to Edinburgh for £17 return (+ taxes) so that was booked and the Star Alliance ticket started in Edinburgh. Part of the fun of a trip like this was the planning - seeing what could be done and how within the mileage restrictions of the ticket. Allowed 26000 miles and actually did 23410 so not too bad.